Blog Comments

No, not trying to skip one, just ease thru a small one.. I don't see my tank having a large ammonia spike if I don't cause one.. And if this Bio-Spira does what it says it does..

Originally Posted by MotoFish

I was originally intending on seeding with a few pounds of live rock, but now not so sure. I might just let it all happen on it's own. I know there are lots of "good" creatures I could stand to gain by seeding with live rock, but then I have to ask.. How many "pests" do I introduce to my system as well..

I am a huge proponent of biodiversity in a tank. You need that diversity to mimic a real reef. Nothing in nature is clean or steril. You really don't have to worry about very many "baddies" coming in on rock. If you don't get mantis shrimp all the other stuff (minus algaes) is great for a reef. Bristle worms are good scavengers, pods and stuff are food for the reef. I'd suggest going to the LFS and picking out a good 2-3 rocks that are purple and covered in coraline. Then I'd go to someone's tank on SDR that you know doesn't have ich or other diseases currently and get a cup of sand to seed your sandbed.

I also highly recommend this place http://www.ipsf.com/refugiumstartup.html Their packages of sand start up and other things are great for getting a reef with diversity. DaveMorris got me started with these guys. If I were starting a reef tank up again, I'd try and get some chaeto from someone's tank that had a ton of pods. Put that, the rock, the sand, and a pack from this ipsf.com site and let my tank sit for a month or two. Allow the pods and other critters to build up to a healthy population before I introduce predators like fish.

are you trying to skip a cycle or something?

I was originally intending on seeding with a few pounds of live rock, but now not so sure. I might just let it all happen on it's own. I know there are lots of "good" creatures I could stand to gain by seeding with live rock, but then I have to ask.. How many "pests" do I introduce to my system as well..

I am considering trying Instant Oceans Bio-Spira... http://instantocean.com/sites/instan...ra_splash.html

I have been up and running almost 48 hours now.. I have introduced no source of Ammonia as of yet.. I got a baseline on my tests last night (24 hours) into cycle.. everything was near zero. I used all dry rock and sand, no die off from uncured rock, to cause ammonia spikes.. Aside from not having any bacteria in the tank to support denitrification from any ammonia source (fish poop) I don't expect a huge swing in parameters. I am going to see where the levels all sit tonight, possibly add a small ammonia source and see what happens.. Then add some Bio-Spira and see what happens again. I may be adding a fish by the end of the weekend.

Are you going to add any live rock or are you going all base rock?
Thats gonna be one gorgeous tank!

You are correct bleach.. It's the XL 67.. I have had many compliments on it.

As far as the return being tee'd.. I have not tested it to see if there is any difference with or without the tee. To be honest, I think the pump is a little oversized for this application and even if it is reducing flow, then all the better. I would prefer to have it cut back even a little more possibly and have plans to stick a couple Vortech's in there in time. Maybe a pair of MP10's.

Jessy, as stated, yes, it is the Solana by Current.. I actually have 3 sides viewable, one of the sides gives you quite a good view with some real depth to it! Looking thru that low iron glass too! Bummer they didn't do the back with low iron as well.. As far as the lighting goes, the Solana is supposed to come with their Sunpod 2 x 250 watt HQI Metal Halide with white and blue LED's, but unfortunately, I don't have that to go with it. Maybe for the better though because I am trying to go as energy efficient as possible. I have 4 T5 retro's that I need to build a canopy for. I may opt to put a 3rd set of T5's in there, but for now, we are going to go with the 4 bulbs. The canopy, I am going to try myself to do, and try to match Current's gorgeous stand.. We will see how good an engineer can be at being a craftsman..

Woah, thats a super sharp rimless, who made it? And is there any difference in flow with the return tee'd off like that? Just curious, thanks for sharing!

Doh! just realized thats a Solana XL 67!

Sweet! Thanks so much for coming over and letting us see your tank. I really like it. Is it a Solana? I really love the look of having a tank visible from both sides like this. Glad you didn't go so elaborate as your first tank design when I met you :P. This is going to be great to watch you grow finally. It's been a long time coming. Am I missing it? What kind of lighting are you going to do?