93 gal Marineland restart

[repru04]

I felt this was a good time to begin telling about my journey.

I started a few years ago with a 55 gal DT with HOB everything. Then I moved 8 hours away and hauled my water, sand, rocks, and livestock in jugs, buckets, bags, coolers, etc. After living in a hotel for a few weeks before finding my house, most of my livestock died off. When I set up again, I added a 55 gal sump (I have a dual 55 gal stand, very sturdy). Ugh! Very loud and gurgly.

In preparation to move my tank BACK to my previous home, during a Christmas visit, I set up a 40 gal breeder tank with LR I brought from my tank. It had light, circulation, LR, etc. It sat for 4 months in preparation for my current tank inhabitants.

This last move was great, in that all my fish and corals survived. I just acclimated them and plopped them in. I left them in the 40 gal because I figured I would upgrade soon.

 

[repru04]

I settled on a 93 gal Marineland rimless tank. My stand is being custom built to fit the 40 gal breeder as a sump. I plan to QT EVERYTHING before going in there. Right now, I'm having problems with cyano, dino's and green hair algae.

My focus will be my oscellarus. I have 3 full grown in the DT and 2 small ones in my fuge on the bottom. The small ones were a mother's day gift from my husband. I cannot put them in with my others until they are big enough to defend themselves. I will need to figure out the best way to introduce them when the time comes. The little ones love the BTA I got them. One of my big clowns loves a condy! I have a RBTA that none of them are interested in.

My new tank is sitting at the LFS while I wait on the stand to be built. People drool over it and learn the LFS can do orders and such.
Here is a pic of my new tank.

 

[repru04]

What would be better concerning the LR? Should I use what I have and boil it, dry it in the sun? I live in the desert so it won't take long for the sun to dry it out. I'm considering new rock too. I'm really trying to be careful this tank and get nothing bad in there. If anyone has used dry rock, where did you get it? I plan to drill it to make branches.

 

[Mallard]

Marco rock is great if you want to start fresh, but if you like the rock you currently have, you could also clean it up. You can either let it sit in the sun to dry out, give it an acid bath or a combination of the two. If you're having issues with nutrients in the tank now, even after a good maintenance schedule, adequate sized skimmer, and/or running some chemical filtration, the rock likely absorbed a ton of nutrients and will take a while to leech out. This is typically why people will say to start from scratch if you're having issues. The time and money may not be worth it, so it'll be up to you. Regardless if you give your current rock an acid bath or pick up something like Marco or BRS rock, you'll likely want to let them soak in RODI water. This will allow any nutrients to be pulled out before going into your tank. It's not necessary, but if you want to take your time and avoid issues, it won't hurt.

I see your tank doesn't have an overflow, what are your plans for that? Good to see another 93g, mine is on order and I will finally be getting back in after a couple years off.

 

[repru04]

I do currently have an overflow. The jerry rigged tank I am using is something I put together temporary, cheap, and with my not so considerable talent. I'm including some bad pics of that. About the nutrient build up in my current rock, I have a good skimmer (eshopps something), use a sock, and GFO. My maintenance schedule is the problem. I admit it. I've had times where I get overzealous with the cleaning which turned bad for my tank somehow. I'm working on a happy medium.

Where can I get marco rock? What is it you like about it?

 

[Mallard]

Yeah, consistency is the key in reefing. Adding a bio-pellet reactor and/or some carbon might be something to look into as well.

As for Marco Rocks, just do a Google search for them and you'll find the site. People like Marco Rocks because it's dry rock dug up from a place in Florida. It's not coming from the ocean and has a lot of really good shapes. They also do prime cuts and cherry scapes. Prime cuts are where the bottom is flattened out, while the top retains its natural look. BRS also has some good options as well.

 

[repru04]

That is something I will look into. Thanks!

 

[repru04]

I'm currently waiting on the stand to be built. I should have heard about it yesterday, but nothing so far. I sent my 40 breeder to the LFS to be fitted into the stand because it will be used as a sump. I'm trying to use as much of my original equipment as possible. The transmission went out in my car so I have to cut costs somewhere while still being able to get a new tank.

 

[repru04]

current livestock:
2 black snowflake ocellaris
1 regular orange ocellaris
2 black phantom ocellaris (looks just like black snowflack so far)
1 diamond goby
1 mandarin

green condy (impulse purchase but my clown and I are attached to it)


4 rock nems
2 BTA's
various corals

My green bta is being loved to death by my baby clowns and my rbta pretends to die every couple of days.
One of my snowflakes loves on my condy. You can see it in my avatar. It's weird.


My 93 gal rimless cube will be here in a few days as well as my custom made stand. I'll have a 40 gal sump to hold my esshops skimmer, gfo, return pump, heater, and fuge.
I'd like to use marine pure balls or bricks. Is there more benefit to either form?
My light is Reef Radience LED. I bleached a lot of stuff when I first got it because I didn't realize how powerful it was. I didn't have anything expensive though.

 

[RyanCSGO]

Dang, sorry to hear about the car

Looking forward to seeing the tank come along though man. love cube tanks
I don't use anything in my sump other than a sponge between two baffles, and the ONLY reason i have that is to stop the microbubbles.
im sure someone from the [HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG] will have more info between the two.

 

[repru04]

So, I'm still waiting on word about the new stand. In the meantime, not only am I worried about my car, but now it seems my clowns may have velvet and I'm going to have to battle this too. The timing for a disease is actually great because as I move the fish into QT, they will never go back into the old tank. I can eventually move them into the new tank. Everything moves at it's own pace and things work out the way they were supposed to. No rush. Well, I'll rush to save my clowns.
Here are some pics of my nems, not my bta's though.