My first adventure into saltwater, SCA 150

count krunk

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There are YouTube videos that go into more detail of you want to check those out.

Good build so far! And go with what you want, or you will just keep on wanting to do that anyway. You shouldn't have any issues selling either of those two pieces of equipment.
 
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Hectaka

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There are YouTube videos that go into more detail of you want to check those out.

Good build so far! And go with what you want, or you will just keep on wanting to do that anyway. You shouldn't have any issues selling either of those two pieces of equipment.
Thanks. I am going to go with what I want since I don't plan to change or upgrade anytime soon so I'll post those items as soon as I'm home from vacation.

I will check out some videos, any specific channels you recommend?
 
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Hectaka

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P.S. I just got a finnex 500 heater and I really like it. Cheaper and available.
Good advice, I just picked up 2 of those heaters so I'll have redundancy in case of failure. Do you recommend the controller too? Or would that be unnecessary since I have an Apex system to plug it into?
 

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I'm not sure what a controller would be used for with a heater. It has an auto shut off in case of our of water heat build up. Having a temp controller (apex/ ghl) to connect to your phone I guess would be neat but I'm not sure I would call it necessary. If I was limited on ports I think I would pick pH sensor before temp and just rely on heaters.
 
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Hectaka

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Leak test just happened today! Everything went perfectly so that's exciting.

I've posted the Giesemann T5 fixture and sapphire sump for sale but there hasn't been much interest there so probably going to drop the price just so I can get them out and replaced with what I actually want.

Once the last few items I want come back in stock and my wife has the painters finish this room, I'll be able to get the tank in the right spot and plumb it. In the meantime I'm drawing up my water station plumbing plans to get that finished up.
 

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Things have been pretty hectic lately since we're having the interior of the house painted but I did manage to squeeze in something sort of reef related. After trying to place my water station I found out I needed to move the water heater about a foot. So this week I managed to do just that, let me tell you it was a lot more work than I expected. I also have most of the plumbing for the water station just missing a couple items and I can get that plumbing started too.

If you look close you can see the circle where the water heater use to be, but now everything is going to fit perfectly.
 

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So I'm really bad at updating this thread. A lot has happened since my last post.

I finished plumbing the water mixing station and it works amazingly. I attached a 75' python to the end of the hose that runs up to the main level so I'm able to pump water to pretty much any corner of my house.
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I had some troubles with my sump plumbing and each time I tried to run it I found a different leak. I had to change everything from Teflon tape to nonsetting thread sealant, then I had to replace a bulkhead that had a crack in the threads on the underside. Here's the picture of it all set before I put the braided vinyl hoses from the return pump and for the emergency drain. This is a platinum 39 sump I just hadn't put the roller on yet.
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And to the most recent activity, just this weekend I mortared my rock scape together and placed it and sand into the tank. Refilled it and waited for the sand cloud to clear. It was almost clear last night after about 12 hours and was completely clear this morning but I forgot to take a picture.
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When I get home from work tonight I plan on making sure the sand is spread out fairly evenly and add a few islands in the front right. Next step is to begin my cycle with bottle bacteria and ammonia. You can see the small tank I picked up cheap on small business Saturday to use as a QT/Hospital tank with a simple bubble filter that I can keep extra of in the main sump to be ready to use whenever needed. Currently hoping for fish around Christmas time. I'm planning on starting with a couple Bangaii Cardinals or if a pair of lightning clowns. Was hoping to do pre-quarantined but they seem hard to find currently.

Only thing I need to figure out currently is how to get the slight sand residue off the glass so I don't scratch it when I eventually put my magnet scraper in.
 
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All clear when I got home, at least for a short time.
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After this picture I smoothed out the sand a bit more and put my powerheads back in so it got stirred back up a bit. I'm sure it'll be settled back out tomorrow.
 
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Still all clear with all the pumps and powerheads running so I started my cycle today. Messed up the fishless fuel at first and only added 24 drops thinking it was 4 drops per 25 gallons, figured it out when it still tested 0 for ammonia. Then I added the correct 5mL per 25 gallons, gave it about 20 minutes to mix and measured 2+.
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Added a 120 gallon bottle of Dr Tim's one and only that I've had for a bit and accidently froze but it might still help. I'm also using Aquavitro Seed at the instructed dosing for the next 7 days.
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Going to run an ammonia test each day when I add the Seed bacteria just to watch it. Once I get to 0 I'll add more ammonia just to make sure it can handle it quickly and then I'll finally be ready for fish.
 
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I'm calling the cycle complete! The NH3 is reading 0 and from reading the cycling thread on here it seems I don't really need to pay attention to nitrites. Planning on doing a 50ish gallon water change this weekend and start trying to locate the fish I want to start with.

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It was fun testing it every day and watching the ammonia tick down one color at a time until today when it dropped from the 0.4 yesterday to 0 today. My nitrites and nitrates just went up each day until they maxed out the test colors.

Alk has been between 7 and 9 so right around the bottom of what it should be so I may need to do something about that eventually. And pH has held real steady at 8 according to the red sea test and the apex probe.

I'm going to fill up the QT tank this weekend when I do the water change and see if anyone has 2 Bangaii Cardinalfish for sale. They seem to be difficult to locate currently. Otherwise my backup plan will be some kind of designer clownfish.
 
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Nitrites are finally coming down though still higher than I'd like. From reading through the cycling threads it seems that isn't really a problem.

Today I finally got the cables for my maxspect razor. That was quite an ordeal as CoralVue tried saying the cables aren't included. The light looks great but without fish or corals I can't say how it really performs.
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I have next week off work and I'm hoping to get my first fish. I'm thinking about getting a pair of lightning Marron clownfish but I'm a little concerned if they will be too aggressive as the first fish. What are some of your opinions on having Marron clowns as first fish?
 
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So just got back from visiting family for the holidays, and got my first inhabitants acclimated and in the tank! Found out that Marron clowns are not a good choice for first fish and I was able to find banggai cardinals. Starting out with 2 Banggai Cardinalfish and 2 designer Clownfish.
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It's been awhile since I've updated. It was pretty smooth sailing for the most part. Started the ugly phase with some diatoms that I've let just run their course for a month or so, started getting some gha after that. Started running the skimmer and doing manual removal and it has significantly reduced the amount that needs manual removal. I've been not so patiently waiting for some new fish to come in. I placed 2 orders with Dr Reef's Quarantined Fish back in Jan and Feb that were finally delivered today. If you can stand the wait the fish look amazing. I ordered a yellow watchman goby, green clown goby, Midas Blenny, and 2 Zebra Barred Dartfish. They all arrived looking a bit stressed out and not very colorful but after temperature and salinity acclimating they were already brightening up. There was an extra bag which looked to contain a yellow clown goby that unfortunately was dead in arrival. Overall tank looks great to me and I'm slowly getting it stocked up. I'm going to try to find someone sort of local to me to teach me about corals soon as well.
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