Im Ready! Im Ready! Just add water....My 90 gal build

the separate bath you refer to, it was saltwater, yes?

 

of course. I was running the spare 55 gallon with salt water and my return pump inside the tank for circulation and an emperor 400 w/ carbon in it.

 

OK. So chances are you did build up a biological filter within that LR while it was in the separate container.

I'd probably want a few more opinions on this, but as I see it--colonies of bacteria build up according to the ammonia content in their current locale. Seeing as though you moved the rock, it may or may not make a difference. If anything, I'd presume the downside (if there is one) is that since there's no ammonia source in their new permanent tank, there might be some dormancy or die-off, but I don't know which.

In your position, I'd probably get a fish or two in the new tank to keep things moving along, but nothing very fragile or sensitive to ammonia or nitrites; like inverts.

Hope everything works out well.

 

Well, again just an opinion, i don't think the local makes a significant difference because when you do water changes you are essentially removing any bacteria that is in the water. The bacteria is in the rock, not around the rock. Thats what makes it a filter, if im right. I will probably get some cheapo fish this weekend, 2 at the most for right now, and see where we go from there.

 

Almost everything you say is right, except, bacteria lives on surfaces, not in water. Sure, when you move rocks around, or vacuum gravel, or remove filter floss, you remove bacteria, but if you carefully siphon off 25% of a tank's water, you aren't removing any bacteria.

You'll probably be fine. As long as there's enough bioload (ammonia content) to keep the existing bacteria you've colonized on the rock; I would think all should be fine.

 

Ill post some pics and information after I get some fish in the tank and test parameters again.

 

Update!!!!

First Death: One Yellow Tail Damsel. Found it in the sump. Looks like mechanical failure, or he was pushed by the blue damsel. At least it wasn't water issues......

Brown algae starting to grow on rocks. So thats good....having a little trouble with sand storms but not too bad...

Definitely not 100% satisfied with my sump setup. Think i need to redo...what do you guys think? Under the current setup, the water from the overflow crashs down too fast and is creating lots of bubbles..which is going into the DT? What can i do to help this? I do not any prefilter.
Plumping goes like so....overflow, drain pipe,bulkhead, 3/4 pipe to the drain side of the sump where i also have my skimmer. bubble trap 1" apart, then the return section where i have a rio 26hf.

Any help is always appreciated...

 

Added another Yellow tail to replace the recent loss and 2 Ocellaris Clownfish to give the tank some balance. All parameters still reading 0, PH at 8.3-8.4, temp is a 77-79 F, salinity at 1.021. Brown algae still growing. Skimmer starting to pick up junk. With in the next weeks we will begin testing and dosing calcium in preparation of future corals.

WOO HOO!!

 

i would slowly raise you sp gravity to about 1.024-1.025. better for a reef