What the hell is going on ??

[sadielynn]

Ok need some advice as to what to do on this I am now ready to quit nano tanking it all together with the exception of my 2 gallon tank .
Our 2nd mb7 has developed a leak ...... this is really begining to piss me off ...... I am looking at a 10 gallon tank but need to find appropriate lighting ..... metal hilide is NOT an option for us at this point ........ I have access to a 10 gallon tank but am hoping to use most all of what I have in the current 7gallon ie the sand the filter and the heater and the power heads basically I am looking to use all the current hardware with the exception of the lighting , current light is 72 watts power compact . What I need to know is what is a good brand of lighting to look in to ? I am hoping to upgrade to atleast 200 watts of lighting buget permitting , tho I may only be able to come up with around 100 watts , I am not sure wether or not that will be enough for the stuff in the tank , shrooms , some zoas, an anenome and he could be rehomed no problem , that is pretty much all that I have in the tank at this current time, as well as some green star polyps but they should be ok with the lower end of lighting ..... what gets me is that this is the 2nd tank to develop a leak this leak is bad I am loosing about a 1/2 gallon or more aday ..... Now for the hard ware will it be ok to use these
50 watt titanium heater
penguin filter 150 or 250 not sure which I believe this is the 150
power head 145 gallons per hour
I just went through this once before and now have to do it all over again I am hoping that I can mix the salt in the new 10 gallon then check the gravity (be patient here I dont have a bin for mixing that much at once)once that is good add the new sand and old add some live rock allow to cycle I may be able to come up with some salt water that is made called nutri seawater ......however I am sure that there is some sort of cycling time with the bottled water right? I am hoping to get a small container with multipule filters on to hold the corals and the fish , and push the new tank through a cycle is this even possible? What are the opinions of this can this be done with minimal stress or is the signal for me to get out of the nano tank with the exception of the 2 gallon ? I wish that I could say that I would go with the 30 cube but that aint a happening . Or should I bow my head and admit defeat?

 

[incysor]

Sorry to hear about this.

Take a few deep breaths. It'll be fine. Definitely don't throw in the towel.

Go to target or lowes, home depot, or wally world and buy a rubber maid container. The 18g ones are sturdy enough to nearly fill them with water with no bowing, and they run about $8. They're great to have for emergencies, or reaquascaping, mixing water, or as an extra laundry basket. :mrgreen:
Also buy a cheap mop bucket.

When anyone has multiple tank leaks, my first question is are you sure that the tanks were level? You need to check them when they're dry, then again when you add water to them. Sometimes the added weight of the water will case a stand or table or what have you to settle some. You just do this with regular tap water.

If you have been able to keep everything submerged then you shouldn't really need to worry about a cycle, but to cut the chances down further I'd use fresh sand with only a couple cupfuls of the old sand. The live rock shouldn't have any die off just being moved from one tank to the other.

Drain some water into the tub, start removing corals, rock etc... into it. Catch all your critters. Put them in the tub. Leave a small amount of water in the tank covering the sand if possible.
Put the new tank in place. Check to see it's level. Do this with your filters in place, and full of water as well. If it isn't use some shims to level the table. Drain all the fresh water back out. Wipe it dry. Add new sand, and your rock back. Add about half of the old tanks water if you can. Keep enough of the old water to keep your corals and fish just barely submerged in the mop bucket. Fill the tank up the rest of the way with new water. Use a dripline running from the tank to the mop bucket to acclimate your corals/critters to the new water.

Dump the couple of cups of old sand into the tank, add your livestock.

If you do things this way, you shouldn't need to worry about much of a cycle. However it's always good after moving stuff to have enough saltwater available to do twice your normal water changes for awhile, if your test kits say your params are elevated. (Although you may not need to)

Using the pre-mixed boxed/bottled seawater should be fine.

The coralife 96w powerquad 50/50 fixtures fit great over a standard 10g. They have mounting legs available, and shouldn't be a big jump for your livestock compared to what you're already using. They're also relatively cheap.

http://hellolights.com/201xcoaqpcho.html

The advantage to ordering from the above link is that you can order the legs and an extra bulb at the same time, and the extra bulb is nearly half what I've seen it for everywhere else.

Your filter may, or may not need to be upgraded a bit. Since the tank has been very stable, you may be fine. That's just a matter of keeping an eye on things after the move and testing you water.

B

 

[sadielynn]

we were level before and after I triple checked it (honestly) Thanks for the advice B Ill keep you posted I am on a mission to find out if I can do it or not I hope to have all done by tomorrow afternoon , man this sucks I have enough to deal with with pneumonia and now this crap :twisted:

 

[skipm]

That is a great link Incysor, I just bought the same fixture for a 10 I am setting up from a fellow club member.
Sadie,
I personally got the "adjustable" legs for mine, the main difference is the regular legs just hold the light above the tank where the adjustable legs also allow the light to be tilted out of the way for maintenance or whatever.
The Nutriseawater seems to be a good product, they supplied all of the saltwater for MACNA this year and I saw corals that had full polyp extension shortly after being put in tanks with this water (I am currently trying to get a good local source for my nanos). I agree that there should be no cycling problems if you follow Incysors advice with the exception of any sponges you may have. If you have any sponges growing on your LR and they are exposed to air (even for a second or so) they will die and cause a cycle unless they are removed.
I hope you have better luck and things start looking up for you. Skip

 

[drty811]

sadie,
sorry to hear about you problem. i know what your going through, ive been there.
i am currently running the corallife 96w fixture over my 15tall. used to have it over my 10. this is a great fixture and light for the money. hope everything works out and is doing ok. good luck

 

[Dickie52]

Sorry to hear about the mess....

I like the AGA all glass 10, been using them for years and years and never had a problem.

On the lighting I would step up to the 24" coralife LUNAR Aqualight. Looks fine on a 10 gallon and kicks your watts up to 130.

plus those powerquad bulbs will kill you with the replacement cost...

http://hellolights.com/242xcoluaqho.html

Here is what a 24" looks like on a 10 gallon.....this one is an Orbit, but the Coralife would look the same.

 

[reefman23]

I would second or third, or whatever, the Coralife 96 watt. Looks like a good fixture and that is the best price on the net right now, especially with that extra bulb....i definetly wouldnt pass off that extra bulb special if you do go with this fixture.

Just so you know, i think that would be plenty of light for the corals you are considering. I have experimentally tried a monti under on 80 watts of PCs and it has significant growth and color, all i did was place it only about 5" under the surface.

Sorry to hear about you problem...again. Youll be fine.

jesse

 

[Anonymous]

hey sadie sorry about the probs and there are a lot of options. I like all glass ten gal tanks and have one that is ancient (as well as several others just laying around for water changes and what not) and never had any probs with it not bad for a ten dollar tank. lighting with the 96W is a good option but I think the 2x 65W coralife is good too. Although it doesn't fit quite right it gives you full coverage and they are double switched which I really like because I love the dusk/dawn effect of having actinics independent. The coralife one also comes with moonlights if that interest you. The 96 W quad will not give you the option of independent lighting or choice of spectrum. If you do choose to go with 96 quad however, maybe you could incorperate it and one of your current lights together to have two fixtures independently timed and have a dusk/dawn actinic. Also I know you like blue tint to your tank and the 50/50 quad will look quite white to you, so you may not be happy with the color although I doubt your corals will care. But if you were to set up a temp ten with your fixture for now, you would have time to shop around before you really make a decision and maybe check out glasscages.com. They may just have the "perfect" tank for you, say maybe a shallow (12") 24 inch long tank or something???????? I think they call it a 15long. That way a 130W fixture would allow you to keep anything you wanted, and aquascaping would be easy. just another option

 

[EDGRAY]

im so sorry to read all the problems that you're having sadielynn so so sorry... :sad: :sad: :cry: :cry: but you'll get through... just like they say patience darlin patience and dont give up i know is a cool hobby but sometimes can be really stressful to .... tell me about it i know .... almost 2 years with freshwater and instead of relaxing me they were causing me stress and now saltwater....lets dont talk about that another ... too much stress too.... but is worth it when everything is in order......

so good luck and patience

sincerely,

eddy

 

[sadielynn]

John how long can my stuff survive in a 10 gallon with a 72 watt light ??? If it will be ok for a long period I can hopefully save enough to get a good light , you are right I do like the bluer tint I am not sure why but I do so I would not like the quad bulb (that is 4 bulbs on 1 set of pins right?) I can do only one thing for an online order but may be able to score a few items here locally (I hope) I am hoping to get this fixed over the week end I may have to get another 7gmb this weekend .......I just got off the phone with a guy named Dan from hello lights ... he gave me some intresting insight something that I did not think about ......he told me that since I had a leak and had to do a lateral transfer to check all equipment to see if there infact may be a leak from equipment hardware such as filters ect to see if they are shooting water out and that it is puddling and not infact leaking ...... and with the furnace on that the water shooting out coupled with evaporation maybe appearing as a leak is not infact a leak but the combination of both the spray and evap so tonight I will take the filter off and the power heads out clean and wipe down all refill the "evaporated" "missing" water and monitor for a couple of days to see ..... in the mean time I also ordered some extra bulbs
http://hellolights.com/clear55daycf.html
He said that I could use this fixture for probably 6 months with out ill effect on a 10 gallon , this would allow me time to save some money , and to check and recheck the tank for leaks ect ......so this is where I am at at the moment I will keep you posted on .....

 

[incysor]

Sadie,

You should definitely be ok with the 72w over a 10g for a little while.

I think checking the equipment is an excellent idea. I have had more than one puddle that made my heart stop thinking the tank was leaking, only to find that a hose, was loose, or a powerhead was spraying water over the top of the tank, etc...

B

 

[Dickie52]

John how long can my stuff survive in a 10 gallon with a 72 watt light ??? .

From the items you mentioned in your first post, you would have no problem with that lighting till you save for a new set up. If you see something that needs a bit more light, just move it higher on the live rock. I would say you are in good shape, even better if you find that it's not the tank leaking.....

 

[skipm]

You may also want to check you hang on filters closely. I had a skilter 250 (this was a long time back) that started leaking and I couldn't figure out from where, upon real close inspection I found that the plastic body had several stress cracks near the overflow and that was where the water was coming from.