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Yup so you absolutely need to see that ammonia spike. The live rock that you initially added should have been uncured so that it jump starts the cycle. The dead crap on the live rock is what causes ammonia to rise. Definitely do not do any water changes when your cycling the tank. That just...

I agree with this. I think most fish are capable of surviving in even higher nitrates. It seems like OP's tank never cycled completely. Did you ever see your ammonia spike up followed by reduction in ammonia and spike in nitrate? Only when you see that is your tank ready for livestock. Even...

Wow that's an incredible grab! Any updates?

+1 Just upgraded from a 90 to a 120 and did the same. I used one cup of sand from the 90 just to help seed the new sand bed in the 120. I wouldn't recommend using too much more than that. I think old sand beds tend to have loads of crap in them that can kick off a cycle when stirred up. I have...

I would just be sure to dip them. Seems like a lot reefers report getting nudibranches and other wierd stuff with zoa frags.

This is only my 2 cents. If I was in your shoes, I would just drain it and start over. Even though your anxious to get it going, it will just be one thing to cross off the list if you experience issues with corals or algea...you will have the comfort knowing that starting off with tap water is...

IME, algea issues just seem to disappear when nutrients get put in check. Remove whatever you can but check your PO4 and NO3 and work on getting them down if they're high. I've read that high PO4/NO3 can be "masked" in some tanks due to the algea taking it up as fast as it comes into the water...

Wow 2 or 3 years? My mag lasted me about 6, but probably with reduced capability in the later half of its life. About a month ago it died completely so I thought it would be a good opportunity to upgrade my sump and fix my leaky return bulkhead. The tee method is something I considered doing but...

^Lol No but seriously +1 to the bottle trap. I needed to catch a damsel and caught my wrasse and potter's angel along with it by accident.

Been trying to change up my plumbing somewhat. I want to add a ball valve right after my return so that I don't have to cut power to the pump for water changes and such. I wasn't sure though, would a closed ball valve right after the pump be too much "back pressure"(not sure if this is the right...

You could do either. FOWLR is gonna be easier and a bit cheaper. Fish tend to be hardier than alot of corals(although I guess that's debatable depending on the coral) so although you have to maintain water quality, you get a little bit more leeway. If you do a "mixed" reef(meaning softies, lps...

So I had some live rock laying out on the deck for more or less a year. It has seen all the seasons throughout this time and I'm assuming even though it was at one time fully cured live rock in my tank, everything is wiped out and it is just dry rock. Now I want to put it back. I took all of the...

^Good call, I forgot about that its a BC

So definitely the heater and powerhead. The other immediate items I would get are the testing kit and hydrometer OR refractomer. As far as lighting, I'm not the best guy to offer advice on this. All I can say is, do your research and if possible, try to see what the light looks like on a tank...

Yeah a lot of people like the red sea or salifert test kits. That one seems to include alkalinity which is interesting...I'm not sure if that's something that's important to monitor for a new tank, usually people only start worrying about that once their tank is stocked with corals. But it...

I strongly recommend the heater. With only 8 gallons, the temperature swings have the potential to be huge if you're not really good about keeping your house temperature very consistent. Corals/fish are sensitive to these swings so it's definitely something you want to buy before adding them...

http://shotankaquariums.com/precisionmarine20x6bullet-1highefficiencyskimmer.aspx

Definitely dead coral. Looks like a trachphyllia. Im not sure if u should remove it or not though. Ive heard of people leaving their dead coral skeletons in the tank and it spontaneously coming back

Haha, that's awesome I didn't realize I could swap the fittings around. I'm gonna do that. Thanks a lot Russ, I really appreciate the help. I was getting annoyed from not understanding these RODI things I was thinking about.

Wow Russ thanks for those labeled pics like that. Helps a bunch! I was getting confused because what I thought was the flow restrictor is actually the check valve. I went on the BRS site to see what a flow restrictor looked like and it looked like that. However, upon further inspection they do...