• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

110g tank in the works =]

I was going to put photos up tonight, I have all the liverock in and was SUPPOSED to have 10 corals come in today from saltwaterfish.com ...fedex dropped the ball and the driver returned to the facility without delivering my box. so my two urchins and my ten corals wont be able to be delivered till monday...3 days in plastic bags made for a oneday trip..im guessing everything will be dead. =[ already contacted saltwater about a refund..sad though i wanted to show off my tank tonight =[
 
Omega,
If you are adding LR, you really should wait on the corals until it is in the water a month. I know you already have some cycled but even new cycled LR should be allowed tank time, especially with the quantity you are adding (even swapping out a tank I like to wait 2 weeks). I know it is expensive to buy corals in ones and twos but with 10 at at time you are inviting a case of New Tank syndrome.
 
Sorry, I modified my post while you were responding. Certainly it is better that it has been cycling (fresh LR would be a disaster) but you still have to acclimate the rock with the tank. There is a saying other will likely throw tomatoes at me because I repeat it so often but, "nothing good ever happens quickly in a saltwater aquarium". Your water volume give you some protection but please consider moving more slowly.
 
Hm wasn't aware there was any potential harm in the live rock after it was allowed to cycle separately. Was my understanding once the chemicals tested 0 it was good to go, theyve been at zero two weeks. I left it longer just in case it ended up cycling my tank like the first bunch i added in did. Is my first saltwater=p. I also didn't know that adding ten small corals(though i didnt say small in my original post) would be much of a bio load. the tank has two fish living in it(yellow tang and a fox face both to be relocated soon) ~40small hermits ~25snails. I figured it would probably be safe since i have two separate filters on it.
 
Your tank is a "system" that slowly works together. Your lighting, the water and its flow, the tank temperature and the bioload are all part of the tuning. I keep 8 + marine tanks, no one is the same in terms of how the LR has matured or what grows on it. I did not make up the term but I certainly fell victim when we started into saltwater this last time around. If I can help others slow down a bit to avoid it, I will have gained something from the experience.
 
I just hooked up my portein skimmer today...its a corealife superskimmer rated for 220gallons..but I'm getting a ton of microbubbles in my tank and cant seem to find any way to reduce them..any suggestions?
 
My best attempts have been to put a sponge (or in one case a fine net) at the return outlet. My coralifes (smaller units) came with a bucket and sponge for the return, do the larger ones not have this?
 
yes it did, but it didnt work well at all. I replaced the bottom sponge/filter with a small scrap of filter media left over from my sump and it reduced most of the bubbles but ive still got some
 
You might try putting the denser material at the bottom and then the original sponge on top of that. I did this for awhile but mine is in my sump and could arrange my intake (with this larger sump, I originally had more problems with the smaller sump) to eliminate most from getting to the main tank so the last time I changed out the denser filter, I did not replace it.
 
you use red lights on nocturnal octopi because they cant see red correct?

also in smaller tanks do the red lights have large effects on the temperature. I've been using a corealife 50/50 on a small tank i have and they stay real cool, on another tank of the same size i had a standard bulb that heated the water pretty bad im wondering if red lights would have similar effect?
 
Cephs are reported not to be able to "see" red light. I have found this is not really the case but the nocturnals tollerate it and when left on all the time seem to accept it as dark when the ambient lighting is nonexistent. The briareus seems to notice it more than my mercatoris or macropuses and it may be part of the reason we see so little of Creepy (I don't give much weight to this thought though). Heat has more to do with the type of light rather than the color. I use an outdoor fluorescent fixture on my small merc tank (with a red high heat velum covering the lens from the inside) that does not get very hot (relatively speaking) and you can touch the unit without discomfort. For equal "watage" output ratings (not true watage but the advertised equivalent), fluorescents will be cooler (even the screw in kind) than incandescents and LED's the coolest of the three most common bulbs. I keep hoping the LED units will become brighter and inexpensive as that would be my choice for all my tanks.
 
so for red your using a red plant florescent? the lights i have now are incandescent and theyre pushing the temp way too high =\. and im also quasi worried theyre a fire hazard even though it is an aquarium hood...at least the fire would be near water=p

my intended point for the tank is to have it cycle daylight florescent and red lights at night for a small octo..a merc probably. for my viewing pleasure=p i sleep very little and im thinking it might be cool company. I think I just found some nice LEDS for a reasonable price
http://sto00.mailcar.net/catalog/in...Link=c&zenid=cb67e9f52ae71e082a4af927a0128a5a

the company makes them in pretty much every size and color.
 
My red lights are either fluorescent (an outdoor fixture that we added a plug to, not an aquarium light, it sits on a hex tank that had no hood) with a red velum covering the lens to make the light red or LED's (I am not sure if the LED's are actualy red, they are likely white with a red lens, again a non-aquarium DIY fixture). I have had (now defunct) a moon light bar that could be set to red that we used until it died. The biggest problem was when we had a power outage it reverted to white light and drove my octo crazy until we realized the problem. That particular light was on a diurnal tank used as a night light and the white would shine in his den causing him to pace when he should have been sleeping.

I don't think 8 LED's will be bright enough (two 4 LED bars) for a 30 gallon tank (my 15 gallon has way more lighting with the outdoor fixture) to give you the viewing you want. Additionally, these are point lights (like a flashlight) and may bother the octo. More LED's in a broader pattern would be better (flood vs spot lighting). The point light (like a flashlight) seem to disturb them much more than even lighting.

Also as an aside, if you want to consider keeping a slightly larger animal in the future I would think about a 45 - 55 gallong tank. Tanks between 15 and 35 gallons are too small for anything but a dwarf where you can keep a few more species if you have the room for a larger tank. Octos only live between 12 and 18 months (the dwarf only between 8 and 12 months). Unless you raise them from hatchlings (very rare to have the opportunity and even rarer to succeed) this limits the practical keeping time so somewhere around 7 months or less. There is no way to know the age of a WC animal and we often end up with middle age or older. Females seem to go into brooding very quickly after being introduced to an aquarium (reason unknown) and they do not survive beyond hatching.
 
Odd problem popping up in all three of my tanks at the same time. Ammonia zero. Nitrite zero. Nitrate ~20....ive never had nitrate problems in any of the three tanks since their first cycle and they all seem to be having the problem simultaneously ..ideas? and how dangerous is a level that high?

decided to add info to that, i do not nor have i ever used ro/di water...but i was told it wouldn't be necessary(by a lfs) in my area as long as I used the water purifier to get out chlorine. I'm wondering if something recently changed in our water supply here or if this could be due to my water softener malfunctioning(i havent gone out to check it yet). would the advisable idea be to do a massive water change with store bought distilled water, and would I need any treatment added to that water?
 

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top