New Setup (Pics)

[smkstang1]

Hey All,

Have been reading this forum for a little while now, but have not posted yet.

Got a used tank setup from a guy that was breaking down one of his tanks.

The tank is as follows:
-90 Gallon with an overflow on the right side
-Wooden stand
-Sump (Measures 14 x 14 x 30 roughly equal to 25.5 gallons)
-Protein skimmer
-2 Pumps (Mag 7.5 for the Skimmer, Mag 9.5 for the Return)
-About 150 lbs of live rock and about 100 lbs of live sand
-Lights are PC 10000k bulbs and Actinics

Please see some photos below:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/smkstang1/Tank/DSC04594.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/smkstang1/Tank/DSC04592.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/smkstang1/Tank/DSC04591.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/smkstang1/Tank/DSC04590.jpg




So this is how I set it up...

When I brought it home, I set it up rather quickly, because I needed to submerge the rock (rock was pretty much established). Did not have a RODI unit at the time, so I used tap water. The water in NYC is actually not that bad (~39 to 40 parts measured by the TDS).

Dont worry, it was only to have the rock remain alive. Moving forward the water will only be RODI water (I have read the dangers of using tap water and keeping the livestock happy.

I set it up and it has been the same way for about 1.5 weeks. The initial tests at setup were:

2/7/2009

PH: ~8
Ammonia: 0
NO3: 0-5 (seems like 0 but I cant differentiate whether it is skewed to one side or the other)
NO2: 0

Measured it yesterday.

2/15/2009

PH: ~ 8.0 - 8.2
Ammonia: 0
NO3: 0-5 (seems like 0 but I cant differentiate whether it is skewed to one side or the other)
NO2: 0

I wish I had some more test kits at hand for other things like calcium, magnesium....

Well moving on. After the initial few days, I started finding some hitchhikers... Found 2 black crabs with their own seashells attached to them (dont really know what they are called but I am sure they are ok, since they came from an established tank). Found some other things (hoping someone can identify them, see photos below). One of them actually did not like where he was and joined the other one on the same rock under a more direct light:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/smkstang1/Tank/DSC04586.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/smkstang1/Tank/DSC04584.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/smkstang1/Tank/DSC04583.jpg



A few days ago I started to have the attack of the brown stuff (Algae?)

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/smkstang1/Tank/DSC04588.jpg


Thoughts? Clean up crew is in order?

Probably babbling on too much but I do have a few questions:

-skimmer (not hooked up yet) had blue bio balls in the intake cylinder, which I have removed. What I am struggling to understand is where does the water level need to be inside the skimmer if it is too low then I would imagine the outlet pipe would suck out all the gunk back into the sump, is it is too high, then It might continue to overfill the skim collection with water. Do I need to throttle the outflow back a bit or maybe make sure the height of the skimmer is at or near the level of the water in the sump?

-sump has 3 compartments:

1 - sealed compartment with an overflow
2 - compartment with an overflow / underflow
3 - end compartment where the skimmer will flow the water out

Why does compartment 2 have an underflow? What is the purpose of it? Every sump I have seen is made the same way.

Should I setup the Sump as follows?

1 - Receives water from the tank and also houses the live rock (overflows into 2)
2 - Grow chaeto (overflows / underflows into 3)
3 - 2 pumps. One pushes water to the skimmer and the other returns the water to the tank.

I think this may be enough for now...

My final goal is as follows:

-Have about 4 fish (2 nemos, 1 blue hippo tang (Dori), 1 yellow long nose butterfly). You guys / gals can comment on fish selection if you like.

-Cleanup crew (Sand sifting goby, Fire shrimp, some crabs)

-Some hardy corals that can survive the PC lighting (so low light corals and then work my way up from there)

Thanks for reading. I am sure I will have more questions, but I will stop right here for now.

[smkstang1]

The stuff is all over the sand and the rocks as well.

I am going to need to drain the tank to aquascape and will try to inspect each and every rock for corals and other live creatures...

[ZoaFan08]

Did you mix tap water with salt or just put the LR in pure tap water?

[smkstang1]

good question...

I did use salt water... Mixed about 50 gallons worth...

I am sure those small corals would not have survived if they were in fresh water.

Sitting here fumbling with the piping... Have very limited room to run the piping for the skimmer.

[ZoaFan08]

The things pictures above are aiptasia/mojano and are pest. Think of weeds in your lawn. Also the brown stuff is diatoms and will disappear over time, make sure you have enough flow. Since you used tap water you may get a big algae breakout.

[nikon187]

those little corals look like pest anemones called apitasia. Get rid of them while you can. Do not drain the tank to get rid of the diatom algae ( brown on your sand) It is completly normal when setting up a new tank

[smkstang1]

ok, I will drain the tank leaving about an inch of water above the sand (need to aquascape). I have to even it out anyway. So all these little guys have to go? They are all bad?

[ZoaFan08]

Don't drain yor tank, just drain a little to reaquascape and thats it. Yes they are bad, they will turn into 100s and cover your rocks

[smoovie]

JMO but those pics are horrible. They really don't show anything at all. some rock, some sand, a C clamp. Back up a bit. Don't try to do macro shots with the standard setting on just everything. Lets have a look at the big picture.

[cdbias2]

The underflow is also sometimes called a "Bubble Trap" because bubbles go up and the water goes down. Very helpful if you run a skimmer in your sump.

[smkstang1]

thanks for the sump explanation. here are some more photos for those interested:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/smkstang1/Tank/DSC04595.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/smkstang1/Tank/DSC04596.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/smkstang1/Tank/DSC04596.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/smkstang1/Tank/DSC04598.jpg