Here’s where I get mine:
Rob, “A” is fine, that’s what my friends call me. Check out these guys at http://www.ipsf.com/ I order from them before and it was great stuff. I plan on ordering from them again once my tank is up and running. Or if you know some one that has lots of that stuff to give away that would probably be great for you, but not many people around here that I know keep DSB.
I guess Jim beat me to the punch while I was typing.
Tank has been up for 1mo. Quick little update:
Bring on the Diatoms! Finally got the bloom. Its heavier in the sump since the small lighting setup I have is more concentrated down there, but its just beginning in the DT also.
Thats one way to drop the Nitrates! Eat away Diatoms!
The Corals that I got via Molikens LR seem to be doing well and growing back over previous growth despite my high nitrates. The coral frag that I got from the meeting is doing well too. I might have to think about supplements since I wasn’t planning on having corals at this stage of the game yet.
I’ll grab some pics once the bloom subsides…at 30ppm Nitrates, it might be awhile.
I have a Phosban 150 w/ Biopellets but I’m hesitant to set it up this early in the game. Thoughts?
-Rob
I started my Biopellets and skimmer as soon as I was reading 0 for ammonia and nitrite.
I got some cheap lighting finally. (was tired of rotating the 12$ clip-on/CFL 65k bulb.
Its a Coralife NON-HO T5 that I picked up at DPA for $73. I can convert it to HO in the future for 23$ but thats besides the point. I think this will end up being my Dusk/Dawn lighting and I’ll supplement daytime with some LED strips? Who knows…I"m just happy to have real lighting again.
I really like the low profile of this light figure and having zero experience with HO or T12 VHO…for just one 10k bulb and one actinic @ 28w ea. its got some decent light.
Two pictures of the tank I turned down the highlights on the reflections off the sand, and they’ll be noted below. Excuse the dirty sand, Diatoms are just now starting to die off.
FTS NO EDIT:
Lighting Pic, again NO EDIT:
Side Shot, NO EDIT, and probably the best representation of what it looks like in person:
Office Shot…Highlights Removed
Living Area shot…Highlights Removed
This will shortly evolve into a NO vs HO picture comparison as I read that this Coralife fixture is meant for FOWLR tanks only. So much for being affordable and me being lazy to order ballasts from BRS 
I’m going to exchange it for the $134 Aqualife T5 HO 48" x 2 bulb fixture at DPA today.
Ok, so its not HO, the allure of LED’s sucked me in. I’m happy with it though, although I will say, its still a dusk/dawn intensity, so I will need to supplement. What really impressed me is that in my research of lighting online, DPA’s prices match online prices at a lot of your more common sites. :
:
Some comparison shots of the Coralife t5 NO FOWLR lighting (10k + Actinic bulbs) vs. Aquatic Life 48" 0.5w 5v (33 10k white, 33 460nm blue) Yeah, they’re 0.5w, but there is 66 of them.
Aquatic Life LED’s with the same Highlight Removal edit
Coralife T5’s NO with the same Highlight Removal edit
Side shots of both…with no edits
Aquatic Life LED’s
Coralife T5’s NO
They’re both pretty small:
Aquatic Life LED’s
Coralife T5’s NO
The Aquatic Life LED’s are bluer as the pictures suggest, and the shimmer that LED’s add it too cool.
Price is: 73$ vs $119 so there is a sizable difference for the same dusk/dawn type lighting.
Have you tried both at the same time?
Looking good so far. 
So much potential.
It’s shocking that the cleanest store in Delaware, DPA, also has the best prices and equipment. (Admittedly I have not yet made it in to the new fish bowl.) The crew at DPA does a good job.
Not much to update. Haven’t changed/added anything to the tank until I get these nitrates under control with water changes / biopellets / cheato.
I will however update you with some freebies I got from Molikens LR that I purchased off of him. They’re happy and growing and are much more colorful then when I 1st got them…atleast they don’t mind the nitrates as of yet.
Before:
Taken Just now:
Ok, so admittedly I don’t know 100% what these are. Guessing one is an Acan, the other a Favia?
The Acan has grown and gone from a pasty white to just recently coloring up with some tangerine orange type colors. The Favia went from almost a skeleton to a great purple and green piece. I love how the green is not just focused in the center but is also seen on the surrounding edges of the eye.
Thats it for now… I <3 Nitrates! Well…they love me atleast. Gordon…PM me if you read this with an estimate to rid me of these nitrates!!! Make me an offer I can’t refuse!
the orange ones are acans. the purple and green looks like a dragon prism favia. both look pretty sweet!!
If you search around enough on the forum I am pretty sure Paul bought the favia from one of the vendors of this forum and either posted images from the site or from in his tank.
Both corals can tolerate some nutrients in the water. Neither need high light. Acans benefit from spot feeding(though they don’t usually require it at all). They are suitable corals for your tank at this point.
Rob, any update on the tank? you add the new rocks that you made in the tank yet?
No updates as of yet. I’m slowly working on getting the nitrates down before I add any more fish/corals. I actually just did a 20gal water change and added some MicroBacter7 to the tank. (although I left the skimmer off for 24hrs instead of the 4 recommended on the bottle via forgetfulness). Nitrates are now at 20ppm. Probably safe to add livestock but I’d like to get them down to 10ppm before doing that.
As for the DIY LiveRock…man what a waiting game that is. I don’t think its worth making your own rock. If I factor in the 10minutes every other day that I spend dumping/filling the container trying to get the lime leeched out of the rock to get the pH down…its not worth it. I’ve been using the garden hose on it, which also might mean a nitrate leech that I’ll test for before adding the rock to my tank. Worst case is I trash the rock and get some 2$lb dry rock from BRS or similar.
Thats all for now.
[quote=“Faralon, post:55, topic:4981”]
I don’t think its worth making your own rock. [/quote]
That if often the conses with people who have attempted it.
BRS dry work will require some curing as well though. It contains a good bit of phosphates itself and if you add a significant amount to your tank it will cause a full cycle and crash the tank. Their rock has VERY nice shape and size to it, but it isn’t perfect.
It’s looking really nice Rob YahoO
I am surprised there’s still nitrates :
: even with the small amount of rock for bio filtering, …there’s just not that much bio-load ::
Do you feed heavy? Is your skimmer pulling much crud?
Tank looks pretty clean Rob. No HA or any other type of bad algae that we can see (at least form the pic anyway). Wonder why the high nitrate though.
My guess is that the skimmer is the bottle neck of the system at this point. It IS pulling crud, but since I’ve been out of the hobby for so long I really have no idea how much crud is a decent amount of crud…know what I mean? hehe.
Its possible there is some detritus build up in the middle of the larger rock structure. Its actually pretty open all around but still, its a rock structure with fairly large internal space for things to get caught up in.
Jtnova offered me his skimmer at a decent price, Coralife 125. I don’t think I’m able to +1 the skimmer at this point due to most of them being in-sump, and my refugium doesn’t have enough footprint available.
We’ll get there…eventually. This time of year gets really busy for me as I’m working during the day for BofA, then vineyard work in the evening from 6-9pm most nights and the past few weekends have been spent harvesting grapes, kicking off fermentations, racking tanks…its been REALLY easy to have patience with the tank recently. I’m pretty much feeding the fish 2x a day (don’t think i’m overfeeding on how much I feed each session) topping off the tank with RO/DI and turning the lights on/off each day. Sometime in October I’ll have some free time again.
[quote=“Faralon, post:59, topic:4981”]
I’m pretty much feeding the fish 2x a day (don’t think i’m overfeeding on how much I feed each session)[/quote]
How many times have we all said/heard that :
:
maybe try once a day for a week, or cut the amount in half…
when your not squeeshing grapes and have time… do an accurate nitrate test, hell do it twice to be sure… then follow with a week of reduced feedings… no water change… then accurately check those trates again…
I really think your rockwork is way plenty open to avoid poo stockpiling.
the skimmer… depends, but a nice nasty film inside the cup neck, and about a cup of nasty thick coffee a week?
lots of variables there though… how “wet” or “dry” of a skim your set at… how much crud is there to be pulled… salinity… a 1.026 will skim nicer then 1.021 for example… if your a greasy guy like me, then dont dare rub your forehead and put hands in the tank, it’ll break down my bubble structure quick in the skimmer…
i feel like i keep asking for videos lately, but if u could show us the skimmer running, preferably what it looks like after its been skimming for 3, 4 days or such… then someone could say it looks like its doing good/bad job…