CURRENT FTS: 2/17/18
Started with this (used and neglected)
After a overnight vinegar mix soak and 4 hours of scraping and scrubbing:
Random Stuff he threw in as well, Filter, pumps, biobags, heater, old school HOTB protein skimmer, etc..
Soaked, literally, every single thing in vinegar mix in buckets and rubbermaid storage containers over night, and then brought it all to the bath tub and rinses for about an hour and used a poly-bristled scrub brush to ensure it was clear of any residue.
Then dipped and wiped down everything in a bucket of RO Fresh Water before hooking anything up.
Here is the Aqueon 75 that I packed full of Matrix and sponges to help boost the bio-potential for bacteria. I have since upgraded to a Aqueon 400 Canister with some of my old media and new, along with de-nitrate and some fresh Matrix as well.
So then I Headed to my LFS, grabbed the premixed salt rodi (didn't wanna mess with mixing my own water when I had no experience), live Bimini pink Fine and coarsed mixed sand, and about 45lbs of rock, One 10 lbs piece of live rock and a large bottle of AquaVitro Stability to help expedite the cycling) 2 turbo snails, 4 hermits, and 4 nessarius snails to get the tank running the cycle.
Week 1: Finaly got the tank to clear after 2 days of running the filter with Fine-Threaded bags to polish the fine sediment out of the water.
Week 5: First Big Water change (50%), Had some Hearty Fish (Damsel and 2 clowns, Stability added daily) and some easy upkeep coral frags in and was just starting to Experiment with placement and flow. And then, Wham, First Algae bloom, it got real bad for a couple days, so I dropped my Full-power run time on my light from 7 hours to 5hours a day to help.
1st pic is the start of it, 2nd pic is the new cleanup crew I hired to buff up my cleaning community ( +2 turbos, +4 hermits). 2 Days later, Algae was all but gone. Never dosed or scrubbed. Lets the snails and hermits do their job.
Week 8: Coral purchasing is out of my control at this point, I wanted it all, and now. Upgraded to the Canister filter and a new Fluval 3.0 Strip with smartapp programmable etc... Added the blue background. And a Tuxedo urchin.
Week 12: Kept getting bubbles between the glass and film of the blue background, removed it and continued adding Coral and set up some new rock for the forest of SPS and Acros coming soon. Also added a 2 spotted Goby and a Starry Blenny.
Week 13: Floating a new Powder Brown Tang, and LPS and Softie corals are all in and settled. Just got Acros and SPS left to add.
Started with this (used and neglected)
After a overnight vinegar mix soak and 4 hours of scraping and scrubbing:
Random Stuff he threw in as well, Filter, pumps, biobags, heater, old school HOTB protein skimmer, etc..
Soaked, literally, every single thing in vinegar mix in buckets and rubbermaid storage containers over night, and then brought it all to the bath tub and rinses for about an hour and used a poly-bristled scrub brush to ensure it was clear of any residue.
Then dipped and wiped down everything in a bucket of RO Fresh Water before hooking anything up.
Here is the Aqueon 75 that I packed full of Matrix and sponges to help boost the bio-potential for bacteria. I have since upgraded to a Aqueon 400 Canister with some of my old media and new, along with de-nitrate and some fresh Matrix as well.
So then I Headed to my LFS, grabbed the premixed salt rodi (didn't wanna mess with mixing my own water when I had no experience), live Bimini pink Fine and coarsed mixed sand, and about 45lbs of rock, One 10 lbs piece of live rock and a large bottle of AquaVitro Stability to help expedite the cycling) 2 turbo snails, 4 hermits, and 4 nessarius snails to get the tank running the cycle.
Week 1: Finaly got the tank to clear after 2 days of running the filter with Fine-Threaded bags to polish the fine sediment out of the water.
Week 5: First Big Water change (50%), Had some Hearty Fish (Damsel and 2 clowns, Stability added daily) and some easy upkeep coral frags in and was just starting to Experiment with placement and flow. And then, Wham, First Algae bloom, it got real bad for a couple days, so I dropped my Full-power run time on my light from 7 hours to 5hours a day to help.
1st pic is the start of it, 2nd pic is the new cleanup crew I hired to buff up my cleaning community ( +2 turbos, +4 hermits). 2 Days later, Algae was all but gone. Never dosed or scrubbed. Lets the snails and hermits do their job.
Week 8: Coral purchasing is out of my control at this point, I wanted it all, and now. Upgraded to the Canister filter and a new Fluval 3.0 Strip with smartapp programmable etc... Added the blue background. And a Tuxedo urchin.
Week 12: Kept getting bubbles between the glass and film of the blue background, removed it and continued adding Coral and set up some new rock for the forest of SPS and Acros coming soon. Also added a 2 spotted Goby and a Starry Blenny.
Week 13: Floating a new Powder Brown Tang, and LPS and Softie corals are all in and settled. Just got Acros and SPS left to add.
Last edited: