C.C. to B.B. progress..

[daytonaconnecti]

Iam not sure what iam doing, but i will try, lr and fish have a temp home for now, first pic is a before View attachment 8950 next is a after View attachment 8951 any body want some chocolate milk, got plenty on the bottom will show pics with eggcrate and lower water mover later, btw use rubber gloves, i didnt, i used a cup and dust pan to get cc out, but my hands fill like they went through fiberglass :shock: at last the bottom View attachment 8958

 

[daytonaconnecti]

how much lr can i use in this 48 gal setup

 

[MikeS]

how much lr can i use in this 48 gal setup

How much do you have? You'll want to arrange it so you are not inhibiting flow too much in any one area...

MikeS

 

[daytonaconnecti]

i bet i took out 35# at least.....also when it comes to corals witch are easier to keep

 

[Krish]

They usually say 1-2 lbs per gal, but I figure 1-2lbs is no use if you can't have good flow around them. I'd set up what you have first and then go from there.

About corals, I've never had any. BTW, the tank is looking nice and clean now! Almost like brand new!(LOL)

 

[daytonaconnecti]

thanks, how much clean tank water rinsed cc should i hang in the tank to help with the cycling

 

[Krish]

Not sure...Are you cooking your rock or just giving them a good scrubbing and then putting them in? Your LR should have some good bacteria in it already, and since you won't have any bio-load in there for the rock to try and keep up with, you may not need much. If you are afraid to use any of the old substrate for whatever reason when cycling, maybe you could just add some seachem cycle or something to help build up your bacterial population. Atleast, that's what I started with because my rock and substrate was dried out in the sun for about 6 months, so I used seachem cycle to get things going and then finished up with a new bag of fiji pink and 25lbs of LR. I guess it is really up to you. If you are putting it in a sack, then it really shouldn't matter as it won't be a pain to remove. Just a thought though...Not necessarily correct...

 

[daytonaconnecti]

iam not cooking the rock, just scrubing it, whats the best to use to clean the lr?

 

[Krish]

When I scrubbed mine i just used water and a toothbrush. I've never heard of putting anything on it...

hanging some in a sack for awhile to help

Yeah, you could do that. I'm not sure if nitrates will leach into your water from it, but atleast you would be adding the beneficial bacteria in there also. Push comes to shove, you could just flush out the nitrates later with water changes. Atleast you'd have a foundation for transferring the beneficial bacteria you will need...

 

[daytonaconnecti]

i think thats what i will do... iam wandering how much cc i should use in the bag?

 

[MikeS]

If you are saving some of your water, I'd say there is no need to put any of the CC in there at all to aid with the "cycle". I'd imagine there is plenty of nutrients and bacteria in that water and soaked up in your rocks...

But do use your skimmer 24/7, use some carbon, and watch your water quaility, and be prepared to do water changes on short order...if you keep on top of the maintenance, I doubt you will have many problems....

As for corals....we are a ways off from that just yet....let's get your new system set and stable first....

MikeS

 

[daytonaconnecti]

cool, and as for the dams and shrimp and snails, i guess i need to wait until the water checks out, also ck out the pic in #1 in my first post, i thought of bringing down the water pipe to the bottom to flow under and out of the egg crate,or making a spray bar and flow it across the bottom towards the front of the tank iam not sure witch would work best... also when you talked about the leggs on the eggceate you said to make the back taller to slop the reef,i was wandering why...

 

[MikeS]

cool, and as for the dams and shrimp and snails, i guess i need to wait until the water checks out,...

Yep... and don't introduce them all at once, give it a week or so between introducing each fish to allow the system a bit of time to adjust to the increase in bioload....do the snails last when the water quality is good.

also ck out the pic in #1 in my first post, i thought of bringing down the water pipe to the bottom to flow under and out of the egg crate,or making a spray bar and flow it across the bottom towards the front of the tank iam not sure witch would work best...

not sure on that one, I'll let somebody with more experience on CL style stuff answer that one...

also when you talked about the leggs on the eggceate you said to make the back taller to slop the reef,i was wandering why...

So am I ....personally, for the sake of stability, I'd imagine you'd want the eggcrate to be level, not sloped at all....that doesn't make any sense to me...

MikeS

 

[daytonaconnecti]

sorry mike, fishermann posted about sloping the reef to the front of the tank... maybe he can explain,,,

 

[fishermann]

Your rock well have more then enough good bacteria and your tank well have it on the inside of the glass. If I remember right you didn't have much bio load to begin with. You don't need any of or do you want any CC back in the tank. As for slopping the eggcrate I am talkink about very gently say 1" for every 12" of depth. I guess my main reason was is my spraybar is 1 1/2" in dia. and sits another 1" off the bootom bacause of the height from the "T" and the bulk head fitting coming up through the bottom of the tank. I did not want the eggcrate that high up front and it also helped to create diff. levels to the reef for corals that don't like as mush light and I really like the way it looks. There are no stability problems because I did not stack any rock on top of other rock except for a few pieces on the very back of the reef and they are mostly flater pieces that create some overhangs and bridges and just touch the lower rocks on the ends. I built the reef using different sizes and heights of rock going from front to back so the reef is low up front and high in the back closer to the lights for light demanding corals. I found when tearing down my 60 and my 75 that there was a tremendous amount of detritus where rock was laying on top of other rock which created areas that got no flow and couldn't be blownin off with a power head. Now saying all this, you have to realize this is a 230 gal. tank which I had built 30" deep from front to back so I could have a flatter looking reef instead of a vertical one, I thought from the diving I've done it would look more realistic. You have more limited depth frt to rr and your spray bar well not be 1 1/2"s so probably alot of this won't matter.

 

[daytonaconnecti]

thanks john, iam not going to use cc,just bb, i just need to decide if i want to use a spray bar or a adjustable water nozzle on the end of one of my water supply tubes directed to sweep the water under the eggcrate

 

[Krish]

What are the actual dimensions on your tank again? From the picture, it looks like flow won't be much of a problem in there as the walls seem pretty close (i.e like not 4ft long) You may not necessarily need a spray bar unless it is something you want. I know for some people like myself, I'm not too particular about seeing a white pipe running down my backwall because it takes away from the beauty of a tank (heck I hate seeing my 2 powerheads, but not much of a choice right now), but for some, they don't seem to mind. If you are a person who's picky with things like that then you could get pretty good coverage in your tank without a spray bar. Now don't get me wrong, I think spray bars are good, but just keep in mind that they aren't your only option...

 

[MikeS]

got any photos fishermann? I'd like to see your aquascaping...

Yeah, if you are not stacking rock, than a gentle slope would be ok...however in daytona's situation, I'd imagine there is going to be some stacking going on in there...

an alternative...you can "terrace" the eggcrate in the back to clear your spraybar or Tee fittings...

MikeS

 

[Krish]

Yeah, if you are not stacking rock, than a gentle slope would be ok...however in daytona's situation, I'd imagine there is going to be some stacking going on in there...

YYYup! I don't think there is much of an option, but to stack in a tank shaped like his (btw...Nothing wrong with the shape as I think it looks cool ) but in order to get some good lbs per gal of LR in there it will definately have to happen. Nevertheless you can also still slope it. You'd maybe loose some "floor" space in your tank, but by going bb, it may be a good thing to cover it anyway (as to not see glass) just as long as you have sufficient flow to keep detritus in suspension rather than settling on the floor of the tank and causing a problem. If you went with that approach, then a spray bar may definately be in your best interest...

 

[daytonaconnecti]

like in the pics the tank is shaped like a diamond 24'' from front to back tip and 26'' across and 24'' deep,