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Cycling Along

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by John50, May 22, 2009.

  1. May 22, 2009 #1
    John50

    John50 Inactive User

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    Ok, first of all I was a member on Reef Central before someone told me about this place which I promptly became a member. I am jball49 on Reef Central. Anyway just posted this on there but want to post here as well. :)
    Well the cycling is going well on the 75 gallon. About 3 weeks now. The 20 gallon is more like 4 weeks and is a little murky. I am going to take a sample in today but we are seeing what everyone meant by how touchy a 20 gallon tank is, any suggestions? We have changed the filter on it 3 times and it has an oversized marineland over the ledge type pump/filter that will do up to 50 gallons. At a loss on this one but I am sure experience will take care of that. We aren't going to do much with the 20 except a fowlr that can act as a hospital/isolation tank but we have to be able to keep it working well! lol In June we are going to add the first fish or two to the 75 and plan on 2 clowns. I want two different types but was told not to include a cherry one due to aggressiveness. Any suggestions are appreciated!
     
  2. May 22, 2009 #2
    adampottebaum

    adampottebaum Experienced Reefkeeper GIRS Member

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    How close are the tanks to one another? You could drill the 20 gallon fairly easily and put an overflow on the 75 to have them run to a common sump. Where are you located? I'm in Cedar Falls and I have a glass drill bit you could borrow, but there's a lot of other people out there that will let you borrow theirs if they are closer. You don't necessarily need to drill either of them out, but on a 20 gallon an overflow box would take up a lot of space. You could then have a small pump to pump the water back into the 20 and a bigger pump to pump it back into the 75. This way they share the same water chemistry making it more stable and you could put your heaters for both of them in the sump along with any filtration. If you're using the 20 as a hospital/quarantine tank you could use a small uv sterilizer on the return. The best filter you can get for either of these two tanks is a good protein skimmer.

    Adam
     
  3. May 22, 2009 #3
    FishBrain New London

    FishBrain Expert Reefkeeper GIRS Member

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    New London
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    Posted By adampottebaum on 05/22/2009 11:40 AM
    How close are the tanks to one another? You could drill the 20 gallon fairly easily and put an overflow on the 75 to have them run to a common sump. Where are you located? I'm in Cedar Falls and I have a glass drill bit you could borrow, but there's a lot of other people out there that will let you borrow theirs if they are closer. You don't necessarily need to drill either of them out, but on a 20 gallon an overflow box would take up a lot of space. You could then have a small pump to pump the water back into the 20 and a bigger pump to pump it back into the 75. This way they share the same water chemistry making it more stable and you could put your heaters for both of them in the sump along with any filtration. If you're using the 20 as a hospital/quarantine tank you could use a small uv sterilizer on the return. The best filter you can get for either of these two tanks is a good protein skimmer.
    Adam
    If he is useing the 20 as a quarantine why would he want to plumb them together? That would not be to smart.[​IMG]
     
  4. May 22, 2009 #4
    adampottebaum

    adampottebaum Experienced Reefkeeper GIRS Member

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    That's why I said to get a UV sterilizer...
     
  5. May 22, 2009 #5
    crony333

    crony333 Inactive User

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    I'm fairly new to the game but I don't think I'd want my quarantine tank to be int he same system as my display tank.  For one you limit your options for treatments to such things like ich ..can't use copper products, drastically change temp or salinity.  I'd keep a qt tank .. quarantined.  Just my 2c.[​IMG]
     
  6. May 22, 2009 #6
    FishBrain New London

    FishBrain Expert Reefkeeper GIRS Member

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    ^ That's what I'm saying.
     
  7. May 22, 2009 #7
    John50

    John50 Inactive User

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    Well I appreciate all opinions. I have the Marineland over the edge of the tank pump/filters on both tanks though so I don't have a sump or cannister filter so it would be a considerable expense when we ever go to that method if we do on this one. I am thinking that maybe in the future when we do a reef ready tank maybe but we have to get to where we really know what we are doing with a 75 gallon fowlr first. We went and got egg crate today from Home Depot thanks to a suggestion on Reef Central and that was simple to cut to fit both tanks. We don't want any fish jumping and more importantly we have a cat and don't want her swiping at the fish! lol She already thinks we spent a small fortune for a tv for her! lol We got the silver egg crate, looks nice and reflects the light nicely too. I have to add some wattage to my lighting I think, what do people think is the minimum wattage on a 75 gal fowlr tank?
     

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