My 90 Reef Journal

**hockeyhead019** · 10-19-2010, 01:17 AM

Awesome tank! I'm most likely going to keep up with your build thread and lag behind on a slightly smaller scale, fantastic idea with the pvc and attaching the rock to that. One question though, what did you use to secure the pvc together (or is it just dry fitted?)

-Jim

**Cliff** · 10-19-2010, 01:24 AM

promise, You'll be the first to know lol

hockeyhead019, I used a very small amount of silicone to hold the fittings togther. Likely I didn't need it because the fit really tightly together

**hockeyhead019** · 10-19-2010, 02:19 AM

gotcha ok, looks fantastic! Keep updating with pics

**Lab_Rat** · 10-19-2010, 03:46 AM

Looks good so far!

**Cliff** · 10-20-2010, 09:19 PM

Got my salt and a refractometer today. Went with a little higher quality of salt the is recommended for reef tanks. It wasn’t the most expensive stuff in the store, but it was the second most expensive. Same with the refractometer (have no idea if I’m spelling it correctly), went a little higher quality but not the best out there. Now I’m ready for live rock and cycling (and some cash to pay for it all).

Fortunately for me, I can take the time to run water though it for a week, or many, until I have the $$$ for the live rock. I’ve been doing a lot of research on cycling with live rock and I’ve found a lot of good info. One thing that I did learn is that if you are planning to cycle your tank with 80% dry rock and 20% live rock, you should soak the dry rock for a few weeks to leach out any phosphates and/or nitrates out of the dry rock. After I thought about that for a while, it now makes sense to me. As dry rock was once live, it could still have organic residue on it that would lead to some nitrates and phosphates. Granted the dry rock has been cleaned before I bought it, but when your goal is 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates, why risk it. I’m going to set it up for a while (with fresh water) just to make sure if there is anything that could leech out of the rock, it will be out before I add everything to cycle the tank.

I also read some info that suggests adding the sub straight after the tank is cycled. That way you can complete a partial water change (20% or less) and vac up the stuff that will fall off the live rock and decompose resulting in more nitrates in the water. I guess that makes sense provided you don’t use live sand that might end up adding some more ammonia into the water

My wife is going to think I’m NUTS. This will be the fourth or fifth time that I have filled this tank with water and I haven't even started cycling it yet.

It will give me a chance to play around with the power heads some more and hopefully add a few more in the next couple of days to get rid of all of the dead spots

So far, here’s my thoughts on the clean-up crew:
3 or 4 - cleaner shrimp
4 or 5 - emerald crabs
Lots – snails
I’m still not too sure of what snails to get. I want to get some small ones (to get into the little corners and spots like that) and some larger more active ones that will clean a lot.

I'm open to suggestions on the clean-up crew is anyone has any ?

**labnjab** · 10-20-2010, 09:46 PM

You CUC need will change as the tank matures. You'll want good algae eaters to start. Here's some good algae eating snails, mexican turbo, cerith, regular turbo, and astrea snails. After the tank matures a little you'll want leftover food eaters and the nassuris snails are awesome at that, plus they sift the sand too. I need to add more to my cuc soon and will probably add another dozen nassuris

**hockeyhead019** · 10-20-2010, 10:25 PM

Cliff I have the feeling my family is gonna be looking at me like I have three heads when I keep filling the tank full of water and then emptying, fill and empty lol

On a side note, are you sure you should run with freshwater? Wouldn't it be easier to just fill with saltwater and start letting anything dead fall off the "dead" rock and just do a water change every so often to keep the quality up... idk just a thought so you didn't have to completely empty the tank in order to add salt and the live rock to begin cycling

**kaybee** · 10-20-2010, 10:53 PM

Originally Posted by Cliff

....So far, here’s my thoughts on the clean-up crew:
3 or 4 - cleaner shrimp
4 or 5 - emerald crabs
Lots – snails
I’m still not too sure of what snails to get. I want to get some small ones (to get into the little corners and spots like that) and some larger more active ones that will clean a lot.

I'm open to suggestions on the clean-up crew is anyone has any ?

I'm not sure if I'd consider cleaner shrimps to be CUC as most other CUC are (they're named 'cleaners' because they assist in ridding fish of external parasites and dead skin/scales, etc rather than cleaning the tank). With that said, most crustaceans in the hobby are opportunistic scavengers.

4-5 emerald crabs may be too many, you could go with one or two. They primarily seek out (non-film) algae (hair, bubble, wire, etc). Hermit crabs, on the other hand are a good selection in terms of consuming leftovers and processing detriturs. You could start off with 10-15.

I find a single turbo snail to be equivalent to several astrea's. Plus they're more capable of 'righting' themselves if they fall off the glass or rocks. Due to the shape of their shells, astrea's are generally doomed if left unassisted in a tank when they fall (will foul the tank a little before the CUC take care of the remains).

As the tank mature's your CUC can be modified and/or downsized (the CUC in my 65gal reef is currently comprised of a single turbo snail, two nassarius snails, and a maroon serpent star).

**Cliff** · 10-20-2010, 11:55 PM

Thanks for the replays everyone

The CUC make a lot more sense now. I think I'll just start off with a few turbo snails and add a crab or two after a bit of time.

**Cliff** · 10-21-2010, 01:33 AM

Originally Posted by hockeyhead019

On a side note, are you sure you should run with freshwater? Wouldn't it be easier to just fill with saltwater and start letting anything dead fall off the "dead" rock and just do a water change every so often to keep the quality up... idk just a thought so you didn't have to completely empty the tank in order to add salt and the live rock to begin cycling

Sorry for the delay in my response hockeyhead, I lost my internet service for a while.

The reason why I'm not useing salt water is because I thought it would be easier just to remove all the water to romove the nitrates and phosphates that will leech out of the dry rock. And I don't want to wast any salt. I'm using reef crytals and they are really $$$$$$$$$$$.