A new reef is born!

[chrispyfish]

So I thought I'd update now that I've got the system basically up and running and post some pics.
Everything has cycled nicely. Being a previously established tank, I had a solid cycle to nitrates within a couple of days, and nitrates were high for the first week. Since then, I've started dosing with vodka, and they've come down to practically nil (a little spike when I added the livestock). I also had my calcium hovering around 350ppm so I've been adding Kent Liquid Calcium, and that has been a steady 420ppm since.
I've got a firefish and a green hammer frag in there, as well as a sea cucumber and a clean up crew. There's live rock and macro algae in the sump/fuge, which is running Chemi-pure elite and purigen between the first set of baffles. I got a Sunlight tek light running 4X54W T5's, 2 actinic and 2 10k. They're running on a two separate timers to simulate dawn/dusk.
The protein skimmer is a chinese knock-off (Boyu is the brand name) that I got from amazon.ca for $100. I had read a couple of reviews on the product which said it performs admirably, and I have to say I agree. By day 4 I have a nice thick dark greenish brown foam coming out of it. I also like how it has two returns, each with its own adjuster knob, which makes fine-tuning the skimmer a breeze. Nice and quiet, I'd highly recommend the product to anyone. http://www.amazon.ca/Underwater-Trea...=11TBRBHFA0WWG

SO yeah. I'm gonna do a full water test tonight, so I'll post the results, but so far so good. Looking forward to stocking now...next big purchase: Reefkeeper :P

[chrispyfish]

Ca: 460ppm
pH: 8.2
Specific Gravity: 1.0255
Carbonate Hardness: 10dKh
NH3: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 7ppm
Phosphates: 0.1ppm

Dosing:
Kent liquid calcium (dosed once to bring it up, will check and maintain as needed)
Aquavitro Fuel at 1/2 dose (recommended by LFS for coral nutrients.)
Vodka - control NO3, Phosphates. (both still coming down from cycle, Phos has sinced bottomed out)

CUC:
30 blue leg hermits
5 red leg hermits
10 asterea snails
10 margarita snails
10 Nerite snails
1 pink warty sea cuke (Super happy, eating well)

1 green hammer frag (doing superbly well, super extended, very vibrant)
1 stnd. Firefish (found a home within 5 seconds, and now chills outside his den and watches me play vids, hoping I'll feed him :P)

So far, everything is running perfectly. At first, my CPR overflow box was making a lot of gurgly noises, despite the tube thingy they give you to prevent it, but once I filled 'er up with filter floss just a certain way, everything became perfectly silent. No complaints since. My aquarium is quieter than my desk fan :P

I also want to say one more time how happy I am with my cheap chinese protein skimmer. Cleaned it out today and it was so gross. I am so pleased with the amount of crap its pulling out of the tank already, after only 5 days! $99 on Amazon.ca, and it performs as well, if not better, than most $300+ models I've seen. Its got 2 return outlets each with its own adjuster knob, so you can fine-tune it really precisely. Again, wicked buy. (this company should pay me for this :P)

Anyway, thats all for now. Couple more pics.
Best hobby ever