I hate waiting for a tank to cycle.. I wanna stock it now!!!!! But after 3 weeks of stand building, hole drilling, painting, silicone, and plumbing I cant complain. First tank in 5 years and alot of first's with it (drilling, homebuilt sump) i must say im pretty satisfied so far. I have already tore apart the return plumbing and modified it. Live rock from another established tank, 40 lb of live sand, hopefully a couple weeks and Ill be ready to introduce some new life form to it!
Patience.... Your off to an amazing start. Like the rock layout (plenty of hides). How do you plan to stock? Can we get a clearer pic of the sump? What di you use to black-out the back of the tank glass? Lighting?
Thanks! For starters a pair of maroon gold stripe clowns. Then build up the clean up crew, let em get settled in for a couple weeks. After that, other than coral, I really dont know. Maybe a dwarf angel, tang.. I duno yet. lol Flat black paint is the backdrop. Right now and probably for a few weeks im running a 150 watt halide i picked up used at my LFS for cheap. I will be assembling a diy led kit within the month of Feb for it.
a little better pic of my sump. turned out pretty good. rubble rock -> skimmer,heater,powerhead -> return pump left to right. skimmer is down at the moment, needs a new pump.. i should prolly invest in a whole new skimmer.. with time it will come.
Couple nice new pieces thanks to a local reefer! Star polyps not quite opened up all the way yet. Great Color though.. Loving it!! Frogspawn one of my favorites!
Be sure your CUC has enough to eat before your tank is established. It will be a few weeks before you have algae and detritus build-up. Hopefully they will keep it in check so it never builds up.