Happyfeet

On a side note the initial cycle is proceeding really well. Last week the shrimp I put in was completely decomposed and spiking the ammonia pretty high. This week ammonia has fallen to almost 0 Nitrite rose to 1.0 held for a couple days and is currently falling back down. around .50 currently. Nitrate is holding steady at about 20 PH is holding steady at 8.2 Phosphate is around .25 After looking at my excel sheet, it looks like the initial spikes are over and everything is falling and evening out. I'm starting to get some algae on my scrubber and the water has cleared up from the sand. All in all I'm pretty happy.

I got the tank for next to free and when I got it home and bought the drill bits to drill I was looking at a DIY site, which said MAKE SURE THE GLASS IS NOT TEMPERED I remembered seeing an orange sticker on the bottom of the tank and it read "all sides tempered glass". I would MUCH rather have a drilled tank, but with this one its not going to happen. I'm going to see how this goes and my plan is to upgrade into a 100gal tank once my current lease is up, if I decide to move.

55gal display 20 gal sump half filled so about 65 gal total for me.

Finished up the sump, got it all quieted down! FINALLY!

Thaaaank you! This worked really really well!!! Lets see if the girl thinks so too! haha

I'm trying to decide on a stocklist. I've been reading up on Chromis for schooling fish. I like the way Green Chromis look, but I've read that they may turn aggressive and kill Chromis in the school until only 1 is left. Anyone have any experience with Green Chromis? My other choice is Blue Reef Chromis, but I plan to get another fish thats pretty close to that shade of blue. anyone have experience with either of these two fish?

I'll do that tomorrow, I don't care if it flushes so long as it doesn't make that stoopid WOOOSH GURBLE GURBLE noise in the sump every time lol. Thanks for the idea!

Here are two videos of the sump and of the overflow box. (Same thing happens with out the poly fiber in the box) If I cover all of the holes I've drilled in the top of the endcap it drains the overflow box in a matter of seconds. It should be getting enough airflow. I'm thinking of adding a ball valve where the red X is to regulate flow a little more and send more water down the sheet, which hopefully will expel the air and stop the bubbling.

I fiddled with it some more before I left. I put some teflon tape over the hole and drilled a smaller one. God rid of the sound. It not only shoots bubbles now but does a slight flushing in the Overflow box itself now. My camera was out of batteries, so when I get home tonight I'll take a video so you can see exactly whats going on.

I already added two ninety's, a ball valve, and let it drain at the bottom of water level. I think it might be my Turf Scrubber, but I'm just confused why it didn't create this problem before I added the stockman pipe.

I'm at my wits end, my trash can is littered with failed attempts to quiet my overflow box and my sump. I can quiet one, but not the other. As it is now, (before I butchered it) I made a stockman standpipe and inserted it into the overflow, which it did quiet down to the point I thought it wasn't draining for a second. However the quiet overflow box created a problem in the sump with a wooshing sound and bubbles spewing from the overflow line. Would anyone be willing to come over and take a look at it? I'd take it to you except its full of water. I'm willing to go out to Home Depot or Lowes and get anything anyone needs if they think they can quiet this down. I'll also include beer! 703 595 7147

The Standpipe doesn't work, it sends a bazillion bubbles into my sump creating a whole new wonderfully horrible noise... Though it does quiet the CPR overflow to where I can't hear it anymore. I need to figure out the air bubble problem now. I read that it could be an issue with back pressure and to drill another hole. I drilled another hole and now it shoots bubbles AND gurgles. I'm about ready to give up on this thing.

I changed the rock work up a little bit, I'm going to change it again I'm still not happy with it but I'm close. I also had time to make a Standpipe for my overflow. I'll know how it works tomorrow, I want to make absolutely certain the cement is set before I put water on it.

Thanks guys! I'd just read a few articles warning against deep sand beds, but not defining what qualified as a deep sand bed! I figured I could always get an Engineer Goby to stir everything up worst comes to worst. Once the sand has settled down and my new lighting arrives I'll take some more pictures.

Didn't make it out to Home Depot today, had to stay close to home. I was able to put some sand in it. About 2" in my 55 gal don't think its too much do you?

After reading that Article do you think it would be possible to run a .. Auqasun Professional 10,000k x1 75.25 x1 Super Actinic x1 Actinic White x1 Set up? or do you think there wouldn't be enough 10,000k light?

the 75.25 must be brand new I can find literally no information about them. Curious to give em a try.

I'm curious to know what everyone else is using for lighting on their tanks. I'm thinking of ordering some UVL bulbs and was wanting some feedback if anyone has ever used them. I was thinking about using Auqasun Professional 10,000k x2 Super Actinic x1 Actinic White x1 I wasn't able to find any information on the "75.25 Professional Series" I'm going to keep looking but if anyone has any information that would be great!

I was too busy over the weekend to make one, I jusy shut off my return and overflow and left the powerheads running. It was either overflowing the displaytank, or draining the display tank and sucking air into the sump. I was pretty surprised the overflow box can't fill itself faster than it drains itself. Hopefully tonight I can get to Home Depo and make a stand pipe.

I have to admit, this overflow box is a freaking nightmare trying to get the flow in to match the flow out. I had it perfect for about a day, but in an attempt to make it quieter i messed everything up, now it either drains to fast or fills to fast..... VERY frustrating.

Yup, you would be correct using the ball to regulate the flow. I was actually reading up on the stockman sandpipe, I haven't heard of the Maggie Muffler before. I'll have to look into that, The girlfriend is about to throw it out of the window because of the noise.

Hello everyone I'm Mike, and I'm pretty new around here. I've been getting great advice from everyone on the forum. I'm new to saltwater aquariums so I needed a lot of advice! I'm finally all moved into my new place and my internet has been installed! woohoo. I figured I'd post some pictures of my tank(work in progress) so everyone can see how I'm doing. It took a lot of effort to get the overflow box to run quietly and even more work to get my sump to run quietly. Since my tank is still in the initial cycle I may drain the sump and silicone in some baffles because I'm getting some air bubbles in the main display tank. Plan on heading out to FF sunday to pick up some sand.

I did level the tank out before I put water in it. My level says its level now, but there is probably a quater of an inch difference between the left and right side of the tank. It's probably closer to an eigth of an inch difference.

I set my tank up on monday and tuesday, I leveled it out as best as I could but its not perfect. The tank is a 55 gallon tank 48" long. There is a quarter of an inch or less difference in the water level from the left to the right. Will this be a problem, I just can't seem to get it to level out better than that.

I'd be worried about swiming room for the angel, I've read the minimal length of the tank for any angel is 4' or else they will get stressed and die. Just what I've read, I have no actual experience with angels.