Awesome seeing water in that baby.

Did you try using the reference in the kit ?
If you can get 6.7dkh with it then you'll know you're following their instructions correctly

Thanks Dap, it's been a long road. Hopefully this time next year I will have figured out how to keep corals successfully.

Ahhhh nope. Guess I should do that eh? Stupid Noob!

Nope, just Noob :smile:
You're a Man, and we don't read instructions very well :boink:

Tank is now 29 days old.

Still kinda boring, however, no2 and no3 are finally dropping over the past week.

no2 : 0.25 ppm
no3 : 25 ppm
ammonia still 0
po4 still 0.03 ppm
Alk : 6.8 (Thanks Greg for the tip)

Still need to pick up kits for Calcium and Mg. (or just mooch off my LFS just to upset Brad, lol)

Used up all of Rich's Miracle Skimate Cycle Accelerator.
Continuing to dose Zeo products as listed before.
Started dosing ZeoFood and then... BOOM!

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7309/...be881878_c.jpg

It's alive! Not sure if it's diatoms or cyano (guessing diatoms), but either way I'll take it!

Added a fish today, really hoping the little guy will be ok. I was on the fence about adding him.
I'll get him a buddy once I'm confident with my chemistry.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7446/...fc1eb92b_c.jpg

Thanks for looking.

...and a boring FTS as we are updating things.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8655/...23230ee1_b.jpg

Woohoo, your first critter :smile: (dead shrimps don't count)

Such a big change in your Alk from 9.3 to 6.8 ...

So ... are you gonna bring that up a tad ? It's close enough, but once you start adding corals that 6.8 doesn't leave you much room for it to dip low ...
And it helps keep your pH up don'cha know

That stuff on the sand looks to me to be diatoms, if I'm seeing it right
Welcome to the next cycle :biggrin:

Lovin' the sexy sump

Tank looks good so far. I'm at the lovely diatom stage myself right now. :D

Wow Warren... that is a REALLY clean Sump. Wish I could rig something like that up!
Trade you some frags if you help me? :) LOL!

Thanks Greg!

Tank is going to stay fish only for a bit.
My first water change is coming up in 2 weeks, so I need to perfect my water change method. Want to do 25% every two weeks.
Secondly (depending on when I might pick up someone's birdsnest, cough, cough), I need to stock up on my bulk supplies and figure out how to use the Libra properly.
Still a huge learning curve for me buddy and I gots of take it slow ('cause I'm getting old and things take longer to sink in) lol.
pH is holding between 8.04 and 8.16.

I'll walk you through the dosing stuff when you're ready
And, ya, there's some birdsnest floating around somewhere

Why is there a sponge floating sideways across the skimmer chamber of the sump?

That's just expressive...oozing with awesomeness

Thanks Dude. If you really want some help, I'd be more than happy.

2 reasons. (1) To stop splashing from my POS skimmer that I can't seem to get tuned in and (2), seeding it for my QT.

Lol, thanks.

Thanks, don't you just love waiting? Lol.

Had the Yellow Tail for a couple days and the little dude wasn't feeding at all. He mouthed a few Mysis but I didn't see him eating it.
Saw him this morning when I left for work, but when I came home he was nowhere to be found. Searched everywhere and only came up with two ideas.
1) He's hiding somewhere in the pukani or 2) he went for a carpet surf and got eaten by one of our two white hairy landsharks. Poor guy.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7438/...53764fd3_b.jpg

Parameters continue to improve:
no2 : 0.02 ppm
no3 : 10 ppm
I will check other params tomorrow.

Starting to get serious diatoms. If I remember correctly, this is normal and it will take care of itself over the next few weeks, yes?

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8564/...6c45696f_b.jpg

Thanks for looking and replies/recommendations/suggestions welcome!

Sorry, no. You need to start over.

WTF?! Another 2 year build? Screw it... I'm out.

Ok, just kidding. Ya, it will go away :)

:wink:

Nice job overall...
Sorry to read about your Yellow Tail going MIA :(
Where did you source the wiring duct or trough for your sump?

Call off the search and rescue, it has been discovered this morning. 😃

The product is called Panduit and I got mine from Torbram Electrical Supply in PoCo, but any good electrical supply house should carry it. I even think Home De Pot has something similar.

...and on a lighter note, the yellow tail was spotted this morning alive and well, lol.

Lol, I was worried for a while there, honest!

Thanks for the info on the duct.
Isn't it amazing how fish can hide in such a controlled environment?
Glad that SAR costs will be kept at a minimum :)

Day 35.

Just finished testing,

Ammonia : 0 API
Salinity : 1.025 Refractometer : 35.5 Apex
Phosphate : 0 Salifert
Nitrite : 0 Salifert
Nitrate : 2 ppm Salifert
Alk : 6.2 Salifert
pH : 8.11 - 8.22 Apex
Temp : 77.8 - 78.1 Apex

Numbers look great except for Alk, need to start dosing.

Found the Yellow Tail, seems he dug himself a cave under the rocks and never shows himself, lol.

So what's next? Add more fish? Start adding a CuC? What CuC members are recommended? Rich mentioned Trocus snails, am I ready for a cleaner shrimp or other inverts?

Going to hold off on corals until the frag swap. Picked up some Coral Rx and Revive today in preparation. Guess I should get some new clean plugs as well as coral glue.

First w/c coming up next weekend. Not looking forward to that! Trying to keep the glass clean.

Diatoms everywhere! Water starting to cloud as well. Running 300ml ZeoCarb passively.

$20 to the first person who can spot the Damsel!

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7430/...2eee768a_o.jpg

Lol didn't I read somewhere the damsel died. :biggrin: Soubds like your making progress

Yes, that Amber Alert was cancelled, lol.

Missing child was found, he was hiding in the barn as a joke.

Yellow Tail continues to be a jerk. Hiding all the time and not being social at all.

Water is starting to cloud up. I suspect excess bacteria, but I'm not 100% on that. All parameters are good except Alk at 6.2 (this will be dealt with shortly).

Looked around for a used UV unit and found one from Barry (byee). We met up earlier today and it was a pleasure to talk with him. I am finding everyone I meet from Canreef to be very friendly, passionate hobbyists! Thanks again Barry!

UV gets a good vinegar bath for a few hours while the Oscars were on.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8576/...20847c51_b.jpg

...and then the little germ killer gets installed.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8677/...ce654281_b.jpg

Just running it off a Rio 600 for now. I plan to add a manifold system in the future for the UV and a chiller. I will deal with the UV's wires tomorrow.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8572/...5c4a63c8_b.jpg

Thought I would give the WiFi unit another try on the Apex. First time I hooked it up it didn't work at all, and it even changed the IP of the Apex.
Took hours to figure it out and get the Apex hooked back up with the Ethernet cable. I put the WiFi aside to deal with it later.
Well, later has come. The wife was complaining about the 50 feet of Ethernet cable strung across the house, so I thought I'd give it another go.
I plugged it in quickly on a whim and it seems to just have worked. Don't ask me how... I suspect Gremlins.

It will eventually be mounted to the side of the cabinet after the countertop is done.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8635/...8a14f341_b.jpg

Here's a couple of pics of what I thought were diatoms... but now I'm not too sure. I am starting to suspect I've over dosed ZeoVit.
I've followed the dosing schedule to the letter, so it's all very confusing. It's literally everywhere there is light cast, including the glass. If anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate it!

With flash.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8654/...6eb8d302_b.jpg

Without flash.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8664/...875c1448_b.jpg

Did you have to input your internet password into the apex is that how it works? I don't have an apex

Maybe lower the photoperiod and/or intensity? Those Kessils put out some serious light and can cause algae problems. I had experienced it when I had a A150 over my 30g.

Usually my algae goes away once I lower the photoperiod and feed less.

And Warren, I need to hire you to organize my future sump area lol.

Dude, I have no idea what I did. Didn't input any password or specific IP address... it literally 'just worked' the second time. I am at a loss for words, but thankful lol!

Brian, I have since turned the lights off until I figure out if I'm dealing with diatoms, Zeo over-dose, or algae. Like I said, I'm a little confused.

Hire me? Hell no! You live so close, I'd be doing a disservice to reef geeks everywhere if I didn't help... text me when you're ready!

When are you coming to the island...? 😜

My folks do live in Nanaimo... and I'd love to see your new fish room! (if it's finished, lol)

LOL, not yet, pretty much as you saw it on my last update. Although I did get 80% of my HRV install done yesterday...

Let us know how it turns out with your algae problem.

Haha don't worry, you're on the top of my list of "who should I call to help me move in the tank/stand" :lol:

Maybe I should come over Dap... we'd have that room done in no time buddy!

I have been assured by a few people that it is in fact just diatoms and I'm freaking out like every newbie reefer does, lol.
Going to keep the lights off for a few days and run the UV several hours/day. Will brush the rocks on Sunday just before the water change.
I would like to introduce some coralline, any ideas where I might get some flakes?

There's always this:

http://www.marinedepot.com/CaribSea_...ADSALR-vi.html

(I don't have experience with it!)

Or you can "introduce" coralline by adding my live rock lol. $50 per rock :wink::razz:

Awesome thread... kept me busy all afternoon! :)
I'm in the process of building my own nano system with sump.
Going to try and model my sump area after yours #OCD ;)
Nice work!