Some aquascaping photos. Cut up a fiberglass driveway marker for the rod, and fit them into holes I drilled with a masonry bit:

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...302_215910.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...302_221357.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...302_222101.jpg


For the supports underneath the rock I cut and notched 3/4" PVC pipe, then cut eggcrate to fit rock footprint and siliconed it to the pieces of pipe. Hopefully this will allow a bit of flow under the rock and prevent detritus buildup.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...307_215110.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...307_220536.jpg

And final aquascape... I might trim up that middle PVC/eggcrate support so its not as visible. I may also make some kind of support for the smaller rocks on the right hand side. Haven't decided yet.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...309_175306.jpg

Thanks! I think it turned out pretty good considering all I had was a cordless circular saw and drill. :) I'll post more photos of it when I get the plumbing done...

Looks Good! I like the AquaScape.

Time for a quick update. It's salty now! Still have to add a bit more salt, and finish siliconing the sump baffles, but hopefully the sump will be up and running by Monday. I'm going to throw in a shrimp here soon and start dosing Microbacter7 to help the cycle along. Should be ready for a cleanup crew or a hardy fish in a few weeks. Still lots to work on, I'm not getting a lot of free time with work and family life but I'd like to finish plumbing in the remote fuge before the cycle finishes, as well as finish the top off/mixing station (or at least set up the ato). Fuge has had water and chaeto in it for a month and is growing green algae now. Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all 0 in the fuge, but the chaeto is growing so I'm assuming it has cycled. Thought about adding a cleanup crew or a fish, but decided to leave it that way for a bit longer until I can plumb both tanks together.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...405_211607.jpg

URL=http://s1177.photobucket.com/user/jsmolders/media/20140405_094703.jpg.html]http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...405_094703.jpg[/url]

So the tank has been cycling for ten days with a small shrimp in it. Everything seemed like it was going well for a few days. Got some brown algae which I know is normal. I put the shrimp in the sump however, and it got sucked up into the return pump and shredded into tiny pieces. I figured it was no problem since it would just help it break down faster. Now, however, the water is super cloudy (probably bacterial bloom - no big deal) and VERY brown and gross looking. My whole tank looks like watery skimmate! This doesn't seem normal. Its like I have a huge excess of dissolved organics. I haven't been running a skimmer until today. I just set up my old CPR BakPak II... and right now there's so much foam its coming out the top of the collection cup. Ammonia topped out at 1ppm and is now down to 0 again (or at least less than 0.25ppm). Right now I'm reading 0 Nitrites and 0 Nitrates. ??? Unless they spiked and leveled out again in the last ten days, that doesn't seem right. I did get a bunch of small bubbles in the sand and rocks which looked similar to the kind you get when NO3 off gasses. I have been dosing MicroBacter7 fairly regularly. Two capfuls almost every day. I have filter socks on it too and they are turning dark brown within 24 hrs.

Anyway... not sure if this is normal. I'd appreciate others experiences and input. Should I do a water change or just let it play out for a few more weeks? I'm not necessarily in a hurry to add livestock but its hard to look at an ugly brown cloudy tank... lol

Here are some pics:

Lights are off but you can see how brown the tank looks
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...418_113641.jpg

Here you can see the foam collecting in the sump...
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...418_113707.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...418_140806.jpg

Update - Not going as well as I had hoped
 

Figured it was time for an update and hopefully I can get some advice too. Over the last few months I have been dealing with various algae (and possibly bacterial?) blooms. My water has always had this cloudy tinge to it and the rocks and sand get gross pretty quick. it always looks better after a water change and good scrubbing, but the algae always comes back. I did not have any issues last time I set up my tank. Here is what it looks like now...

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...002_164441.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...002_164546.jpg

Its been set up for months now so all the organics from the dry rock should have broken down by now. I have been changing about 10 gallons of water a month. It was hard to keep on top of it as I was working out of town all summer.

Updated skimmer to a Bubble Magus Curve 7 - works great.

Added a small cleanup crew in July - slowly losing my snails and hermits. Ive lost about half of them now. Also added a small mushroom rock. Seems to be doing ok but I know they are pretty hardy.

I'm a little worried about adding any more livestock until I get this cleared up.

I was thinking of removing the sand (it was reused from my previous setup) and going bb. Also thinking of doing a 100 percent water change. Any suggestions?

How old are your bulbs? When my bulbs reach the 9 month mark my tank starts to do funny things. Rocks and sand get a film on them, skimmer starts to pull a lot of brown foamy and gunky stuff, bad algae starts to really flourish.