New 2ft tank in office

[nicreef]

After my last misadventure where i had a huge ammonia spike effectively killing off all my stuff, i decided to use my friend recently decomm 2 ft tank. (i was in the midst of doing up a simple sump previously so i just used it for my current set up

attached is some pic. hopefully i can get some advice on what else i can do

a look at how the tank look like

the "sump" - less the over head skimmer as i am still cycling - i filled it with some crushed coral and my external filter pipe is below those curshed corals)

The inflow pipe has been changed since this caused alot of air bubbles....

Overflow box i bought from aquamarine

seted up yesterday and the readin now is abit weird

low A - low N - High N.

On hand i have a pail of ammonia filled water (stinks) should i dose it into the tank at a slow and gradually increasing basis?

[Clement_jr]

nice usage of the dustbin as sump!

[Evolutionz]

Interesting! Will be looking forward for ur fts!

[nicreef]

sure will update as soon as i can...just got more life rocks from irwana. in the midst of thinking how to piece them together.

A) just wondering if anyone can give me feed back if this would work.

1. water from tank goes to top of bin

2. hang on skimmer takes water in from top area (3/4 of water level) discharge to lower level.

3. pipe from bottom of bin links to external filter.

was reading that skimmer can remove bacteria, while i heard from henry that crush corals are good places for bacteria to grow. thus this set up ensures as much bacteria gets back to the tank again.

B. Also would it be a good idea to speed up the cycling by adding the ammonia rich water slowly?

C. Why is the reading this weird? it is only day 2 of cycling so shouldnt the no 3 be at its peak towards the end of cycling?

[nicreef]

reading yesterday (day 2 of cycling) was ammonia 0.25, nitrite 0.1, nitrate 100

reading today is ammonia >0.25, nitrite: 0.5, nitrate 100

can i use my red sea nitrate and phosphate reducer? (the overdose of this killed my tanked twice before...)

[rudy17]

i let mine run at least a month before dosing any reducers.

[nicreef]

view inside sump. decided to put the skimmer in by using a glass container below as a base to push up the height.

view of sump + filter + chiller

replaced white tube to blue and rock scaping more or less done.

[tjy]

wa.... innovative ! nice Bin Sump

[nicreef]

hmm need some help

1. there are bubbles coming from the pipe back to my tank. how do i reduce them? is it ok to have them? not sure if the pic below is clear enough to see the bubbles.

2. my skimmer cup fills up with foam that changes to water in about every 30 minutes. i am using a dymax LS 10. the knob has been turned to the max to make it as thick as possible liao. should i change the pump or is this normal in the inital stage?

[nicreef]

a baffles is kinda out btw...thou i can try...but it is going to be tough since it is round in shape haha

[nicreef]

ok skimmer solved by changing it to over hanging type. anyone any tips on the bubbles?

[andythiam]

Nice set-up!

[nicreef]

Hi thanks.

more or less tank has settled and cycling has ended. Offed the skimmer yesterday when i left the office as i did a WC and dosed bacteria.Waiting for it to skim properly again after changing it from hang on type to within sump.

Current life stock in tank:

1 x 2 head hammer (had to frag 1 head the next day after i got it)

1 x plate coral

1 x mandarin

6 snails

1 x mushroom (not sure what it is called - help id? hehe)

the green container in the top left helps me contain the bubble issue i had. just have to let the opening rest slightly above the water level.

[Admiraltian]

U only on your blue lights?

[nicreef]

mmz ya i got white one on standby would it be better to change to them?

[Admiraltian]

U dun have to on your blue lights all the time.

[Royston]

Nice ideal to use dustbin as sump

[nicreef]

Just changed my lights after talking to bro admiraltian. headed down to ML intending to get ati aquablue and blue plus. However, 2 x 24w bulb seems a little too much and got sold by him on getting the aqua illumination vega (colour) which according to its specs was designed for 24 inch x 24 inch which seems just nice to me (except that mine is 24 x 12, making me feel like increasing my tank size to a 24 x 18 or something just to make full use of the lights).

Current lifestock:

Blue Damselfish (just got together from ML)

yellow line glass shrimp (just got from ML)

false clownfish

mandarin dragonet

3 x turban snail

3 x Trochus Snail

2 x bumble bee snail

1 x 2 head hammer

1 x plate coral

1 x green metallic mushroom (i think)

1 x refugium of tigger pods.

Current equipment:

Tank: 2ft x 1ft x 1ft + 2ft (height) x 1.5ft (diameter) rubbish bin

wavemaker: tunze 6015

Lighting: aqua illumination vega (colour)

Reactors: DD fluidised Media Reactor with erm (cant remember what i am using think puri 2 from aqua marine) effectively got my po4 down from 0.5 to 0

Bio pellet: NP bio pellet with reactor from ML

skimmer: dymax ls 10 (probably getting a better one when i have the money)

external filter: eheim professional 2 2026

chiller: Hailea hs 28a 1/10hp

overflow box: Skimz Monzter OM2500

below are the images with the new lights. tank looks empty as all my liftstock less the clown fish are always shy...

[Evolutionz]

looking good! can pm me the price of the light?

[Admiraltian]

Nice lights!!

[ray.tanjg]

view inside sump. decided to put the skimmer in by using a glass container below as a base to push up the height. view of sump + filter + chiller replaced white tube to blue and rock scaping more or less done.

Bro how did you connect from your tank overflow to the sump, canister and chiller? How many pump did you use?

[nicreef]

overflow to sump no need pump.

den from sump > canister > chiller > display tank.

the canister comes with pump (not sure if this is the way to describe it) so it pushes water to the chiller and back to display tank.

[Evolutionz]

remember to open up ur canister and clean at least once a month if not it'll become a nitrate factory.. best is once a week or once per 2 weeks.

[nicreef]

i was thinking about doing it once a month. currently monitering the nitrate in display tank and sump since my flow is display tank>overflow>sump>canister>chiller>display tank.

so if nitrate from sump is much lower than display tank would probably be the canister already.

been a up and down day.

the up is i managed to spot my 2 new inhabitant attached is their photos. infact i even got to my yellow line glass shrimp doing his dance on video. gonna try upload later:

They use a side-to-side rocking dance to advertise the cleaning station to approaching "client fish" in the water column. source: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+525+2859&pcatid=2859

the down is i realize there is water seeping out of my the bottom of my tank as see in the first picture. Hopefully it is just the hose from the overflow box that is leaking and not a crack in the tank...

worst news is i probably have to replace the table holding the tank as it is damaged by water and i am afraid that the table would not be able to hold the weight of the tank. any idea on this? if say i have to remove all my stuff just to move the tank, i was thinking of just upgrading to a 2ft cube tank.

[David5077]

Bro buy a stand better