125 FO tank questions.

[Wiskey]

In an effort to drive nutrients down in my SPS tank I am thinking about setting up a 125 Gallon tank I have as FO and removing all the fish from my Reef tank.

Here is what I was thinking:
125 gallon tank (not drilled)
Some DIY live rock for hiding places
Some Silicate sand as a sink
A 500 GPH hagen aquaclear for ammonia cycle and particulates.
a SeaClone, because I have it and something is better than nothing.
Lighting will be a couple of 20W light strips.

The tank will house one Yellow tang, one Christmas Wrasse, one Cherub Angel, One False Perc, One Springer Dottyback, and one Neon Golby.

My questions:
#1 Will this work? Or will it be more trouble than it is worth?
#2 Would you still use RO/DI water to fill this tank, or would you just use tap?
#3 Do you have any suggestions? Keep in mind I have never setup a FO tank before.

Thanks,
Whiskey

[is_that_a_fish]

in my opinion it is more trouble then it is worth. all you really have to do to drive nutrients down is to feed less. And in my opinion a reef doesnt look good without any fish. Yes you would use ro/di water to fill it up, partly because you dont want any copper to hurt the fish and because you will get algae blooms. For fish only all you really need is a skimmer, heater, light, and a power head for some flow. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[Geoff]

Whiskey, man i can not figure out what you are going to do next.

i thought your nutrients were to low already. are you still chasing nitrates. slap a clam in there and call it good.

the setup for a FO is not different than a reef tank except the lighting does not need to be as high. the flow should still be very strong to keep the fish poo from settling.

G~

[Wiskey]

I can't figure out what I am doing next either

I explored the too little food option and it is not the problem. Now I am going the other way, thinking that nutrient levels are too high. I am going to get growth yet

I now have T5 lighting which puts the light that I need into the tank, and doesn't have all the dark spots the MH had, so now it is time to buckle down and address this WC issue, and only by going to the extreme can I find out if this is the problem.

I will let the T5 bulbs have their effect for the next 2 months, no other changes but if in 2 months I still have a problem with growth the fish are coming out. This is why I am researching how to setup a FO tank now, to be prepared.

Thanks,
Whiskey

[Wiskey]

OOPS, there will be one change soon, I have been fighting a major microbubble issue since getting the MR-2, I simply don't have a big enough sump (10 gallon). I don't know how I will fix this one, but it must be done because I don't like the look, and I am sure the corals don't like the bubbles.

Whiskey

[Geoff]

the corals really could not care less about the bubbles. most of them are used to being exposed to bubbles up on the reef top, so do not worry about the corals.

how much room do you have between the outlet of the skimmer and the return pump? you could make a PVC labyrinth within that space to reduce the microbubbles.

G~

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by Geoff

the corals really could not care less about the bubbles. most of them are used to being exposed to bubbles up on the reef top, so do not worry about the corals.

Really? I thought that the bubbles collecting under the corals irritated them.

how much room do you have between the outlet of the skimmer and the return pump? you could make a PVC labyrinth within that space to reduce the microbubbles.

G~

About 8 inches, but the pump is a mag 7 so it takes up most of that space.

Thanks,
Whiskey

[Geoff]

could you post a pic of the sump area? mainly the outlet of the skimmer and the return pump area.

the corals are shaped that way for a reason i bet, no flat bottom surfaces. i have never seen air build up under a coral, i have seen it build up under LR, but no big deal there either.

G~

[Wiskey]

I can, but it'll have to wait until I get home. It is the Monti cap that is really bad about collecting bubbles.

Thanks,
Whiskey

[Geoff]

where is my pic.

one of these days i am going to have to come out there and duct tape your hands together for a month, so you quit fiddling with your tank.

G~

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by Geoff

where is my pic.

Just got home, I work 12 hour days

one of these days i am going to have to come out there and duct tape your hands together for a month, so you quit fiddling with your tank.

G~

I would really like to leave it alone,... but it's soooo hard :rollface:

Whiskey

[Wiskey]

Here is the pic, keep in mind the water level is normaly about 2 inches lower, but I just added back the water the skimmer took out today.



The large pipe at the far right is where the skimmer picks up and the overflow from the tank dumps in, the next pipe over (middle) is the skimmer drain, the far left is the Mag 5 (or 7 not sure) return pump.

Thanks,
Whiskey

[Geoff]

where on earth did you come up with doing that.

i think we can see where the bubbles are coming from.

can you move the drain from the skimmer into the same compartment as the skimmer inlet? think of it as a type or recirculator for the skimmer. that will give you a couple more baffles of bubble extraction, plus the long open area in the middle.

if you can not move the skimmer drain, than put a Tee at the top where you have those 2 45's. place it vertically, you will be making a durso standpipe for you skimmer drain. then about 2 inches above the water line put a bushing on the pipe to increase the pipe size up to whatever is the biggest pipe that would fit in that section. extend this pipe nearly to the bottom of the sump. this will durso will be a bubble trap. what is happening is that the bubbles are not able to escape because the drain pipe is enclosed. so all of the bubbles get shot out of the bottom of the drain pipe. that tee at the top allows air to escape so that it has to try to get into the sump.

let me know how things work. or if i have completely confused you.

G~

[Wiskey]

I can't move the skimmer drain from where it is to where the skimmer pulls from because then all the bubbles that are going into the sump would go right into the skimmer pump (GenX 55, 1140 GPH) I think this would burn it up.

The skimmer does have a syphon break, it is just out of the picture, up by the skimmer, let me see if I can get you a picture of that, I should have one on photobucket already.



Thanks,
Whiskey

[Geoff]

what kind of pump is feeding the skimmer?

if you add another siphon break right at the end there it will remove a lot of the bubbles. creating a bubble trap will help even more.

G~