First-timer in Arizona: NC 12DX

[Murph]

Like others, I was inspired by the posts of my fellow reefers (especially Steelhealr's mondo thread) and finally decided to get an aquarium and join this community.

 

Today, I'll post the basic setup. My rock should arrive in a week and then we'll see what kind of interior designer I am.

 

I purchased a "Complete Setup" from Chris at Nanotuners.com. What great advice and great customer service. The first tank showed up damaged in freight. The second was the charm.

 

In addition to the NC12DX, I received:

 

-- Coralife Power Center and Thermometer

-- Finnex Titanium 50w Heater

-- Current USA Fission Skimmer

-- Hood Mod - I asked Chris about separate power for moonlights and mains. He offered the mod gratis.

 

After reading multiple threads, I decided to start with the following mods:

 

-- Hydor Flo (variable direction water flow)

-- SRS Surface Skimmer (to regulate water level in rear)

-- MaxiJet 900 Powerhead

-- Decent furniture/cabinet (to raise W.A.F.* to an acceptable level)

 

*W.A.F. = Wife Acceptance Factor

 

I decided to keep water quality pristine by using the following filter media:

 

-- Sponge ( I know, I know. But needed something to trap microbubbles from skimmer and to raise the skimmer to the proper level in the tank - stock sponge was the perfect height) I'll rinse it every week during the water change.

 

-- Purigen, Seagel, ChemiPure

 

I went with Oceanic Salt (probably going to change after going through the bottle, as my pH seems a bit low) and using purchased RO/DI for now (Non-detectable TDS).

 

 

CABINET MODS

 

I bought a cabinet (supposed to be an end table) from a Mexican furniture reseller. Living an hour and a half from the Mexican border comes in handy sometimes. I paid $85 for the cabinet depicted here.

 

I decided I wanted a no exposed wiring look (kind of why I bought a NC) and decided to do some cabinet mods. Nothing to raise the wife's eyebrows faster than taking the nice new cabinet and drilling two holes in the back panel.

 

I drilled the holes, mounted the power center and the lighting power supply to the back bulkhead and did some wire management.

 

I'm happy with how it turned out, but don't think the ultra-modern look of the tank goes with the Mexican-rustic furniture. But the furniture goes with the house decor and perhaps I'll pick up a bent wood custom hood sometime.

[bowfront26]

nice cabinet, where'd u order rock from?

[Murph]

nice cabinet, where'd u order rock from?

 

I went with Premium Aquatics. I ordered 13 lbs. of Marshall Island (small pieces), 2 lbs. of rubble for the back and a pound of curing pool sludge to mix with my Arag-Alive Pink Fiji. They only had a few large pieces of rock in stock, so I elected to wait a week while they cure a new shipment.

 

I'm not patient by nature, but the reef project is supposed to help me with that...

[Murph]

WATER PARAMETERS

 

After lurking for awhile, I've decided on the following parameters:

 

-- S.G. 1.024

-- Temp: 81-82 degrees (Guam diving was 83 in Sept. 2005 with beautiful underwater scenery, so I am comfortable with warmer water)

 

I performed some tests on the water I'm mixing in the tank and Ammonia, Nitrates and Nitrites are all at ZERO. pH is a little low (7.9-8.0) and Alkalinity is at good levels, but I'll wait until cycling to worry about the pH. If it doesn't rise, I'll consider some Reef Buffer.

 

MIXING SALT

 

Getting the water right at the last minute would be a problem. As the exact salt to water mixture on the bottle is not a guarantee of the right salinity, I'd advise fellow newbies to plan ahead.

 

Add a little less salt than recommended, and mix with a powerhead and a heater. Take a salinity measurement a day later. MAKE SURE that the temperature is close to what you want in your tank to get the best reading. Then add a bit more salt to raise the salinity and test again the next day. Add salt or water to get the right salinity and give it a chance to mix before making further adjustments.

 

When you get the right mix, put it in your storage container or add to the tank.

[mantis_man]

Hey,

 

Im from tucson also. Gongrats on your new tank. This is my new SN my old one was banned and i dont know why. I can't wait to see it settup with corals. I just got a 2.5gal and its going to be zoas only. What side of tucson are you on? A great place to buy corals is from zack at aquatic oasis or hectors store Oasis tropical fish. We are having a frag http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=747814 and should have some awsome stuff. Have a good one.

 

~Brian

P.S im on the SW side.

[Murph]

HOW TO GET ALL THAT CRAP IN THREE LITTLE CHAMBERS:

 

Ok, so you have a load of stuff from your vendors (DRSFOSTERSMITH.COM for my filter media and sundries). Now how do you fit it into the tank? This is one of those things that sound easy on Nano-Reef.com, but in reality is kind of a pain in the ass.

 

One of the things that is not explained enough is the orientation of the chambers. Chamber 1 is the one with the intake. Chamber 2 is self-explanitory (the middle one for the slower among us...) Chamber 3 is the one with the outbound powerhead.

 

CHAMBER 1:

The water comes in from the top and leaves from the bottom to go to chamber 2. I have a stock SPONGE at the bottom and a bag of CHEMIPURE on top of the sponge. Finally, I have my FISSION PROTEIN SKIMMER and powerhead on top of the bag of Chemipure. The skimmer is just sitting there, as using the clip raises it too much out of the water and prevents the hood from closing properly. Also contains the TEMPERATURE PROBE.

 

NOTE: The sponge prevents the skimmer's microbubbles from entering the main tank, but can trap Nitrates. So, it must be rinsed every water change in salt water before replacing. I'll probably rinse all of my filter media by putting in salt water and shaking it around a bit.

 

CHAMBER 2:

The water comes in from the bottom and travels to Chamber 3 through a hole in the upper half of the opposite bulkhead. I have a bag of PURIGEN and a bag of SEAGEL in there.

 

NEWBIE Alert!: The Seagel "fizzes" when first contacting water and drops some fine black particulate. Freaked me out. The label mentions the fizzing, but who reads those... The next bag of Seagel will be pre-rinsed in some old saltwater during a water change and will only be introduced into the tank after it stops fizzing. The protein skimmer picked up the black particles.

 

CHAMBER 3:

Contains the HEATER and the MAXIJET 900. Exits into the tank after going through a Hydor Flo.

 

The real challenge was figuring out how to put the Fission into Chamber 1 (it is too big for Chamber 2 and three is already full). The video from SRS (http://www.smallreefsolutions.com) was helpful to figure out the orientation of the pump and the elbows. Don't do this with a full Chamber 1.

 

FINAL NOTE:

Don't overfill your tank. I had no room for any of this stuff when I tried it with the powerhead off and the rear chambers full. I bagged the first attempt until I could get a surface skimmer. This, along with running the pump, kept the rear water levels at a low enough level to allow me to work.

[mantis_man]

Im not a NC pro but try not to stuff it all in. Or u can take all the crap out and fill it all with LR. U can also add a 7watt PC. and make sure all the powerheads are working well and all that crap.

 

~Brian

[Murph]

Im from tucson also. Gongrats on your new tank. (SNIP) What side of tucson are you on?

 

Brian, cool hearing from a fellow Tucson reefer. I've been down to Aquatic Oasis a few times - cool place. I live over near Sabino Canyon. Let me know if a group of us is meeting - I've love to learn more.

 

I figure that I should have my first coral in a month of so. I also need to get a clown for my daughters, yes a Nemo tank. Thanks to this forum, I know to avoid a Blue Tang in a tank this small. They'll get off on the hermits though.

 

Thanks for the kind words - stay tuned for updates in the next few weeks.

[mantis_man]

Like 20 of us are going to that frag Auction, i forgot that word in that one post. Man you are far away. Im all the way by misson road but The mission and 3 points and hell the casinos lol. Nemos are great i had 2. One went carpet surfing and one got choped in half ( have no idea how)

 

~Brian

[Llamaguy]

the rocks from PA look really nice, I went and got 20lbs of the stuff before it was finished curing today, sometimes I wish I had gone the route of an NC12, too.

[mantis_man]

alright since we are showing off tanks. my new tank

 

 

AGA 2.5g tank - drilled w/ bulk head and stand pipe

AGA 2.5g sump - baffles already in place

Stand and canopy

Retro 2 X 9 installed in canopy w/ parabolic reflector and bulbs

- also has a switch so you can burn one or both bulbs

PH for return - tested lots of pumps and PH. This one was perfect

7w 6700k PC refugium light w/ reflector

50w heater

Sanders Piccolo skimmer

[steelhealr]

You guys are gonna put me out of bizness. Great job to the Tucson crowd. You guys are putting me to shame with the cheesey black fiberboard NC stand that I have that has ZERO room underneath it. WTG. Subscribed. SH

[mantis_man]

man idk why i was banned its getting me mad. I was in the 7,000 member or 8,000 area. We are not putting you out or bizness steelhealr. I have a Q for u. U think a Randall's banded pistol shrimp goby combo would be good in my 2.5gal setup. But its in my room would it be loud? I had 5 mantis shrimps and they arnt that loud to me but they also make cracks in daylight.

 

~Brian

[majestic sea life]

WOOT WOOT. this is brian, Im not banned anymore sweet. thats all a have to say but hey free bump.

[drbegalke]

U think a Randall's banded pistol shrimp goby combo would be good in my 2.5gal setup. But its in my room would it be loud?

 

~Brian

 

I'd imagine no louder then a mantis. Also, mine doesn't snap much at all... only when a snail strays too close to it's hole.

[Murph]

No update regarding tank contents. Just some descriptions of the Current Fission Skimmer repair.

 

SKIMMER REPAIR

 

I had a skimmer which did not seem to produce bubbles. Thanks to my fellow reefers, I was able to find a thread which described the problem. Basically, the air tube was glued shut where it met the pump.

 

I exacto-ed the air tube off of the pump, cut off an inch of tubing and superglued it back on -- this time keeping a pin in the tubing while it dried. To test it, I blew into the tubing and made bubbles under water. Then I reattched it to the pump and reinstalled the skimmer.

 

Great bubbles now. But need to adjust water levels to make sure I get a drier skimmate.

 

P.S.: Still waiting on the rock. It will cure by next week and be shipped out next Monday from Premium Aquatics. Learning more patience every day...

[steelhealr]

My pistol only clicks when 'threatened' and usually during feeding time. I don't find the click very loud at all, but then, I don't know how loud a mantis shrimp click is. It usually clicks if a snail or shrimp goes near the cave during feeding time. Sadly tho', I think a 2.5 is too small for most gobies, unless you do a single neon goby. SH

[Samoyed]

HOW TO GET ALL THAT CRAP IN THREE LITTLE CHAMBERS:

 

Ok, so you have a load of stuff from your vendors (DRSFOSTERSMITH.COM for my filter media and sundries). Now how do you fit it into the tank? This is one of those things that sound easy on Nano-Reef.com, but in reality is kind of a pain in the ass.

 

One of the things that is not explained enough is the orientation of the chambers. Chamber 1 is the one with the intake. Chamber 2 is self-explanitory (the middle one for the slower among us...) Chamber 3 is the one with the outbound powerhead.

 

CHAMBER 1:

The water comes in from the top and leaves from the bottom to go to chamber 2. I have a stock SPONGE at the bottom and a bag of CHEMIPURE on top of the sponge. Finally, I have my FISSION PROTEIN SKIMMER and powerhead on top of the bag of Chemipure. The skimmer is just sitting there, as using the clip raises it too much out of the water and prevents the hood from closing properly. Also contains the TEMPERATURE PROBE.

 

NOTE: The sponge prevents the skimmer's microbubbles from entering the main tank, but can trap Nitrates. So, it must be rinsed every water change in salt water before replacing. I'll probably rinse all of my filter media by putting in salt water and shaking it around a bit.

 

CHAMBER 2:

The water comes in from the bottom and travels to Chamber 3 through a hole in the upper half of the opposite bulkhead. I have a bag of PURIGEN and a bag of SEAGEL in there.

 

NEWBIE Alert!: The Seagel "fizzes" when first contacting water and drops some fine black particulate. Freaked me out. The label mentions the fizzing, but who reads those... The next bag of Seagel will be pre-rinsed in some old saltwater during a water change and will only be introduced into the tank after it stops fizzing. The protein skimmer picked up the black particles.

 

CHAMBER 3:

Contains the HEATER and the MAXIJET 900. Exits into the tank after going through a Hydor Flo.

 

The real challenge was figuring out how to put the Fission into Chamber 1 (it is too big for Chamber 2 and three is already full). The video from SRS (http://www.smallreefsolutions.com) was helpful to figure out the orientation of the pump and the elbows. Don't do this with a full Chamber 1.

 

FINAL NOTE:

Don't overfill your tank. I had no room for any of this stuff when I tried it with the powerhead off and the rear chambers full. I bagged the first attempt until I could get a surface skimmer. This, along with running the pump, kept the rear water levels at a low enough level to allow me to work.

 

 

 

get pH buffer...your ph is way low..i just found out my pH went for 8.3-8.4 to 7.9-8.0...no wounder my fish are getting effected!!!lol you need a higher pH!

[steelhealr]

Don't touch your pH with a new tank. Let it mature. SH

[Maxvan1]

Don't touch your pH with a new tank. Let it mature. SH

 

 

I agree, when its this new, just wait a while.

 

But, you could run a reverse photoperiod on your fuge.

[Murph]

Thanks for the great advice, guys. I'm letting it go until I can establish the LR and then I'll see if I have a pH problem.

 

My rock ships Monday from Premium Aquatics and should be in on Wednesday. I'll update with some photos after I get it all in and settled. I've adjusted the lights to 2 hours of day light during the afternoon and just moonlights the rest of the time.

 

I still need to research lighting patterns during cycling, but I've seen a suggestion that I should add a half hour every few days until I get to 12/12.

 

Any suggestions?

 

--Murph

[Murph]

FINALLY...A PIECE OF THE ROCK!!!

 

I got my rock in yesterday and did my first bit of aquaculturing. First the details:

 

I ordered 15 lbs. of Marshall Islands Cured Rock, 1 lb. of Rubble and 1 lb. of Curing Tank Bottom Sludge from Premium Aquatics.

 

I mixed the sludge with Fiji Pink Arag-Alive and saltwater which was brought to 83 degrees. In an empty bucket, I drained half of my tank water (turning off the pump first to keep it from running while dry.)

 

I tried different configurations, then got out the hammer and chisel (outside of the tank, of course) and broke it up a bit. I'm attaching photos of the semi-final result. I still have some rubble (will go in a rear chamber, but plenty for tank too if needed) and one large rock. I went with less rock than perhaps normal, as I plan on buying colonies (not frags) that should be attached to their own rock.

 

Then I put in the sand/sludge and filled the tank again. I've been running the pump and protein skimmer since. The lights are set to come on for 2 hours during the day.

 

I'm looking for comments/suggestions regarding my first rockwork attempt (I'm not sure if I should use the remaining large rock in the upper left under the surface skimmer or leave well enough alone) and also some advice on how to handle the lighting during the curing cycle. Do I gradually increase the light period every few days or is it (lighting) tied to chemical parameters?

 

Thanks and don't worry about hurting my feelings -- I'm looking for suggestions that will help me with my existing and future tanks. LOL, I'm already talking about a second, larger tank...

[aquaman7]

Looking good.. and ya, you'd be suprised at how well sand and lr will help out your pH level... personally I only use a pH buffer for new sw being added to the tank. Aquascaping looks good, especially since it's only 15 lbs. I like the crevices... and it almost looks as if the rock is stretching out to give a hug (weird analogy, I know, but its probably the best way to describe it's curve). Looks nice, keep it up.

[Ars Reefia]

Hey Murph,

 

I was wondering how your cycling was going.

 

I also tried putting seagel into my 2md chamber, mostly to catch the phosphate early before it gave me algae, but I'm having an interesting problem.

 

I'm not getting any nitrites, even though my ammonia is going down. I'm wondering if the seagel is sucking up the nitrites before they can get converted into nitrates and complete the cycle of bio filtration.

 

Have you had any problem cycling with your chemical media in place?

[miston]

aquascaping looks great!

 

is the flow not too strong with the maxijet 900? I can't decide whether or not to go with a 900 OR a MJ600 w/ a second pump