Laserbrn's 28 gallon Nano Cube

[laserbrn]

This is my first tank. I went into a fish store and was duped into this hobby. I had been thinking for a long time that I would like to get into it, so while I jumped in like a fool, I'm glad to be here. Sometimes you do just need to leap.

 

I am still trying to figure out exactly what I'm doing and I've been in the process of just reading and reading and trying to get a handle on things.

 

Info:

 

28 Gallon Nano Cube Quad-CF (Completely Stock)

~17lbs of live rock

25lbs of live sand

 

This picture is from the first day I brought the tank home on 10/11

 

 

Current FTS 11/27:

[laserbrn]

I added a shrimp to the tank to kick off the cycling process and get things underway as the live rock that I was provided by the LFS was pretty clean and I wasn't expecting a tremendous amount of die-off.

 

The shrimp seems to be decomposing and some kind of slimy stuff is all over it and some kind of fuzzy junk has grown on it so I assume it's being consumed by something.

 

I have been testing the water for Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates and it has never measured any ammonia or nitrites, but the nitrates have been rising consistently. They are now at 25ppm. I haven't been performing water changes because I'm waiting for the tank to cycle, but with that shrimp in there for over a week now and a pretty healthy looking diatom bloom I'm starting to think the tank does indeed have nitrifying bacteria. I'm considering jumping on the CUC, but I'll probably go ahead and wait at least another week.

 

 

[reefernanoman]

Nice start. Check out my 28G tank thread so that you can see what you could upgrade! Good luck.

[vlangel]

Since you began with live rock and sand your cycle was indeed started and most likely complete when you set up. Sometimes some of those bacteria's die off but they were probably quickly replaced so I would say go ahead and remove the shrimp, do a 25% water change and test your parameters again. If the ammonia, and nitrites are still 0, and the nitrates have come down then I'd go ahead and get your cuc. You are off to a great start!

[laserbrn]

I removed the shrimp (holy hell that's a lot of stench from such a little piece) and added the beginnings of a Clean Up Crew and a few corals. I was reluctant to add corals yet, but the guy at the LFS tested my water and said it was looking good and some very small corals would be a good start. For the price, I figured I'd just go for it.

 

Clean Up Crew:

10x Blue Hermit Crabs

10x Nessarious Snails

 

Corals:

2x - Zoa's

2x - Mushrooms

1x- Green Star Polyp

1x- I don't know what they are called. I'll look them up and add the info here.

 

So far it's looking pretty good, the crabs and snails spread themselves out quickly. The snails are leaving some kind of white trail behind them as they move across the rocks, but overall they seem happy.

The corals opened up after about an hour, then closed again. All of them have pretty much closed back up, but I haven't started the light cycle for the day so we'll see if today they are a little happier. I figured it might take them a little while to get acclimated to their new locations.

[laserbrn]

Well, it's been a couple of weeks so I thought I'd post an update. The diatoms are all but gone after a pretty decent bloom. The green film algae is present, but pretty light right now. I have tested the water again and ammonia is still at 0 and Nitrite is at 0 with the Nitrates starting to fall. They were up at about 30ppm, but are now at about 5ppm.

 

I picked up a few items and added them to the tank. The Clean up Crew has been doing a great job although I'd like to find something to keep the sand a bit whiter. I added a sand sifting starfish to try to help clean things up, but I have a feeling I'm going to need nessarius snails.

 

I have added a Melanarus Wrasse as my first fish. The girlfriend has named him Rory and likes him very much. He's active in the tank and puts on a good show.

 

I have added a few more corals and went with larger colonies to start as starting with those tiny frags seemed like a terrible way to go. I was paying $10/frag at the pet store and now through a local aquarium service (guy works out of his home) I have been able to find a much better deal. Everything that I have purchased from this guy has been great. Fortunately he is about 4 minutes from my house and everything that I've gotten from his so far has opened right up (like within 10 minutes) and been super happy.

 

Overall the tank looks like this now...

 

CUC:

Nessarius Snails

Blue Legged Hermit Crabs

Sand Sifting Starfish

Cleaner Shrimp

 

Fish:

Melanarus Wrasse

 

Corals:

Green Star Polyp

Purple Mushroom

Red Mushroom

Frogspawn

Oragne/Blue Ricordea Mushroom

Sun Polyp - Black

Spiderman Acan

Kryptonite Candy Cane

Speckeled Mushroom

 

 

 

 

 

[laserbrn]

Well, the tank is progressing. It's a bright green color on the rocks and the tank had a lot of algae that I spent about 2 hours cleaning upon my return from a business trip to Europe. I performed two water changes in the week before leaving and left my girlfriend to tend the tank. She didn't really clean it at all and it was quite gross when I got back. I got it all cleaned up and it's looking good again.

 

Corals seem happy, shrimp is molting and surviving and the wrasse seems quite happy. So far so good, I'm already thinking about going to a 100+ gallon tank. Stocking it will be pretty pricey, but I can tell I like this hobby. The lil tank is cute, but I'd like to put some effort into really scaping a tank nice and having it as more of a centerpiece in my home.

 

Meanwhile, still using this one to learn and go through the initial phases trying to achieve balance.

[Newtybar]

tanks looking better than you said!

 

Hahaah I'm feeling the itch for a bigger tank myself!

[laserbrn]

Yeah, I just bought a 90 gallon cube, so I guess that didn't take long. I'm planning to set it up this weekend.

[laserbrn]

So the 90 Gallon is up and running and cycling. It's not really a cube as it's 36"x24"23" which makes it deeper than most, but not a cube. It's doing it's thing so in the meantime the Nano Cube is still the star of the show.

 

I removed most of the live rock to put in the larger tank to help seed the tank and get some bacteria going in there. I really like the sparse look of the nano cube so I think someday I may do this nano with a sump in the stand so that I can keep live rock down there to keep the main tank sparse.

 

 

I added a few things, but most notably the Gold Hammer Coral. I love this addition and I can't wait to start stocking the big tank! It's going to be awhile, but in the meantime I can keep myself patient by adding to the Nano so the big tank will at least have a good start.