n2585722

It has been 3 weeks since I filled the tank with water so I thought I would give an update. I have had no issue with the tank itself. There are 2 MP10's for flow. I have a Avast Marine calcium reactor kit, Avast Marine biopellet reactor kit both with Sicce Syncra 1.0 pumps and a TLF 150 reactor. The return pump is a Sicce Syncra 3.0. The return manifold has 5 output ports with 1/4 valves. Four are in use with the current setup. I was going for 6 outputs but had to remove one to be able to remove the skimmer for service. The skimmer is a SWC 120 cone skimmer. It would fit in the available space I had at the time it was purchased. Everything is hooked up and running at this time. The reactors do not have any media at this point with the exception of the TLF 150. There is No CO2 plumbed to the Ca reactor at this time. That is OK since I am just in the testing phase. I still have to run the tubing from the garage for the ATO, water change, and etc. I do have a temporary run for the ATO but I want it all in conduit for some protection since it will be in the attic. I have had a few minor plumbing issues. The worst was when the drain from the overflow came off at the sump. The system shut down when the leak detector float switches were activated. The spill was contained in the bottom of the stand. So I guess that part of the system is working as it should. I added salt mix 2 weeks ago for testing purposes only. I plan on dumping this water and refilling the tank before adding any live animals. It has been cloudy since I added the salt mix and the three rocks to the tank. The rocks were added just so it would not look so bare. They were used in a tank I had setup in the 90's. They have been packed up all this time.

I was curious so I went and got a ammonia test kit. I did a test on the tank water and it was through the roof. As You can tell from the photo it is at the high end of the test kit which is 8ppm.

I also did a test of my tap water. It was at 1ppm. That is expected since we do have chloramines in the water system here.

I then did a test on the DI water just to be sure. It looks like there is none or next to none there.

I am not sure where the ammonia came from but I will keep an eye on it to see what happens. It may have been something in the rocks that were added. I do plan on using fresh live rock when I do the final setup.The reactors are running without any media. I did throw in about 2 cups of carbon in one. The skimmer is running and did pull some amber looking stuff out in the beginning.

I still have to finalize some of the plumbing at the sump. I plan on doing that between the testing period and filling the tank the next time.