New D&d Journal

[cottonj21]

Right Ive bought my tank, although I can't put anything in it yet as I'm still waiting for the stand

So ive decided my setup for the chambers
1. crushed live rock
2. refugium (Cheato)
3. Stock pump , small heater , possibly a skimmer in the future,

have added a koralia nano pump and bought a refactometer, test kit in the post,

soon as my stand comes im taking a day off and going to get 10kg of live rock, sand and pre mixed water.

So today ive made my Refugium, think it should be ok, made from mdf lined with foil has a 10w T4 light from B&Q, the type that lights under your kitchen untis, if its not bright enough theres space for 2.
Thing that worrys me is heat, but let me know what you think, i will close the top off but the bottom will be left open

 

[Anguilla82]

looking good!
you will probably got a small transferance of heat but not as much as you would if the light was inside the tank. can't wait to see this one progress, looks as though you've done a fair amount of reading before you've started, which is good.

 

[john.o]

Looking gooooooooooooood cottonj21

I am really JEALOUS of your refugium LOL

The heat should be ok the lights on the out side of the tank and only 10w
Can I make a suggestion if you can get the ro salt mix in the tank the day before you get your live rock and sand I think that would be a little better
You can then get the water up to temp check the s.g pumps ect. then add the live rock that way you will minimize the die off on the rock, a little die off on the rock is going to happen any way but best to keep it to a minimum if you possibly can. once the rock is in you could add your sand around the bottom of the rock to help hold it in place.

Or one more thing if you do put live rock in the chambers think about putting it in filter bags that way its easier to lift it out to clean all the decaying bitts and bobs off possibly put some filter floss and half off one off the filter sponges at the top of chamber 1 to trap the big bits first.

Any way to the salty side
I look forward to following your journal {lots of pic plz lol}

 

[cottonj21]

Dont worry I will take plenty of pics.

thanks for the advice, i will get some bags and do the water the day before.

Can anyone tell me how necessary the fans are on the lid as i think they might get annoying.
I could probably swap them for some quiet pc fans and put them on a timer.

cheers

 

[Anguilla82]

they'aren't on all the time, at least mine aren't. they are quite noisy when they first come on but quiten down pretty quickly

 

[cottonj21]

heres my plan,
going to get some rubble from http/www.reefstore.co.uk/index.shtml and some cheato,
run the tank for a short while with just than in, plus sponge and filter floss as suggested by John,o)
then order some larger live rock once its cycled a bit.

Still waiting for my stand so probably wont have an update till next week .

Cheers

 

[Anguilla82]

i think (and that is THINK) that if you add a load of live rock it will just cycle again, from the die off from the rock, might be better if you can just add it all in one hit.

 

[john.o]

Yep i also think the tank will cycle again when you put the "so-called” cured live rock into your tank some degree from light to heavy die-off of the organisms that reside on and inside the rocks will have occurred in transit. The build-up of this dead organic matter will create ammonia and the cycle will begin I THINK!!
Just how long the cycle will take I am not sure. my tank cycle was about 3-4 weeks with 12 kilos of rock, long time before I could add any CUC ect

 

[cottonj21]

Right im getting really pee'ed off
stand still hasnt came, so i told them to refund me the price of the stand and i found a shop about 30 mile away with them in stock. Went along, bought the stand, a heater, some filter stuff called purigen (which they recomended over rubble in the first chamber) and 24g of premixed water, they give me some cheato which has loads of things living in it.

Got home and the stand has half the screws missing , lost my temper and decided to set it up on the kitchen counter till tomorrow so I can get the water up to the right temp. I was planning on going back to the shop tomorrow anyway for the live rock it just means a little more work emptying the tank and shifting it onto the stand

now my question is, should I put the cheato in the tank now or just wait till tomorrow worried about the little animals living in it.

Has anyone replaced the fans as I think they are really to loud to be sat in my front room, also would it be a massive problem to just disconnect them.

cheers

 

[Anguilla82]

sorry to hear your having trouble. have a bit of faith it'll all come good in the end i'm sure!

if it was me i'd put the chaeto in the tank, however your tank has not cycled yet so the little animals might not survive, when you get the live rock and have the associated die off and nitrite spikes and things.

not sure how much the fans have an effect on things. mine aren't very noisy at all, though i think some people have swapped them over for some pc fans.

 

[cottonj21]

To late i left it out, theres a few dead shrimp type things in it, probably would have died off with the nirate spikes anyway.
left the tank on all night with the lights on, temp is at 28 so by the time i get the tank emptied and moved onto
the stand it should cool off a bit.

going to maplin today see if i can get some quiet fans and put them on seperate power with a plug where you can change the voltage,
that way i can slow them down.

will put some pics up tonight with my rock in providing nothing else goes wrong.

cheers

 

[Anguilla82]

looking forward to the pics

 

[cottonj21]

Right im sorted and everthing is set up. Turns out i had all the correct screws but the wrong instructions for the stand, it was an old version that used different and more screws .

here are some pics including my refuge
have 8 kg of rock wich seems to look like enough
first chamber has one of the sponges that came with it, filter wool and something called purigen
second chamber has cheato - seem to still have plenty of life including loads of snails
third has the stock pump and heater

bought a universal power unit with voltage controll which im going to hook up to some quiet pc fans to replace the stock, i read you get better cooling if one is blowing out and the other is blowing in

anyway here are the pics, aint put sand in yet incase i move things about

 

[cottonj21]

Heres a couple of things I found growing on some of the rock.
Also there's quite a few of those worm things.

 

[cottonj21]

Think I might buy a maxijet 900 as the stock is a little loud for my likeing (might just need breaking in) and I think I will get a Hydor Flo Rotating Deflector