It's alive!! Bekka's first & very own 150g

[Awibrandy]

I'm glad your fish are doing fine!!!
I can't speak on refugium since I don't run one. I do have some chaeto where the DT drains in to, but that is about it.
Check the DIY forum for ideas on sumps.. Perhaps others will chime in on fuges.

 

[howze01]

Maybe I missed it but what kind of sump do you have? If you give us some dimensions we may be able to figure out the sump. What did you want to have in the sump? The "normal" setup is the drain chamber which can also hold the skimmer if it's an internal one. That usually flows into the fuge and then through a bubble trap and into the return section. Maybe some pics of what you currently have would help too.

 

[rsvale112]

My sumps dimensions are 24"x14"x16" ... it's hard for me to get pictures of the sump because of the way it's angled under the tank. This is the best I could do right now... There are three chambers. The first chamber is 7" wide, the second 13", and the third being just 5". The first chamber I have one of my overflows draining into

The bags are so small they clog within a day. :irked:

The middle chamber I have the pump for the skimmer in there currently.. and my heater.. and the water is not as high in that chamber for some reason. I wanted to do a refugum as I said, but not sure on where to start with it.

The third chamber I have the skimmer (which is external) draining into there along with the other overflow.. maybe pictures can help explain.

The blue hose is that drain...

The skimmer I went with is a Performer hi-tech skimmer by Hydor

I decided not to go with those halide lights I originally wanted. Instead I would like to go with T5's but not sure on which types to go with, how many bulbs I should get or the amount of wattage I will need.

I bought three new fish (Powder Blue, Flame Angel, Dragon Goby) and an aro crab last week.. The only one still alive is the aro crab. Everything new I put in the tank has been dying along with my clown who was sick for a few weeks. I thought it was ich because the powder blue was COVERD not a day or two after putting them in, so was the flame angel, and the dragon goby never came out of the rocks after the first night, but noone else in the tank seems to have it. Everyone else eats like monsters, they're swimming normally, so I'm not sure what's going on. I brought my water to get checked and only the nitrates were a little high.
Any ideas on why the new fish keep dying? Anything at this point would be helpful!!!

 

[rsvale112]

So my PH is 7.8 and my phosphates are 5.0 ... I bought a PH buffer but then realized what my phosphates were, so was going to use kalkwrasser, I read that it can raise PH very high, will this bring up my PH and lower my phosphates at the same time??

The other problem I'm having is when I shut down the tank the sump overflows, I had to drain it a full bucket or else it would have overflowed, my worry is that should I lose power for whatever reason the sump is going to overflow, I was told to get ball valves... any ideas on something else I could do??

 

[JimmyR1rider]

No your phosphates will have to be dealt with by heavy water changes and running GFO in a reactor.

To raise your salinity just do small water changes EVERY day mixed at the correct salinity and that will slowly raise your salinity to where you want it to be as well as help stabilize your phosphates and nitrates.

Once you have your desired salinity then you just do regular water changes as you normally would(same amount as normal).

Kalkwasser has a PH of about 12.4. So I would be VERY cautious using that. Regular water changes should bring your ph up. Just remember do all of this very slowly in small incriments- you dont want a big pH swing all of a sudden- it will shock your fish.

make sure you have decent ventilation in the apartment/house you live in, excess carbon dioxide can lower your ph.

You can also dose baking soda to raise your ph but I'd go at it with your buffer you bought myself.

Good luck
Also here's a decent video about kalk. I enjoyed this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POsLy2Mp0m8

 

[rsvale112]

Thanks for the advice good thing I didn't dose it yet. My apartment is in a basement so I get very poor ventilation.

My salinity is at .25 right now.

I read for the PH do a 25% water change to help it out. The only reactor I have that I haven't set up is a calcium reactor.

 

[JimmyR1rider]

So you got your salinity up to 1.025?

That's good. To help you can if the tank's anywhere near a window you can run the skimmers breather tube out to the outside- that way the air the skimmer draws in will be fresh from the outside.

If you have a couple of windows open them for a while each night and put fans in them blowing fresh air in, that may help with the ph also.

 

[rsvale112]

Nope not near any windows... What about if I put a fan directly in front of the tank and had it on for a little bit would that help at all???

 

[howze01]

Nope not near any windows... What about if I put a fan directly in front of the tank and had it on for a little bit would that help at all???

Air movemnt is good but it's probably not going to help. You need fresh air.

You said you have other reactors going? Is one of them a GFO reactor?

 

[rsvale112]

I had reactors I sold all of them but my calcium reactor which isn't yet hooked up. But I plan on getting a GFO fairly soon....


So my fear just happened. I don't know why but the system was somehow shut down and the sump overflowed... so I have water everywhere now, in very tight spots.. I'm not sure what to do about this. I'm not sure why its overflowing in the first place.

 

[howze01]

When the tank is shut down, watr continues to drain out of the tank into th sump. If you don't have enough space in the sump it overflows. I think your best bet is a siphon break.

 

[ecvernon]

you sump seems on the small side for a tank that large. you have to ensure you drill a hole in you locline return nozzle(if you have one). this will stop extra water from draining into the sump. ideally u you should have tested your setup in the beginning to see how your tank would handle a power off situation.

as to your fish losses is it possible that from you transfer you may have experienced a cycle?
you can also try using 7 inch filter socks to cut down on them filling up so quickly.

 

[mbg75]

Best bet would be to have someone local stop over and check out the setup. Sounds like a lot going on.
Priority should be to address the flooding issues

 

[cowfish]

If your sump overflows when the return pump is off, the plumbing/system is not designed properly. You need a bigger sump. In the meantime you could try raising the returns so that they are at/near the water's surface. This will help cut down on the volume of backflow.

Baking soda is probably the best and cheapest way to maintain alkalinity which will stabilize your pH at a more appropriate level.

 

[rsvale112]

Thank you so much every one for your input it's helping out... I didn't know baking soda could help with the alkalinity.

 

[prohockey86]

hey are uselling your 220 gallon?

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Any updates?