Jim Mc

I watch this show regularly mostly for ideas. I am not a fan of the coral inserts but they have done a few live coral tanks. As for their cycling method, I used it, have a thread here about it somewhere. It worked for me with no losses.

Very interesting thread. I use GFO but this discussion has me thinking.

The pump on my Diablo skimmer when kaput. I ordered a new PSK- 1000 from you. It arrived the next day and was considerably cheaper than any other sites I checked. My skimmer is back to its old self and I just wanted to say thank you for being local and thank you for having great prices. I also love my swabbie. I have had it for about 1.5 years and it is still working as good as the day I bought it which means much less work for me.

If your programming it from the control panel this is what you need to do. First set a timer. Menu button then timers Pick an empty timer slot and remember the number. (will use timer 1 for this example) DOW: SMTWTFS (Day of the Week) Time On: 00:05:00 (Length of time it is on) TIME Off: 00:01:00 (Length of time between on times, you could easily leave this at zero) Repeat: 6 (Will turn on 6 times a day) Random: No (Will evenly space the off intervals, the 1 minute would matter here if set to yes) SAVE it. Use the timer on the outlet the swabbie is plugged into (I will use a PC4 in the 3rd outlet as an example) Hit the out button (lower left) Navigate to the PC4 bar you are plugged in to (If you have more than one label them I have 3) Select the plug from left to right (1-4) The left being the side with the lights with all text in correct reading order. Mode: Auto Function: multi-timer A new window appears for the first timer use the timer you just set. This example used Timer 1 Save everything and your all set. Since I am to lazy to buy the net module or to cheap I would recommend the following. Label all of your PC4's. Label each plug on your PC4's. Label the wire plug as well. Label the equipment with the timer number. (important you will never remember if you have multiple timers) For example I have 3 BRS dosing pumps for Ca, Alk, and Mag. One each pump is a label with Timer 2, 3, 4 respectively so I know which is which. And on the PC4 bar they are plugged into each socket is labeled with CA, Alk, Mag. Therefore before I do any change to say Mag. I know it is on PC4-2 socket 3, timer 4. If you have any more questions This is what I run on mine without software or net module. Dosing Pumps x3 (alk is also set to PH max as well as timer) Skimmer pump Swabbie GFO pump Metal halide x2 T5 Actinc Heater set to temp probe MLC with moonlight LED's If I could get my POS laptop to accept my wireless internet I would definitely use the USB connection but for now I am stuck until I buy the net module and probably some wireless Cat5 connection from best buy.

I had this happen once. Did you check the vial you test with to be sure it doesn't have calcium build up that is throwing off your test? That is what happened in y case just soakedit overnight in vinegar and all set.

Great tanks, Welcome.

Welcome

If you click it, it should take you to the video on photobucket.

I cant there is no science here only anecdotal evidence. The only thing I can say is that when I finally did start testing (maybe 4 weeks later) the phosphates and nitrates were a little high but nothing to be alarmed about.

Sorry to hear this. It has always been one of my favorite fish that is on my wish list.

Sorry you might not have seen this earlier as it was an edit

I didn't use the old rock because I didn't like it. it was a hodge podge of all different kinds and I wanted a more uniform look. I didn't use the old water just because it was time for a water change so I thought why not. As for the sand same reason as the rock it was a mix of different sands and kinds of a detritus trap.

Here is a shot of the tank taken as a panorama but its a bit blurry. You can see I have a number of frags I haven't decided where to place yet.

I guess I should be more specific. Brand new items. Saltwater Sand Rock Sump External Pump UV Sterilizer Tank Itself Stand Reuse from old tank Fish Coral Lights Skimmer Reactors (carbon and GFO) I'm not trying to sell anybody on this idea of instant cycling just letting you all know my experience.

I work for DoD. I just got called back to work so I guess that's a good thing. I was kind of enjoying the time off. I will post some pictures soon.

I have statefarm and they told me any water damage from the tank would be covered under my condo insurance. It is also covered if the tank happens to fall through the floor. I asked that as well.

I didn't notice any threads on this so I thought I would share my single experience. About 4 months ago a did a complete break down of a 120 to a 150. I know small change but I needed a 5ft tank because I wanted everything in the stand. I struggled for awhile trying to figure out what I was going to do during the cycling process because I was planning to reuse everything from the old tank to the new. I'm a big fan of the show tanked so finally I decided to use that stuff they use all the time. The product name is colony: http://acrylictankmanufacturing.com/products/water-treatment/biologicals/colony-nitrifying-bacteria/ It worked for me with no bad results. I filled the 150g with new saltwater. I let it run with 2 clowns 4-5 days, basically the time it took for the product to ship to my house. When the product arrived I added it to the tank as directed and waited a day. I added the rest of my fish and coral over the next 24-48 hours. No issues at all. I should mention I have predominately LPS and only 2 SPS coral a pink stylopora and peach digita. Over the course of the next few weeks I did get an algae bloom like normal cycling but it went away. I also didn't run my UV sterilizer for about the first two weeks. I cant give you test numbers for anything because I never even bothered to test. Everything looked good so I figured no reason to waste the tests. On a side note, I have used most of the ATM products recently and would be happy to share my results if anyone is interested just send me a pm. Anyway that was my experience. I would do it again but trust me I was super nervous with a few thousand dollars of livestock at stake. Here is a video of the tank from last week (4 months old)

Hi my name is Jim. I was a member before and let it lapse so I am back now. I have a 150g reef mostly LPS (elegance, frogspawn, chalice, acans) with just a few SPS. For fish I have 5 green chromis, a sixline wrasse, exquisite wrasse, purple tang, powder blue tang, and two bar rabbit. I work for the government so I have lots of time on my hands right now. I met a few of you recently at the Quantum Reefs social. Very excited to have a store close to home but worried the convenience will be painful in my wallet. I spent most of my adult life overseas in Korea and Japan but have been in Woodbridge for about 3 years now. I am originally from PA. Look forward to meeting more of you.