My First Reef Tank

If you put the damp sand in a big glass/small pitcher you can hold your hand over the top until you get it to the bottom and then pour it out. I did that in a system with fish and a few corals. Not a real huge sandstorm issue, at least not enough to cause any harm.
 
I've heard of people freezing the wet sand and putting the clump of frozen sand on the bottom and let it thaw. I personally think the temperature change caused by adding frozen cubes is probably more harmful than a dust storm.
 
Well, the dust storm was gone by this morning. I'll have some holes to fill, since it was kinda hard to see where I was dumping through the cloudy water, and so I ended up with some areas that need a bit more sand, but otherwise, it looks great. Seems like I have a little too much flow coming out of my returns, as I had a hell of a time trying to aim them so that they weren't digging holes in the substrate, but I think I finally got them aimed so they are blasting my live rock instead of the open sand bed. I'll take some pictures tonight and post 'em. Even though the sandstorm was short, and relatively light, it appears that my little 1 inch sea cucumber didn't survive. I think it was on its last leg due to the nitrate and ammonia of the cycling, but regardless of what did it, it appeared to be deceased this morning. I'll confirm the loss tonight when I get home.

Now its just a matter of getting some lights on the tank and letting the diatoms and algae go bananas I guess...then I can add a small clean up crew.
 
Here's a dumb newbie question...If that hitchhiking purple slug that died in my tank was in fact a sea cucumber, and is in fact dead, do I need to worry that it may have poisoned my entire tank?

It was only an inch or so long...is one that small capable of nuking 150g worth of water? Geez I hope not. The last thing I need right now is to have to tear the whole system down and start over from scratch.
 
Purple slug may have been a Nudibranch. There is a purple species that is fairly common that don't do well cause they feed on a type of sponge.

Even if it was a cuce 1 inch ain't going to have a whole lot of toxins. Run a little carbon and don't worry about it.
 
Well, the purple slug might not be dead after all...I was trying to get him with some tweezers, but couldnt' see very well, so when I tried to grab his tail, and lift him out, the tail appeared to just disappear...I then tried to grab the head, and couldn't get ahold of it through the rock work. I think it drew back into the hole further to be honest...even though it looks sickly, I think it is still alive. So if it is a sea cucumber, my digging at him with tweezers probably DID cause him to expel toxins, but I'm glad he's just a tiny little fellow.

Also, in other news: I had my first flood during the night last night!!! WOO HOO! I've been wondering when it was going to happen, and dreading it, so now its over with. Yay. Here's what happened: I noticed my skimmer wasn't making much foam (I now realize it's because I had been digging in the tank and the oils from my skin had calmed it down). Stupidly, I cranked up the skimmer to get it making skimmate, and then happily bounded off to bed. VOILA! Instant flood. Came downstairs to quite a mess.

Today I need to get me a light. I'm still torn about going with an 8 bulb T5 fixture, or a 2x250w metal halide fixture. I'm concerned about trying to keep clams, and SPS's and an anenome, etc. with the T5 fixture, so I will likely go with the Metal Halide, but we'll see...I have until after work to make the final decision on that one. Got my Phosban and Carbon reactors last night, so I'll be getting some tubing to hook those up as well.
 
Ok, got the Phosban and activated Carbon reactors up and running...work like a charm. Got a filter sock on the return pipes to stop all the foaming and fizzing, which has reduced evaporation and salt creep.

Got my light on the main display tank, and am slowly ramping up the hours on that...

Soon we will be up and running for real. Now I just need this damn nitrite and nitrate to drop so i can get my clean up crew in there and we'll be truckin'! :)
 
Well, here it is...I am nearing the final configuration of the tank, as the cycle finishes out. I ended up going with the Current USA Outer Orbit fixture, though I wasn't completely sold on it...I am happy with it. I will upgrade to better bulbs when I change them and might upgrade the ballasts someday.

Here we are with SeaChem Gray Coast Sand over CaribSea Black Pacific Live Sand...

Aquarium7sm.jpg


Here we are with the light installed...

Aquarium8sm.jpg


Here we are with just the T5 Dawn/Dusk lights on...

Aquarium9sm.jpg


And finally just the moon lights on...

Aquarium10sm.jpg


I'm starting to get pretty happy with the set-up.
 
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Wow, came home tonight to a GINORMOUS diatom bloom all over my pretty white rocks. Ah well...I guess if you want to make an omlette, you gotta break some legs.

Geez its hard to see that pretty new tank all covered in ugly nasty gook.

In other news, the algae I have growing BEAUTIFULLY in my refugium appears to be bryopsis. Time to get that alkalinity up, and start dosing magnesium! I'll keep you all up to date...

BEST NEWS: Just tested nitrite and its at .25ppm!!!! Almost zero'ed out! The cycle is coming to an end. :) How cool.
 
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Ok...I'm dosing Magnesium to try to kill my bryopsis invasion...it tested out at 1320ppm before dosing, which is right where my SeaChem Reef Salt mix should have put it. Now I'll raise it to 1800ppm over the course of a week, and see if that bryopsis takes a hike.

I'm also dosing SeaChem Reef Builder trying to get my alkalinity up. Last tested at 9...I'm shooting for 12 or even higher if the magnesium doesn't kill the bryopsis.

I'm seeing no coralline algae growth other than on the piece of live rock that I put in that was already covered with it. Probably because my alk was too low, and so I'm working on that. Parameters have been GREAT for diatoms and bryopsis apparently.
 
Well, amazingly, the diatoms have disappeared, and the algae is now receding slowly. Soon it appears I will have a clean tank with pristine rocks, and nearly ideal water parameters. I guess this cycling thing really does work. Haha. Just takes patience.

SG: 1.026
kH: 10
Calcium: 460
Magnesium: 1400
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
pH: 8.3


I'm as happy as a clam.
 
Well, sadly a SECOND hitchhiking crab has appeared in the tank. And this one went unnoticed until after I had added all manner of snails and seven Hermit Crabs. That's going to make this a big challenge to catch.
 
Crabs are such a pain. I even went crab-less in my latest tank. I figures I could find other second digestors that do that same things as crabs without the worry of them bother corals and other inverts.
 
Last nights water tests revealed that my Alk has dropped to 5 or 6, which is crappy, but my nitrates are now 0.

I will start dosing to up my alk, and then as soon as I get all the algae processed through my snails and transported out of the tank via the skimmer, I'll be ready to start adding corals and fish. Couple more months and we'll be in business! :)
 
Sorry if you have mentioned this already but what test kits and salt are you using? Alk of 5-6 with no inhabitents in the tank to take anything up, kind of has me wondering if something isn't right.

Tank looks great by the way!!

Spleify
 
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