DansReef New 180 Reef

That sounds like a good skimmer. U could always just get a spare pump since they are cheap.
SRO 5000 would also be a grwat skimmer with an awesome pump.


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Thanks for the suggestions thus far. Have any of you guys used Life Reef Skimmers..... http://www.lifereef.com/home.html.

I am thinking with the Hammer Head.... I could plumb one of their external skimmers to it and into the sump.

If anyone has experience with Life Reef Skimmers please let me know.
 
It has been a while since I have posted an update here. So as I watch my girls cook in the kitchen....I guess I can post one.

I am well into my cycle. I have used four raw shrimp...to get things cooking. My Ammonia spiked to 3 ppm and I then added Dr Tims Bacteria. I only added two bottles which was about 2/3 of what the instructions were....knowing this would extend the cycle a bit. It has been 6 days now and the Ammonia is < .25ppm....and the Nitrites are at 3 ppm....with Nitrates on the rise. I have the brown bacteria bloom now in the tank that makes it look like crap....but know this will end in the next day or so as things continue to progress. I also added a Marine Pure block in the sump to supplement the rock I have in there.
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I arranged the rock and the Marine Pure block in a way to force water heading to the pump to have to stream through the rock.
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I installed 3 Gen3 Radions and have them programmed and all set. The tank really pops. They are 13.5" off the surface of the water ...which allows me to get nice spread. I am running them at 60% right now.
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I have decided to order a 30" Skimmer from Jeff at LifeReef. I am hoping to see it early next week. I like these Venturi Skimmers and really like Jeff the owner. I am starting to get stoked about the next phase of adding swimmers... I have a bunch of ideas. I think I am going to try to be patient...I need to still set up a QT...hopefully this weekend.

Here are a couple of the latest pic....
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So a quick update. My new LifeReef SVS3 30" internal sump skimmer came in last night. I was able to assemble it and install it today. Instead of a lengthy write up.... I recorded a video tour of the sump and the skimmer. The tank is fully cycled now and I am looking forward to adding some Chromis in the next few days. Enjoy the video. More to come.

[video=youtube_share;hXcBigefjyg]http://youtu.be/hXcBigefjyg[/video]
 
Ok... Well the new year is here and the water parameters are perfect.... So I decided to add a couple of sacrificial frags I have been growing out in my other tanks.... Placement is top of the lower third to the middle third of the tank. The corals are a pink birds nest to the left, a green pocillipora (sp?) middle, orange digi below that...a bird of paradise to the right and upper right a forest fire digi. These were all breaks I have had that I made into frags hat I was going to sell off...until this tank came to be.

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I left them on their plugs figuring if they don't respond well...I could pull them quick and move them back to one of the other tanks. If they do well...then I will epoxy them in... With the tanks water parameters stable and all but perfect...nitrates are just around 1 ppm... my hope is these will do fine. They are also pretty easy to grow corals.

Tomorrow I am going to pick up a small group of blue green chromis from a LFS... I then am going to wait until next weekend to add anything else. I need to head out of town on business on Monday for a few days. I want to get an order into reefcleaners for a CUC but need to wait til I get back to recieve them. I also want to order some other types of chromis from LA... The Blue Reefs and Lemons would be a nice grouping of small fish. I then would start acquiring slowly a Naso, some Carribean Blue Tangs.... Perhaps a nice Trigger... I am thinking a Sargassum or a couple of small Blue Thoats... My neighbor is trying to get me to drop the coin on a Crosshatch... I am not sure I have the brass to spend that much on a fish.... For the time being....I am going to look at the Chromis...and hope they can all settle in and get along. Of course....it will most likely be a giant grudge match until the last one or two are left swimming....

Wish me luck!
 
Your tank looks great. Jeff at life reef is a good guy. I have spoken to him a number of times but never actually bought anything. Just wondering how long in total you cyclic your tank for? I think my sump will be here next week and I can finally get moving and maybe get some water in the tank soon!
 
fftfk said:
Your tank looks great. Jeff at life reef is a good guy. I have spoken to him a number of times but never actually bought anything. Just wondering how long in total you cyclic your tank for? I think my sump will be here next week and I can finally get moving and maybe get some water in the tank soon!
Click to expand...

I have had water in the system since what...right after Thanksgiving.... I started the cycle about 3 weeks ago by adding some raw shrimp into the sump. Of course I also used some bacteria additives. There is no trick...it just takes time..... Track your Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates..... Your cycle will take however long it takes.
 
Hey Guys.... It has been about a week and still no swimmers in the tank. With the polar plunge here not many places,have brought in much livestock. I also have not been venturing out either. It has also been a pretty hectic week. I am still getting over a cold that kept me from traveling this week add to that...I had to give my new boss an earful over a really stupid move he made. I am half surprised I am still employed. This guy certainly proves out the "Peter Principle".... and he has done some pretty stupid things and I had had enough....

Anyway.... The tank looks good. I do have algae growing now and a bunch of Astria and turbos in there cleaning the rock. My Phosphates are between .08 - .04... So there must be some leaching from the rock going on. To keep the denitrifying bacteria alive and well... I have sacrificed another couple of raw shrimp that are floating in the sump. Zero Ammonia, Zero Nitrites and barely registering Nitrates... Not ideal...but I hope to have some swimmers in there this weekend.

I did have a troubling thing happen though as I was prepping to do the Phosphate and Nitrate Tests... I got a brief shock when I touched the water surface of the tank. I am guessing it is static electricity. Since everything is on a ground fault set of circuits...if it was a short it would have popped something. But it was strong enough to get my attention and was instantly gone. Again... Must have been static. That said...I am heading to HD and buying a volt meter...

Here are some crappy iPhone pictures of the tank. I need to invest in a good camera one of these days....and then learn how to use the damn thing.

More to come. enjoy!

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DanSreef said:
Hey Guys.... It has been about a week and still no swimmers in the tank. With the polar plunge here not many places,have brought in much livestock. I also have not been venturing out either. It has also been a pretty hectic week. I am still getting over a cold that kept me from traveling this week add to that...I had to give my new boss an earful over a really stupid move he made. I am half surprised I am still employed. This guy certainly proves out the "Peter Principle".... and he has done some pretty stupid things and I had had enough....

Anyway.... The tank looks good. I do have algae growing now and a bunch of Astria and turbos in there cleaning the rock. My Phosphates are between .08 - .04... So there must be some leaching from the rock going on. To keep the denitrifying bacteria alive and well... I have sacrificed another couple of raw shrimp that are floating in the sump. Zero Ammonia, Zero Nitrites and barely registering Nitrates... Not ideal...but I hope to have some swimmers in there this weekend.

I did have a troubling thing happen though as I was prepping to do the Phosphate and Nitrate Tests... I got a brief shock when I touched the water surface of the tank. I am guessing it is static electricity. Since everything is on a ground fault set of circuits...if it was a short it would have popped something. But it was strong enough to get my attention and was instantly gone. Again... Must have been static. That said...I am heading to HD and buying a volt meter...

Here are some crappy iPhone pictures of the tank. I need to invest in a good camera one of these days....and then learn how to use the damn thing.

More to come. enjoy!

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Click to expand...

Dan , thanks for stopping over last night , it was nice to meet you , your set up looks great ! love how wide your cabinets are ! hope the frag grows good for you !
 
So it has been a while since I last posted. A lot has gone on. Suffice it to say the tank is making good progress. Here a couple of videos of my latest fish additions...

Current fish:

2 two spot cardinals (cool little fish....I need about 20 more to make a shoal out of them)
4 Red Saddle Anthias.... Damn pretty fish from Brian and Reefwise. They are just today starting to spend more time out with the lights on.
1 Fox Face that came from my 72 that has devoured the GHA that started growing post cycle.

Here are a couple of videos. Enjoy!

Morning before the lights came on...
[video=youtube_share;RktxR1biEH8]http://youtu.be/RktxR1biEH8[/video]

Just now with the lights on
[video=youtube_share;jq4tGiMIZZ4]http://youtu.be/jq4tGiMIZZ4[/video]
 
totally Agree, one of the best things about getting up on the weekends, sitting for a bit doing nothing but sitting and watching the tank do it's thing.
 
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