My first nano

[Drysocket]

Well, it's not much to look at yet, but here it is.  

 

It's an Eclipse 12 System with an Acura 1000 50 watt heater, Hagen 201 powerhead, about 17 lbs of argonite, and my first 3 lb chunk of LR.  My 32 watt retro is ordered and on it's way.

 

I'm already noticing a little bit of growth on the back of the rock. --some little stringy looking thinks extending outward.  

 

The white lines on the tank are actually IN the tank.  They're tiny bubbles swirling around.

 

Sorry these pictures are so huge.

 

 

 

 

 

(Edited by Drysocket at 10:11 pm on Mar. 17, 2002)

[Treble]

Thats a nice clean fresh tank, get a good algae scraper, you got a baby to keep clean now Good start off with the retro kit

[Signmom99]

That's the same system I have.  I love it except am not crazy about the hood.  It's kind of a pain.  If you want you can do what I did with my lighting.  I left the 13w compact that came in the hood and added the 32w smartlite behine it.  We screwed it in on each side of the top opening.  Now to do anything I have to jar the whole top, but sure makes for that little extra boost of watts.

 

Also, I hope you took out the bio wheel and filter media.  

 

Good job.  Like your rock.  Looks like it will turn out real interesting.

[NanoReefer53]

Very nice start !

 

The bubbles I think would be comming from the bio-wheel or too much splashing since your water level is kinda low. Bubbles will be bad for corals if you do plan on getting some.

[Drysocket]

Thanks for the comments.  The bubbles were something that I was wondering about.  Those are actually coming from my powerhead.  It's got a ventura something-or-other where you can adjust how much air gets into the water flow.  Right now I have it set so that there is a very small amount of bubbles coming out.  Would no bubbles be better?  I make it so it's just creating current with no airation.  I assumed the more oxygen in the water, the better.

 

As far as the lighting, Sigmom99, I've ordered the 32watt Supernova.  So you left the 13 watt in as well, eh?  I hadn't thought of that.  It is kind of a pain having to take the whole lid off to get into the tank.  

 

Right now I've got my filter media in still.  I've heard differing opinions on this.  Does your tank get cloudy at all without it?

 

So far the rock seems good.  I've only had it two days and already I saw a little snail crawling around in there.

[minigeek]

In regards to oxygen in the water, the bubbles do not themselves add any oxygen to the water. What they do is create more circulation for oxygen exchange which occurs at surface of the tank where oxygen literally sinks into the water through this exchange process. If you have a custom-built very tight lexan or acrylic lid close to the water surface, this would limit the amount of oxygen that would enter the water to oxygenate the water supply. If you have one to two inches of air space and air can freely enter the hood of the tank, this limited space will provide enough oxygen for normal exchange to take place.

 

The process is somewhat slow but the larger the surface area of the water, the more oxygen will enter. The air bubbles coming from the powerhead only help agitate water current to bring somewhat depleted water to the surface to keep oxygen exchange going. The air bubbles are generally not needed however in most cases. I would say an Eclipse 12 should have enough surface area that you would not need any air bubbles agitating the tank's water supply. I have an Eclipse 3 gal. running stock components and I never have any oxygen problems in the water. What is important is however, is other water quality factors which I'm sure you have read about here time and time again.

 

On a side note with some powerheads that have a small port hole in the top of the blow pipe can create air bubbles when the water level is close to or below this small port hole (as the port hole will draw air in and mix bubbles with the output from the motor). It is ideal to keep your water level topped off with regular RO water (non-salt mixed) daily to avoid this, improve water quality in general, keep it looking nicer and a few other nice advantages you can read about here. The RO top-off water should always be very close to the current temp. of the water in the tank to avoid any major shock to the livestock kept in the tank.

 

Anyway, enough blurb from me. Looks like you are off to a really great start and I'm jealous. I haven't had the chance yet to convert my 3 gal. and setup my new 10 gal. Still slowly gathering equipment and knowledge before I start this business. Good luck and keep us posted with updates and new pics! Nice Job!