lotus_e1

added some corals .. any idea what is the red plant?

adding a piece of cloth below the skimmer reduces the noise (from vibration) quite significantly. using Salifert test kit: tested Ammonia (<0.25mg/L) tested nitrate (>25mg/L) cycling seems to be faster than normal?

May remove the spray bar afterall My overflow is 25mm diameter but I reduced it to 20mm (to match initial piping to the chiller). My return is 20mm diameter. I actually used the Eheim 1262 first, but perhaps of the reduced overflow diameter, the display tank water level started to rise (and would spill over if I don't stop the pump). Maybe I need to remove the 25mm-to-20mm reducer and go back to conventional set up (25mm overflow straight to the sump, use the Eheim 3000 to feed the chiller, and then get another Eheim 1262/1264 to provide the return)? BTW, I find the skimmer pump to be rather noisy - is it normal?

Got many tips from this forum, so posting this to share my experience. Any constructive feedback or suggestion welcomed. 4 feet by 20 inch by 18 inch 10mm tank (from TANK). 2.5 feet by 15 inch by 18 inch 10mm sump (from Kwong Ling Framework). Skimz SM162 skimmer (from Aquamarin). Eheim Compact 3000 plus return (from NA Nature). Hailea HS66A 1/4HP chiller (from NA Nature). LED lights (2 white 1 blue). DIY plumbing (all parts from Sun Hee at Clementi). Sun Sun wavemaker (may upgrade to MP40 or MP10 when the corals and livestocks are in). DIY plumbing took me many weeks of planning, and 2 days of installation. Plan changed along the way (as usual). End up with one 25mm overflow connected to a T (one to chiller and the other to sump). Return pump connected to a T (one to protein skimmer and the other to the return pipe). Return pipe connected to a T that is connected to a DIY spray bar. Final configuration was done so that the overflow and the return can be balanced. May review and change later on. Skimmer impeller broke on first power up - got it repaired today. After dinner, came back to see the water in the collector and overflowing. Maybe I did not adjust the level correctly. After some cleaning up and re-adjustment, so far so good. While waiting for the tank, I did plenty of reading at this forum, at TheReefTank forum etc. Finally decided that I should go bare bottom. Followed a thread by Geoff at TheReefTank - and the arguments are sound - remove all the waste before it turned nasty. Don't let the sand hide all those stuff. We flush our toilets after using, so I suppose the fishes also prefer that we remove those waste and give them a nice clean environment. Now day 2 of my baby - cycling (with 1 prawn) as recommended by all the experts. Will cycle for 1 month before adding corals. Fish will come later. Can view my tank from 4 sides : front and both sides (at the dining area), back (from outside the house) - also allow some diffused natural light to come in during the day. With my house N-S facing, the sunlight will not be too strong to cause much problem? Temperature (without chiller on) is observed to be around 28 degrees. Some pictures to share: