Full of SW and Rock!
 

Wow - it has been a month since I lasted posted on here. Because of waiting for replacement parts for the skimmer, a trip for a conference and a busy schedule we have just now made some progress.

Last week we were able to add salt water to the tank! On Friday we bought 32 lbs of live rock to add to our 70 lbs of dry rock. We ended up putting some of the live rock in the sump as we didn't like the very full look of having everything in the DT.

Question: In order to properly seed the dry rock, do we need all the live rock in the DT?


http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1343098255



http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1343098238


We got the skimmer working, but it isn't doing much - not that I expected much at this point. Part of it might be that we really don't know what we are doing! :biggrin:

The next steps are to complete a side cabinet for the ATO and electrical stuff, and then to build a new canopy that will fit the Radions we bought.

I'm also looking for any advice on cycling the tank - people talk about ghost feeding the tank - now that we are at that place, what advice do you have for us?

Thanks!

ATO ready to go (almost!)
 

While waiting the the tank to cycle, I have been working on a side cabinet that will contain the ATO tank, a bit of storage and the electrical stuff.

We have purchased an ELOS dIGITAL SYSTEM and managed to test it today - and we had one problem. After the pump shut off, the water started to siphone from the ATO tank into the sump :cry:. How do we prevent that?

Here are two pictures of the first part of the cabinet. The tank is on a shelf on slides (thanks Jason for the idea!).

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1343780309

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1343780289

Great little cabinet

Live rock is OK in the sump, it will still seed the DT. You may speed things up a bit with coralline if you scrape some of it into the DT

Get the ATO issue fixed ? I saw your other thread

Thanks re: the cabinet. I'm finding that making the cabinets is the easy part of the whole SW expereince :mrgreen:.

I appreciate the advice on the ATO - I'll be doing "take two" on that tomorrow.

And thanks for the comment re: live rock in the sump / DT. We did put about half the live rock in the DT and half in the sump. I guess that the next step is to wait for the ammonia levels to get to zero.

And if you don't want any algae issues, do weekly water changes until the nitrates and phosphates go away too
A Guide - Live rock; Curing & Cooking, and Tank Cycling

Thanks for the link. In the meantime I'll be working on getting the electical looking presentable, finishing my mixing station and designing / building something to mount the lights in.

Success!
 

I had time to tackle the ATO today - this time with success! Because I had already run the line and didn't want to mess with that, I decided that the simplist solution of the ones that were mentioned was to drill a small hole in the line. The ATO now appears to be working without any problems! :biggrin:

Completion of Side Cabinet
 

Well, after several months of slow work we have finally completed the side cabinet that houses our ATO tank, a small amount of storage and the electrical "stuff".

It started as two sheets of plywood, became three seperate boxes and then one cabinet.
http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1344445333

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1344445342

The bottom main cabinet is for the ATO tank, the top portion houses the electrical stuff and the bottom side one is for a bit of storage.

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1344444762

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1344444758

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1344444751


We designed the electrical cabinet with a 2 inch space in the back at the top and bottom for ventilation. In the cabinet are the controls for the ELOS ATO, the skimmer and return pump, the two VorTech MP10s, and the two Radions. I have space for a future UPS (cost is delaying the purchase).

Thank you to Subman for the inspiration for the electrical part of the cabinet.

All in all, we are quite please with how it turned out. :biggrin:

Next on the "to do list" is to complete the water station in the basement.

Wow , that is one of the cleanest, most organized electrical setups I have seen. Subman may have started something here.
Well done

Very nicely done Grid