My New 26g

[legendboy]

I bought this setup from Binare a while ago. Just about ready to start it back up.

Tank is a 20x20x9 3/8" Starfire herbie over flow, 10g sump.

The only modification I have done is adding a Tunze nano skimmer and a partition in the sump for it.

Since Binare did not want to part with his reefkeeper, I am (for now) going to have the tank running manually and on timers. I do love the idea of having things as automated as possible. Will go back to a reefkeeper when it is in the budget.

Will have aprox. 21g of actual water volume

I will be running RowaPhos in the reactor

I have setup a water storage and mixing station in my basement

Using Aquavitro Salinity salt (using IO for the last year in other tank)

LS, LR and macro in the center compartment of the sump

Going with a tiled tank bottom, the same as MacheteAvenue. I love the idea of an easy to clean substrate. Love the look and functionality.

Anyways have a look and let me know if you see anything obvious I have overlooked or missed.

Plan to get water in this tank within a few days.

Thanks for looking!

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/shackner/New%20Tank/new.jpg

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/shackner/New%20Tank/tank.jpg

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/shackner/New%20Tank/overflow.jpg

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/shackner/New%20Tank/sump.jpg

[legendboy]

Alright, I have issues!

I filled the tank last night and no leaks.

Problem is where the tank is, the floor is not level. (sloped down towards the front of the tank) This normally wouldn't be a huge issue but this tanks water level normally sits about 0.25" from the top.

With the level issue the water sits right at the edge of the tank. This will not work. So i need to figure out a way to level it out. Thinking 2 small screw jacks underneath. (i used a car sissor jack temp last night)


Second problem is I am having a difficult time balancing the drain valve so the water levels are maintained in the overflow and sump. I probably screwed around with it for 2 hours and could not get it right.

Help! lol

[legendboy]

doing a bit of reading on RC

It seems I should have a 3 way valve or T with a valve on my return line, so i can bypass some of the return to fine tune the balance between the 2 tanks. (and dump the bypassed water back into the sump)

This sound like the way to go?

[pirate]

On my tank I used shimming stock from home Depot. You get it down by the windows and door section. I thought about using feet for adjustments as well but then there is a lot of weight put onto those screw points and they would fail eventually (my .02c)
Nice looking tank if I do another smaller tank I'm gonna try to copy it

[legendboy]

I thought about using window and door cedar shims. I have some in the garage.

However due to the design of this stand, I can't.

The bottom of the stand has a hidden compartment for wiring etc..

The only place to use the shims would be underneath each side (.75" plywood) and would be visible when looking at the front of the tank.

I am going to try the screw jacks and see how it works out. Its a cheap and easy fix. Will post some pics tonight.


I am also going to change around my plumbing a bit too. And possibly replace the ball valve on my drain with a gate valve allowing finer adjustment. Add a return bypass using the valve going to my reactor.

I don't think it makes alot of sense to have that valve there since if I turn it off I will have to re balance the system...do not want

[LeeR]

cool build.

the gate valve might fix the problem.. also try adjusting it then leaving it for a half hour to work out the air bubbles.

[legendboy]

Alright so to level this tank I grabbed a scrap peice of .108" stainless channel from work and bought the cheap screw jacks. Had to cut myself some plywood shims, ended up needing 4 on each side.

Here is what it looked like before

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/shackner/New%20Tank/2/bubble.jpg

Cutting the c channel to length at home.

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/shackner/New%20Tank/2/cut%20channel.jpg

Pic of $8 dollars worth of cheap chinese machinist jacks (rated to 1k lb each)

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/shackner/New%20Tank/2/jack.jpg

So this is what i used minus 4 shims. I used the large scissor jack to raise the stand, then let it down on the leveling jacks. Took 4 tries to get it lvl front to back and side to side.

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/shackner/New%20Tank/2/leveling%20kit.jpg

This is what each side looks like. Can't see the channel but it is up underneath and runs the full width.

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/shackner/New%20Tank/2/level.jpg

Nice cloudy water! Aquavitro?

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/shackner/New%20Tank/2/iso%20cube.jpg

And what the sump plumbing looks like now

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/shackner/New%20Tank/2/sump.jpg




Took me 5 mins to get the tanks balanced. I have noticed that the system is somewhat self balancing.

Anyways I am pretty happy now!

[legendboy]

Water level is around 3/16" all the way around now

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/shackner/New%20Tank/2/water%20lvl.jpg

[LeeR]

what are you going to do for live stock?

[legendboy]

I am not sure yet. I will move my clown from my nano and get him a buddy. I might move my yellow watchman goby but I think I might get rid of him. He hides pretty much all the time. I am not sure he is suitable for tile substrate.

Had faith and let the tank run all night. Everything is perfect. Water has cleared alot also.

Pretty excited about getting some nice corals in! Hopefully cycle doesn't take too long

[riceboy]

nice build manlike how simple it looks

[legendboy]

Thanks yo!

So one of the lfs here got in some fresh LR this morning so I grabbed a couple peices. Living room not smelling so good :redface:

ever smell a dead oyster?? I hope it doesn't last too long, my wife is sick right now and can't smell. Hopefully she stays sick? lol

[legendboy]

any idea what this is, sps?

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/shackner/New%20Tank/coral.jpg

[TheMikey]

i love the dimensions on this tank! Looks like a nice clean build as well.

As for your hitchhiker, it looks like it could be a digi. Is it stony? Could also be a sponge of some sort... Can you get a clearer picture?

[legendboy]

Tanks been running for 5 weeks. Cycle is under way. Nitrite at 0.5ppm now, waiting for it to disappear.

On the fence about what to use for substrate. Having second thoughts on the tile, thinking carbisea Seaflor Special Grade but Kevin at RCA warned that it could trap detrius.

Worried about powerheads blowing live sand all over the place...

[lorenz0]

at 9" its hard to keep sand from moving with alot of flow. I put a mp10 on a tank that was only 9" deep and could only have it at 40% due to this issue

[legendboy]

Cycle is done, Nitrites read zero.

Decided against the tiles and added Agramax Select

Rinsed this stuff for over an hour, total pita. The plan was to added all the substrate and then do a large water change in the display to lower the nitrates, before I turned the return pump back on. This was also going to help alot with the cloudiness. Completely forgot to do that..fail

Will post a pic when the dust settles

[DCDN]

I'm getting ready to build a similar sized tank. Looking forward to seeing how you aquascape it

[legendboy]

Ok so I have had my pod explosion and I have noticed a few bad things

It appears I may have flat worms. There are 3 smallish orange/brown things on the glass!

Also, I notice tiny GHA starting to grow on my new rock as well as a few tiny aptasia/mojano/hydroid

Tested for phosphate and none is detectable

****!

[legendboy]

I am very concerned about the green hair algae. I am currently battling it in my nanocube.

Can I have some advice on what I should do?

I am thinking pulling this rock out and buying some cured LR from red coral instead. I only spent $40 on this rock and am willing to eat the cost if it means avoiding GHA in my new tank

Someone give me some guidance please!

[riceboy]

hey man its just part of the cycle, you have to leave it for a month or even 2 just to build up your bacterias and other goodies. once all your parameters are right and nitrates and phosphates are undetectable then you the algea should go as well. can't rush these things, make sure your using distilled water during water changes (should do a 10% every week, even if theres nothing in the tank except for liverock and sand)

I am very concerned about the green hair algae. I am currently battling it in my nanocube.

Can I have some advice on what I should do?

I am thinking pulling this rock out and buying some cured LR from red coral instead. I only spent $40 on this rock and am willing to eat the cost if it means avoiding GHA in my new tank

Someone give me some guidance please!

[riceboy]

just read that you've let it cycle for 5 weeks, only thing i can think of is your phosphate levels high? are you using distilled water for water changes? let us know what your parameters are at

[legendboy]

My phosphates are undetectable with an api test kit. I am able to pick up lots of phosphate from my regular tap water using the same test kit.

I am using 0 tds rodi water

My tank seems fully cycled zero ammonia and nitrite, and did a large 60% water change last night when I siphoned all the sand out of the display. I probably should have done the large water change a week ago.

I will re test tonight to see what my nitrate lvl is.

[legendboy]

I should also say that last night, when i pulled the rock out of the tank, it smelled like rotten eggs. Not sure what that is all about

[riceboy]

how is your skimmer doing, is it pulling a lot of stuff out? usually the rotten smell is something is dying.

read this article

http://saltwateraquariumsupplies.org/aquarium-environment/rotten-egg-smell-hydrogen-sulfide.html

[legendboy]

So I returned the rock I originally bought for store credit and went to red coral and picked up some nice cured rock. I like the look of the new rock way better so it worked out.

Will try and get a pic up tonight

[legendboy]

how is your skimmer doing, is it pulling a lot of stuff out? usually the rotten smell is something is dying.

read this article

http://saltwateraquariumsupplies.org/aquarium-environment/rotten-egg-smell-hydrogen-sulfide.html

skimmer was going like crazy for about a week when i first added the fresh rock. has since died down

I can't believe how bad skimate smells! its horrible

[legendboy]

Still undecided on what direction to go with this project. I am still leaning towards a larger tank but money is a bit tight so

Anyways, my clown seemed very happy after being transfered from my nanocube, but he jumped a few days ago. Found him somewhat dried and stuck to the carpet behind the tank.

I loved that little guy (ned)

[legendboy]

Well my tank is kind of looking like ****. Not exactly sure whats going on with it.

I added 8 small damsels (from wai's) and some nice zoa frags from rca just before xmas and had everything looking awesome.

I lost 4 fish, one stuck to my power head, then one having the remains eaten by my CBS, one completely disapeared and another one stuck to the powerhead.

I also have diatoms or some red and green slime algae. Water smells bad.

Looks like some of the remaining fish have something wrong with them, fin rot or something, not sure.

Doing water changes every few days, siphoning as much crap off the sand and rocks as possible. All water params look good, temp at 77.5-78.5 1.06sg, no nitrate...etc...

Kinda getting sick of this lol

[Hawkaholic]

My guess is you added too many fish at one time. 8 fish in a 26G is alot...your system is now trying to catch up to the bioload of fish but can't. 2 damsels would have been better then once your pars are good with the two damsels you can add more. One fish or two at a time. Patience is the key when reefing. Sorry for all the problems your having. I would get the fish out of there...do a fairly large water change then test pars after a few days. When the pars are good...add two small fish and see what happens.

[legendboy]

I think i may have had the tank over powerheaded.

[legendboy]

Last fish jumped last night

I am bad at this lol