Back in the game! 7.5g DB Rimless Cube

[LJMitchell87]

Update:

 

I added another piece of vertical rock and I'm happy with the aquascape, so I used some of the 2 part putty to hold it in place. I've been ghost feeding every day and testing every other day.

 

One question: It's getting extremely chilly here in boston. It was 14 degrees last night, and when I woke up the tank was at 72 when my heater was set to 78. I currently have the 25w neotherm heater. Would jumping to the 50w model eliminate this problem?

[HarryPotter]

Yep I would get the 50w of the 25w can only keep it at 72.

[LJMitchell87]

I was looking at protein skimmers. This is more because I like gadgets, but is it a good idea? I saw some decent ones for small tanks. Any suggestions?

[Sancho]

He has the tunze nano. There's only the single float switch. When the switch sinks, it will fill and when it raises back up, the pump will shut off. There is a timer that will prevent it from filling beyond a certain amount of time in case of switch malfunction.

mine malfunctioned last week and over filled my tank. Don't know why it happened but it did. It's worked well for a year. Since you are getting the Apex you should order a breakout box and an additional float as a back up in case the tunze fails. It's pretty easy to set that up and is worth piece of mind.

[Sancho]

I was looking at protein skimmers. This is more because I like gadgets, but is it a good idea? I saw some decent ones for small tanks. Any suggestions?

i don't know if you will find a decent skimmer. It's gonna have to be a HOB or in tank. Personally I don't like stuff in the tank but the 9001 is a nice skimmer. A little late now but money being no object I would drill the back and go with a sump.

[LJMitchell87]

Yeah the sump decision was more of a space constraint thing. Thanks for the advice on the ATO, I'll definitely look into it.

[LJMitchell87]

Ok, my plan is to use Kalk with my ATO. When would be an ideal time to begin dosing the kalk? Any better options?

[LJMitchell87]

Bump, anyone with the know how on Kalk?

[Nixperience]

I have the tunze 9001 and it works well. My water is very clean, but it would take up a lot of space in your tank. Not sure if a skimmer is an option for a tank so small. Maybe a mame style skimmer.

[LJMitchell87]

Ok, so I decided to stop messing around and build a 10g sump. The main reason is to have as little junk in the display as possible. I used a standard 10g glass with a 3 chamber design. I left 5" for a protein skimmer, just not sure what to get for my tank. I've heard you can over skim your tank, so I'm not sure. Any recommendations on a skimmer and a return pump?

[LJMitchell87]

Oh, also the tank is now cycled and I'm waiting for my NanoBox to come in. I set up the apex jr, and I'm beginning to fiddle with it (overwhelming). The first inhabitant is a DaVinci Clown, and he's been very happy! I'll post pictures when the light comes in.

[teenyreef]

Awesome! Can't wait for the pictures

 

For the Apex, make sure you're following the extensive and step by step guide on the internet instead of the short setup thing they send.

 

Can't help you on kalk, I've never done it, but there are a lot of step by step guides here on NR and other boards.

 

As far as the skimmer goes, yes, you can overskim and you can get a skimmer that's too big. I don't have any specific recommendations, although the Tunze is nice from what I hear. You could check some of the monthly reef profiles for tanks that are similar to your size that also have sumps, and see what they used. Then check their threads, or do a search on NR for that type of skimmer to see what people think about it.

[LJMitchell87]

Update 1/30

 

Light is in and installed, currently fiddling with the settings but overall very satisfied. Testing as of 1/30

Temp: 77.2

PH: 8.1

Alk: 10

Calcium: 400

Nitrate: 40

Phosphate: .25

Salinity: 1.026

Nitrite and Ammonia: 0

 

Should I be alarmed with Nitrate at 40 and Phosphate at .25? Current bioload is one small DaVinci clown, 3 snails, 2 hermits, and 1 peppermint shrimp. Just bought a small frag of hammer and it seems to be happy.

 

Pics:

 

 

Now as the next few weeks go by I plan on adding a few frags, so I guess its a good time to discuss dosing. Originally I was planning on using Kalk in my ATO, but I'm not sure if there are any better options. Any suggestions?

[teenyreef]

Nitrates at 40 is definitely higher than you want. I would do some more frequent and/or larger water changes. Your tank is still very young, so the bacteria hasn't had time to build up to handle all the load. What test kit are you using?

 

As far as dosing goes, I wouldn't worry about it yet. You don't have any corals that will really lower your calcium or alkalinity, and regular water changes should keep you on track.

[LJMitchell87]

I'm using an API test currently. I'll do a water change tonight. I did one 30% water change on the 25th. So the .25 phosphate is negligible?

[teenyreef]

I'm using an API test currently. I'll do a water change tonight. I did one 30% water change on the 25th. So the .25 phosphate is negligible?

A lot of people don't like the API test, but it will at least tell you with pretty good reliability if you are over 5, which what you really care about. If it says 40, it might really be 20 or 50, but either way it needs to come down.

 

The phosphates are higher than they should be but not bad, especially since you aren't keeping finicky acros or anything like that.

 

My IM10 ran on nitrates at 20 and phosphates at .5 for a long time, and almost everything colored up and grew very well. I'm only trying to improve my number now so I can get better colors on some of my acros.

[LJMitchell87]

A lot of people don't like the API test, but it will at least tell you with pretty good reliability if you are over 5, which what you really care about. If it says 40, it might really be 20 or 50, but either way it needs to come down.

 

The phosphates are higher than they should be but not bad, especially since you aren't keeping finicky acros or anything like that.

 

My IM10 ran on nitrates at 20 and phosphates at .5 for a long time, and almost everything colored up and grew very well. I'm only trying to improve my number now so I can get better colors on some of my acros.

Ok, I suppose the Salfert test is better? Thanks for the help!

[teenyreef]

Yep, most people prefer the Salifert. It takes time to learn to read the results because it's all shades of red. But it's the easiest to use by far and is the best for low range results.

[LJMitchell87]

***Update*** Now with coral!

 

So I've finally gotten my nitrates down through a few water changes and so I decided to add a few frags:

Acan!

 

Hammer

Duncan

 

 

Everything seems to be happy!

 

On the equipment side:

 

I've ordered a LifeReef overflow to plumb into the DIY 3 stage sump I've made out of a 10g AGA along with a Mag5 return pump. I looked at the Aqua Gadget Ghost desktop skimmer yesterday at the LFS but didn't pull the trigger. To start I think I'm just going to use the sump as a refugium and to hold all the unsightly equipment like heaters and float switches. Should I try the ghost skimmer?

 

I have also ordered the PH module for my Apex Jr.

 

 

Full Tank

 

 

Thanks everyone!

Also not sure why all the pics are upside down, but handstands should alleviate that.

[craftytony]

Please keep the updates coming, and let us know how you like the equipment you picked out! I will be slowly starting up the exact same tank

[teenyreef]

The corals look great, good luck with them!

 

As far as a skimmer goes, I'd recommend against the Desktop Ghost. The only reason to use that one is that it's the only one that fits in the IM 10g AIO tank. Since you have a sump, there are a few well-reviewed nano skimmers that would work well.

 

The Ghost works OK, but it's hard to break in and get adjusted and it's noisy if it's not set just right.

[Cencalfishguy56]

Tunze 9001 for this tank quiet really easy to dial in, set it and forget it type skimmer

[Nixperience]

I second the tunze 9001. I have it in my 11 gallon and it works great! Since you'll have a 10g sump, you could even go with more of a skimmer. Since the sump will probably be out of site, a skimmer with a larger cup might be good so you don't have to go into your sumo as often to empty it.

[LJMitchell87]

Update!

 

Just did my first round of testing since adding the sump. Here are the results:

 

Temp: 76.6 (Apex)

pH: 8.10 (Apex)

Alkalinity: 14 (Red Sea)

Calcium: 450 (Red Sea)

Magnesium: 1280 (Red Sea)

Nitrate: <1 (Elos)

Phosphate: 0 (Salfert)

Salinity: 1.026 (Refractometer)

Nitrite: 0 (API)

Ammonia: 0 (API)

 

I added a sweet favia frag and a smaller monti frag. Everyone seems happy.

 

I installed the LifeReef overflow and plumbed it to my 10g Sump. The first chamber has the intake and the Tunze 9001 Comline skimmer. The second chamber is the refugium, which I just set up today with live rock, a ball of Chaeto, and a 5000K LED light from home depot. The last chamber is the Mag5 on a dish mat for silencing.

 

Here are my main two questions:

 

1. Alkalinity is very high. Any ideas based on what ive shown here?

2. I have a filter bag with Purigen and Chempure as well as a bag of filter floss that isnt being used. If I were to put these into my sump, which chamber should I put them into?

 

I apologize for a lack of good coral pics. I only have my iphone 6s and cant seem to get a decent pic of anything (always so blue).

 

 

[teenyreef]

Looks like things are coming along nicely!

 

As far as alk goes, I assume your not dosing, right? You should check the alkalinity in your freshly mixed saltwater so you will know what it is when it first goes in the tank. What kind of salt are you using?

 

Also, now that you've got nitrates and phosphate under control, you may want to think about actually backing off on some of the chemical filtration. You really want to have low, but not zero levels of both. For nitrates, shoot for levels below 5. Phosphates should be below .1, ideally. A level of zero in either one is an indication that you're either stripping out nutrients from the water through chemical filtration or overskimming, or that you actually have high phosphates but algae is consuming it all so there's nothing left to detect.