1st Build - New to the game!

[noobaquariumust]

just wait itll you start adding corals, you wont be able to keep your mid off of it
idk how this guys doesnt stop starring for hours?:O
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f70/65g-mixed-reef-45g-frag-tank-55155/

 

[rukis]

just wait itll you start adding corals, you wont be able to keep your mid off of it
idk how this guys doesnt stop starring for hours?:O
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f70/65g-mixed-reef-45g-frag-tank-55155/

Man OH Man!!@!@! i dont know how either? hahah i would be staring at that ALLL DAY LONG! I really like how his refug / sump is setup as an insert in the back side of his tank... how ideal is that kinda setup? i have my old 29 gal that i can use, but i am wondering how effective that way is..

 

[rukis]

I have a question on flow, how do you determine good " Flow "

I have a Penguin 550 running and a Koralia 2

i have an extra Penguin 1140 if mine flow isnt sufficiant

 

[noobaquariumust]

well from what i know, since you don't have any sps and depending on how long its going to be to before you get any sps, but from what i remember you only want from 10-20 times turnover unless you have sps, than its more, but i dont know exactly what you should shoot for when youre housing sps...

 

[Krish]

I have a question on flow, how do you determine good " Flow "

I have a Penguin 550 running and a Koralia 2

i have an extra Penguin 1140 if mine flow isnt sufficiant

When you have water spashing out of the tank and you see fish scales being ripped off, you have about enough flow :lol:. Seriously though, you want as much coverage as you can get in your tank meaning no areas where there are deadspots. If you do have a deadspot then one place isn't bad because all you would have to do during a water change is vacuum that one section to remove the detritus. The whole concept with flow is to keep waste in suspension to either be filtered out or used up by corals. If it is allowed to settle anywhere in the tank, if not removed, it will cause water quality issues. Those that are lacking flow usually have to grab a turkey baster and blast their rocks weekly to blow off any detritus that may be settling on their rocks because of it. Unfortunately though, those who run tanks with sand will be limited a bit on flow because when you get into the upper high flow ranges, you tend to create sand storms. I had to remove my sand in my first tank (90 gal) because of this after adding in some powerful powerheads. Ever since then, I never used sand again in any tank. My 75 gal had over 5,000 gph and waste only settled in one problem area. That one spot, I vacuumed weekly so it worked out fine. My 38 gal as another example had almost 4,000 gph (105x turnover rate) and nothing settled anywhere so a water change was just changing water and no vacuuming. This was my best tank for flow. A good way to test your flow is to toss in some fish flakes and observe where the flow takes it. Pay special attention to areas where you see the flakes settle. These areas can be solved with either adding in additional powerheads or by simply changing your powerhead placement. The thing to keep in mind there is if you change the placement of one powerhead, it can possibly create a deadspot in another area so you will need to repeat the test and see if it didn't create another problem.

Another angle to look at flow is dependant on what you have in your tank. If going with SPS corals, you want higher flow rates whereas other types of corals may require a lot less. If I were to give someone a general idea of a good number to shoot for with flow, I'd personally say no less than 40-50x turnover rate. This is however a personal opinion though. I am crazy on flow. With bare bottom tanks you are living in real time and so you want all waste in the water column at all times. Here is an example of one of my tanks. Kinda extreme for some, but was what I needed and worked well for me. This is the flow coming out the top two outputs on my 38 gal tank. I ran 2 closed loops so what you see up top in the pciture, I had the same thing down low so there was basically 8 nozzles putting out the flow in this tank including a 950 gph return you see sitting there without the flare nozzle on it that was off in this picture. You don't have to go that extreme. Just do as best you can to get as much coverage in your tank because remember, although you don't want waste settling in your tank, in addition to this, most corals can't move around to catch their food so the flow will have to be placed properly to bring it to them.

 

[Krish]

BTW, I started this poll going on your question so I figured I'd toss up the link for you to follow along seeing it will interest you.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f36/poll-flow-turnover-rate-62502/

 

[rukis]

BTW, I started this poll going on your question so I figured I'd toss up the link for you to follow along seeing it will interest you.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f36/poll-flow-turnover-rate-62502/

Krish, ty for all the info.. it made me turn and look at my tank and know that there are prolly alot of dead zones. I will be adding that 1140 back in there and go from there...

I also wanna add, i am truely in aww in just how amazing this community is.. so many people willing to just give me stuff and info to get me going.. i beyond appreciate all of you... you guys have made this experience coming into this hobby so amazing.

I will definitely pay all this forward.

Sent by ruk from my MoPho using Tapatalk

 

[Krish]

Yea, this is a great bunch of people here! First place I've seen people genuinely want to help out another fellow hobbyist. RF rocks!! :rockon:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rukis]

So i am at work right now, sitting here browsing through different threads, and i cant stop thinking about getting home to work on the flow in my tank... haha

Anyone need computer help?! lol im dying bored at work right now!

 

[rukis]

hey what is a good pH level to try and stay around? I am at like 8 - 8.1 is this safe?

 

[NC2WA]

pH level should be between 8.0-8.4; if keeping SPS corals, most ppl go for 8.3/8.4.

 

[rukis]

So i re-arranged the rock a tiny bit, i was happy with it before hand so i didnt wanna move much, but i needed to adjust my flow and add that 1140 into it to get my flow up.. I am still gonna need to step my game up with flow, i am only at 20.9x So if anyone has powerheads or whatever extra let me know what you want for it or whatever...

Ohh and during the movement, i noticed my mushroom was barely hanging on to the rock, like i must have bumped him or something while moving stuff, is there a way to fix that? or will it fix itself...?

But i think the position of flow is good for the tank now, i seen all kinds of stuff being kicked around.

When i get home from work i will take some pics to share what changes i have made... see if anyone has any input...

 

[user 26995]

Move your mushroom rock to an area with low flow. If the flow is too high for it, it will release its self.
One more thing you will learn today, is mushrooms will move. They tend to migrate and leave little mushrooms in its path. But yeah, if the flow is too high for it, it will come loose and float away. It usually settles in a low flow area and will reattach, but you may not see it again if it goes to the back of your rocks.

 

[rukis]

Move your mushroom rock to an area with low flow. If the flow is too high for it, it will release its self.
One more thing you will learn today, is mushrooms will move. They tend to migrate and leave little mushrooms in its path. But yeah, if the flow is too high for it, it will come loose and float away. It usually settles in a low flow area and will reattach, but you may not see it again if it goes to the back of your rocks.

wow, the mushroom can move itself?!!? okie dokie, so i will put it in a low flow area. so i dont need to do anything then it should reseal itself back to the rock then?

man i love being able to get answers here! RF ROCKS!!

 

[rukis]

I met with BackwerdsMan last night and picked up his mated clowns...
Marlin & Koral... yup lil pixar love there...

As well had to snag his last Kenya Tree

Then today, my girls were cheering today, a few streets from Rob @ Red C Aquariums. *Love That Place!*

He put together alil package for me, woohoo!!! love lil packages!arty:

soo! ya lets see some pics..


as well i had to imporvise with my LED's check it out... this is just till i can put enough loot together to grab me something nice...





this is just with LEDS




I goth this from Rob, along with 10 lil crabs...



this is with both lights on...


this is the kenya i got from backwerdsman



more of my pretties from rob...








awesome flic, cant beleive this is from my phone..

 

[Krish]

Very cool! You will have to get us some pics when the zoa's open up.

 

[rukis]

Very cool! You will have to get us some pics when the zoa's open up.

Ohh you know it.. there are like 5 green a few red and a few orangeish. Cant wait!

Sent from ruk's MoPho

 

[rukis]

Where can i get acrylic? Im gonna start planning for a sump/refug.. unless anyone has one there not using?

Sent from ruk's MoPho

 

[rukis]

So today, i de-rimmed my 29gal. and cleaned up all the silicone mess... looks pretty spiffy! i actually like that look alot... but ultimately i planned on using it to make a sump/refugium... but it looks so spiffy its almost a shame to hide it! lol

i thought i had a pic on my phone but i guess not.. i just emptied the water from the water hold test. so i will go snap one real fast...

i have still yet to find somewhere i can find the acrylic to do the sections... so this part might be on hold till i can figure this part out...

 

[10gnano]

looking good