Recent content by ScottHK

It has been quite some time since I have posted on here. Have moved the tank twice going from a temporary living situation to my new house. I am pleased to say that the tank is doing great with some new inhabitants. Got a couple SPS and LPS corals along with a pair of clowns and a green bubble...

okay so I started the skimmer up today. Had some major issues at first, wasn't able to handle the air valve wide open filled the skimmer cup in about 2 seconds. I installed the air valve regulator and have it set on pretty much the lowest setting which is allowing a small volume of air bubbles...

So I took the plunge and ordered a set of Steve's LEDs C130 drop ins with the 14,000K Super Full Spectrum. Cycle is progressing nicely. Water test last night showed: Ph - 8.0 Salinity - 1.026 Ammonia - 0.25 Nitrite - 5+ Nitrate - 20 Will probably start the skimmer in the next few days to...

I am wondering if I can at some point replace the two stock 4 prong T5 bulbs with a combination of the ATI bulbs? I am not sure how it would work because everything is 2 prong. Has anyone ran into this issue when wanting to upgrade the stock T5s?

Here is another pic of the night lights. Sorry for the quality.

I am now on day 5 of running the cycle. Things seem to be progressing slowly (as expected). I have seen a rise in the ammonia level to 1.0ppm and the nitrites up to 0.5ppm. Nitrate still at 0. What level should the ammonia and nitrite be getting up to that shows a good cycle is going on...

Here we are on day 3. I removed the 2 table shrimp yesterday morning, girlfriend was not happy with the smell in the house. I added another one this evening to get some more ammonia in the tank. Current test results are as follows: Ammonia-0.5 Nitrite-0 Nitrate-0 Ph-8.0 Temp-80.0 Salinity-1.026

I do have a question for all you experts out there. At what point should I be starting the use of the carbon bag as well as switching over to a product such as purigen?

So I finally got the tank up and running. Sorry for the sideways pictures now sure why they are loading like that. Used close to 40lbs of Marco dry rock for the scape and just under 1 bag of Fiji pink sand. Everything seems to be running good, I was surprised at how quickly the water cleared...

Here is what I am thinking for the aqua-scape.

So I have had the rock in my 20 gal quarantine tank with RO/DI water, powerhead, and heater. Phosphate level is showing 0.25ppm and Nitrate 0.0ppm. Have already done a complete water change once. Wondering if I need to see Phosphate drop to 0.0 before the rock is "safe" to add to my main tank...

Also, what combination of T5HO lights are you using for your C-130?

Any recommendations on a chiller? Been looking around a little bit and not sure which brand/size would be suitable and reliable for the C-130?

Here are a couple picture so far. Nothing special but here is a pic of the tank where it is going to stay as well as the quarantine tank that is currently being used to cure my dry rock.

Thanks everyone for the initial advice. As I mentioned before I am sure I will have plenty of questions along the way. Mattsa, I am planning to use dry rock. Haven't decided whether to add any LR for a seeding but what do you mean by cooking? I am familiar with curing the rock, maybe a...