Marine Discussion: 90g FOWLR (first SW tank) journal

[macphoto]

SO far so good. You may need to keep tweaking to get rid of the bubbles. I had to use the sponge on the skimmer outlet and make a few modifications on my baffles to finally get the problem under control.

What kind of modifications did you end up doing to the baffles?

--Mike

 

[macphoto]

I ended up not going in to work today afterall. Tomorrow I have a client meeting right down the street from the previously mentioned LFS, so I'll definitely stop by there. I called them today, and apparently they have a very good selection of live rock... all of the other LFSs I've been to have one vat of rock, or maybe a 55g aquarium with some pieces in it, but not a whole lot to choose from. This place has over 3,000lbs. in stock!

He said it is Haitian rock, very lightweight. Prices range from $2.50 - $6.00 lb.

I'm assuming it looks like this. Is this decent rock?

--Mike

 

[mogurnda]

What kind of modifications did you end up doing to the baffles?

--Mike

Boy, it would be hard to describe in this thread. You want to come over and have a look? :laugh:

It involved adding a few inserts to direct the water flow where I really wanted it, increasing the travel time and de-bubbling time.

 

[macphoto]

Boy, it would be hard to describe in this thread. You want to come over and have a look? :laugh:

Not a bad idea... but a picture is worth a thousand words! (though I will acknowledge reality... in this case, it's more likely that a picture is worth a thousand questions!)

It involved adding a few inserts to direct the water flow where I really wanted it, increasing the travel time and de-bubbling time.

Well, I'm clearly going to have to do something... with the skimmer and H.O.T. Magnum off, the bubbles are pretty bad. But when I turn the skimmer on, you can REALLY see the bubbles just pouring out of the return nozzle.

Stuffing some polyester filter material into the top of the first baffle helped quite a bit, but it also restricted the flow out of the skimmer section (and is probably not a real solution... just a band-aid).

I guess I'm just confused... at melevsreef.com, it looks like most of his sumps use this same basic over/under/over bubble trap, but mine doesn't seem to be having much effect!

--Mike

 

[mogurnda]

What a story! It may be worth just letting things break in for a while, and seeing if that takes care of the microbubbles.

Looking forward to watching the tank grow. Your wife will probably like it a lot better when the coralline takes over.

 

[macphoto]

What a story! It may be worth just letting things break in for a while, and seeing if that takes care of the microbubbles.

Yes, I'm thinking this too... I'll hold off on additional mods for a while to see how things work out. Compared to how bad it was at first, the current level of microbubbles is not too bad.

Looking forward to watching the tank grow. Your wife will probably like it a lot better when the coralline takes over.

Actually, she's already commented that the tank already looks better with the additional rock in place.

--Mike

 

[lbear]

It looks nice when water becomes clear. How many lb of sand do you have in the tank? You mentioned you have 20 lbs of live sand. It seems there are two layers of sand in your tank. What's the thickness of the sand bed? Do you mix different aragonite sand? What's the grain size?


Albert

 

[macphoto]

How many lb of sand do you have in the tank? You mentioned you have 20 lbs of live sand. It seems there are two layers of sand in your tank. What's the thickness of the sand bed? Do you mix different aragonite sand? What's the grain size?

In addition to the 20lbs of live sand (which sounds like a lot more than it really is... I guess the water included really weighs it down), I have 60lbs. of Aragamax oolite "sugar sized" sand, along with 15lbs. of a similar (but slightly bigger grain size) that I got at PetSmart (I think it was the Special Grade Reef Sand from CaribSea). Though it looks so in the photos, there is no distinct layering of the sands (I think that's some kind of shadow effect)... it's all mixed together.

I'm shooting for about a 2" sand bed. The current from the powerheads and return pump created the "dunes" effect, dramatically varying the depth in some spots. Regardless, I probably have more sand in the tank than I need, and I might move some of it down to the refugium (which currently has 30lbs. of "fresh" Aragamax sand), since I want it to have a true DSB.

--Mike

 

[Emg]

That looks really good, but I'm wondering if you're going to have problems with the diatrus settling in behind your rock which is right up against your filter wall (I think that's what that is)

I also have to say....I have never attempted a SW tank......yet......so I'm no authority on this sort of thing.......but I am getting lots of info at this site to file away for when I do take the plunge !

Fantastic Job BTW !! Thanks for all the info and all those wonderful pictures of your progress. I really look forward to see this all up, stocked and running ! :thm:

 

[macphoto]

That looks really good, but I'm wondering if you're going to have problems with the diatrus settling in behind your rock which is right up against your filter wall (I think that's what that is)

I'm thinking that the clean-up crew (hermits, snails, starfish, mini-stars, worms, etc.) will take care of detritus and excess food, even in these tight spots. I also might aim a powerhead blowing across the back of the tank to keep stuff from settling back there.

--Mike