Idaho-Tank build... Starting over

Hate to be a downer here but I would test the output of that RO/DI unit with a TDS meter ASAP... my DI resins have always come in a darker color that turns light golden brown as its exhausted and assuming the color in your pic is correct I'd say yours is overdue for replacement.

On a more positive note your build is looking awesome and I envy you your workshop space

 

Not a downer... I figured I would need to test the water and potentially buy some new filter media. However, the guy I bought the system from just recently bought that DI resin canister. He showed me the receipt and said its only been used a couple times. Either way I will test. Besides the TDS meter, any thing else I should test my RO water for?

 

most important thing is the TDS, you may want to test it for phosphates but both readings should be zero coming out of the DI resin.

from our water expert....

 

Didn't see this comment before... Thanks for the input - I will try cutting the end of the pipe going into the first chamber at a 45* angle too. Regarding the water in the refugium... It was full for the past 5 days and no leaks yet.... so I am crossing my fingers that it holds! Getting it out of the stand will be a night mare if I ever have to do that... Im not sure if I mentioned it or not but after it all checked out and past the water test I dried it and used the #16 cement on all of the interior seams of the tank. I just felt like this would not only strengthen everything but add a safety factor for preventing leaks. Basically all the joints that keep water from leaking out of the tank have had a bead of cement added. The #16 is fluid enough to flow and then dry creating a smooth interior corner. I am confident it wont leak now(knock on wood).

Update:

Living 2 hours from the nearest LFS stinks sometimes... I should have purchased salt last time I was in Boise but didn't so my tank was sitting full of fresh water... ugh. I decided to drain it all just as a precaution (thought it wouldn't hurt for everything to be soaked and then rinsed... - at least thats what Im telling myself since I already drained out the water... it was about 1/3 RO and 2/3 well water anyway.) Now that its drained I have yanked out the plumbing (Im so glad I put unions in!) and will replace the elbows with "T"s, create a vent and try to cut down on the plumbing noise. I am also making more RO water so it will be 100% RO in the tank.

On the bright side - being forced to wait till this weekend for salt allowed me to shop for live rock, sand, salt etc... (I keep repeating the montra "nothing good ever happens fast in salt water.... nothing good ever......" lol) So I found a guy tearing down his 75 gallon tank who has some nice Live Rock for sale. I am hoping 150 lbs of live rock will cut down on my cycle time and prevent a big ammonia spike... Obviously that will depend on how much if any die off i get on the rock.

I am also taking his sand. He has about 130lbs in his tank and about 20lbs of unused - all of it is fine aragonite sand. My plan is to keep a couple cups of the sand live to help seed and completely rinse the rest in fresh water using a hose. I know I will kill off any good pods etc.. in the sand but don't want to risk adding a bunch of detritus to the tank and cause a big die off... So I will rinse it like crazy before putting it into the tank. I don't think I need 150lbs of sand in the tank (was thinking of about a 2" SB) so I will use some in my fuge too. And maybe some in my live rock chamber too? I will seed both the display tank sand and the refugium sand with some of the live sand. I was thinking of about a 2" sand bed in the refugium also.

Lastly, since I am taking all of his rock & sand he has put the corals and fish he had in another tank and will just use the salt water from that tank so I can transport the rock fully submerged. Would there be any benefit in reusing any of that water in my tank? He also is giving me his macro algae out of his sump - He has some cheato and calurpa. Not sure what type of calurpa it is yet.

So thats it... Thoughts? comments?

also...

Do you all think this will be adequate for the sump?

Pair of 24" T5 lights for the sump.

 

i would hesitate reusing the sand, just because i am a worry wort, also with LR. What did this guy keep in his tank? How long have you known him. I'd just worry about inheriting bryopsis, nutis, red bugs, crabs, etc... But thats just me. As for the sand rinseing that much is a pain but if you can get all the gunk out more props to you!

 

Now I do not not a lot about RODI & what that color should look like but I do know this..the color you are seeing in the pictur is the color tones on your computer, not his. Just to better explain myself(exaggerating here)..a picture's colors could look pink on your monitor while looking orange on someone else's monitor.

 

I am using this sand as its more of a cost saving thing... Ill save $50 by reusing this sand. I plan to rinse it out really well. I know there is a bit of a risk with this rock/sand although I would probably be taking some risk no mater where the rock was coming from I suppose. I have seen several recent photos of his tank and it looked very healthy. I have also followed his posts on another forum and don't think he is selling me problems. But there are no guarantees I suppose.

 

lol, I hear ya but the color should be dark blue, I don't think my monitor or my own eyes are that far out of wack

 

That, I did not know. haha. I think you may be right.

 

So yesterday I finally was able to pick up the live rock & sand.

We pulled it all out of a nice 75 gallon tank and the rock was then transported completely submerged to my house. I kept a thermometer in with the rock and it never even fluctuated more than 5 degrees the entire time so I am hoping for little or no die off. I didn't weigh the rock but according to the guy I bought it from I have about 150lbs of live and about 40lbs of base rock.

After giving the base rock two really good baths I put it in first... then the sand and finally the live rock.

A couple of the pieces of the live rock were really big. I tried my best to set it up so that the rock faced the same way in my tank as in the previous tank but there are a few rocks that have a side or two exposed that probably weren't before. Several pieces of the rock has star polyps and mushrooms on them. There are large quantities of tiny tube worms too. I also noticed about 10 brittle stars, a couple snails, a few hermits and a couple tiny white starfish that snuck in with the rock. Oh, and unfortunately I noticed three small Aiptasia anemones. Once the tank becomes somewhat stable I will be injecting them with lemon juice or be looking for a peppermint shrimp. The rock has no visible nuisance algae which I was happy about.

I also bought two nice pieces of live rock that had some caulerpa growing on it. Both of those pieces went into the sump - I put one in the "live rock chamber" and then one into the refugium. I also put some cheto in the refugium. The guy I got all of this from was taring down his tank so the algae was free - hope it lives.

I am hoping with all this live rock that my cycle is a very small one.... we will see.

As far as the sand goes - I took about 150 pounds of aragonite from him. I kept out about 4 cups worth and then rinsed the rest really well for a long long time. Found lots of bristle worms and copepods in the sand. After completely rinsing it I put it into the tank and refugium. Ended up about 2-3 inches deep. I also added a tiny bit of the live sand as well to hopefully help seed the sand.

Almost there!



About 2 hours after putting it all in I turned on the lights. I expected things to be cloudy but all things considered the water was really clear and is crystal clear this morning 15 hours later.





I did the best I could with the aquascaping. There are lots of openings for good flow and plenty of shelves etc.. for adding future corals.

5 hours after putting in the rock and sand - my water tests:

SG = about 1.025 (my refractometer has not showed up yet so this measurement is from my hydrometer)
Temp = 78
Ammonia = .5
PH = 8.1
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0

My skimmer is not broken in yet I guess... thing is producing so many micro bubbles that I have opened it up all the way yet still get it foaming over.