# New 110g tall tank! just set up!



## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

Hi all,

For those who gave me advice on my move this past weekend, Thank you!.

I left home Sat at 10 am with tons of buckets and RBM pails, off to Mississauga. We got there at 11am and I inspected the tank. looked really cool and everyone seem to be doing more than fine. I bought a full set up with tons of BTA's and fish. The tank is a 110g tall. It came with what i think is at least a 50g sump, 25W UV sterilizer, return pump Rio 2430LPH, SW skimmer?, well i dont know any of the brands but everything works great, heater, 4 T5 hood and 2 sets of homemade metal halide, a 5 stage RO unit system, 4 300GPH powerheads and 2 brand new in box...and lots of extras... and ok, it is a HOB.... this was my biggest objection.... the hubbie closed the deal before I knew it, and it was a pretty good damn deal.... so I figure I'll find out ways to make sure I dont get a flood in my new hardwood floor...

Now, livestock:

Over 40 BTA's
a big rock full of what I think is green clove polyps,
80 pounds of live rock,
1 scarlett hermit crab
1 6 inches regal blue tang
1 yellow tang
2 ocellaris clowns
2 royal grammas
2 BIG diamond gobys

the move was a pain. I left for home around 1.30. When I came home, hubbie reinforced the crap out of the cabinet first with 2X4's while I clean everything. the fish were doing fine except the blue tang was playing dead in the bucket. ( i recognized this behavior as My Discus used to do the same). As I finished cleaning I set up everything for the sump, put all drain pipes back to the box, and finally added water to the sump.
Then we moved in the tank, and I started to put the crushed coral in. Then I started to add the old water from the buckets/ new water, alternating.

When I came only to 50%, at that point, everything was like, DIRT with water. coulndt see anything. started to put some of the rock that had less BTA's. My plan was to fill it completely, give everything a run, and then empty again, then add livestock, then add water again.

Well at this point was 4pm, I was really concerned about the fish and my tank was filled with dirty sandy water.

I looked at the blue tang, He was playing me good, looked like he was going to die. As one of the royal grammas die of stress after blowing up and looking like she just watch a horror movie, I took a drastic move and decided to put all livestock and start the tank to run ASAP, so I did.

I threw in the live rock as I could and spread it in the tank., and put the livestock. I started to run the tank, and THANKFULLY, everything was running.After hours and hours the tank started to clear, i changed the cup of the skimmer like 5 times full of crap 

Sunday, I needed to make some minor leveling adjustments to the box to get correct flow. And I had to get my hands on and do all the aquascaping....oh boy, then the gobys muck everything again, will it ever end 

A lot of questions will come, but right now im trying to get everyone settle in, the blue tang has taken a few trips around the tank but mostly goes up and down on one side, though better than yesterday. Overall, great results, tested water parameters yesterday and today, ammonia, nitrate and nitrites are 0.

Here's the pics, please feel free to express your opinions and give advise, the tank is still a dusty and cloudy. 

BTW, they made me go to Dragon yesterday and got a little ZOA, a tiny little soft mushroom and an elegance. The elegance is doing fantastic

Some of the pails and buckets



back of the cabinet with sump



Tank just set up look at that mucky water


clean the glass please 


You can see how the BTA's were all closed on SAT





This is how the tank looks today with the new rock arrangement.








I need to identify this 2 guys, they are close but sometimes they open their mouths and get some featherlike fans out.


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

so you're the one who got the 40 btas 
that's awesome!
I love that you have a pair of diamond gobies.
glad the move went well!
keep checking parameters religiously for at least 10 days...


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## Chaoticblissx (Jan 5, 2013)

Good luck with the new tank! I really considered picking this one up myself but don't have the room for another large display yet. 
Last pic looks and sounds like barnacles based on the pic and your description.


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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

Thank you guys! you know the set up!!! Im the one that got the 45+ BTA's! They are very happy and the clowns love them.

Barnacles, great, I will research.

There are tons of stuff to learn and to do, ie. the sump is wasted, I have a whole chamber for a refugium with nothing in it, no rubble, bio balls, nothing, great project!

Might be changing the lighting to LED after I research and if I am satisfy it will be all right for the BTA's

I am preparing RO water buckets with SW in case of emergency water change expecting an ammonia spike, for now, everything is normal.


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## Chaoticblissx (Jan 5, 2013)

LED setups are great in the right application. Do your research. I have 3 tanks with 3 different LED setups and love them all. My 150g is powered by a Vertex Illumina 260 with 5 AUX pads, my 36g (soon to be a 50g) is powered by a 160w Maxspect R420r M1600, and my 16g nano is running a Marineland reef capable LED. From low end to high end, each have their +\- but I love them and personally wouldn't consider anything else. Good luck!


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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

Chaoticblissx said:


> LED setups are great in the right application. Do your research. I have 3 tanks with 3 different LED setups and love them all. My 150g is powered by a Vertex Illumina 260 with 5 AUX pads, my 36g (soon to be a 50g) is powered by a 160w Maxspect R420r M1600, and my 16g nano is running a Marineland reef capable LED. From low end to high end, each have their +\- but I love them and personally wouldn't consider anything else. Good luck!


Very good, I will consider all these. the BTA's have been doing fine with the T5'S but I discovered that the light canopy does not have a built in fan (WTH) so it heats up quite a bit, that heats up my acrylic, and then the water. not good. only good thing is that the tank is so tall the heat doesnt make it all the way down i guess? I will be doing research this cannot be in the summer!


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## Flexin5 (Nov 12, 2011)

Wow 40+ BTA's? That must look crazy when they are all in there and nice and open. Great job with the move, hell I think I took longer moving my 10 gallon when I had it lol.


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

you look so tired 

be careful with GSP. eventually it will take whole tank over and will bother other colors to dead.

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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

sig said:


> you look so tired
> 
> be careful with GSP. eventually it will take whole tank over and will bother other colors to dead.


Lol super tiring!!! So it is green Gsp after all. What to do when it starts to crawl out that flat stone? Cut it and post it for free? Will someone want it? It is apparently bigger everyday I come home


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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

*do 10% water change anyway?*

Hi all. My parameters are normal again. Should I still do a 5%/ 10% water change to avoid and ammonia build up? Or would it make it worse? And what about chemi-pure? I don't know if I want to accelarate a cycle with livestock in it. Just following my gut here but I feel if I start to fool around will make it worse? Opinions please!


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

nothing can be done with GSP until you will take rocks out and clean it. probably try to locate then in the way that these rocks will not be in touch with the other rocks (difficult to do)

chemi pure will not accelerate cycle, but it will be to much money. I do not know if you have a sump, but TLF reactor will be good addition to the tank.

I would continue with water changes. It will also help to reduce possibility on the cyano growing.

the tank is always cycling, when you add or remove something in the tank, but these are small cycles and we do not see them, until big change will really brake your biological balance.

All my tanks had/have cristal clear water and people always surprised how I am achieved it.

It is very easy, but it cost few backs more.

On my current 130G total I do water change 10G weekly, run carbon and GFO in TLF reactors.

but,

every tank is different and what works for me, could not work for your tank.

on the other note WC are always beneficiary, because it helps to maintain chemistry of thank.

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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

IMHO/E, the more you muck around with a system, the more "issues" can/may occur.

It's all in preparation. Have NSW prepared, water conditioners ie SeaChem Prime and Stability, test the water regularly and make notes. Notes are important in the beginning as one's mind is everywhere and it's very easy to miss a point should any issues arise.

From here on in, it's this basic check list:
- water params good?
- temp good?
- fish eating?
- body weight good?
- behavior "typical" for the species?
- equipment working?

If you've answered yes, to all the Q's, there's nothing more you can do. 

It's like the "my first baby" syndrome. One frets about EVERYTHING. Just enjoy the ride .

Hope that helps you rest easy for a bit


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

+1 on don't muck with things too much right now. Let it settle. Be patient.
Religious water changes are your friend. At least 10% a week. Better yet 5-10% a few times a week for now. 
You can isolate the GSP by separating the rock it is on from the rest of the rocks. Kind of like an island surrounded by sand. But I would wait a bit for things to settle before moving rocks around. There's no rush on that.


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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

Thank you all. Luckily, the GSP is on its own flat rock completely separated from all other rick so unless it starts to migrate through the sand to the other rock, will be contained!
Today I did a 5% water change. I needed to top up anyhow so I took some water out and put nsw. I did my readings today and the ammonia is a bit on the rise. 0.25.... now I kind of regret doing water changes. Livestock is doing amazingly, eating happy, the btas are crawling and finding their liking ob different rocks.
I put prime on sat when I set up, can I put prime again?? I would think is fine.
.I will test water tomorrow morning again before going to work. My familu is on strict orders to check tank periodically and if anything funky..... well I don't want to think about it.... I look up about the reactor.. so far I read about the phosban reactor, I believe you can have reactors with carbon too and some are DIY .... gotta read more.


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

in the video there are many white particulars in the water. Is there any chance that Power heads are to low and blowing sand? or these are coming from the sump?

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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

sig said:


> in the video there are many white particulars in the water. Is there any chance that Power heads are to low and blowing sand? or these are coming from the sump?


Hi Sig, just what I have tried to figure it out.

1. I have 4 powerheads, I think they are all 300GPH but i cant really tell as they are used? When I put the BTA's I thought this was too much current. So I unplugged 1. I have 3 going on. None of them are pointing to the sand.

2. Protein skimmer is a SWC 150 extreme. I just watched a few videos of this skimmer, I have the correct level, air intake and tune in, the bubbles are small and they dont get high in the neck at all.

I am going to look tomorrow if the situation persist. I have been moving around stuff, and playing around with the sump, which has sand. Could it be the sump having sand in it? The previous owner had it that way....

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

just my opinion here and probably guys will add/change to this

1) 900 GPH is not enough for 100G.
2) why you do not put Power heads on the back (they will be less visible)
3) Anemones will move to find good spots based on the flow directions and lights
4) why do you need sand in the sump
5) power head (powerful enough) pointed to the glass will blow sand and fine sand could get to the sand
6) level of bubbles in the skimmer does not matter for bubbles in the sump or tank. All my bubbles in the sump are from the return line.

In my set up I am covering water intake in the sump with bag from Big Als and you would not believe how much garbage it stops, before it gets back to the tank.
It could be more difficult to make in your case, since I have sump drilled on the bottom, but I think something could be figured out. This is old image but here is the idea. Now I cover whole intake, by putting bag on the plastic carcass.

Anyway
you and hubby welcome to visit (probably will find new ideas). Just send PM and we can arrange time.
I am at Steeles and Bathurst

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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

Hi Sig,

Thank you,

1. I have another 2 more powerheads that are brand new in box for 300 gph. ( should I have 6 powerheads??? May be the ones I have in the tank are more GPH but I donrt know. I can definetely plug in the 4th one back on and then will have at least 1200 gph...

2.I will try to put them in the back, yes, good idea

3.no problem the BTA's move all the time!

4.I dont know on earth why sand on the sump. but there is quite abit of it. I will try to siphon and turn off the return so it doesnt make a mess.... the return is sitting on top of sand>GRRRR i think this is why i have particles...

5.I didnt get this point. Do I want to point the powerheads from the back to the glass?Sides, front?

6. ok, skimmer does not seem to be an issue now and is working fine

In regards to the bag, you mean like a filter sock? I hear bad things about that..... may be a mesh bag... I have one that I can think it will be perfect. would need to put one on each drain line...it will definitely grab lots of big particles.

Thank you for the invite, I will PM you.

The GSP is really open now, looking nice




and here's the powerheads position now. They are also filthy.


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