My new Cad 39g Pro arrived yesterday -- spent most of the evening putting it together/figuring out the plumbing so I could leak-test it. filled with fresh water, and, no leaks!

On the downside, I thought everything got to me in good working order, but I unfortunately found a small crack at the top of the sump. Ironic that the sump would've cracked in transit but not the tank! So, I called Eddie at Cadlights up and he said he'd take care of it.


Other initial impressions:

1. the light fixture is pretty awesome-looking. the moon LED lights create very nice effects in the dark, though you need to decide in advance if you like the intensity of the "spotlight" moon LEDs - they definitely aren't your typical tiny moon LEDs from a biocube. I personally think they add something to the aquarium setting, but I could also see someone not liking them. the metal halide is nice, and the actinics are very, VERY blue - should result in some good fluorescence. the LEDs, incidentally, add some good fluorescence, too. my only question is, if one of my cats jumps on the thing, are the plastic tank-mount legs going to hold the weight of the cat and the light? I would think so -- they seem sturdy enough -- but, I am not 100% certain. I guess I always have the option of using the included ceiling-mount kit. regarding fan noise from the fixture, i didn't even notice it -- doesn't mean there wasn't any, but i don't remember hearing it -- that's gotta be a good sign, right?

2. The glass is also pretty great. very thick, heavy glass. awesome. my biggest concern going in was the "bowfront" curve of the glass, but looking at it in person, it is a modest, gentle curve -- very little distortion, so I was happy to see that. my concerns about the curved glass was one of the main reasons I was thinking of getting a Solana instead. But, I am happy to say that this will suit me just fine! If you are someone who is having doubts about this tank due to the curved glass, I would definitely say that I'm not noticing a lot of distortion from most viewing angles, and it's actually a very clean, seamless look.

3. for some reason, there are no instructions in the package. not that big of a deal for a typical freshwater tank, but for a tank where you have to construct the cabinet and then plumb together a bunch of parts, it was a bit of a pain. having said that, i'd never "wired" a sump before, so... take that for what it's worth. I found a thread on reefcentral about the tank that I used as my "manual" for both the plumbing and the stand. it worked out pretty well for me. the lesson here: this is a very neat tank for a very reasonable price, but I feel like you have to have a fair amount of DIY-ishness in you to get it going. e.g., I had to cut several of the tubes that came with the tank to get things to fit correctly, etc.

4. the stand is very nice. feels very sturdy. i currently have it on hardwood, but it will ultimately be on a carpeted floor (at least, that's the plan for now.... see #5).

5. this thing is making a lot of noise so far. i'm getting some pretty intense rushing water/gurgling from the drain pipe (i'm still working on this issue -- this is almost certainly fixable), i'm getting noise from the overflow, i'm getting noise from the pump/skimmer. the most surprising thing for me, though, was the amount of noise i'm getting from the included fan (they have gone back to using the single fan because they say it moves about 30% more air -- Eddie did say he would switch it out for the older double-fans if I wanted to, which run quieter but don't move as much air). the noise is much less with the cabinet doors closed, but this is definitely something i'm going to need to work on. i'm hoping i don't need to change out the pump. that is money i'd rather not spend.

6. they are no longer shipping these with the glass top. not the end of the world, but I thought that the tank came with this. eddie says that no one used it, and it was more designed for the Signature model anyway, size-wise. truthfully, though, you can always just go get a piece of glass cut if you really want it. i'm worried about heat/evaporation already anyway, so i'm not sure closing the thing with glass is exactly what i want to do.

7. the skimmer... let me preface this by saying i've never had a skimmer before, but i'm pretty sure what it's doing is not what it's supposed to be doing. first, the skimmer assembly, once you include the drain pipe, doesn't quite fit into the compartment (it's too short), so it ends up being kind of tilted. i might need to prop it up a little bit. but, i'm concerned about elevating it too much. as a side note, does anyone know how high the water should come up into the skimmer's cup? i'm trying to figure out where i need to adjust the valve to make it skim correctly. I'm sure this will all be fine, I probably just need to spend a little more time on it. also, there is only fresh water in the tank, so i'm not sure if that prevents the skimmer from doing anything anyway. also, anyone know which of the nipples on the silencer is supposed to connect to the skimmer's tube? does it matter?

Overall, I'm very excited about this system and I am looking forward to really getting into it in the next few days. We'll see how the budget shakes out this week...!

COMING SOON: SETUP PICTURES AND AQUASCAPING. Stay tuned.

I feel your pain. I had many of the same issues with my 39 pro as you are having.

You can check out the forums on CADLights website to find what some have done to solve the issues you speak of. I have a thread on there that speaks to some of the noise issues.

Also, feel free to read through my thread which will give you some pointers as well.

Welcome to the Club!

You may want to try sticking some airline tube in the durso hole and adjusting it until the gurgling goes away. I am excited to see some pics!

I just raised up my durso pipe today and it greatly reduces/ elimates the 'waterfall' noise from the overflow. Also putting an airline in the top cap, as mentioned above, helps the gurgling noise.

You mentioned that the fans for your halide are quiet or not noticeable...could you post back if they are or not? The reason I ask is that mines are pretty loud and wondering if this is normal or what.

I'm not sure why your skimmer drain does not reach back into the other half of the 1st chamber. Mine does, without any tilting.

Good Luck.

I think you're referring to me about the skimmer. After fiddling with it a little it does reach without tilting.

I'm assuming you're the same person that posted on my thread in the CAD forum over on the CADLights website. If so, did the (2) 45degree elbows using 1-1/4" PVC work for you for your standpipe? It's worked pretty well for me.

I had a problem with the skimmer drain pipe when I was setting mine up. The pipe coming out of the skimmer was about an inch too short and I couldn't even connect the part with the (2) 90s and the valve where it would go over the divider and into the front of the 1st chamber. I had to install a coupler to extend the pipe so it would fit.

Tim...let's see some pics.

Don't mean to crowd up the OP's thread, but yes I am the same person. I had originally added (2) 1" 45degree elbows into the oringal standpipe. This restricted the flow to the sump too much and the pump would run dry. So, I cut about an inch off the 1" standpipe and it now functions properly, so I never tried 1-1/4" pipe. The top of the cap is now about level with the top of the tank, and the waterfall noise is eliminated.



I agree.

I'd post some pics, but there's nothing to look at yet!

last night, i did a couple of small modifications:

1, in an attempt to cut down on the gurgling, i cut the drain hose going into the sump. gurgling has pretty much stopped. however, it created quite the waterfall effect. i threw in all the stock bioballs/filter pads, and then all my old bioballs that i had taken out of my biocube 8g to see if that helped -- it did help, some. but i'm going to have to continue to work on that. after reading about the HOFER GURGLE BUSTER (neat name) on ArtC's reefcentral thread, i'm somewhat intrigued. (construction instructions HERE) stay tuned.

sidenote on bioballs... everyone always seems so against bioballs, but i'm wary of this being a product of "group-think" because live rock can trap just as much detritus as bioballs, creating just as much of a potential nitrate problem -- so, i haven't made a decision on them yet.

2, i took some teflon thread tape and used it to create a better (yet still unglued) seal between the skimmer and the skimmer pump. that tightened everything up, and allowed you to sit things at heights that kept everything from tilting around. good stuff.

question on the skimmer: anyone have any good suggestions for quieting that pump down? it's rattling all over the place for me.

As far as "stocking"... I'm ordering the Fiji Pink Arag-Alive from pawtasticpets.com -- good price there, and they're actually not that far from me, so i'm going to go pick it up and save on shipping. screw the expensive mud, i'm just going to put the sand in the fuge. and, i'm also going to pick up some live rock at my LFS, which is reasonably priced and looks nice. i found a piece of live rock at another LFS that actually has a green glass wine bottle with the rock having formed/wrapped AROUND it, just hanging out in the tank with the rest of the live rock. it was pretty amazing. i don't know if "litter" is the look i'm going for in this tank, but it is something that i've thought about.

i'm torn about the heater. i figure i'll go ahead and get a 150w stealth (i've been very, very happy with the 2 stealths i've had in the past. almost no temperature variation in 3 years in my 110g freshwater running 2x250w stealths). it's just, with all this equipment, i'm worried about it getting too HOT, not too cold. my ambient air temp is usually about 74 in the summer, maybe 73-72 in the winter.

1, i am going to try an airline in the top cap to see what happens.

2, what i said about the lighting fans is that they "i didn't notice them," not that they weren't noticeable or quiet! upon double-checking, the halide fan is actually fairly noticeable. i guess i was mostly just paying attention to the water gurgling/skimmer pump chattering when I first turned the lights on. overall, though, i think the halide fan is tolerable. on the other hand, this tank is going in our bedroom, so we're not as concerned about "day noise" as "night noise."

-purchased 40lbs of fiji pink arag-alive and Tom's digital alert thermometer today from pawtastic.com -- should be here by next wednesday. i'm putting off the heater for now until i see what this thermometer is telling me i'm getting in the way of temperature swings.

they aren't kidding when they say nothing happens fast in this hobby...!


also, i took some more pictures for you addicts who want to look at pictures of an empty fish tank (i've been looking at it a lot lately!) i'll upload tonight.

...I feel ya bro. I bought some equipment the beginning of the week and it wont get here until Monday. Then I have to start saving for LR & LS.

Your patience must increase and your wallet must decrease young padawon.

As promised, here are some pictures of my set-up.


Meet my lovely assistant (i.e. fellow fish-guy neighbor), Jaret! He's doing a great job, isn't he ladies and gentlemen?


Let there be light!


Open Cabinet


Overflow


Startin' Sumpin'


Close up of the Skimmer/Bioballs chamber in the Sump

Very nice!
Suggestions:
I would trim the return hose between the pump and the bulkhead so it has more of a direct path. It will get the hose out of the way to make it easier to work with whatever you decide to put in the middle chamber.

Also, the sump should run half full. If you measure the sump vertically, take half of that measurement and make a small tick mark with permanent marker on the outside of the sump. This will help you know what level you need to top off to. I'm not sure if you mentioned that you have/will be getting an ATO, but if not it's pretty easy to top off the sump daily to the level you marked. I haven't been using an ATO on this tank and have been adding a little less than 2 quarts per day, so not bad considering this tank is an open top and the light fixture I'm using.

Also, I noticed you have Bioballs in the sump. Do you plan to keep them in there? Most people would advise that you take them out.

Looks like you're on your way.

Yes, definitely take out the bioballs.

mkregs - i will definitely be trimming that hose -- i just haven't gotten around to it yet, and i figured i'd do that when i'm gluing everything together "in final" after my replacement sump gets here. thanks for the info about the "non-auto top off" -- i won't be purchasing an ATO for at least a while, but your suggestion about making a mark makes a lot of sense.

mkregs/rizakaniza: re bioballs, that's what i was saying before -- i just am not sold on the concept of "bio-balls = evil." i do understand the theory of "bioballs = higher nitrates," (and i took the bio-balls aout of my biocube 8, just like the next guy)... but i am no longer entirely sold on the train of thought that you must remove bioballs. here is my current theory on bio-balls:

1) you're getting an engineered product designed to maximize surface area for beneficial bacteria populations. this is good.
2) i am going to have plenty of LR in both the display tank and the fuge chamber of the sump to provide biological filtration.
3) bio-balls in the sump are easy to remove and rinse out in water change water as part of routine maintenance, thus removing the evil trapped detritus that causes the nitrates.
4) LR rubble is just as likely as bioballs to attract/trap detritus (and thus raise your nitrates), but the shapes are not as efficient for the cultivation of the bacteria, and would be harder to rinse.
5) i see bioballs being used all over the place in big/professional displays. they are packaged by eddie with the aquarium. if they are so awful, why are they so prevalent?
and, perhaps most importantly, 6) i've already got the bio-balls, so i feel like i have nothing to lose giving them a shot.

having said that, i'm willing to listen to other opinions on this concept. i know it's a conversation that has been rehashed several times in other threads. i just wonder how much of that theory is a product of "group think."

Keep us posted on how it works out. If it ends up working better I may throw mine back in as well.

About Bioballs - I'm not one who would say they are evil either with the qualifier being that they are maintained well by the user. However, I believe you proved in point #2 in your post above that bioballs won't be a necessity in your tank as you are "going to have plenty of LR in both the display tank and the fuge chamber of the sump to provide biological filtration".

That's why I don't use Bioballs in either of my tanks. I don't need them for biological filtration and I certainly wouldn't want them for mechanical filtration.

BTW...good job so far!

another thing that the bioballs are doing, besides providing that mechanical filtration, is tha they are allowing me to raise those filtration pads closer to the source of the water from both the drain and the skimmer output, which cuts down significantly over the waterfall sound with both of them running without the bioballs there. having said that, the waterfall sound is still pretty loud.

will continue to provide updates on my tinkering. not much opportunity to do anything yesterday, but i should have more time in the upcoming week.

new sump arrived today -- haven't de-boxed it yet, but i'm hoping for the best!

Woot!

Good luck...

An interesting thought just occurred to me. I love how the blue light shines down into your sump. I wonder if there would be a way to mount some moonlight LED's in the sump so it would have a cool blue glow effect...

sump looks good to go! leak testing it now until live sand arrives wednesday!

somehow, in removing the old sump and installing the new one, i've developed less splash, but more gurgle. probably has to do with my water level (filled it a little more). i'll experiment until i find what works, i guess.


EDIT: GAH. GURGLING FROM TANK, WHICH IS DOWNSTAIRS, ENDS UP BEING SO LOUD/OBNOXIOUS THAT I CANNOT SLEEP IN M BEDROOM, WHICH IS UPSTAIRS. must... fix... gurgle.

i think it would be easy to mount moon LEDs, if that's what you want to do. coralife sells those little reticulated joint moonlight LEDs that i imagine just sticks right to the sump. (available HERE).

or, you could get one of those powerbrite LED strips from current usa to get a more intense blue light, if you think moonlights wouldn't do the trick (available HERE. though a bit more expensive, they at least serve a purpose in that they would grow something...!

however, the light you're seeing there is my HQI bulb+actinics+moonlights all together. so, moon LEDs are probably not going to create the kind of effect that you see in that picture. and anyway, i think at the end of the day, there are probably going to be better places to spend money, though (at least for me, personally). for instance, i'm slowly getting suckered into the concept of adding a vortech mp10 or mp20...

GURGLING CONQUERED (for now).

all i had to do was add a short piece of airline tubing (didn't even have to fit flush to the hole) in the top of the durso drain. the gurgling was instantly silenced, period. this is the quietest my tank has been since setup (now the skimmer motor is all i hear). the airline tubing i used was about 4" long or so, which i found did a better job than the 2" piece i tried to use at first. thanks for the suggestions, mkregs.

Yay! Now you can sleep in peace. BTW, post more pics!

Odd that your skimmer pump is noisy. Mine is near silent, the only noise from my sump area is the return pump, a noise I wish I could eliminate. I put a sound proof acoustic rubber mat under the sump but it didn't help much.

Is your return pump noisy?

my return pump is not nearly as noisy as my skimmer pump. i think my skimmer pump is noisy because it's just sort of sitting on the bottom of the sump, and there are no rubber feet/suction cups/whatever to dampen that noise. you guys don't get that?

Hrmm...put some non-leaching rubber under there then.

i didn't realize rubber leached. D:

any cheap suggestions?

Is your skimmer pump making contact with the bottom of the sump? Does the fitting that comes out of the pump and goes into the skimmer body fit really loosely? If so, you might try wrapping some teflon tape around the fitting and then insert it back into the skimmer body. This might help keep it tighter and off the bottom of the sump slightly.

ya, the pump is contacting the surface of the sump. and, because it was fitting loosely into the skimmer assembly, i did use some teflon tape to make the fitting a little tighter. do you think actually suspending the pump from the skimmer so that it's not contacting is the way to go, then? i had sort of thought about that, but hadn't moved forward with trying it out yet. it does make sense, though.

I had huge vibration problems with my mag drive 9.5. I bought a slice of natural rubber and slide it under the pump. Now super quiet.

Bam, there you go. That was exact;y what I was suggesting.

First time posting here so hello!

It's been many years since I have been involved with reef tanks but I do feel that bio-balls are absolutely evil from past experience. I was involved in reef aquariums when live rock first started to take off and skimmers were starting to get popular. The problem we and everyone else discovered with bio-balls in reef tanks was like you already pointed out is how much they are detritus traps.

You are right that live rock and various places in a tank can also become detritus traps but the huge difference here is two fold. First, the advantage of live rock is that is has an anaerobic zones that support the bacteria that break nitrates into nitrogen. That with frequent water changes is what keeps the nitrates low enough for us to keep the cool corals in the first place. So here the problem with Bio-balls is while they are great at hosting the bacteria that breaks nitrite into nitrate they cant do much to help out with the nitrates since they have no way to support anaerobic bacteria. So yeah a tanks with a huge bio load that needs to convert a lot of nitrites to nitrates well see an advantage to bio-balls as they are engineered for it. Generally this is going to be the fish only or fish and life rock only tank since these tank inhabitants can tolerate nitrate compared to a reef tank.

The second advantage of live rock is they can also harbor the cool little critters that shift through detritus or even eat it out right, this greatly helps to keep those little pockets of doom from forming in the first place. Maybe finding a way to keep a bunch of tiny brittle stars with your Bio-balls would help

Of course the best way to handle detritus is to not let it accumulate anywhere. If it stays suspended in the water it will eventually be removed by the protein skimmer. Hence high flow tanks with no dead spots and a good protein skimmer.

Personally, I think anything that can act as a trap for detritus needs to be carefully considered. From past experience trying to clean bio-balls all the time sucks! When I get me a 39g Pro (Such an awesome tank) I'll skip the bio-balls and even the filter floss if I can find other ways to reduce those annoying little bubbles.

Not saying you cant have a good reef tank with Bio-balls but it sure does add a lot of work for minimal (if any) gains.

first,

second, thanks for the input. what you're saying makes a lot of sense. i guess it may be difficult for critters to inhabit bioballs. i will give this some more thought and research and decide what to do.

pre-update update:

1, picked up live sand and Tom thermometer from pawtasticpets.com (lady who works there drove to meet me -- very good prices, service there -- i recommend them).

2, picked up some great live rock, Britewell's 2-part calcium/alkalinity dosing solution from Reef Chief in Virginia Beach -- fantastic experience, unbeatable price on good live rock (i paid 1.99/lb for some not-half-bad-looking fiji, and a good price for some premium pieces as well) -- they also had some nice looking corals, fish, dry goods for great prices. i will definitely be going back there when it comes time to stock! first-rate operation. owner, Jeff, was awesome to work with. anyone in the area owes it to themselves to make the drive out there.

3, relocated tank to it's final destination in the bedroom. filled her up, did some cloudy-water aquascaping, and we are officially rolling, ladies and gentlemen!

4, first night sleeping with the tank in the room took a little bit of getting used to. i am going to be working on that.

5, found a piece of rubber that i double-layered and put beneath my sump -- works very well at reducing noise.

6, not currently using a heater. the temperature started at a lowish 74 (which is what it was from transporting the LR back home (hoping there wasn't too much die-off -- it was probably at about 74 overnight). the temperature has gotten up to about 78 or so as of this morning. i'm hoping to see it at around 81 when i go home for lunch. we'll see how it goes.

i took a lot of pics of the setup process, so i'll upload them either this afternoon or tonight.

Hurray! I'm glad to see you getting setup. Post some pics when you can.

Have you thought about how you are going to hide the containers that hold your dosing stuff? I've been struggling with that one. I was thinking about getting some of those skinny 1.5 gallon jugs placed against the tank stand and covering them with a wicker basket with holes in the back to let the hoses through. Id love to see what you come up with. Trying to find ideas to steal from people

PICTURE TIME!!!!

ROCKS, BABY








and, my showpiece for the front of the tank:


moving on to the setup...


sister-in-law comes down for the weekend, gets stuck pouring the water. HA!


sumpin'


i make my first appearance (on the right)


my DSB (about 4.75" deep -- about as deep as i could get)


milky goodness!


doors on!


TADA! (rock scape is gonna change a bit -- i put this together while not being able to see)


Actinics only


close-up FTS, actinics only


NEAT HITCHHIKERS!


maybe a hitchhiker, maybe a skeleton -- still kind of neat.

Tank looks good. The CAD lights tanks are sharp. Glad to see a fellow Richmond reefer on here as well.

I personally haven't quite figured out how that's all going to look. my wife and i are thinking about replacing bedroom furniture in the near future, so i think that any plans we have for hiding equipment are on hold for now. we talked about running hoses through the wall and just storing any dosing equipment in the closet (which is on the other side of that wall, approximately.

however, incorporating your idea with the wicker basket, an easier and perhaps more useful/decorative solution might be: find a standard 5-shelf/tall bookshelf. buy one or several of those milkcrate-sized storage baskets from Target or something (e.g. this set of 3). Then, cut the holes out of the back of the basket for the hoses, and cut holes in the back of the bookshelves through which to pass the hoses. make sure to leave plenty of slack hose so you can pull the baskets of the shelf to refill. run the hoses down to the floor to the tank (maybe under the carpet, maybe through the wall, maybe through a piece of conduit). what do you think?

or, if that seems too complex, what about this trunk?



thanks dan. FYI, went to Reef Chief this past weekend, and it really was an excellent store with the best prices i've seen in this area by far. i recommend them if you haven't been there.

Came home from work at lunch to find that enough water had evaporated (with the lights off all day today) since sunday evening to where I had to make an emergency volume increase (i had no top-off RO/DI water and no remaining salt water from my initial fill).

I did this by filling about 3/4 of a gallon-sized ziplock bag with tap watet, sealing it up, and dropping it in the display. my lights were already off for the day (knowing that my water level was a little lower than i wanted), but if anyone else does this, i'd make sure that the lights stay off so that the plastic bag doesn't melt into the water.

hopefully this buys me enough time to where i can run down to the LFS and pick up some RO/DI top-off water!

well, i thought about it, and i had a conversation with the guy at my LFS... and based on that, i have decided to remove the bioballs in favor of some LR rubble. making that substitution tonight.

Don't they have one of those RO/DI water refill places near you? Sometimes they have them set up in front of/inside of grocery stores.

distilled water would also work fine but sounds like he made it to the LFS to get more.

hm.. never heard of/seen this before. i might look into it, although i'm generally pretty happy with going to the LFS (it gives me an excuse to go look at corals/fish!).




i did. the plastic bag worked well, too.




NOW TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO ABOUT THESE MICROBUBBLES........

So, I put a DSB in the refugium chamber of my sump. I feel like I haven't seen anyone else using a DSB there. I am a little concerned with the small-ish surface area and the fact that I understand that DSBs are less useful toward edges(? i think i read this on wetwebmedia.com, but there's so much information there that I can't remember).

Also, as I've said, this tank is in my bedroom, and it is still rather loud at night. I'm using the stock durso drain with a piece of airline tubing in it, which has mostly silenced the gurgling. I then put a piece of foam at the overflow to cut out most of the "waterfall." however, i'm still getting a fair amount of sound from the drain's outlet and from the stock return pump. i figure the return pump just is what it is (and I could replace it if I wanted something quieter), but what about the drain outlet? my thought has been to get a piece of PVC and stick it on the end of the tube to act like a "Y splitter" for the water to kind of diffuse the current (and thus cut the sound). Has anyone else had success with this? other suggestions?

new pics/test results:

set up the tank 5 days ago (as of last night), so i thought i'd start testing to see how i was doing on the cycle and report on some of my numbers:

my salinity started around 1.021, and i wanted to get that a little higher, so i've been topping off with salt water to help raise it slowly. salinity is now about 1.0225. will continue topping off with salt water until i get to about 1.023-1.024 (read: until i run out of salt water).

my temperature has been running pretty high, bouncing around between 81.2 when i get up and 82.4 before i go to bed, according to my Tom's digital thermometer. i haven't verified this with another thermometer though, so it's possible that this thermometer is running high (though by the feel of the water, it's probably about right). as of right now, it looks like i certainly don't need a heater. we'll see if that changes as the weather gets colder, but for now, i'm good to go.

anyway, on to the good stuff! after 5 days, my parameters (test kit used in parentheses):


ammonia (API): undetected/0ppm
nitrite (API): undetected/0ppm
nitrate: did not test
pH (API): 8.2
calcium (red sea): 325ppm
alkalinity (tetra): 7dKH
magnesium: did not test
phosphate: did not test

based my alk/calcium being low, i started dosing my 2-part (Brightwell Reef Code Part-A and Part-B ). dosed 15ml part A to 10ml part B. my goal for calcium is 450ppm and 8dKH for alk.

but, as far as my ammonia/nitrites being undetectable after 5 days, i'm guessing my cured/well transported live rock + some water from established aquarium has done the trick. i'll test again in a couple of days (including a nitrate test) to make sure, but i'm optimistic that this will be a short cycle and that i'll be able to migrate over some fish from my 8g sooner than later.

came upon the makings of a big diatom outbreak as of yesterday. along with that, however, i saw a couple of aiptasia popping out of a few pieces of my LR. oh well. +1 peppermint shrimp to the stocking list!

and now, some pictures:

new LR rubble in the sump, replacing bioballs


a couple close-ups of my rocks... this might turn into some nice-looking corraline! maybe even some orange? we'll see!




check out these hitchhikers and diatoms!




my FTS from 9/2 (pre-diatom):



HAY STOP PAYING ATTENTION TO THAT STUPID FISH TANK AND GIVE ME CHEEZBURGER.

I would wait more than a week before you add fish...just in case...JMO