Alright, update time! Not quite sure where to start, as I have been pretty busy.
First of all, to anyone else thinking about it, I would not recommend buying a used Trident. I have had to take the whole thing apart 3 times to get lines cleared/pinch valves un stuck, etc.. Thankfully it has all been working well for a few days, and they are pretty simple when it comes down to it.
Secondly, I have added a chunk of livestock to the tank since my last update. My cycle went pretty quickly, and I have not lost anything yet! (knock on wood).
Fish/inverts:
2 clowns
yellow watchman goby
pistol shrimp
tail spot blenny
flame hawkfish
six line wrasse
fire fish
cleaner shrimp
misc snails/2 conches
emerald crab
bubble tip nem
Coral:
Birdsnest
couple other SPS, I can't remember their name
green hammers
purple/green frog spawn
red/green mushrooms
finger leather
ricordia mushroom
green hairy mushroom
zoa/polys
GSP
duncan
I know it's a lot to add so early... but I couldn't help myself, and have decided to not add anything else for at least a few weeks to be sure that all continues going well.
Funnily enough, after I added the bubble tip, my clowns decided that they wanted to host my chaos zoas, so they have had a few black dots popping up on them, but from what I read, it should not be anything to worry about.
My goby/pistol are somehow yet to find each other. My cleaner shrimp and the pistol have seemed to buddy up and mostly hang around the same rock.
I got this ricordia mushroom from someone locally, and the thing has already split once, and is working on another split now. Seems too fast to split to me, and can only guess it was in the process when I got it, but I am not complaining! Also got this nice frogspawn from the LFS yesterday.
My water mixing station has worked great so far. I have not yet taken over the entire pantry, but I have definitely laid claim on more shelves than I first intended.
The only ongoing problems I seem to have at the moment are my water clarity, glass cleaning, and skimmer micro-bubbles. Every time after feeding, the skimmer spews micro-bubbles into the display for 10-15 minutes. No big deal, but a little annoying. My bubble trap doesn't seem to be catching them all.
Not sure what the deal is on my water clarity, but looking into the tank I can definitely see a slight fog. I just ordered a pouch and some carbon. Figure I will try this before going for the full blown UV sterilizer.
I don't mind cleaning the glass every other day, but do wish I could get more time in between scrubs.
I am loving it so far. Already kind of wishing I had a bigger tank so I could get a tang gang going, but this will work for now! I am anxious for the inevitable problems to come up, but so far, all has been good.
I will try to borrow a camera filter for the next update and get some better pictures. My phone does absolutely no justice.
