New Orca Setup

[johndm]

Hi guys

I've just joined although I've found so much useful information on here which has helped me so much in getting my new Orca TL450 up and running.

Its now been up and running for a month now.

Following some of the advice , I've got some filter wool as well as the ceramic rings which come with the tank in the first chamber which also contains the pump and spray bar. I have the bio balls which come with the tank in the second chamber, and have also added carbon and phosphate remover to that chamber. The standard skimmer is in chamber 3 and I,ve also taken some of the sponges out of chamber 4 where the UV is and added some filter wool in its place.

The tank has gravel and live sand substrate and so far 3.5 kilos of live rock. i have the tank filled with RO water from my supplier. The salinity is stable , the temp is stable and i've added a hydor powerhead.

I intend to remove the bio balls and ceramic rings in chambers 1 and 2 and replace them with Live Rock rubble.

I have a litle algae on the live sand , is this normal for a new setup. ?

Anything else I should be doing as of now.?

Any advice from you guys would be much appreciated.

Thanks John

[r60sgr]

Hi John and welcome to our forum. Thanks for joining.

I'm not sure I understand the chamber set up in relation to the pump you mention. If I pick you up right you have a pump linked to a spray bar in the 1st section - where does that go? If into the tank then it's not going through the filtration of your system and not what we'd want. Just in case it's how you've descibed the sections just confirm from me 1st is where the water enters the filters from the tank and the last is where it exits bud.

I'm not a fan of bio balls personally and would get rid of them and replace with live rock/rubble. The sponges too are nitrate factories and unless you are planning to rinse weekly in RO then I would discard them too. You might want to think about a small lit cheato refugium in one of the chambers which really helps reduce nitrate. I bought a small submersible led to light that section on fleabay.

The algae starting is normal and part of the cycling.

Do you have any other powerheads in the main tank to circulate the water? You ideally want at least 30 times your water volume in circulation.

Hope this helps and ask away bud - we all do.

Stewart

[johndm]

Hi Stewart

Thanks alot for the reply
I appreciate it
The bio balls I'm going to replace with Live Rock. They are currently in a chamber at the bottom with phosphate remover on top and then carbon on top of that. As for the sponges , yes I was going to take them out and replace with fine filter wool , which I can just change regularly.

Powerheads - I have a hydor Koralia 900 in the tank to improve circulation.

The sponges ( to be replaced with filter wool) are in the right hand chamber which is where the water enters the filtration , then theres the skimmer, which isnt swithed on right now , then theres the heater chamber which also contains current the bio balls ( to be replaced with LR rubble) , phospate remover , and activated carbon , then theres the final chamber where the wated comes back out the spray bar , this has the suppled ceramic rings which i was going to replace with LR rubble, and also fine filter wool in it.

I have 3.5 kg of LR in so far and was going to get another 1kg.

I've already done one 20% water change as well.

Should I be testing the water right now and if so whats the best testing kit to get?

John

[r60sgr]

Hi John,

Good to know the advice so far has been helpful. The chamber set up I understand now and is in the right order.

I thnk you need more circulation and try and urge people towards wavemaking to assist with removing dead spots and possibilities that food or detritus can settle on rocks because that's what can lead to months of frustration with algae related problems.

Test kits I use are Salifert for all but phosphate and for that I use d+d.

If you've just set up don't do any waterchanges because you want the rock system to filter ammonia and nitrite out and some nitrate. And yes test regularly to see how much change is happening. It also gets you into a routine.

Another thing is to limit any lighting just now to around 4 hours in an uninhabited tank and that should rise to 8 hours max when you're up and running with stock.

Stewart

[johndm]

Hi Stewart

And thanks for the reply.
Do you have any suggestion on the wavemaking thing. As I said I have the hydor koralia in the tank pointing at the LR and also have the spray bar output breaking the surface of the water. Is there a wavemaking device you'd suggest.?

I'll leave the water as is rather than do any more changes.

I'll get hold of the Salifert test kit and the phosphate test.

I'll also limit the lighting to four hours per day.

I'll let you know when I've got hold of the LR rubble and replaced the bio balls and ceramic rings with it. .

Once Ive done that I'll deal with the chamber that conains the sponges . you suggested a small lit cheato. Is that easy to install , or are there alternatives to that for that chamber.

Stewart thanks for the help so far I really appreciate it , I'll try not to be a nuisance but if im not sure about something would it be ok to ask a question or two as Im trying to get the set up up and running?

Thanks

John

[r60sgr]

Hi John,

Thre's no nuisance abiut it bud we're here to help one another out. So ask away and any time bud.

If it's Koralia powerheads you prefer there are variants that can be controlled and therefore do the wavemaking. You would then buy a simple wavemaker plug set up. Sorry not too familiar with that brand so can't say much more but google the brand and that will explain it. I use Tunze with controllers but they are expensive - again google and you'll see the ones I mean. I have a 7095 controller with 3 x 6100 powerheads wavemaking and 2 x 6080 incontrolled in a 5 foot tank. I have a nano q't tank (boyu550) that has clowns in it and that has 2 tunze modified 6025's in it. I wave them but they're not meant to be controllable and so impellers will need replacing when they wear. I got them for nothing so not so bothered about buying replacements. The boyu one is similar to what you have.

As for the cheato refuge chamber it's simple, just get a submersible white led from ebay (arcadia I think) put in in the chamber under a bit if egg crate type material and then put cheato in. I have that light come on as tank light goes off because that makes the seaweed grow better and is therefore on for around 16 hours. They are low voltage so not dear to run.

Stewart

[johndm]

Hi Stewart

Thanks I'll look into the Koralia set up and see what I can find out about it.

As for the chaetomorpha where can you buy that stuff?

I can get the Arcdia light no problem , would I still need to use the skimmer with this setup or not.?

John

[r60sgr]

Hi John,

Yes still use the skimmer. As for buying cheato you can usually get some from a local reefer to you. Failing that try lfs. There is ebay but it doesn't travel well so a bit of a hit and miss with posting.

Where are you bud and someone on here might be able to give you some.

Stewart

[johndm]

Hi stewart

I havent got the skimmer on right now as it doesnt seem like theres anything for it to do , so its only creating bubbles. do you think I should have?

I'm in livingston and have bought most of the stuff so far from either Dobbies who have been helpful or from Amazon but i doubt if Dobbies will have cheato. If theres anyone fairly local who could help with the cheato it would be really great .


Thanks


John

[r60sgr]

Hi John- anothet Scot!

Yes skimmer takes time to operate and get a productive film on it so persevere. I'm in Glasgow so could meet you somewhere in the middle with cheato if you want.

Stewart