New tank build

TORMENTOR · Feb 19, 2009

New tank build, added more pictures

Monday I set up my 75 gallon tank, I have been lurking these forums for the last 3 months gathering as much info as possible as I was gathering all the equipment.
My tank is a 75g Acrylic reef ready tank with the overflow box in the center. I made a sump for it out of a 30g tank and just have a 7" filter sock in it along with an Aqua C EV-180 protein skimmer hooked up to a Mag 7 pump.
I have 2 Koralia 4 for the circulation and my return pump is a Quit One 4000, I figure to be pushing around 3000 gallons per hour or close to it.
The tank has about 80lbs of dry Marco Rocks and I have 10lbs of live rock in my sump (I went this route to avoid the unwanted hitch hikers I read horror stories about) and 80lbs of CaribSea dry aragonite and 10lbs of Aragalive sand.
For lighting I currently have a 4 x 96w JBJ PC retrofit kit installed in my canopy until I can get the IceCap T5 retrofit
Everything is running fine however I have a drain issue going into my sump. Or should I say an issue with vapor lock! The problem is this: I can be sitting in the room with the tank and I will only hear water cascading into the filter sock normally and then every so often I get a rush of water that lasts for a few seconds like an air pocket is building up in side the drain line some where. I replaced the plastic down tube with the 2 filter sponges in the overflow box with the new All Glass Overflow kit thinking it would solve the issue but it hasn't.
My drain line is 3 feet long and is your standard pool type.
I was told to go to Lowe's and just buy some 1.25" id vinyl tubing and cut a shorter length for the drain line.
This is driving me crazy listening to this sudden rush of water. Any other ideas as what I can do? I don't have any issues with the sump as far as overflowing causing a flood, it has plenty of room for that and I have tested it over and over. It's just nerve racking.

As for the rest of the tank My parameters are as follows

Salinity is at 1.022 but I am slowly bringing it up
PH is 8.3
DKH is at 8
Calcium is a low 320 have to bring it up but how?
Ammonia is 0
Nitrate is 0
Nitrite is 0
Temp is sitting at 78

I have 3 Chromis cycling it now... I know I know!!!

An one have any info on what I could do for the over flow issue and feel free to add any other information you think I may need..... No criticism for the Chromis though.

Here is a pic of the tank with just the Actinics on

jimmybling31 · Feb 19, 2009

i like the tank. I don't have any ideas on that issue though.

the calcium part of it i wouldn't worry about too much right now. raise it up with kent calcium additive(someone will criticize me for that). You don't have any coral yet, so you don't really need to have too much calcium. also, what salt are you using?

roshi719 · Feb 19, 2009

Good to see you are starting up a build thread, Rich. Like I told you on the calcium just bring it up slowly, over a couple/few days. use a liquid calcium supplement. If you want to run by on Sunday, I'll show you the one I mentioned last night.

BluegrassReef · Feb 19, 2009

nice looking tank...keep up the nice work.

TORMENTOR · Feb 19, 2009

roshi719 said:
Good to see you are starting up a build thread, Rich. Like I told you on the calcium just bring it up slowly, over a couple/few days. use a liquid calcium supplement. If you want to run by on Sunday, I'll show you the one I mentioned last night.

I will try and make it up there this Sunday for sure.
Thanks again for stopping by last night to check out my system.
Rich

ahayes13 · Feb 19, 2009

we were having a similar problem after just putting up our 120 with the weird water surge thing. the prob. was our drain hosing was too long. it seemed that if the hose got in to the water that it would do that. is your drain hose actually going down into the water?

ahayes13 · Feb 19, 2009

btw... welcome! tank looks really nice ....

TORMENTOR · Feb 20, 2009

ahayes13 said:
we were having a similar problem after just putting up our 120 with the weird water surge thing. the prob. was our drain hosing was too long. it seemed that if the hose got in to the water that it would do that. is your drain hose actually going down into the water?

ahayes13 said:
btw... welcome! tank looks really nice ....

Thanks for the reply about the tank.
As for the drain pipe going into the sump water well yes it does sorta, I have a piece of PVC connected to the elbow in my sock and it does run into the water but it is cut at a 45 degree angle to allow air to pass through, I was thinking my drain line hose itself is to long

TORMENTOR · Feb 25, 2009

Well I ordered a Quit One 3000 pump to replace my 4000 hoping that will stop my percolating sound I am getting from my drain line, I look to get it by Friday.

Question about Cycling.

My tank has been running since last Monday and have 3 Chromis in the tank since last Wednesday and then added a piece of deli shrimp to my sump as advised by Matt from Blue Planet Corals on Saturday and I am still not reading any Ammonia. Is this normal? My tanks volume is 75 gallons. I was told it was too large for just the 3 Chromis and to add a shrimp to help it cycle, I know its cruel but what is done is done, no turning back now... sorry.

I am also starting to see what appears to be Diatoms forming on my sand bed and the Marco Rocks I have in the tank have all turned a light brown like the sand bed is showing. Is this anything I need to worry about or is my tank about to show signs of a cycle beginning?

Thanks, Rich

revhtree · Feb 25, 2009

Hmmm..

Is there any sort of smell?

II used Marcorocks and boy did it stink! I love the rock though for sure.

TORMENTOR · Feb 25, 2009

revhtree said:
Hmmm..

Is there any sort of smell?

II used Marcorocks and boy did it stink! I love the rock though for sure.

No, no smell at all, it was dry

revhtree · Feb 25, 2009

When I got mine it was dry also, but it had some dead things in the crevices of the rock. Is it the fiji rock or the new rock?

TORMENTOR · Feb 25, 2009

revhtree said:
When I got mine it was dry also, but it had some dead things in the crevices of the rock. Is it the fiji rock or the new rock?

It's their new rock, It looks fantastic

revhtree · Feb 25, 2009

Oh ok! Yea I just got 150lbs of the new rock to and love it. There will be no cycle associated with this rock.

Ok as far as your tank goes, I would say that you don't have enough going on to get the cycle started.

TORMENTOR · Feb 25, 2009

I have more Raw shrimp in my freezer, should I add more to the sump or just sit it out and wait. I don't want to rush it, I would just like to see some ammonia in the tank to help assure myself that it is cycling if you know what I mean.

BShells · Feb 25, 2009

I'd try adding some nitrifying bacteria. Biospira is probably the best know, but you should try to get some One And Only by DrTims Aquatics.

It's probably a good idea to add the bacteria, since you already have livestock in there.

Wy Renegade · Feb 25, 2009

TORMENTOR one of the common misconseptions out there, is that a tank must experience a ammonia and nitrite spike in order to cycle, and if it doesn't we need to "feed" it with fish poop or decaying shrimp until it does. If you got established LR, as rev said, you may not experience the spikes, as there is enough bacteria established in the rock to handle the bioload. When you add things like shrimp, or fish poop to your tank, bacteria builds to a suffiencient level to handle that amount of nutrients - if the level of nutrients drop, the amount of bacteria will also drop. So if you "cycle" your tank with shrimp, then let it sit for a month or two without nutrients, the bacteria will die back out. When you then introduce fish and start feeding, bacteria levels will climb; one of the many reasons that new hobbiests have so many problems. There are three different types of bacteria involved in the cycling process; those that convert ammonia into nitrites, those that convert nitrites into nitrates, and those that convert nitrates into free nitrogen. If your not getting any results for ammonia, are you reading any levels of nitrite or nitrate? That will also tell you that you are experiencing a cycle. HTH

revhtree · Feb 25, 2009

Just to be clear, this new rock from Marcorock is not live, but dry and has never been alive. You can't use that rock to cycle your tank.

TORMENTOR · Feb 25, 2009

Scopus Tang said:
TORMENTOR one of the common misconseptions out there, is that a tank must experience a ammonia and nitrite spike in order to cycle, and if it doesn't we need to "feed" it with fish poop or decaying shrimp until it does. If you got established LR, as rev said, you may not experience the spikes, as there is enough bacteria established in the rock to handle the bioload. When you add things like shrimp, or fish poop to your tank, bacteria builds to a suffiencient level to handle that amount of nutrients - if the level of nutrients drop, the amount of bacteria will also drop. So if you "cycle" your tank with shrimp, then let it sit for a month or two without nutrients, the bacteria will die back out. When you then introduce fish and start feeding, bacteria levels will climb; one of the many reasons that new hobbiests have so many problems. There are three different types of bacteria involved in the cycling process; those that convert ammonia into nitrites, those that convert nitrites into nitrates, and those that convert nitrates into free nitrogen. If your not getting any results for ammonia, are you reading any levels of nitrite or nitrate? That will also tell you that you are experiencing a cycle. HTH

I tested all three this morning, AMMONIA, NITRITE AND NITRATE and all three read zero.