ohaverd

on my first tank, a 55 with a 20g sump. I had no sock, I didnt run carbon, I had 3/4 of the tank for the skimmer, a UV filter, and heater, and the 3 baffles for the bubble trap. On the other side of the bubble trap was my return pump, plumbed with a return that turned back into the sump and a ball valve to control how much flow went back into the display tank. This is all you really need for the smaller tanks. Sumps arent as hard to make as they seem, once you get started they come together fast. One thing I advise on is to make your baffles out of acrylic and EPMD which can been seen here Adjustable baffles are the shizlestick

ya I guess the debate is whether to just go crabless or not...

So I have a medium sized green hermit that I swear every time i look in the tank has a different shell on his back. This leads me to believe he may be shell jacking my snails as I see less and less of them on my glass in the morning. He is the only crab I have, so if I must I'll make him a refugium resident. Am I just being paronoid? And are the smaller blue legged type of crabs safer for the snails?

Ive seen and heard about a few large aquariums like the kind you pay for and visit, use Instant Ocean. If its good enough for them, its good enough form me.

if its the Woodbridge Petco, I can never forgive them for telling me the Seaclone Skimmers are GREAT! That was my first reeftank mistake when I first started out. Now it sits in a box and I kick it every time I walk by... I did get a nice black clown from them a couple of weeks ago for only 24.99 though. He is doing really well.

nice, just say when.

Im gonna buy a 45mm bit from BRS for 1'' bulkheads. Anyone need to use it let me know.

well... at any rate it gives me a reason to dust off the ol Halloween hobo costume...

doesnt matter, I was going to buy a bulkhead according to what size bit I could borrow.

anyone have one I can borrow in the Woodbridge area? I've got a 20 gal Petco tank I want to drill. Heck I can just bring it with me if anyone wants... I could use the drilling lesson. Lunch would be on me

Ha Ha I'll prob go check this place out on a lunch break some day. Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Any one been there? I have a co-worker that said it is really nice... I dont see it on the vendor list. What is their livestock like?

Montclair, VA

I started with the 55 myself and a year later, after learning what it takes to keep marine fish and inverts, I took the next step and got a 110 and now use the 55 as my sump. The point being, the 55 is fine to start with, its just a pain to aquascape because its so thin. You dont want to put your LR against the back glass in case you need to get something like a dead fish from there so it leaves little room for your livestock. a 90 tall wouldnt be that much of a bigger footprint than a 55... its got the same 48 inches across, just a little deeper and fatter.

4 days in a row getting 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate, and checked phosphates yesterday and were 0... come to think of it I dont think I've ever seen a nitrite spike before. the first tank I set up seemed to go from ammonia strait to nitrate over night. My tufts of GHA are thinning out and going away... my front glass is crawling with pods so big you dont even have to squint to see them. I had a dead hermit crab up against the glass that has been decompossed to nothing... I dont get it. there should be nitrite or nitrate at this point. I guess I just keep testing and waiting. The only answer is the chaeto and red mangroves in my refugium are growing fast, maybe thats were the nitrates are going?

Question guys and gals... Its been over a year since I've set up a tank and never one this size... So its only been setup for a little over 3 weeks and I've been checking the water levels as of week 2. The largest ammonia spike I got up too was 0.25 ppm as of yesterday. Today I come home and I get 0 ammonia 0 trite and 0 trate. I don't remember it going this fast. My theory is that the 20 to 30 tufts of GHA on the front glass are just eating up all the bad stuff and that's why I'm reading all zeros? I also used live rock from my last tank that has always been in good saltwater. Did that just make for a shorter cycle? What's the next step? the large water change? or wait a little longer? Right now I wanna just buy a brown tang and let him gobble up all that GHA lol

I just installed my first ATO so I will happily say 2 hours a week... but most importantly, those two hours are on the weekend and all at once. Now I can just come home from work during the week... feed the fish and watch in awe.

quick return pump question: so I have two returns... right now there is 2 RIO 2500 pumps which is a total of just under 600 GPH. I have a Reeflo Blowhole 1100 which is 1100 GPH but is external. I was thinking about plumbing the blowhole and splitting the outake to the two returns. Does that cut the GPH in half perfectly or do you lose more GPH because there is essentially x2 head pressure? Would the 1100 GPH still outway the 600 GPH if split? thx

I've flooded my basement at least 5 times in the last 2 years thanks to my RO/DI. Finally I just made a stand tall enough to get the top of my barrel above the deep sink and added a bulkhead and hose that spills into the deep sink. The bad thing about that is my filters will not last too long if I forget to turn it off. I'm planning on adding a float valve as well so I'll be double protected.

This is the tank with the trim on it... see if you can find the black ocellaris clown I saved from petco in the pic... hint, he's facing towards the phone. I know, I know I shouldnt add him when its only half way done cycling. But I figured he would have a better chance here than in Petco. And it was half off for 24 bucks lol (it was too darn cute to pass up). Eventually I'm going to dust off the ol SLR and takes some good pics for you that show the closed loop and sump.

Joining WAMAS is the best move you can make as a reefer... Everyone here is extremely insightful and willing to help! Welcome Kristin!

Sorry no pics yet... I had to put a third coat of wood stain on the trim and it takes a few days to fully get it to dry and stop stinking in the garage. I am probably going to put it on tonight and take some pics. the tank seems to be running well... I've got a small amonia spikes after 8 days. The skimmer is removing typical darkish green water in the collection cup and a little bit of brown stuff in the cylinder which is what I expect with no livestock in it yet. The good news is that it comes right off... no more sticky stuff like last time!

I've decided to go away from Large Angels because they would restrict my choices on corals in the future. Instead I think this will be my stock list. Purple Tang Blue Hippo Tang (or some other tang not in the zebra family) McCoster's Wrasse Six Line Wrasse Female Spotted Mandarin Pair of False Pec Clowns (should I wait on these for the tank to be ready for the RBTA that I want?) any suggestions on some filler fish that are really colorful and not aggressive? I had damsels and gobies in my 55 and they were A holes... Thoughts on compatibility and order of acclimation? if someone could cut and paste this and put how many months I should let the tank mature before I add it that would be helpful. Also... does anyone have a Purple Tang? If so, what has been your experience with it? Just want to make sure it would make a good "star" fish... see what I did there?

I havent uploaded any images because I am waiting a few days for my trim's wood stain to dry in the garage before I bring them in the house. Once dry, I'll install the trim and update with some pics. I've been thinking a lot on my stocking list and equipment. for the stocking list. I def want my main fish to be some sort of large Angel... The Regal is a classic... but dont know if I should try to find a hardier one? after that I was thinking a pair of clowns (maybe a set of the more expensive ones) I have to have a six line wrasse as it is my favorite fish. and after that i'm not sure. I just installed the used Dart that I bought and the flow in my tank is nice. In the future I want to add an ocean motion 4 way, but they are pricey. And other than that I'll prob want to upgrade my skimmer. I currently have a Vertex IN-100 which is a nice little skimmer, but with 140ish gal total volume system I probably want a bigger one. I'm still only a 1.5 year old reefer so any suggestions or advice is much appreciated.

So i've got the sand in this sucker and its filled with water. Tonight I am goind to Home Depot to buy the trim for the wall frame. I'll update with some pics some time this weekend. I had another question though. I want the main fish in my DT to be a Regal Angel... Should I add this fish first once I'm done with cycling? or should I wait for the tank to establish a bit more and go with some damsels at first?