Well.... Things are moving along slowly. Here is where we are right now...
I have sold a bunch of the equipment that came with the tank itself in the past week and replaced it with new stuff. Here is a list of what has changed. But, before I give you the list, I can tell you that the plumbing is not yet complete. It should happen this week. The tanks for the sump and refugium are at the glass shop to be drilled and should be done tomorrow. The bulkheads are sitting on my desk ready and waiting.
| OLD | NEW | |
| Lighting | 440w VHO in the original canopy | Current Outer Orbit Pro 3x250MH and 8x39w T5 (no more canopy) |
| Filtering | 2 Wet/dry filters (one is sold) | Separate 29g refugium and 29g sump |
| Skimmer | Berlin Hang-on (sold) | AquaC EV-180 w/ Mag-7 pump |
| Flow | 2x Koralia-1s (sold) | 2x Vortechs w/wireless controllers |
| Main Pump | 2x Rio2100s (sale pending) | Blueline HD70 |
| Live Rock | 200+lbs in okay shape | 50+lbs Florida Aquacultured & 50+lbs Marshall Island plus 20lbs from my BioCube |
| Sand | none (bare bottom) | 180lbs total (aragonite, crushed coral) |
I got 12 snails and an emerald crab from someone on the forums and the existing fish are doing fine.
The cycle is in process and my ammonia and nitrites are down to almost zero, but my Nitrates are spiking. Unfortunately, I will have to endure another mini-cycle soon when I replace the old rock with the new rock. I will be re-curing the new rock for a few days when it arrives tomorrow to minimize the cycle.
The old rock was not as bad as I thought, incidentally. I scrubbed it all down and dipped it in fresh water before putting it in the tank (and then deciding to replace it). Last night I saw a few bristle worms, a peanut worm, and a few baby feather dusters. But, it still has a fair amount of hair algae coming back. This is going to be a very painful set-up when all is said and done, but I think the end result will be better with the new rock.
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