Update
I purchased another timer for my light schedule which is now fully set up and looking nice. I also bought 5 gallons of distilled water. It was 88 cents a gallon. I will be asking for that Rodi unit for Christmas. It seems like everything is starting to come together now in the tank and I'm quite excited for December 3rd, when I'll be adding most of my low biological load livestock. I might buy my cardinal there also. The trates are still at >5 but no change in the diatoms, if anything it's increasing. Its mostly on the sand and rock because it's so easy to wipe off of glass. Also, Over the past week I've been seeing a lot of broken white shells and chips of things rise to the sand. Is that my cuc digging things out of the sand or is it them tearing my rockwork apart? It doesnt look much like my rock though..