Finally starting up the tank I got 2 years ago

[Aeb1419]

Hi. Been away for awhile. I live in Califon Nj and Ive had a 22 gal cad lights tank for quite some time now. About two years ago I saw an opportunity to buy a red sea 250 from someone in NYC. I pulled the trigger but was hesitant to start because of work, moving to a new house, kids starting a new school. I took my time and slowly purchased all necessary equipment before I got started. I have been very selective on what I want to do with this tank. I think my overall goal is to succesfully keep sps. Id still like to keep it as simple as possible and not break my wallet. So heres the breakdown

Lighting: 2 reefi 1.0 and Aquatic life
32inch T5 fixture

Pump: reef octopus varios and reefwave 45

ATO: ice cap ato

Two heaters

Sump: planning on having macro algae and I have a algae light from AI

Planning to add water finally this coming weekend. I will be sure to take pictures.

Only have very few coral in my 22 gal. Will move things over when the time is right. The 22 gal was overtaken by bubble algae so im hesitant on ensuring I do it the right way.

My biggest concern is water changes. Need to figure out what I have to do to create saltwater downstairs in the basement and have it send aater upstairs. I really font want to carry buckets around but im no plumbing expert so I gotta figure this out.

Really gonna take my time with this tank. I notice once I out coral in I tend to rush to want to fill it up too quickly instead of letting the tank acclimate to the new additions. Gotta really test my patience this time around.

 

[myrjon]

Myrjon My top off - brute with to in basement connected to a mag 18 plumbed through floor to tank. Connected mag 18 to electrical strip next to tank. Fill tank evaporation. Also this is how I do water changes. Another brute in basement with salt water. Hit a switch and you’re done. No sensors or floats to go bad!

 

[mnat]

Looks like you have a great setup to start and taking it slow is always the way. For water changes, you can go through the floor or just get a really long piece of tubing to run the water changes from the basement up stairs.

 

[Mark_C]

Beautiful setup. I've said it before and will again, the aesthetics of these tanks are beautiful, then we add water and livestock and it all goes to ^&*%.
Buy plastic fish on lexan rods and put them in tank , you can move them around every morning.

 

[Aeb1419]

Anyone know where I can get a decently priced booster pump for the 75GPD 4 stage brs system?

 

[Mark_C]

Been using this for a few years now, works fantastic.

Smart Buddie RO/DI Booster Pump - For 50-100 GPD Systems

Increase the effectiveness of your RO system, and Reduce waste water by up to 65%! Reverse osmosis booster pumps can easily increase the pressure going into your RO or RO/DI system if your starting pressure is low. Reverse osmosis is a pressure-driven process. Small residential RO units will...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[iTzJu]

Been using this for a few years now, works fantastic.

Smart Buddie RO/DI Booster Pump - For 50-100 GPD Systems

Increase the effectiveness of your RO system, and Reduce waste water by up to 65%! Reverse osmosis booster pumps can easily increase the pressure going into your RO or RO/DI system if your starting pressure is low. Reverse osmosis is a pressure-driven process. Small residential RO units will...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

second this, best booster out of the box pump you can buy imho.

 

[Aeb1419]

Thanks! Will get! Reducinng water waste would be a huge help!

 

[Aeb1419]

Any recommendations on how deep my sandbed should be? Im thinking one inch. Would like to know what others are currently doing.

 

[mnat]

That is a good depth, what sand were you thinking of getting?

 

[Mark_C]

Agreed. I keep my tanks at approx 1". Deep enough for CuC and wrasses, shallow enough to clean manually if/when needed, and no gas buildups.

 

[Aeb1419]

Thanks. I am using the carib sea aragonite fiji pink.

 

[diana a]

Been using this for a few years now, works fantastic.

Smart Buddie RO/DI Booster Pump - For 50-100 GPD Systems

Increase the effectiveness of your RO system, and Reduce waste water by up to 65%! Reverse osmosis booster pumps can easily increase the pressure going into your RO or RO/DI system if your starting pressure is low. Reverse osmosis is a pressure-driven process. Small residential RO units will...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

I have this and it is great

 

[Aeb1419]

Finally got the tank wet. Added ammonium chloride and bacteria yesterday. Now it’s just the waiting game

 

[Aeb1419]

Im deciding not to run light until its fully cycled. Refugium light is on though. Anyone else do it this way? (This is the first time I decided to do it this way)

 

[myrjon]

No lights needed for cycle

 

[Aeb1419]

So the

Been using this for a few years now, works fantastic.

Smart Buddie RO/DI Booster Pump - For 50-100 GPD Systems

Increase the effectiveness of your RO system, and Reduce waste water by up to 65%! Reverse osmosis booster pumps can easily increase the pressure going into your RO or RO/DI system if your starting pressure is low. Reverse osmosis is a pressure-driven process. Small residential RO units will...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

ok so I received today and have a question. The flow regulator originally on my 4 stage system. Do I have to remove that or that stays?

 

[Rueric]

After dealing with some of the issues with starting dry rock for 2 tanks in a row.. i would recommend looking into and trying getting some live rock from a reputable vendor..

 

[Aeb1419]

After dealing with some of the issues with starting dry rock for 2 tanks in a row.. i would recommend looking into and trying getting some live rock from a reputable vendor..

What issues?

 

[Rueric]

What issues?

My first tank I started, complete dry rock.. I battled GHA to a degree that I simply couldn't beat. I threw everything at it, including the kitchen sink. That tank was up for probably 1.5years, with the GHA lasting for nearly 8 of it.
I decided to finally tear that tank down and upgrade to a bigger size, using some of the existing rock, the GHA eventually died off but I have this strange mulm like algae that grows, not too annoying.. but I've been unable to host SPS, they would all eventually STN and wither away..

Whether or not it was due to the dry rock or not, I can't confirm.. My suspicions is that my tanks started basically completely with dry rock with bottled bacteria (used Microbacter 7 for first tank, second tank used Fritz Turbo).
Right now, I just placed a 15lb order for some KP Aquatics Live rock I have cooking in a QT tank now.. Hopefully I can get some of that bio diversity introduced to help stabalize the tank both from a micro organism standpoint, and a bacterial standpoint.