dxmaster Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 FTW 9/29/12 Equipment: Koralia Nano 240GPH AI Nano w/ Controller inTank Media Basket Fluval Edge! Livestock: 5 Astrea Snails 5 Hermit Crabs Ocellaris Clownfish Black Ice Clownfish YWG Candy Stripe Pistol Shrimp Coral Frogspawn Galaxea GSP Candy Cane Metallic Green Fungia Plate Red Mushrooms Huge Fire & Ice Zoa Colony ORA Green Stylo Metallic Green Star Polyps Grandis Palythoa Frag Hollywood Stunner Frag So I've decided to venture into the marine world after I spent a good chunk of time the past 2 years in Hawaii for weddings and I really want to bring a peice of it back to the desert. I've always been told how insanely expensive marine tanks are so it always kept me away from starting one but now that I've done my research I realize how inexpensive they really are compared to the stuff I spend on equipment for my business. So far I've got a stock fluval edge (6 gallon) and I just received my Koralia Nano today from Amazon. I plan on hitting up my LFS tomorrow to get rock/sand/supplies to get everything started. I plan on ditching the stock LED bar that came with my fluval and putting in an AI Nano and putting in an inTank media basket for the HOB filter that came with the edge. At some point I'll probably geek out and get a RKL or Apex Jr system. I figure I'll start a thread now and start adding photos as I go. (I'm a wedding photographer so I plan on taking plenty of photos) I'll probably have a ton of questions along the way and I always welcome suggestions and tips. I've been researching for a good 8 months before deciding it was time to start a tank up. I look forward to sharing my progress with everyone as I go along! Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 So I went over to the LFS to pickup everything I needed to get the tank started. I ended up with 6.5 lb of Tukani live rock and 10 lb of live sand. I also opted to go for their pre-mixed saltwater. I added filter floss and chemi-pure to the media tray inside the filter. So far everything seem to be going fine. Now to just figure out how to rid my tank of these bubbles! Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 And I just saw that premium aquatics is having a 10% off sale on the AI Nano, so I jumped on it and purchased it. Link to comment
xilez Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Looks good so far! I too have an edge, you should look into making it topless... best decision I have ever made! How do you like the Koralia in there? Does it take up a lot of space? Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 Looks good so far! I too have an edge, you should look into making it topless... best decision I have ever made! How do you like the Koralia in there? Does it take up a lot of space? It's the Koralia 240 and it doesnt seem to take up too much space at all. I've thought about making it topless but I like the hood over it, as weird as that may sound. Maybe one of these days I'll do it, but right now I'll let it be. Out of curiousity, is it really necessary to have a heater in this bad boy? I live in Vegas so my temperature in my office is pretty much the same year-round. I'm guessing I'll just keep an eye on the temp to make sure it stays within range and if it ever starts to go wonky I'll put one in. Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 3, 2012 Author Share Posted August 3, 2012 I decided to pull out the massively oversized bag of chemipure for the time being. I've placed an order with inTank for the AC20 media basket replacement as well as the smaller bags of chemipure that my closest LFS does not carry. For the time being I've got the active carbon bag that came with my tank as well as some filter floss inside the media basket. If that was a stupid move please let me know. :/ Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 3, 2012 Author Share Posted August 3, 2012 My AI Nano shipped! And my ammonia spiked a tiny bit today from yesterday. Now just waiting for my inTank basket to ship. Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 8, 2012 Author Share Posted August 8, 2012 Just a small update, things are still chugging right along. I gotta say these API kits are a pain in the rear to read. Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 My cycle ended pretty fast, had my LFS test the water just to be sure and added a CUC and a clown. Parameters staying good but these snails love living up by the rim of the edge! Oh, I also installed my AI Nano and inTank Media basket. I had to rig the AI Nano up a bit and cut a piece of plastic stuff to keep the splash off the AI Nano. I'll get some pics up soon but I did upload a video to youtube, its a short 30 second little clip of Sampson (Clownfish). http://youtu.be/yT_DfXc4CrI Link to comment
got2envy Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Looks great! Sampson looks happy! Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 So I thought one of my hermit crabs died because I saw a set of legs sticking out under a rock. I went to the LFS to get a long pair of tweezers to get him out so it wouldnt cause an ammonia spike and there was no shell there. I counted all my hermits and looked at them and they were all alive so I'm guessing he molted. I read online that he will eat his exoskeleton so I left it in there. Should I let him grub on it or take it out? Link to comment
d0lph1n Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 The Master said "Sexy" with exclamation point about your tank. That should be enough to lift your spirit for months. Keep up the good work and good luck. Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 15, 2012 Author Share Posted August 15, 2012 So, just a small update. I rescaped the tank a little earlier to give a little more footprint for corals and to add a bit of separation between the rocks. I'm gonna pick up a reef master test kit tomorrow so I can start checking those items. A couple of random questions... Should I always keep spare shells in the tank for my hermits? How often should I change out the filter floss? Every water change? Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 15, 2012 Author Share Posted August 15, 2012 Oh and are these weird looking worm things bad that are coming out of this LR? Link to comment
d0lph1n Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 They look like mini brittle starfish tentacles. My rocks are full of them. Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 16, 2012 Author Share Posted August 16, 2012 Ok cool. Just making sure they are not something invasive. I picked up the API Reef Master Test Kit today and decided to test the reefy levels tonight before I do my WC tomorrow. PH - 8 Ammonia - 0 Nitrite - 0 Nitrate - 0 Phosphate - 0 Calcium - 480 KH - 9 Temp - 79.9 Salinity - 1.025 So I'm guessing its a good time to start adding coral. Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 16, 2012 Author Share Posted August 16, 2012 So I added 4 new corals that I picked up from the LFS today. A frogspawn with like 5 heads, a GSP a Candy Cane frag and a galaxea. Photos! Link to comment
GalaThoun Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 great choices, cant wait to see them adjusted and opened up. Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 16, 2012 Author Share Posted August 16, 2012 The galaxea (tooth coral I guess?) was kind of a chance addition. The LFS tossed a bottle of this marine stabilizer stuff that was for another customer in my bag and charged me for it. I didn't realize it until I got home, went back and swapped the bottle for the galaxea. Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 So I decided to nix the hood on the fluval. I could not get enough light coverage to the tank with the hood on, so off it went! I'll get up a FTS a bit later in the evening. Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 I found this little worm thing in my tank and yanked it out with a pair of tweezers. Is it a bristle worm? Should I have removed it or left it in there? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHUXo5lCVns Link to comment
CrownOfficial Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 that video makes me cringe. Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 Now that the daylights are on and everything is opened up I figure its time for more pictures. Link to comment
dxmaster Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 Annnd I just saw one of my hermits running around without his shell. I guess it's time to go to the LFS and get some replacements. Link to comment
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