Red Sea Max 130 Build Log

bigehugedome

Finally added 3lbs of LR. Not sure if placement matters as far as seeding goes. Ill add some fish food or raw shrimp to bump up the ammonia. Super excited.

Reefing Madness

It'll seed no matter where you put it. Why bump up the ammonia? The Rock will take care of it all for you.

evanlundberg4

That looks like great stuff. It will all colonize on its own. In a few weeks you should start to see some growth starting on the base rock. Especially if you used live sand.
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bigehugedome

Did not use live sand. But I'm not in a rush. I may ask a buddy for some sand if I can get a bag for it so it does not mix with mine. But I don't think it's necessary so I'm not in a rush. I'm going to start looking into corals while this cycles.

When I got the LR I was looking at corals and I think all my LFS's look beat. But I'm not sure what healthy specimens should look like so I need to read up some more. My buddy does not have a lot of coral but he is going to trade me for some of my shrooms. I forget what he said I can have but ill post it when I find out what it was. I'm also going to see if a LFS or someone on CL will give me credit / trade something for my shrooms. The LFS I was at had super small shrooms on LR for a decent amount if cash so maybe I can get something for a few of my specimens.
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evanlundberg4

Well then I wouldn't worry about it then. I'm lucky enough to have a great LFS right near me. They grow and frag all their own corals on site. I'm no expert but good even bright color, full polyp extension and general health of the tank are things I would say to look for in quality coral.
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bigehugedome

I have other not as local LFS which have better corals then my go to LFS. So ill be checking them out.

bigehugedome

Specific Gravity 1.025
Temp 78.5
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 1ppm
Nitrite: .25ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm

No need to test anything else at the moment correct?

What do you think about "quick start bacteria in a bottle" I was digging through the rest of the stuff i got with the tank of CL and in there is Red Sea's version called Nitro Bac. Since I have it and its not expired, it wont hurt to add it right?

Reefing Madness

Numbers looking good. No reason to test anything else at the moment, unless you want Coralline growing right away. Then you need to test MAG, ALK and CA.
I don' tmuch care for jump starters in the water. But there are many out there that swear by them.

bigehugedome

Ill add it since I have it. I was not planning on buying any, but there is not alot left. Maybe just enough for the main dose, then I can trash the bottle.

I thought i had a MAG test. Ill grab one since ill need it anyway and test those three when I get it.

Now time to sit back and relax.

Reefing Madness