Returning fishkeeper

[Willow1234]

Hi all
As the title says, returning to aquariums after a few years break ( Have a small pond that keep my hand in ). Back then I was running a 200 litretank containing softies, a couple of fish and cuc.
Anyway I have set up a community freshwater thats been running for about 6 months and have added a small cube to grow out the baby Normans lampeys that appeared. Both are running on Matten filters powered by air uplifts.
I have a 30litre cube that I have decided to use for a sw experiment, and that experiment is to have a live rock filtered tank powered only by an air uplift.
To that end ,at the moment, the tank has a 6 kilo live rock and some aragonite sand ( about an inch) in it along with an air uplift .
The tank is currently cycling and I intend to update this thread as and when there is any changes.
Any suggestions or constructive criticism is more than welcome.
Doubting my sanity is also allowed lol.

 

[Tahoe61]

Hi and Welcome to R2R. :)

Unless the focus of the tank will be macroalgae or back reef you will most likely need more flow. Surface aggitation is important.

I look forward to seeing your build.

 

[Willow1234]

Thanks for your thoughts, as a starter I have constructed an 'undergravel' plate out of drilled tubing linked to the uplift. And the live rock is sitting on that
I have measure the flow on this uplift at around 300 lph so we'll see how it goes, a second uplift could well be on the cards.
The stocking plan at the moment is cuc, some pulsing zenia and maybe 1 fish. Stocking suggestions are most welcome but are several months down the line.

 

[Willow1234]

The tank is cycling nicely, nitrite is at zero.
I added 3 kilos of coarse aragonite sand as the substrate.
I will wait a few more days and then do a small test feeding of fishflake, before moving onto the next stage.

 

[Willow1234]

ok so first mistake, don't drill the holes in the 'undergravel' larger than the grains of sand othrewise you get a perpetual sand storm:eek::beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:.
So I took this opportunity to add another airlift. And I slotted the pipes this time, as you can just see in the second pic.
The first pic is the, almost, finished item. The second is a dry fit in the tank, the third is with the live rock on it, and the 4th is a top view.
once the tank settles ( bit cloudy at the moment) I'll post an 'up and running' photo.
As you can see from the pics I have the outlets pointing towards each other but they're not fixed so I can alter their juxtaposition as I want

 

[Willow1234]

Tank has cleared nicely, I have just added some brine shrimp eggs, let see how they get on.( my lampeyes and platy fry need feeding)
Need to get a stocking plan sorted.

 

[Willow1234]

So as I have algae growing nicely, today I added two Banded trochus snails.
Settling in nicely (other one is around the back).
What other cuc would you good people suggest?

 

[Willow1234]

Quite fancy an orange lipped conch but worried the tank might be too small?

 

[Willow1234]

So I have a bit of a (nice) problem.
Decided to help the maturation of the tank, and deal with an algae outbreak, with a couple of silver Mollies. As this tank is a bit of an experiment I figured a couple of hardy Mollies would be the safest way to proceed.
Acclimatised them to salt water in a bucket over about an hour ( yes I know, a bit quick but thats another story) then into the tank.
24 hours later not only are they munching their way through the algae but I have around a dozen babies! That wasn't in the plan lol.

 

[Willow1234]

Can't count I have 22 babies!

 

[Tahoe61]

I really like this experiment. :)

 

[Willow1234]

Glad you do lol, At this rate, what with my mickey mouse platies , my lampeyes, and now my Mollies breeding, I'm going to have to move house to accommodate all the tanks I'll need!

 

[Willow1234]

So as part of this experiment I have been trying out different designs of uplift.
All of the following have been carried out with the same airpump in 12 inches/30cms of water, with the airstone at the bottom of the tube.
The tubing is 20 mm id overflow tubing.
If you reference the photos attached the stuff below should make sense lol.
So the first test was was a 90 bend on the top of the airlift v a tee fitting so that the air, could escape 1 way and the water another ( this was gleaned from a koi keepers forum).
No contest the tee won hands down, the 90 was taking 20 secs to fill a 1 litre jug at watere level, the tee 16 secs.
I will say at this point the timings are for comparison purposes and aren't meant to indicate absolute flow rates.
Next I inserted a tee fitting and a 90 as a way of getting water in above the airstone and thus removing that restriction.
Hey presto the filling time came down to 13 seconds.
So then I added a 40mm 'chamber' at the base ( 40mm tee fitting) to try and remove any lasting restrictions to the water flow.
This gave no improvement, so I thought I would utilise the extra space and put in a larger air stone ( all the tests so far were with a 10 mm air stone).
Some a 40mm round airstone was found in my bucket of bits, knock me down with a feather, time came down to 10 seconds.
I intend trying a 40mm uplift but thats for another time ( need a trip to the hardware store).
Hope you folks find this info useful.

 

[Willow1234]

I managed to get a free tank, I spotted it while out walking the dogs.
It is a 2ft x1ftx 1ft 9 60x30x30cm) tank. so the 30cm cube has been upgraded
So I also took the opportunity to modify the filtration system, the tank is now running a Matten filter powered by 2 uplifts turning over approx 700 litres per hour. There is a 7 kilo lump of matured live rock along with a banded turban and 2 nassarius snails.
There is also 2 silver mollies in the tank helping to mature the system.
Looking to add a couple of ceriths shortly.
Futre stocking plans include an orange lipped conch, some sexy shrimp and some soft corals, pulsing xenia is definitely on the list.
Photos to follow.

 

[Willow1234]

Here's the promised pics

 

[Willow1234]

Update, hurrah the tank is an algae mess, hair algae, algae on the glass and on the sand.
Clean up crew has been upgraded to include 3 turbo, 4 ceriths and a strawberry conch. They are doing a grand job, 4 days in and already they are putting a dent in the problem. All parameters are fine, so once the algae is under control I will be looking at a softy or 2, watch this space.
( no pics because it isn't a pretty sight at the moment :eek:)

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Best of luck with getting rid of the algae!

 

[Willow1234]

Thanks, I have to say the clean up crew are doing a marvellous job.
Once they have it under control, I'll move to the next stage.

 

[Willow1234]

Ok so a little update. To help the cleanup crew a sally light crab and an emerald green one has been added and the alge is well under control. So much so that i think I have my first hitchhiker appear.
can anybody identify the 'growth' in the pictures?