drewbold Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 1st of all let me say hi to everyone, I'm Drew. I'm new to the whole nano reef scene, and thanks in advance for any and all advice you may have and sorry for spelling and grammar errors. So a few weeks ago had dinner with my mom and her boyfriend long story short, I end up coming home with a new toy, a 12g clarity plus AIO fish tank (hand me down but decent condition, pics tomorrow hopefully if we find the camera, this is link to a brand new one very similar http://www.aquariumsdirect.com/aquariums/s...amp;subid=3578). It has been setup and untouched for a year just running with only about 20-25 lbs of LR and about 2 inches of crushed coral base (hand me down so I dont know exact weights). It came with 2 coral life power compacts that run side by side, each fixture with 1, 9w actinic and 1, 9w 10,000k. Also, an extra powerhead, which i keep running near the bottum left of the tank to get some flow down there, since stock powerhead flows from the top right corner and a heater. So, I brought it home 10 days ago and did about a 40% water change because there hadn't been a water change or anything done to this tank in a year or longer. It also was filled in the back with bio balls which i rinsed out in RO water before putting them back in. I replaced the old carbon bag as well as have new bulbs on the way for the lights. The nitrates were off the charts even after the water change, so a week later I did another 30% water change and today I checked the nitrates are finally coming down to about 40-80 range. I am planning on doing another water change tomrrow although it is only 3 days after the last one. So, now to my probably stupid questions, I've seen alot of info here but alot of it was old and I am not sure if it still applies, since everyone always debating one thing over another. Should I just take the bioballs out all-together? I have also seen some people saying to use Chemi-Pure Elite, is that something i should stick back in the compartment with the carbon? I have alot of LR and from what I understand that should be plenty of filtration for the nano-reef I am planning on building here. Secondly, what coral types would be the maxium I should try to grow with this lighting ( http://www.allpetmall.com/3139-pid.html ) x 2 side by side? As I have seen on the debate about skimmers in nano reefs, this hand-me-down didn't come with and it is very oddly shaped compartments in the back I'm not sure one would fit, I have decided not to use one. My LFS the people didn't really seem to know what they were talking about and didn't seem to want to listen to me at all so here I am. Anyways as you might imagine I am excited to start stocking it with coral, the overflow has kind of big slots so I'm kind of afraid of getting any fish since they will obviously have to be small 1 or 2 in such a small tank. Assuming after the water change tomrrow the nitrates are down in the 20-40 range I would be safe to add a few frags? Or maybe I should just wait to stock anything and take out the CC base in favor of a new live sand base before I start messing with stocking anything. I have built the rock into a cove and cavern type of layout and I'm thinking mostly xenias zoas, palys, anything else that I've heard is realitively easy and I can find at the LFS, assuming I have the lighting to support them. Also since its a small tank I wasn't really sure how much of what kind of CUC to get. As of right now there are like a million tiny red feather dusters all over every rock but I can also see at least one bristle worm sticking out of each rock ( 10+ rocks). Wow this turned out to be longer than I thought, Sorry hope I didn't bore you to death, let me know if I can answer any questions and I appreciate any input. Link to comment
drewbold Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 After going over more and more information from this site I decided a scratched up hand-me-down tank is not suitable for the nano I want to create, just too much money in livestock to look at it through scratched acrylic. Therefore I am planning on buying some sort of other biocube or equivilant 14g or so tank and put in a new sand bed and transfer my rock and water to it for a fresh new look. Is there any other tank besides the biocube 14 that is about the same size I should check out? how does the http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=n...ed=0CFcQ8wIwAA# compare to the BC 29g HQI? Looking like it will be a few months before I start getting into corals =( Link to comment
drewbold Posted February 6, 2011 Author Share Posted February 6, 2011 Sorry I'm sure I'm boring but this hand-me-down sparked a huge interest for me in a hobby I didn't know much about. After I found this website which is awesome and a ridiculous good source of info. and after much contemplation and talk with my lovely wife I decided for sure to start a new BC 14 using only some of the rock from the hand me down. Here is my list please let me know if everything sounds good before I start ordering. *bc 14 of course *nano-tuner 3.24 upgrade (on the fence, bad at DYI projects especially wiring + then get into do i need a heat sync too and new fans and I dont know anything about wiring those either so, this maybe a no go) *Koralia nano (240 or 425 not sure how much difference that will make?) *So much stuff from InTank, such a great resource (hopefully getting a deal on shipping for multiple items *Stevie's Media basket taking out bioballs (still not sure what combo of things to put in it, fliterfloss, purigen, carbon and cheato?) *maxiJet 900 to replace stock pump (planning on knocking out false bottum of chamber 1 and cutting off that bit for xtra flow) *Hydor Theo 100 Watt Heater *Hydor flo to replace the stock piece (some superglue to deal with the problem of it falling off) *refractometer *10lbs black live reef sand *salt-reef crystals (RO/DI water from the LFS) *10 lbs LR from Hand me down tank and probably 5-10lbs buying from the LFS *nimble nano mag *some other test kits, i have only the 5 in 1 test strips atm (any suggestions which kits/testers to get?) I think that about sums it up, my wife will not like to see the grand total of this shopping list but it will love it when its done, hopefully well. Please any and all thoughts or advice to change or add things to this list, I am a noob and want to make sure my first experience with nano reefing will be done well. Link to comment
matt frizz Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 My gf bought me a 2-gallon hex and that made me go into saltwater. Link to comment
drewbold Posted February 6, 2011 Author Share Posted February 6, 2011 Looks like you have come far from the 2g you started with and looks to have treated you pretty well so far Link to comment
matt frizz Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 Yeah man, I love it and you will too. Buy Salifert tests btw especially if you plan on keeping coral. Link to comment
drewbold Posted February 6, 2011 Author Share Posted February 6, 2011 Yeah definately going to plan on keeping corals (mostly rookie stuff that will grow and spread nicely), thats all really maybe a clown or 2 but not sure about the nemos I might just stick w. So, Salifert tests for the brand added to the list. Link to comment
drewbold Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 still pretty sure about this BC 14 list I got going on but I was wondering if anyone has seen http://www.cadlights.com/index.php?main_pa...products_id=185 it says there is an 18g version, but the pic is stock of the 8g was wondering if anyone has seen them. Link to comment
drewbold Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 Any other additions to the list before I start ordering I dont want to get everything and then realize i'm missing something vital as my LFS don't carry most of these brands I'm trying to get it all ordered at the same time and few places to save on shipping. Thanks again for any input and BTW this site is ADDICTING and AWESOME, my wife is bugging me to get off it but there is just so much info. Link to comment
drewbold Posted February 19, 2011 Author Share Posted February 19, 2011 after a bit of dmg control and some tlc and a small cycle, I got some frags and thought I would post a few bad pics from my phone. small flowerpot (i think) seems to be doing well some xenia and a sponge these will all get transfered to my bc 14 once i get it running and cycled Link to comment
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