Looks good to me!

So, here is a color progression. Im now just passed the diatom phase. Im only using 4 of the 12 bulbs in this fixture during the cycle, so that I have a minimal amount of algae growth. But it seems to be going well.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psubj489xy.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psaoe3vrng.jpg

Last night:
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ps46jb5bz9.jpg

My settling tank idea is also working amazing. Barely any detritus is making it into the return sump. It will be perfect to just stir that up and drain the tank for water changes.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pszfw9hxxl.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psrdyxw1tx.jpg

Im getting some great ideas for my fish room/tank build.

So another cycle update. Nitrates are getting lower and lower every day. I'm starting to see some life!

Last night I changed all the bulbs to a more blue look. Keep in mind that all the previous shots of the tank were on dusk/dawn channels with only two blues and two pinks.

Heres the new bulb arrangement:

Front
KZ Superblue
WP Blue wave 460
WP Reef wave
WP Sun wave
WP Coral Wave
KZ New Gen
Back

It looks a lot less blue in person, but its almost identical to a 14K look. The couple fish I have in there look outragously colorful already.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psabelir53.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psozzhn6of.jpg

Coraline is already starting to grow everywhere. This is on the bare bottom.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ps95x57qsm.jpg

And my first little spirorbid worm!! Things are starting to look lively! Got little critters everywhere on the glass.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psx5x49j3f.jpg

Skimmer pulling out sick black crap already... The smell is absolutely alarming.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psuzn1edcn.jpg

NEXT: clean up crew to get working on the tiny bits of hair algae.

Ooh! Looking great. Are you going to scrape the bottom or just let the coraline take it over?

You know, I was just having this conversation with a buddy while looking at the tank. And I have no idea!!!!! The thing about coraline is that it will look more patchy than fully covered...but on the other hand scraping it often will be a nuisance.

Things are looking great.

If it were me, and for no reason in particular, but I'd probably let the coraline be on the bottom.

Thats what im thinking..... and mainly from a pure laziness perspective. lol.

I just think if coraline spreads as fast as it has in all my other setups, i'd be razor-blading it every day trying to keep it clean. I think i'll leave it and just keep it as debris free as possible. Which so far is working great. With 2 WP40's situated on opposing ends, i'm getting a gyre like flow in the tank which only has two tiny noticeable dead spots where everything is accumulating. That happens to be in between the rock structures which is nice and accessible.

+1 for the lazy method.