H20's Nano-Reef AquaPod 24

[H20]

I am moving this over from my original post about my tank, to break up and condense some things.

 

H20’s AquaPod 24 gallon Nano Tank

 

Or otherwise titled: “How a beginner that has never even had a freshwater tank, decides to take on arguably the toughest tank to manage and keep, a saltwater reef and fish tank, for the first time.”

 

Disclaimer: All that is typed below, and in future posts, are my opinions and my thoughts, after reading many other people threads, trying to get a consensus on different ideas, and formulating my own thoughts. I could be way off base on a lot of things, but I feel pretty comfortable in what I am doing, after my research. With that being said, below is my progression from my first purchase, and the history that follows.

 

Well, I should preface this by saying that I have done lots of research and reading on this subject, most of it on internet forums, doing searches within those forums, and a book or two. The main thing that I have learned is to go slow, and when in doubt, go even slower, researching everything before you make a decision.

 

Also, I decided to keep a thread going with pictures on all that I do, to help someone just starting like me, or for anyone that is mildly curious to see if I screw things up...

 

After a couple of weeks of reading forums on the ‘net, mainly nano-reef, and ‘some’ reef central and reef sanctuary, (but mostly nano-reef), I decided to take the plunge. There are many nice all-in-one tank units out there, but I decided on an AquaPod 24 gallon, with the PC (power compact) lighting. I decided not to go with metal halide lights right now, and chose the AquaPod over the others, as from what I could tell, it has really nice stock lighting, I liked the design, and other people had good things to say about theirs. The PC lighting will support enough corals for a beginner like me, and down the road I can upgrade should I choose to do so.

 

I had been researching for a couple of weeks before I placed a tank order, and scoured the ‘net for the cheapest price from a reliable dealer. I chose fish.com since they had the lowest price I could find, and they seemed reputable from what I could tell. I paid $183, with free shipping and no tax, to be delivered by FedEx Ground. Here’s the strange part, about 30 minutes after I placed the order, I panicked, thinking “can I do this, is this too much responsibility, I don’t want to have to feed them everyday and do all that work!” I called them back, and cancelled the order before it had a chance to ship out. I wanted to think about it some more. After a few days went by, and a lot more reading on the ‘net, I felt more comfortable, and got excited again about doing this. Called them back up and placed another order.

 

A few days go by, and I get online to track it on FedEx’s website. To my horror, I see the following in the tracking notes: “Damaged during shipping, proceeding per shippers instructions.” Aarrrghhh. I call fish.com and get them to check into it. They were great and sent another one right out, as the original was being sent back to them, being broken during transit. Well, by the time the reship was processed, located in the warehouse, and shipped out, another 3 days had gone by. And when I tracked it, it showed that it would be here in about a week. Who knew FedEx ground could be so slow. Bah.

 

Ok, the glorious day arrived when my new AquaPod 24 (hereafter to be named AP24, as I am tired of typing the word ‘AquaPod’) shows up on my doorstep. I lug it up the stairs to my office, unpack it, set it up on my stand, and took some picture to show what comes in it.

 

This is for those who might be interested that have never seen one, or are looking into buying one and want to see how it comes.

 

How fish.com shipped it:

 

This is the box within the box:

 

 

Once opened:

 

 

Bare bones box:

Tank out of box:

 

New Tank on stand:

 

[H20]

As I am sitting there admiring it, I hook up the lights to check them out and see how they work. Very nice, dual daylight (the bright white lights), dual actinic lights (the blue/purple lights), and two blue LED moon lights. I get a flashlight out to check the glass, looking over every nook and cranny. As I look behind the rear chambers, to my horror I find this:

 

 

 

Yes, boys and girls, that is a 4 inch crack in the rear glass. My heart sunk, as I had been waiting so long on this tank. I call fish.com again and tell them what happened. They are nice again, and say they are shipping a new one out to me that same day. I say great, can you package it better this time. They vow to do so. I wait about 3 days and get no confirmation email of shipping, so I call them back up. I am told that the tank is backordered and they are not sure when it will be in. I say “cancel my order, I am tired of waiting”. They do so and credit my Card back.

 

By the way, I am sure this little beauty mark from the fish.com warehouse didn’t help matters:

 

 

to be continued.........

[H20]

I next call up Dr. Fosters and Smith immediately, and they have the tank on sale for $169.99, and with $15 shipping, it matches the fish.com price. I have heard good things about F&S so I am glad to use them. I asked them to package it really well, as I have had others break in the past during shipping. They vow to do so, and ship it out that same day. Now we are getting somewhere. That is quick service. Alas, Labor Day weekend was upon us, so it pushed the arrival day back several days.

 

Fast forward till today, when the FedEx Ground truck comes pulling up (what a great sight), and delivers to me my 3rd (ugh) AP24 attempted delivery. I lug it upstairs again, and carefully unwrap it like a nice Christmas present. I first notice that it is packaged WAY better than fish.com did. This one had a box around the box. And had more foam and bubble wrap around it, and Fragile stickers all over it (fish.com had no mention of anything breakable on their box.) Here are some comparison pics of the packing: (yes, I do have too much time on my hands tonight, ha)

Fish.com box on the left, F&S box on the right. You can see that the fish.com would fit inside the F&S box.

 

 

Here is the extra Styrofoam and bubble wrap around the inside box.

 

Everything you see here, box and all, was what F&S used EXTRA, on top of what fish.com sent.

 

 

Well, I am thinking that “this is the one”, as it initially looks good coming out of the wrapping. No big pieces of glass missing, or notable breakage. I set it up on my stand, and go to work with the flashlight, looking for cracks. I go over it with a fine tooth comb and am thinking everything looks good, I am going to give it a freshwater run for a few days to test for leaks, test equipment, etc. Then I decide to look up under the top of the glass that the rim of the hood sits on, when I had that ‘now normal’ feeling of horror once again.

 

 

 

 

 

I felt like sobbing right there, ha, but ran over the phone to call Fosters and Smith to see about replacing it. (I had asked them up front about their replacement policy should it break during shipping, as I did not want some long drawn out affair.) So I knew they would take care of me, and they were great and shipped out a new one the same day, that should get here on Monday (about a 3 business day turnaround, not too bad, but I would have liked it by the weekend. (let us all stop to pray right now, that this tank (4th one now) will arrive unharmed.)

 

I had thoughts of ordering a different brand, like a Nanocube, or Oceanic, but over the last month, I have grown attached to the AP24 and I like its stock PC lighting. So, I will give it another whirl. I wish someone locally sold them so I could go by and pick one up, but I have not seen any around here. If this 4th attempted tank does not arrive in one solid piece, I think I have decided to go with another manufacturer, like NanoCube. I see JBJ just came out with a nice 28g with HQI lighting in a closed top unit, tons of extras already built in.

 

But I digress. With all of this ordering, replacing, and shipping going on, it has given me another month to do research, and continue to learn. Also, I am sure I am learning a valuable lesson in this hobby, which is patience.

[H20]

I will take this time to thank a nano-reef member, Steelhealr, for his thoroughness of posting his trials and errors of his first nanotank. I have learned a lot from and it continue to go back to it for reference. It is linked here for those that have not read it, or want to re-read it:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=54602

 

 

Below are some pictures of the stock tank setup, for those who might be interested to see it straight out of the box.

 

Tank:

 

 

 

Lights:

 

 

 

Lights without splashguard (note the TWO cooling fans, which must be a recent upgrade, as the older models only had one fan):

 

 

 

Rear chambers:

 

 

Light switches, one for each light, and a separated cord for a timer for each (nice!):

 

 

 

Bio-balls, Ceramic media, and 2 sponges taken out of the rear chamber:

 

 

 

Stock pump:

 

[H20]

Modifications:

I am going to try to keep mine as close to stock as I can for the time being. I know there are many mods that are being made to them, and I have read about them all, but for now, I will only make minor ones.

 

First, I will be replacing the stock pump, and replacing it with a MaxiJet 1200. The stock pump is 40 watts and the MJ1200 is 20w. I hope that helps with the water temps (keeping them cooler) and also gives me 5 more gallons per hour. Not much, but hey, it is moving in the right direction….ha Also, I have read in others posts that the stock pump tends to go out down the road, and you also get better flow with the MJ anyways from what I have heard. The stock pump that I remove can be used to mix saltwater for water changes.

 

Here are two ways I approached replacing the stock pump with the MJ1200, since the tube sizes are different.

 

First, I thought about using a ½” i.d. (inside diameter) tubing for the connection to the MJ1200, and then using a reducing coupler to connect it to a small trimmed part of the stock original tubing, which will then be attached to the outlet into the tank.

 

 

My second option is to just use a plastic zip-tie to cinch up the original stock tubing around the Maxijet outlet, to make it tight.

 

 

The second option, the zip-tie, will probably be my first choice, since it seems the easiest, but if it ends up not being a tight and good fit, I will go the coupling route.

 

 

 

The second small mod, is removing the bio-balls, and the ceramic media, and maybe one or all of the sponges (it comes with two in the tank), and possibly adding a chemical media like SeaGel, Chemi-Pure or Purigel. But I may wait to do that (chemical media) until I feel I need it.

[H20]

What to Buy?:

 

 

 

Below is what I have purchased so far to get started, while waiting on my ‘never arriving tank’ to get here, or otherwise know as the: “Let the Money Pit begin” section.

 

These are some essential items, some not, but ones that I chose to get started with my tank. There are plenty of options out there, but this should get me where want to go, to get started.

 

 

This is a list with approximate costs so that you can get an idea of what this might cost you should be begin the hobby, or if you are already in it, you can remember where all your money went.

 

Tank AP24 $184

MagFloat Glass Cleaner $10

Glass Thermometer $3

Digital Thermometer $9

API Water test Kit “reef’ $28

GFCI power strip $30

Stealth Heater 75w $17

Refractometer $45

2 White 5 gallon buckets $10

Shop Towels/rags $4

5 gallon Water Storage container $6

Siphon/Vacuum $7

2 Timers for the AP24 lights $18

RO/DI water filter $99

TDS meter $25

Catalina Natural Seawater 25 gallons $45 - I bought these boxes of natural seawater while they were on sale at Petco, but since then, I have purchased an RO/DI filter to make my own FW for topoffs and to mix my saltwater, so I guess it was a waste of money, but I will use it to start my tank out, as most people say it is good stuff, and will get me off on the right foot.

SeaGel - $4

MaxiJet 1200 Pump upgrade - $18

API Phosphate Test Kit - $8

Arm Length Rubber Gloves (personal preference, some people don’t mind sticking their hands in their tanks, they also might not mind getting bitten or stung, you never know what lurks in your live rock, i.e. mantis shrimp, fire/bristle worms. Or getting some substances that are lingering on your skin introduced to your tank water, which we desperately try to keep stable) - $12

Aqua Stick Epoxy - $7

Media Bags for SeaGel or other chemical media - $5

 

 

 

 

As you can see, there are many things you can buy, nothing in of itself is ‘really’ expensive, but you seem to get nickel and dimed to death. Or in today’s terms, $10 and $20’ed to death. I could add up the total so far, but I don’t even want to know. Ha

I feel that I have most of the things that I need to get started, the only other things that I know I will be buying down the road are live rock, live sand, salt mix, livestock, corals, and food. I will pick up other things here and there as I need them, but I feel I have the bulk of it taken care of.

[H20]

What the heck is RO/DI???

 

 

 

I decided to show my RO/DI (reverse osmosis/ deionization) filter and how it works for those that are curious about it. Basically, it is a contraption that filters you tapwater and purifies it of all impurities/chlorine/phosphates that tend to be in our home water supply. I purchased mine online from air water ice .com, and got the unit “Mighty Mite w/DI”. It was $99, and I figured it was going to save me the trouble of lugging home jugs of water from the LFS or the grocery store all the time. I chose this unit because it is small, portable, and easy to use. I have a relatively small tank (24g) so I did not need huge output and big water demands. It comes with everything you need to get it going and running, including the faucet adapter.

 

All I had to do was unscrew the filter off the bathroom sink faucet, as you can see me holding it here after I unscrewed it, and screwed on the faucet adapter in its place. The faucet adapter has a lever on the side so you can either get normal water flow out of the faucet for everyday sink use, or if you raise that black lever, it closes off the bottom and sends water through the little spigot on the side of the adapter, which you will hook your hose to the RO/DI unit.

Faucet adapter now on sink, and me holding the piece I unscrewed off our sink:

 

 

This is a picture of what the MightyMite RO/DI filter looks like:

 

 

 

This is how it works when hooked up:

 

 

 

It is very simple to use, takes me all of 20 seconds to hook it up, then I produce all the purified water I need into a storage container, then it takes about 30 seconds to unhook it, and then put it away in the closet till your next use. I chose this as I have read that tap water, and even RO water from the grocery store (I assume they have some phosphates in the water) are causing people to have cyano/algae outbreaks, and I prefer to cut down on that if I can (and not have to lug jugs around).

 

I also purchased a TDS meter from air water ice as well, and it cost about $25. It measures the amount of Total Dissolved Solids in your water. This will tell you if you water is being purified or not, and as well, when you need to change your filters on the RO/DI unit. All you do it stick the end of the meter down into water about an inch, and push a button and it gives you a reading. My tapwater showed a reading of 065, which is not too bad, but after run through the RO/DI filter and tested, it came back 000. This lets me know that I am putting pure water into my tank for topoffs, or pure water to mix my salt with.

 

 

That is all for now. I will post more when my next tank arrives, and if it is intact, I will continue my journey in pictures from there with filling the tank, and ordering the live rock/sand................

[H20]

Hooray!!

 

My 4th attempt at getting an Aquapod 24g has been successful. It arrived today by FedEx, although I was pretty sure it was going to be smashed into 100 pieces when I watched the FedEx guy out on the street unload my box. He did not open the big backdoor to get the huge box out. No, he decided to slide it up front, and try to squeeze it out the side passenger door. He wedged it one way, then another, and he finally started flipping it end over end down the steps that lead up to the truck door. When it finally bounced down to the last step, he just kinda picked it up and threw it out into my yard. Then he proceeded to pick it up and carry it to the front door. I wish I had that on videotape to send to FedEx. What a moron. It took all I had in me not to run out the door yelling at him.

 

But anyways, once I had it in the house, I was once again sure it was going to be smashed up. Especially after I saw this battle wound from him rolling down the truck stairs.

 

 

So, once again I lugged it upstairs to my office to unwrap yet another one, hoping it would be in one piece.

 

 

As you can tell from the ‘hooray’ at the beginning of this post, you might have already guessed that it was all in once piece. Finally!

 

 

I did some minor changes: took one of the sponges out of the rear chamber, as well as the bio-balls and the ceramic media bag, and took the stock pump out and switched it for the Maxijet 1200.

 

I was able to use a zip-tie for the stock tubing since the Maxijet output port was smaller. It worked fine.

 

 

One other change I guess that I should mention, is that the new tank that just arrived only had one fan in the canopy hood. The first 2 broken tanks they sent me each had 2 fans in the hood. I felt kinda gypped and felt like maybe I got sent an older one from before they started adding two fans. Well, that was a quick fix as I took the hood off the tank that had broken and switched it with the new one that had just come in.

 

I then put the heater in a rear chamber, hooked up the digital thermometer, and got everything hooked up to the GFCI power strip.

 

I was trying to decide whether to do a freshwater run, or just add my pre-mixed Catalina boxed seawater. I decided to just go ahead and add the Catalina water, as I have heard leaks are very uncommon on these things. At any rate, I didn’t feel like draining all that water out after the test, and I haven’t bought salt mix yet, so I gambled and went ahead and put in my Catalina saltwater.

 

The tank is full now, and held a little over 20 gallons of water. I will siphon out a good bit before I put my live rock and live sand in. Then re-add the water I need to fill it back up.

 

The test run is looking good so far, has been running for almost 2 hours. The temp is right around 73.5* with both dual daylight and actinic lights running, and both fans running, as well as the MJ1200. I have not plugged in the heater yet, as I wanted to see what kinda water temps I got from running the pump and the lights, and it seems to be holding very well. I have heard a lot of folks having problems with their tanks running hot, but maybe the addition of the second fan on the AP24 has helped with that problem. I am sure me changing out the stock pump helped as well. Guess I am going to have to turn on the heater to get the temps up. But I will wait a bit to do that to make sure the lights don’t heat up the water after a few more hours.

 

I plan on placing an order online in the next few days for live rock and sand, it will save me almost $100 even after shipping, because the LFS’s charge so much for their live rock that doesn’t even look that great. Like $9 a lb. Yikes.

 

Below are a few pics of the tank up and running. I will be back to post some more when I am placing my order for the live rock.

 

[H20]

The tank has been running about 4 or so hours now with the pump (MJ1200) and both sets of lights running, and both fans. I decided to test my skills for the first time with my API water test (reef) kit, and my $45 Fosters and Smith portable refractometer.

 

Water specs as far as I can tell (for my first try ever):

 

Catalina Boxed Natural Saltwater, 20 gallons:

 

 

Temp: 75.2 (Has been climbing little by little over the past 4 hours. Started at 72.2, and 4 hours later, is at 75.2. We'll see what it gets up to in a few more hours with the lights still running)

 

pH: 8.3

Phosphates: 0

1.028 and 3.7.

 

Salt content a little high, but nothing a bit of my RO/DI water can't fix, (hopefully).

 

Edited a few day later to add: I decided to check the calibration on my refractometer by placing a few drops of RO/DI water on it, and sure enough, it was reading a little high. I calibrated down to 0 with the little screwdriver that was included, and took a new reading of my saltwater. Results came back this time:

 

around 1.027 and 3.5. Better, but I may bump that down a notch with a little FW

 

Didn't test ammonia, nitrates and nitrites, as I will probably wait till after I put my rock in to start testing on that.

[H20]

I have been running the pump and just saltwater for about 3 days now, turning on the lights for a few hours a day just to see how it affect the water temp. Temp is holding steady right around 79.5*. I placed an order today for Live rock and live sand from Premium Aquatics, 25 lbs. of Fiji cured, and 20 lbs. of Arag-Alive 1-2mm live sand. Should be here in a couple of days. Can't wait to get something in the tank other than water. I am still debating putting a piece of this eggcrate that I have under the rock and sand, to distribute the weight of the rock, just can't make up my mind.

[spanko]

Okay keep feeding us. You have us hooked.

[c est ma]

Wow!!

 

Just want to say that I, for one, really appreciate the "novel" you wrote--what a tale of persistence, exasperation, research, and excitement.

 

All the pics were also very helpful.

 

I am definitely looking forward to the next chapters!

 

--Diane

[H20]

Adding Live Rock and Live Sand:

 

My live rock and live sand arrived today from Premium Aquatics. The box came by 2-day UPS. I ordered 25 lbs. Cured Premium Fiji, and 20 lbs. of CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade Reef Sand (1-2mm).

Here is the box they came in:

 

I carried it upstairs to where my tank is, and opened it:

 

Here is the first rock as I peeled back the brown paper wrapping:

 

 

 

I laid all the rock out on the floor on some plastic bubble wrap that was lying near by to keep the carpet from getting nasty. It came in 5 big pieces and only 3 small rubble parts. It held up nicely during shipping. Here they are:

 

 

These look like awesome rocks, very unique shapes, with holes, and odd forms. You really can’t tell from the pics, because you only see one angle, but they are really nice shapes. I talked to Luke at Premium Aquatics for my order, told him the size of my tank, what I was looking for as far as my aquascape, and asked to include some unique formations. I feel like they did a great job. All the rock has tons of good coralline algae, you can’t see it well in the pics, as the flash washed out the color a good bit. I highly recommend these guys for your rock!

 

[H20]

Building the sand floor and adding the rock:

Here is the sand that I chose, CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade Reef Sand, (1-2mm).

 

 

When I got it, it was a coarser/larger grain sand than I had thought, and had mixed feelings on using it, or not using this, and getting some of the finer sugar sized sand. I did a search on the forums, and as can be expected in the hobby, there were varying opinions. A lot of folks liked the fine Pink Carib sand, and a lot of folks liked the Special Grade too. Seems after all the searching I did on the ‘net, it looked like either were fine, and this would be ok to use. Looked like you just need to stay away from anything larger than 3mm, so this fits the bill to use.

 

For a week now I have been torn on using the plastic lighting eggcrate under my sand and rock, to support the rock and give it weight distribution. When the day arrived to put the sand in, I choose against it, as some people on here thought the squares would only trap waste and buildup. So I decided against it.

 

Ok, now for the fun part. I laid out some bubblewrap plastic that was nearby, and went to work arranging my rock to what I had envisioned in my head all week. I wanted a C-shaped atoll, with a cave/tunnel running though the middle. Also, I wanted all sides including the back, to not touch, so I could clean the walls, and get flow around everything.

 

When I started arranging the rock on the floor, my first thought was “Oh my gosh, this is too much rock, I can’t fit all this in there. These pieces are huge. Maybe I should have ordered the nano-pack of small rock.” But, after working with it for about 10 minutes, I found a aquascape that worked, and now was the time to put it in and try it.

 

First things first. I need to put the sand it. Some folks say put the rock in then the sand. Other people say vice-versa. I decided to go sand then rock, as not to bury ¼ of my rock, and to give the rock a little padding against the glass. I was going to push the rock down into the sand to the glass, so that burrowing inverts would not topple anything.

 

Okay, I got the bag of sand, I debated on using a cup to slowing fill it cup by cup, or whether I should use a method I read about on the internet, cutting the top of the bag open, lowering the bag into the water, laying the bag on its side, then SLOWLY pouring the sand out onto the bottom and spreading it out slowly with your hand. This is supposed to minimize clouding.

 

I first decided to go with the cup method, and went and rinsed one out to use, but just as I was about to get some to scoop out, it looked like a long process, so I changed my mind and went with the ‘bag in tank’ method.

 

I cut the top of the bag open after rinsing off the outer bag, and just as I was about to raise the bag to put it in the tank, something dawned on me.

 

“You dummy! You didn’t siphon out any of the water!” I had a full tank there, and had to scramble around to get a bucket and siphon from my closet, to get some water out to allow for displacement. I siphoned out about half the water, or 9-10 gallons, into two buckets. This took me about 15 minutes.

 

Okay, with that done, it was time to lower the sand bag into the tank. I did all this as slowly as I could, and as I was pouring it out, I noticed one thing about this sand. It did not cloud the water. Due to its larger grain size, it settled quickly and the water always stayed pretty clear. I did not rinse the sand before hand, as it said not to on the bag. Guess you lose your good bacteria by doing that. At any rate, I did everything slowly and smoothed it out to a nice 1” or so bed. I may add another pump later, like a Koralia to add more flow, and the larger grain sand may help with that to minimize sandstorms and/or clouding.

 

After that, I got my live rock piece by piece to put into the tank, in the order that I had built it on the floor.

 

On a side note, here is a funny story for you. As I was working with the live rock on the floor, trying to arrange it, I was holding a big chunk of it. I briefly had thoughts of a mantis shrimp lurking in a hole, as one of my fingers had gone down into one of the holes on the side of the rock. In my mind, I was picturing this little mantis shrimp coming out and popping the fire out of my finger. These guys are not called thumb-splitters for nothing. About the time I was envisioning this scenario, I was on my knees on the edge of the plastic. I shifted my weight and POW! I popped one of the bubbles on the bubble wrap with my knee, and I about jumped out of my skin, thinking a mantis had just popped me…… hahaha I had to laugh at myself after that one.

 

 

Okay, I got my live rock piece by piece and lowered them each into the tank. I worked them into the shape that I had planned, and it ended up really working out into the layout I wanted. I was very pleased. I added back in the water that I had removed, and filled the tank back up. By the way, 25 lbs. of rock and 20 lbs. of sand only displaced about 3 or 4 gallons of water.

 

My tank did not cloud up at all, and within less than an hour, it was almost crystal clear.

 

Below are some pics of it, of the aquascaping.

[H20]

The Aquascaping:

 

As I said earlier, my goal was a C-Shaped atoll with a tunnel/cave in the middle, and cool areas for the livestock to hideout and swim about. Below are some pics:

Front Tank shot:

 

 

Front tank Shot from angle:

 

Right side (notice plenty of room behind for flow and cleaning):

 

 

Left side:

 

Angle from front left shows some of the cool holes in and through the rock:

 

 

View through a hole on the right side:

 

 

Top View:

 

 

Front with Actinics only:

 

The Sand: A little coarser than I wanted, but I think it will work fine, from what I have read:

 

 

As I was about to close the top after my work, I saw some little orange thing floating on the top of the water. I pulled it out to see what it was:

 

 

Ha. A tiny little crab claw. I wonder if little living things will be appearing over the next few weeks out of the blue. That will be cool to watch. That’s all for now, will post some water parameters later.

[shivametimbas]

be careful your cufflinks dont fall in

 

rockwork looks good. quite a battle to get this far eh?

[H20]

I checked my water parameters this morning, the first morning after adding the live rock and live sand. It has been about 18 hours since I put it all in.

 

Temp: 79.4

ph: 8.3

ammonia: 0

nitrates: 0

 

I guess the cycle has not started yet. Even though the live rock was pre-cured, it was shipped wrapped in brown paper over 2 days, so I expect there to be some die off. I am going away for the weekend, and will test again when I get back Sunday night.

[H20]

FIRST SIGNS OF LIFE !!

 

 

Well, it has been about 24 hours since I put my live rock and sand into the tank. I watched it last night, hoping to see something, but guess it was too soon. Came home from work today, and looked over all the rock, and finally saw something.

 

A little Featherduster. It is funny, because I was so proud when I saw him. I quickly realized how addictive it is going to be watching your tank, finding new things.

 

 

 

For anyone that may not know what a Feather Duster is, below is copied and pasted from centralpet.com.

 

The Feather Duster Worm is generally easy to keep and can add an elegant touch to many aquariums. Though some members of its family are considered to be pests, there is no doubt that the Feather Duster Worm is a lovely species that is also useful in the home aquarium.

 

A filter feeder, the Feather Duster Worm can help can help remove waste in the aquarium by feeding on particles floating in the water. Most will thrive without supplemental feedings of liquid organic material or phytoplankton. Unless there are unusual circumstances, supplemental feedings are not recommended. These non-aggressive, non-venomous worms can add a lovely accent to many tanks. The main concern seems to be that aggressive species may damage the Feather Duster. Feather Dusters are also very sensitive to poor water quality and to copper based medication, so it is essential to maintain clean water and to treat ailing tank mates in a quarantine tank. Under poor conditions, or in situations where levels of dissolved oxygen are poor, the Feather Duster may leave its tube in an effort to move to better conditions. They may also drop their plume. Failure to correct the poor conditions may result in death for the worm. Feather Dusters can regenerate their tubes and their plumes. In the wild, Feather Dusters are most often found in areas rich in coral rubble. In captivity, it will normally reside at the bottom of a reef aquarium in a coral rubble substrate. Feather Dusters do best when added to well-established reef tanks where they can obtain plenty of food.

 

The Feather Duster normally grows to a length of about 4 or 5 inches (10 or 12 centimeters). It resides in a leathery tube, which is made of secretions from the Feather Duster itself. Sometimes rubble or debris from the Feather Duster's surroundings is incorporated into the tube. From the tube, the Feather Duster extends a fan like gill structure from the top of the tube to filter particles from the water. This delicate fan is colored brown and white, though tan and orange shades may also be available.

 

Feather Duster Worms are native to the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Similar species can also be found along the southern coast of the United States, and is often found in the Bahamas and the West Indies.

[crudnugget]

Great post! I am looking forward to following as you update, because I am thinking about undertaking pretty much just what you are going through. I've never had a real aquarium, just a couple goldfish when I was young, and am drawn to a saltwater tank over a freshwater because of the huge varieties of things to get for it!

 

Good luck, hopefully your tank cycles quickly so we can see what you add next!

[hecsrt-4]

I like your rockwork, like the cave in the middle and the little holes for the fish to swim in and out of.

 

If nobody has said this to you before

 

to Nano-Reef

[Atomic081]

Im very interested to see how this turns out. i might try and do a similar setup

[H20]

The live rock and sand have been in the tank for a little over 3 days now. Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates are all still at 0. Maybe it will take longer to get this cycle started, maybe I should throw a cocktail shrimp to get things going. The rock was pre-cured, but there had to be some die off as it was shipped in brown paper over 2 days. I will wait another week and see what happens with the water parameters.

 

As I was bored, I decided to take a turkey baster and blow off the rocks. Wow, on the first blast from the baster it looked like a bomb went off in the tank. There was crud flying everywhere. I blew off the rest of the rocks, but there was so much stuff floating around, I am sure alot will land right back on the rocks again. I opened up more of the filter grate to bring in more water, and I will change the sponge when the water clears back up.

 

Not much going on right now, just a big waiting game. Going on vacation next week, and out of town for work the week after that. When I get home, I will look at starting a clean up crew for the tank if it has cycled by then.

[hecsrt-4]

Dont add a cocktail shrimp, just add LR Rubble it will kick start the cycle for you.

[H20]

Adding a few inverts (or invertebrates) :

 

I originally had planned to wait until after our vacation next week to add anything, so I could monitor things. Unfortunately, some brown diatoms and algae started covering my rock, and not wanting to come home at the end of next week with a tank full of slop, I decided to add a few inverts for cleanup crew to hold things somewhat in check while I was gone. I don’t have to worry about corals or fish dying off while I am gone (since there are none at this point), but I didn’t want a takeover of algae.

 

The brown was starting to take over everything, likely diatoms, which should go away on its own, but I wanted something cleaning up for me. On the other hand, I feared that adding some cleanup crew would be adding fuel for the algae, as “what goes in them, must come out” in some fashion. But the final decision was to add something since my water parameters were all at 0, and have been, since adding the pre-cured live rock and live sand awhile back.

 

Here is a pic of the brown stuff, like a said, probably diatoms:

 

 

It was worse than shown in the pictures, as the cleanup crew has been working on it for a couple of days now.

 

Anyways, my first purchase, not really to clean up the diatoms, but to help with the little plants and filamentous things growing (plus, I thought he was pretty cool, ha), an Emerald Crab.

 

 

Not a great pic, but he likes to hide a lot during the day. He is nocturnal from what I can tell, but I see him picking at the rock and cleaning the rock most of the time. He made a little burrow under one of my live rocks, and has a few hiding places that he stayed close to the first few days, but last night, when the lights went off, I saw him venture onto the top of the rocks under the LED moonlights and start cleaning up there. I like him, but he hides a good bit. Maybe he will be more outgoing when he learns his way around the tank. The first few days, he stayed in the same hole or two. Now he is expanding his horizons.

 

I had him a for a day or so, and needed something to clean the brown diatoms and algae. The lady at the LFS told me these little dwarf blue legged hermits would help, and since I was not wanting to add a lot of things with me getting ready to leave town, I only got 3. These things were tiny. After I added them to the tank, they looked so miniscule in the grand scheme of things that I knew I needed something else to help clean. These guys were so small, they were just crawling up in holes in the rock and disappearing for days at a time. They pop up here and there, and they always look to be cleaning the rocks, but they are so small, and so few of them, that I decided to get a few more things to clean. I guess these would be a good specimen to clean the rock if I put in an army of them, like 20, but I wasn’t prepared to do that with me going out of town this coming week. Here is one half in a hole in the rock:

 

 

Next enter into the picture, 3 Astraea snails and one Scarlett Reef Hermit. The Astraea snails do wonderful job at cleaning up the live rock. I put all 3 of them on top of the rock 2 days ago, and all 3 have stayed up there, mowing down the brown stuff and filamentous things. They are slow, but effective. I would like to get some more of these guys when I get back.

 

 

The rock where they are working is looking much better already.

 

The Scarlett Reef hermit is ok, but he doesn’t seem to do a whole lot. I see him cleaning the rock, but he isn’t a fast mover. He seems to take a lot of breaks, and rests too much. Maybe he works for the government.

 

I see him picking at stuff on the rock, but he doesn’t clean as fast or as good as the Astraea’s do.

 

 

I will leave the livestock at this level till I get back from vacation, as I think they can keep things in check as far as unwanted growth for the time being.

 

1 Emerald Crab

3 tiny Dwarf BlueLeg Hermits

1 Scarlett Reef Hermit

3 Astraea Snails

[H20]

About a week ago, (before I added the inverts), I decided to spray off my live rock with a turkey baster. This caused mass explosions of junk all over the tank. It was nasty. Looked like a bomb went off in the tank, and all the stuff was just settling back on the rock and sand again. So, I decided to do a few gallons water change to clean it up. As I siphoned the water off into a bucket, I began to look at this bucket of water, and the more I thought about how grungy these rocks were, I made an executive decision. I pulled all the live rock out and dunked them down in the bucket of old water, swishing them around and rinsing them off. When I got finished, I tried to arrange the rock back into the same pattern I had them in before, but could not get it exactly as before. No matter, I like the new arrangement a little better anyways. It is very close to the same, but subtle differenced. The right side was the most changed. It now has an archway making up the right side. You may can see it in the picture.

 

Here are a couple of pics of the new aquascape. (pardon the brown diatoms on the rock)

 

Front tank shot:

 

 

 

Right side (new archway):

 

 

 

With LED moonlights:

 

 

 

 

Also, as I inspected the bottom of the water buckets that I had rinsed the live rock in, making sure that I didn't lose any valuable hitchhikers, I found a few of these:

 

 

After some research, I believe they are amphipods, which can be beneficial as fish food, or filter feeders. So I added them back into the tank.

 

 

 

As of this morning, all water parameters are still at 0. So far, so good since the addition of the inverts and the rock re-work.