45 Gallon Reef Diary From Setup To...?

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, thats pretty much what I plan on doing. Right now, there's no rock on top of it . One of the pieces of LR I buy is going to cover it.

 

[maidenfan]

looks the part ski

how much space have you left around your power head i noticed you said you have covered with rock. i have done same with mine just wondering if ive left enough room to promote good water movement

 

[Aquascaper]

looks the part ski

how much space have you left around your power head i noticed you said you have covered with rock. i have done same with mine just wondering if ive left enough room to promote good water movement

What type of powerhead is it?

 

[SkiFletch]

Its a maxijet 1200 with the spray bar attached. The powerhead itself is very diminutive in profile which makes hiding it even easier. There is pretty much a hole in the rock work wide enough for the spray bar to fit and there's pretty much a pit underneath it to help keep the inlet (which points down) free from most restrictions. I know I'm not getting perfect flowrate out of the powerhead, but I've set it up as restriction-free as possible I think

 

[Aquascaper]

My question was to Maidenfan but thanks for the info SkiFletch

To anyone: As long as you leave room arond the inlet and can access the powerhead easily then they can be pretty much mounted wherever you like. It helps if you can see the inlet so that you can visually check it every now and then.

 

[SkiFletch]

Lol, glad I could help. I'm a veritable fountain of useful/useless information

 

[maidenfan]

the powerhead is aquamedic ph1000 ive got it mounted at the back corner of my tank opposite the suction pipes to my external filters. im using it to increase water movement just wondered if by putting rock to close would diminish its impact. put my base rock and LR in such a way to leave a corrider across the the back of the tank for free movement of water.


by the way ski, i find all the info useful

 

[Aquascaper]

Putting live rock next to the intake will actually increase the filtration effect of the live rock as water will be constantly drawn over and through the rock to get to the powerhead intake.

 

[maidenfan]

cheers mate

 

[SkiFletch]

Not much new today to report. Carted home another 20 gallons of DI water and filled her up the rest of the way. I must have added salt twice to one of my buckets cause there's just a hair to much . My cheesy borrowed float hygrometer is pegged at 1.030 so I guess as I prepare the sump I'll have allready mixed salt When my new refractometer gets here I'll have a more accurate reading, but right now, way too much salinity is close enough

 

[SkiFletch]

Got my salinity under control today at 1.023 so I bought 10lbs of LR across 3 individual pieces and tossed it in there. Current tank stats are:

NH4 - 0.50
NO2 - 0.25
NO3 - 15
SG - 1.023
Temp - 25
dKH - 12
dGH - 60
Calcium - 550ppm
Phosphate - 0

Obviously I'm cycling, but I'm a little confused as to why the GH is so flipping high. Could I have a bad test kit, is that level of hardness even possible? Thats a GH in 1074ppm in case that scale is more meaningful to you. Thanks for the input guys

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, I got the bulbs in today... Now when everyone told me I should get T5's because they're the best things ot there in flourescents I believed them. So I went out and got a 2x96 watt fixture... Note to all newbies; do NOT look at the lights when you turn them on. Its like the fire of a thousand suns in my tank No wonder these things cost a fortune. Pics of a properly illuminated setup tonight

 

[SkiFletch]

Ok, well here's a quick shot of the tank. Sorry that the heater is so dominant as my sump isn't running yet . You may notice a couple diferent pieces of LR in there, and I have to do something with that old specimin in the top left of the tank. Anyway, tommorrow is a really busy day, hopefully sunday will see the completion and operation of the sump

 

[JJ1234567]

I know what you mean about the lights , I got the Orbit PC fixture (4x96watt) holy cow that thing was bright. Hope it does the job. My tank has similar dimensions to yours so we shall see. Still wish a little that I had got a halide orbit fixture.

 

[SkiFletch]

Not much to update on with pics yet, but hopefully more by the end of the weekend. I do have a new tank shot to show you guys since I re-aquascaped everything. A certain forum member might recognize the setup and I hope he doesnt mind being the inspiration for my work

I've made my overflow boxes for my sump, just need to pick up some plastic washers for the bulkhead fittings in order to put it togeteher. Tonight or tommorrow I'll post up somepics of them and tell you all how NOT to make one yourself (wow I over-engineered them). Anyways, Diatom bloom is just starting so here's a tank shot