sleizure 180g in-wall

[Dash]

I like those tank dimensions! And the window too - so glad you’re reusing it. We’re DIYers and for sure would have taken that wall down in 3 seconds - I’d love a fish room. The one thing is, personally I like to see as much of the tank as possible, so I think I would like to have it stick out on all 3 sides. But then of course you have to have the stand on the other side as well...hmm...
Anyway, looks great!

Gee, I just used my old rock, sand to start things off

[Bblinks]

Hahahaha...looking good, Last picture though...oh man, where are the mods on this site....lol kidding. Keep them pics coming...maybe not so much of the last one...

[WarDog]

The last picture meets and exceeds Canreef's policy of ethical behavior and common decency, lol. Carry on.

[chi]

Such a good thread, starting the cycle the organic way hahaha

[sleizure]

I'm a big fan of organic!


The tank is still just sitting the way I left it, with a few more organic deposits, but in the meantime I finished off my 3d printing for my Float Switches, Probe Holders, and my DIY Breakout for my Apex Controller. Have a peek:


Float Switches:




Probe Holders:




The breakout box:



I only have 4 ports available which 3 are used for the float switches. Not sure about what to use for the last port. My thinking for the two buttons is the blue one is for Feeding triggering some events to return pump and powerheads, and the Red button is a full shutdown of certain components (I haven't wrote the routines yet).

[sleizure]

No pictures on this one. Apparently my "choosing organic" has worked. My Cycle is starting.


I've got lights on from 9am (ramp up to full by 11) and then scaling down from 6pm - 9pm just to avoid things getting totally out of control. I have a fine layer of brown algae appearing all over the rock and sand, looks like cyano under the atinic blue but, no just brown. All very normal in my mind. My Ammonia has been steadily dropping and I'm about going to keep the organic offering going for another 2 weeks before I head for a business trip. Since I'll be flying back into YVR will stop by the LFS and pick up some hardy fish, and restrain myself from anything crazy and let this thing get matured for a few more months after that.


The waiting is the worst, but I feel much more calm and restrained this time around. Instead I'm spending the time outside with our 14 month german shepherd puppy and also building a 6 tap bar/beer dispenser. I feel it will be much less of a mess, no drywall involved

[sleizure]

OK, I'm off to the races.





My tank has cycled in just about the same time it would have taken with a shrimp or nitrying bacteria, and I can giggle and tell everyone I am the creator when they come by.


I've been setting up the equipment room more since I was able to head over to the mainland and pick up some shelves, setup my water change tank along with some digital timers, all probes calibrated and I'm sitting at 3 nitrates, 0 ammonia, pH at 8.3. Mag 1320, Calcium 450, and Alk 11.


I attempted to do some aquascaping, spent a few nights going back at it after creating massive sand storms, eventually just settled on what the picture above gives. I've dove enough reefs to know that it's not perfect and I'm kinda sticking with that.



I had a business trip this week and ended up stateside but before I returned to the island I stopped by and picked up some frags from a canreefer, came back with 4 different zoa's, some pom pom xenia, some gsp, and a finger leather. All easy and hardy stuff on a very fresh tank. I'm holding off until September until I go deeper (!) down the hole as I want to make sure that the tank is stable..


The only thing that I am struggling with at this time is my skimmer. It's a Bubble Magus Curve 9 Plus and I've had it running for over a week and it still hasn't stopped overflowing. I 3d printed a couple mounts for it to get it at the 9.5" water level mark, still overflow city. I printed a different set to get it to 7 inches, no change. I may have to pull this thing out and make sure I've got it put together properly, but really, its a skimmer, they are pretty textbook.


I also met another Canreefer and picked up a mated pair of Ocellaris Clowns, a Green Chromis, and a Pajama Cardinal. The Cardinal is a monster, and they are doing quite well after being introduced to the tank late last night. Who can resist a trip to the mainland without stopping at JL and I picked up a cleanup crew focusing more so on snails as crabs can be little buggers, and also walked out with a lawnmower blenny and a Neon Goby. I had hoped to pick up 20 Chromis but they were out of stock.



My wife had never seen fish before like this, and stared at the tank this morning, and said are you going to get more? So I get her in the car and headed up to the LFS and picked up 2 Bangaii Cardinals that have been sitting there for 3 months, and a Royal Gramma. Everyone is sizing each other up, realizing there is lots of space and happily just moving about.


I need to find some people in my area with frags, or macroalgae.