Back on July 11th, after adding salt and sand, I added a raw Jumbo prawn in a bag to the DT. After a few days of not getting any NH3 I added 5 more. Then, by the next day, I had readings.
The next day I had to remove the prawns from the DT as we couldn't take the smell anymore
The smell went away within an hour of my canopy fan running. The stench of the rotting shrimp was being blown all over the living room by said fan. Unfortunately for me in my office, I had to clean the skimmer cup a couple times to get rid of the last of the putridness. That's a new word I just made up ...
My mini cycle, due to a small amount of NH3, only lasted a total of 17 days.
Yesterday I added a bunch of hermies to feed on the diatoms. I gave them some pellets last night, and some nori today - I'm weak. Must feed the critters.
Anyway, as long as I keep the cycle active, and don't see any issues over the next 4-5 days, I'll start adding our fish from the holding tank.
Poor bastards have been in a 36g for 4 months
Hope they appreciate their new home without the STUPID aqueon overflow box in the tank
Low light pics to start with
I'm liking the low lying/minimal 'scape. Plenty of room for colonies to grow big, fish to spaz out, me to clean things, whatever ...
It's what I wanted last year after my corals grew so big I couldn't even clean the glass or sand.
Notice how the overflow box is quite unobtrusive, and I saved over $1000 by not buying a custom built tank
Oh yeah, thanks to my wife for helping, no, designing the 'scape, and putting up with 4 months of crap all over the house while the system was re-built
