Began construction on my reef-pi, will be nice to have some thing automated. Was going to just go Apex and call it a day, but really prefer tinkering.
The tank I am happy to report has healed all the test SPS, a Garf Bonsai, tyree undata (these two were actually from pieces that I traded in for credit 12 years ago to the LFS they found them wedged under some rock tearing down a tank) and another Monti cap. The Bonsai has grown over some broken tips and starting to shift color from brown, The undata was mostly just skeleton but has actually grown like a weed my wife even though I got a new coral as a spot grew that wasn't visible in the beginning in the dead part. The monti went from brown/bleached shedding some flesh to now darker green.
I started this tank with TBS package and a couple local live pieces of rock 6 weeks back or so, never saw much of a cycle slight ammonia, nitrite reach 10ppm now about .01 just a tinge of color on the lowest resolution salifert, I have found most tanks do always show a tinge even though everyone rounds to 0. Nitrate is at about 20ppm, this is higher than I ran in the past, but as long as algae doesn't become an issue i'll keep it higher intentionally this time and see how the coral do.
Yes most say a year or more before taking the plunge to SPS, but I have corals arriving later in the week and really feel if the rock is mature all will be fine. I think the recommendations are more to teach stability and maintenance.
I am really glad I went with what I knew for lighting and not the new LED's.
Side note the planning as begun for a larger in wall 205g 60*36*22
I'll hopefully post some pictures this weekend as I'll be taking "starting point" for growth shots.
