Back in the game

[ricenoodle]

4 years later after my transfer to Hawaii I'm able to be able to setup again. Now I'm in Seattle area and scored a killer deal on a 50 rimless setup with the works, excited to be back.

 

[ReefBum]

Nice! Can you tell us a bit more about your setup?

 

[Oscaror]

That was a NICE tank :O

 

[ricenoodle]

Starfire 50 rimless cube, custom solid chest level stand, Kessil A150w not pictured, water proof inside, sump is 20 gal, skimmer, reef keeper 2, saltwater guys rodi system, media reactor, mag 9 return

 

[ricenoodle]

Kessil was nice enough to send me a new light free of charge after the old one died during the move. Rocks finished curing we have lift off!

 

[ricenoodle]

Sump is in full swing, even my Reef Octopus skimmer function like i remembered after 4 years in storage, why upgrade when this hobby is expensive enough.

 

[ricenoodle]

Ordered a 2.5 gallon container off Amazon and made the gravity fed ATO plumb right into the float valve. Lasts 4 days, good enough for me.

 

[ricenoodle]

Stand was a little dark, installed a led light bar, also wanted to make mixing more even so I connected some 3/4" pvc together and drilled holes. Now when salt is added it's mixed evenly without having to move the pump around.

 

[ricenoodle]

Added a bottle of Dr.Tim's all in one, clown going in tomorrow after I pick him up.

 

[ricenoodle]

Major update in the last month. Tank progression has been great.

 

[ricenoodle]

At this point is when i added the Ecotech Radion XR30 Pro and things started taking off!

 

[ricenoodle]

Night and day from the first weeks.

 

[ricenoodle]

Scored some nice colonies along the way and one of my favorite in the tank is the 40 heads of frogspawn.

 

[ricenoodle]

Upgraded the skimmer while I was at it, loving it so far.

 

[David M.]

First off let me say the tank looks great!

Second, I have to ask how you were able to put 2 BTA, and 2 fish, into a 7 day old tank with no adverse effects? I'm not judging/hating/putting down your method, I just want to know how you made it work. Usually after I set my tanks up I have a solid 2 months of various algae outbreak until I feel comfortable enough to seriously stock it. Whatever you're doing, it's working!

 

[ricenoodle]

Thanks for the question. This is my 7th tank in 10 years and I've always done the traditional live rock transfer method and get a system running in days with no cycle. Each one was very successful. After alot of research i decided to go with the cycle in a bottle route. I used Dr.Tim's all in one cycle in a bottle this time and is probably the only one I would recommend since it's the only one scientifically proven to work. All major aquariums used it. All levels spiked and leveled out after 3 days. Great stuff! I WOULD NOT recommend anyone new to the hobby to try and push the timetable as fast as I did though. Tests were conducted twice a day and I always had 50 gallons of premixed water on standby. Everything is thriving and a buddy broke down his tank so the tang was the last fish needed gone so he could tear down therefore I added him but it wasn't my original intention. Everyone gets along, livestock is healthy as I feed alot and maintain parameters closely and is working out just fine.

 

[David M.]

Ive heard of Dr Tims but dismissed it as another gimmick to get the new hobbyists to spend money. I'll have to look into it further.

I have a question non-related to this thread so I'll PM you. Thanks!

 

[ricenoodle]

No problem, glad i could help out.