new tank problems

[am_mark]

Hi, Im new on this forum and after searching the web, i was lucky enough to encounter this site... for the past few days ive been reading most of the threads and are quite helpful on my jouney to success in marine fishkkeeping. Keep up the good work guys..

However, im encountering several problems with my tank.

1. I live in the Philippines and its currently summer, the temp in the tank goes up to 92 deg F. I dont think this is an ideal temp...
What should i do? Im thinking of a fan.

2. Im in the process of cycling the tank. Currently with live sand and live rocks 3.5 inch DSB... Its a 50 gallon tank with a CS50 overflow and a CR100 sump running in a rio1700 pump. Lights are 40watt actinic and a flourescent pinkiish light. Also with a turbo skimmer and 2 small rio's for water current. How long should the cycling process be before i add the first fish?

3. What should be the filter media be in the sump? For now, im using the bio bale media and i also added some cruched corals in the sump.

Is my set-up satisfactory for a marine tank... Im hoping to add some corals in the long run.

Thanks a lot in advance... I hope you guys can help me.
Again, Thanks.

[Casey]

I would like to say Welcome to TRT we have alot of good folks on here.First thing I see is you need a chiller that is to hot for the tank to run at.you need good test kits to see when the cycle is complete Like Salifert amonia test kit etc.I would also replace the Rio pumps those things have a bad reputation of burning out I dont use them anymore. Get rid of the bio bale media it is a nitrate trap with live rocks it is not needed.What type water are you using ? ro?

[am_mark]

not ro, i buy the water in containers in a water filling station... like mineral water... is tap water not good? what are the side effects? i have read that the normal temp for marine tank is around 80-82 deg F. will a fan fo the trick?

is the sump size satisfactory for my tank?
btw, if i take the bio bale out what would i replace it with? LR?

i also heard that rio's have bad reps, ill try to replace them in the long run..

however, my main problem is the temperature... i dont think there are chillers sold here for aquariums... most of the hobbyists here uses a DIY chiller which is unnatainable for me for i have no idea in making one.



thanks for replying...

[Alice]

Welcome!

Yes, 92 is too warm for a tank. You don't have a glass top on the tank, do you? They really trap heat. Fans are good. You could use three, if they'll fit. #1 blowing air onto the water in the sump or, sucking hot air out from underneath the tank stand, #2 sucking hot air out of the light canopy and #3 blowing air at the water at the top of the tank. Using all 3 together though is still only going to lower your tank temp somewhere between 4 and 6 degrees Farenheit.

Ambient room temperature may be the key here, given your location. Can you get a small air conditioning unit to use in the room with the tank? Your tank will be more comfortable and so will you.

Alice

[binylee]

Alice is right. Use the fans. they will lower temperture at least 4 or 5 degrees.
- About the sump, it's not about to satisfy the tank. It's a place where water is more calm, to allow critters, bacterias to grow. So don't put powerhead in your sump. Basiccally, the bigger the sump, the better for your system. Because it adds more water volumn in close loop system. Which allow you to have smaller error margin. Put LR in your sump to replace bio balls. Also couple of microalgea that will eliminate nitrate. A pepermint and hermit crab should be good to biological control and cleanup.
- It's really hard to say when your cycle is comlete. Your tank cycle will complete when amonia, nitrite are equal zero. So test kit is needed. You need it later to maintain your tank anyway.
- Your tank setup seems OK to stock fish and low light required coral such as some polyps and mushrooms. However, you will need to upgrade your light system in order to keep other kind of coral.
Good luck.

[_ReefFer_]

Welcome to TRT..
hey i'm from Philipines too, but i now live in California
92 degrees is too warm, my tank is maintained at 75-78 degrees F. Lucky me i dont have to use a chiller for somereason my apt. stays pretty cool and keeps my tank at the a good temp. PLEASE CORRECT THIS IDEA IF ITS NOT SUITABLE FOR A REEF TANK. I'm not sure if this is a good idea, but my Local Fish Store has a MiniReef (20 gallon) on their counter and they use a frozen water bottle to cool the tank.. They lay the frozen water bottle on top of running water to evenly distribute the colder temp.
Would this help cool the tank? cuz this is what i was planning on doing if ever my tank tamp gets too high..

[am_mark]

thanks guys for your replies...

its really good to have this site to rely on specific problems like this.

so in short, the fan would not be able to turn the temp down to the ideal say 72 def F?

i also think that the sump (CR100) is too small for the water volume of the 50 g tank. im already designing a sump made of a 35 g tank.

lastly, how many pounds of LR should be placed in the 50 g tank and the 35 g sump? presently there's roughly 45 lbs of LR.

[_ReefFer_]

the rule of thumb is 1 to 1 1/2 lbs per gallon.. you should have approx. 75 lbs of live rock...

[Alice]

Drew,

Using a frozen bottle is a good way to cool a tank down slowly in the event of an overheating emergency but I don't think I'd want to rely on it as a permenant means; too much trouble as you'd have to be there to replace the bottles as they thawed. At 75-78 tank temp, you've got some wiggle room though, I run mine at 82, so I think a couple of fans would keep things in line as long as you didn't have a run of really hot weather. For short hot spells you can cut your photoperiod back to help accomodate temps.

am-mark; 72 degrees is a low temp for a reef tank. 78-82 is more in the range you'd want to shoot for.

Alice

[am_mark]

thanks to you guys for the concern...

about the chiller, im planning to buy one on ebay. And because Im all the way here in the Philippines, Im planning to ask my dad who lives in LA to ship it here... Anyhow, are those chillers reliable? i saw one that goes for 60$ and another one at around 300$.

After one week of cycling, the nitrates are down to 10 mg/l and nitrites 0 mg/l, ammonia 0. And for that, I purchased my first 2 fishes... 2 buterfly fish... and 5 turbo snails... They're doing fine in the tank and all seems well.

What do I feed the butterfly fishes one is a copperband and the other one looks like a kind of tang? It seems that they dont mind the sinking pellets... Are these harmful to the fauna and flora residing on live rocks?

However, the sole cleaner shrimp I bought died. I dont know why, are cleaner shrimps that sensitive?

Thanks!