16Gal Sumped Marine Tank

[techen]

If the rock was Live Rock then you DO NOT need to cycle the tank, It is already cycled. You are doing more harm than good.

 
How can this be true, You get die off from live rock that causes ammonia spikes etc, I would never put live stock in until stats become stable!
 
 
 

I like to keep my Salinity at 1.024 as well.  It gives me a small bit of breathing room for evaporation because I don't have an auto top off on this current set up.  Some other people I know that run FOWLR tanks will keep the salinity lower to make ich less likely.  That being said, with my FOWLR, I still aim for the 1,024.  The one place I get any fish from keeps it at 1,025 so acclimation is nice as well.  
 
 
Looks great.  When Donya was asking about the angle of the drain pipe, the first thing that came to mind was noise reduction.  When I was considering drilling my tank, it was recommended that I put two 90s on it to form a U.

 
I don't really have a issue with noise, It seems to be quite good but I do get the odd noise here and there.
 
Yea, I was kinda in a rush with the salinity as I had live rock sitting there. I wanted to get to a suitable level for my rock and live sand etc. But am aiming for around 1.026 when I get corals etc.

 

[ALW]

Because the rock is already alive with the bacteria needed to break down fish waste, hence Live Rock. just because it isnt covered in algae yet doesnt mean its not alive. SW filtration is different to FW filtration.

 

[techen]

Mr Duck
 

 

[Livewire88]

Loving Mr Duck 

 
Marine is like a whole new world, I will have to give it a go one day. 
 
Will you be upgrading the lighting on this tank? 

 

[techen]

Yes I will be. Want to order twin t5s when I get the spare cash. Good for the corals.

 

[wildechild_01]

Looks like the tank is coming along nicely.  As for the lighting, i definitely recommend going t5's for the corals.  I ran t5's when i started out and things worked great.  If budget allows though i highly recommend going LED as long as they are reef capable you wont be sorry.

 

[BigTuna]

I run the marineland LEDs on mine and they are a really nice fixture.  As wildechild said they are pricey.  The new generation of them comes with and internal timer which is great to manage the daylights vs the moonlights vs off entirely.  I have the first generation LEDs so I can only manually switch between daylight mode vs moonlight mode.  I ran into issues of over lighting the tank, so I now have a external timer and only run daylight mode and off entirely.  The way the LED lights shimmer in the tank gives it an amazing look.  I want to sell these current LEDs and get the 2nd generation ones. 

 

[techen]

I want to run LEDs but the price tags for them are huge. Not sure what to get as UK and US/Canada are different anyway.
 
This was before I swapped too sand as well.
 

 

 

[techen]

So I switched to sand, Looks much better and everyone seems a lot happier with it.
 

 
My goby shows his face a lot now.
 

 
My skimmer is skimming up a lot of crud now so am quite happy with what I've got going, Coral is doing well as am dosing reef energy daily now to see if I can get it to spread alittle. 
 
I may be getting a LED kit sorted soon as well that would grow SPS etc. See how that goes.

 

[BigTuna]

Great switch with the sand, looks great.

 

[techen]

Yea, Was a good call for the sand. Just waiting for funds so I can get LEDs on the go.

 

[BigTuna]

Awesome, you won't be disappointed. 

 

[Supraman]

Wow tank looks great !

 

[techen]

Thank you Supraman, LEDS preordered just gotta pay for them on friday!

 

[techen]

The pair seem a lot happier now than before it seems. Very active when feeding time