How not to start a reef tank, my first reef tank build

[aqua_code]

If it's all marcorocks dry rock you shouldn't need to bleach cure it. I believe that's only recommended for stuff like Pukani which contains alot of dead organics within the rock. That being said you can still cure it and shouldn't see anything negative. I personally wouldn't even put in bleach and would just run GFO in a dark environment.

 

[Jacked Reefer]

Love this thread. Your writing style reminds me of someone on another reef forum...
But best of luck with you tank. Personally I would cure the rock, but that's because i would have another vat of salt water in my house. Marco Rocks is really good though so you dont NEED to cure it. Its a shame I sold off my stock pile of their rock.

 

[living_tribunal]

If this rock construct is anything like my life, it will fall apart at some point(s).

Applying epoxy putty around the important glued joints.

 

[living_tribunal]

I decided to do a brief bleach cure, at least a few days. A cleaner tank is a better one.

How will I dispose of this mess?

We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

Tasty:

 

[Jon Fishman]

Looks good. I suggest filling the big brute with RODI each time. amazing how many 5-gal buckets I have forgotten about and overflowed onto my kitchen floor

And here we go, the initial fill.

Watching this 50 gal ro/di unit go the extra mile is a lot like the movie Rudy. Am I rooting for its success? Hell yes. Will it succeed? Not entirely sure. Am I going to cry? 100%


Going to kick back, grab a cold one, and turn on c-span because who needs molasses when you have a 50 gal ro/di unit.

 

[living_tribunal]

Looks good. I suggest filling the big brute with RODI each time. amazing how many 5-gal buckets I have forgotten about and overflowed onto my kitchen floor

Learned that lesson the hard way...

 

[living_tribunal]

With the Marco rock curing, and my obvious lack of friends, I need an excuse to go to my lfs.

I'm going to grab all of the equipment I need for a 10gal quarantine tank.

I'm thinking:
- 10 gal tank
- Either a little hob power filter or sponge filter
- Little powerhead
- Little heater
- Some pvc
- Additional Fritz (the current bottle I have will be for the main tank, I should honestly get two bottles in case I need to double up the 36gal. This will be used to soak the hob sponge in and seed ~5ish days before any fish is added)


Any insight one either the bleach cure or quarantine tank would be appreciated, my journey is getting murkier every day.

 

[aqua_code]

Copper Power, API General Cure and Prazipro are good medications to have for quarantine. Also get an ammonia badge. Seachem Prime is also good, but never mix it with copper or other medications.

 

[living_tribunal]

Copper Power, API General Cure and Prazipro are good medications to have for quarantine. Also get an ammonia badge. Seachem Prime is also good, but never mix it with copper or other medications.

Good suggestions for medication.

Is the concern with seeding solutions that when they die from the medication, they’ll then turn into ammonia?

 

[aqua_code]

Good suggestions for medication.

Is the concern with seeding solutions that when they die from the medication, they’ll then turn into ammonia?

Yes that's part of it - you will see some dentrifying bacteria die off when using copper. The main concern is just the low water volume on a QT. Often times adding food or lack of water changes will lead to elevated ammonia levels when the bio filter is weak. You should also get a small air pump and air stone, when adding the medications they can reduce the available oxygen in the tank.

 

[living_tribunal]

I just took the dry rock out after the 3 day bleach bath.

I read that diluted bleach breaks down after 3 days and wanted to dry, release the bleach gas, and test params after soaking in some ro/di prime for a day.

If phosphates are low/non-existent, then I’ll move to tank with 80• F temps and no light for a week or so before cycling.

Also, I went ahead and added more shelves in a nice tapered fashion so that they all receive light around the rock structures.

 

[living_tribunal]

LT, now that you got the rock work done and most of your sand settled, can I give you some appropriately delayed advice?

I'd drill the tank and add a sump. It will ultimately greatly increase your chance at longterm success. Drilling the tank was not nearly as scary as I thought. You can check out my build thread on all the ways to screw it up (hint: measure twice, cut once and for haven's sake, dry fit for a while before applying irreversible PVC cement). The sump will allow you to add a real skimmer, filter socks and maybe even a refugium. I found that all three contributed to my middling success.

I found that rubber gloves mad most things in the tank more pleasant. I've superglued things together that were rather unpleasant to separate.

You can also forgo the bleach for you rocks. That's more appropriate if you were using live rock that you were trying to make dead. Instead I'd just throw the rock work inadvertently bucket of rodi water with an abundance of powerheads and change the water every 72 hours. You are trying to leach out any particulate matter that may throw off your reef chemistry. I found that the silicates in the manufactured rock contributed greatly to my growth of unwanted cyanobacteria and other nasties.

You are off to a great start and have the perfect attitude. I really enjoyed following your initial follies.

Following up, what if I used a overflow box as a happy medium?

I just purchased 3 10 gallon tanks. Two of them are for quarantining fish and corals. I’m thinking of using the third as a sump.

An overflow box seems like a simple hack for me in the short-term to pump into the sump as opposed to drilling.

 

[erk]

Following up, what if I used a overflow box as a happy medium?

I just purchased 3 10 gallon tanks. Two of them are for quarantining fish and corals. I’m thinking of using the third as a sump.

An overflow box seems like a simple hack for me in the short-term to pump into the sump as opposed to drilling.

If you use the overflow box, make sure you have a way to stop the display tank from overflowing if you lose the siphon. You will also want to add an emergency drain to the overflow box if it doesn't have one already.

 

[DMG Reef]

Following up, what if I used a overflow box as a happy medium?

I just purchased 3 10 gallon tanks. Two of them are for quarantining fish and corals. I’m thinking of using the third as a sump.

An overflow box seems like a simple hack for me in the short-term to pump into the sump as opposed to drilling.

You can absolutely use an external overflow box. On my first tank, I ran it for 3 yrs. before adding a sump. There was no way I was going to tear down my reef to drill the tank. I went with a CPR external overflow with aqualifter pump. It was great. You will love having a sump. Just makes everything easier.

 

[living_tribunal]

You can absolutely use an external overflow box. On my first tank, I ran it for 3 yrs. before adding a sump. There was no way I was going to tear down my reef to drill the tank. I went with a CPR external overflow with aqualifter pump. It was great. You will love having a sump. Just makes everything easier.

Just checked out some aqua filters to prevent siphon breaking and they seem like a very good answer.

Excellent feedback.

I still want to make sure I can take care of a basic tank for the next 3-4 months and then make a decision on whether I should upgrade to like an SCA where it contains the sump setup or go with an overflow box approach.

 

[living_tribunal]

Tank drained- ✔
Rockscape secured- ✔
Dignity-


This was a beating, as is everything with aquariums I’m learning.

I’ll send updated pics once the water has cleared up.

 

[aqua_code]

Drilling a tank is totally worth it. It will make your life alot easier with the tank in the future. I think IM sells tanks with external overflow built in now. If you don't drill, gravity will eventually win.

If you absolutely can't drill, the overflow box can work. Just be very careful to always re-create the siphon anytime your return pump restarts. If this happens randomly and you're not home.. half of your sump will end up on your floor. You can maybe add an extra float switch in the display to help prevent this. This isn't recommended though - most people drill for a sump.

 

[living_tribunal]

Drilling a tank is totally worth it. It will make your life alot easier with the tank in the future. I think IM sells tanks with external overflow built in now. If you don't drill, gravity will eventually win.

If you absolutely can't drill, the overflow box can work. Just be very careful to always re-create the siphon anytime your return pump restarts. If this happens randomly and you're not home.. half of your sump will end up on your floor. You can maybe add an extra float switch in the display to help prevent this. This isn't recommended though - most people drill for a sump.

Maybe this should be the plan. Either that, or purchase a tank with a sump built in.

Could do a test run maybe on my coral quarantine tank.

 

[aqua_code]

Something like this would work. They prob have cheaper versions but I found this real quick:

Nuvo EXT 25 Lagoon Aquarium with Black APS Stand

/p> Innovative Marine Nuvo Aquariums are drop ship items only. Due to their size, we are unable to have them on hand in our warehouse. All drop ship orders will be placed with BulkReefSupply.com will be submitted to the manufacturer within 2 business days of receiving the order and will be...

www.marinedepot.com

I don't recommend the AIO tanks because it's so cramped. The external overflow/real sump gives you the flexibility to run from separate rooms in the future if you want to do that. It's so hard getting an AIO to work because you have to research exact sizes for HOB skimmers and UV sterilizers and they are all crap. It's life changing when you run everything from custom sump where you don't have space restrictions.

I had an IM Nuvo 40 AIO that i threw away because it was so hard to maintain. I was buying tiny sterilizers and attaching them with zip ties on the return pump. It turns into a big waste container instead of a display tank in a system. I had to buy their minimax reactors and put GFO in seachem bags because nothing else fit. The external overflow looks like a good solution to this problem.

The ability to run a manifold from a sump gives you a much higher success rate.

 

[living_tribunal]

Something like this would work. They prob have cheaper versions but I found this real quick:

Nuvo EXT 25 Lagoon Aquarium with Black APS Stand

/p> Innovative Marine Nuvo Aquariums are drop ship items only. Due to their size, we are unable to have them on hand in our warehouse. All drop ship orders will be placed with BulkReefSupply.com will be submitted to the manufacturer within 2 business days of receiving the order and will be...

www.marinedepot.com

I don't recommend the AIO tanks because it's so cramped. The external overflow/real sump gives you the flexibility to run from separate rooms in the future if you want to do that. It's so hard getting an AIO to work because you have to research exact sizes for HOB skimmers and UV sterilizers and they are all crap. It's life changing when you run everything from custom sump where you don't have space restrictions.

I had an IM Nuvo 40 AIO that i threw away because it was so hard to maintain. I was buying tiny sterilizers and attaching them with zip ties on the return pump. It turns into a big waste container instead of a display tank in a system. I had to buy their minimax reactors which are terrible because nothing else fit. The external overflow looks like a good solution to this problem.

What are your thoughts on the scs tanks? Those and red sea are what I've been looking at.