58G Oceanic - Build Thread

Frop · May 5, 2017

Amazon Prime 2day shipping. Got the poly filter thanks to @Maritimer 's suggestion.

Then standard shipping later...

My tank has some random dirty spots to it. Not sure if that was just leftover *stuff* from last time or what. Good thing I'm about to plumb the sump in so I can run this water through the filter sock and possibly skimmer if that thing even works. The first time I filled this tank I tried to clean what I could.

Frop · May 8, 2017

Tomorrow should be the rock.

Maritimer · May 8, 2017

You and I used the same sand! ... Partly, anyway.

Mine cleared in about a day and a half. (Really oughtta update my thread again . . . )

Yours is lookin' good!

~Bruce

Frop · May 8, 2017

Maritimer said:
You and I used the same sand! ... Partly, anyway.

Mine cleared in about a day and a half. (Really oughtta update my thread again . . . )

Yours is lookin' good!

~Bruce

I was shocked that one bag was enough. Quiet happy with one bag actually. Not sure about the rest until later

I'll have an update tonight. It was mostly clear this morning except for the surface. Then I added like 4 of 5 Home Depot buckets worth of rock :> super excited! Best yet today is my wife and I's anniversary. The tank has water, rock, and sand on good timing.

I wasn't expecting my rockwork to look the way it does. I'm a little afraid of the amount of room I have for corals. Bahhaha I think I'll have more SPS than planned. Imo it looks ready for SPS (not chemistry wise, just aquascape). Also I'm not too worried as of today about only one Hydra being over this tank. Still need to buy the stand and heater. I was literally looking for stand measurements as I saw my build thread get a comment.

*edit I forgot to mention. After adding my sad the filter sock got clogged up. Water was going over the top of it. Good thing I bought two. I swapped the one out for a clean one. Probably will buy more and wash them later. I heard you can throw them in the washer (no soap).

saltyfilmfolks · May 8, 2017

Frop said:

IT"S WET!!!!!!!!

Maritimer · May 8, 2017

In the washer, little bit of regular bleach. I usually run them through twice, the second time is a rinse, no additives.

Happy Anniversary!

~Bruce

Frop · May 9, 2017

Behold fishies I go to prepare a place for you. Hehe

saltyfilmfolks said:
IT"S WET!!!!!!!!

The rocks are wet too! :>
I changed it up since earlier. I was trying to make it taller. Ideally I was planning on two "piles" of rock at right and left. But i didn't want to drill any rocks to make sure they'd be stable. Instead I piled everything up. There is still a chance I'll change everything in a week lol

Maritimer said:
In the washer, little bit of regular bleach. I usually run them through twice, the second time is a rinse, no additives.

Happy Anniversary!

~Bruce

Thanks! I may see how good rinsing works alone. Usually I don't put bleach on anything. It's just me hehe

Frop · May 9, 2017

I just moved the Seneye to the new tank. Time to watch the ammonia bounce around

Frop · May 11, 2017

Frop said:
I just moved the Seneye to the new tank. Time to watch the ammonia bounce around

So far no ammonia on the Seneye. Yesterday no signs of nitrate or nitrite either with the API kits. I assume there should be more?... after my heater gets in tomorrow I'm going to dump a ton of bio-spira in there too.

Maritimer · May 11, 2017

Don't forget to feed 'em ... a cocktail shrimp, or some fishfood to provide nutrient for the bacteria to break down ...

~Bruce

Frop · May 11, 2017

Maritimer said:
Don't forget to feed 'em ... a cocktail shrimp, or some fishfood to provide nutrient for the bacteria to break down ...

~Bruce

I was thinking the "live sand" would give me some kind of ammonia. But I added mysis if that works. And the remaining bottle of the bio spira.

saltyfilmfolks · May 14, 2017

It's live sand and live rock. You'll probably not get ammonia.

Maritimer · May 14, 2017

Good point. You may not see an ammonia spike. Watch your nitrates for a steady climb.

~Bruce

Frop · May 17, 2017

First signs of life. ;Snaphappy So do these things harm corals? ;Pompus

Also I've replaced my ammonia slide on the Seneye. Max I've seen ammonia has been .002. I'm about ready to QT my fish and transfer them over after (I think they have ich but in a suppressed state). I'll check nitrate and nitrite later too before adding anything to verify. I'd be checking more parameters but this week has been super busy. On track for a 67 hour work week. Haven't done much for the tank other than manually add in about 2 liters of water daily. I've been slacking a lot. Been seeing some great sells on corals recently but haven't bought anything. Due to the challenge of the nano I've been a little nervous on buying corals (but I'll be buying them soon enough),

I got this 300W Eheim Jagger. Little too long for my tank.. I couldn't fit it anywhere appropriately (unless it were in the DT itself). So I'm exchanging it for a shorter 200W.

I'm very happy with this setup so far. The heater basically stays within 1 degree. I figure my Seneye is reading 1-2degrees too low. I basically averaged the heater, Seneye, chiller, temperature gun reading and recalibrated my Seneye +1.5f. I think my chiller and temp gun related the most and heater and Seneye are on opposite ends of the spectrum.

In my nano it seemed like the Seneye temp was also lower than the analog thermometer and the temp swing in that thing was up to 5 degrees.

Another note that in very happy with is my pH. Currently it is wayyyy more stable than my nano. It is also about .2 higher. I'm hoping stuff will grow faster now when it gets the livestock

P.s. That crazy spike in the readings is from me taking the gage out of the water and replacing the slide that was adjusting in a cup of tank water prior.

Frop · May 17, 2017

Wow... I just went to my nano and the pumps must've been off since last night (about 22-23 hours). First time I got to see the fish today. Stuff looks to be alive .. not to mention pumps I had the entire power strip off so no heat either.

I would've turned it off to feed but forgot to turn it on.

Maritimer · May 18, 2017

Yikes!

I only shut powerheads off to feed, and that only if I'm spot-feeding corals or anemones. Fish can chase it, and seem to enjoy the exercise.

As for the Aquilonastra ("Asterina") star, keep an eye on it. Some folks like them, some hate 'em, some say it's only the "colored" ones that feed on zoanthids. I have a bunch in my tank, and no observed coral predation to date. They do eat coralline algae, though.

~Bruce

Frop · May 21, 2017

Salinity is just low but other than that I think I'm going to transfer the cleanup crew. I can see some algae on the rocks too. Already transferred one tiny superman mushroom.

Frop · May 23, 2017

I got a smaller heater (200w eheim) and placed it in the overflow. Now my heat has been much more consistent. However I haven't had this tested for very long. Just checking the results of the move this morning to see a near flat line.

Clown fish are in QT. Light stand should be in tonight. I moved a couple inverts and a way tiny mushroom Frag to the DT already.

After that Hydra gets put on soon the corals will be next to move.

Frop · May 24, 2017

I got the mount. The packaging didn't have the proper screws (no screws for the part that holds the light). Then it was missing the little allen wrench. When I went to place fit it, I don't think I can even tighten it since the tank is too close to the wall :/ plus the weight leverages on the plastic trim of the tank.

Sadly I should look for other options.

Maritimer · May 24, 2017

Looks like that was intended to be installed before the tank had water in it. _That's_ annoying . . .

I should think that the weight of the light fixture would help to pull the assemblage forward, putting less pressure on the rim?

~Bruce