1000 gallon tank for a beginner!

[EliMelly]

Welp with the addition of heavy duty lights comes the start of the ugly phase. Looks like the beginning of a diatom bloom to me. There's some subtle brown to the sand but significant browning of the white rockscape. I had kept my lights off for months in hopes to lessen this. I guess we will see how bad it is.

I am continuing to dose phyto daily and every Thursday I harvest tigre and tisbe pods that go into the tank as well. Finally, the first tank of fish are just under a week away from finishing their time in copper.

Did you add any live rock to the sump? I can’t suggest that enough…

 

[twentyleagues]

Diatoms are nothing. They will stop growing when the silicates run out no big deal. Conch and cerith snails will eat them along with other film algaes. I use the diatom bloom to indicate its time to add some life to the tank.

 

[SlowAndStupid]

Did you add any live rock to the sump? I can’t suggest that enough…

I have an order in for delivery at the beginning of March.

Diatoms are nothing. They will stop growing when the silicates run out no big deal. Conch and cerith snails will eat them along with other film algaes. I use the diatom bloom to indicate its time to add some life to the tank.

I have held off on adding anything since I didn't want to kill them off by starving them. Think it's time to add a few Cuc?

 

[twentyleagues]

I have an order in for delivery at the beginning of March.



I have held off on adding anything since I didn't want to kill them off by starving them. Think it's time to add a few Cuc?

Light stock of film grazers.

 

[SlowAndStupid]

Went out of town for the weekend and came back to diatoms in full bloom. Picture doesn't really do it justice. They're all over the rocks and the rockscape on the backs and sides, the pumps, sand, and glass.

In addition to the diatoms there's a few tufts of green hair algae. I have, for now, turned the lighting back off. I have placed a CUC order and plan to wait until they are here before I turn the lights back on.

In the meantime, I finished printing and installing some fans to cool the atlas heatsinks. Just in time for me to turn the lights off for now!

There are 4 noctua 140mm fans aimed at passing air across the heatsinks and towards my ceiling exhaust fan. Will have to check the temp when I have the lights back on to see if it affects the temp at all.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Went out of town for the weekend and came back to diatoms in full bloom. Picture doesn't really do it justice. They're all over the rocks and the rockscape on the backs and sides, the pumps, sand, and glass.

In addition to the diatoms there's a few tufts of green hair algae. I have, for now, turned the lighting back off. I have placed a CUC order and plan to wait until they are here before I turn the lights back on.

In the meantime, I finished printing and installing some fans to cool the atlas heatsinks. Just in time for me to turn the lights off for now!

There are 4 noctua 140mm fans aimed at passing air across the heatsinks and towards my ceiling exhaust fan. Will have to check the temp when I have the lights back on to see if it affects the temp at all.

Did you get a clean up crew yet? Can't tell because the tank is so big lol. I would start adding them now, if not.

 

[BristleWormHater]

I wish I could just use a fast forward button and see what this tank looks like in few years, can't wait!!!!!!

 

[SlowAndStupid]

Ordered some snails but not here yet

 

[BristleWormHater]

Ordered some snails but not here yet

Just curious, how many and where did you buy them?

 

[SlowAndStupid]

I ordered from Dr. Reef. Going to start with a small group of various snails and one conch and work from there.

 

[EliMelly]

Keep the lights off until you need to use them. Will allow the beneficial bacteria to take over more. Lessen the ugly stage. Your live rock will help a lot.

 

[EliMelly]

I ordered from Dr. Reef. Going to start with a small group of various snails and one conch and work from there.

He is the best vendor. Let me know if you have any special requests and I’ll relay them over to him. I’m good friends with Mike the owner.

 

[OriginalUserName]

Looks like a lot of fun and a lot of work. I look forward to seeing it come along!

 

[Reefer Brent]

Your tanks big bang! Life is starting!

 

[SlowAndStupid]

I spent a number of hours today sanding the scratches out of the inside front panel. I used the might magnets scratch removal kit which started at 1000 grit however some of the scratches were not being phased by that so I made some 600 and 800 grit pads as well. There were still one or two that didn't sand out but everything else did. The inside looks very good now.

After the 600 grit:

After the final polish:

Unfortunately the outside has a number of fine scratches scattered across it that I would love to remove but I don't think I'm going to tackle it. I just don't know how I would reliably wet sand such a large vertical surface. There is also some fine crazing that I see now with the higher-powered lights which definitely affects the visibility to me but it only shows if you stand and look at the tank in certain positions. I suspect the crazing issue isn't something my wife would even notice but since I know it's there it kind of drives me a little crazy.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

looks great!

 

[Jackal799]

Just caught up. Amazing job. Your attention to detail is going to take you a long way and it’s pretty evident you researched the hell out of saltwater before you made the switch. Can’t wait to see the progress. Oh and I’d recommend zoning out to some reefbum podcasts in the car. Wealth of knowledge from some OG reefers.

 

[Reefer Brent]

Did the diatoms dissappear? They look gone/minimal in the new pictures.

 

[SlowAndStupid]

Just caught up. Amazing job. Your attention to detail is going to take you a long way and it’s pretty evident you researched the hell out of saltwater before you made the switch. Can’t wait to see the progress. Oh and I’d recommend zoning out to some reefbum podcasts in the car. Wealth of knowledge from some OG reefers.

I have listened to hours of reefbum podcasts. It's excellent. I'm currently starting at the beginning of reef therapy's podcast. Jake Adams also had a wealth of knowledge.

Did the diatoms dissappear? They look gone/minimal in the new pictures.

Not really. I just turned the lights back off for a few days while I wait for my CUC to arrive.

 

[SlowAndStupid]

First inhabitants went into the tank tonight! My small order of clean up crew arrived from Dr. Reef today.

1 Tiger Conch
5 Margarite Snails
5 Nassarius Snails Small
10 Nerite Snails
5 Trochus Snails
5 Turbo Snails
5 Cerith Snails
And a handful of extras/freebies.

I bought a used shorty wetsuit from ebay and it really makes a difference compared to swimming in just my swimswuit. I bought a weight belt as well but didn't use it this time. I will from here on as it was a struggle to get to the bottom to spread out the snails.

In they go:

The dogs were entertained.

I've also added ozone and an ORP probe and am slowly ramping that up to get it online too.