Our first reef, 10g Nano, (Verde-bay) in Charleston SC

[airman_verde04]

Hey Nano-reef Peeps! My name is David, and My wife Melisa, and we just started up our very first reef tank last week! Its already looking awesome I think. going to keep it simple, well, as simple as we can. here are our starting specs!

 

- AGA 10g tank.

- the Nova extreme by current light fiture, 18", 36 watt lamp, 18watt 460nm actinic slimpaq T5HO lamp, 18watt 10,000k slimpaq T5HO lamp

- 2, blue LED custom (ghetto) DIY moon light.

- Marineland, Visi-therm deluxe heater, 50watt.

- Penguin100 bio-whee power filter, with 3 stage filtration.

- I have a glass top, but I haven't really used it just yet.

- 4 pounds of decorative quarried rock.- 4 pounds of live rock.

- one bag of live sand.

- one silk fake pink plant thing

 

Live stock

 

- several snails

- 2 mexican redleg hermits

- 1 cleaner shrimp

- 2 Tank bred Ocellaris clownfish

- Zoas

- Brown and Green Discus Zoas

- Xeina

- Feather duster tube worms

- Toadstool Leather

 

questions. TONS!

 

and here are some pictures for you all too enjoy. The tanks been cycling really well, we're hoping by this weekend, we can get the clean-up crew for the tank so we can pick out some fish in about a week or so. I found some life on my live rock, if you all can help me know the names of these things that would be great!

 

Here is Verde-bay in all her new glory!

 

Verde-bay at night with my ghetto DYI moon lights

 

View from the left side

 

View from the right side.

 

Our lonely mushroom, Hes doing alot better today! Didn't seem to like the move from the shop to the tank.

 

Don't Know what this guy is, but he doesn't like to show his face much, will hide back in the rock if he feels vibrations, or if your close to the tank.

 

We only have one of these things so far also. I thought it was a stick at first before he relaxed a bit after putting the rock in the tank

 

This pink stuff looks really cool! by far my favorite next to Mr.Mushroom head!

 

Again, my wife and I are newbies! not even a week old! so I don't know the names of everything going on in my tank so far. Still learning. would appreciate the help! hope you all like what we have so far. Not to bad for only one week old! I'm worried that my little things will die since the tank is still cycling. so we shall see.

[Mischeif Nite]

Coolest rock-scaping ever! Super nice job!

[DAP]

I agree,

Very nice aquascaping.

[Mr. Fosi]

Nice to see another SC reefer around. I'll post more tonight if can.

[Mischeif Nite]

So far I see mushroom, a featherduster, a zoanthid, and maybe pulsing xenia. Did you get all of those as hitchhikers? Hope they make it through cycling. As far as water changes go......I get my water premixed from the local fish store, siphon out a gallon or two out of my tank, get the new stuff up to temp., and gently pour in over my hand. Hope this helps and welcome

[magr078]

STOP!!! I don't think you really understand how a tank cycles. A one week old tank shouldn't have ANY corals in it. Don't get any clean up crew or fish until you do a lot of research.....I'm sorry if I'm flaming you but your current setup is destined to fail.....

[divecj5]

Hey man...glad to see another Carolina reefer on here. I will post more tomorrow when I get a chance.

[airman_verde04]

So far I see mushroom, a featherduster, a zoanthid, and maybe pulsing xenia. Did you get all of those as hitchhikers? Hope they make it through cycling. As far as water changes go......I get my water premixed from the local fish store, siphon out a gallon or two out of my tank, get the new stuff up to temp., and gently pour in over my hand. Hope this helps and welcome

 

Thanks for the concern, but they are I guess, Hitchhikers as a reef term. Lets just hope they stick it out. I can walk to the Local fish shop its so close, so I'm not really going past my knowledge level without some advice from them. I guess I just got good live rock! still waiting for it to cycle! but thanks for the concern!

[matty0206]

Mag learn how to flame properly............Lol

 

Airman! Tank looks good!

[magr078]

Ooops!....Yeah!!.....Tank looks good......for now.

[jm82792]

You could try to soft cycle the tank

Thats where your trying to keep your Nitrites and ammonia down to keep them alive through the cycle. I dunno the exact way to soft cycle though. Another member who has experience can fill you in on soft cycling.

[Mr. Fosi]

- I read the how to water change thing. it looks a bit more in depth then i can afford right now. is their a simpler way some of you do your water change?

 

Not sure what you mean... Take water out, put in new SW.

 

- can you break up live rock? I have a piece thats a bit big, rather it be in smaller pieces?

 

Yes.

 

- what should be the main things I'm looking out for, so when I do get my fishies, they don't die?

 

Get some test kits. Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia and pH. Make sure they are for SW, or work in both SW or FW. You won't know when your cycle is done without them.

 

- As of now, I have my light on for 9 hours, should I be leaving them on longer, like to the 10-12 hour range? or will 9 hours be enough for my friends of the mini sea?

 

You can leave them on for as long as you like. Personally, I leave mine on for no less than 8 hrs. I have a 130W PC fixture.

[PodRod]

Airman,

 

You and Melissa are off to a great start. Tideline is excellent at helping beginners get up to speed and they will not guide you wrong. Be sure to chat with Chris. He is the owner and loves to help educate new people in the hobby. Be sure to read up on cycling. Right now that's the most important topic to focus on. You'll need test kits to help you determine when to add your clean up crew. The most important advise I can give is to take it slow and enjoy each phase of the process. Skipping ahead will result in very bad things - trust me, I'm speaking from experience and learned the hard way

 

I really like your aquascape - it looking good! I look forward to seeing the progress and I'm so glad there's another local in the hobby!

[airman_verde04]

Mr. fosi, I just want you to know, that I'm forever going to think your a very large man who looks like Jared before the Subway Diet, but as for the water change, I read the water change thread on the beginners page, and well, what that guy shows looks a little much since I'll be only changing about 1 gallon a week. But I have been testing the water about every other day or so since putting the tank up. I got the PH level up to a good level, the nitrite and ammonia is still not wanting to get to 0 just yet.. so.. wait.. wait.. wait.. ugg..the Air Force has taught be patients young padawon.

[airman_verde04]

Airman,

 

You and Melissa are off to a great start. Tideline is excellent at helping beginners get up to speed and they will not guide you wrong. Be sure to chat with Chris. He is the owner and loves to help educate new people in the hobby. Be sure to read up on cycling. Right now that's the most important topic to focus on. You'll need test kits to help you determine when to add your clean up crew. The most important advise I can give is to take it slow and enjoy each phase of the process. Skipping ahead will result in very bad things - trust me, I'm speaking from experience and learned the hard way

 

I really like your aquascape - it looking good! I look forward to seeing the progress and I'm so glad there's another local in the hobby!

 

Thanks! you know I glad it didn't take that long to find some others in this hobby, I live for mountain biking, an it took me 3 years living here to find some folks who ride with! Thanks for the complement! everyone seems to thing it looks good, I thought it was normal to stack the rock the way we did.. you know, I was alittle bum'd after buying all my stuff from Tideline. I went to superpetz, and they have the 12g biocube on sale for $68. I was alittle bummed, but its all good. my little tank is just fine for now.

 

would anyone know how often I will need to change the cartage in my penguin filter. It seems from reading not to many folks use the hang on the back type filter.

[joer3]

I like it! Can we get a picture of your DIY moon lights? I like the random direction.

[Captain]

air! As for your question about the filter cartridge, alot of people dont run any cartridge in their filter at all. Most filtration is handled by your live rock and sand. HOB filters are mostly used for flow in SW nano's and/or modified to act as refugiums. The only time I personally run anything in my HOB is when I think there may be some Allelopathy (chem warfare between corals) going on and there are chem's in the water that need to be neutralized. Some people run filter floss or other filter mediums, but in short you want to make sure that whatever you're running stays clean otherwise you could have nitrates build up inside of the cartridge.

[divecj5]

It looks like you've gotten some great advice already on your thread, except for of course the turd that said your tank is destined to fail Kind of funny really. Take everything with a grain of salt and make sure to research things on your own before making a final decision.

 

I agree with Mr. Fosi and PodRod to a T. First off, for the water change, just save a gallon jug from a gallon of milk or I like to use the jug from Arizona tea. Like Mr. Fosi said, there really isn't anything to doing a water change...keep it simple. Here is what I've done for about 2 years now on my 55 that I had and my 29 now:

 

I use a bucket from some Reef Crystal salt. I make RO/DI water and pour 4 gallons in this bucket. I then dump the necessary amount of salt mix in there, put an extra powerhead I have laying around in there as well as a heater. I let it mix for anywhere between an hour or 12 hours. I test the salinity to make sure it matches the tank and make sure the temperature is pretty close to matching the tank. It is alright if it is off a little just not too much. I then take the plastic tubing, place one end in the tank and get a siphon going in order to take out the water I am looking to change. Once I have that water out, one gallon in your case, I hook the plastic tubing up to the powerhead in the bucket to pump it into my gallon jug. Dump the water back into your tank and you are set. Clean up and you've done your first water change.

 

I know that it sounds daunting and it will seem that way the first couple of times. I am getting ready to do a waterchange tonight and it's kind of become something I can do in my sleep now. It's just a matter of getting a routine down and making sure you don't leave out any important steps.

 

As far as the rest of the tank, I agree that you will want to get some test kits. They are cheaper online but I usually try and get them from Tideline if they are on sale. You will want to get a Nitrate, Nitrite, and Ammonia test kit along with a pH kit so that you can watch as your tank cycles. After everything has cycled, you will want to get a Calcium and Alkalinity test but you can probably hold off for now.

 

As far as the cycle, like PodRod and others said, take it slow, enjoy the tank now while there isn't anything really in there that you will worry about, and just watch as all of the little critters come out of the rock. This is one of my favorite parts of keeping a saltwater tank and took me two tanks to realize it. I just like watching how something with just live rock and sand can turn into a microfauna circus quickly.

 

You will eventually will want to take out the silk plant because your corals will quickly look 10X better once you get to a point where you can add them. I know my wife was always pressuring me to add similar things when I first start reefing and now see just enjoys the real stuff even more.

 

That's all I have time to type right now. I would suggest looking around in all of these forums especially the Pico forum as it focuses on smaller tanks and you will get some really good info. from other 10g tanks on there.

 

Enjoy your tank and I look forward to seeing more pictures.

[Mr. Fosi]

The carbon in your HOB cartridges will be exhausted within a week, especially in a tank this young. Don't sweat it though. As it was already stated, many people use HOBs for circulation but don't use the cartridges.

 

Your LR and sand will handle the nitrogen cycle and there is plenty of surface area for bacteria to grow on, so you don't need the extra media. The carbon is good for improving water clarity, eliminating ammonia and cutting down other "chemical warfare" chemicals that many corals produce.

[airman_verde04]

I like it! Can we get a picture of your DIY moon lights? I like the random direction.

 

here you go! This is just round one of my lights, In a few weeks I'm going to take the case off my light, drill some holes so the wiring to the LED's are hidden.

 

here are some links to where you can get the lights I got, I picked mine up at the local motorcycle shop. These are the same lights I use as ground effects on my cruiser.

 

as for the power supply, I had an old ac power adapter, and cut the wiring, wah-la! Davids-ghetto-DYI-moon lighting.

 

Here is where you can pick these lights up at.

http://www.cyclegear.com/spgm.cfm?L1=&..._G&tier2=81

or

http://www.superbrightleds.com/mini_tubes.htm

 

as for power supply, just go to wal-mart, or radio shack and pick up a small power converter for like $10 bucks! You can even use any old un-used cell phone chargers. You'll need at least 6volts to get good light out of them, thats what I push through mine, but I had it at 12v when I first set it up, I just thought It was little to bright with 6 LEDs for the size tank. but 12v with 3 LEDs (one fixture) was just fine in my 10g.

 

 

 

[airman_verde04]

does anyone know if when the tank lights are off and the moon lights are running, if lights around the house or even sunlight will effect the night cycle? does that make sense?

[airman_verde04]

You will eventually will want to take out the silk plant because your corals will quickly look 10X better once you get to a point where you can add them. I know my wife was always pressuring me to add similar things when I first start reefing and now see just enjoys the real stuff even more.

 

haha... yeah, she really loves looking at all the purple in the tank. as soon as the coralline starts taking over the other rock in the tank, and we get some fish, we are going take it out. Its just mainly there to hind the heater for now.

[divecj5]

does anyone know if when the tank lights are off and the moon lights are running, if lights around the house or even sunlight will effect the night cycle? does that make sense?

 

I wouldn't worry too much about the whole "night cycle" thing. I know that there is some school of thought out there that you can simulate different moon phases with lighting schedules and then induce coral spawning. I have read that some people have gotten spawning events in their tanks, mind you they are larger tanks, but I wouldn't worry too much about the lights.

 

Excess sunlight hitting the tank will increase growth of algae though so just be mindful of how much sunlight is hitting the tank.

[airman_verde04]

I wouldn't worry too much about the whole "night cycle" thing. I know that there is some school of thought out there that you can simulate different moon phases with lighting schedules and then induce coral spawning. I have read that some people have gotten spawning events in their tanks, mind you they are larger tanks, but I wouldn't worry too much about the lights.

 

Excess sunlight hitting the tank will increase growth of algae though so just be mindful of how much sunlight is hitting the tank.

 

eh, I'm not worried about the moon/night cycling I guess. more so the 6 hours in the morning before the light kicks on, and I have the shades up for some light. So when the light is on, and the suns shinning in, I dont have issues? and my house lights wont effect the tank any even after the tank light turns off for the night?

[Mr. Fosi]

... my house lights wont effect the tank any even after the tank light turns off for the night?

 

Not in any measurable way.

 

Sunlight is only a problem if nutrients are a problem.