Newbie Starting, Please Help

[Holidayz]

I think if your concerned about getting an anemone right away your already going to fast. Go back and do some basic water chemistry research before you even add water. Your nitrate theory is a bit off and nitrate is a serious issue if you plan on having fragile inverts like an anemone.

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Haha, newbie is newbie, glad that I asked.
I know nitrate is an important issue in reeftank, what I don't know is anemone is a fragile inverts. Thought it would be ok if amonia and nitrite is 0.
So I'll wait.
Don't understand what you mean by basic water chemistry Before adding water?
When I said nitrite and amonia is 0, I mean other 'basic' things like ph, salinity, temp etc. are all ok and I use RO water to mix my salt.
What else am I missing? Please let me know as that would spell disaster if I got the basic wrong to start with.

 

[Holidayz]

Here is the drawing of the sump. Please dis-regard the bio balls as that is scraped.
So, with the baffles, water should remain at the Blue line level if the overflow stops? Only the return section will be emptied into the tank, right?


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[DonW]

You do want zero but it sounded to me that you didnt understand how that is acheived. It takees quite some time for a tank to mature to the point of adding reef critters. A month is or even two is moving to fast for a beginner.

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[Holidayz]

You do want zero but it sounded to me that you didnt understand how that is acheived. It takees quite some time for a tank to mature to the point of adding reef critters. A month is or even two is moving to fast for a beginner.

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Hmm...I think I understand how nitrate is converted into nitrogen gas...I mean the basics, of course I don't really understand the real bio details behind it and I don't know the time involved.
Ouch, even 2 months is too fast....ah ya. As mentioned way early on my post, I thought 1 month I can acheive 0 nitrite and amonia, and 2 months I can reach 0 or very low nitrate. Guess I have to reset my mind to anticipate that so I don't get upset when it is not happening and slow down.
Thanks for pointing that out!

 

[user 26995]

Here is the drawing of the sump. Please dis-regard the bio balls as that is scraped.
So, with the baffles, water should remain at the Blue line level if the overflow stops? Only the return section will be emptied into the tank, right?


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Are you building this sump or is it already made?

 

[user 26995]

Yeah, thanks. I think I read that, to prevent reverse siphon, drill a hole at the return nozzle slightly below the water line so it will suck up air when reverse siphon occurs and reached that level, is that right?

Actually I think you want to drill the holes slightly above the water line. And keep it clear of salt creep and snails.

 

[Holidayz]

Are you building this sump or is it already made?

Made la. Don't tell me something wrong ah.......
Forget about the different dimensions, the LFS re-arranged the different section size for me, but all sections are there just without bio-balls.

 

[Holidayz]

Actually I think you want to drill the holes slightly above the water line. And keep it clear of salt creep and snails.

O....really.....then water will shoot out from the hole? I'm planning to drill the hole at the "horizontal" portion of the return nozzle and hook up the line that sucks air out from the hang-on overflow (if I decided that using that) so it acts like the air intake as with a powerhead and prevents air build up on the hang-on overflow.

 

[user 26995]

No nothing wrong. Looking at the dimensions, it looks like a 40 gal tank?

 

[user 26995]

O....really.....then water will shoot out from the hole? I'm planning to drill the hole at the "horizontal" portion of the return nozzle and hook up the line that sucks air out from the hang-on overflow (if I decided that using that) so it acts like the air intake as with a powerhead and prevents air build up on the hang-on overflow.

No water will take the path of least resistance and just go right past the hole. Some will trickle out but it wont spray out. I drilled mine at an upwards angle and I drilled two holes at 1/8" diameter each.

 

[Holidayz]

No nothing wrong. Looking at the dimensions, it looks like a 40 gal tank?

Hoho, I was sweating!
Hmm....from calculation, the tank itself is 50G, 36 X 18 X 18 when fully filled. According to the LFS, it would be filled with between 8 - 10 inches, to match the desired level of the protein skimmer.

 

[Holidayz]

No water will take the path of least resistance and just go right past the hole. Some will trickle out but it wont spray out. I drilled mine at an upwards angle and I drilled two holes at 1/8" diameter each.

Oh...that's super! I don't even have to worry about the amount of water being back siphoned until reaching that hole!
Oh, how I love this forum and the nice people around!!

 

[user 26995]

Hoho, I was sweating!
Hmm....from calculation, the tank itself is 50G, 36 X 18 X 18 when fully filled. According to the LFS, it would be filled with between 8 - 10 inches, to match the desired level of the protein skimmer.

Oh, perfect. Well sounds perfect to me. I'd love to have one that size. I didnt notice, what size is your main display tank?

 

[Holidayz]

Oh, perfect. Well sounds perfect to me. I'd love to have one that size. I didnt notice, what size is your main display tank?

Haha, at least I did one thing right!
Poor me very limited on where and how large my tank is.....got a fierce tiger living with me. The main tank is just 65G 36 X 18 X 24. So it is basically same size, but taller.

 

[ReefLogic]

last thing. I don't know if I said this or not but a very warm welcome to RF for you.

 

[Holidayz]

last thing. I don't know if I said this or not but a very warm welcome to RF for you.

Thanks a lot!! I'm so glad I find this forum!
Thanks to everyone who shared their knowledge and their hard earned experience with me.
Will let you know how I progess.....probably along with my new problems!