New Picture of the 125:

[SpongeBob]

Slow but sure...

http://koszela.com/Reef/Images/4-29-2003/P4291039.JPG

[Boogiechillin]

Very nice rock, and cup corals are a personal favorite! :D

[SpongeBob]

Thanks. The rock you see is TBS. I also have some GV below.

I just confirmed that the clicking I've been hearing at night is a mantis. A very nice looking two incher. Should I tear the rock out and look for the goby? Try to catch the mantis ASAP? I did get three mantises off the rock before I put it in the tank... this one snuck by me. And as I get ready to submit this post, I can hear him clicking away...

One more question, my water is not perfectly clear. I do get some air bubbles in the return water and can't seem to figure out why. My skimmer is two baffles away from the external return pump. Any suggestions?

[Boogiechillin]

I'll let Slip weigh in on the bubbles since I'm a mechanical idiot.

Regarding the mantis, I would first try setting traps. First, starve the tank for a good 4-5 days. Try a commercial trap (any of the big online retailers sell them) and try homemade traps from soda bottles. Cut a 2L in half and bury the pieces in the sandbed so that the cut rims are flush with the surface of the sand. Bait the bottom with some shrimp or other food and see what you've got in the morning.

[slipknottin]

Coming along nice, I like the rockwork.

Seems your sump doesnt have any baffles that force the water down, or can I just not see them in the picture?

Anyways, you can add a couple more baffles pretty easily. Just find some cheap acrylic sheets at home depot, cut them to size and wedge them in place (you can silicone them in if you want, but if they fit well enough you dont need to)

[SpongeBob]

Looking more closely, I've convinced myself that the "bubbles" are actually the fine particles from the Southdown being stirred up from the bottom. Analyzing the water in the sump shows no "bubbles." The sump water is very very clear.

I know I want those fine particles so I shouldn't try to filter them out. Will the bacteria growth eventually weigh them down?

[slipknottin]

See what running a small bag of carbon in your sump does.

[SpongeBob]

Already trying that. Any other ideas? Thanks.

[slipknottin]

How old is the carbon?

You could temporarily run some mechanical filtration, I throw on an AC300 with two sponges once or twice a month.

[SpongeBob]

Just a few days old.

OK, I thought removing the fine particles should be avoided. I can see the current (and the algae blenny) stirring up some very fine stuff.

Thanks.

[slipknottin]

Usually when everyone is told not to remove all the fine particles its more of a "we dont want you to do 5 100% water changes or rinse the sand off in a bucket three times before adding it" a mech filter wont remove much of your sand at all really.

[SpongeBob]

Many weeks later...

Tank is healthy. Fish are happy. Corals are healthy.

However, I still have billions of very tiny Southdown particles floating around and driving me nuts. I know I don't want crystal clear water but I'm hoping to get it a bit clearer...

If I add some filter fiber in my sump (rigged up a platform to hold it with egg crate), in just four or five hours I can see a great deal of brown particles that have been filtered out.

The tank has been up for a good four months and has 6" of SD and live sand and 250 pounds of TBS live rock (125 gallon tank).

Ammo = 0
NO2 = 0
NO3 = Trace
pH = 8.2
SG = 1.024
Ca = 450
KH = 9.6
PO = .2 (Using RO/DI and would expect lower?)

Any suggestions?

[SpongeBob]

I hate to be negative but is anybody on this board?

[slipknottin]

Eh, sorry. Been busy.

Do you have any critters that might be stirring up the sand? If your filter floss is getting loaded with stuff then keep using it. As long as its not just sitting in your tank loading up with organic matter, its not going to cause problems.

Your PO levels should be lower, but they could be caused by multiple things. What and how much are you feeding?

[SpongeBob]

Yes, critters are stirring things up. I turned off my 3 1200 MJ PHs 48 hours ago and things are far clearer! Anything that was suspended in the water column was staying there...

I change the floss daily so I'm not concerned with bio badness...

I am concerned with the PO levels as I'm using RO/DI. I feed small amounts of brine, blood worms, & marine mixes. I will get a new PO test kit and check.

Thanks!

[slipknottin]

It is also possible you have some larger sized sponge or other creature that is sort of 'rotting' away somewhere un hidden. It could be the cause of your phosphates.

[SpongeBob]

Thanks. That's quite possible. I have a ton of sponge on the rock and it's still a fairly "young" tank. I very well may have some dead sponge on an unseen portion...

That would also explain the slightly bad odor my wife is complaining about coming from the tank...