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Innovative Marine Aquariums

The Rookie's first SW tank - Updated 4-18


Rookie1

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Well, after a couple years of wanting to have a little slice of the ocean in my home, I've finally pulled the trigger.

 

Went out yesterday and picked up a fluval spec 5. I also grabbed 6 lbs of dry rock, mixed salt water from the lfs, a cheap-o heater (to be replaced later), and a bag of live sand.

 

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This morning I ordered up my API test kit and thermometer from Dr Fosters. Likely before the cycle is complete I'll be ordering up the Intank media basket, Aqueon 600 pump, and some purigen and chemipure for once it's all done cycling.

 

So far so good I think. Thanks to everyone that's ever posted here, I've learned a ton. Now I've just gotta put it all to work!!

 

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New nanobox tide light added!! Thanks to Dave for digging up a V2 unit. Can't thank nanobox enough!!

 

Went to my first frag swap/marine expo over the weekend. Added some inverts/clean up, and my first corals. Pretty exciting times for someone that's never had corals before.

 

The tank with it's new light over in the corner:

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I believe sunny d zoas with nuclear green paly, and a rainbow ric:

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Some rastas:

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Got a few of these cute buggers:

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One member of the clean up crew decided to clock in:

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Not pictured:

There are 2 scarlet hermets in total, also 2 nassarius snails and 3 trocus snails.

 

Sorry for the cell phone shots but I haven't had time to try the DSLR on the tank yet. Hopefully this week.

 

The corals opened up quickly and stayed open all day Saturday after getting them into the tank and all day Sunday. They seem to be doing well. Hermits wen't to work immediately picking away at the rock. The nass snails submarined into the sand immediately. One was out last night cruising around like he was on PCP and the other has been moving around under the sand. Trocus snails haven't done much just yet. The sexy shrimp seem a bit shy yet, they are just hanging around the back corner and haven't ventured around the tank yet. Hopefully a rock flower nem in a couple weeks will help them out.

 

Time to let the tank relax and get a few water changes on it. Going to eventually mount the zoas onto some small rock pieces. Just want to make sure everything is stable and happy first.

 

The clown is a bit overly curious about the hermits. He's been doing a lot of very low fly by passes and looked like he wanted to nip at one a few times.

 

I've had to learn how much the little clown can eat so there was a bit of overfeeding (he's got a small tummy apparently) so I've been watching parameters closely and everything looks great there. No sign of ammonia or nitrite. Nitrate just hit 10ppm Saturday morning before picking up the new inhabitants. I'm figuring a water change in the next few days.

 

So far so good I think!!! Thank you to everyone on nano-reef for all the help!! As well as nano-box and InTank which so far have been a big help as well!!

 

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Water cleared up some and did my first water test last night. Ammonia on the rise it seems.

 

I also cleaned up the glass but didn't get a photo after.

 

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:welcome:

Great tank choice, and I see you've discovered the marvel of intank media baskets and the wonderous Stevie :lol:

Keep updating as the tank progresses these are cool little tanks!

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:welcome:

 

Looks awesome! I've always wanted one of these....... Be sure to grab a Nanobox for the light!

 

You know, if you are buying, I'm in!!! I so so wish one of those gorgeous creations was in my budget.

 

I think the orbit marine or reef breeders nano/wifi are in the running. I'm still kicking around the lighting options.

 

A fellow reefer here at work has offered up a small zoa frag and clown for once the tank is cycled. I think I have to decline the clown though.

 

I do NEED to trim those rocks though. They are under 1" from the glass front and back. Once they cycle is done I'm going to yank them and give 'em a hair cut quick.

 

All other params look good though. Temp stable at 78.3 F and salinity at 1.024.

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Looks good. You're off to a great start. I would get you self a bottle of nitrifying bacteria and dose that, then start ghost feeding to help that cycle get going and build up your nitrifying bacteria. I'll be following along.

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Looks good. You're off to a great start. I would get you self a bottle of nitrifying bacteria and dose that, then start ghost feeding to help that cycle get going and build up your nitrifying bacteria. I'll be following along.

 

I have some seachem stability the LFS said would help the cycle. I've done two small cap fulls of that. The directions are a little odd and I weren't really written for cycling a tank I think. It was a little unclear how much to use.

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Good call on the stocking list. Im a huuuge softie/LPS fan. Check out the Softie Revolution thread for some inspiration. Thinking I might get one of these tanks "for my girlfriend" to get her into the hobby. ( or secretly for me to have another tank)

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Good call on the stocking list. Im a huuuge softie/LPS fan. Check out the Softie Revolution thread for some inspiration. Thinking I might get one of these tanks "for my girlfriend" to get her into the hobby. ( or secretly for me to have another tank)

 

I had to use a wee bit of misdirection to get mine as well. "The guests will love having something so beautiful to look at".

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Please tell me that you are going to put some water proofing between the tank and that nice wood table. Some drips and splashes are sure to happen.

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Latest water test update, things are changing:

 

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Cycle is well on the way and progressing as expected. It's obvious that you have been doing your homework from reading your posts. If you have been looking on for a while, you may have noticed or read that the one Biggest mistake that many new reefers make is adding livestock (other than a clean up crew) to the tank way too soon. Take my word for it, just because the tank shows no more Ammonia and Nitrite, by definition the cycle may be done but that doesn't necessarily mean the tank is ready for coral, higher inverts and fish yet.

 

In reading these threads, you probably read something like this all the time. "how soon can I add fish and corals to my new tank, it's been cycling for 2 weeks now". or " I haven't had any ammonia or nitrites for a couple days now and the tanks been running 3 weeks, so can I add fish and coral now?"

 

IMHO it's best not only to wait till the cycle is over but also wait until you have a good handle on the stability of other important parameters as well such as Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium, Nitrates and Phosphates, etc.

 

Sounds complicated but it's always best to let the tank age for a couple weeks after the cycle is done and deal with other issues before livestock goes in.

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Please tell me that you are going to put some water proofing between the tank and that nice wood table. Some drips and splashes are sure to happen.

 

They are actually quite thrashed. But I do keep a towel handy to mop any problems immediately.

 

 

 

Cycle is well on the way and progressing as expected. It's obvious that you have been doing your homework from reading your posts. If you have been looking on for a while, you may have noticed or read that the one Biggest mistake that many new reefers make is adding livestock (other than a clean up crew) to the tank way too soon. Take my word for it, just because the tank shows no more Ammonia and Nitrite, by definition the cycle may be done but that doesn't necessarily mean the tank is ready for coral, higher inverts and fish yet.

 

In reading these threads, you probably read something like this all the time. "how soon can I add fish and corals to my new tank, it's been cycling for 2 weeks now". or " I haven't had any ammonia or nitrites for a couple days now and the tanks been running 3 weeks, so can I add fish and coral now?"

 

IMHO it's best not only to wait till the cycle is over but also wait until you have a good handle on the stability of other important parameters as well such as Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium, Nitrates and Phosphates, etc.

 

Sounds complicated but it's always best to let the tank age for a couple weeks after the cycle is done and deal with other issues before livestock goes in.

 

I'm hoping, completely due to this site I have a good road map. My goal is to not kill anything. So once the cycle is fully done, CUC is going in first after a healthy water change.

 

BRS TV says don't do more than 2x the bioload in one month and that seems like a good rule of thumb to me. I'll likely just use that. CUC wait a month, frag or two, wait a month, shrimp/goby pair, wait a month, frag or two, etc. That'll allow me to get all the practice I need keeping the params dialed in as well.

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They are actually quite thrashed. But I do keep a towel handy to mop any problems immediately.

 

 

 

I'm hoping, completely due to this site I have a good road map. My goal is to not kill anything. So once the cycle is fully done, CUC is going in first after a healthy water change.

 

BRS TV says don't do more than 2x the bioload in one month and that seems like a good rule of thumb to me. I'll likely just use that. CUC wait a month, frag or two, wait a month, shrimp/goby pair, wait a month, frag or two, etc. That'll allow me to get all the practice I need keeping the params dialed in as well.

Very good plan..It sounds like I was preaching to the choir. the idea of taking it slow is to work out the problems that most always show up in a new tank before you load it full of life. Welcome to the forum and I wish the best for you on your new adventure.

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Good call on the stocking list. Im a huuuge softie/LPS fan. Check out the Softie Revolution thread for some inspiration. Thinking I might get one of these tanks "for my girlfriend" to get her into the hobby. ( or secretly for me to have another tank)

I'm a Softie Revolutionist myself, would be welcomed to have ya there ;)

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Very good plan..It sounds like I was preaching to the choir. the idea of taking it slow is to work out the problems that most always show up in a new tank before you load it full of life. Welcome to the forum and I wish the best for you on your new adventure.

 

Mainly due to budget issues, it took a long time for me to get a tank going. Due to the same constraints, I REALLY do not want to be buying live stock only to kill it off because I didn't do my research. I've been reading up on everything for oh, a year or better. I'm certain I have more to learn but I went into it knowing I needed a good foundation of knowledge.

 

I've already documented the effects of evaporation on my salinity. 3 days = a loss of .01. LFS salt water is usually 1.023-1.024 so if I want 1.026 I need to do a few top offs with saltwater. I figured if I learn all of this now I will know how long I can vacation without killing off my tank inhabitants. This is spring time data and I'm guessing may change during the summer with A/C running in the house, and again in winter with heat running. Should still be able to get me a 3 day weekend without using an ATO.

 

I really need to learn as I go how the bioload changes with creatures in the tank, and of course as the dry rock starts to populate in the next 3-9 months how much more bioload it can handle. But if I take everything slow I feel I'll get my head around it.

 

All the encouragement here and knowledge has been GREAT!!

 

Oh, placed my intank order last night. Got the media basket w/ skimmer coming, some chemi pure nano and purigen to run after the tank is cycled. Also got an aqueon 600 pump and koralia nano 240 (koralia is going to go on a timer to run periodically throughout the day). And lastly an accudrip for when I get to pick up my clean up crew. Between this stuff and the nanobox that's on the way I think equipment wise I'm all set.

 

I spotted some algae starting to grow at the base of the live rock, just a small bit, but I think that's a good sign!!

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I've been reefing for about 2.5 years and have had several tanks with multiple corals (standard variety) a frag here a frag there and a problem here, a problem there. It's only now that I feel comfortable purchasing high end, premium corals. In fact I just put an order in with "legendary Corals" who is a high end vendor and am excited about my first (real expensive) coral order.

 

I feel it's taken me this long to get to the point where I can quickly deal with problems as they arise instead of experimenting and researching the issue while the livestock is being damaged.

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One more test done. Looks like ammonia is back on the chart, so that's coming down, slightly. Nitrate is on the rise. I've got some small bits of algae starting to grow around the tank as well.

 

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Ammonia almost at zero! Yah! Hoping nitrite drops just as fast.

 

Did a little rock trimming. Photos to follow once water clears up.

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Well, still waiting on nitrites to drop. No fun this bit. The ammonia drop gets your hopes up!! I did some work on the scape though. I think all that's left is to glue the two pieces together for stability.

 

I did install the intank media basket and skimmer, as well as the aqueon 600 pump. With these installed the rear chambers can operate lower than the DT water level. Before that were all at the same water level. The only drawback is now the water isn't high enough in the back for my heater. Might try the cobalt since it's smaller. Topping off seems more critical now as well as the evaporation only shows in the rear chambers.

 

Added a koralia nano 240 as well.

 

A photo:

 

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So Nitrite has been off the chart since 3-30, ammonia has been at zero. Nitrate is slowly rising. How long do I watch Nitrite sit off the chart before I scratch my head and wonder what's going on??

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