jakaufman

looks good so far. as far as if the tank temp gets up too high.. a cheap fan should help get it down to some extent which would be probably the best "budget" solution

You guys don't see the resemblance??

what a steal! wish i had the space for it hah

Well here are some more pictures of the progress: Covered in algae.. I turned the lights off for a few days to get rid of it while letting the chaeto grow and take up those excess nutrients. Here is the fuge before the chaeto was added: The light didnt stay well the way I had it attached so I am goign to work on putting a small screw or two in to hold it up better i got my skimmer yesterday and am trying to figure out how to get it working. Seems like my cycle is nearing completion with the nitrates being all that was left and around 10ppm before adding chaeto. I am testing the tank tonight to see where they are now, plus getting the skimmer going. After everything is running and I get back from my last small weekend trip of the summer I am going to add livestock!

thanks jason Update: went through a green algae phase, now its gone and covered in brown algae! woohoo! Going to do a water change and test the parameters tonight I also added a kick butt refugium light (per melev's reef's suggestion) and will be putting chaeto in this weekend

i wish they had more info on the farmers.. very cool site though we could probably do a site like that around here with all the great corals people frag and sell locally

i think $290 is definitely worth it. do you need a certification or would they just give you a quick lesson when you get there? i did all the classroom work and pool work for my SCUBA cert but didnt finish the actual dives for my certification :(

those are awesome quality. im still saving up and debating my upgrade to a DSLR..

nice, big pieces of coral! where did you get them? I will probably be needing some larger pieces to get started when my algae/diatom bloom dies down!

Can you still find the Mrs Wage's pickling lime at grocery stores? I remember reading that it was hard to find for awhile. Is there a replacement for buying some cheaper option than the LFS kalkwasser mix? Thanks, Joe

love the video, that site is great too! i hope that it does well and that fish area gets filled up with great, informative videos

im glad i dont have the option to change mine yet.. the pressure to be creative comes along with it!

I am sure.. it was as I put the shrimp into the tank

awesome video. i look forward to my tank maturing some so i can get one of those from you!

did you look on the ground? I would guess hes just hiding because its a new environment

I watched my sixline pull apart a cleaner shrimp when I put it in. I think he picked apart the peppermint shrimp too. I don't know that he ate them, but he at least bothered them and pulled at their legs and such enough to kill them.

Everything is going well with the tank so far. I am getting a lot of algae right now. Just scraping it off the glass some and hoping it goes away sometime soon! I will keep looking at the parameters to figure out when to put in a cleanup crew.. I'm thinking probably another 3-4 weeks I dropped in a cup of sand and bought 2 small live rock pieces to help seed the tank. I will probably look to pick up some chaeto and setup a light over my sump for it over the next week.

Any updates? That red table is still in my phone background! :(

How can that place make money with facilities like that? Theres no way a LFS can be selling enough to support that place! If they are making money... I need to get in on that.

I have a 4x54W Tek light and I think its great. From the reading I have done, it seems that it should be fine for most SPS and I plan on having some in a mixed reef environment. I think if you really want a good shimmer you will have to go with MH though.

Congrats and thats awesome they bumped up the size for you to make up for it! I can't wait to see some pictures

I have heard about that with the overflow tube. I plan to do something but not sure yet if I should use some kind of paint that is safe to put in the water or if I should just wrap it in tin foil or something as has been suggested.

I am going to check the sump today.. I just went by the lines the guy drew on there before. There are holes drilled in the return to break the siphon if power cuts out, I haven't looked into check valves though. I will take a look and see if its worth it, but if the water won't overflow without one then I guess there's not a reason to have it.

love the new additions! it was awesome to stop by and see it in person too :D

Here are the new pictures. I solved my microbubble problem (the sump wasn't full enough I think!) And a bonus shot of my RO/DI: