Begow's Life // 60 Shallow Rimless // Got my Scoly back!

[Begow]

You can literally go find pure ammonia (no scents or surfactants) at a hardware/grocery store or wherever and use that to cycle the aquarium. :]

 

Thanks, I think I'm going to buy the Dr. Tim's Bacteria and Ammonia. The shorter cycle seems nice. $20 isn't too bad, and I'd rather wait a week to get a quick cycle compared to 30-45 days.

[Begow]

Just ordered Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride and his bottle of nitrifying bacteria as well. Should be here Friday, if not then Monday. Radion shipped today as well, should be here Wednesday!

[Obsessed Reefer]

Yay! Finally you got the tank. Just one little thing, the dimensions for this make it a 20H, not 20L. Every time I see your signature I keep thinking that they released a new tank.

 

But seriously, glad you finally got something, and think, the whole fiasco with the 10G, you now have twice the room. Twice the fish, twice the coral, twice the $$$ spent, lol.

[Begow]

Yay! Finally you got the tank. Just one little thing, the dimensions for this make it a 20H, not 20L. Every time I see your signature I keep thinking that they released a new tank.

 

But seriously, glad you finally got something, and think, the whole fiasco with the 10G, you now have twice the room. Twice the fish, twice the coral, twice the $$$ spent, lol.

 

Haha thanks for the tip with the 20L. Well I'm finally heading to bed, the tank is becoming less and less cloudy so that's awesome!

 

Couple of thoughts for the night:

 

I'm not sure the MJ1200 replacement is going to be enough for this tank. I do get good surface agitation, but I'm not seeing any sand movement at all, and I have oolite (super fine) sand. Maybe adding an MP10/Jebao wouldn't be a terrible choice. I plan on keeping mostly SPS, with acan/zoas as a secondary plan. That being said, I'm not sure the current flow situation will be enough. Maybe adding another spin stream could help? Opinions?

 

The Tim's One and Only is ordered. My Radion and RMS mount will be here Wednesday, I'm very, very excited to get one. I've always wanted a Radion, after frequent visits to World Wide Corals, and now I will finally own one! I can't wait to program it, and then save for my Reeflink! I'm thoroughly enjoying being back in the hobby. The kids tonight were really wearing me down, but I sat down and just looked at my foggy tank and I immediately felt better. I've always thought mini-reefs are a great form of stress relief.

 

I hope everyone following along has a great night, and I hope all of your tanks are doing great!

[Obsessed Reefer]

You will definitely want more flow if you're planning SPS. I have a MP10 along with my MJ1200 return and I think it's perfect. When I first set it up, even at a lower speed, it was blowing around the sand, I ended up moving it a little higher, and now it's perfect. I have it on reef crest, about a third power. I just got my first piece of SPS over the weekend, and so far it's been doing well.

[ninjamyst]

For the flow issue, wait till you add some corals. It's hard to tell flow with an empty tank =P.

[Simone]

Glad you were able to get your tank started. Your dogs are super cute! I have a frenchie myself.

 

Another option for increasing flow is to buy an additional return pump (or use the stock pump) and some tubing and use one pump for each return. The stock Y tubing really decreases the force of the flow from the pump. Not saying instead of an MP10, maybe in addition to.

[Begow]

For the flow issue, wait till you add some corals. It's hard to tell flow with an empty tank =P.

 

Good idea I will buy some zoas or something to see how it goes.

 

Glad you were able to get your tank started. Your dogs are super cute! I have a frenchie myself.

 

Another option for increasing flow is to buy an additional return pump (or use the stock pump) and some tubing and use one pump for each return. The stock Y tubing really decreases the force of the flow from the pump. Not saying instead of an MP10, maybe in addition to.

 

Thats a good idea as well, I'll have to pick up some tubing and try that. I probably will still look into a MP10/Jebao

 

Also, tank was at 81 degrees this morning. I tried figuring out why, and I have two culprits.

 

1.) Last night I put two children's books on the top of the tank to put the light on to see how it look lit up, and although I did remove the light, I didn't remove the books, I think that could be a big reason.

 

2.) I have the heater set to 77, but was still lit when I woke up this morning. I think it may be malfunctioning.

 

Before I left for work today I unplugged heater and removed the books. It dropped to 80.2 within an hour. Before I left I plugged the heater back in, and although it was still lit, I'm going to have my wife monitor temp and if it raises back up I will just have to buy a new heater I guess! Damn!

[Begow]

Small update, my wife checked the temp and I'm already down to 79.3 so I think it was the books that were keeping the temp up like that, I guess they worked as an insulation.

 

The tank is looking good today, pretty clear. Some sand got blown around when I poured the water in so I will have to fix that soon.

 

The tank as of today, sorry for the glare, blame the wife!

 

 

My wife and son hanging out today, it's a really nice day in Central Florida today so she's out enjoying while I'm working, SIGH!

 

 

My crazy ass pitbull lol, she's a weirdo.

 

[hey]

This thread isn't lacking pictures, I approve. Great tank and family.

[Begow]

This thread isn't lacking pictures, I approve. Great tank and family.

 

Thank you sir. I am a body piercer, and when I'm not piercing I literally sit on my PC and watch movies or browse the net. I stay pretty active

[hey]

Thank you sir. I am a body piercer, and when I'm not piercing I literally sit on my PC and watch movies or browse the net. I stay pretty active

 

Word, I am taking a break from my industrial maint career and doing the stay at home dad thing. I get a lot of comp time between diapers, feeding, reading, umm nvm I get more computer time when they are asleep... lol

[Begow]

Word, I am taking a break from my industrial maint career and doing the stay at home dad thing. I get a lot of comp time between diapers, feeding, reading, umm nvm I get more computer time when they are asleep... lol

 

Haha, I am looking for an entry into the Saltwater Aquaria Hobby. I've been brainstorming with my boss who is a multi business owner. Maybe then I could stay home more, as of now I work 50+ hours and I don't get much family time which is really depressing.

[hey]

Haha, I am looking for an entry into the Saltwater Aquaria Hobby. I've been brainstorming with my boss who is a multi business owner. Maybe then I could stay home more, as of now I work 50+ hours and I don't get much family time which is really depressing.

 

I know what you mean, when I was working it was 60 hrs a week with a 1.5 hr commute every day. Technically supposed to be 40 but they thin hire and work overtime constantly. Honestly I like the work I didn't like the works hours, very crappy if you have a family. My wife worked nights and we only saw each other for more than 2 hours a day every other weekend because of it. And that was if I wasn't working overtime on saturdays lol. Took a pretty big pay cut but the time with them has been great.

[Begow]

I know what you mean, when I was working it was 60 hrs a week with a 1.5 hr commute every day. Technically supposed to be 40 but they thin hire and work overtime constantly. Honestly I like the work I didn't like the works hours, very crappy if you have a family. My wife worked nights and we only saw each other for more than 2 hours a day every other weekend because of it. And that was if I wasn't working overtime on saturdays lol. Took a pretty big pay cut but the time with them has been great.

 

Thats how it is with my wife and I. She works at Shands which is a 30-45 min commute so she's in bed at 9:30 generally and leaves by 6:00 AM. I work until 9PM every night. We make it work but could definitely do well with more time

[Begow]

Not much of an update tonight. Sadly the Dr. Tim's didn't ship tonight, I'm really not sure why. Hopefully it ships by tomorrow. It's extremely frustrating when I get quoted a shipping date and it isn't fulfilled.

 

Anyways, tonight I got the extra bag of Fiji Pink sand I ordered, which I ended up not needing. Thankfully my old roomate and coworker is setting up a new 60 cube and needed the sand. He has a 20+ head/branch golden torch, this is the one LPS I would consider keeping in the tank, so he said he would frag me a head, otherwise he has some acans I could snag as well.

 

The Radion will be here Thursday. That's already been shipped.

 

I put a deposit on Reefmasters Picasso Clowns tomorrow. Once the tank is cycled I'll be heading down to Tampa to pick them up.

 

I think the other two fish I'm going to get will be a Midas Blenny and a Bengai Cardinal.

 

The tank is looking great today, I'm really REALLY surprised with the amount of evaporation that took place today, I will 100% need an ATO in the future. It was surprisingly a lot, thankfully my RO/DI station was filled up with fresh water.

 

Next purchases/order:

 

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Desktop Reactor

Spinstream

Auqa Caddy

MP10-Jebao (I really want a MP10-W for the connection with my Radion)

Reeflink

Desktop Skimmer

 

 

Thanks for all of you who follow my thread!! Can't wait for this damn light to come in, I'm so anxious!!!!

[Obsessed Reefer]

I'm using the Hydor ATO w/ the Aqua Lifter pump, and I like it, its got a single sensor that has 3 prongs, min/max/alarm. And for the reactor, I suggest the MiniMax, it's small and easy to use. As for the Ghost Skimmer I have, I'm still trying to get it to work properly, so I have no final judgement on it yet.

 

Cannot wait until you get this thing stocked!

[Begow]

I'm using the Hydor ATO w/ the Aqua Lifter pump, and I like it, its got a single sensor that has 3 prongs, min/max/alarm. And for the reactor, I suggest the MiniMax, it's small and easy to use. As for the Ghost Skimmer I have, I'm still trying to get it to work properly, so I have no final judgement on it yet.

 

Cannot wait until you get this thing stocked!

 

Yeah for sure. I am hoping somebody hops on my ad in the forums. My new LED light for a ATO system, that would be ideal. Otherwise it'll be a few weeks or so before I'm able to buy it. I want this damn Dr. Tim's to get here, the tank is wet but just sitting around. No ammonia source so I feel like this is time wasted!

[Obsessed Reefer]

You could always just throw some raw seafood in there to let it decay, like a small piece of raw shrimp.

[Begow]

You could always just throw some raw seafood in there to let it decay, like a small piece of raw shrimp.

 

This was my original plan but then quickly realized I had no shrimp! Or any kind of seafood sadly. I can wait for the Dr. Tim's, I would hate to get something started with raw seafood and then have to start up a new program. Amazon is saying to expect delivery between friday and monday. It didn't ship today so I'm guessing more like Monday. Just being impatient!

 

Just want this cycle started!!! I wish the live sand that they sell as live actually harbored bacteria and had some small die off so my tank could cycle some while I wait.

[lilmatty5dimes]

awesome build and lovely family. i know how both of ya feel with not seeing your better half. i work 3a-12 and she goes to work at 1230 and gets off at 930 and i usually/try to go to bed at 10. def sucks but its paying the bills now.

if your friend is offering you a golden torch def take that. i've been searching for a few weeks and can't find one. lol this is going to be an epic build with that radion on top. can't wait til next week to see the light and dr tim working his magic. following along. pm sent about a reactor you might be interested in.

[lilmatty5dimes]

and look at the rw-4. they have a better flow pattern than the wp-10s. should give you more a mp10 flow.

[Begow]

Small update for the night. I did my tests and everything in looking good. PH was 8.2, Ammonia was readable! So that's good, something seeded the tank, maybe some die off from the sand idk.

 

I threw in a few pellets of marine one to hopefully get some rotting-ish stuff in there. Found Dr. Tim's locally and will add it tomorrow morning.

 

The Radion comes in tomorrow with the mount, I'm very excited, it's all I can think about!

 

 

I really really need to get an ATO, I'm hoping I can either sell or trade the Reef Radiance light to get an ATO. The amount of evaporation I'm getting is crazy! I'm still concerned with how little flow is in the tank, I just feel like I don't really have a good spot to put a MP10, without blowing corals away!

 

Here is a FTS for the night, the water and glass is crystal clear.

 

 

Was hoping to get some opinions, is this going to be enough rock? I love the scape, but I feel like fish won't have any where to hide and I won't ever be able to get that "grown out" and packed look that I'm shooting for. I like a LOT of corals, huge SPS colonies, but I just don't know if this little amount of rock will work. I'm mainly concerned with hiding spots for a midas blenny.

 

What do you guys think?

[Begow]

When I tested last night I had SOME ammonia, and 0 nitrites. This morning I have more ammonia readable and some nitrites as well. Not all the way to .25 nitrites, but not 0 either, it was more purple than blue.

 

So it looks like the cycle has started. I dosed the tank with Dr Tims last night so we will see how things go. I will keep following the instructions on this stuff, we shall see!

[Begow]

So the Radion came in, and I love it! It lights the tank perfectly. The RMS mount went on perfectly, no issues there.

 

I snapped a few pics, but now for some reason Ecosmart Live has me in "Offline Mode" I'm not really sure why but yeah.

 

I have the light running on Radiant Color at 50%, from 10AM to 10PM, with 10% chances of storms.

 

This picture was on 100% before I programmed:

 

 

This picture is on lunar lights only, I couldn't get it go go back to 50% to get a good pick since Ecosmart Live is down:

 

 

 

I will be testing the water tomorrow I hope before work to see how things look!

 

Also, I ordered another spinstream and 2 foot of 1/2 tubing today. I plan on putting the stock pump back in the back and having two pumps running as returns.