Robb in Austin

Nice! Welcome guys!

It's all part of why we are here. I'd venture to guess all of us have been in the exact same position. But, thanks for saying it and you're welcome!

Yup. Added another rock, plus two fish. Will keep up with the Stability and slow additions.

@etannert; if there was a "like post" button, I'd like your post. @Derek;

Model and ideas of what you are looking for will help

I'll volunteer Mark!

I've been slowly adding to the tank over the last 4 days. Current inhabitants are 2 snails, 1 plug of zoos, 1 small rock with 2 rics on it, my galaxea, and an acan rock courtesy of Mark. I noticed some algae growing on the sand as well.

Well, yes, that works. (I was a bit hesitant to post about the SG simply because evap will take care of it.) The other method would be to mix up your water change water at a slightly higher SG and let them average each other out. You'd have to take a reading of the DT water first obviously to know what you are starting with.

No water changes during the cycle. Once it's done, then a small one is in order, say 10-20%. I'd also recommend tweaking your salinity closer to 1.026, although you're not far enough way for it to be a problem. Also, once the cycle is over, don't add anything. Other than a tiny amount of fish food to keep the bacteria alive. You'll be surprised at what will come out of the rock in terms of lifeforms. I'd recommend waiting, which will be difficult, at least a month before adding any animals be they fish, inverts, or corals.

Welcome!

Looks better. Make sure its nice and stable; grab each rock and give them a wiggle in multiple directions.

Yup, you're ok as long as it's the regular and not the one with mildewcide in it. I've read that the reason they put that warning on there is in case someone builds an aquarium with it and it fails then GE can't be sued( of course we all know that warning won't prevent a lawsuit) AND so they can charge more for the exact same thing in a tube labeled "aquarium glue".

There ya go!

Ok, Mike wins.

I'm hoping I wont have any issues, but if Xenia/Anthelia/GSP want to drop off I'd be ok with that.

Very pretty; what species? Apparently they need lots of feedings throughout the day so if you can accommodate that, you might be ok.

Sorry, didn't read you had the angel. D'OH!

Since Collin asked I suppose I'll answer here: The livestock will be the same as my current 58, since I'm just moving them over; royal gramma, tailspot blenny, lawnmower blenny, 2 green chrmois(assuming they dont reduce themselves again), 2 blue reef chromis, 2 Clarki clowns, Lamarcks angelfish, various snails, 2 emerald crabs, 4 clams, 2 GBTA, and all my corals except whatever Xenia/Anthelia I can get off. Corals: galaxea, frogspawn, hammer, various zoos, ricordea, acan, 2 trachyphyllia, and the toadstool. I want to add another 6line, or maybe a yellow or green coris, wrasse and a tang of some type. I may add more clams/zoos/trachys but am not planning on going all out on the coral front. Maybe a pink birdsnest but that's about it.

Cool on your rocks. Only you can answer your coral/fish question for sure, but I'd add a wrasse of some type, maybe some chromis(I'm partial to the blue reef chromis but they are pricey), a lawnmower, gramma, maybe an angel. I tend to like more "common" fish vs exotic; 1)cheaper, 2)they tend to be common because they do well in tanks.

Yes. The reason is so you can run a Magfloat back there to clean the glass. Also, as Derek mentioned, it's nice to have flow all the way around to keep detritus from pooling(which will happen within the rock structure but you know what I mean).

I like the caves. I'd suggest not having it touch any glass, but it may be too late to change. Got a girlfriend/wife/sister? Have her scape it. I've never seen one by a female that hasn't been outstanding. Aquatek has some really nicely coralline encrusted rock in all sizes. It's expensive though. RCA still has some of their last shipment in stock, it's pretty nice too but not encrusted.

+3 on Tunze if the price is the same. Don't forget to factor in the price of a controller, Tunze or other, if you want to control them.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention. It's not that blue in person. But, yeah, yea! Do I qualify for the longest build in ARC history? What do I win for it? We need a ruling here Andrew!

Yeah, probably wont hurt it long term. But, to address your idea. Remember that salt doesn't evaporate, only the water, so you run the risk of inadvertently raising your SG by doing that. I just try to clean it up from time to time with a wet rag. If some falls in I don't worry about it, but I don't add it intentionally.