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Greg's First Reef Journal (Red Sea Max Nano 20g/70L)


Lawlboom

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Hello Everyone,

 

A little background before I get into it. I've been keeping fish for almost three years now. I had some heart trouble and needed surgery. I ended up being out of work for about a month and a half waiting for surgery and recovery time. During which, I discovered James Findley and his nature aquariums on youtube. That's when the addiction took in. I've kept planted tanks, Malawi Africans, discus, you name it I've probably done it. I recently moved from PA to VA and gave away most of my fish. Started anew in my new city.

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16.5G Display with 3.5g Sump

 

AI prime HD led light

 

10lbs 'cured' Fiji rock

 

7lbs 'almost cured' fiji rock

 

3lbs tonga branch

 

20lbs of carb sea Arag-Alive Reef Sand

 

No heater yet, likely will purchase one later today.

 

Paramters as of now:

 

Salinity is showing 1.026 ( I bought 19 gallons from the LFS )

 

Temperature stays at 75F during the day, 74.5 at night.

 

Dosing Seachem Stability as per directions

 

Only thing I care about right now is:

 

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Annnd now we wait.

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Combination of Live Rock, Live Sand, and Bottled Bacteria I've cycled. I had to improvise a lid due to a very curious cat. Just some lightning diffuser I used to use as a divider when I was trying to breed my midas.

 

Added a Koralia 425.

 

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I made my first rookie mistake. I noticed that my skimmer's collection cup was full of water. I believed there was something wrong with it so I just dumped the cup down the sump. An ammonia spike followed and I wasn't testing nitrates. Habit from freshwater I only check my nitrates on those tanks once a month. I was only testing Ammonia and Nitrite.

 

Ammonia .25

 

Nitrite 0

 

Nitrate 20

 

I did about a 3gallon water change before bed.

 

I've since did more reading on skimmers, I didn't really even know they had to be 'tuned in'.

 

 

Testing today I'm at 8.2-.8.4PH/.25/0/5 Going to run out to the store for some more water.

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RIP Sebastian

I made my first rookie mistake. I noticed that my skimmer's collection cup was full of water. I believed there was something wrong with it so I just dumped the cup down the sump. An ammonia spike followed and I wasn't testing nitrates. Habit from freshwater I only check my nitrates on those tanks once a month. I was only testing Ammonia and Nitrite.

 

Ammonia .25

 

Nitrite 0

 

Nitrate 20

 

I did about a 3gallon water change before bed.

 

I've since did more reading on skimmers, I didn't really even know they had to be 'tuned in'.

 

 

Testing today I'm at 8.2-.8.4PH/.25/0/5 Going to run out to the store for some more water.

Been there!

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RIP Sebastian

Added 2 Astrea Snails, 2 Nass 1 red leg hermit(I know I know I know snail only) gonna give it a shot.

 

My Dad named my murderous hermit crab Fidel.

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Titration. Alkalinity. Exact measurements. Staring at this stupid color chart trying to decide if I have 5ppm or 10ppm of nitrate. Bulldozer snails flipping corals over.. Definitely a challenge. I have to say though, I'm hooked.

 

So far, so good. Here are some pics. I went with a Six Line Wrasse and a Skunk cleaner shrimp. Frogspawn, zoa, mushroom.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I recently had GHA trouble. I cycled with tank lights on. I wasn't really happy with my rockwork. I didn't have any real spots for coral. I pulled all my rock out, tooth brushed off the GHA and did a massive water change (13gallons).

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

What do you think of the tank?

 

It's great, my only complaint is if I do a water change with there being water in the ATO... it dumps all the water into the tank. The way it's designed I can't really stop it either without taking the ATO out.

 

I battled hair algae for about a month now. The only thing that worked was carbon dosing. I got my nitrate down to 0 finally. My mushroom coral disintegrated during the process though.

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RIP Sebastian

 

It's great, my only complaint is if I do a water change with there being water in the ATO... it dumps all the water into the tank. The way it's designed I can't really stop it either without taking the ATO out.

 

I battled hair algae for about a month now. The only thing that worked was carbon dosing. I got my nitrate down to 0 finally. My mushroom coral disintegrated during the process though.

 

Zero Nitrate isn't a good thing.

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Zero Nitrate isn't a good thing.

 

I should have elaborated further, 0 nitrate after a water change. By the end of the week I'm at about 5-10 can't tell with the colors. Before I was changing water and still being at 10-20 the next day no matter what I did.

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I should have elaborated further, 0 nitrate after a water change. By the end of the week I'm at about 5-10 can't tell with the colors. Before I was changing water and still being at 10-20 the next day no matter what I did.

I would continue carbon dosing until you can get a bacteria base built up to handle your tank. It is still very new. When you carbon dose however you want to do "Maintenence" doses, i.e. just enough to keep your nitrates from going up. In my tank i went from 60+ to about 10-12 right now. Waterchanges, Aquaforest bacteria and nopox saved my stuff. Now i do a daily dosage of the aquaforest stuff to keep the nitrates at 10. Im happy with this number and dont want 0 so even though i should be doing 6 drops a day for my tank (per the instructions) i only do 4 drops and this keeps it stable.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, I was covered in cyano and I have begun winning the battle. When I thought cyano had seen defeat... GHA returned. Good news is my RO/DI unit from BRS arrived yesterday. I don't have a TDS meter but I was noticing the Algae got worse after a WC. I'm assuming the LFS water was loaded with phosphates. I'm also fairly confident that the cyano outbreak was caused by two dead snails I didn't notice in the back of the tank. I watched some informative videos on cyano and carbon dosing. The carbon I'm using recommends 1ml if until 10ppm nitrates so I'm doing .5ml a day with .25 in the morning and .25 at night.

 

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I would take all that rock out and either scrub it or trash it and get new reefcleaners. Looks like it is loaded with undesirable stuff, and getting new clean rock would solve your issues pretty quickly.

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I would take all that rock out and either scrub it or trash it and get new reefcleaners. Looks like it is loaded with undesirable stuff, and getting new clean rock would solve your issues pretty quickly.

 

New clean rock and 0 TDS water.. Your rock could be saved, but with such a small amount, a fresh start is not a bad option.

In my opinion, This is why the RODI unit is the most important part of having a successful reef tank. You have the control and piece of mind knowing your foundation is solid. Did your new unit come with a TDS meter attached to it?

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I would take all that rock out and either scrub it or trash it and get new reefcleaners. Looks like it is loaded with undesirable stuff, and getting new clean rock would solve your issues pretty quickly.

 

Really? I didn't even think was an option. When you say reefcleaners do you mean clean up crew? I'd be worried about my cycle with new rock.

 

New clean rock and 0 TDS water.. Your rock could be saved, but with such a small amount, a fresh start is not a bad option.

In my opinion, This is why the RODI unit is the most important part of having a successful reef tank. You have the control and piece of mind knowing your foundation is solid. Did your new unit come with a TDS meter attached to it?

 

I feel much much much better with the RO/DI unit. Yes I got the BRS Universal Plus with an attached TDS meter.

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Really? I didn't even think was an option. When you say reefcleaners do you mean clean up crew? I'd be worried about my cycle with new rock.

 

 

I feel much much much better with the RO/DI unit. Yes I got the BRS Universal Plus with an attached TDS meter.

ReefCleaners also has the best dry rock.

 

Keep your live sand and you won't have a cycle with new rock. It'll be like a fresh start- I highly recommend it. Would suck to battle with algae for months when you can fix it in a couple minutes!

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I believe he was referring to the Dry rock. Yes, you would cycle again. Dry rock with the combination of 0 TDS water from the start will render quite different results than current situation.

You could also do a Heavy scrub and a Peroxide soak on your current rock, with a 100% water change with 0 TDS water. You would still more than likely have a small cycle. You would have to be vigilant with water changes as the remaining Algae dies off from the soak/ scrub.

Either way you choose to do it, it will take some time.

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Hmmm, so should I setup a QT tank with the old rock and a powerhead? Move all livestock out during the process to minimize loss. Or go the bottled bacteria route?

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I would take all that rock out and either scrub it or trash it and get new reefcleaners. Looks like it is loaded with undesirable stuff, and getting new clean rock would solve your issues pretty quickly.

Thanks for he tip on reef cleaners! I got excellent rock from them. Ordered 15lbs and actually got 17! All great looking rock too. I took all out my problem pieces and tooth brushed the hell out the remaining. So I'm 50% new rock and 50% old that should be enough to keep my cycle. Also during the cleaning I found my emerald crab dead under some of the rock. Now my cyano explosion makes sense. I had no idea there was a decaying crab in the tank. I was wondering why my nitrates were climbing so fast....

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