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[Len]

RobertoVespucci's official thread:
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[RobertoVespucci]

Alright, it's 11:45 on 4/30 and I'm making my first post. I filled it with water a couple of days ago but couldn't find the usb cable for my camera . . . .


Anyway, what I got is a 10 gallon with a divider on one end to act as an overflow. There's a 96 watt CF lamp over the top. The sump has a highly modified Seaclone, heater, 15 watt light (very likely to be changed soon) and a return pump tucked into a second 10g. I haven't put on the exterior yet since I'm sure I'll be hosing around in there a few hours most every day.

So far costs:

lamp $95
tanks $25
cap 2200 $40
stand materials $35
other used stuff ~$15

[RobertoVespucci]

Hopefully this will alleviate some of the confusion. The sg is 1.022 atm. I've been trying to slowly raise it to 1.025. Since I don't know the exact system volume, it's a slow process.

[RobertoVespucci]

Yesterday I decided I was ready to add some biological stuff to start the cycle. I couldn't get any live rock before Thursday, and I'm not sure the store will have any I want anyway, so I figured it was time to move on. I took about a dozen shells from raw shrimp and rolled them up in floss to keep them together. I thought this would be enough to atleast seed the the thing.

I left the wad in the tank about 2 hours in which time the water got cloudy and the house started to smell like soup. The skimmer started skimming nicely for a while but has since stopped. As of this morning, the tank smells like the bottom of a trashcan.

[RobertoVespucci]

Weehaa!

Added 8.2 pounds of live rock about 30 minutes ago. It was a day or two ago that I added volcanic gravel. The rock was $6/lb, the gravel was donated by the local semi-pro baseball team's infield. I tested the chemistry already just for a baseline, so to speak. Lots of ammonia, starting to get some nitrite, and no nitrate yet. I'm hoping the LR will fix that.

[RobertoVespucci]

Rock has been in a week now. Ammonia has been zero, nitrite almost zero. I'm starting to see nice signs of life now. There is a pearlescent tiny brittle star in there that I have been able to get a pic of yet. I have seen 4-5 different types of pods, which I think is good. I've added 3 macroalgaes. I hope they all make it.

[RobertoVespucci]

Added two bumblebee snails and scarlet hermit today. Pics when they come out of hiding.