Smalls NC12

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Posted in beginners forum few days ago figured i would move here as a build thread . Here is a list of everything purchased so far.

 

JBJ 12GAL NANO CUBE DELUXE WITH FREE STAND

HYDOR KORALIA NANO PUMP/POWERHEAD 260GPH

CARIBSEA ARAG-ALIVE FIJI PINK 20 LB 1

JAGER 50W HEATER 9 IN UL APPROVED 1

INSTANT OCEAN SEA SALT MIX - 25GAL

PINPOINT WIRELESS THERMOMETER 1

RED SEA MARINE LAB TEST KIT

MARINE DEPOT REFRACTOMETER

 

Found a LFS in the area that is really nice. was starting to worry visited like 2 others that i remembered of from when i had my eclipse6 and was not impressed. actually one of them ill prolly never set foot in again had a 3 large tangs in what couldnt have been a 10g tank. OK back to the nice LFS it was a fairly small place but anything i could think of needing they had. they had several 75g tanks for livestock and had 2 125g tanks just for base/live rock. anyone in the SA Austin area know of any other LFS that are worthy of visiting?

Well everything i listed should be here Fri morning ill get some unboxing pics (sure yall seen 1000 of em already ) and plan to test for leaks fri/sat and will pick up some liverock from the LFS on Sunday and let the cycle begin. oh and i keep hearing about "dipping" new rock to rid of "i dont know". the last SW tank i had i took a toothbrush and got all the dead material and algea i saw but never dipped it. what is the purpose of dipping and is it just freshwater or somethign special i dip it in?

 

Thanks in advance for all the help in know ill get setting this bad boy up

[Rinehart77]

Hello there! Congrats on the new cube.

 

Generally speaking you won't want to dip your rock. At least I never have, this will kill any beneficial bacteria that have colonized it. I believe you're thinking of freshwater dips for new fish. People do this to rid the fish of external parasites, marine organisms cannot handle the difference in salinity, and they will basically explode. (It's a little bit more complicated than that, but that's the quick dirty version.) Just giving the new rock a quick scrub down with a plastic brush to remove any visible dead or decaying manner should suffice. (In saltwater).

 

Just monitor your parameters. Oh, and chuck the bio-balls or ceramic rings for the second chamber in the back. HTH.

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All my stuff came in today. so excited but unfourtantly wont get to leak test her till prolly tomorrow sometime. will find her final resting spot and take some pics soon for now off to work ><

[Rinehart77]

All my stuff came in today. so excited but unfourtantly wont get to leak test her till prolly tomorrow sometime. will find her final resting spot and take some pics soon for now off to work ><

 

 

Sweet! Get that thing puppy wet!

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Got leak test done everything seems to be working good. going to drain tomorrow and go get some ro water and live rock. heres a few picks of its final resting place. was taken with my iphone so not best quality will take better ones when i find the sony

 

 

[Rinehart77]

That setup is almost dude heaven. You just need a kegerator in the frame, and you'd never have to leave the house.

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That setup is almost dude heaven. You just need a kegerator in the frame, and you'd never have to leave the house.

 

LOL i must have forgot to take a pic of the closet next to the tank shot inocming soon

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Got sand a salt in the tank yesterday. still need to get the salinity right added to much salt mixing and diluted it to much when i took water out and added r/o water. going to let it sit over night before i add any salt in. so far i have temps stable at 79-80 like maybe a half degree swing. added in another 10lbs of live sand have a good 1.5" maybe 2" sandbed for a goby shrimp pair . going to pick up 10-12 lbs of live rock sometime this weekend and let the cycle begin. oh and found the sony but cant find the cords for it ><. maybe ill put a fewmore iphone pics up when i get some LR in there to look at

 

whats the ideal temp and or SG right now i got heater set at 79.5 and have SG @ 1.021 ( i know it need to go up

[NanoReefNovice]

Like the tank placement.

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Picked up 17lbs of rock today. supposedly already cured we will see. already found 2 hitchhikers a brittle star maybe fully streched out the size of my thimbnail and a shelless snail...he landed upside down in the sand though.. rahter the flow pushed him around like a ragdoll. think i need to take some sand out though going to wait till the middle part settles the back right is about as deep as a credit card is long.

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Woot found the cord for the Sony got some better pics

 

 

Have had salt in tank for 3 days now. pretty sure...could be wrong... that I killed most of the hitchikers saw a few brittle stars prolly hiding in rockwork somewhere and a couple shellless snails that went into crevices and havnt moved for over a day now (some clear slime stuff growing around where it is) prolly take a turkey baster to it tomorrow. Just finished testing the water

 

PH = 8.4

Nitrate = 0

Nitrite = .05

Ammonia = ~.25

SG = 1.024 1.025 kinda hard to see which line its closer to in the refractometer.

 

So i assume this means the cycle is starting. ive read that leaving the lights off during the cycle will prevent algea growth? already see some hair algea from past 2 days ran light for 10+ hours to see what the temps would hit with and without the little fan on the left running. w/o temps went from 79 to almost 83 which is a pretty big jump. I set the heater for 80 and turn the fan on and temps seem stable 80-80.8 when room got fairly hot. Bought some eggcrate from the "D" epot to make a DIY media rack. Right now the only filtration i have is a sponge to keep water clear took the bio balls out ceramic rings and the carbon. should i throw the carbon bag back in and what should i get to put on media rack(links plz see tons of diff stuff online and not sure what is what)? oh and i think i got the wrong superglu (was going to glue media rack together so it looks better could use zip ties i guess) is this stuff reef safe http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001F7C5T6 ?

 

Sorry for all the questions just all coming together and getting excited. thanks in advance for ALL the replies im sure to get.

[marinebiologist]

looks awesome

[smalls]

bump

[juicestain]

maybe put some black curtains on that window. it might or might not cause problems

[marinebiologist]

the glue is fine. thas the exact same thing i use for fragging. i got it at staples and walmart has it too

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Not much changed still showing little ammonia and NO2. NO3 still at 0. made a DIY Media rack for chamber 2. for filtration i think im going to do sponge/filterfloss in chamber 1, seagel and purigen on rack in chamber 2 and pump/heater in #3. might add a light in near future and put some cheato in #2 as well. will probly order all my filter media on friday when i get paid and will start fine tuning things over the weekend.

 

having a somewhat difficult time getting the right SG when mixing water. whats the general rule for salt to water. I read i think 1 cup salt per gallon of water, and was told 1/2 cup per gallon im using instant ocean mix (would be nice if they put the amounts on box other than the factual thing that say how much is yeilded in nature lol)

 

anyone know what size the return is. was looking into putting a mj1200 with a Y on the return with some loc line saw a setup like that which was nice, and ill ditch the korlina nano to salt mixing duty .

[marinebiologist]

i use instant ocean and its is one cup to get it to 1.022 so i usually add a little more than a cup

[smalls]

Bump on the loc-line size..read a thread where a guy just connected a Y on the nub the NC12. fixing to order all my filtration stuff. params have been constant past 2.5 weeks with only slight ammonia and no no2 no3. went ahead and put a single hermit in tank seemed to freak out a bit during acclimation (going to make a acclimation tank i think) but when i put him in tank he seemed to love it picking stuff off everything. might pick up a damsel in the next few days.. if any cycle starts to show ill bag him and take back to LFS. this is a list of stuff im ordering tonight

 

Seachem SeaGel 250 mL

Seachem Purigen 250mL

Aquarium Systems Premium Maxi-Jet 900 Utility Pump 247 gph

American Marine Pinpoint Salinity Calibration Fluid

Loc-Line 1/2 inch Ball Socket Y

Loc-Line 1/2 x 1-1/4 inch Ball Socket Flare Nozzle

Loc-Line 1/2 inch Ball Socket Flexible Tube 6 inch

Filter Media Bag 4 inch x 8 inch - 800 Micron

 

cant think of anything else i need to start my reef. prolly keep fish alive for month or 2 then start introducing corals as $$ permits.

[marinebiologist]

do NOT get damsels!!!!!! i have one that is picking on my new maroon clown and i cant get him out. get a softie instead of a fish they are hardier

[fishdaddy0831]

That setup is almost dude heaven. You just need a kegerator in the frame, and you'd never have to leave the house.

 

Almost...the chair has no back support. no lounging is -50dkp.

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Almost...the chair has no back support. no lounging is -50dkp.

 

 

LMAO i know EXACTLY where that is from. Anyone Anyone know the loc line size im fixin to order the stuff blindly. maybe ill just order the bulkhead too and drill a diff return during a waterchange. would need something to bloce the original hole though.

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Made a couple upgrades to tank today. Installed the MJ900 and the loc line makes the tank look alot cleaner. Retired the old pump for a backup and the korlina will probly be reduced to saltwater mixing duty. Got some crazy hair algea growing on all the rocks and sandbed. There is also some fuzzy white algea growing over the coraline not sure what it is and/or if it is good or bad. The hermit or "Hermie" as my sister has named him is doing well. Might try and add the rest of a CUC here in next day or 2..Any suggestions..Well anywho heres a few new pics.

 

FTS

 

 

Pic of some of the algea growth. Probly one of the thickest spots

 

 

And one of hermie. Kinda wedged b/t the rocks

 

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Bump for the day walkers

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Gotta love the trials and tribulations. picked up a CUC today got 4 red leg, 1 blue leg, 4 astrea, and 1 turbo. Should help with the algea prob. Was going to do a waterchange and added 1 cup salt per gallon of water and the water shot up to 1.035 guess i need to fig out for myself the right salinity. W/O DI water within 30 miles had to put the old water back in. hope i dont shock anything to death all i ended up doing was stiring a bunch of the crap up into the water :/. good news is had the lfs test my water today 0/0/0/0 told me my ph was a little low but got some buffer ill add to bring it up a bit.

[smalls]

Been a while but nothin has changed much past month. Added a Clownfish few weeks ago and died within 2 days ><, however pretty sure he was sick when i got him and just didnt know what to look for. Good thing though is my LFS gave me a new one no questions asked. The new one is night and day compared to the first and has a pretty funny personality. I also added a couple Rics to the tank that seem to be doing well. been in tank for 2 weeks now. seems like they are happier (more extended) at night though not sure if its a good or bad thing. Think some of it is my hermits like to roflstomp them on a somewhat regular basis at night the hermits dont move much. As far as maintenece tank seems to be on autopilot right now havnt done a WC in about 2-3 weeks and all params still 0/0/0 although going to do a 1 gallon waterchange tonight ( i know been slacking a bit but everything doing well and params havnt changed). as for feeding goes been feeding my clown and hermits daily with about a 1/4 cube of frozen brine and been spot feeding the rics every other day with chromaplex.

 

well if theres anything im doing wrong let me know (i know more WC) let me know in the mean time heres the new pics of tank.

 

This would be the second healthy clown

 

 

Couple pics of the 2 Rics i picked up the one is act pretty cool has a purplish/blue "mat" with neon green tips and the other is just green florida ric (think that the name) with a neon green mouth when fully extended