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Author Topic: Finally got it going!  (Read 1698 times)

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Offline micki

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Finally got it going!
« on: May 28, 2007, 08:43:20 »
Well, we finally found some time to get the 150 back up and going.  It's on it's own system now.  Randy just added the water today.  Of course it will take some time to cycle before I can bring my fishies back home.  Thanks to Joel for taking such good care of them!!!  Here are some shots of the system.  Thanks to Rick for giving me his old sump.  This worked out perfect! 

A few of the pictures are a little crooked. I think I need to fire my photographer...  ;D





Offline verper

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Re: Finally got it going!
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2007, 09:46:02 »
Good to see.  I was wondering about the status of your tanks the other day.

Offline micki

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Re: Finally got it going!
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2007, 09:47:58 »
Thanks,  We've been wanting to get it up and going but with everything else it was on the back burner.  We will be starting to build Russell's house next month so we wanted to get it going before that. 

Offline micki

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Re: Finally got it going!
« Reply #3 on: June 09, 2007, 18:17:27 »
I tested the water today for the first time since setting it back up. It appears to be in the middle of the cycle which is a good thing.  So far the fish and eel are doing great!  I wouldn't have known there was a cycle going on had I not tested it.  I guess Joel knew what he was talking about!  ;D  As soon as the cycle is over I will bring my hippo tang back.  :)
« Last Edit: June 09, 2007, 18:23:04 by micki »

Offline Joel

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Re: Finally got it going!
« Reply #4 on: June 10, 2007, 07:00:47 »
Whadaya mean you guess I know what I'm talking about?! :D

Very specifically, what are your waters parameters (ph, ammonia / nitrite ppm) and have you introduced any pre cultured media to the filtration system yet?

Offline micki

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Re: Finally got it going!
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2007, 07:30:32 »
Whadaya mean you guess I know what I'm talking about?! :D

Very specifically, what are your waters parameters (ph, ammonia / nitrite ppm) and have you introduced any pre cultured media to the filtration system yet?

:D

I think the ammonia was 0.5.  Trates over 100 I didn't check the PH  I can do that with the pin point today.  I added some LR into the sump the other day. 

Offline micki

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Re: Finally got it going!
« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2007, 08:35:33 »
Joel the PH is 7.9

Offline Joel

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Re: Finally got it going!
« Reply #7 on: June 10, 2007, 10:10:18 »
This doesn't sound right.  Your nitrates are 100 ppm? I don't see how that is phycially possible. Lets start over here and review how this should be done (again!!! :D)

Very first thing is to test your water before you add your fish so not only you know all is correct but also so you have a base line to start with. After you have tested and know that all is correct, add your fish. Every few days after adding your fish you need to be testing your ph, ammonia and your nitrite (not nitrate but nitrIte). For the first week it is highly unlikely that your ph will change and unlikely that you will see any nitrites. However with in a few days you should start to see some ammonia. Once your test kit shows around .2 to .4 ppm ammonia, that is when you should add pre-cultured media to your bio balls (in your case you added live rock which is fine if enough was added) the volume of pre-cultured media should roughly be 25% of the entire volume of media. In your case you have a 150 gallon aquarium, you should have approximately 1 cu gal of media (bio balls) per 20 gallons of salt water so you should have about 7-8 cu gallons of media in your sump. The volume of the preculture media (your live rock) should be about 2 cu gallons. After adding the pre cultured media, test your ph, ammonia and nitrites every other day or so making notes of what the test results are. Very shortly after adding the pre cultured media, you should start to see the ammonia going down. You might start to see a little nitrite  but it also should only slightly rise and will decrease. Once you have 0 ppm ammonia and nitrite and it has been that way for a few days, it is pretty safe to assume that the system has matured enough to handle the wast load that the current fish are producing. If during this process, your ph stays above 7.8, with the fish you have, I wouldn't be concerned about it (this opinion does not apply to all fish) If it gets below 7.8, I'd use a modest amount of buffer to slowly bring it back up. Note I said Slowly, use small amounts of buffer daily and test daily until the desired ph range is achieved. Do not add a full strength amount all at once, it'll most likely shock your fish. Also, I would re calibrate your ph moniter and / or replace the probe and re calabrate it if the probe is over 10 months old. Although not impossible, it seems unusual that your ph is that low already (assuming it was correct from the start).  After the Ammonia and nitrites have been at 0 ppm for about a week, do a water change of abbout 25 to 30% continue to test your water every few days and if after another week or so everything is where it is supposed to be (ph = 8.0 to 8.3, O ppm ammonia and nitrite & under 20 ppm nitrate) it would be safe to add your blue tang. At that point let the tank adjust to the new increase in waste load for a week or two. After that, if you want to add another fish, add it and again give the tank a week or two to adjust to the increase in waste load again. All the while, be testing you water at least a couple time per week and doing water changes as needed to maintain proper ph and nitrate levels.

On a side note, I re reviewed the way your sump is set up. Although I'm sure it can work, it is not ideal. A wet dry style filter should have most if not all the media up out of the water with pre filtered aquarium water flowing thru it like a violent water fall. This method gives the nitrafying bacteria a greater amount of much needed oxygen and very efficiently stripped CO2 from your water. Also, it's hard to tell from the pictures but it looks like you need more bio ball than what is in there. You want about 7-8 cu gallons, it looks to be less than that. From our discussion and from these pictures, it appears to be more of a flow thru type set up but water is going to mostly go where the lease amount of resistance is so I am certain that some of the water flowing thru your sump is by-passing the filter completely. Might be a consideration to modify the filter so it can work more efficiently (or just but a better designed one). If your seeing water quality issues more severe than described above, that might be an indication of the filtration systems efficiency.

Joel


 

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