[kalan850]

120g Reef build no cutting corners!

what up people just got a killer deal on craigslist!

120g tank stock overflows in each rear corner, stand, canopy, 55g sump, uv sterilizer, kent marine nautical le skimmer, all pumps, coralife 2x150w mh 2x vho light fixture, heaters, maintenance tools, 100+lbs liverock, some hermits, snails, and some softys for $300!!!

my goal for this tank is that i want to set it up right! so no cutting corners and patience patience patience!!! BB mixed reef

this will be my first true reef tank. would like to keep softys, lps, and a few sps.

i was hopeing all of ya'll would help me to do that :thumbup:

first on the to do list is...
1 get the tank and sump cleaned up(washed scraped for coraline)
2 bleach the rock ( have had it out of water for a few days and i don't want to have any issue of pests that might be in there)
3 paint the back of the tank black, stain the trim(stand, canopy)
4 install plumbing better than the previous tank owner(for easyer breakdown and install)
5 replace bulbs
....
this is all i have on the to do list so far.

whats the best thing for getting coraline algae off?
what is a good bleaching procedure?

thanks

 

[BGJ223]

Great deal, cant wait to see it progress.

To get coraline off, best I can tell you is to scrape it off. I assume you are talking about the glass.

I would also recommend giving your rocks a bath in muratic acid, it works wonders for removing gunk off of your rock. This will allow you to have a fresh start with your rocks.

 

[Geoff]

read through my build thread linked in my sig. i used a 125g as my display.

G~

 

[kalan850]

Great deal, cant wait to see it progress.

To get coraline off, best I can tell you is to scrape it off. I assume you are talking about the glass.

I would also recommend giving your rocks a bath in muratic acid, it works wonders for removing gunk off of your rock. This will allow you to have a fresh start with your rocks.

yep right on the glass. i scrubbed and washed for about an hour today still needs more tho all in good time right?!?! haha

yeah i've read about the acid stuff but what does it do that the bleach doesn't?

 

[kalan850]

read through my build thread linked in my sig. i used a 125g as my display.

G~

i subscribed to it and will be reading thru it over the next few days.

i do have a question for you tho... the settup came with a 48" coralife mh vho combo fixture. two 150w mh and two vho . tank is LxWxH 60"x18"x26".

i was told that this fixture will not cut it for growing sps and would maby grow lps.

is this correct?

 

[BGJ223]

The Muriatic acid is going to etch the outside surface of the rock. So anything growing on the outside will burned away. It is essentially removing the outside layer of the rock.

Your fixture should be just fine for SPS corals. As long as you keep them in the middle area and up you will have no issues.

 

[Geoff]

ingteresting. are you sure the tank is not a 120? not that it is a big deal, it may actually be better with the lighting you have listed. the 125 is 6' long, and can be a bear to light depending on the location of any braces.

if you are planning on a BB system, then you can get away with the 2 150W DE MH bulbs. if you plan on having a sand bed, than i would go with 250w MH's, or whatever the LED bulb of the month is recommended. the lower the organics in the water column, the less light that is needed to color up the corals and make them happy.

G~

 

[kalan850]

The Muriatic acid is going to etch the outside surface of the rock. So anything growing on the outside will burned away. It is essentially removing the outside layer of the rock.

Your fixture should be just fine for SPS corals. As long as you keep them in the middle area and up you will have no issues.

oh ok so where could i find some muriatic acid and what are the steps?
also sps would be "fine" but if i wanted them to "thrive" what would you suggest? ... on a budget lol

 

[kalan850]

ingteresting. are you sure the tank is not a 120? not that it is a big deal, it may actually be better with the lighting you have listed. the 125 is 6' long, and can be a bear to light depending on the location of any braces.

if you are planning on a BB system, then you can get away with the 2 150W DE MH bulbs. if you plan on having a sand bed, than i would go with 250w MH's, or whatever the LED bulb of the month is recommended. the lower the organics in the water column, the less light that is needed to color up the corals and make them happy.

G~

yep i think you are right ha just looked up calculator and thats what comes up. guess i better change the name of the thread :lol:
this system will be a BB mixed reef mainly lps, soft coral, and just a few sps.

"get away with"? i would like to see some nice growth.

will this lighting provide me with that?
if not what would you suggest for this type of settup? ... on a budget lol

 

[BGJ223]

oh ok so where could i find some muriatic acid and what are the steps?
also sps would be "fine" but if i wanted them to "thrive" what would you suggest? ... on a budget lol

Well Geoff thinks 250 watters would be your best bet. I personally think the 15s would be just fine. As for the thriving part of the equation, that has a lot to do with how well you maintain your tank and your water chemistry

Muriatic acid bath:
You can get the muratic acid from Home Depot, Lowes, or a pool supply store. It should be in the paint area, it is commonly used for cleaning cement.

Process -
In a bucket or plastic bin. pour in your muriatic acid. You can dilute the acid up to a 1 part acid to 10 parts water ratio all the way to a entirely acid filled bath.

In a diluted solution (depending on dilution ratio) you place your rocks in the bath for any where from 30 minutes to a few hours. Pretty much when the bubbling stops you should be good to go. Just rinse the rocks then spray them off with a hose and allow to dry.

In an undiluted solution you would place your rocks in one at a time for just a couple minutes each, then remove them and place them into a bucket of fresh water. Then spray the rocks off with a hose and allow to dry.

When you are done with your muriatic bath, add lots of backing powder to the solution in order to neutralize the acid.

As an FYI. use thick kitchen gloves when doing this and do it outside.

 

[kalan850]

Well Geoff thinks 250 watters would be your best bet. I personally think the 15s would be just fine. As for the thriving part of the equation, that has a lot to do with how well you maintain your tank and your water chemistry

Muriatic acid bath:
You can get the muratic acid from Home Depot, Lowes, or a pool supply store. It should be in the paint area, it is commonly used for cleaning cement.

Process -
In a bucket or plastic bin. pour in your muriatic acid. You can dilute the acid up to a 1 part acid to 10 parts water ratio all the way to a entirely acid filled bath.

In a diluted solution (depending on dilution ratio) you place your rocks in the bath for any where from 30 minutes to a few hours. Pretty much when the bubbling stops you should be good to go. Just rinse the rocks then spray them off with a hose and allow to dry.

In an undiluted solution you would place your rocks in one at a time for just a couple minutes each, then remove them and place them into a bucket of fresh water. Then spray the rocks off with a hose and allow to dry.

When you are done with your muriatic bath, add lots of backing powder to the solution in order to neutralize the acid.

As an FYI. use thick kitchen gloves when doing this and do it outside.

hey thanks for all the help :agree:
i'm glad the fixture is going to work out for me!
just for fun tho how much do you think the fixture is worth on craigslist?

also where do you dispose of the neutralized acid when your done?

 

[BGJ223]

You might fetch a couple hundred on craigslist, but I doubt it. There is not a huge market for reef stuff.

The acid can be dumped pretty much anywhere when it is neutralized

 

[Geoff]

i agree. since you are going BB, then the 150's should be just fine. the corals will let you know if they need more light, and it will not because they die. there will be clues to let you know, but DE bulbs produce some good PAR values, so i think you will be fine. i do not think that it is worth not trying them regardless. the corals need less light than most people think if the nutrients in the water column are kept nice and low.

now, when you say mixed reef. this is going to make things more difficult. i would start doing some research on where different corals live. some live in more eutrophic environments than others. trying to find the balance point between oligotrophic and eutrophic for all of the corals can be quite difficult. i would suggest picking one or the other and going with that. with your lighting i would suggest an oligotrophic system. reef top biotope. in other words the pretty fuzzy sticks.

G~

 

[kalan850]

You might fetch a couple hundred on craigslist, but I doubt it. There is not a huge market for reef stuff.

The acid can be dumped pretty much anywhere when it is neutralized

ok so i'm planning on doing the acid bath sometime in the near future. right now they are sitting in bleach. how long after the bleaching process should i wait to do the acid bath?

 

[kalan850]

i agree. since you are going BB, then the 150's should be just fine. the corals will let you know if they need more light, and it will not because they die. there will be clues to let you know, but DE bulbs produce some good PAR values, so i think you will be fine. i do not think that it is worth not trying them regardless. the corals need less light than most people think if the nutrients in the water column are kept nice and low.

now, when you say mixed reef. this is going to make things more difficult. i would start doing some research on where different corals live. some live in more eutrophic environments than others. trying to find the balance point between oligotrophic and eutrophic for all of the corals can be quite difficult. i would suggest picking one or the other and going with that. with your lighting i would suggest an oligotrophic system. reef top biotope. in other words the pretty fuzzy sticks.

G~

hmmm right now i'm more into lps and i just know eventually i will want to try keep another type of coral such as sps.

have you ever used muriatic acid,bleach, or both on live rock ? if so what was your method? thanks for all the help!

 

[kalan850]

Update

:dance:Alright!
Got some cleaning done yesterday.​

Scraped the tank glass for algae, calcium deposit, and worms
Some of the plumbing and a few other parts are soaking in vinegar
Got the skimmer all shiny lol
Scraped the sump for algae, calcium deposit, and worms
(some how the previous owner build the stand around the sump so there
is no removing the thing for cleaning haha bummer)​

Got about 75% of the rock soaking in bleach water and will leave them there for another day or so.
The other 25% is sitting in freshwater​

Next step for the rocks is an acid bath
Next step for the tank is a few coats of flat black paint for the backdrop.​

Check out my latest vid on you tube for a more visual update

 

[BGJ223]

Glad you are going with the acid bath, those rocks can use it.

 

[Geoff]

i am not a fan of the acid bath. i do not think it does as much as people think it does. it also weakens the rock. this becomes more important later on as the system matures. the bacteria itself will break off bits of LR as they also process phosphates, making it weaker still. the acid is actually dissolving the LR itself. that is why it is able to remove some of the phosphates. it just seems strange to me to dissolve something you just bought. the bacteria will do it also, just on a much smaller scale, leaving more LR than the acid would. the acid bath will also just remove the phosphates from the outer surfaces. granted this is where a good amount of it is, but depending on where the LR came from, the entire structure could be full of phosphates, so no amount of acid bath will get it all, leaving you as if you have not done the bath, but with weaker and smaller LR.

just me. i just let the bacteria do their job. the bleach idea i can see some merit to, but not if the LR was already dry.

G~

 

[BGJ223]

i am not a fan of the acid bath. i do not think it does as much as people think it does. it also weakens the rock. this becomes more important later on as the system matures. the bacteria itself will break off bits of LR as they also process phosphates, making it weaker still. the acid is actually dissolving the LR itself. that is why it is able to remove some of the phosphates. it just seems strange to me to dissolve something you just bought. the bacteria will do it also, just on a much smaller scale, leaving more LR than the acid would. the acid bath will also just remove the phosphates from the outer surfaces. granted this is where a good amount of it is, but depending on where the LR came from, the entire structure could be full of phosphates, so no amount of acid bath will get it all, leaving you as if you have not done the bath, but with weaker and smaller LR.

just me. i just let the bacteria do their job. the bleach idea i can see some merit to, but not if the LR was already dry.

G~

I see your point. For me, it did 2 things. 1, stripped the rock of all the nasty stuff on the outside of it and the outer phosphates. That would have taken a long time to do via cooking.
2, It made the dense rock more porous.

 

[Elegance Coral]

ok so i'm planning on doing the acid bath sometime in the near future. right now they are sitting in bleach. how long after the bleaching process should i wait to do the acid bath?

You can just pull them out of the bleach, rinse them off, and put them directly in the acid bath.