OP
OP
Clean sand, clean tank, clean rock, clean water... time to put this sushi roll together.
Biggest issue... my mixing station isn't finished and I don't have a concrete way to pump water from the garage, into the house. It's about 9 feet of head, and probably 18 feet run from the ground where the tote is, to the top of the tank, going up the steps and around corners. The tiny pump I use to boost start a siphon when doing manual water changes was barely able to push a small trickle of water into the tank. I do have an old Jebao DCT 6000 pump and exactly one, 3/4" barb for the outlet. My 50 foot long hose is 1/2", so that's not going to mate up. A quick trip to the "blue home improvement store," I had what I needed to go from 3/4" barb to 1/2" barb by way of a 3/4" threaded coupling and a 3/4" thread to 3/4" barb, a 3/4" to 1/2" bushing and a 1/2" thread to 1/2" barb, and a piece of 3/4" hose.
This was MUCH faster, and in just a few minutes I had enough water to start placing rocks back in the tank. I had thoroughly mixed up all the rocks, like a humpty dumpty... my scape I had fallen in love with wasn't going back together again. Oh well, new year new tank... or whatever the kids are saying.
This was the design I settled on. The left is a few free standing structures with overhangs, and on the right is a multi cave with a lot of hollow space for the fish to have places to hide.
There is only one more ingredient for this sushi roll, and that is the sand. I decided to just pour it in, as it was completely washed of any fine particulates. It was very cool to be able to just pour the sand in the tank, and make absolutely no cloud at all.
Once all the sand was in, it was time to finish filling the sump and turn all the equipment back on. The temp was reading 64F after pumping it up from the garage and playing stack the rocks, so I would need to let that cycle around for hours to heat up all the way. The next day around mid morning the temp was reading 76F so I felt comfortable moving my livestock over. There was a slight cloud to the tank, but it wasn't horrible. I figured it was just a minor bacteria bloom, and probably came from the water I was using to rinse the rocks after scrubbing... it had gotten pretty funky towards the end.
The first step was to get the rock out safely so nobody got crushed. I placed it all back in the sump, where it can continue to grow sponges and all kinds of neat things in the dark. After the rock was placed in the sump, I drained most of the water from the barrel to help me catch the fish.
This giant brittle star has been thru 3 tanks now, and I've had it for 6 years. That is a large Florida fighting conch it is climbing over, and when stretched out, it would touch both edges of a dinner plate. When I originally got it, I had a massive asterina starfish population, and not terribly long after adding it I haven't had an asterina since. I doubt it was eating them, but it likely is a way better scavenger and completely took over the roll they were filling.
Biggest issue... my mixing station isn't finished and I don't have a concrete way to pump water from the garage, into the house. It's about 9 feet of head, and probably 18 feet run from the ground where the tote is, to the top of the tank, going up the steps and around corners. The tiny pump I use to boost start a siphon when doing manual water changes was barely able to push a small trickle of water into the tank. I do have an old Jebao DCT 6000 pump and exactly one, 3/4" barb for the outlet. My 50 foot long hose is 1/2", so that's not going to mate up. A quick trip to the "blue home improvement store," I had what I needed to go from 3/4" barb to 1/2" barb by way of a 3/4" threaded coupling and a 3/4" thread to 3/4" barb, a 3/4" to 1/2" bushing and a 1/2" thread to 1/2" barb, and a piece of 3/4" hose.
This was MUCH faster, and in just a few minutes I had enough water to start placing rocks back in the tank. I had thoroughly mixed up all the rocks, like a humpty dumpty... my scape I had fallen in love with wasn't going back together again. Oh well, new year new tank... or whatever the kids are saying.
This was the design I settled on. The left is a few free standing structures with overhangs, and on the right is a multi cave with a lot of hollow space for the fish to have places to hide.
There is only one more ingredient for this sushi roll, and that is the sand. I decided to just pour it in, as it was completely washed of any fine particulates. It was very cool to be able to just pour the sand in the tank, and make absolutely no cloud at all.
Once all the sand was in, it was time to finish filling the sump and turn all the equipment back on. The temp was reading 64F after pumping it up from the garage and playing stack the rocks, so I would need to let that cycle around for hours to heat up all the way. The next day around mid morning the temp was reading 76F so I felt comfortable moving my livestock over. There was a slight cloud to the tank, but it wasn't horrible. I figured it was just a minor bacteria bloom, and probably came from the water I was using to rinse the rocks after scrubbing... it had gotten pretty funky towards the end.
The first step was to get the rock out safely so nobody got crushed. I placed it all back in the sump, where it can continue to grow sponges and all kinds of neat things in the dark. After the rock was placed in the sump, I drained most of the water from the barrel to help me catch the fish.
This giant brittle star has been thru 3 tanks now, and I've had it for 6 years. That is a large Florida fighting conch it is climbing over, and when stretched out, it would touch both edges of a dinner plate. When I originally got it, I had a massive asterina starfish population, and not terribly long after adding it I haven't had an asterina since. I doubt it was eating them, but it likely is a way better scavenger and completely took over the roll they were filling.
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