My new tank (Red Sea Max 250)

OK I figured I'd post this in here, basically it started in this thread:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/red-sea-max-250-a-61595.html
But I figured it'd be more appropriate to continue in here ?

I am basically going to post my parameters, you guys can tell me what you think ?

PARAMETERS (24 March 2009)
Temperature: 81.4
PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: <0.3 mg/L
Nitrate: between 0 and 5 mg/L
Salinity: 1.027
dKH/KH/Alkalinity: 8.5
Magnesium: 1400
Calcium: 460
Phosphate: 0

 

your cycle is just beginning!! YAY!!!!! I'd lower my temp to 79, just a personal preference. seems less algae grows with that temp. Mg could be bumped up, but otherwise, yep looks right where it should be!

 

Looks like a good start, but I would be concerned about the Nitrite: <0.3 mg/L. I'm not an expert, but you want it at Zero before adding any live stock.

 

I just read your other thread. You transferred everything from one tank to another? Looks good, you might end up having a mini cycle which might hurt some of your corals or other inhabitants. On the other thread you have pics and everything looks great!

 

cool, yeah it's usually around 78.2 to 79.8 but last night it was at 80.5 and today it went all the way up to 82.1 !!! even though the room temp was still the same as usual (I have a Davis Vantage Pro 2 weather station and I have a temp sensor in the same room as my tank, so I can track the room temp on my computer, I am actually considering buying another water temp sensor - already have one in my pool - to monitor tank temperature)

the <0.3 mg/L is the lowest reading on the chart for that test, there is no 0 reading, the nitrite was actually up to 0.8 mg/L and then 0.5 mg/L in the past few days

Thanks, and yep transfered everything (but only part of the live sand) I also used some Bio-Spira since my LFS recommended it, as well as seachem prime to keep the nitrite low since I already have my fish in there.

Thanks, we were planning on upgrading to a bigger tank for a while, and even made a spot for our old tank while we were cycling this one, I guess destiny wanted it done differently lol.
So far, I am very impressed with the tank's quality, one of my neighbours in my street had a few tanks over the years and he told me he was also impressed on how well the whole package worked together, and that he was really impressed !
Only couple little complaints are the door catches on the stand don't line up (pre-drilled but you have the reposition them) and now it's the temperature thing, wonder if I will have to add a chiller after all ...

I just started seeing today some brown spots on the live sand that wasn't there before, I suppose that's the algae bloom ?

 

might want to get a clip on fan to displace the heat. I run mine and it keeps my tank at 79, when the inside of the house is up to 84.

 

hmmm, I do have the optional dual fan installed and running 24/7, do you mean an additional one on top of that ? And where would I place it ?
Also I cleaned the skimmer today (I am new with those, my old tank didn't have one) and for the first time it was making brown foam (it was white before) and OMG that thing smells lol.
Also, as far as the lighting goes, how long should I have it on ? right now it is set to come on at 10AM and off at 6PM

 

Check that the heater is not set all the way to maximum. It's possible this is the cause in which case turn it down to 24-26C

 

thanks yeah I checked the heater, they recommend setting it at 79F in the instructions (26C), I unplugged it last night just to see and after 3 hours it went up another .2 to 81.6 and then down slowly, this morning it was 79.2 so I plugged the heater back in, I know I can rule that out.