New Freshwater (brackish) Setup W/ Sump

[myenigmaself]

Just a quick update:

Added glass cover & light to top tank.
Added more plants to sump.
Moved 4 shrimp to top tank.
Added pantyhose "bags" of crushed coral to sump.

I moved some shrimp up top to test the "overflow" ability of critters in the top tank. I really think it's just a matter of time before something gets washed over into the overflow and ends up back in the sump. I know if nothing washes over it doesn't prove that nothing will, but it will make me feel a little better. I'm thinking about adding a "cage" of sorts too, so nothing over 1/2" will wash over. I'll have to think about that one.

Everything's a little cloudy due to the crushed coral. I washed it for about half an hour, but didn't get it perfect. It's clearing up pretty quickly though.

Beyond that I really only have one problem. Snails. I have sand in the top tank and I've tried putting a couple snails in there. Every time the sand sticks to the foot of the snail and they end up immobilized. I believe the sand is just a fine grained silica sand. I'll have to check on that, but the ghosties seem to love it. They're way more active in the top tank, swimming all over the place, checking out what there is to check out. I think I may have to replace the sand, but in thinking back I don't think I've ever had a lot of luck with snails and sand. Any suggestions?

Just one picture for now:

 

[WoodenChair]

Looking good.

Ive never had snail problems, i actually just purchased a few plants from my LFS a few weeks back and just yesterday a small snail appeared chewing his way tirelessly through my algae covered tank.

Ive never seen any get stuck in sand and i have had snails for as long as i can remember, maybe this snail has an issue, or is not used to the sand yet. give him some time and see what happens. if hes still in a sad way on the sand and spends more time shelled then moving (mind you they are mostly nocturnal) then move him to the lower tank with the gravel, he shouldn't have any issues there... i don't think anyways.

We need a snail expert!



-ChairmanWood

 

[myenigmaself]

Welp, 3/4 of the shrimp ended up back in the sump overnight. I definitely need some sort of protection. Any ideas?

 

[saltynay]

Snails should be able to cope with sand what type are they?

My assassin snails at first appeared to struggle with the sand but after a day they were fine and snails that have a cone shaped shell in general like to dig

To stop things going into the overflow use a piece of mesh that is quite fine look in arts and crafts shops and you should find one suitable I believe its designed to be used for needlework buts its a very fine plastic mesh. It will need cleaning every so often

piccy (of them snorkeling lol):

 

[myenigmaself]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I was looking for something other than a screen, as I wanted food particles swept into the refugium, but in lieu of another option I ended up doing that. I put five shrimp in there tonight so we'll see how that helps.

Also, I decided to put all the snails in the main tank to see what would happen. Well that was yesterday, and all of them are dead except for one who found his way to the glass. I'm not sure if there is salt in the sand or what. They are all encased in a ball of slime. Is it possible that the salt might be coming out of solution in the sand? I'm thinking maybe I'll mix up the sand to make sure there's no salt in it, but I've been very careful to mix my salt in a separate bucket until it's completely in solution before adding any water. I did find a bunch of snail eggs when I emptied out the snail tank, so I put them in a shot glass in the main tank. We'll see how they handle the salt.

-mk

Oh yeah, and my SG is 1.002-1.003, so nothing crazy. I'll get some pics up soon. Thanks again

 

[myenigmaself]

A few updates:
My part FINALLY came on Tuesday, so now I have my third emergency overflow up and running. I tested it and it's a big thumbs up
I added a couple more plants in the refugium. I'll be adding a few more shortly.
Two snails survived. They seem to be doing ok. They struggle on the sand a bit, but they're makin' their way. I can see their little tracks all over the place.
I added another dozen ghost shrimp, for a total of 24. They seem to be loving the refugium, especially since I bumped up the temp a little and moved the plants down closer to the intake so there's a little more current where they congregate.
I added a net around the overflow. It keeps the shrimp out, but doesn't stay very well. I'll have to work on that a bit.
I found a lfs that should hopefully be ordering me 6 figure 8s and 12 bumblebee gobies. Still over a week before they may arrive.
The tanks are almost cycled. Ammonia has dropped to 0. Nitrite is slowly dropping and nitrate has gone up a bit. I'm hoping some more plants will take care of that.
I added some sponges around the pump. It was pretty noisy and this was purely a measure to cut down on the hum. There's still a slight hum, but it's not noticeable with the TV on. I figure the sponges will give me a little more surface area for helpful bacteria too.

My one "problem" is what to fill the top tank with. My plan was driftwood until I saw how much it costs. Now I'm at a loss. Any ideas for a natural look?

Here are the pictures, enjoy :

 

[saltynay]

You can make your wn driftwood search the forum and you will find lots of ideas on how to I posted 2 guides on it but they are a post within a thread so you need to do some "finger" work. You could also use slate, flower pots and build your own stone structures from pebbles.

 

[WoodenChair]

I love how everything always looks so neat and clean when its new

Time will take its toll.

good luck on finding what you need, still keeping an eye on this


-ChairmanWood

 

[myenigmaself]

Thanks guys! I really like the idea of making my own little slate caves. I'll see what I can do about driftwood, but I'm not sure I have the time to make my own. I doubt I have the time to find it, let alone cure it and leech it and cook it and whatnot.

The tank is still cycling. The nitrites went up a bit, but nitrates are holding steady at 20ppm. I really think just adding a few more plants will bring that down.

I do have a little (pun intended) news. I have ghost shrimp fry! I have only spotted about 2 of them, but they're so tiny I'm sure there are more. I only have one more expecting female, so I put her in the 55 gallon all by herself with the fry I spotted. Now I'm sure these came from a batch of females I got that already had fertilized eggs when I got them, so the next step is to figure out how to get them to breed. The fry are surviving though! They're about 3mm long (imagine how hard it is to see a 3mm see-through shrimp!!!). At first I thought it was junk floating around, but it had the angle of a shrimp, and I noticed it wasn't exactly moving with the current, so I looked closer and whaddya know

That's all for now. Thanks for the comments!

 

[myenigmaself]

FYI We have a 7 yr old and she found 2 more for a total of 4 fry we've seen so far. They're so small I wouldn't be surprised at all if there were a bunch living in the rocks in the sump I'm going to make some slate shelves today. Wish me luck!

 

[myenigmaself]

Howdy y'all!

I worked on two little projects today. First, I setup caves/terraces out of some sandstone I picked up at the local hardware store. I found an article describing the use of sandstone in aquariums, and basically they said be careful of the source as the stone is very porous and may have absorbed toxins. Additionally, limestone with a red hint most likely has iron in it and this is what you want as it tends to hold up better than those bonded with calcite, so this is what I got. I just broke it apart with a hammer to fit my needs, and rinsed it off. I think it looks pretty spiffy, if I do say so myself I was going to silicone it together, but it seemed to hold well just under its own weight, so for now I've foregone any bonding.

Second, I am adding a secondary pipe inside the main tank. This will serve two purposes:
1) Redistribution of current. Right now most of the current is swirling around the top of the tank. Makes sense as the overflow and the return are both at the top of the tank. This will move the return to the bottom of the tank.
2) I put a small bend in the line that goes up and then down which will give me an extra inch of wiggle room if the power goes out. I drilled two small holes in the bottom of the bend to prevent siphoning. This will let me keep more water in the sump, which will aleviate a minor micro-bubble problem I was having when the water in the pump chamber got too low (this was happening within 24 hours if I only filled to the line I marked indicating the maximum amount of water that could be held).

The secondary pipe will go in tomorrow. I had to plug two holes I accidentally drilled on the wrong side with silicone, so I'm letting it cure now. Aaaaaand, the pictures :

p.s. The shrimp and snails love their new shelters

 

[WoodenChair]

Very.

VERY...

nice.


-ChairmanWood

 

[myenigmaself]

Updates:

Bought another java fern, this one's decent sized. About 8" long.
Added more stone.
Added a fake stone structure (this was going to go in the sump, until I discovered I wouldn't be able to get it in there without draining the sump, so it's on top for now).
Added 4 mollies. I'm pretty sure they're all males, so I'm going to see if I can possibly trade 3 of them in for females. I've got the white one up on top as he was getting beaten up, but everyone else seems to be holding their own so we'll have to see if trading is necessary. I also need to positively sex them first. They've been in there for 3 days now.
I keep finding more snails. I guess more survived than I thought. I've been putting them in the sump return chamber and hoping they won't make their way into the refugium (where they eat the plants). There are 5-6 of them now. So far so good
I haven't been able to find the shrimp fry, but hopefully they're in there somewhere. If not I'm sure they ended up as someone's lunch.
Tanks are cycled. Amonia, 0ppm. Nitrites, 0ppm. Nitrates, 0-5 ppm. Everything's looking great for....
Wednesday or Thursday when we get the fish! The LFS ordered six Figure 8 puffers and twelve bumblebee gobies for me!!

I'm going to have to watch the water params closely when adding such a bio load, but hopefully there won't be much of a fluctuation. A few extra water changes and I think I should be in good shape.

I'm re-designing my screen solution to prevent shrimp/fish from going into the overflow. I'm thinking of more a gated-post approach rather than a screen. The screen is preventing waste from going into the sump too, which kind of defeats the purpose and makes me have to siphon waste into the sump manually every couple days.

My problem of the hour, a couple of my shrimp are accumulating whiteness at their joints. It's just a couple. I don't know if it's calcium buildup, ich (eek), or nothing at all. I'm just keeping my eye on it for now, but I'm going to avoid feeding those ones to the puffers if I don't have it sorted out by then. Hopefully it's nothing.

And the pictures

Top Tank with the Softie:

The Big Bully in the Bottom Tank:

Goose (the cat) is enjoying the mollies too:

 

[myenigmaself]

p.s. I think they're all females, not males. Will adding a male to the mix cut down on the aggression?

 

[heartworm]

Sorry for the daft question, why in one of your photos is one of the pipes from the overflow pointing up the way? Whats the back up should the power fail to stop suction being lost, is this to do with it? All 3 pipes from your overflow go to the same part of the sump yes?



It looks fantastic, and im thinking of using this technique if I can just get my head around it.