The Flying Turkey's New 50 Gallon Cube Build!

[The Flying Turkey]

On Saturday the RO/DI filter from Purely H2O arrived! It is a very well made unit. I had it set up and making water rather quickly. they include set up instructions and there is a set up video on their website. Set up was easy and after a 30 minute flush I was up and running. The auto shut off feature is very very nice and I highly recommend it. I started making water and went on with my day. By about 9:00 PM my 20 gallon Brute (I set the float so that I filled it with 15 gallons) was full and the RO/DI shut off automatically. I don't have to worry about overfilling.

I've got a couple of big days today and tomorrow. A bunch of stuff I ordered is coming in!

I ordered some stuff from Drs Foster and Smith. I got a good deal on Red Sea Coral Pro salt mix and with free shipping I also bought a couple of other items: A pump for my auto top-off system, a pump for mixing salt water, a test kit to use for cycling my tank, and a 2nd heater for my salt mixing tank.

Also coming in today is 50 lbs of dry rock from Reef Cleaners.

Lost in space is 80 lbs of dry sand from Marco Rocks. It shipped USPS and the tracking number says expected delivery is 3/10. That was yesterday. Who the heck knows where it is.

I also splurged a little with a refractometer. I was going to get an optical one, but then I came across the Milwaukee MA887 digital refractometer. I ordered one off Ebay for $99 with free shipping. Milwaukee Instruments MA887 Digital Salinity Specific Gravity Refractometer | eBay

And the big item is the Lumentek Pro 120 from Reef Radiance. It will be here tomorrow.

I plan to start cycling by the weekend!

 

[Dextereef]

Good luck with the tank. It is extremely exciting gathering all the gear and the next best thing is getting it all started.

 

[The Flying Turkey]

Good luck with the tank. It is extremely exciting gathering all the gear and the next best thing is getting it all started.

Thanks!

 

[The Flying Turkey]

Well, a lot has happened over the last week or so. A bunch of stuff arrived and I now have salt water in the tank at 80 degrees, a 4" deep sand bed and dry rock is in and aquascape complete. The Reef Radiance Lumentek Pro 120 lights are mounted and programmed. Here are a few pics.

Here's the sump:

I don't think I'll be keeping the filter pads. I'll probably switch to a filter sock. I put rock rubble in the fuge section. Heater and top off sensor in the return pump section. I'll add chaeto to the fuge once cycle is complete.

I ordered some very nice live rock from Gulfliverock.com a week ago last Friday, but I have yet to receive it. They didn't even notify me that there would be a delay. I had to repeatedly email them until I finally got a response. they were out of live rock, but got some in and my order should ship Monday. My plan was to place the live rock right in the tank to begin the cycle. So I've been waiting over a week to start cycling the tank.

Oh, in other news, the no-name return pump that came with the tank became very very noisy. I ran it when I fisrt got the tank when I leak checked it with tap water. I let it run for 4 days then I shut it off and drained all the water out. Last week when I filled up the tank with salt water, I started up the pump, and it was screaming. I shut it down and took it apart to check the impeller and I couldn't find anything wrong with it. So I replaced it with a Hydor 320 GPH pump that is completely silent. I also fine tuned the Durso standpipe and got it quiet, and I added some PVC to the silicone drain line to quiet the falling water sound in the sump.

So the next update should be the start of the cycle with 10 lbs of live rock!

 

[The Flying Turkey]

Well, the live rock from Gulf Live Rock arrived today!

Since this is my first live rock purchase, I'm not sure of what I got, but it is definitely nicer than any live rock I have seen at any LFS. See for yourself and tell me what you think:

It arrived packed nicely:

I found these tiny crabs which didn't survive the 2 day trip:

I placed the live rock on top of my dry rock for seeding:

I found a live clam on one of the rocks. Do I keep him or toss him?

Anyway, I am now officially starting the cycle. My parameters today were:

PH 8.2
Salinity 1.023
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 0 ppm

Do you think the salt is a little low?

 

[The Flying Turkey]

Well, 24 hours after I added the live rock, the ammonia is up to .50 ppm. Let the cycle begin!

 

[Dextereef]

My tank seems to do better at 1.024-1.025 range on the salinity. You may have success at that range but only time will tell. I have read a lot if threads lately where people are keeping their salinty at 1.026 to more closely replicate natural seawater. My opinion of this is it doesn't Leave a buffer for salinty increases. Ex if you ato fails.

 

[The Flying Turkey]

My tank seems to do better at 1.024-1.025 range on the salinity. You may have success at that range but only time will tell. I have read a lot if threads lately where people are keeping their salinty at 1.026 to more closely replicate natural seawater. My opinion of this is it doesn't Leave a buffer for salinty increases. Ex if you ato fails.

If I wanted to increase the salinity in the tank, what would be the best way to increase it? I probably wont be doing a water change until the cycle is complete.

 

[The Flying Turkey]

I picked up a filter sock and holder today. Got it installed. I checked ammonia today and it's up to 1.5 ppm.

 

[madnessknight89]

If the ckam lives keep it and I keep mine as close to. 026 as possible and my tank being under a year old thrives

 

[Dextereef]

If I wanted to increase the salinity in the tank, what would be the best way to increase it? I probably wont be doing a water change until the cycle is complete.

If you wish to up the salinity you can wait till you start doing waterchanges and just slowly start increasing it. Slow and steady will take you far in this hobby. If 1.026 is where you want to be start making the replacement water at that level until the whole tank reads 1.026. If your animals do not like it then do the same thing to bring the salinity down.

 

[Dextereef]

I picked up a filter sock and holder today. Got it installed. I checked ammonia today and it's up to 1.5 ppm.

cycle looks to be well underway. The adventure begins!

 

[madnessknight89]

Hope you have deep pockets lol

 

[The Flying Turkey]

Hope you have deep pockets lol

Why do you say that? Am I doing something wrong?

 

[madnessknight89]

No its just a vary addictive/expensive hobby with always needing more upgeades, more coral a new fish to do a different job... ext

But thats why we love it, because in even if something happens, we learn and fix it

 

[Tahoe61]

You've done nice work, looks great.

 

[madnessknight89]

You've done nice work, looks great.

Agreed

 

[The Flying Turkey]

You've done nice work, looks great.

Agreed

Thanks guys, that means a lot!

 

[madnessknight89]

Np keep it up and keep updating us look forward too seeing it stocked

 

[The Flying Turkey]

Tonight's parameters:

Salinity: 1.023
Temp: 78
PH: 8.0
Ammonia: 2.0 ppm
Nitrite: 0.25 ppm
Nitrate: 0.0 ppm


Is it possible to start seeing Nitrite after only 3 days?