75 gallon tank build

[Trevdawg]

Lighting... As of right now
- original fluorescent light
- 4 bulb, 65 watt power compact last night only 2 were working for some reason

Next week I will have the 6 bulb T5

Grumpy, as of right now. Yes
This weekend I will have gravel in there. I have a lot of dead rock. But I am trying to have it sit in RO water then put it in the tank. It had red slime all over it. Or I just might buy new dead rock.

 

[grumpy-crab]

Letting it sit in ro wont allow everything to die off especially nuisance things. I did that once and let everything sit in a covered tote in the summer time it got rid of most everything but not all. So if u dont want everything then u need to acid wash it or get dry rock IMO

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Reef2Reef Aquarium Forum mobile app

 

[Trevdawg]

Thanks grumpy. I will use it as build rock and get better dead rock up front.
And one side of the rock is actually stained so I can just flip it.

 

[jtomasi]

I just posted this to another forum, but bleaching your rock is the best way to go. That is what I do for all of my tanks - most of the rock in the pic was unrecognizable when I got it. (and free online!). some people do an acid wash and sometimes both, bleach and a lot of Prime has always worked for me.

 

[jtomasi]

Don't want to be that guy, but whatever. Couple of things: seems like you are putting waaayy to much "bad" stuff in the tank already just to get it to cycle - most people cycle with a small amount of food or something like that. At the rate you are going, with the look of the tank, pumps, and the wet/dry, once the cycle is over you are going to need to do multiple 80% water changes (obviously an exaggeration, but still). You are starting a new build START A NEW BUILD!, haha, but seriously you are going to have soooo many problems down the line if you use all of this dirty stuff. Its crazy to use dirty algae ridden stuff to cycle a new tank (filter sock). My advice is to clean everything - the key to this whole thing is starting right and not introducing nuisances into the system. The tank that is pictured above was started with a new 29g tank from petco that I cleaned so much I would have eaten out of it, 30lbs of unopened live sand, bleached liverock, two 1/5lb pieces of live rock from a 5g nano I had and a thick piece of coralline algae from my LFS that I dipped in Coral RX. That's it, not used filter sock or old live rock/sand or anything. Did it take long to cycle? Hell ya, but when it was cycled everything was in range and I haven't had a single algae issue to date for 4 years (knock on wood ). Maybe most people do have that much algae when they cycle a tank, I dunno, I didn't. That picture is a week after the tank cycled and I didn't lose any of those fish - not one smidgen of algae.

I have had my own issues don't get me wrong, but this is what I would do in your situation.

1. If you haven't already, which it doesn't look like you have (no offense), give the tank a good hard cleaning with salt water, a rough sponge and a razor blade. Dry it out completely and go over it again with RO water and clean paper towel. Hopefully you can save the water that's already in the tank.
2. Bleach or acid wash the rock/sand, this will take a week or two, google search cooking live/dry rock or bleaching live dry/rock. (Bulk Reef Supply Pukani rocks sometimes needs to be bleached/acid washed or cycled for phosphate removal so you will find a ton of threads on it). There is no way I would ever use old sand, who knows how much phosphate it could leak into your tank...even bleaching it wont help that. Then what? Have to buy a GFO reactor or something similar to get it out? For sure not.
3. Clean your equipment in some vinegar for a day or so.
4. Just my opinion, but convert that wet/dry into a refugium/sump. I am in the camp that thinks the technology is outdated and just causes issues down the road (many people refer to it as a nitrate factory). I run a bare bottom tank so I have a deep sand bed and macro algae in my sump, but it seems as if people are starting to move towards not keeping anything but equipment in one. Cheapest way to do this is buy a 20g long tank from petco or find one on Craigslist.
4.Get an RO/DI, could be the best piece of equipment I have - you can find some cheap knock offs and then just buy good filters from filter guys to save money.
5.Patience. Nothing happens fast in this hobby. The more time to take now, you will get back 100 fold later when you don't have issues.

Good luck, let me know if you have questions. I am excited to follow your progress. Try and think clean, clean, clean.

And this is just one person's opinion. You ask 100 people, you'll get 100 different answers.

You said hang on the back filter, did you mean overflow? If so, I have used one in the past, they get annoying but they do the job. Make sure to watch some youtube clips on what can happen if the power goes out, ext.

 

[jtomasi]

Welp, haha, didnt realize this ISNT your first tank. I wouldnt be surprised if 90% of what I just wrote you already knew....whatever, take it for what its worth.

 

[Trevdawg]

Welp, haha, didnt realize this ISNT your first tank. I wouldnt be surprised if 90% of what I just wrote you already knew....whatever, take it for what its worth.

It's all good jtomasi. I always have an open mind. That's how you learn more. But yes, I think I should have done progress pics and then made this post instead of doing it literally as I go.

My tank currently,
- water
90% new
10% from established tank
- power compact light and fluorescent light
- 2 pumps to circulate water in tank
- 1 heater
- just added 40lbs of live sand


I did not add a dirty filter, or food or a raw shrimp. I have only asked some questions as they come to my mind before really thinking it out sometimes, but who doesn't?!?!

I will have an upgraded light shortly, and buying a used RO unit Friday and then buying new filters for it.

Now I am looking into cooking/bleaching/acid wash the used rock I do have. I want to wait until i have the Ro unit instead of having all these jugs or ro water and wasting that money. I am not buying new "live" rock. This sight has taught me its not worth it.

I will get there. ...

 

[Trevdawg]

Anyone tell me what this is box for.....??

 

[jtomasi]

Its the wet/dry I was referring to. I am not sure how but most people have been converting them to sumps. Might be easier to just get a used 20g or 30g and add baffles.

 

[Trevdawg]

Converting this part??

There is no water flowing thru here or anything.

 

[jtomasi]

I am not sure on that part specifically - iv never seen anything like that before. That's not saying much as I haven't seen many wet/drys.

 

[jtomasi]

Looks like it might be another inlet for duel overflows.

 

[jtomasi]

Also, if converting it is too much of a pain you can put these rock type balls in the box that work better than the plastic ones. BRS has a video comparing the two

 

[grumpy-crab]

It would be kinda difficult to do a conversion if you arnt very experienced. I think you would be miles ahead to just buy a used sump/refuge. I picked mine up for about $60 for a used pro flow.