icsparks

So far I have cycled 2 new fish through our 29 gal QT with no issues in water quality or stress to the fish that I can tell. The fish did their 30 day lock up just fine with no apparent illness. I do 5 gal WC every week. I had to place a container of sand inside the tank because one of the fish was a Yellow Cloris Wrasse. My only issue I have had is with the new resident. The new resident fish is a small blue hippo tang. For some reason this fish hides all the time when the lights are off .When the lights are on the fish will be out and about happy. So I kind of disagree with the "No need for lighting" I think the fish need some sort of a lighting schedule to feel normal and not be stressed out hiding in the dark all the time.

30 years ago store bought fish food wasn't that great. would never feed my reef tank beef heart today, but back then I did feed it to my triggers, groupers in my salt tank, and the oscar's and cats in the fresh water tank.

+1 on DIY food. Back in the day when I had a large 180 fresh water tank. I would go to the local butcher and buy beef heart and fresh clams grind it up, add vitamins, flake food, garlic and gelatin place it the freezer and instant gumbo for the fish.

Why not dose the carbon with a dosing pump? You can set it to dose small amounts up to 24 times a day to minimize any O2 drop and allows uptake without high concentrations effecting PH if you use vinegar. Calculate your weekly amount needed place it in a container and let it do the rest.

Thought it was time for a few pictures of our tank.

+1 for emerald crabs.

1) Which media (GFO & carbon) works well in the reactors? I use BRS GFO and ROX 0.8 carbon 2) How much of each media would you start with and increase to over time? I use the BRS calculator for the amount I use and it has been accurate for my system. Monitor your system and add or remove according to what your tank needs. 3) What is a good media change out schedule? I don't have a phosphate test at the moment. You should get a phosphate test kit to track levels. I change out both GFO and carbon every 4 weeks. 4) Do the reactors need to be at the height of the sump or can they be below the sump's water level? Depending on your type of reactor it shouldn't matter. 5) Where would you tie in the reactors input (e.g. from main pump or separate pump) and output (e.g. return pump section or other)? my reactors are on their own separate pump, this allows you to adjust the outputs of each reactor without effecting other equipment. The outputs dump back into the sump return pump area. 6) Currently growing macro in a 5g refugium, but thinking about starting a 10g remote refugium. Once I tie the reactor in would you trash the refugium instead? A refugium adds bio diversity to the tank so I would keep it.

There is nothing to prevent you from introducing something that was hitchhiking on a coral, rock algae, snail or crab that wasn't QT'd I know this for a fact when I had perfectly healthy fish for over 3 months and got some algae from a local reefer for my sump and the day after adding the algae my two clown fish got sick with Brooklynella. I lost both fish over just adding algae from another reefers tank. On a happy note my foxface that was also in the tank never got it. BF once said "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" so that's why I will still try to QT new fish.

Here is how I started up my QT, 1, Bought a 29 gal tank kit had filter heater and hood, I built my own cheep stand. 2. Used fresh ro/di water and filled tank. 3. Added pvc pipe for hiding places. 3. started cycle by adding a pinch of food to tank. 4. After 8 weeks tank was stuck in cycle. Had the ammonia spike then nitrites but would not go down. figured out that filter did not have enough surface area for bacteria to grow. 5. I added rock rubble and bio balls from my existing 20 gallon tank to the QT filter box. 6. The cycle completed within a week after adding the extra media. 7. Did a 30% water change after cycle to drop the nitrates down and added one fish. 8. Do weekly 10% water changes, 9. I QT new fish at least 30 days and longer if needed. If you plan on cycling a few fish through the QT tank over a few months. Then I would cycle the tank just like you would a normal setup and then add the fish. Ammonia will spike very quickly in a tank that cant handle a bio load and adds stress to the fish. 10 gallon tank is quite small for a QT for the fish in your list. +1 sponge filters will add more surface area for the bacteria to grow.

I left the vertical spacers about 1/8" off edge of the walls for the epoxy to have a surface to stick to for a stronger joint. You can go right to the edge if you use perfect smooth cuts and use acrylic bonding agent for a more professional look. I just used epoxy from a local hardware store.

My sump is center return. the pictures above is for the skimmer side. for the fuge side I made the first wall the tallest fuge height and then the last wall height is determined by what you want your return pump section water height to be.

I built the baffle as a drop in unit, fully assembled. so I only have to seal the front and back walls. to the glass. The acrylic is glued together with an acrylic epoxy. A single sheet of acrylic will tend to bow under the weight of water pressure in a long span, so I added the 1" spacers between the sheets. I didn't want to go with glass because acrylic will not break like glass and when your down there cleaning, moving rocks,skimmers and such around there is less chance of breakage. I cut all of the pieces on the table saw. The front and back wall height will be determined by how high you need your water level. The center wall will need to be taller in order to force the water through the trap. The center wall also has a 1-1/2" notch cut out of the bottom to let the water travel up through the last wall and out. Also the last wall is shorter in length to allow enough room to place the assembly into the tank.

Yes I will get better pictures and do up a drawing of the flow.

40 gal DIY sump & filter sock brackets.

He has been removed. Thank you.