Aqueon 15 column FW to reef conversion build

[drfu]

I would first like to thank forum members JoeDigiorgio, sweetelfmaiden & trong for all of your help and inspiring me to change this tank to SW! After doing mu first IM Nuvo 8 reef i got the SW bug! This will be a reef tank w/3 fish. SPS/LPS mush, polys, etc....not sure about an anemone, maybe some day when I'm not such a chicken!

 

Here is what i have done so far:

Aqueon 15 gallon column aquarium

Stock filter w/no media, just for flow till i get 1 or 2 Hydor Korelia 240 pumps

Fluval 106 w/filter floss, ChemiPureElite & Purigen

Stock T5 fixture with upgraded Power Glo 18K bulb, reef lighting to come, undecided still

TrueLumen moonlight accent light for nighttime viewing, might look @ Pro series for retrofit in stock hood (if they step up to the plate and take of the massive %#&$ they did)

100 watt heater, dig thermometer.

Not planning on a skimmer with this small of a tank or a fuge.

 

Day 1

So tonight i picked up some Instant Ocean reef crystals, 15lb of live rock, not sure how cured it is &

20lb of CaribSea Bimini Pink live sand.

 

Started my sw mix w/half ro water & half conditioned tap water. Placed sand in tank and all hardware. Made a cardboard cutout template of the size of my tank that i wanted to aquascape and started smashing the big pieces with a screwdriver/hammer to make workable sizes. Epoxied the big piece to a base piece, built cave/bridge piece and after an hour placed it in the tank, filled with water and turned on the filters.

 

Here is the aquascape below, still have about an extra 5lbs of rock i still can place or build on. Please, advice on additions/changes of the aquascape or hardware. Be honest, thanks all and to the forum members who got me thinking od doing this tank first vs some other fw tanks i have!

 

Will post netter pics tomorrow after water clears

[drfu]

Day 2:

 

Water has cleared, refractometer reads 1.024, will have to bring that up. Havent done any other water tests, maybe tomorrow just to see where things are at. Added some small pieces.

Front, left, right & full pics. Tell me what you all think so far!

[drfu]

My first chemistry readings after 24 hours:

 

Salinity1.025

Ph 7.8-8.0, hate API test kits colour charts!

Ammonia .25-.50ppm, yes! API!!!

Nitrite 0,

Nitrate 20??? Strange so see that yet no nitrites!

Cu below detectable limits

Phosphates 1-2, yikes!

Kh, 11-12

Ca 380-420, lost count on my drops!

 

I had my live rock out of water for a few hours from transporting it and doing my aquascaping cause of letting the epoxy harden so i can see why i have so much ammonia but having Nitrates so fast yet no Nitrites is a bit confusing, anyone know why this might happen?

 

[RK_tek]

Congrats on coming to the salty side. There arent too many column builds on here, so ill be interested to see how this goes.

 

Testing for a baseline is good so you know where you started, but there's not much reason to test frequently during the cycle unless you are just curious. It does give you a reason to play with the tank since there's not any livestock to look at.

[trong]

Looks great!

[drfu]

Looks great!

 

Thanks, hope it turns out like yours did

[drfu]

Day 3:

Had to do some wire managment, im anal that way, created a backboard as i didnt want to be able to see through, also makes my scape look a bit more of a cave.

 

Added Control 4 Automation for my lighting cycle for the current lighting, did the standard sunrise/sunset by longitude/latitude for the daylights and 1 hour before sunrise for the 453nm moonlights to turn on & off @ midnight.

[drfu]

Day 4:

 

Was @ my lfs pricing out a CUC for this tamk, decided on 3 Trochus, 5 Nassarius & 12 cerith snails & 2 skarlet skunk cleaner shrimp. Cant wait for my tant to complete its cycle. On that note i have a lot of white dust forming on my rock, some good die off from my live rock should go along way i hope.

 

Did another water test just to see where its @ cause i have nothing else to do besides wait!

Salinity 1.024, added a tablespood of reef salt.

Ph 7.8-8.0, added some AquaVitro 84.

Ammonia .25, looks like it dropped a bit already.

Nitrite, still undetectable.

Nitrate 20.

Phosphates has dropped to under 1, nice!

Kh, steady at 11

Ca is still @ 400 so i added a capful of AquaVitro calcification.

 

My lfs had Kent Marine Purple Tech on sale so im going to try it, my guy there said he did an experiment with two of their tanks saying it actually mande a difference.......i'm a bit skeptical but its worth a shot.

 

[drfu]

Congrats on coming to the salty side. There arent too many column builds on here, so ill be interested to see how this goes.

 

Testing for a baseline is good so you know where you started, but there's not much reason to test frequently during the cycle unless you are just curious. It does give you a reason to play with the tank since there's not any livestock to look at.

So its been a week, no more ammonia, never got nitrites, nitrates spiked as high as 40, detectable phosphates .25 maybe still, salinity, ph, alk, Ca all stable and now some diatoms finally, did a water change and will test again tomorrow, time for a cuc me thinks but a small one to start off with as there is no green algae yet. Gotta love live rock out of someone else tank to start up a reef!

[drfu]

Day 8:

 

Think my tank is cycled, see above post. Have on order Current USA pro nana kit dual light strips to retrofit into my hood plus an extra strip as this tank is 18" from the hood to the bottom and i want to grow sps/lps in it. Had an issue with their recommendations, after a few emails they stepped up, im very happy they took care of me and will let you all know how their lighting system works out!

 

Decided to take the stock Aqueon quiet flow 10 and make it into a fuge since i have the Fluval 106 for filtration. Removed the floss/carbon filter and holder out, moded the lid and retrofitted a 4 watt IM Led fixture in it to grow cheato & maybe some ulva lettuce algae, thoughts on this?

 

Also on order is two Hydor Koralia nano 240's, figure i can cover more of the tank with two.

[drfu]

Day 10:

 

Added my CUC which consists of 5 trochus, 5 nassarius, 3 nerites & 7 dwarf ceriths. I also took 2 bumble bees from my other tank to help take care of my massive brown algae(detritus) breakout. Since last night my Trochus have cleaned up a lot of rock, love these guys, eat a ton but could be worried that 5 might be too much after they are done on the clean up?

 

Todays levels:

Salinity 1.025, temp is 79.3.

Ph 8.0, Nh4 0. Used new Salifert test kits, seem good so far!

Mg 1200??? NO3 is 5, Salifert as well.

No detectable copper, nitrites API

Kh 214, Ca420-440, Some PO4 but i believe its below .25ppm API. I have ordered Hanna checker for all three of these tests as they are extremely important.

[drfu]

Day 13:

 

UPS was massive today, got my 3 Hanna Checkers, my Hydor powerheads, and some phosgard.

 

Did some reshaping of my rock, need to make more room for coral vs. looking cool, not sure about it as of yet, need some input!

 

Installed the three pumps, one in the bottom right, under my heater pointing out. Second is top right pointing down towards the centre & the third top left pointing down towards the centre of the live rock. Not sure if i have them poi ted right yet until i get some coral in there.

 

Added the Phosgard, changed out my ff and did another 15 wc.

 

Tested out my phosphorus, wow, what a difference, my API told me my levels were undetectable, not even close, @ .12 right now, yikes! Kh with Hanna is the same with API, just no counting drops so i would say for the $ nothing wrong with API. Now Ca API was way off, i was testing and levels i thought were around 380-400, so i was dosing calcium plus using Purple Tech for coraline growth, Hanna says I'm @ 530!

 

Fedex didnt deliver my led lighting yesterday, nor today, they now say Monday & my other LED's ari e the week after so i have lots of time to play around, get my scape right, bring those phos levels down and start moving some of my frags to the new tank, cant wait to get some color in there!

 

Before and after pics

[drfu]

Day 16:

Got my replacement Curent USA Nano LED kit today, had issues with the supplied brackets but used reef glue to attach to my existing light cover/diffuser. So now i have the 12" Marine Fusion (12K/453nm), 12" Deepwater 453nm blue, my 10" 453 ascent moonlight and my stock 12" T5 fixture with a Hagen Power-Glo 18K bulb. I have one more Marine Fusion dual strip on order that i should get next week.

 

Done another water change today, got my phosphorus & phosphates down to almost something acceptable, my nitrates are between 2-5 so okay there. I will not do another test for 5 days, want to see if these levels change with nothing but the cuc in the tank though I'm excited to put in all my frags from my other tank into this one and look at a fish or two. Must stay patient for at lease one more week imo, but I'm close!

 

Congrats on coming to the salty side. There arent too many column builds on here, so ill be interested to see how this goes.

 

Testing for a baseline is good so you know where you started, but there's not much reason to test frequently during the cycle unless you are just curious. It does give you a reason to play with the tank since there's not any livestock to look at.

Were getting close now!

[drfu]

Day 22:

 

Added my last strip that arrived last week, started moving some frags from my other tank into this one, 2 per day. List of what has gon in so far:

LPS; orange tube, yellow candy cane, branching hammer corals.

 

Sea Fan: Corky Finger Gorgonian

 

Polyps; GSP, orange, purple, green, red colony's....no clue really what kind they are!

 

Sofies; colt/kenya tree....mever know which is which???

 

Mushrooms; green, orange, blue/purple rhodactis/ricordia mushrooms....again never know which is which???

 

SPS Hard; birdsnest coral

 

Also added 36 hours ago a hi fin goby/pistol shrimp paired combo....been hiding, long story, see below:http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/342254-new-hi-fin-goby-pistol-shrimp-missing-in-action/?p=4656424

[cal1319]

Love it! I just did the same conversion, I should get some pics up of the build when i get a chance!

[drfu]

Love it! I just did the same conversion, I should get some pics up of the build when i get a chance!

 

Would like to see it, let me know how you did yours, would like some others to chime in on any changes/ideas!

[cal1319]

I went a little different. I had a spare AC110 so I modded that into a three chamber fuge. The first chamber has some filter floss, purigen and chemi-pure, second chamber has chaeto powered by a little LED light and third chambers houses the protein skimmer and heater. I used the stock hood, replaced the stock ballast with one for powering a T5HO and am using a Power-Glo bulb, also have a 10K, 14K, 420nm and two blue stunner strips in the hood. I used a lot of silcon just to make sure everything was water tight, not the prettiest but I sleep better at night haha. I also am using the Hydor smart level system that runs a line back into the AC110 for water top off. Other then that I have 20lbs rock and 20lbs of sand... Ill have to get some more pics when I get home...

[drfu]

I went a little different. I had a spare AC110 so I modded that into a three chamber fuge. The first chamber has some filter floss, purigen and chemi-pure, second chamber has chaeto powered by a little LED light and third chambers houses the protein skimmer and heater. I used the stock hood, replaced the stock ballast with one for powering a T5HO and am using a Power-Glo bulb, also have a 10K, 14K, 420nm and two blue stunner strips in the hood. I used a lot of silcon just to make sure everything was water tight, not the prettiest but I sleep better at night haha. I also am using the Hydor smart level system that runs a line back into the AC110 for water top off. Other then that I have 20lbs rock and 20lbs of sand... Ill have to get some more pics when I get home...

 

You fit all of that into a ac110? I seen in tank videos on their basket but not with that much in it, maybe i missed something, very cool. Hows your lighting for coral growth?

[cal1319]

The AC110 is about a foot long, there is actually quite a bit of space in the thing! Holds a good amount of water too! So far I just have a few mushrooms that are doing great under the lights. I also have a frag of a trumpet coral that my friends frogspawn was stinging. It's in pretty rough shape but still opening up after the lights are out. Hopefully in a few more months I can see if the lights are doing the trick.

[drfu]

The AC110 is about a foot long, there is actually quite a bit of space in the thing! Holds a good amount of water too! So far I just have a few mushrooms that are doing great under the lights. I also have a frag of a trumpet coral that my friends frogspawn was stinging. It's in pretty rough shape but still opening up after the lights are out. Hopefully in a few more months I can see if the lights are doing the trick.

 

I just looked it up, i didn't know it was that big! I had emailed Current USA and they told me that the strips were no good for coral growth, just accent lighting as i already had their moonlight installed and was thinking i could just add more for my conversion. They had recommended to me 3 more one 14k/453nm & 2 more 453 strips so i ordered them from Amazon. After another person who did a build with the same tank as ours said they would not work, they have to be the Pro LED strips. After several emails they took care of me and sent me the Pro Nano kit, which i also added one more 14k dual strip. I hope you well growing with yours.

[drfu]

Day 25:

My first livestock are now doing well, my HiFin goby is on guard in front of the hole the Red Banded Pistol shrimp is building, doing quite a re-scape of my substrate i might add. Will try and feed him today but my nassarius snails freak him out. Did my 2nd weekly water change, 15%, added some live phyto, rotifiers & copepods for my corals to feed on. Have turned my light up over 50% now and will continue to turn them up to max if everything stays happy.

 

Water chem is looking good, think the addition of my filter-fuge,conversion is helping with the addition of a small bal of cheato in there. Ph though doesn't seem to get much above 8.0 so i might run my fuge light 24/7, might need some advice there! Alk is starting to drop since the additions of the corals, might have to keep an eye on that and add some Arm & Hammer if it continues to drop, its down to 153ppm. Nitrates are around 2.5-5ppm so thats good and phosphorus is down to 16ppb or when i convert it to phosphates works out to .05 so I'm happy there!

 

Over the next month i don't have much to do except maybe play around with coral placement, powerhead positioning. I havent mounted any frags yet but need to, my Trochus snails like to bulldoze over a few of them! I might also frag my Devils Hand and Toadstool for this tank too.

[drfu]

Its been awhile since my my last post, really just a few thing:

Fuge mod with my aqueon failed, chaeto died. I have an extra ac20, so i ordered the InTank media basket & 10w submersible light. Its been a week & my nitrates are now .2ppm! Wow!

Still having issues w/phosphorus/phosphates so i ordered a SpetraPure cpdi unit vs buying rodi water, i think it has phosphates in it so I'm hoping this solves the issue.

Added a few corals,peppermint shrimp and all seem happy except now my flower rock anemone is on the move!

Below is the latest list of my tank build and pictures.

 

Hardware:

Aqueon 15 gallon column tank kit w/8W Power-Glo 18K T5 light fixture, 2* TrueLumen Pro 12” Marine Fusion LED’s, 1 * TrueLumen Deepwater Blue 12” LED, TrueLumen 10” LED Moonlight, Fluval 105 External Canister filter (Live Rock, Filter Floss, ChemiPure Elite, Purigen, Phosgard), Fluval Surface Skimmer, AquaClear 20 w/InTank media basket (Cheato) Fuge Conversion w/InTank 10W 6500K submersible light, Marina 100W heater.

 

Livestock/Invertebrates:

Hi Fin Goby mated w/ Pistol Shrimp, 2* Peppermint Shrimp, Rock Flower Anemone

 

Coral:

LPS Hard Corals: Frogspawn, Candy Cane, Branching Hammer, Orange Tube Coral

SPS Hard Corals: Orange Montipora Digitata, various Birdsnest, Hyacinthus Acropora, Neon Green Horn Hydnophora

Sea Fans: Corky Finger Gorgonian

Soft Corals: Devil’s Hand, Colt Tree, Toadstool Mushroom Leather, White Pom Pom Xenia

Mushrooms: Hairy Green Rhodactis, Various Rhodactis, various Ricordea, Watermelon, various Mushrooms

Polyps/Zoas: GSP, Bam Bam, Devils Armour & various Zoas, Button & various polyps in various colors.

 

CUC:

Snails: 7 Ceriths, 5 Nassarius, 2 Bumble Bee & 4 Trochus

 

Décor:

15 lbs Live Rock, 10lbsCaribSea Fiji Pink Aragonite sand

[drfu]

Well its time to update my tank and what has happened in the last few months:

 

Had an outbreak of Flatworms, tried the sucking up with gravel vac, too many so that didn't work very well. I then bought Salifert Flatworm Exit, followed the instructions to a tee and worked awesome, maybe see the odd one every now and again but I'm very happy with the results and had no nitrate spike of any kind.

 

Had a BTA split in my IM Nuvo 8, so i added it to this tank, seems to be doing okay but notice that the tentacles don't seem to have the bubbles on them, they just seem a bit thin?

 

My Rock Flower spawned off a couple of little ones, sold one off as i don't need a tank filled with them!

 

Moved my juvi pair of mated clowns from my 8 gallon to this tank as they were getting too big for the 8 as i knew they would & they seem to like their new home, just need to get them a nice RBTA i think that they can call their own.

 

Still seem to have a phosphate issue, am trying to cut feeding in half and now have been rinsing my frozen cubes first before feeding. If anyone has any other good ideas on the issue would love to hear your thoughts.

[drfu]

I picked up a used Innovative Marine Micro 30 for $250 w/stand, the top of the line 92watt dual spectrum Skkye light & it had some live samd & rock in it as it was still wet.

 

I will be converting this tank into a frag tank & move it to my office. May keep a fish in it for some bioload but most of the sand will be removed, all the rock & corals & my oclowns & hifin goby/pistol shrimp pair. If i have any left over live rock from the IM 30 it will go in the bottom for filtration.

 

The plan is to take out the canister filter & surface skimmer and just run the AC50 & the InTank media basket with ff, cpe& purigen.

 

See new build thread

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/349993-dr-fus-innovative-marine-micro-30-build-questions/?p=4805475

[jpe1974]

Hello, I just recently purchased the Aqueon 15 Colum tank and noticed you had one as well and your saltwater tank looks fantastic. I was wondering if you could tell me what things I need to get to get up and running. I am wanting to just do basic live rock with a couple fish shrimp and snail and maybe some choral? Not sure what I need to purchase and would like some advice. Thanks!