Somehow a little hesitant to post this, as I know my tank is going to come bite me in the *** (and my wallet).
The tank has been up and running for 10 days. I've placed a large frozen shrimp into the tank on day 1 to kick off the cycle, and monitored ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. It was reading 0, 0, with nitrates hovering from 1-3. It seems that the bacteria left over from the rock cure was able to keep the cycle going. I didn't really believe it, so I left the shrimp in there and never took it out (it has completely decomposed by day 7).
I felt quite confident to add some corals and livestock. My corals and fishes have been in separate QTs for 1-2 months by now, and I felt it was time to move them to a new home...
Coral QT
I lost all 4 of the donut corals probably due to my own stupid handling, and the dark green tabling acropora bleached completely overnight.
Current Tank
I had huge Pukani pieces, I believe there are currently 14 discrete pieces in the tank. The reddish area on the rocks are diatoms, it was really bad, but after adding 8 astreas, the rocks were 70% cleaned off.
Sump
Standard Red Sea sump, added a small refugium with rubble and chaeto (under a 12W LED). Can't see from the picture, but I've got 2x 4 inch marine pure blocks, and running a phosban 150 with carbon in the sump.
Current livestock:
1 Purple Firefish
1 Orange Firefish
1 Bicolor Blenny (aka Patrick)
8 Astreas
5 Sexy Anemone Shrimp
1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
1 Peppermint Shrimp
2 Red Hermits
8 Red Hermits (super tiny 1/2 inch shells)
1 Rose Bubbletip Anemone
1 Green Bubbletip Anemone
1 Green Pincushion Urchin
Latest parameters (using Red Sea test kits)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0.6
Phosphate 0.06
Calcium 440
Alkalinity 9.3
Magnesium 1340
Salinity 35ppt
pH 8.2
Temp 27.7c (or 82f)
I think that's about it, I wonder how badly I'll be burnt by rushing...
