Erin O's 75G Build

fishguy242

Cronies..... INSERT BUILD THREAD BADGE HERE !!
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The thread is coming. I promise. 75g with brand new fx4. No sump, no skimmer. Cleaning the filter out weekly currently as I've been disturbing the tank and rock so often. I think I'm in my final configuration now so only waiting on my coraline color epoxy to get here and I will anchor a few. There shouldn't be any more changes to rock to come.

Dt at my LFS to oogle.
skimmer...recommend octopus hob bh 1000 or 2000 even better ;)
 

Lost in the Sauce

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skimmer...recommend octopus hob bh 1000 or 2000 even better ;)
It's probably on the short list. Unfortunately being a one income 5-mouth family and just dropping on the FX4,it's probably going to be a little bit before I can hang a skimmer on the back
 

Lost in the Sauce

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A good trick is to take a tub or bucket of old SS and shake the crap out of the rocks in it. Then use a small pump in same tub or bucket to blast the rocks. Then swish again. This allows you get the crap out of the rocks outside of the tank.

You can also rip and clean your sand bed. I have done it numerous times with no issues.
The sand bed was recently removed, cleaned, 1/3 throw out and replaced. The sand is in pretty good shape. The rock is dirty. While resetting the tank at my place two weeks ago, I did shake the **** out of the rock in a bucket before entering my tank. I was at the time trying to not bring the hermits. 4 still made it in. Oh well.
 

danieyella

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The thread is coming. I promise. 75g with brand new fx4. No sump, no skimmer. Cleaning the filter out weekly currently as I've been disturbing the tank and rock so often. I think I'm in my final configuration now so only waiting on my coraline color epoxy to get here and I will anchor a few. There shouldn't be any more changes to rock to come.

Dt at my LFS to oogle.
Be careful with that fx4. Canisters can easily turn into nitrate factories and compound your problem.

I run clearfx pro which helps bind mine and lower it to an extent. I also have high nitrates BUT nothing seems to care and I've had worse problems with nitrates too low than "too high".

Whatever you do, do it slowly. A quick plummet can cause more unnecessary stress.
 

Lost in the Sauce

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Started my own. Thanks for letting me Jak this thread.

I'll be back!
 

Lost in the Sauce

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Be careful with that fx4. Canisters can easily turn into nitrate factories and compound your problem.

I run clearfx pro which helps bind mine and lower it to an extent. I also have high nitrates BUT nothing seems to care and I've had worse problems with nitrates too low than "too high".

Whatever you do, do it slowly. A quick plummet can cause more unnecessary stress.
Thank you for the information. Unfortunately I had not read this before making the initial purchase and wish I had but here we are. I will be good about cleaning it out every Saturday and hopefully not letting a bunch of crap build up.

I've been changing water every 3 days. 15-20 gallons.
 

danieyella

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Thank you for the information. Unfortunately I had not read this before making the initial purchase and wish I had but here we are. I will be good about cleaning it out every Saturday and hopefully not letting a bunch of crap build up.

I've been changing water every 3 days. 15-20 gallons.
Tons of people are successful with canister filters, the main thing is to make sure you don't fall into that "out of sight out of mind" mentality since it's so contained. Keep cleaning it regularly like you do now and you should be fine.
 

sfin52

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Thank you for the information. Unfortunately I had not read this before making the initial purchase and wish I had but here we are. I will be good about cleaning it out every Saturday and hopefully not letting a bunch of crap build up.

I've been changing water every 3 days. 15-20 gallons.
I feel like I'm eating at the cool kids table for the first time. I have no idea what's going on but I'm friggin stoked to be here

Be careful with that fx4. Canisters can easily turn into nitrate factories and compound your problem.

I run clearfx pro which helps bind mine and lower it to an extent. I also have high nitrates BUT nothing seems to care and I've had worse problems with nitrates too low than "too high".

Whatever you do, do it slowly. A quick plummet can cause more unnecessary stress.
@danieyella is right. My nitrates are off the charts. Phosphate stable @.25. I have 4 sticks bta snails and such. Its the fluctuations that are killers in my opinion.
Grab a aquaclear hob and mod it into a refugium. They make some of the best refugiums. If you can't swing a hob skimmer the refugium will buy you a lot of time
 

sfin52

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20210104_211744.jpg

Running fx4 canister. I clean once a month
 

danieyella

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20210104_211744.jpg

Running fx4 canister. I clean once a month
Beautiful. I had a canister in freshwater. I cleaned it every 6months. I cannot be trusted to have a canister on salt. I know myself lol
 

sfin52

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Beautiful. I had a canister in freshwater. I cleaned it every 6months. I cannot be trusted to have a canister on salt. I know myself lol
Thanks. Always had hob on freshwater. Canister for saltwater because I thought that was the way to go and sump seamed so risky.
 

Lost in the Sauce

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Tons of people are successful with canister filters, the main thing is to make sure you don't fall into that "out of sight out of mind" mentality since it's so contained. Keep cleaning it regularly like you do now and you should be fine.
Thanks. I'm going so. I will be getting a hob skimmer at some point I'm sure. I'm pretty anal when it comes to animal in my care.
 
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Erin O

Erin O

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Never mind! I got kicked from his thread. If you get a notification for a thread, but you don't open it, you stop getting notifications for that particular thread. If that happens, go to the drop down box under Forums and click Watched Threads. Then you can see which ones you've missed
 

Rock solid aquascape: Does the weight of the rocks in your aquascape matter?

  • The weight of the rocks is a key factor.

    Votes: 10 8.7%
  • The weight of the rocks is one of many factors.

    Votes: 42 36.5%
  • The weight of the rocks is a minor factor.

    Votes: 35 30.4%
  • The weight of the rocks is not a factor.

    Votes: 27 23.5%
  • Other.

    Votes: 1 0.9%
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