f16driver

Thanks! I got a peppermint and she took care of it.

And a Duncan. So I'm gonna keep this setup and not introduce more. Keep the feeding to 4-5 pallets of ocean nutrition. And see where this goes. Wish me luck!

Another pic

Peppermint shrimp. Who's eyeing the nassarius haha

Sooo....Meet the new inhabitants. Bought a false percula that has decided to host the back corner of my tank.

Soooo..... Read somewhere on this forum that it isn't advisable to mix your salt in and keep it in containers without circulation. Something about precipitation. So I went ahead and used it all for a water change. This morning, I'm still at 10 nitrate 0.1 phosphate. Ammonia and nitrite at 0 Gonna collect some chaeto from awesome reefer Bros here and I'll see how that goes. Might throw in a bag of phosguard. We'll see. Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

OK quick update, Did this yesterday, simple media rack for the ios. My plan is to have filter wool and sponge on the top and bottom for the over and under flow. And in the middle will be a ball of chaeto. (thanks to src admin for his generous offer) On the back of the tank, I intend to cut away the black film and feed light into the chaeto compartment. A mini refugium of sorts. I hope this will bring nitrates and phosphate down.

Found this on my lr. Initially thought it was aiptasia but it has no disc and has hairy tentacles. I think it's hydroids.anyone?

Anyway, day 6 and results still show 0 ammonia. Got myself a spiney star and this time, I'm acclimatising slowly. I'm even going to venture to hardy corals like a gsp or zoas this weekend. Hope this doesn't blow up in my face.

OK so I woke up this morning to 31.0 deg temps. The original pump that came with the rainbow r300 died on me. I used that pump for the al30 chiller and that's why the temps skyrocketed. I feel bad for the snails. First, they get a salinity shock, now temp shock. Still seem to be alive tho. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for you input Bro. I don't feel too alone Hahat. Here's day 6 test results. All 0 with nitrate at 10 and phosphate up slightly at 0.1. Was hoping to get some chaeto in a diy refugium in the ios section but it's rather hard to find. Any Bros out there harvesting, kindly donate! Might consider chemical methods for phosphate removal if it doesn't get better. Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

I know right! The last time I was in this trap, bought the best skimmers and pumps and fr and cr and etc etc. Now I just wanna see if I can keep it simple. Low bioload is the key

Day 5 All 0 with nitrate at 10 Did a 10% wc after. I'm hoping some left over food from the snails will pick ammonia up a little and I'll wait and see what my tank does with it. Really cool to watch these guys borrow tho!

So added this guy and two others in the tank today. Kinda just plonked them in and read after that snails are really hard to acclimatise. Big whoops. So only this guy bothered to come out after I dropped 5 pallets of ocean nutrition formula one. The other stuck his feeler eye thing out, but remained borrowed. And the other is no where to be seen.

Appreciate all the help I can get! Thanks again! Will introduce some nassarius tonight and see what happens

That's a good point. I did think about dosing ammonia (using the dead shrimp method) to encourage a ammonia spike but it got me thinking, if my lr is handling the ammonia, doesn't that mean that the cycle is technically complete? (as in ammonia breaking down to nitrite then nitrate) or is there concern that there was so little ammonia to begin with, the denitrifying and nitrifying bacteria quantities handled it and did not grow in numbers. Even in that case, I can increase my bioload slowly and marginally without risk of having a lethal ammonia spike? What does everyone think? Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

Anyone harvesting chaeto soon? Would appreciate a small bundle for nano Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

Thanks bro. Your new tank is looking good too. designing my own sump is like a dream la

yeah i tracked it since the water went in. day 1 ammonia was at 1ppm and that was the last i've seen any ammonia traces in the tank. went to do some research, (googled nitrates early in cycle) and apparently i'm not the only one. Many other reefers there also experienced the same thing when they cycle with live rock and live sand. This is due to very little bacteria die off when they transfered the live rock. i took about 45 mins from water source to my tank so i'm thinking this applies to me. also, i went to test my freshly mixed sea water for nitrates and it came up at 0. So....the nitrates are coming from somewhere....within the tank....suggesting the nitrogen cycle is complete. But! i'm going to be patient. gonna test again tonight when i get back. did not do a water change last night with nitrates at 5ppm. will update tonight. anyone with similar rapid tank cycling experience please let me know!

Day 4 Again my test results are indicating that the cycle is over. All 0 except nitrates at 10ppm I'm still gonna wait and see. Tho it's rather tempting to add stuff in lol

Total cost till date. $458.90 Not too bad still. Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

Going to wait a few more weeks before I decide if it's ready. But really unexpected results. This is this morning. Water has settled. Also, I noticed this hitchhiker on my lr. Appreciate if someone could id him for me. Feeling lazy haha

Day 3 which was yesterday. Live rock went in. Transfered it from seaside to tank in under an hour. Lots of nice coraline on the rock. Disturbed the water a little. As u can see. Tested the water and some interesting results. Now the tank has been running with live sand and sw for two days. Lr added day 3 and test done an hour after lr added. Ammonia 0 Nitrate 0 Nitrate 10ppm and fell to 5ish after 10% water change. I know the debate between water change and light on or off during cycle. I chose to do water changes in presence of Nitrate with no Ammonia and nitrite. And also to leave the lights on. No scientific reason. Just feels right.

Note the small air stone beside it for scale. This thing is super small. Low heat and it brings the temps down to 26.5 with ease. My room ambient is on average 30.5 deg c. Final cost 160. So yes I did bust the budget by over $150. But it's still possible if A) you set this up in an air-conditioned room or office or use a fan but sacrifice some ease of maintenance later

End of day 2 came a crossroad The water slowly heated and stabilised at 30.9 degree c. Now the smart thing to do is get a fan for cooling. A fan can easily bring the temps down by a couple of degrees. However, I travel quite a bit. So when the day comes I'll prolly need an ato to cope with the evaporation when I'm away. And a ro/di unit would then also be nice to get ro water. So final cost for the fan option? Fan 20 + ato 180 + ro/di 300 = 600. Wah kao. That's way over budget. So I went with the other option. The Al30 chiller!