55 Patience is a Virtue Seawater Build

[apet66]

Originally Posted by San Raphael Catfish

Chromis decided to come out and play after all.

I have 2, they are very active fish once they get used to their new home. I hold a pinch of flake food just under the water and they eat it right out of my fingers.

[San Raphael Catfish]

I will have to try that.

[San Raphael Catfish]

The clown is eating well today.

[apet66]

Originally Posted by San Raphael Catfish

The clown is eating well today.

Good news!

[San Raphael Catfish]

It ate squid and later some Omega One with garlic. Happy that it would eat.

SRC

[ReefNoob0424]

That's great news! Good to hear he's eating!

[San Raphael Catfish]

Aquarium seating. You need comfy seats to watch your fish from. These are the old leather rear seats out of the BMW 633 that I used to have. I upgraded the interior to 635 seats and kept these. I like that they are down low to get a good close look at the fish. Photo from my freshwater days. We move them around as need be.

[ReefNoob0424]

That's a cool idea!!

[San Raphael Catfish]

My son is supposed to bring my a coraline encrusted rock from his science teacher today. We gave him our fresh water fish and he gave us about 50 gallons worth of salt.

He doesn't run RODI in his tank. I plan to run RODI eventually.

SRC

[San Raphael Catfish]

Starting to get diatoms. I'll get my coraline encrusted piece of live rock on Tuesday.

SRC

[ReefNoob0424]

Good! Glad everything is working out!

[San Raphael Catfish]

Got the coraline encrusted rock from my son's science teacher. He said take whatever you want and left to go to a meeting. He really likes the freshwater fish I gave him. I only took a smaller piece and when I got home I put it in a paper grocery bag and hit it about ten times with a hammer so that I would be able to spread it across the tank better. Some of the bigger pieces I scraped along my sterile white DIY live rock to help seed new growth.

Did a 10% water change today.

[San Raphael Catfish]

When does one need a skimmer? The guy at petsmart yesterday said I needed one doing the cycle. Really?

[ReefNoob0424]

I didn't use my protein skimmer during the cycle, I didn't even have my lights on during the cycle.

What's your parameter's?

[San Raphael Catfish]

Ammonia near 0

Nitrite 1

Nitrate 20

Ph 8.4

Gonna take my filter canister filter apart tomorrow.

[ReefNoob0424]

Yeah go for it. What are you planning on getting?

Before you put it on, when was the last time you did a PWC? If you didn't do it recently I would do that first IMO before you get the protein skimmer running.

[San Raphael Catfish]

I have had the canister on tank since day one. Give the trays a good rinse and maybe pull the charcoal and the purigen for a while.

I don't know if they could some how be holding up the cycle. Probably do a 20% water change tomorrow.

SRC

[ReefNoob0424]

Canister filters are factors of nitrate build up. You should look into overhang overflow box and have a refugium/sump underneath your tank. "The more water, the better".

Yeah I would do the 20% water change. See how your parameters are afterwards.

I used a canister filter on my old tank and I had huge problems with the nitrates.

[Justintotank]

I've had my sump up and running for about a week now, water has never been so clear! I was reluctant to go with a hang on overflow box, so I drilled my tanks and installed one proper

[San Raphael Catfish]

My tank is undrillable, all tempered glass. My water is amazingly clear as well. The problems are what you can't see in the water.