Day 694: Planning Stages

Well – it’s been a while since I’ve posted. The new tangs are settling in nicely. They are starting to feel at home and not racing around or hiding.  I’ve been feeding a sheet of algae each day and the yellow has started nipping at it.  The Kole appears to be content with cleaning glass at the moment – so I”m letting algae build on the ends of the tank. Neither have shown any spots for at least 3 days now so I think a little R and R and good nutrition has helped them kick anything they may have had.  I also have been watching the other inhabitants too and so far so good.  I’ll not be breathing easy until a month after adding them and no spots.  Still doing two gallons a day water changes – just to be safe while the tangs settle in.

Did water tests today – no nitrates which is good for having added two large fish.  I was worried about having a mini-cycle, but all appears well.  I’ve also got higher calcium at 400 and alkalinity went up from a very low 6 to a 7 dKH.  Not great – but not bad either.  I’m going to drip in 1.5 teaspoons of baking soda in a gallon of RODI today at lights on to try to get that raised a bit more.  Putting in baking soda rather than washing soda as washing soda will bump up the pH and mine is already pretty high with kalkwasser additives. Other than that – salinity is solid, temp has been rock solid on the Apex.

Planning on putting the CO2 reactor under the tank and moving the RODI top off out. Putting it in bin on the side of the tank hidden in a plastic faux-wicker trash can.  I just have to write the company and make sure the liner they have in there doesn’t have any anti-bacterial or anti-mold additives.  Then I won’t be able to drip into the sump anymore since that would cause a siphon.  I’ll have to pump up to the display.  If I pump straight down the overflow it will give plenty of time for it to mix before re-entering the display.  I’ll likely employ a Tom’s aqua-lifter for that project.  I’ll need to find a place to put the Kalk top off since that will be pumped in through the RODI and into the tank – maybe sitting behind the RODI. This will also require moving the Vortec controller module and re-routing the cord for the AI sol units.  At the same time, I’ll move the return pump onto the Apex so that I can make a comprehensive “feed” setting that shuts down the return pump and skimmer for 20 minutes after feeding.  At that point I’ll clean the return outlets and dip them in some hydrogen peroxide to kill off the algae on them. Sigh – this could take a while.

Once I have the RODI top off out from under the tank – I’ll re-arrange the sump by cutting back the tubing on the Carbon/GFO reactor so the mag 3 sits directly under it, move the skimmer to the side where the Ca+ reactor will be so that I can drip effluent directly into the skimmer intake.  I’ll move the filter sock holder to the back of the sump for added access when vacuuming out the sump bottom.  I’ll move the cheato basket to the right hand side just over the intake.  that way it will be easy to access to remove when it is time to vacuum.  I’ll need to get a filter for the intake on the Ca+ pump and get it all set up on the Apex.  Sigh…. this could take a while too.

Day 23: Drip, Drip Drip…Sand!

No progress on the live rock from Craigslisters as this point, that’s OK though as the water is still painfully slowly drip, drip, dripping its way into the tank. In the meantime the sand arrived today so the tank is coming even closer to appearing to be an aquarium rather than a water tank. I won’t have time today to put in the sand, but tomorrow I should be able to put in the sand and start work on the aquascaping the rock I have. Maybe I’ll hear more action from Craigslisters by then as well. I put in the heater today and I’m bringing the salinity up so that any live rock can be kept in the tank.

Each inch of height the water gets in the aquarium is 48 inches long by 18 inches deep. That’s 864 cubic inches per inch of height. 231 cubic inches of water per gallon, that’s 3.74 gallons per inch… 13.75 inches so far (40 hours into filling) so I’m looking at 51.5 gallons of water – or a little over a gallon an hour. That leaves about 25 gallons in the display tank and 15 more in the sump for a total of 36 more hours of filling the tank as of 9:00am this morning 😦

Day 22: Drip, Drip, Drip – Rocks!?!?

OK, so I left the water running last night and between 10:30PM and 7:30AM and got a whopping additional 15 gallons.  At this rate it will take another day and a half to fill the tank! Then it will take time to get the tank to temp, circulation, salinity and pH.

I’m feeling some pressure to get things done because I found some live rock on Craigslist.  Coralline encrusted real rock.  Sweet sounding stuff.  I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to get it and keep it alive in a tote until the tank is ready.

Other than that – slow day.  The sand is checked “in” at Omaha at 9:30 this morning. It should make it here Friday.

Day 21: Water, water everywhere; Nor any drop to drink.

Sand is on it’s way… somewhere in Illinois and should be here by Friday. The water test kits came today. Can’t move on any “live rock” on craigslist until I can keep it alive in saltwater tested to parameters. I have completed all the work I need to do behind the tank (don’t relish the idea of trying to move a full 900 lb tank to access the back).

So at this point my attention turns to water. While I would prefer to put in the sand first, I can start on mixing the water and filling the tank. It just means the first day the tank will be cloudy with sand. The first batch will be with nothing “live” in the tank (no live rock, corals, fish, etc) so I’ll mix the salt in the tank with the sump pump and power heads. I am filling just as fast as the RO/DI can make water (3 hours so far and 18 of 75 gallons so far) which isn’t fast.

Mixing salt apparently has some harsh effects on water that create the need to let it set for 24 hours and circulate. While I haven’t found the actual chemistry that requires this, I’ve heard various anecdotal versions from the dissolved salt is initially “caustic” and others say that CO2 is created (where did the carbon atom come from in this reaction?) and needs to be “driven off” with a circulation pump. On the other hand there are tons of trace minerals, and calcium carbonate (maybe the carbon atom source?) in the water for the ions to interact with, so who knows what is going on chemically. My suspicion is that neither of these are right and that people just underestimate how fast salt dissolves. This results in hydrometer testing the water with undissolved salt (giving a lower than reality reading) that will subsequently increase the salinity of the water.

To mix water after the initial fill, I have an 18 gallon RubberMaid container that fits under the display tank next to the sump that can function as a place to mix new water. I’ve got a heater I can suspend in it and a small pump to circulate the water. It will also move the mixed water from the mixer to the sump when it is done and the old water has been removed.