Alright, now the fun begins!

Rock is in, Saltwater is in!

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/...ps40bf9777.jpg

All this gloominess is due to the overloead of Micro bubbles that I'm getting. Its extremely frustrating to see them in the display.

Any ideas on what I could do to fix this?
http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2fefd149.jpg

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/...psa1750587.jpg

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http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/...psbb60bacd.jpg

I think, I may have screwed up on my sump design. I see this long 'worm like' line of bubbles going in through the return that get blasted all over my tank.

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9cba81a6.jpg

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6ed74897.jpg

Here is a shot of the complete setup. I ran my skimmer today as well just to see how its performing. It seems to be doing okay. ofcourse no skimmate just yet. It seems a bit loud atm, will have to look into how I can reduce its noise level.

I'll be adding about 10lbs of live rock to my tank to properly seed the base and dead live rock. I'm thinking about adding agents like prodibio to aid in the cycling process but have not decided on anything yet. Still have to look into their benefit and costs.

I really need you guys' help on my sump design/return for this micro bubbles issue. I want to get this issue out of the way before I add any live stock to my tank. Please throw your ideas and comments out there for me to learn from and hopefully come up with a solution for my problem!

Cheers!!

Put an elbow on it facing down, or even just a strainer should help

your dad sitting there like a boss

Yeah I Was thinking of doing the same. I'll grab it on my way home from work and see how that changes things.

Lol... Yep!

I'm also thinking about increasing the gap b/w the baffles for the bubble breaker. The water seems to go over top it if I open the drain valve more than 1/2 turn

I left about 1/4 to 1/3 of an inch gap b/w them. Is that less than the optimum gap?

really nice work on that stand! looks like you really lucked out on the package sale it's all quality stuff which is half the battle.

Thank you very much! It took a long time but I'm satisfied to have it sit inside my living room and not look tacky!

Yeah, I think I have everything I need... Maybe a few too many things. It's just a matter of getting this sump working right and get the cycle going!

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/...ps828a0a54.jpg

It hurts me to see that powerhead without the zip tie and dryside secured to something. It will be an expensive repair for that thing to hit the ground! Personally I don't take the chance but its up to you!

I love your stand good job I wish I had to patience and time to do that for myself!

Thanks for pointing that out. I was thinking about securing it too. I've seen a few of those small plastic square sticky things with small zip ties on them but don't know what they are called or where to buy them. Any suggestion on where I can get them?

Hey,

Yah no problem they should hve came in your MP box if you bought it new. You would want to secure it on op and having a rimless I wouldn't want to stick that thing on my tank I would make something nice to go On to the top edge.

If you don't mind the stickin part HD carries zip as for the clips HD might have them or try LFS? I hve a few here that I can trade you for your stand.. Haha

You can get the adhesive-backed cable tie anchors at electrical supply outlets, or Rona and Home Depot etc

As for your air intake issue in the sump, I don't think it's your bubble trap
It looks like your pump is moving a massive amount of water and you need to either;
A - Put a valve after the pump and slow it down some or;
B - Raise the water level in the return section more ( maybe not ideal depending on your power out level )

What model is that Iwaki pump ? I can't make it out

I don't understand what you mean by securing on top. Do you mean I should rotate the dry end so the wire is sticking up vertically?

Thanks Greg! I'll have to take a visit to HD or Rona to try and find those wire anchors.

I'm concerned about damaging the pump if I close the valve on the return line to slow down the pump's output.

I've raised the water level a little but as well as I've added a 90 on the bulkhead which has significantly reduced the amount of bubbles in the display but there is still that burst that gets in there every minute or so which is just frustrating me!

I'll try to play with the flow today and see how that affects the bubble situation. I think part of the problem is the amount of water thats draining in my sump which causes a lot of bubbles too and they don't have a long enough travel distance before the return to disappear themselves.

btw, its an Iwaki RT30.

Yup, he means having the wire verticle
Here's mine
I've left the ties just loose enough to pull the wire back and forth, and enough gap to use my magfloat

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psf7ec1bd7.jpg

With your return pump, you could easily put a Tee after the pump with a gate valve ( don't use a ball valve, they're irritating to fine tune )
Run the outlet from the valve back to your return chamber
Voila, no back-pressure

thanks for your tip Greg!

I already had a T with a ball valve that was supposed to feed my fuge but it wasn't operational in the beginning. After your tip, I played around with the ball valve and it worked wonders. I have NO micro bubbles in the display :smile:

I haven't been able to make a trip to the hardware store yet to find the wire ties, however, I made my way down to J&L today and picked up some LR and sand. Rock is already in... gonna do water change tomorrow and rescape the tank and use the putty I picked up today to secure them!

I'm hoping to have some critters in the tank by the end of the week. SO EXCITED!!

Awesome, I am sorry I didn't answer your question more clear and able
To pop back and re address. Thanks for the quick bail out Greg.

Keep updating I'm followin along.

Glad I could help and that it worked for ya :wink:

We're Cycling!
 

No worries at all! We're all help each other to the best of our capability and have some fun while sharing ideas!!

Its much appreciated! If it weren't for you guys, I would've taken my sump apart and redone it and probably would've still been stuck with the same issue.

Anyways, I think its time to get some more pics going!

So I hit up J&L last weekend and picked up some more LR and live sand to properly seed my tank.

So tonight, I got around to finalizing my rockscape and putting in the sand.

Water is very cloudy but I tried my best to not stir it as much. I'm hoping it'll clear up by tomorrow evening! I plan to add some critters on Friday!!

I think the pictures will tell you the rest of the story!

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7d4e7b41.jpg

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/...pse1b0611c.jpg

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Going to get some livestock today.
 

Hi All, a little update on the progress.

The cloudy water is almost gone but not quite. I didn't have my skimmer on thinking all the sand particles might cause damage to it... but now I have it on and it was a pain to tweek it but now I think I have it at the right setting after cups of salt water going down the drain!

Did a water test last night here are the results if you're interested:

NH3 - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 0
PH - 8.0
KH - 11
SG - 1.024

QUESTION:

I'm wondering how to get rid of all that sand in my drain section.. should I siphon it out or let the skimmer do its thing and eventually it'll be gone?

Here are some pics and a vid.

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8c4d07f5.jpg

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/...ps60c21327.jpg

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The glue, as well as the "ruffles" label will come off and contaminate your water....even if slightly.

Yeah this is a temporary fix. I'm picking up egg crate tonight to make a base for the skimmer.

First batch of cleanup crew added today!
 

Alright, clean up crew is in!!! :lol:

My 250 watt Metal Halide is sitting on top lighting the heck out of my tank and living room!

Here is a list of what I added today:

5 Cerith Snails
20 Blue Leg Hermits
2 Red Scarlets
1 Emerald Crab

Plan to add my first fish next weekend if all stays well till then!

Water column still seems dirty.. I think I need a filter sock to clear things up more.

Looking Good! I like the progress.

Your water will remain dirty especially with the recently added sand if you don't mechanically filter the water somehow. I recommend filter pads of filter socks for sure. Your skimmer can only do so much of the removal.

Oh... And we need a pic of the lights/light on!

Thank bud! Yeah, the water was very murky and still is but not as much. Filter socks are on the way so things should clear up nicely as soon as they're in!

Lights On!!
 

So, since I have not made my LED fixture yet, I went with my Metal Halide 14K bulb. It lighting things up nicely!

Here are the pics of all the inverts entering their new kingdom!

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/...psbfd0fea8.jpg

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NEED HELP WITH ID PLEASE!!
 

It seems like I've been hit with some Aiptasia in my tank already.

I've already ordered Aptasia X and it should be here in a week or so. What are some steps I can take to ensure it doesn't spread all over the tank?

Should I try to pluck it out? I've heard if you bother it releases toxins and can spread much faster then by using Aiptasia X?

Here is a pic of the one big guy. The smaller ones are all around it.

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/...pse483b698.jpg

I like your rockscape

buy couple of peppermint shrimp from J&L , peppermint shrimp love to eat all your aiptsia

Thanks Greg!

Thanks Ali! I thought of doing that, Infact I was at J&L yesterday to pick them up but then I was also adding fish yesterday. So if I feed the fish, the shrimp will just want fish food and not go after aiptasia.

So, I think I'll try aiptasia x first.... And if that doesn't work, then I'll resort to sea hare unless I can find one soon via my post in the live stock section.

lets see an updated fts. :D

Long overdue not done out of lazyness update!!!
 

Hello everyone!!

Its been a long time since I've updated on here. I've lurking around the forum picking up live stock here and there but didn't get enough time to update anything here.

So after my last update, I've added a few fish and a lot more corals. I've had a few casualties as well one of which was probably my fault as I did not feed enough out of paranoia of havning high trates and phates.

Long story short... Tank is doing well at the moment. I've recently started testing for major tank parameters and been keeping a log of them.

I need to start 2 part dosing asap to get some growth out of my corals as well as control the phates as they are extremely high atm.

Params on 11/15/2013 - Before Adding GFO or any sort of dosing

Nitrates 0
PH 8.11
Phosphates .11
Calcium N/A
Magnesium N/A
Alkalinity N/A
Salinity 1.023

Params on 11/21/2013 - After adding GFO and still no dosing (I dosed for the first time ever after this test)

Nitrates 0
PH 8.1
Phosphates .08
Calcium 364
Magnesium 1000
Alkalinity 4
Salinity 1.023

I did not do any dosing from the last check till today. No water changes were done from the last params date till this day.

Params on 12/21/2013 (Before Water change)

Nitrates 0
PH 8.02 (checked at night)
Phosphates .16
Calcium 380
Magnesium 1150
Alkalinity 4
Salinity 1.022

Params on 12/22/2013 (After the water change)

Nitrates 0
PH 8.1
Phosphates .12
Calcium 392
Magnesium 1150
Alkalinity 4.5
Salinity 1.023

I plan to start dosing the tank regularly startign this weekend.

My phosphates are out of control and I'm just not sure why that is the case, given I'm not feeding a lot. I try to change the 10 gallons of water every week. Sometimes I skip a week but otherwise its consistent.

I took some pics last night but haven't had a chance to upload them yet. I'll do that sometime tonight.

Any suggestions on dosing and bringing down phosphates are appreciatied.

Think you definitely need to get tour alk up. Asap.
But slowly over a few days.

Yeah I just dosed a little today per the instructions on the bottle to raise it up to the optimal level. Hopefully this will help creep up my readings slowly to the right levels.

I would be more concerned about the salinity and alkalinity. It would be wise to have the salinity sit around 1.025-1.026 and alkalinity somewhere between 7 to 10dkh (differently reefers maintain different alk). You can take care of phos and nitrate as you move forth fixing those first.

And make sure your test kits are not dead ;)

I was keeping salinity low to 1.022 or 1.023 on purpose. I read somewhere on the forum that its easier on the fish to keep it on the lower side. I had it at 1.025 at the beginning but brought it down later.

Would keeping it at 1.025 help with proper growth in corals and healthier fish?

Hoping to get alkalinity up to the desired level by this weekend.

Some recent shots
 

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Has anyone else noticed these worm type things in their GFO unit? I'm wondering if thats normal or not. Also, this gives you an idea of how much I used as GFO the first time. Any suggestions on how much I should be adding?

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/...ps423abf10.jpg

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/...ps44dc87a9.jpg