Zeek's 29g (1 Viewer)

[gabe_j]

look up durso overflow. its easier than trying to explain it on a reply.

 

[zeek]

Height of the box doesn't matter, its up to you where you want the water line.

I'm sorry I don't understand your current return set up. Are you using a rio 1700 or the output for the canister filter?

A pic would be great. Theres different ways of getting rid of the gurgling noise or the flushing sound.

Yah im using the return line from the xp2 its a 3/4 tubing with a spray bar at the top. Just the tube/spraybar attached to a RIO 1700.

 

[RGH69]

For an overflow you can fix the gurgle with a gurgle buster!

http://home.everestkc.net/jrobertson57268/HGB/

 

[zeek]

TY for the help guys, I got it quiet and sump is flowing nicely, I made my own design for the drain pipe I put a T on the pipe and capped it with a tiny hole at the tip, worked great and its very quiet unless your right next to it.

I fixed the water flow issue as well, got a stronger pump and I got it closed about 30% so I rather have extra then a lack of and the "buble" in my flow U pipe is gone.

Horseystripe hooked me up with some cheato as well and now I'm just waiting for my skimmer to come in.

Question: The "refugium" ended up having VERY low flow, cheato is not moving at all, I was told it should "tumble" then others say it should be in the calmest place to allow it to do as much as possible..... what you all think??

my camera is dead finally I'll try my camera phone later when I get home and show yah.

 

[soymilk]

You should tumble it so all sides get even light. If not then the chaeto on the bottom of the ball is going to die and add nutrients back into your system.

That or you can just flip it by hand. Every day just roll it over. Thats what I did for a while. but I don't run a fuge anymore

 

[zeek]

Cheato is tumbling on its own..

I got one of my wifes Acrylic crochet needle things and Stuck it trough the cheato then balanced it from a rock to a baffle and it rotates slowly with the flow

Skimmer is in as well and running, I am doing a weekly water change of 5gals at this point and nitrates seem to get to about 10-15 at the highest.

Now, how do I want to set-up my refugium? sand, rock and cheato is that it? should I have any life there? crabs/snails at the least or nothing at all? also I read alot about growing pods that naturally feed your tank? how do I get that started or will they do that on their own?

 

[r_jay]

i wouldn't put sand in your refugium, it will just make a mess and collect waste, unless you want to set it up to look nice, lol. i use just rock and chaeto and the pods start multiplying on their own they are already in your chaeto i am sure. for livestock almost anything you want could go in the refugium (within reason) snails, crabs, I've seen mandarin gobies, scooter blennies, even seahorses, or chocolate starfish as long as you have no coral.

 

[merkurmaniac]

For me, my fuge was devoid of cool critters for about 8 months. I got some stomatellas and some microbrittlestars from a marsh member in Galveston. I had been occasionally adding tiger pods that I bought at City Pets. I was hoping that they would take off, and I'd have lots of interesting things to watch.

Only when I added sand did they truly take off. I have sand and live rocks in my fuge, and its alive and well with a variety of critters. I really enjoy it, and I DO think that the sand helped. Of course, it could be coincidence only.

 

[zeek]

I was wondering because I now have been faced with a new issue

Since I set-up my sump/fuge I can't seem to keep my nitrates down, I also lost the anemone it was all removed carefully and tank was cleaned out thorougly so while it could be related this was before the death quite simply it seems since I switched to a sump from the canister filter...

I have tried and tested I did two large water changes in one week id say about 50-60% of the water over a week long period just to see what would happen and 10 nitrates is about as low as it got that week.

No way I should have to do so much to keep them down right?

I'll explain my system as I think I've done anything possible to help.

I got the overflow box that drains into a filter sock(cleaned/replaced weekly) from here it flows trough purigen and carbon puch and then to the skimmer, then to bubble trap and into refugium with cheato/rock and about 1/2 inch sandbed and then to the return pump area back up.

I feel I've taken every precaution, I clean/change filters and socks every saturday and change carbon/purigen once a month. Also skimmer doesn't even pull all that much waste, its working for sure but the waste doesn't seem all that dirty, im lost lol.

Sump pic:

Anyway they remain between 20-40(thats the scale on test kit) and I just cannot seem to keep them down, any suggestions hints or ideas please?

New FTS (It's actually about 2 weeks old lol)

 

[merkurmaniac]

There is a good chance that you may have had substantial bacteria living and thriving in that canister filter that suddenly became unavailable when you took it off and went with the sump. If the sump was new and clean it may have needed weeks to catch up to what the guys in the canister filter were getting done. That is if I read the timeline correctly.

 

[tektite]

That's really not that much chaeto, probably not doing much toward lowering nitrates. More macro in the sump would help. Are you having a problem with algae growth? How much do you feed as well? That's probably where the nitrates are all coming from.

 

[zeek]

That's really not that much chaeto, probably not doing much toward lowering nitrates. More macro in the sump would help. Are you having a problem with algae growth? How much do you feed as well? That's probably where the nitrates are all coming from.

Yeah I have been very unlucky finding more cheato I ordered some algae online tho and should be here sometime this week.

Also we feed once a day and shut off pumps as well ********* only squirt few pieces out at a time being very cautious to not overfeed.

I am also not having any algae growth issues, some brown algae builds up on the glass but only enough for me to magnet clean it when nessesarly barely twice a week if. There is barely a bit of hair showing up in my sump but its only about 1/4 inch long on the longest strands.

 

[tektite]

Too bad you weren't a little closer to me or I could get you more macros. Hope the ones you ordered get to you well with our temperatures! At least your nitrates aren't causing algae problems yet, I'm sure more macros will help you there.

 

[gabe_j]

have you considered that the pouches you keep your purigen/carben have also now become passive filters. where if you were to place these in a reactor/canister you were actively forcing the water to flow through the media instead of whats passing around the pouches now. its vastly more inefficient to be passive with the carbon/purigen. that may be another issue i don't think has been addressed.

also read.. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php

its about vodka dosing you seem to have a good skimmer so i wouldn't be afraid of wrecking some havok on your tank. just be sure to under estamate the net volume of water in your tank. and test often. you don't want to od your tank on vodka. lol. if you want to try it and need a syringe let me know i've got a few back ups.

also if you are concerned about a vodka od. theres always biopellets. they can take up to 2 months to fully establish but the risk of an od to your tank is eliminated. and its comprable to vodka dosing.

 

[soymilk]

I found biopellets a little lacking. I feel vodka seemed more potent and easier to control.

I use liquid carbon right now. I dilute it with water. 1:10. Makes it a bit harder to OD. Also makes it possible for me to use a doser. One less thing to worry about. There's also brightwell's "biofuel". It's basically vodka but with less chance of ODing. There's tons of carbon choices.

Sugar, vodka, vinegar, biopellets, rice, biofuel, zeostart...

 

[zeek]

Thanks for all the help guys Im reading into the dosing I recently heard from a friend about how she's trying that out so i'm letting her "test" it out first

I'll read more into it, thanks guys. I did notice my very little sandbed in the fuge is VERY dirty, should I syphon it often? I also was told that my "deep" sandbed may be an issue.

I have about a 3" sandbed and several sandsifters I thout it was a neat attraction and the kids love it, I got a sandsifting starfish a pistol shrimp and a Dragon goby, I can say my sandscape is almost completely different every day, and I was told all this stirring is releasing too much waste out?? ...really??

It just trips me out and makes me want to figure out what im doing wrong instead of resourcing to dosing, the system should be in better shape right? for some reason I see dosing as "patching up" maybe its just me :S

 

[merkurmaniac]

A sandsifting starfish would probably eat all the good stuff out of your sandbed very quickly. I have only seen them suggested for very large tanks. Like really large tanks. They shouldn't even be mentioned in the nano and Pico sections... This is what I have read.

 

[gabe_j]

yea a sand sifting star fish can eat the microfauna from your sand bed rather quickly. why not try something smaller say mini brittle stars if you really want stars they get around 1-2" at the most and are less likely to strip your sandbed clean of the bacteria.

also its a good thing your sandbed isn't really deep so the chances of you crew in there stirring up anything toxic is pretty slim imo, there needs to be enough time for the sandbed to go anerobic and constant stiring isn't going to allow that to happen.

i tried reef biofuel, i think i still have mabe 1/2 a bottle and wasn't totally satisfied with the results. so i made the switch to vodka, today is day 5. so time will tell how good that method does in my tank.

i don't really consider vodka as a "patch" for the reason being it doesn't hurt to bump up your biofilter. and it makes the skimmer really work cuz you have that much more bacteria colonizing that is
a) feeding filter feeding corals
b) being removed by the skimmer thus assisting in the nutrient export.

now something like amquel to get "rid" of amonia or something that builds up is a straight up patch in my book cuz it doesn't go anywhere for actual removal you see where i'm coming from?

the only bad side of vodka dosing is the OD risk you have to take into consideration. you need to test alot so you know when to cut your dose back to a "maintainance dose." you're welcome to come by if you wanna see how i keep my tank, the 40br is up and running.

 

[zeek]

Sweet I do see what you mean, well your the second person I know that I can directly see the results so I'm gonna let you do that for another week or so before I dwell into it

Soooo, should I drop her down to the sump or give her away?

 

[HorseyStripe]

Vodka dosing: drunken critters eat more bad stuff from your tank...


Which brings up the question...has anyone tried blowing smoke over their tank yet? Munchies anyone?...sorry, I crack me up....