LIB-TECH Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Hey everyone, I've been lurking for a while now and decided to share my venture to starting my first saltwater tank. I've had a BC14 for around 6 months(bought it established) decided to go bigger and start from scratch, haha. Should be fun! Tank: JBJ 28g Nano LED with stand. LR: 25~ish lbs LS: 30lb Aragonite Other: BRS 75 GPD RO/DI 5 Stage *PLUS* System Love this thing, was incredibly easy to set up and was producing 0ppm TDS after an hour. No more buying water! On the way: InTank media rack JBJ Nano-Glo Fuge LED AquaC Nano Remora protein skimmer Digital Aquatics Reefkeeper lite controller EcoTech Marine MP10 w/ EcoSmart driver Right after building rockscape and adding sand. Don't mind the terrible painting on the walls, still have yet to repaint, haha. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Clearing up a bit. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Side shot. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Now 6 days in with a some diatom/algae bloom. Plus new rockscape. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Now that algae is coming in when should I add a CUC? I'm going to check all of my param's tomorrow to see what my levels are at. Link to comment
dday80 Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Great start! See what your params are and then consider a CUC. Might be early still. Link to comment
Deleted User 4 Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Cool, how many watts are your LEDs? Link to comment
LIB-TECH Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 Cool, how many watts are your LEDs? Just the stock JBJ LED which I believe are 25x3w for daytime, Dawn/Dusk 4x3w, and 2x1w for the moon lights. Link to comment
LIB-TECH Posted July 2, 2011 Author Share Posted July 2, 2011 Lib-tech, do you snowboard? I was wondering how long it would take for someone to say something, lol. Turns out, not that long. Yeah I do, ride a Lib-Tech(obviously) haha. You? I'm out on vacation at the moment so no new updates on the tank, I'm looking forward to see how much algae has grown when I get back tomorrow, lol. Link to comment
LIB-TECH Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 Well checked my params this morning, here is where I sit. SG: 1.024 Ammonia: 0 Nitrites: 0 Nitrates: 0 Phos: 0 PH: 8.3 dKH: 12(Could be related to low calcium?) Cal: 340 Should I start dosing Calcium? I did a 20% water change and got a CUC. 10 Scarlet hermits 3 Torchus 4 Margarita 4 Nassarius 10 Ceriths I'll get some pics up tomorrow when I steal my roomates DSLR, haha. Link to comment
LIB-TECH Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share Posted July 10, 2011 Got in some goodies... Thanks to InTank for everything! Installed all the new stuff and transferred everything from my old BC14 to the new tank. I'm having trouble with my maxi-jet 1200 on the protein skimmer. I feel like it doesn't sit low enough in the chamber for the intake. I feel with any evaporation it could lead to a burnt out pump, haha. Anyone with experience on this? If not I'll just add some extra tubing between the pump and skimmer to sit lower. I'll get some pics of the tank set up tomorrow, not looking bare anymore! Link to comment
LIB-TECH Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share Posted July 10, 2011 FTS, I promise better pics next time, not phone ones. Now the hard part......deciding what fish I want. Any suggestions? What I'm thinking: Flame angel Blennie? Wrasse? (McCoskers or mystery) Link to comment
XIII Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Great start to your tank. I have a lot of the same equipment, so if you want to see how I set it all up, check out my thread. Good luck to you. Link to comment
dday80 Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Looks Awesome so far! I've considered an angel too. I think that they are more of a high maintanence fish. A tribal blenny would be awesome. Good fish list! Link to comment
LIB-TECH Posted July 17, 2011 Author Share Posted July 17, 2011 Looks Awesome so far! I've considered an angel too. I think that they are more of a high maintanence fish. A tribal blenny would be awesome. Good fish list! Thanks! Here are a few updates: Got my RKL Picked up a refractometer MP10 Should be in late next week Some new livestock Fan Worn I got for $15 at the LFS Mystery Wrasse Link to comment
Deleted User 4 Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Cool, nice looking mystery wrasse, dude I got that same coco worm (3of them) for $54....lol you got a good deal. Link to comment
LIB-TECH Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 Cool, nice looking mystery wrasse, dude I got that same coco worm (3of them) for $54....lol you got a good deal. I actually saw your thread with yours in it before I bought mine, thought it looked really nice. Went to the LFS the next day and sure enough they had one, couldn't afford not too. The mystery wrasse is finally settling into the tank. Was hiding in the LR for the first few days, now he's very active and darting around. Excited for my MP10 to come so I can get rid of that eye sore Koralia powerhead out of there, lol. Link to comment
LIB-TECH Posted July 20, 2011 Author Share Posted July 20, 2011 Look what I got.......Teaser. I'm going to the LFS tomorrow, I'll put some new shots up tomorrow. Any coral suggestions for the middle left rock? Looking bare on that side. Link to comment
dday80 Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 Looks siiiiickkkkk! That wrasse is sweet. See what you CA is at and maybe try some sps for that spot. Link to comment
RattlerSkin Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 So what is your livestock list as of now? Great looking tank so far, just got my 28g LED through its cycle about two weeks ago, have some great growth on my rocks and added my first occelaris clown last week. It's pretty empty and I am encouraged to add coral after seeing what you have in there so early. Link to comment
LIB-TECH Posted July 23, 2011 Author Share Posted July 23, 2011 So what is your livestock list as of now? Great looking tank so far, just got my 28g LED through its cycle about two weeks ago, have some great growth on my rocks and added my first occelaris clown last week. It's pretty empty and I am encouraged to add coral after seeing what you have in there so early. Most of the stuff I had in early was from my old BC14 because I had found a buyer right away. What I transferred over: Pulsing Xenia Hammer Orange plate Torch 2 mushrooms Green eye polyp GBTA What I've picked up since: Fire & Ice Whammin Watermelons GSP Duncan (today) Acan (today) Birds nest(first SPS!) Ca is steady at 440, dKH at 9, Mag around 1300 Fish: Occ clown Mystery Wrasse Iverts: Fire/blood shrimp Emerald crab CUC I believe that's it. I didnt have time for pics today, tomorrow I will spend some time getting pics of everything! Link to comment
bsdryder7 Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 i love the scape you have i am actually picking up a 28 nano tomorrow and its going to be my first sw tank.....dont hate me if i jack your scape lol.......looking forward for more pics Link to comment
LIB-TECH Posted July 24, 2011 Author Share Posted July 24, 2011 i love the scape you have i am actually picking up a 28 nano tomorrow and its going to be my first sw tank.....dont hate me if i jack your scape lol.......looking forward for more pics Nice! LED? I like my scape, I don't love it though, haha. It worked with what shapes and rock I had, created a very nice cave in the middle for the shrimp /fish. If I were to do it again it would be more minimal. Go right ahead if you want to use it as a reference. No pic updates today unfortunately. I'm house sitting for my parents while they are on vacation and I didn't have time to get back to my place. Hopefully in the next coming days! Link to comment
LIB-TECH Posted July 26, 2011 Author Share Posted July 26, 2011 Took 2 pics until I can grab a real camera to take some half decent shots, haha. Everything is looking happy, except for the plate coral. It's starting to bleach, I've noticed the blood shrimp is taking any possible food from it. I'm going to try feeding it twice a week and keep the shrimp away. Any advice? New Acan Also picked up something... Doing great so far. I can see it's been nipping at the torch coral a tiny bit. Haven't seen it do it since the first couple days I've had him, so hopefully it works out. Thoughts on SPS placement? I was at the LFS when a few employees had just come back from trying to save a persons cracked tank. Seeing an opportunity for cheap corals I asked if they were selling anything for cheap. They offered the sps at $5 a frag, decided to give it a shot. I would appreciate any ID on them. I've been searching but being new to sps I've had no luck. The bad camera and white LED's wash the color a lot. The middle one is a nice pastel yellow color, and then the purple one higher up. Link to comment
lmac Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Hey LIB-TECH, I also have a the 28g LED Advanced, (up and running since the end of May) and I've got SPS in similar placements, but I'm having a terrible time getting them to extend polyps. :/ I don't know if it's because my clown goby keeps pestering them (dubious) or if they don't have enough flow (likely) or if they're over-lit (also dubious.) No loss of color, but no growth and no polyp extension for about 2 weeks now. I'm running the stock pumps, but looking to upgrade next month (any advice welcome!) How are your SPS faring so far? Also, where did you stick the skimmer and what sort of filtration do you have going? I'm debating a skimmer; with water changes weekly I haven't had an issue, but I do see a few sprouts of bryopsis in my tank (my fault for not dipping coral...) and I can't decide if I need to upgrade the media basket or add a skimmer. Link to comment
LIB-TECH Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 Hey LIB-TECH, I also have a the 28g LED Advanced, (up and running since the end of May) and I've got SPS in similar placements, but I'm having a terrible time getting them to extend polyps. :/ I don't know if it's because my clown goby keeps pestering them (dubious) or if they don't have enough flow (likely) or if they're over-lit (also dubious.) No loss of color, but no growth and no polyp extension for about 2 weeks now. I'm running the stock pumps, but looking to upgrade next month (any advice welcome!) How are your SPS faring so far? Also, where did you stick the skimmer and what sort of filtration do you have going? I'm debating a skimmer; with water changes weekly I haven't had an issue, but I do see a few sprouts of bryopsis in my tank (my fault for not dipping coral...) and I can't decide if I need to upgrade the media basket or add a skimmer. Nice! Do you have a build thread? I've also noticed a lack of polyp extension, besides the middle SPS which has good extension the other 2 I've noticed very little. The birds nest has new growth on it, but minimal polyp extension. The purple one wasn't the healthiest piece when I bought it, figuring it would be a good way to test out what I can do to improve my tank in anyway. I've considered dosing some Zeovit products, maybe I will start in the next week or two if nothing changes. I would leave the stock pumps personally for now and just go with the mp10. This thing is really as good as everyone says it is, lol. My fish/corals are loving all the extra flow. My skimmer is HOB on the left side, pump being in the furthest left chamber, with the return being in the 2nd to the left with some overflow into the pump side. I know skimmers aren't necessarily needed on nano's but I would like to go down more of an SPS dominated tank down the line, so I figured why not. Done a good job so far. I bought an InTank media basket for stevieT(mediabaskets.com) on this site, way improved over stock. I have filter floss on top, purigen, and then chemi-pure elite. I want to add cheato if I can find some locally. Link to comment
lmac Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 I do not have a built thread, though I probably should. I have trouble with the LEDs on my droid's camera. For quick specs, I'm running the 28g LED Advanced, it's my third salt water build, and everything is stock so far. I've got 2 tiny false percs (Mario an Peach), a yellow clown goby (Toad), a long spine urchin, an emerald crab, a really annoying serpant star (hitchiker b*stard who just ate my yasha goby! Jerk!). I have 2 SPS, a variety of LPS, a ton of zoas and palys, and some mushrooms and rics. I'll throw more infor and pics up when I do a build. Keep me posted on your SPS. I saw great growth and extension initially on my SPS but about 4 weeks ago, things just stopped and my acans and micromusa started RTN. I stopped the loss with an iodine dip, but no new growth yet. I'm waiting another week or so to try another dip, but I'm not sure it's worth it if they haven't healed better at that point. I'm assuming it's bacterial because nothing else suffered; the blastoma is peachy - but no extension. I do a 5g water change weekly, and my levels are all fine. I'm hoping flow fixes the problem. That's really good to know about the MP10. I can do one of those or replace both pumps for the same money when you consider pump size/quality/silence x2. Where do you have yours positioned? I think skimmers are good on nanos; I had the healthiest system with a 30g and a CPR backback. I may end up modifying things to make it fit on the back, if I can't sell it. How do you like the remora? I found the CPR needed constant cleaning when I had it on my 55g. I'll have to check on the mediabasket too, because the stock is absurdly undersized. Water goes right over the top. :/ I'm running chemipure elite, purigen, and cheato. The LED grow light is outstanding! I just put it on the timer to run with the moonlights, and never worry. I've pruned it twice now to make it fit. It comes out of the basket in a green curly cube, covered in pods. I'm up in north Idaho, but if you want me to mail you some next pruning, drop me a PM. I got mine 3 day mail in a baggie, and it's doing just fine. As expensive as this hobby is, and as something I end up just throwing away, it's yours if you want it. Link to comment
LIB-TECH Posted July 28, 2011 Author Share Posted July 28, 2011 I do not have a built thread, though I probably should. I have trouble with the LEDs on my droid's camera. For quick specs, I'm running the 28g LED Advanced, it's my third salt water build, and everything is stock so far. I've got 2 tiny false percs (Mario an Peach), a yellow clown goby (Toad), a long spine urchin, an emerald crab, a really annoying serpant star (hitchiker b*stard who just ate my yasha goby! Jerk!). I have 2 SPS, a variety of LPS, a ton of zoas and palys, and some mushrooms and rics. I'll throw more infor and pics up when I do a build. Keep me posted on your SPS. I saw great growth and extension initially on my SPS but about 4 weeks ago, things just stopped and my acans and micromusa started RTN. I stopped the loss with an iodine dip, but no new growth yet. I'm waiting another week or so to try another dip, but I'm not sure it's worth it if they haven't healed better at that point. I'm assuming it's bacterial because nothing else suffered; the blastoma is peachy - but no extension. I do a 5g water change weekly, and my levels are all fine. I'm hoping flow fixes the problem. That's really good to know about the MP10. I can do one of those or replace both pumps for the same money when you consider pump size/quality/silence x2. Where do you have yours positioned? I think skimmers are good on nanos; I had the healthiest system with a 30g and a CPR backback. I may end up modifying things to make it fit on the back, if I can't sell it. How do you like the remora? I found the CPR needed constant cleaning when I had it on my 55g. I'll have to check on the mediabasket too, because the stock is absurdly undersized. Water goes right over the top. :/ I'm running chemipure elite, purigen, and cheato. The LED grow light is outstanding! I just put it on the timer to run with the moonlights, and never worry. I've pruned it twice now to make it fit. It comes out of the basket in a green curly cube, covered in pods. I'm up in north Idaho, but if you want me to mail you some next pruning, drop me a PM. I got mine 3 day mail in a baggie, and it's doing just fine. As expensive as this hobby is, and as something I end up just throwing away, it's yours if you want it. Yeah I will, hopefully they start having great polyp extension/color soon, haha. My MP10 is positioned about middle of the tank, 1/3 of the way down. Seems to give the best flow everywhere in that position. The remora has been good so far, it is a little noisy at times but there is a quick fix to that which solved the problem. It's been pulling a decent skimmate since the first week, no complaints so far. That would be awesome! Except for that I live in Canada, I'm not 100% sure if you can ship anything live across the border(anyone know for sure?). Link to comment
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