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CharlesFoxtrot

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CharlesFoxtrot

Hmm... I'll watch it for a few days more, just to be sure. Maybe I should start a photoperiod? 

 

Would you recommend getting a clean up crew in there next if the ammonia continues to check out? My concern would be that they wouldn't have much to clean up, it looks pretty clean in there already. I'm considering some snails, and maybe a scarlet hermit. I hear good things about cerith and astrea snails, also nassarius. What do you all use for yours? 

 

Anyway, if it's cycled there will be great rejoicing around here. DB has been excited to get something alive and moving in there, and I'll finally be able to tell my son that the tank is cycled. Although he has stopped asking more than about 6 times a day by now. 

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fishfreak0114

You may want to start a photoperiod if your looking to grow something for your CUC to eat.  You could also just wait and when your ready to add something you could start off with a fish.  No reason to add snails and hermits until they have food or they'll just die, or you'll pollute your tank extra feeding them which kind of defeats the purpose of a CUC. 

 

My CUC crew consists of probably close to 100 dwarf ceriths (they used to breed), 2 trochus (which are super awesome algae eaters, and the hermits haven't bother them), 4ish nassarious, 7ish blue leg hermits, 1 scarlet hermit, 1 zebra hermit (accidental but but very cool, larger than all the others though so he does sometimes piss corals off). This is in a bc29.

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Welcome to NR. I am glad you are doing some research and taking it slow. Have you had any luck checking out members tanks for coral, fish or inverts that you like?

If you have time check out El Fab's thread in the pico section. I know it was written years ago but there is an unbelievable amount of info there. I will be following your thread this should be a cute little tank.

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CharlesFoxtrot

Thanks for the welcome,  Deb, and I'm always glad to have another knowledgeable person looking on! I've definitely read through El Fab's thread a couple of times, and I'm looking at some of the smaller sized featured reefs too for ideas. 

 

I'm currently (no pun intended) deciding whether to add a Koralia Nano powerhead into the system. Right now I just have a 185 gph return pump coming in with one of those rotating deflectors on it. Any ideas as to whether I'll need the extra flow in this size tank? I don't mind adding the powerhead, but it is kind of an eyesore, and I'd rather not use it if I don't need to. It's just hard to judge how much flow I'm getting in the parts of the tank that are on the other side from the return. 

 

Also, going to wait and test on the cycle until mid-next-week or so. DB will be off for spring break, and maybe we'll look for a fish. :D

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fishfreak0114

Well that gives you roughly 30x turnover which should be fine for most things.  You may more if you want to keep SPS :) 

 

Seabass has recommended that people tie a piece of string or fishing line to something hold it in different parts of the tank to see how the flow is.  I think its a great idea.

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CharlesFoxtrot

Fishfreak, I'm just wondering if the 30x turnover is enough if the water flow isn't getting to the other side of the tank sufficiently. The return is high up in the right hand corner, so I'm concerned that maybe I'm not getting enough movement in the lower left, or maybe not enough surface movement to properly oxygenate the water.

 

I really have no desire right now to do SPS, so that's not really an issue. I just want to make sure I have enough flow and enough turbulence going. If the return with the rotator will do the trick, that's great. 

 

I'll try the bit with the string, too, we'll see how that goes with and without the Koralia. 

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I personally like a lot of flow so I would probably use the extra pump. But that string test should show if it is needed or not. There is also a nice thread about fish listed by tank size that might be worth checking out if you do not already know what you want. Also check out sexy shrimp they are so cute! Years ago I had a little 5.5 gal with 3 sexy's they hosted a kenya tree so they were always easy to find. Some members have said they eat corals but I never had that problem with mine. I probably over feed the tank. The only fish I had was a yellow tail blue damsel for the color and how active he was also very hardy as most damsels are.

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CharlesFoxtrot

Ack! My temperature is really getting higher than I'd truly like. Not that there's really anything in there that should much care, but I'll need to get it under control anyway. 

 

Last night temp measured 81, and it seems to have been creeping up. Not any better this morning. So, I pulled the plug on the heater last night (no effect) and the extra powerhead this morning (waiting to see if it cools down). I propped the lid open, just to get the temp down to where I can see what brings it up, by way of experiment. I don't think it's the heater, though, because it seemed to be blinking its "too hot" light. 

 

Maybe the LED lighting was heating it? Those don't burn hot, though, and they weren't on all night, temp was still up in the AM. 

 

In any case, it's not a lot of water, so even something small might be overheating it. Any ideas? I feel like I'm grasping at straws. :(

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Christopher Marks

It's surprising how long it can take to cool down, even just 6 gallons. What's the room temperature like during the day? Any sun exposure? Don't rule out a heater malfunction.

 

The good news is you caught it early, the stakes are low. You'll get it figured out!

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CharlesFoxtrot

Well, I opened up the lid all afternoon, got it down to about 77 (room temp is about 76 by the thermostat, no sun exposure), leaving just the return pump going. Tomorrow I'll try a standard photoperiod, check the temp throughout the day. If all goes well, I'll add in the rest of the equipment one thing at a time until I find the culprit. 

 

And you guys are absolutely right, good to have caught it now. DB may get her fish by the end of spring break after all! We watch, and wait. 

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CharlesFoxtrot

The heat chase continues! I've run a standard photoperiod today, with a negligible temp increase only. Hanging out right at 78, so far so good. Also got a more accurate thermometer, or at least one that tells me more accurately what I want to hear anyway. 

 

Planning to leave the system alone for the night, check in the morning to see if it's come down (or gone up?) at all. Tomorrow I'll hook up the extra powerhead and see if that heats it up much. Whether to actually use the powerhead is still up in the air. The dangling string test showed that there is water moving at the far corner, but maybe not that much? It'll still be good to know if the powerhead is the elusive heat source. 

 

DB has suggested not using the heater at all, which makes sense because the ambient temp is a steady 76 degrees, and the tank itself never gets down even that low. Unless anyone has a reason that I ought to keep using it, I'll probably go with her idea and leave the heater off for the duration. Maybe I'll even regain some room in that back compartment for something else.

 

We watch and wait some more. Seems to be a lot of that in this hobby. :D

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I don't have a heater in my little Pico tank, and I've had it up and running that way for over a year. 

DO keep an eye on the temp and monitor it, but that approach can work. 

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CharlesFoxtrot

Temp chase is going well. Seems like it'll stay between 77.0 and 79.0 if left alone, still figuring out how much heat the additional powerhead will add. Seems to have raised the temp about 0.8 degrees in the last 6 hours, so that may turn out OK after all. 

 

The cycle seems to be complete, so I'm planning a water change of about a gallon, or ~17%, for today or tomorrow. New floss and chemipure are planned as well. I have some purigen, do I need to double that up with the chemipure, or is one or the other sufficient? 

 

I've read Stevie T's water change guide, and I plan to follow that procedure. Question: do I need to match pH between the new water and the tank water at all? Tank has been pretty steady at 7.8, but my salt mixes at about 8.4, and I don't want to shock the system. No livestock yet, so does it matter? 

 

Also, I've heard that you should mix your SW a day ahead of time. The guide seems to indicate that you don't need to. What's the story there? I plan on premixing a few gallons at a time, so it won't make a lot of difference, but I'd like to know your thoughts. 

 

Thanks x 10^6, as always! 

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With no livestock don't worry about PH.

 

Some salt mixes take longer to fully mix and stabilize, that's probably why you read that. Not all are like that. 

 

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CharlesFoxtrot

Water changes have been going on with a vengeance around here this week. I did a gallon change yesterday, which seemed fine until I checked my nitrates this evening. Still up around 10 - 20 ppm!

 

So I decided to grab the nitrate bull by the horns, and did another change this evening. Nitrates are looking much better now, and I'll check them again tomorrow. 

 

Here's my question. Is there a maximum amount of water you should change per unit time? Like "not more than 30% per 24 hours", or something like that? Right now I have no livestock, so I'm guessing it doesn't currently matter, but at some point I imagine it would be to rough on living things to have a giant change done. 

 

Also, discontinued use of my Koralia Nano powerhead. It was causing too much heat in the tank, essentially causing the temps to creep up over into the 80's over the course of a day or two. I'm leaving the heater out for now, because the ambient temp at home should keep the minimum tank temp high enough and then some. Hopefully I don't need more flow, or I'm going to have to figure something else out. 

 

Another question, this one's about filter media. Do I need to keep different media bags separate, or can my Purigen touch my ChemiPure or whatever? I have a little egg crate platform holding things up from the bottom of the compartment so I can get them in and out, but do I need to add a second shelf for a second bag?

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fishfreak0114

Some people with smaller tanks like picos do 100% water changes.  So long as parameters between the new and old are close everything should be fine :) the media can touch each other.

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Ppl with pico's do 100% waterchanges with no issues. Remember to vacuum sand if you have it.

 

If you need more flow, just upgrade the return pump as rotators cut the flow in half so 185gph with rotator is actually 92 gph.

 

As for filter media, I use filter floss, seachem matrix carbon mixed in a bag with phosguard.

 

I stopped using chemipure line. Too expensive for the carbon mixed with phos reducers, it doesn't last 4 mnths either and i saw absolutely no difference with it. I just buy my carbon and phosguard in bulk, add it in a bag and change out frequently. 

 

My favourite snails are nassarius and trochus. Astreas are a waste, they tip over and die.

Ceriths are good too.

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CharlesFoxtrot

Follow on question is this: if I were to take off the rotator, what sort of fitting would you recommend I use instead to get the water flowing around effectively? I didn't realize the rotator would cut the flow by as much as half. I have a sort of flat nozzle that came with the tank, if that might be a good option. 

 

About vacuuming the sand: when I blasted off the rocks with my trusty turkey baster, the sand got pretty knocked around. Do I need to vacuum before blasting, or after? I was also having trouble with the sand siphoning all the way out of the tank and into my bucket, any ideas? 

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I know a couple of reliable people who rinse out the sand that gets vacuumed out with tapwater before returning it to the tank. I may start doing that as well. 

I think they either use Prime or a second rinse in RO water before returning it to the tank. 

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When I vacuum the sand I keep the nozzle tilted and when the sand comes up the tube a couple inched I take the nozzle out of the sand and let it fall back out so less goes all the way to the bucket. Rinse what does end up in the bucket and put back in the tank. I do also use some prime pretty much like what Weatie said.

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CharlesFoxtrot

Based on Clown79's information about the rotator cutting my flow by half, I switched out the fitting for the one that came with the tank. Pics are below,  it's sort of a flat nozzle, and I pointed it up towards the surface and inwards toward the center of the tank, it's definitely making some serious ripples. Hopefully I'll be getting the sort of flow I need now. I am getting a few air bubbles kicked up by the jet. 

 

Thinking about getting some loc line or something to direct the nozzle further towards the center, but then it wouldn't hit the side as much, which I heard you need for turbulence. Any thoughts? 

20170315_153748.jpg

20170315_153555.jpg

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CharlesFoxtrot

Just got out the ol' chemistry set, parameters look pretty good this week. Does anyone test or dose iodine? If so, is there something about your tank (or all tanks) that makes it needed?

 

I'm also wondering how often everyone checks their different parameters. A general idea so I can set a schedule would be helpful. I think I've read that weekly is about right for most things, but your personal experiences would be valued. 

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