KorD's future Nem tank

[hdsoftail1065]

Today's testing is looking good. After using the Fritz 900 turbo start the levels are on par-ish for it being 24 hours of flow.
The filter sock did an amazing job of pulling all the dust from the substrate. I am going to add a tinge more salt to bring the salinity levels up a tad.

PH - 8
Ammonia - .25
Salinity - 1.022 and 1/2
Temp - 82°F
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Phosphate - .10

But there is how she looks today.

It's clearing up nicely.

 

[KorD]

"Daddy.. where are my fishy.. why is this tank not cycling faster"

 

[KorD]

Today I do something stupid... I talked with the company Fritz about their turbo start.. they actually told me after day two I can toss corals in the tank.. I'm not sure if I'm at that point just yet, but I will be getting a couple clown fish this evening.

Test results are on par, and just in case something goes nutty.. I have a backup tank I can toss the fish into.

Actually this is not the stupidest thing I have done by far, but it is close.

 

[T-MIKE]

Today I do something stupid... I talked with the company Fritz about their turbo start.. they actually told me after day two I can toss corals in the tank.. I'm not sure if I'm at that point just yet, but I will be getting a couple clown fish this evening.

Test results are on par, and just in case something goes nutty.. I have a backup tank I can toss the fish into.

Actually this is not the stupidest thing I have done by far, but it is close.

I used bacteria in a bottle also. I put fish in in about 7 days. I would have done it sooner if it wasn’t for the leaking first tank. I don’t think there is too much to worry about as long as you use an ammonia neutralizer.

 

[KorD]

I used bacteria in a bottle also. I put fish in in about 7 days. I would have done it sooner if it wasn’t for the leaking first tank. I don’t think there is too much to worry about as long as you use an ammonia neutralizer.

Well.. no fish for me.. tested everything before I left the house and I was looking golden. The store was 40 min from home and on the way there I stopped for a quick ish meal. Got there and the guy tested my water... Son of a B****... Nitrites were through the roof.. I was heart broken.. made him again two more time with different api bottoles because I didn't believe it.. same result all three times.

I was not going to drop $200 on fish if the tank would kill them..

Came home tested again.. everything was freaking perfect!
I decided what the heck and took water to the LFS near our house.. he got the same result I did from testing.. the pictures of the test results and his tests were dead on..

The only thing I can come up with is that the ride there took longer then the water liked, got too warm and started a cycle in the bottle. I can not come up with any other reason.. if you think of one please let me know!

If all is good tomorrow, I will battle the rains and sleet we are expecting to get the fish.. worse comes to worse I will get the fish on Saturday.

 

[KorD]

The fishy acclamation is going to happen for the next hour.. better safe then sorry.. so far my Pitt has not left the container is is watching the fish.. she is such a nutty dog.

 

[T-MIKE]

That's exciting! I have no idea why the water parameters changed, it could have been the bottle you were using.

 

[KorD]

That's exciting! I have no idea why the water parameters changed, it could have been the bottle you were using.

That's my guess now as well.. I might have forgot to rinse it well or at all before I put water in it.. I become scatter brained at times.. [emoji23]

 

[KorD]

So far everything is going as planned. Minus the temp for the tank. I had to build a cooling system for it. The temp of the water would get up to 84°F and that's just no bueno in my book.
I decided while I was working on the fans I would also build a screen top for it since it is 1/2 open anyways and does not have a lid.

A quick run to Lowe's and Best Buy and I was in business.

Parts list:
Window molding
Window strip
L brackets
Bird netting (1/2 inch square style)
And two 2k rpm fans

And this is what you get when it is built.

After 10 hours I'm at 80 and cooling still I hope.

 

[KorD]

And then it begins... Tried plugging in my skimmer, works beautiful if I didn't want bubbles and wanted to lower the water volume in my sump... Whelp.. luck has it I saw a skimmer for a 40gal less tank at the LFS two days ago.
Well for $50 I am back in business. Guess I now can take my time and work on getting this old skimmer back in working order.

 

[KorD]

Last night I ripped out the ATO (PuraTek)... It's a beautiful system, but way too much for my tank. I just went back to a pump in my RODI holding tank and float valve controlling a small pump.
This way I don't get the specific gravity swings.

 

[KorD]

I think I got some of the dumbest crabs around.. they are wandering like they are drunk.

 

[KorD]

It's been a few days so here is an update.. all is looking good and tests are going great. My clowns are happy, and I built a nano CFO for the tank. I am running purigen in it for now, and might switch to something else later.
I built the CFO out of an old DI resin canister.

If you want to know how it was done, I have a Build thread in the DIY section.

I have always been one not to listen and do what I want. Everyone says tanks have to cycle, mature and go about a year before adding some things.

Whelp... Meet my RBTA. It has been in my tank since day 7 of startup and is doing fantastic. This is not my first anemone, and won't be my last.

I have learned it all deals with water quality, lighting, flow filtration, and feeding of the nem to keep it alive. You can call me stupid and I don't know what I'm talking about, but it is more healthy now in my tank then it was at the LFS. Plus my clown started hosting it on day two of being in the tank.

 

[KorD]

Using old salt is a bad idea... I have been back and forth on the phone with a well known salt company about issues I'm having vs what they are saying..

Let's just say they think it has a long butt shelf live due to being inorganic, why I watched my tank dive from an SG of 1.025 to 1.019 as of 3 am Saturday morning. I have added a mix of salt to my ATO to keep topping off slowly to raise my SG.. this morning I am sitting back at a 1.023 or close to it..

My ATO did not dump water into my sump.. not a drop.
I should have listened to my gut about using older salt.. but they said "just shake it up in case the minerals settled"

Never again.

 

[KorD]

SG this morning is where I truly want it to be and holding for now.

I have also been teaching my son how to do the testing of the tank. He is getting excited to start his tank in a couple months.
This should be a good thing for him to do during summer vacation.

 

[KorD]

Short little update.. one if my nems had to be removed and put in QT for a bit.. started to have a gapping mouth, so I am starting a Cipro treatment for him.
Other then that I found out PE mysis is the dirtiest food I ha e ever fed my fish. Once it is gone I will switch over to a cleaner company I used to use.
This stuff clouded my water until I figured it was better to defrost a cube and syphon off the fats and oils, then since again before feeding the tank..

Here is another pic of my happy clown in her home.

Also after the bad salt incident... I'm glad to say I got my SG back to where it needs to be. I am however still in conversations with the lab department at IO about their salt.

 

[Captain Quint]

So I decided I was not done yet.. I added more trim to the front to take away from the all sliver-ish white wash.. I'm much more happy with this design now.

Here is a close up of the chair rail cutout.. it was a little more tricky then I hoped for, but hey.. why not go all out if I have to see this in my living room.[emoji1]

I like your planning and seeing the results. ;)

 

[KorD]

I like your planning and seeing the results. ;)

Thanks. I'm highly impressed with how my plumbing turned out this time. It's super quite, was able to take most if the noise in the sump, and the flow is almost perfect for the nems.. just have to tame it a bit more.. LTA is not happy

 

[Captain Quint]

Sometimes the simpler we go, the nicer it can be. ::

I saw a pic of a BTA but didn't see your LTA in there. Do you have a pic of it?

 

[Captain Quint]

SG this morning is where I truly want it to be and holding for now.

I have also been teaching my son how to do the testing of the tank. He is getting excited to start his tank in a couple months.
This should be a good thing for him to do during summer vacation.

Awesome to have the child(ren) involved. :)