my first 12 g eclipse nano

[chufa]

I am venturing for the first time in saltwater aquariums. I have kept freshwater successfully for the last 10 years. For space reasons, I have decided to go small (I already have a 55g Oscar tank). So today I set up my first 12 G eclipse tank.

 

First thing I did was spend hours reading all I could from this site. This was recommended by my fellow members at Oscarfish.com. I appreciate all the help I got from all the posters and information here.

 

I purchased the 12 gallon eclipse, automatic heater, 20 lbs live sand, 10 lbs live rock, salt, hygrometer, thermometer, water conditioner, and various other accessories. The LR I got was half Fiji ($/7.95lb) and half aquascaped ($12.95/lb). Total expense was $400. Somewhat expensive, but this was from the best LFS in town.

 

I was informed that the local tap water is good enough unless I wanted to keep fancy corals, delicate fish, or anemones. I also plan to keep just a few low-light beginner corals like shrooms, so they told me I would be allright with the standard eclipse lighting. BTW, they have one eclipse nano set up in the LFS; it is very nice.

 

I will leave the tank as-is for one week, then take some water to the LFS to test. Once they find everything is allright (1-2 weeks they estimate), I plan to add a couple of clowns and a cleanup crew.

 

Their eclipse is running with the biowheel and filter cartridge, but I read here that may not be neccessary. I would appreciate some extra advice on that. I have it running now while the tank is cycling.

 

I would appreciate your comments and suggestions. Thank you very much. I hope for the best.

[Dave ESPI]

Start slow.... let the tank run for a good month. Then add animals.

ALso the fush should be the LAST thing to add as they will contribute the most waste and are the top of the consumer pyramid. There is a retro kit U can add from JBJ and CSL to upgrade to PC smartlamps. Id suggest starting there.

Got any pics?

[chufa]

no pics yet, I wanted to add a few pounds omre of LR before. Now it is just 9 punds per 12 gallons. I want a little more, it looks a little barren.

 

I'll post some once I finished scaping. Sorry for my ignorance, but I am not yet used to reefer acronyms. What is JBJ, CSL and PC smartlamps? At this point, I don't plan to mess to much with the lighting. My setup will be mostly FOWLR (heh, I learned an acronym:) ), and perhaps a few shrooms/low-lihght softies in the future.

[glazer]

hey chufa,

 

congrats on your new setup!

 

JBJ and CSL (CustomSeaLife) are brand names of PC's (power compact flourescent lighting). Looking into my crystal ball,hehe I foresee the need for upgrading your lighting as the 'shrooms won't satisfy the need, you'll see some cool polyps or whatever and HAVE to have 'em....lol

 

Which brings me to my next point. I would seriously reconsider using tap water for your tank, no matter what the LFS said. I grew up in Iowa (Ft. Madison, ever hear of it?) and trust me, we don't got special water! It's just as full of all the nasty stuff as anywhere else, ie., phosphates, nitrates, ect., ect. Go with RO or distilled water, your tank will thank you for it!

[Dave ESPI]

see my thrad on common reef abreviations in this beginners forum... its all there.X)

[Royal Gramma]

Ya, but it is also several pages back dave....

Welcome to the wonderful world of Saltwater chufa, I'm a newbie too.

I lovvvve clowns, but remember to get a sexed pair, because if it is two males or two females they will fight.

Good luck!,

Carrie, aka Royal Gramma

[gobies]

Actually, you don't always need to worry about getting a pair. If you get one fish that is larger than the other, the larger fish will become the female. If you get two that are the same size, they'll pick on each other until one establishes dominance and becomes the female.

[chufa]

Thanks again!

 

Glazer, our water is preety low on nitrates, and is alkaline, which I heard is good for saltwater aquaria. I do a type of analysis in the lab that measures phosphates. I will run an extra tap water sample next time and see what the levels are. Any idea what are considered "safe levels"?

[chufa]

OK, I took some pics. Keep in mind I just started! There is a big gap between the water surface and the top. This also causes water coming from the filter to fall hard and create a depression in the sand (visible on the right). I can't add more water, otherwise the filter will stop. Is this normal for an eclipse, or do I have a malfunction?

[chufa]

Here is a close up of some of the critters in the LR. What is the hydra-looking thing? There are a bunch of those. I've seen some yellow worms, bugs that look like miniature termites, and miniature barnacles. There is also some green algae and coralline.

[chufa]

last pic, different angle from previuos.

[LEEWINK]

hi, just a few bits for you, you said you bought live sand, not a prob there but you may want to try to divert the filter exit across the top of your tank water instead of toward the bottom, as you see it stirs the live sand and you dont really want this, a small circulation around sand is no problem, but not to dig it up as you see it minimalises the area of effective denitrification and in yours it has taken the complete corner away, the thing with live sand is it has to be left alone undisturbed to create its system of operation and to allow denitrification in the lower section of its depth, you have good/sufficiant depth there which is good to see, you will also notice in time that the sand may slightly change colour too (darker, yellower etc), this is no prob. either, just settling in, there are many changes that will happen in the first year, sounds a long time aye, just remember that reeftanks take time to mature and adjust, things you add will change all balances and maybe only slightly which is why we add small and allow good time between for the tank to re-adjust again i.e add star polyp rock (small piece), wait a couple weeks then add another, time time time - the three important factors, there are many things you will come across and need help which is why were here, maybe i cant help on everything but i'll give it a go.

 

ok, your last pics of that 'living thingy' :-

 

i will go for, and i'm pretty certain it's aptasia, if it is its no good to your tank as it will overcome it in time and pretty much destroy all in it, you see corals etc fight and challenge for space (remember not to put them too close together) as they grow, and in a small tank we have to be carefull on this subject, but most control there own space with not too much problems but may cause, the aptasia will overcome most if not all corals for its space, think your money - beautiful tank - and aptasia, not a good mix.

 

now, your next move in my eye's would be to post the pics in the main forum and ask again "is this aptasia" and what to do to treat, i had one 'sprig' and i took the rock out, only a tiny piece of rock though with no other life on it.

 

if it helps at all, i or we are here to help and advise, i'm deffo not the best in here, but hopefully i can help, lee :)

 

p.s. one last thing, make sure you get severall answers or replies to your questions, don't take one answer as 'gospel' .

[Korbin]

Something's wrong. I have the same tank, and I can tell you that the filter is supposed to work when the aquarium is full to the top. Are you sure it's stopping? In my tank, I keep the water about 1/2 inch above the bottom of the filter discharge. So it doesnt just drop the water into the tank.

 

Also, I would do whatever I can to get rid of those "hydra" things. I think they are apasita or whatever. Whatever they are, they're not good.

 

And the 32 watt 50/50 Custom Sea Life Supernova retrofit light kit is a good investment for this tank. Just make sure you have AC or your tank could overheat.

[chufa]

I fixed the filter and now I can fill it up to the top. Some water got in the motor assembly. I added 10 more lbs of live rock today. Looks much better. i'll post some pics later. Thanks!!!

[Goofnut]

Definatley appears to be Aiptasia. No horrible harm in having a couple of them, but they DO reproduce faster than rabbits. Once your water checks out and your tank is ready to support some critters (cleanup crew, etc.) get yourself a couple of Peppermint Shrimp. If you get a pair, one will become male, and the other female. They will spawn every 9 days or so and keep your tank supplied with food for the other inhabitants. The nice thing about Peppermints (make SURE they're Lysmata Wurdemanni) is that they will most likely make short work of those Aiptasia and keep them from coming back. The true peppermint will have 6 long tentacles (not 2) and will have a small hump on its back (not a big one like the Camel Shrimp). Once they've removed the aiptasia, you'll want to feed them -as there is a /slight/ chance that they may nibble on certain types of polyps if they get hungry enough. They can be trained to eat from your hand -I let mine pull food bits out of a turkey baster to keep from putting my hand in the tank too often.

 

You can see a pic here:

http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/picture_p...faq_pepper.html

http://www.aquahobby.com/marine/brwurdemanni.html

 

Your tank sure does sound like it has a malfunction, but I don't use Eclipse hoods, so don't take my word for it. You might want to just take the hood back and exchange it out for a new one.

 

IMO, you don't need to retro the lights right now. You can wait a bit. You've already spent enough money right off the bat. It won't hurt to wait until you've researched what kind of corals you are going to put in there before you decide on lighting.

 

Good luck!

[chufa]

OK, it's been 6 days, and things are going great! I am going to post a few pics as promised. Hope I don't overload the site.

 

First, I fixed the filter. Marineland or whatever they are called now had great customer support. Second, I tested the water today for the first time, and WFT??? Ammonia zero, Nitrite zero, Nitrate @5 ppm. That was a quick cycle! So maybe the guys at the LFS were right? I thought they conned me!

 

They sold me some "Florida Aquascaped Rock" for 12$/lb which they claimed was fully cured and will cycle my tank immediately. I bit into it, but later after reading more thought maybe it was some BS. Well, maybe they were right? Aside from lots of aiptasia, the rock came fully loaded with coralline (purple, red, orange), worms, little bugs, small polyps, feather dusters, and lots of other critters I have no idea what they are. Pics coming. Plus, there was some grape algae that's growing like crazy.

 

Now I am having some hair algae starting to cover the rocks though, plus some thin algae that looks like tiny ferns. No diatoms. This, plus the fact that some of the sand gets stuck to the algae in the rock are the only annoyances so far. I don't care much about the aiptasia now, as this will be a FOWLR for a while.

 

Here's how the tank looks now. No fish or inverts yet. Maybe next week I'll add a damsel and a cleanup crew; what do you think?

[chufa]

A closeup of the LR. The sand obscures the coralline, unfortunately. I try to blow it off with a pipet, but if floats back in to the rock. Any tips?

[chufa]

Last pic, hope is not too much pics.

[Korbin]

Nice! Don't worry about too many pics. Pictures goooood.

 

I got those little fern-looking algae plants in my tank when it first started too. Then I got maroon/purple film stuff, then I got brown film stuff, and after a couple weeks it stablelized.

 

Is that big brown rock a bare lava rock? I heard that they can potentially seep metals. FYI

[chufa]

Thanks! I don't know what it is. It was among the second batch of Florida LR that i got. I honestly don't like it much, but it was small enough to fit in my tank. Most pieces i come across are too big.

 

I don't think it is lava rock. While the color and texture is similar, it is too heavy. It is not completely bare, it has some lifeforms.

[tinyreef]

lava (red) rock can come in many densities being man-made. i have seen some lava as heavy as granite and so light and porous as to float! it could be aquacultured lava, my display tank was 75% base rock (mostly lava) that has grown over to match the LR that seeded the system.

 

the bare rock is a lava, i hope they didn't charge you for LR pricing on that. :

 

when i'm searching for rubble rock i gauge the weight versus volume as the most important criteria. the lighter the rock the more internal surface area for denitrating bacteria.

 

korbin's correct in the contamination issue though. i always presoak my rubble rock for a few days in FW to leach out any contaminants.