[untamed]

Originally Posted by deep6er

I think you need to invest in a few more heaters just incase, that big of a tank you don't want to risk anything.

Great work, keep it up.

I just ordered a single 500W Finnex titanium. That will increase my total heater wattage from 500W to 750W.

The good (OK, GREAT) people of JL were able to double-check a water test and they confirmed what I suspected...my ammonia test kit was too old and it simply wasn't working at all. (Thanks!!) I certainly have ammonia present, so my tank cycling is well underway. Yeah!

I did an immediate 40 gallon water change, even though none of the tank's few inhabitants are showing any stress. (Mantis haven't lost their appetite!)

I've also got to find out some way of preventing sand from being sucked up into the CL intakes. It's OK now that everything has settled down, but if any sand gets stirred up, there's nothing preventing it from being sucked into the CL. I've already had one of the 4-ways jam up from getting some sand in it. A 6"L x 4"W x 2"D piece of sponge over the inlet worked well until I just caught one of the sponges before it got completely sucked into the intake. I need some sort of combination of strainer and sponge. Maybe a sponge wrapped around a strainer with zip ties...but I would like something more elegant than that. I've got some new strainers on the way to experiment with.