Back at it Again 30g AIO

[GarrettsReef]

Well, I got the itch again and this time im not doing it on a budget. Im not cutting corners.

I got my hands on a AIO 30 gallon rimless tank and i cannot be more excited about it.

Currently the equipement I am running consists of:

1x MP10
1x AI Prime 16HD
1x Hydros Controller
1x Hydros dosing pump (not currently active but it will be dosing All For Reef)
1x N Fill ATO (going to dose Kalkwasser when the time comes)
1x Hygger heater

I have had the tank for a while now and have decided to take water and rock from my LFS to populate it. I decided on using a mix of my LFS sand amd Carib Sea live sand.

It has drastically cleared up since the picture was taken.

The main question I have is: Will using the rock/water and a mix of sand from an existing system still require the tank to go through the notrogen cycle?

I plan on getting the water to tested ensure it is free of Nitrites and Ammonia before moving forward but I was just curious as to what I should expect to find.

 

[JTP424]

The water and sand won't do much to kickstart it, but if the rock was cooking in their system for a few months it should basically be "pre-cycled" That said the rock looks REALLY clean to be wet "live rock"

 

[GarrettsReef]

The water and sand won't do much to kickstart it, but if the rock was cooking in their system for a few months it should basically be "pre-cycled" That said the rock looks REALLY clean to be wet "live rock"

Yeah. I had been eyeing that rock up for some time. It was sitting in one of two huge water basins that are part of their filtration system.

 

[GarrettsReef]

We've made some significant progress.

Since the tank has been cycled I've added a good bit of livestock. I started out pretty small with some cerith snails and blue legged hermits.

The next purchase was a pink watchman goby, he instantly thrived and fell in love with the tank. I completed the fish livestock with two nearly naked clowns, a six line wrasse and a red firefish. And rounded it off with a few more CUC members.

For corals, I have picked up a frag of unnamed zoas, a blasto, an acan, a purple and green hammer and a a gold frammer. All is going extremely well so far! I have started dosing Kalkwasser through my ATO and am going to set up my all for reef doser tomorrow.

 

[GarrettsReef]

Had my first scare yesterday where I lost my six line wrasse.

He will sometimes hide in his little cove within the rock work but when I fed, he didnt come out and i started to get worried. Did some looking around in the tank and nothing, no wrasse to be found.

Went on about my day and about 30 minutes later I got hit with a brain blast. This is my first AIO and didnt even think to look in the filter chamber in the back and bam, there he was just vibing in the overflow.

I was able to get him out with no issue but he must have squeezed through the quarter inch gap between the water level and tank lid. Little rascal. Hes happy as ever now.

He just cant be caught on camera. A little tank video below