Glb's 40g upgrade!

Mr.Tang

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It's a 20g tall I built myself. What info in particular are you interested in?

I just built my stand for my 40 breeder. Was hoping to use a 20 long. But I'm about 1" short. You like the 20 tall? I wanted to have room in sump for frags. Just wondered about space
 
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I just built my stand for my 40 breeder. Was hoping to use a 20 long. But I'm about 1" short. You like the 20 tall? I wanted to have room in sump for frags. Just wondered about space
The same thing happened with me and the 20long. My stand was already built so I had to go with what fit. The good thing about the 20tall is you have plenty of height above the baffles. This helps in finding the right height for the skimmer by giving you more wiggle room. It also helps because you have room in case your ato decides to empty out in the sump by accident. There is only 12g running through my sump, leaving plenty of room. My guess is you would have to run more water through a 20l with the baffles at the same height because the base is bigger. Mathematicians correct me if I'm wrong about this. I also like the fact that I don't get much splashing outside of the sump because of its height. The downside is a 20long is much easier to get your hands in and work. Most people would probably recommend the 20long. Since that wasn't an option for me, I did the tall and so far I like it. Let me know if you need any more info.
 
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Day 7:

Ammonia: 2ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: 3-4ppm

I started up the gfo reactor yesterday so now the whole system is up and running. Cleaned out the filter sock yesterday because it had some sand (and some dog hair, go figure). The skimmer had a small amount of skimmate, only a film but that's a good sign. I'm hoping it will be done cycling in a few weeks. With the Dr. Tim's, is that reasonable? I know it will be done when it's done, but I'm curious about everyone else's experience. This is so exciting!!
 

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Your tank is coming along very nicely! I love the aquascape. It took my cycle about 12 days to complete but YMMV. I used a combination of Activate and Microbacter-7 to get the seed bacteria going. I also added a small bag of ceramic media that I got from my LFS to add to the bacteria strains.

Any particular reason you started up the GFO reactor already? Unless you're also using fish food to create a source of bacteria and are afraid it will result in PO4, IMHO I don't think you need it at this point.
 
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Your tank is coming along very nicely! I love the aquascape. It took my cycle about 12 days to complete but YMMV. I used a combination of Activate and Microbacter-7 to get the seed bacteria going. I also added a small bag of ceramic media that I got from my LFS to add to the bacteria strains.

Any particular reason you started up the GFO reactor already? Unless you're also using fish food to create a source of bacteria and are afraid it will result in PO4, IMHO I don't think you need it at this point.

Thanks! I started the gfo reactor just because I could. Lol. I like watching the whole system run. I didn't expect the tank to cycle overnight. So far I'm happy with the Dr. Tim's.
 
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Day 8

Ammonia: 2ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: 2-3ppm

I just changed out the filter sock today, rinsed it, then put a new filter sock in the tank. Is it bad for the cycle to do that? I thought I probably took out some good bacteria, but it was really dirty. When I put the new sock in, the skimmer went a little nuts for a few minutes. What's the best thing to do with the sock during the cycle??
 
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Day 8

Ammonia: 2ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: 2-3ppm

I just changed out the filter sock today, rinsed it, then put a new filter sock in the tank. Is it bad for the cycle to do that? I thought I probably took out some good bacteria, but it was really dirty. When I put the new sock in, the skimmer went a little nuts for a few minutes. What's the best thing to do with the sock during the cycle??
 

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As long as it's not clogged I would just leave it. I'm sure you didn't hurt anything by changing it.

New filter socks must have something on them because my skimmer goes wild too when I put one on. If you pre-rinse them, it wont happen.
 
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As long as it's not clogged I would just leave it. I'm sure you didn't hurt anything by changing it.

New filter socks must have something on them because my skimmer goes wild too when I put one on. If you pre-rinse them, it wont happen.
Thanks. I did prerinse it, but clearly not enough. Lol
 

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I just watched it! I'll test to make sure my level isn't super high. If not, I'll turn it off.

I can almost assure you you'll have undetectable PO4 since you cured your rocks pretty well if I remember correctly. Even if you have some PO4 it would be more detrimental to run the GFO during the cycle and lose a good chunk of beneficial bacteria when you replace it than just pulling it right now. That's just IMHO. I wouldn't run either carbon or GFO during the cycle if I were you.
 
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I can almost assure you you'll have undetectable PO4 since you cured your rocks pretty well if I remember correctly. Even if you have some PO4 it would be more detrimental to run the GFO during the cycle and lose a good chunk of beneficial bacteria when you replace it than just pulling it right now. That's just IMHO. I wouldn't run either carbon or GFO during the cycle if I were you.
The rocks are dry rocks I got from Marco Rocks. They're not supposed to have phosphates but I should check. I haven't put any carbon in. I'll turn off the gfo reactor for now. Thanks!!
 
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Day 11

Amm: 3-4ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
pH: 8.1

I chalk up the ammonia fluctuations to the fact that it's an API test. The nitrates are Salifert. I hated to spend a lot of money for an ammonia test I'll only use for a while.
 
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Day 19

Ammonia: 2-3ppm (unchanged, haven't
added since first day)
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: 6-7ppm

Frustrated!!!! I think the Dr. Tim's One and Only was too old. I've been stuck at these numbers for at least a week. The nitrates are creeping up so I know some cycling is happening, but it's slooooooow. Skimmer is starting to break in a little. I changed to a Quiet One 1200 pump and my gph is about 250gph now. The overhead is silent. I do hear the water falling down the overflow pipe but it's not loud and I like the sound. I'm wondering if I should order some more Dr. Tim's.
 
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Day 36

Finally my ammonia is 0! First I found out I had chloramines in my water. I changed out the RODI filters to fix that. To neutralize the chloramines in the tank, I added Prime. Which released ammonia into the tank. For a week the ammonia was steady at .25ppm. Because the collection cup I was using wasn't clean. And so on. But now it's done. I'm at 40ppm nitrates so I'll start with a 20% water change to bring them down. Once all the parameters are checked out, time for a pair of clowns, maybe even tomorrow. It's so exciting to see it all come together!
 
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Tankmates have arrived!
 
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