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120g Into the Sea -- My First Saltwater Build

Nijessi

Nijessi

Alright -- the plumbing is cemented and drying. Fingers crossed.

Also, found a nice guy on FB marketplace who got out of salt and into freshwater to reduce his maintenance. I was able to pick up the last of the dry rock I needed AND a MP30 reactor! That was something I was not planning on being able to afford to add for quite some time!! I picked up my cycle bacteria today and some bio-filtration ceramic for the fuge so that I can hopefully start the cycle process if all goes well with plumbing. Marine block seems to be sold out everywhere so the ceramic Os and some of the star shaped ones are what I have to go with for now. Should I add chaeto to refugium during this initial cycle? Or should I wait till I add the CUC in the cycle process? Got my heaters in the overflow box and my two controllers from @amado 's recommendation arrived today. Tomorrow I plan to get the dried plumbing fitted in and final, get my rocks glued up and in the tank, and get my RODI and reservoirs moved down to the crawl space and setup. I am so nervoud and excited and exasperated and jubilant and...blargh , so many feelings lol
 
Sponge

Sponge

Nijessi said:
Alright -- the plumbing is cemented and drying. Fingers crossed.

Also, found a nice guy on FB marketplace who got out of salt and into freshwater to reduce his maintenance. I was able to pick up the last of the dry rock I needed AND a MP30 reactor! That was something I was not planning on being able to afford to add for quite some time!! I picked up my cycle bacteria today and some bio-filtration ceramic for the fuge so that I can hopefully start the cycle process if all goes well with plumbing. Marine block seems to be sold out everywhere so the ceramic Os and some of the star shaped ones are what I have to go with for now. Should I add chaeto to refugium during this initial cycle? Or should I wait till I add the CUC in the cycle process? Got my heaters in the overflow box and my two controllers from @amado 's recommendation arrived today. Tomorrow I plan to get the dried plumbing fitted in and final, get my rocks glued up and in the tank, and get my RODI and reservoirs moved down to the crawl space and setup. I am so nervoud and excited and exasperated and jubilant and...blargh , so many feelings lol
Click to expand...
Some people may have different ways of doing things. The following advice is more opinion and preference than hard facts.

You don’t need a CUC. Till after you have completed the cycle and you actually have inhabitants. When it’s time for the CUC to go in. Start small. Most sites recommend way to many.

Although you can put your heaters in the overflow box. Personally I would put them in the sump. I realize by design the overflow should never be able to run dry. But if a stand pipe came loose or something. I’d consider the sump. It’s easier to see them there. Plus should be easier to separate the heaters from each other If you can.

as for the refugium. No you don’t need start it yet. Not till inhabitants are making waste. Even then you can wait a bit
 
Nijessi

Nijessi

Sponge said:
Some people may have different ways of doing things. The following advice is more opinion and preference than hard facts.

You don’t need a CUC. Till after you have completed the cycle and you actually have inhabitants. When it’s time for the CUC to go in. Start small. Most sites recommend way to many.

Although you can put your heaters in the overflow box. Personally I would put them in the sump. I realize by design the overflow should never be able to run dry. But if a stand pipe came loose or something. I’d consider the sump. It’s easier to see them there. Plus should be easier to separate the heaters from each other If you can.

as for the refugium. No you don’t need start it yet. Not till inhabitants are making waste. Even then you can wait a bit
Click to expand...
The overflow is the only area big enough for the 2 eheim heaters. They're soooooo long and the baffles in the sump make it so they can't lie down. :(
 
amado

amado

Dal
Staff member
Board of Directors
NJRC Member
Heaters in the overflow should be fine.
it’s out of the way. It’s easy for you to take out if need. The overflow are designed never torun dry so you always have water.

most new heater will also turn off if they don’t sense water.
you don’t need to add a clean up crew yet.
And your refugium will have nothing to consume in the beginning.

everyone has their way of starting a tank.
I learned from BRS to leave the tank dark for some time.
I ran my tank for 90days with just fish and bacteria
 
Rossim2i2

Rossim2i2

+1 on slowly adding CUC after the tank is cycled and you start seeing some algae so you know they have something to eat. I waited at least 3-4 weeks between adding new fish and would add more CUC with the new fish.
 
Jamie S

Jamie S

NJRC Member
+2 on waiting on CUC and chaeto. I got my diatom bloom after week 3 of cycling and added a small CUC. The snails and hermit crabs did a great job of clearing out the diatoms in 3-4 days along with a 10% water change.
 
Nijessi

Nijessi

Update!
So I went to bed last night with a timer to get up and make sure that my float valve and auto shutoff worked given it's all newly setup.

Then I awoke to the birds and sunlight this morning in a panic realizing I had slept through the night. Ran down to the basement sure I would find it full of water (or at least damp with it). But to my astonishment it was dry and I had 31 gallons of new RODI water and the booster was silent! The float valve and pressure checker worked exactly as intended. Then I did big test number 2, I opened the ball valve and turned on the pump to pull the RODI water into the Salt reservoir -- won't be mixing in it yet, just using it to hold another 50 g of RODI for when I get the tank wet since I can mix the salt in the tank on the first go round. Joy of Joys it Worked! That pump from one of my FB marketplace deals empty the entire fresh in to the salt tank in no time at all. Only a slight drip on the join to the front of the pump. While that was going I started hearing a little cascading trickle and realized that my RODI system had turned back on and begun filling the freshwater tank since the float valve dropped. ITS ALL WORKING! Next up for the water system is getting my ATO system situated and getting my doser in place for AWC. Before that though....it's time to aquascape!!!!!!!!!!! Any rock juggling tips?
 
Rossim2i2

Rossim2i2

@Nijessi are you going with sand or bare bottom?

If sand, don't go too fine. From what I've been reading, the coarse sand is actually quite fine and looks great. The sand I got was too fine and got blown all over the place. After messing around with power head positions, I have it where it works, but with coral growth I'll probably need to re-adjust in the future. Also, a ton of sand went down the overflow and it looks a lot more coarse than it did originally (still looks good though).

Also, especially with sand, you want to try to keep the rock off the back glass so you can access the sand behind the rocks for cleaning. I didn't follow this rule exactly, but kept the bottom rocks away from the glass and kept openings between the rocks where I could get to the back of the tank to clean the sand during water changes. As the rock structure grows though, I do have the upper rocks touching the glass.

It is all really prefereance though. Go with what you like and try not to change it a million times after its in the tank and situated. That was the hardest part for me lol.
 
amado

amado

Dal
Staff member
Board of Directors
NJRC Member
don’t worry to much about your rock work.
I think people take too much time on how their rocks looks.

if you do things right you shouldn't be able to see the rocks. The corals will cover everything.

i am always moving things around So I don’t even bother to glue it anymore lol
 
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