75 gallon setup and time line
Sept 12 2015: filled tank with ro/di water (4 stage) and started adding salt to achieve sg of 1.025
Sept 20: 4 bags of live sand added
Sept 27: 80 lbs of dry base rock added
Mid Oct: diatom bloom started
Oct 16: 3 inch melanurus wrasse added (I know it's not acceptable to cycle with fish now....a lot has changed since I was last paying attention in the hobby).
Nov (first week or therabouts). Diatom bloom abating.
Nutrients still testing: nh3 0, no2 0, no3 0, po4 0. API tests which I now know can be inaccurate.
Nov 24: NH3 0, NO2 0, NO3 0....tank not cycling?
Nov 28: added 2 inch tomato clown, 2 inch diamond watchman goby, 3 small hermits, 2 conch about 1.5-2 inches.
Dec 1: NH3 0, NO2 0, NH3 10, PO4 0
Dec 4: add one 10 pound piece of live rock for additional seeding.
Dec 12: 10 gallon water change
Dec 13: H2O testing
Temp: 78, sg/sal: 1.026/35 ppt, pH: 8.1
NH3: 0, NO2: 0, NO3: 5
KH: 10, CAL: 520, Mg: 1540
K: 455, Fe: 0, Iodide: 0.06
Equipment
10 gal sump, 125 gal cap protein skimmer, fluval 405 canister filter (100 gal cap/300+ gph), 2 1200 gph powerheads on each end of the tank, 1 800 gph powerhead pointing behind the larger rockwork, 200 gal rated heater, chiller, 48 inch Fluval sea marine and reef 2.0 led.
Soon to be added as soon as it arrives (tomorrow): 48-60 inch Current USA Orbit Marine Reef led.
The canister has 4 chambers. The lower 2 have biomedical (ceramic pieces) and the top 2 have the carbon and silica remover mix (forget the name at but they are small round black and white particles).
Skimmer is producing mostly white/slightly off white foam. It's been operating correctly for a few days. It wasnt foaming until I connected an air pump to it.
I do still have some Diatoms here and there on the rocks but nothing major, it comes and goes.
The live rock came with 1 mushroom coral that is still alive so far. I may have to dial back the current for it a bit. When I turn off the pumps to feed, it seems to expand more than when they are on. It does curl up at night a bit when the lights are off.
I feed 1 cube of mysis a day (half in the morning and half at night), a pinch of marine flake for the clown who seems to like them in addition to the mysis and a couple pinches of tiny pellets for the goby to sift from the sand. The wrasse and hemits also eat some of them. So far everyone eats well and looks and acts healthy and happy.
So if you're still with me...lol
I would like to get a bta for my clown after I get the second light fixture on it. Would that be acceptable or is it still too soon? I want to get the nem before any corals so it can move around and find its spot.
Thanks for reading.
Sept 12 2015: filled tank with ro/di water (4 stage) and started adding salt to achieve sg of 1.025
Sept 20: 4 bags of live sand added
Sept 27: 80 lbs of dry base rock added
Mid Oct: diatom bloom started
Oct 16: 3 inch melanurus wrasse added (I know it's not acceptable to cycle with fish now....a lot has changed since I was last paying attention in the hobby).
Nov (first week or therabouts). Diatom bloom abating.
Nutrients still testing: nh3 0, no2 0, no3 0, po4 0. API tests which I now know can be inaccurate.
Nov 24: NH3 0, NO2 0, NO3 0....tank not cycling?
Nov 28: added 2 inch tomato clown, 2 inch diamond watchman goby, 3 small hermits, 2 conch about 1.5-2 inches.
Dec 1: NH3 0, NO2 0, NH3 10, PO4 0
Dec 4: add one 10 pound piece of live rock for additional seeding.
Dec 12: 10 gallon water change
Dec 13: H2O testing
Temp: 78, sg/sal: 1.026/35 ppt, pH: 8.1
NH3: 0, NO2: 0, NO3: 5
KH: 10, CAL: 520, Mg: 1540
K: 455, Fe: 0, Iodide: 0.06
Equipment
10 gal sump, 125 gal cap protein skimmer, fluval 405 canister filter (100 gal cap/300+ gph), 2 1200 gph powerheads on each end of the tank, 1 800 gph powerhead pointing behind the larger rockwork, 200 gal rated heater, chiller, 48 inch Fluval sea marine and reef 2.0 led.
Soon to be added as soon as it arrives (tomorrow): 48-60 inch Current USA Orbit Marine Reef led.
The canister has 4 chambers. The lower 2 have biomedical (ceramic pieces) and the top 2 have the carbon and silica remover mix (forget the name at but they are small round black and white particles).
Skimmer is producing mostly white/slightly off white foam. It's been operating correctly for a few days. It wasnt foaming until I connected an air pump to it.
I do still have some Diatoms here and there on the rocks but nothing major, it comes and goes.
The live rock came with 1 mushroom coral that is still alive so far. I may have to dial back the current for it a bit. When I turn off the pumps to feed, it seems to expand more than when they are on. It does curl up at night a bit when the lights are off.
I feed 1 cube of mysis a day (half in the morning and half at night), a pinch of marine flake for the clown who seems to like them in addition to the mysis and a couple pinches of tiny pellets for the goby to sift from the sand. The wrasse and hemits also eat some of them. So far everyone eats well and looks and acts healthy and happy.
So if you're still with me...lol
I would like to get a bta for my clown after I get the second light fixture on it. Would that be acceptable or is it still too soon? I want to get the nem before any corals so it can move around and find its spot.
Thanks for reading.
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