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Shaverto's Aqueon 8 - First SW tank


shaverto

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Hi guys,

 

Ive been around the forums for a couple months now, lots of research and planning. I had started a thread on the beginners forum that was detailing my plans for an IM SR-60 or Fusion 30L. I had put a lot of research and thought into these options and over the last week decided it was a better idea to start small with my first SW tank and get a feel for it.

 

So that brings me to my purchase of the Aqueon 8. I had gone back and forth between a few options, most notably this and the Cad lights 8 mini series. Really liked the idea of the glass, but a few concerns over the back "sump" section and also the slightly higher cost drove me to the Aqueon (Also my brothers store carried the Aqueon so i get a discount).

 

I purchased it a few days ago, along with 9 lbs of live rock/real reef rock. Also picked up 10 gallons of RO/DI and a bag of Carib Sea ocean direct oolite.

 

So I set up the tank for leak testing and started to play around with the rock on a cardboard template.

 

Photo2014-04-1735432PM_zps0eef4bcb.jpg

 

Photo2014-04-1740121PM_zps40213145.jpg

 

So i had come up with something that I really liked, provided some nice flat shelf areas, some swim throughs, and some height differentiation, also still leaving some sand bed.

 

That was great, got home from work, filled the tank with around 6-7 pounds of sand and started to try and re-create this scape.

 

OH MAN! this got hard, and frustrating FAST! My brother and I spent more than an hour trying to replicate this but doing it in the sand is so different than on cardboard. Everything becomes lower, those swim throughs you thought you had are now tiny because of how low the rock is sitting in your sand for support. After more than an hour we kinda gave up on the original idea and started playing around with different setups. Ended up with something that still gives me a shelf, some swim throughs, and some heigh differentiation. Overall I'm happy, is it exactly what I wanted? no, but I'm not going to get that, and I'm ok with that in my first tank.

 

So we mixed the RO/DI with some salt and got that into the tank.

 

Photo2014-04-1834414AM_zps0607871e.jpg

 

Time to plug in the pump and let it do its thing. Yikes, the pump is REALLY loud, this tank is in my basement where there is a 20G with a HOB filter and a 40G with two HOB filters, this is louder than all of them combined. We tried a ton of things over the next hour to get it quieter. We took apart the pump, made sure the impeller was sitting ok, cleaned anything out of it (there was nothing), tried to cut a piece of sponge and put it under it so it wasn't rattling against the bottom. None of this worked. we even put it in my brothers sump for a bit to see if the pump itself was loud or if it was because of the small back chamber. STILL LOUD! that was really late last night and I've spent the morning researching the issue. It is an issue, some people don't have it some do, theres a lot of talk of wrapping the pump in some filter sponge/floss, that I don't have right now so will have to try later. Im going to try and move it around a bit and see if it helps, but as of right now its loud enough that I would consider it not usable. The worst case scenario is I upgrade to a higher quality pump that will hopefully have better performance.

 

If there are any Aqueon owners that have had this problem and fixed it, or have found a successful upgrade option please let me know.

 

Anyways, going to try and figure this out soon and then let it sit and do its thing for a few weeks. My heater is on the way from BRS, and I'm going to send an email to dave at nanoboxreef today about getting a light for it. Aside from the pump I'm happy with the way my introduction to SW has gone so far.

 

Look forward to hearing from you guys/girls and updating this thread

 

Photo2014-04-1834546AM_zps1cf07c32.jpg

 

Photo2014-04-1834519AM_zps8424230e.jpg

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Yep as I said sending dave at nano box reef an email today about building a light for this.

 

As far as modding I want to get the pump figured out first but I plan to replace the "slide in" filter that it comes with, with a piece of cut to size acrylic that has a flow through at the bottom. This will effectively split the "filter" chamber into two, and I will use some combination of filter floss, chemo-pure, purigen etc. Also may make a mesh top eventually.

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So the pump is still noisy as hell when its in the back chamber. Its not the pump itself, just because its such a tight fit and the acrylic probably has some give to it so it rattles. Unfortunately wrapping it in sponge and trying to work with the suction cups in different ways has made no impact.

 

Starting to look at other option like a canister filter, HOB (if one would fit/work) or maybe drilling it and having a sump.

 

I doubt I would drill it because i feel like thats "too much" work/money etc for such a small display area.

 

I will also look into returning the tank and picking up something different. This may be the experience that I needed to understand its ok to go bigger on your first tank.

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Just ordered a finnex px-360 canister filter. This will solve the pump issue by eliminating it and also give me some extra filtration option. This arrives on Tuesday so I'll be able to officially start my cycle.

 

I'll look to add some sort of small CUC a couple snails and a crab.

 

As far as fish I would eventually like to add a clown pair, a pistol shrimp and a watchman goby.

 

This is a fairly aggressive stocking plan, but it is just a plan. Also with the amount of filtration and water changes it should be do-able.

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Hey guys, I've solved the pump problem by removing it from the tank completely.

 

Decided to go with a Finnex PX-360 ( http://www.amazon.ca/Finnex-PX-360-Compact-Canister-Aquarium/dp/B002VFF8U4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398272942&sr=8-1&keywords=finnex+px+360 )

 

Its had a ton of great reviews with uses in small tanks and it was $40 after tax and shipping so not much to lose. Its perfectly quiet and still gives me 98 gph (about the same as the stock pump). For now its sitting on a stand next to the tank. Super happy to not have to worry about hearing the pump anymore, I can relax and let the cycle do its thing. Already seeing a noticeable difference in water clarity since adding the canister and its filtration.

 

My refractometer and neo therm heater arrive today from BRS.

 

heres some updated pictures of the tank and canister.

 

FTS

http://s63.photobucket.com/user/shavershave88/media/306245AC-0F18-47E0-A6A8-6848AD9B17E4_zpskzpxa7jq.jpg.html'>306245AC-0F18-47E0-A6A8-6848AD9B17E4_zps

 

Spray bar.

http://s63.photobucket.com/user/shavershave88/media/C9CA63F8-4E99-452E-BBA1-31FBD9E68B75_zpsoaa78nft.jpg.html'>C9CA63F8-4E99-452E-BBA1-31FBD9E68B75_zps

 

Cannister and Back chamber.

http://s63.photobucket.com/user/shavershave88/media/ED29F858-84F8-4880-BDA7-73EC8E165E2B_zpspka6z3st.jpg.html'>ED29F858-84F8-4880-BDA7-73EC8E165E2B_zps

 

http://s63.photobucket.com/user/shavershave88/media/969EBAB8-6445-4F29-880E-D1F391971A56_zpsbaxzpnib.jpg.html'>969EBAB8-6445-4F29-880E-D1F391971A56_zps

 

also looking around the tank my brother and i spotted a little aptasia

http://s63.photobucket.com/user/shavershave88/media/26981180-e32e-448f-8b1c-478f34a0068f_zpsddab5878.jpg.html'>26981180-e32e-448f-8b1c-478f34a0068f_zps

 

I asked my brother what he thought, he didn't really sway me either way as far as trying to get rid of it or not.

 

What do you guys think? should i try and inject it with aiptasia-x or something? or just leave it?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Cycle is now two weeks in. I tested for the second week last night. Still a small amonia reading, nitrites are 0, and nitrates are fully present.

 

Getting excited for it to end so I can add a hermit and some snails.

 

Im still working on my fish stocking plan. I really want a clown, but i do hear the concerns about the lack of space. Would love to see a clown hosting a nem.

 

Otherwise I'd like to have a watchman/shrimp pair, although i do worry about the digging ruining my rock layout.

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Went to the LFS today to refill on some RO and pick up some purigen. Testing still shows some ammonia, no nitrites, and 10-20ppm nitrates. Did a 15% water change to get the salinity up to 1.024

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Tested again today just to see the progress and if the perigean had made any quick impact. I feel like the nitrates have come down, the nitrites still are at 0 as they have been for at least a week, and the ammonia still shows way more than I am expecting.

 

Am i missing something with the ammonia? the tank has been up for almost three weeks now, and that ammonia level has been like that for the last fish weeks. Im really confused by it. Maybe theres something up with the test kit I'm using.

 

Heres a pic of todays test.

 

http://s63.photobucket.com/user/shavershave88/media/DD695814-782B-4CF9-8DAC-6E9EC7822439_zpsd1ngowdf.jpg.html'>DD695814-782B-4CF9-8DAC-6E9EC7822439_zps

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Good start so far. Looks like you are getting close to the end of your cycle. You have to be careful with those API test kits, they can give some false readings sometimes. Have you noticed a diatom bloom yet? IF so, then I would say that is a good sign that you are nearing the end of the cycle. Interesting choice with the canister filter. I have seen some tanks with them, and they will work well, you just have to stay on top of keeping the filter clean inside. If you don't, you could end up with high nitrates/phosphates. Just some food for thought.

 

Keep up the good work and this will come along quite nicely.

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Good start so far. Looks like you are getting close to the end of your cycle. You have to be careful with those API test kits, they can give some false readings sometimes. Have you noticed a diatom bloom yet? IF so, then I would say that is a good sign that you are nearing the end of the cycle. Interesting choice with the canister filter. I have seen some tanks with them, and they will work well, you just have to stay on top of keeping the filter clean inside. If you don't, you could end up with high nitrates/phosphates. Just some food for thought.

 

Keep up the good work and this will come along quite nicely.

Thanks for the info on the cycle/API kits. Might get my brother to take a sample in to work tomorrow. They use the same kits but maybe it will get a diff reading.

 

No noticeable diatoms yet.

 

The canister filter was the final decision based on adding some extra water/bio/chem filtration and volume, aswell as something that will be quiet. My stock pump was so loud it was unbearable and I didn't want to risk buying another pump and having it do the same thing because the chamber in the back was to small.

 

I'm picking up a hydor pico 180 tomorrow as a power head option to add a little flow to the tank.

 

My nanobox tide should be here in a week or two as well as my first fish (clown)

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So yesterday my hydor pico 180 came from amazon. The thing is tiny.

 

There were a lot of reviews complaining about the suction cups not being strong enough to hold the pump up, and also the red plastic bracket being cheap and breaking when trying to put the suction cup on the ball joint. Both of these problems must have been solved. The suction cups are magnet suction cups, maybe that was an upgrade they made after negative reviews, there is no way this thing is slipping. As for the ball joint, yes its plastic, its pretty thick but could definitely snap off if your not careful. I had a hard time getting the cushion cup over the ball so i wet both pieces a little bit and it slipped on easier.

 

I went to pick up my brother from work, decided i would pick up the reflector and give it a go. It would be nice to have the random flow and worst case scenario its to big and i don't use it, $10 mis-used. Its great, definitely adds a lot of size, but I have it positioned in the back right corner with the "arm" facing the front of the tank so its not to bad. It moves a few grains of sand each spin around but nothing serious.

 

Since I was there I also grabbed a zebra hermit, a margarita snail, and a couple of tiny polyp/mushroom frags. These are pieces that fall off of what they sell, and thankfully don't cost me anything. One of the mushrooms has opened up perfectly, cool blueish green colour, the other probably got blown or knocked from where i put it last night, could be in the rock work somewhere. There are 3 polyp frags, unfortunately one of them isn't attached to anything, not even a tiny piece of rubble, so it has since blown around to the back, the other two about half of the polyps have opened and seem to be ok. All in all good/positive measure of where I'm at. The diatom bloom is growing as well.

 

Will test my water tonight to see where I'm at. Dave from nano box reef just posted pictures of some fixtures that are on the way out, and i think one of them is mine, so hopefully will see that this coming week. Also excited to hopefully pick up my first fish, and SA clown next week.

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Got my brother to grab some Aiptasia-X before he left work today.

 

I was just getting sick of looking at the tank everyday and thinking about it. Plus after I did a water change yesterday one of the mushroom frags got moved next to it and was getting stung so i quickly moved it out of the way and made the decision it was time to act.

 

Treated it tonight, blasted that thing pretty good, it appears to be quite dead. I didn't see it do the "imploding" thing I've seen in some videos, but ill take a look at it again tomorrow morning.

 

Also the diatom bloom is in full effect now, sand is very brown in spots and still turning in others, the rocks are browning up, the back wall has brown streaks on it, and even the spray bar has some brown spots. Happy to see this showing up, knowing that its a good sign things are moving along.

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So its been a week since I've updated this thread, lots has happened.

 

My cycle has now finished, which i was thrilled about. The diatoms are almost all gone, my inverts are all happy (blue hermit, zebra hermit, and margarita snail) and most of the polyps/mushrooms are fully open even under the stock light.

 

Im lucky enough to get free tiny polyp/mushroom/zoa frags that fall off from my brothers store. I also picked up a trumpet frag that cost me $5. The trumpets haven't really changed much from what they were in the store, i doubt the stock light is giving them enough light, but my nano box mini is en-route so hopefully it gets here soon, I can't wait.

 

Weekly water changes are becoming super easy, and not an inconvenience at all. I've also found that I'm not needing to top off as much, I can let it go three days without needing to now. This could be related to the fact the temperature has finally been staying steady at 77.2-77.4.

 

For awhile it was going up and down, sometimes in a day from 77.2-79, really don't know what has changed unless the hydor pico has "broken in" maybe it was creating un even heat before. Speaking of the pump, it still occasionally shoots out some micro bubbles. Nothing crazy, maybe 10-15 every two rotations of the deflector, not really sure where they would be coming from.

 

The aiptasia has been gone since the morning after I treated it with aiptasia-x and I haven't seen any little ones popping up so really happy about that.

 

Finally i picked up my first fish on friday!

 

He is a fancy snowflake extreme from sustainable aquatics, and he's awesome.

He had his "freakout" period for a day and a bit where he was constantly fluttering in the front right corner of the tank and not really moving around, now he swims all over from time to time, but still likes to be in the front right where the pico/deflector is so he can swim into the flow.

 

Right now he's not taking very well to flake or pellets. The pellets he will kinda chew them for 5-10 seconds and then spit it out, can't tell if he's gotten a piece and spit out the left overs or not, the flake he watches closely a its floating on the top, and occasionally he'll go for a tiny piece, but not a lot at all. Im going to try and feed some mysis the next time my brother is feeding his tanks and see what happens.

 

Anyways, heres a big picture dump.

 

Small mushroom about half open

44B88BCD-4504-4E6A-900A-F145276871D6_zpsone of the new tiny polyp frags opening up after being put in

7C5B2167-CD50-42AF-9749-C03F7C667291_zps

The other polyp frag, these guys were crazy green in the store which is what caught my eye.

E290E075-C916-41BB-A813-FF683DFAEAAB_zps

The trumpet after begin put in, not as fluffed up as it is now

06DF1002-0735-4166-BF91-A3BE1744BC81_zps

Really tough to get a good picture of this guy with my phone.

6818A395-DC00-46DF-98F6-90AC66D19726_zps

9E4759F4-B5EB-4894-9846-703DB23F8F55_zps

FTS under stock blues

64958B59-89DB-44AA-B591-5F2B5563FA00_zps

Those bright green polyps under blues.

2924AA81-3424-4A15-B049-8C7A0D4F10EA_zps

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  • 2 weeks later...

How is the stock light doing? I know I will need to upgrade once the tank it starting to take form, but it seems like the corals are responding well to even the generic aqueon LEDs

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They ended up not being on there for much longer after the last photos were taken. They were perfectly fine for the zoas, the trumpets seemed to do fine as well. Looking ahead, I've had my nano box mini on there for a bit over a week now i think, maybe 2, and the zoas do open more than they had with the stock light.

 

You can see in one of this least pictures there is a little goni that is completely closed, it did have its moments where it opened up a little, but nowhere near what it does now. Its only in there because it was struggling in my brothers tank so he wanted to test it in mine.

 

Ive been behind on posting an update and will hopefully get a big one done today.

 

New light, lots of new corals.

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OK,

 

I'm going to try and do a big update here and try my best to get the timeline/dates correct. Its been i think almost 2 weeks since I've posted and a lot has happened in that time.

 

So as i posted before (i think) I have my first fish, a sustainable aquatics fancy snowflake extreme. He wasn't tiny, but not huge either, maybe 1 3/4", somewhere around there, he's been doing great.

 

At the beginning he was swimming a little "jittery" he has calmed down significantly but still is a very active and "fluttery" swimmer. He also does a weird thing where he flexes his body to one side as if he's trying to bite his tail, kinda weird, he's been doing it for a while. Other than that he's great, he tends to hang out in the middle of the tank near the bottom now, in front of where the "tunnel" is.

 

http://s63.photobucket.com/user/shavershave88/media/D197C5AC-981A-4037-BF71-EA88755D72FE_zps6eupa758.jpg.html'>D197C5AC-981A-4037-BF71-EA88755D72FE_zps

 

As you can see I also have my Nano Box mini from dave.

Its awesome, exactly what i was hoping for. A great light, with great two channel control, great timer options and the cloud/lightning features are a great bonus.

 

The zoas and polyps I had before I got this were fine, but they opened up even more once this light went on. The trumpet I have also seemed to react positively to the new light.

 

http://s63.photobucket.com/user/shavershave88/media/123BCB70-25A0-4E94-98B7-106D99103428_zps3klrlfie.jpg.html'>123BCB70-25A0-4E94-98B7-106D99103428_zps

 

Hard to do the light justice with the iPhone pics, i promise I will break out the DSLR next time. (also this must have been early in the morning since the polyps aren't open yet.

http://s63.photobucket.com/user/shavershave88/media/DD535661-CE75-48A0-B270-D72EBB0F97F0_zpspx8ax96t.jpg.html'>DD535661-CE75-48A0-B270-D72EBB0F97F0_zps

 

So as far as corals go I have been fortunate enough to add small polyp/zoa frags steadily for the past few weeks because my brother brings them home from work. They were "test" corals at first, but they have done great and now I have a bunch, adding a nice range of colour.

 

So this week, the LFS that my brother works at finally got some clown goby's in that I had been interested in as my second fish. Today I went by to look at them and possibly pick one up. Initially I had my mind set on a green clown goby, but ended up going with a yellow because I preferred the brightness of it.

 

Added him to the tank today and everything has gone great so far. He likes to stay hidden in the rocks right now, but I'm hoping he'll venture out a little more as he gets accustomed.

 

Also today in the "discount" pile was a small piece of hammer that they had broken off a much larger piece that had some dying tissue. I was lucky enough to be able to walk away with this at no cost so of course i took it.

 

I also had my eye on a torch coral, unfortunately it wasn't the one I had been staring at a few weeks ago that was an awesome bright green, but it was a nice small piece for a reasonable price. So this was my first coral purchase since everything else had been free up to this point.

 

Fast forward 30 minutes, I get home, the bags are temp acclimating for the time being and the fish is drip acclimating, my brother calls and says someone from head office just brought in a bunch of torch frags that are nicer than what I just left with.

 

damnit.

 

So I decide I want to go back and look. He says put the torch I had in his tank, he'll keep it. So i drip the YCG, get him in the tank along with the hammer, and off I go back to the store.

 

Theres about 5 frags, 3 with dark purple tentacles and green tips, one golden torch, and one two headed torch thats the bright green I had been looking at weeks before!

 

Done deal, the golden was beautiful but it was one head on a really big/tall branch, and I have limited room as is. So i bought the two headed green torch and went back home.

 

This is the latest FTS and a few close ups.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

http://s63.photobucket.com/user/shavershave88/media/D2F18617-7727-4549-A681-6628AE628BF3_zpsodjqruma.jpg.html'>D2F18617-7727-4549-A681-6628AE628BF3_zps

 

You can see the YCG hiding in-between a piece of base rock and the "shelf", hopefully that branch rock doesn't give way!

http://s63.photobucket.com/user/shavershave88/media/658715DC-9390-4B66-8A25-23AC4395B3DA_zpsr4vlb7s6.jpg.html'>658715DC-9390-4B66-8A25-23AC4395B3DA_zps

 

Hiding in the rock

http://s63.photobucket.com/user/shavershave88/media/B1CF45F6-E28C-41E5-A00C-864CBD7BF312_zpsixlzelkl.jpg.html'>B1CF45F6-E28C-41E5-A00C-864CBD7BF312_zps

 

http://s63.photobucket.com/user/shavershave88/media/E66C8B47-8C57-4059-9496-A1BBAEE13552_zpsdoafhujs.jpg.html'>E66C8B47-8C57-4059-9496-A1BBAEE13552_zps

 

trumpets/hammer

http://s63.photobucket.com/user/shavershave88/media/103d5af9-69a6-4479-850d-e036eea5cf53_zps9cbf2441.jpg.html'>103d5af9-69a6-4479-850d-e036eea5cf53_zps

 

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Snow_Phoenix

Don't forget to put a mesh top or screen top when you're not taking pics. Most fish will jump, and I'd hate for anything to happen to your clown. Really beautiful tank btw. :)

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Don't forget to put a mesh top or screen top when you're not taking pics. Most fish will jump, and I'd hate for anything to happen to your clown. Really beautiful tank btw. :)

Thanks, its something I had thinking about making since I first started researching, haven't gotten around to it.

 

At first I was very nervous about ever leaving it off, but since nothing has happened I've been less crazy about it. your right though.

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Not a picture update and not a fun one either.

 

Right now I'm dealing with/treating my clone for Brooklynella.

 

Its been pretty sad to see him stressed and sick. Did a freshwater dip/bath last night and will probably do a formalin one today. He did appear instantly better, not fluttering as much, after the bath.

 

One thing that my brother and I noticed is his left fin (his front one, his "hand") has lost some tissue. Hopefully its not the cartilage and will grow back.

 

Sad all around, hopefully it turns out positive.

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Sadly it didn't end well. I had enough time to freshwater dip him once and formalin dip him twice.

 

after the freshwater dip he seemed improved, wasn't having as much trouble breathing. The next morning the bacteria seemed worse and we noticed some of his left fin was gone. The formalin dips didn't seem to do much, he got progressively worse and eventually died tonight.

 

This has been a really sad and discouraging few days.

 

This changes my ideas of what livestock I want to keep in this tank completely. I will keep the YCG for now, but have no plans of adding any other fish. Really sad that this happened.

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  • 1 month later...

This has turned into a 15 gallon shallow. 24x14x12 I might upload some pics later.

 

The move was both something I wanted to do and necessary. The torch was stinging things with its giant tentacles. It now has a corner almost to itself of a 24" tank so lots of space to grow now.

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