Hi everyone! Just a quick update. I'm about three weeks in (I think, maybe 4?). I'm extraordinarily excited. My plan is still to experiment with this setup for a few months and then build a custom setup if my fiance and I think we want to commit long term. We're imagining the smallest reef ready tank we can get with a sump/refugium system. Anyway!
Things are going really well. I'm up to a Coralife 125 skimmer that I'm hanging on the back, for now. The sump system is just still too loud to run. It gurgles like mad, has a waterfall sound at the bottom, and the return pump I think is just too old. For livestock, I've got 10 Astrea snails, 2 turbo snails and 10 red left cortez hermits. Also, one sweet Kenya Tree graciously gifted from Irsug1. Thinkgs are looking very good, though I still have this mysterious white fur that collects on things that don't get touched very often. It comes off at the slightest touch, so I suspect much of it is coming off when the shells of my cleanup crew brush it. Water flow seems very high to me, but I don't actually know how to gauge it (or control it...).
Also, I'm still having a little trouble siphoning out some of the debris on the sand. Any tips? I feel like I shouldn't disrupt the sand bed very much, but when I bring the siphon down to the gunk the sand always gets disrupted. I'd love a little advice from those who know!
Here's a pic!
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