Let’s try this again. I was at a home show and saw a couple of marine displays. I dipped my hand in salt a long time ago but got out of the hobby to pursue other hobbies. Well now I’m older and make enough money to do all of my hobbies. I have 120g FW tank that used to house my Iguana. I started it up after my old lizard passed. I wanted something that would be low maintenance and the FW tank is easy. Vacuum and WC once a month is all I do.
While down at the home show they had a 29g Nano AIO on display and I thought it would be cool to do salt again. 29g is pretty small compared to my old 75g I had back in the day. I thought the maintenance would be pretty easy once I get everything set up. After some looking around at the different AIOs at my local LFS I ended up with the Oceanic BioCube 29g. I couldn't pass up the deal, $199.
I bought live rock from 2 different stores. I also bought all the usual equipment to go with a tank. I did not take the LR home right away. I tagged the rock and left it at the LFS for a couple of weeks. In that time I built the stand, checked the tank for leaks and finished buying some equipment.
Here is the tank before water.
What a lovely set up!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a lovely set up!!!!!!!!!!!!
Did you build the stand by yourself?????
I mixed some Instant Ocean salt with the RODI I bought from the LFS for $.50 a gallon, that’s cheaper than Wal-Mart! I let the tank run for a few days and got the temp. set and the SG at 1.023. I also wanted to see the evaporation rate. Seems about 8oz a day.
The rock I picked from the stores were pretty well cured and I left them there for a while to be sure. I loaded up a couple of buckets with SW in them (half full) from my tanks and went to the LFS to pick up my LR and LS. When I got home I set up the aquascape the best I could and then added the sand. POOF!!! No more rocks.
Day 1
Day 2
The cloud is almost gone.
FTS
I found this on the side of my rock. I asked around and was told it was aptasia. I never had to deal with that before. I thought it was some kind of algae or worm at first. I'll buy some Joe's Juice and will take care of it later. Not much later, but later.
I also checked the parameters. Zero's. To be expected I was told.
Day 4
I changed the 'scape. I like the new one better. I also found out that my tank was missing a part from the factory. I thought they shipped me the wrong filter cartridge but as it turns out one of the slots was missing. This explains why I scratched my head for a couple minutes on how the filter mounted. In the end I rubber banded the cartridge to the bottom of the drip plate. Seems to work well there right now but I will ditch it in a week anyways. I also put in some polishing pads on top of the Chemi-Pure bag that is on top of the bio balls. I also installed a protein skimmer.
While I was at the LFS the marine manager said I could buy some fish to help cycle the tank further. He was not surprised when I told him what my numbers were. He said it was to be expected because of the fully cured rock I bought from him and another reputable LFS. I kinda raised an eyebrow at the suggestion so I thanked him for the "Joe's Juice" and went to Petco to have a look around. At Petco they had a sale going on. Cool for me since I don't think the fish would live in such a new tank anyway. I bought a Green Chromis for $3 and a False Clown for $7. And to top it off they had crabs (blue hermit) 3 for $1. So in the end I left with a little bag of water towards home.
I know all of you think I'm crazy for buying fish so early. I was told In my other thread. The one that was hi-jacked and then locked. That I added them way too early. Nothing I can do about that now.
So on to the pictures...
Here is the new a-scape w/ flash
Floyd
Right,
Left,
Here are a couple of pictures of the PS I modified to fit. It is a SeaClone 100. I got it from the LFS and saw one in action at the store. I made a couple of mods to it to make it work. FirstI bought some 1" clear vinyl tubing and extended the hose that went to the pump. I also extended the hose that went from the u-bend to the skimmer. I don't know if it will work but I'm going to try. I had to cut some holes in the back of the lid but as you can see it was minimal and the only thing you can see from the front is the foam canister.
My torch kicked the bucket. The part that makes me mad is the tank is perfectly healthy. At least to my knowledge. 
My anemone crab found the GBTA and is now riding it around the one rock the GBTA seems to do laps around. 
YIKES! No wonder the tank is struggling. But I just checked it and everything seems to be ok. 
The best part is it was only a $7 fix. 