That's not a bad idea merlock, but those ASM skimmers aren't 100% water tight even with the recirc mod. This is mostly due to a less than perfect seal at the skimmer cup to neck quick connect. I also don't really have the room to place it outside the sump any longer with everything I have crammed into this rather small room. I think the 1/3 hp in-line chiller will easily be able to drop my temp a few degrees which is all I need.
I got my sand activator package and additional snails yesterday. There were a lot of bristle and spaghetti worms that all disappeared into the sand bed within an hour or two. Also got a several very small serpent stars that also disappeared from site in no time. The pods were quite large and easily visible to the naked eye. I got perhaps 30 of those. There were also a number of tiny star fish (smaller than your fingernail).
As to the snails, the Trochus rocks. They just cruise across all surfaces with ease. The Strombus are also very pretty and move about with ease. The Nerite snails are not really doing that well, and few are on the rocks and glass, but most seem to be lifeless on the sandbed. They didn't "put their foot out" when trying to stick them onto the glass at the water surface. I didn't specifically ask for these, but they came with the package and I unfortunately think that their days may be numbered. With that said, the Cerith, Trochus and Strombus are all doing great. Still need to get some Nassarius, but I'll hold off until I can combine it with something else to safe on shipping.
Dripping kalk with my auto top-off seems to be going well. I plan to run a full suite of tests again tomorrow, including magnesium. My evap rate appears to be pretty close to 5 gallons, so it pretty much maxes out the capacity of my dosing pump. I plan to add some marks to my sump to better judge the exact rate.
In other news, I got my temporary QT tank up and running with its first inhabitants. I say temporary because this is a 55g and I plan to turn it into a FOWLR or something once the 180g is stocked and then have a smaller QT tank in the future.
All I got in it is a heater and a canister filter running nothing but foam pads and carbon. I had it running on the main tank for a little over a week to help jump start it, and I filled it with water from the main system (its located within 10 feet of the main tank).
Here it is:
And a close up of the sole inhabitants at this time:
Both Perculas appear healthy, they eat and readily swim up to the glass when approached. I'll be sure to monitor ammonia and nitrites, but with a water volume of 55g + the canister, I don't expect that they will create much ammonia at all. Detritus and uneaten food will be vacuumed out on a regular basis as well. I'll keep them in here for at least 2 weeks before releasing them into the main tank. Once I do, I plan on putting 3 Yellow Tangs in the QT.
