hey guys so i have a quick up date , ive went and did all my water tests but i cant find one around here for mg so ill have to hope for the best untill i can order one soon.
before i supplemented with instant ocean my water was as follows and this is natural seawater with me doing nothing but raising the temp.
salinity- 1.012
amonia- 0
nitrite- 0
nitrate- 0-5
phos-0
alk-7
cal-380
mg-???
as the salt was only at .012 i had to add some so i added instant ocean it was the only salt available to me here and after i added the salt this is where i stood.
salinity-1.025
amonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-0-5
phos-0
alk-9
calcium-460
mg-????(im assuming around where it should be)
today i started to run carbon in the tank and added a handfull of established sand to my refuge to kick start the bacteria into reproducing.
ive also added a couple yellow tail chromis as my tester fish and will be monitoring them closely over the next week or two. so far they seem very happy and are eating some flke food soaked in garlic. they were also very healthy looking and i got the two i thought were most active and responsive.within minutes after acclimation they were swimming about and eager for food and attention.they come to the top alot looking for flake so i believe they are familiar with people.
to help on the build up cost i am bying a tank from some one here locally its a 55g with all kinds of goodies including 75-100 lbs of live rock .....350 but a 7 hr drive so i will be taking lots of rubber maids with me and a heaters/ powerheads.....there are only two fish and no corals so im not worried to muc about casualties. the cost of the rock i need from an lfs is more then it is to buy this whole set up so i figured tim to start playing it smart

the pet store here has also agreed to get me some mangroves as i noticed they had some on stash out back but the are not for sale and after some begging he has agreed to order me in a bunch with their next order.....

sweet so now i will be plumbing a mangrove trough into the tank and toilet sump

heres the pics hope you enjoy
