Thank you all for the warm welcome! Startingthis tank has been a fascinating, often frustrating, and defiantly expensivelearning process, and I feel like I am constantly trying to accrue moreinformation with the increasing needs of the tank. I've had freshwater plantedtanks for years, and I was dying to make the leap into saltwater. I read tonsof information, mostly on forums, and took lots of notes on the TOTM nano-reefsto see what components they had in common and went from there. The tank tookalmost two months to fully cycle, I never saw significant rises of nitrates ornitrites, the most NO2- I ever had was 5ppm. I even went out and purchased adifferent brand test kit to see if my results were off. I had a hideousoutbreak of bryopsis which took over early on, and I think was what impeded thecycle. I ended up using the Kent Marine M method and blacking everything outwhile I went on a business trip for a week. When I came back the bryopsis wasdone for. After that things went smoothly up until last week when I moved. Duringthe move a jug of water that was marked tap water was used for a top-off (I immediatelyadded Prime) and over the last few days I’ve lost most of my shrimps and crabsand have seen an outbreak in cyanobacteria. I’ve changed my filter media, donea big water change, and have phosguard ordered. The corals look great. It’samazing to see how quickly things grow. My corals are depleting the calcium inthe water quickly, and my mix is already on the low side so that will be thenext challenge. I also need to bolster up my CUC before I decide on some fish.Updates to come.
