TeenyReef's 10g Fusion - ATO Disaster

[NaCl H2O]

Hi teenyreef,

 

New member here and came across your amazing 10gal tank featured this month. I've had a failed 10gal and would love to get back into the hobby, and have a few questions for you:

• Do you mix your own ASW? What brand would you recommend?
• What water testing kits are you using and what do you recommend?
• Is the automatic dosing equipment absolutely necessary for beginners? I'm always amazed to see how you and others keep nitrates in check with such a small tank.
• Could you please specify the 'turkey basting' technique you are using to clean the live rock and sand?

Well done on an amazing setup! Just goes to show that 10gals can thrive!

[teenyreef]

Congrats on the Reefbuilder's article!

 

I love the pic with the clowns, it also shows off some of your beautiful coral garden!

Thanks, Yoshii! Hurry up with that new tank - we all want to see what you do with it

[Elizabeth94]

Truly amazing photos. Just perfect! 10000% thumbs up

[teenyreef]

Hi teenyreef,

 

New member here and came across your amazing 10gal tank featured this month. I've had a failed 10gal and would love to get back into the hobby, and have a few questions for you:

• Do you mix your own ASW? What brand would you recommend?
• What water testing kits are you using and what do you recommend?
• Is the automatic dosing equipment absolutely necessary for beginners? I'm always amazed to see how you and others keep nitrates in check with such a small tank.
• Could you please specify the 'turkey basting' technique you are using to clean the live rock and sand?

Well done on an amazing setup! Just goes to show that 10gals can thrive!

Thank you, and welcome back to our little addiction Those are some great questions!

 

I have an RODI filter and I mix my own saltwater. I use Red Sea Blue Bucket because it mixes up with lower alkalinity. I try to keep my nutrients low and it helps to have lower alkalinity in that case. I used to use Instant Ocean Reef Crystals, and I still recommend them - there are many beautiful tanks that use that salt.

 

Test kits:

Hanna Checkers for Alkalinity and Ultra Low Range Phosphorus. The Hanna alkalinity is very fast and easy to use since you don't have to do drops. And the Phosphorus checker is great because I have trouble telling one tiny shade of color from another at low ranges.

Salifert for Ca, Mg, and backup kits for NO3 and PO4 just in case my Hanna checkers are out of reagents, or if I get a result that seems off.

Red Sea Pro for Nitrates. The Pro kit has a nice color wheel which I find very easy to use in comparing colors. The only downside is you have to dilute the sample to measure nitrates over 4ppm, so I sometimes end up doing two tests to get one measurement when my nitrates are high.

I don't measure anything else very often, but I have an old API Master Saltwater kit for ammonia, as well as an old Salifert kit. Pretty much anything is good for ammonia since it doesn't need to be measured precisely.

I test alkalinity daily (at the same time every day since it goes up and down on a 24 hour cycle), nitrates and phosphates weekly, and calcium and magnesium monthly.

 

I would recommend against dosers (and dosing at all) for beginners. Dosing is only needed when you have so many stony corals that simple water changes can't restore alkalinity, calcium and magnesium levels. Most folks can keep nitrates low with some combination of floss, skimming, and carbon+gfo or other chemical filtration options. When you do start dosing, do it by hand for a while until you get some experience. I managed to kill my 4g tank by leaving the alkalinity doser running overnight, so I know how easily it can happen! Also, as a general rule, only dose what you can measure, especially as a beginner.

 

On the other hand, although you didn't ask, I highly recommend an automated top off (ATO) unit. Keeping a nano or pico tank is all about maintaining stable parameters, and that starts with salinity. You will need to make sure you top off the tank every single day, and believe me, that gets old after just a few weeks. Something like the AutoAqua Smart Micro ATO is pretty cheap and works great (I have one on my frag tank).

 

Turkey basting is easy You literally get a turkey baster from the grocery or home goods store, and use it to squirt water all over the rocks to blow off detritus. I also use it to gently squirt water into the sand bed - just enough to make the sand suspended in the water for a second. The detritus mostly blows into the water while the sand falls back down. Then your circulation pump keeps the dirt suspended in the water long enough for most of it to get sucked into the return.

 

Good luck and please feel free to ask all the questions you like!. Make sure you start a tank thread when you get going - you can do it as soon as you start planning, even before you put a tank together. It's a great way to get opinions from other experienced reefers about your plans and to get questions answered. Let me know when you do so I can follow along

Truly amazing photos. Just perfect! 10000% thumbs up

Thanks, Elizabeth!

[teenyreef]

As I mentioned in my TOTM writeup, one of my goals is to thin out the acros on the top of the rock a little bit. Along with getting my phosphates down, which have been too high lately. The acros are mostly brown right now which makes me sad

 

Last night, I removed the blue acro, which had been receding on top - I think it wanted a little less light. So I pulled it out and glued it up in the 40g tank to recover. Then I took the smooth skinned acro and moved it where the blue one was, to give everything a little more room. I wanted to glue it on it's side so it can start encrusting sooner, so I carefully trimmed the frag plug where I could without trimming off encrusted stuff, so it wouldn't stick up when I glued the acro in place.

 

Then I put the glue on the wrong side of the frag. So now the frag has the side that was shaded and brown facing up, with the biggest part of the frag plug sticking up over it. Oh well, some day when it encrusts and gets big it won't matter

 

Here's a shot of the mostly brown acros after regluing. I hope to show some more colorful stuff in another week or two as I get phosphates back under control.

 

20160808-untitled-037-Edit.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

Here are what the smooth skinned one, and the green/pink one at the bottom used to look like:

 

20160520-untitled-033-Edit.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

20160520-untitled-025-Edit.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

And here's what the big encrusted one on top looked like:

 

Acro Survivor by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

These pictures were from about two months ago, before my disastrous experiment with the AI Hydra 26 followed by high nutrients.

[RollaJase]

Well, for mostly brown acros I think they look pretty good! Especially the last one.

[teenyreef]

Well, for mostly brown acros I think they look pretty good! Especially the last one.

Thanks! But unfortunately all but the first picture are the "they looked pretty good two months ago" pictures

[Bowen1022]

I feel your pain with the brown acros. I have just recently begun seeing color back since dosing NoPox. Hoping for the best for your acros!

[DaveFason]

Thanks! But unfortunately all but the first picture are the "they looked pretty good two months ago" pictures

I would start to move most of the acros into the 40g. With being such a small tank and a diverse selection of corals I believe mixing them all together is almost a recipe for failure ( consistently colored ). When you figure one thing out to help one coral you will see something else start to not like it as much. Just my two cents!

[tibbsy07]

Hey saw this tank on Reef Builders in their email updates - congrats on that, too! I wish I had been able to make my 10 even a fraction of this tank's epicness and I would have been thrilled with it

[teenyreef]

I feel your pain with the brown acros. I have just recently begun seeing color back since dosing NoPox. Hoping for the best for your acros!

Nitrates are low again but phosphates are still coming down slowly. Fingers crossed!

I would start to move most of the acros into the 40g. With being such a small tank and a diverse selection of corals I believe mixing them all together is almost a recipe for failure ( consistently colored ). When you figure one thing out to help one coral you will see something else start to not like it as much. Just my two cents!

I agree, that's the main reason I just moved the blue acro to the 40.

 

On the other hand, I had all these frags in this tank at the same time and they were all doing great two months ago. And now they're all doing much less great. I'd like to at least get them all up to a C average before I separate the gifted from the not so gifted

Hey saw this tank on Reef Builders in their email updates - congrats on that, too! I wish I had been able to make my 10 even a fraction of this tank's epicness and I would have been thrilled with it

Thanks Tibbsy! Your old build was one of the earliest builds I followed and it gave me so many ideas, not only about what to do, but also how to plan. I'm really looking forward to seeing your new build when you get it going!

[Nano sapiens]

Congrats on the Reefbuilders feature

[metrokat]

Congrats Teeny

[teenyreef]

Congrats on the Reefbuilders feature

Thanks!

[markalot]

Good grief, I missed August TOTM. Congrats, well deserved again. Also congrats on the reef builders feature, I'll have to go look at it.

[drgibby]

Teeny What are the settings on your Nanobox? How intense do they get?

[tibbsy07]

Thanks Tibbsy! Your old build was one of the earliest builds I followed and it gave me so many ideas, not only about what to do, but also how to plan. I'm really looking forward to seeing your new build when you get it going!

Lol i am glad you were able to use my build to figure out what NOT to do! Thanks for the kind words though Hoping to get a tank going again soon

[teenyreef]

Congrats Teeny

Thank you, Kat! Your tanks have always been a huge inspiration for me

Good grief, I missed August TOTM. Congrats, well deserved again. Also congrats on the reef builders feature, I'll have to go look at it.

Thanks, Mark! I'm just blown away by how good all the corals are looking in your tank.

Teeny What are the settings on your Nanobox? How intense do they get?

I've got the blues up to 90% and while/lime at 45% at peak.

Lol i am glad you were able to use my build to figure out what NOT to do! Thanks for the kind words though Hoping to get a tank going again soon

I've got my fingers crossed for you!

[tibbsy07]

I might just do a 5.5 again and keep it cheap

[William]

how is the puffer

[teenyreef]

I might just do a 5.5 again and keep it cheap

I think there's a lot to be said for keeping it cheap in a pico or small nano. It can give a sense of freedom to just mess around and try different things, because there's no commitment to make it work no matter what since you spent so much money on it

[teenyreef]

how is the puffer

He seems to be doing just fine. He hangs out in the back of the tank when the lights are bright, sleeping. He's so cute, he snuggles right up against a rock ledge like it's a bed. Once the lights start to dim, he comes right out and starts cruising around the tank. He mostly sticks to the rocks but sometimes he'll swim around in the open water.

 

Edit: after I posted this I noticed he wasn't swimming around. I looked around behind the rocks and didn't see him. After a few minutes of mild panic I finally spotted him taking a nap just like I was talking about here. Between the stripes and the spots he really blends in with the rocks when the lights are low

 

I took a cell phone picture with the flash on - it was the only way I could get a picture!

 

Leopard Toby Puffer by TeenyReef, on Flickr

[teenyreef]

I picked up a couple more BRS dosers along with an Apex Lite setup from a fellow reefer here on N-R a couple months ago, but I haven't had time to get it all set up until this weekend.

 

I've replaced the Apex Jr. with the Apex Lite plus the 8 outlet energy bar. I still have the second energy bar and sensor module hooked up for the IM40 (via a USB cable run through the wall to the room next door).

 

By adding the extra outlets, I now have enough outlets to add the two additional dosers. Plus the Apex Jr. is now available to set up for the frag tank.

 

As usual, getting things hooked up and working only took a few hours, but getting everything cleaned up and routed properly took forever

 

Everything is mounted under the desk, behind a small roll-out file cabinet. So it's pretty much invisible, but I like things to look neat anyway because I'm just weird that way. Here's what the setup looks like now:

 

20160814_235556.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

I've put NoPox in the third dosing container. I haven't decided what to put in the fourth container yet. I could do magnesium, but I only need to dose Mag once a month, so there's not much point in using an automated doser for that. I'd like to use it for amino acid dosing, but the stuff I use now (Red Sea Reef Energy A& comes in two parts and it has to be refrigerated.

 

I may go back to using Acropower since it doesn't have to be refrigerated. The instructions say to shake well, but then they say to use a dosing pump for daily dosing. I'm not sure how they expect it to be shaken up in an automated doser unless they assume everybody's rich and has magnetic stirrers

[RollaJase]

Nice setup . I'm really glad I picked up the expansion for my Marine Color doser. I'm dosing Alk, Cal, Mag and Vinegar at the moment, was thinking of doing Amino's also but i'm unsure whether it will be ok seeing as it says on the bottle to shake vigorously before dosing. I was actually just doing some reading up on the maintenance of the dosers and whether or not you can oil the rollers. A few of mine are really squeaky but seeing as the heads are all friction fit I don't know if the oil will effect performance at all.

[dropped]

I saw the heading and thought... Oh no.... What's happened! Thinking the worst like the dosing pump doubled dosed haha.

 

I also dose Red Sea A & B and keeping it I the fridge is a PTA!! How much are you dosing per day?