The "Family 6", an adventure for all of us!

[SaltyBuddha]

With my inexperience being taken into consideration, I vote for more of a CUC. Let that hermit know that there are others out there that are more than happy to work for their forever home.

[Weetabix7]

More CUC is good, but it's also normal to see algae blooms at this stage in your tank's life. 

Obviously you want to keep it under control, but don't let it make you nuts either. 

[debbeach13]

Diatoms usually go away after a week or two. I think they quickly use up the nutrients they require and die off. I stir the sand up a little bit and that disturbs them.  But do not worry about them they are just a part of the cycle. If you can remove the rock with hair algae and scrub it or use tweezers to pick it off that will help a lot. I use a Q-tip and treat the area where it is or where it was with some peroxide if I can. Rinse the rock with some RO water and put it back in the tank. This gets harder to do once your rock is covered with coral. I also agree with others that a couple more snails would be good. If you get a serious out break of algae you can go as much as 1 snail per gallon. I doubt you have enough algae to need that many. If it was me I would run no lights for a few days to week. It is hard to nail down the best action but these things have worked for me along with water changes. I always do a couple water changes when things are out of whack.

[CharlesFoxtrot]

Okay, water has just been changed, and I'm also going to decrease the amount of light the tank gets to try to starve out the GHA a bit. I don't think I have it bad enough to start pulling the rocks out yet, but I'll keep that as a backup measure. LFS opens on Wednesday, and I'll plan to beef up my CUC then. 

 

On a probably unrelated note, what sort of temperature difference from morning to evening is reasonable? My system seems to cool off overnight and then gradually warm up during the day. It's a 2 degree difference or less, generally something like 76 to 78. I'd like to limit it, but the temps will creep up into the 80's if it's not allowed to cool overnight. Not sure where all the heat is coming from, but it's definitely following that trend. Will this stress or kill my livestock? 

[debbeach13]

Any tank with a closed hood is probably going to run hot. 10 years ago I had a nano cube with power compact lights and I had to leave the feeding hood open a lot. Once you have fish and coral in there 2 degrees swing is at the top end. Did you find any threads for the exact tank you have? If you did ask those reefers what works for them.

[debbeach13]

I tried to search for nano cube 6 gallon and reworded it but did not get any results that answered your question. Unless you want to try a chiller. I hope some one else can offer some other tricks / tips on cooling the tank or keeping temp stable. If I had to decide with out input I would probably put in a heater and set it to make sure it doesn't go any lower than 76 or 77. My heater is set at 76 but my tank is usually 78. Sorry I do not have a better answer for you.  

[CharlesFoxtrot]

Deb, thanks for searching, I got the same results but it's good to have independent corroboration. There was a thread I saw where someone cut a hole in the lid and put in a computer fan, but ultimately decided that it was not a good solution. 

 

I'm not worried about the temp going too low, because it's always about 76 degrees in the room, but I have a heater in case that changes. Mostly I'm just generating heat when the lights are on, even though it's LEDs, and it causes the temp to creep up all day and then slide back down at night.

 

I have the lights off to help with the GHA, but I'm going to try to find a better solution for the heat when I start running a standard photoperiod again. Now that I have a smaller light in my mini fuge, it might help to control the temp swing. We shall see. 

[CharlesFoxtrot]

Ok, this is probably going to be a really dumb question, but it needs to be asked. 

 

I have 3 compartments in the back of my AIO. Floss and carbon in the first, chaeto and a submersible light in the second with a little floss on top, return pump in the third. The first compartment is full of water. The second less so. The third is lower than the second. I have a mark on the front of the DT to show where I fill it to.

 

If I take a cup of water from the DT and pour it into the back, no change to the levels in any compartment or the DT.  If I add water, the DT level rises, but the back levels don't seem to. I can only assume this is normal, mostly because it seems beyond my power to change it. My salinity is holding steady, so... do I have a problem here? Or a problem brewing? 

 

Like I said, dumb. Can anyone explain? 

[SaltyBuddha]

That is normal. Basically, the difference of water between the rear chambera and your display tank depends on your total tank volume, return pump, and overflow. The return pump has a fixed rate at which it transfers water from the last back section to the display tank. The display tank has a maximum rate at which it can return water to the first back section. 

 

The different water levels create separate chambers within the back. If both the 2nd and 3rd chambers were the same height (above the partition), water would not really transition from one section to the other smoothly. There would be a chance water from the 3rd could go back into the 2nd, so you want the 3rd lower to make sure this cannot happen.

 

When the overflow and the return pumps are sized correctly, you can manage the total volume of water in the whole system (display tank and all rear chambers) to get the correct levels. If you add too much water, the 2nd and 3rd back chambers would become one. If there isn't a enough water, the 3rd chamber would be emptying too fast.

 

People like this because when the water volume changes from evaporation, the only chamber affected will be the 3rd rear chamber. It doesn't matter if the water evaporated from the display tank or the rear chambers. The display tank will always have the same amount of water. So you can manage top offs by just looking at the amount of water in the 3rd rear chamber.

 

When you take water from the display tank and put it into the back, you are not changing the total system volume. Which is why you don't see any change in the rear levels. They reach that same equilibrium point. You need to introduce new water to increase the water level. Most people have enough water to make the 3rd level like half an inch below the 2nd.

 

TLDR: if you want the water level to go up in the back, add more water to the tank. If you want the water level to go down in the back, remove water from the tank.

 

Hope that wasn't even more confusing.

[CharlesFoxtrot]

That actually makes perfect sense. Thanks for the explanation, it's something that I don't ever remember hearing about. Glad I asked! 

[CharlesFoxtrot]

GHA problem is looking to be pretty much licked, with the addition of 2 more ceriths to the CUC. I'm resuming a normal photoperiod, and will see how it works out. 

 

Also, I'll be able to keep an eye on the temps with the lights running, and measure how much the temp swing is going to be. Hopefully we're moving toward the time when a fish can be added, DB will be thrilled. 

 

I've also been looking at the flow. There's a lot of surface movement on the side where the return comes out, but not a lot on the other side. Is this something to be concerned about? One good thing about having GHA everywhere was that I could see the filaments waving in the "breeze" throughout the tank, so there is at least some flow everywhere. I still have that extra powerhead, but it seems to generate a lot of extra heat. Does anyone have experience with the Koralia Pico? Maybe a smaller powerhead would cause less heat? 

[Clown79]

I have a pico. No heat issues, i've never had trmp issues with any powerhead.

 

If you have the tank completely cover, thats the temp issue. 

Reefs do better open top, it provides better gas exchange and temp control. 

 

Leds, contrary to what ppl believe, produce a lot of heat, those plus covered top=temp control issues

[SaltyBuddha]

Yeah, the only difference for LEDs is that they produce heat on the back side and not the front side where the light is. So if they are under the hood, they will be adding to the temperature as well.

[CharlesFoxtrot]

Hmm... should be easy enough to DIY a screen or egg crate or something to go where the feeder door currently is. I'd rather not have to take off the whole top, so maybe I'll try that option to create some ventilation. There is a little vent fan in with the LEDs, but I'm not sure how much good it's really doing. 

 

Still working up to a full photoperiod, though, so I'll wait and see how the temps look then. Thanks for the advice on the powerhead, I figured anything with a motor would produce plenty of heat. Good to be wrong. 

[SaltyBuddha]

It takes 2.4 watts to heat 1 gallon of water 1 degree F in one hour. I'm Assuming freshwater is the same as saltwater here. Also assuming you only have 5 gallons of water volume and the Koralia is producing 3.5 watts as the specifications state, it should increase the water temperature by 0.3 degrees F every hour. The since .5 is 8 watts so that would increase the temps by 0.66 degrees per hour. 

 

Add these together and the aquarium is increasing at least 1 degree per hour just from those two pumps.

 

It would definitely help to open up a section for ventilation. You could also replace the fans with CPU fans that would push more volume. They are really cheap from Frys but I would be worried about them failing from salt build up. Definitely a piece of equipment to have spares of.

[CharlesFoxtrot]

Based on everyone's recommendations, I took the feeder door of of the lid and put in a DIY egg crate piece to prevent unnecessary ingress or egress from the tank. Pic below. We'll see if the temp stays cooler with the photoperiod increasing. I remember reading someone's thread about putting computer fans on an NC 6, and I think she decided even the small ones dropped the temp too much, I'll keep that idea in reserve for now. 

 

I think the math on the watts per gallon must be off somewhere, because I definitely wasn't getting that much of an increase per hour, even with the lights running as well as the pump. But it's been a long time since physics, so I'm not going to speculate on it.  

 

I'm in the process of putting in an ATO, since the evap will be increasing with the new screen in place. I'm using the Auto Aqua micro, for the size and because it has no moving parts. The AC adapter it comes with is pretty useless because it's huge and covers up about 3 sockets on my power strip, so I'm ordering a smaller wall wart as well as a big jar for a reservoir from Amazon. Everything seems to fit in the return chamber, but it would be really tight if I had a heater in there as well. 

 

Can't find any of my snails this morning, do ceriths ever dig into your substrate and hide there? I can generally find all three, but I've seen no trace of them yet today. Mysterious. 

 

One last question: if I add that Hydor Pico at 180 gph (with the rotator that cuts if by half, maybe) to my return pump at 180 gph, is that going to be to much flow in general? I know some corals like more or less, but I'm going for a healthy all around amount. Also I don't have good surface agitation over half of the surface, which I seem to recall is not good. Thoughts? 

[debbeach13]

That egg crate looks like a perfect fit. God job

[CharlesFoxtrot]

Thanks, Deb! I discovered the best way to cut my egg crate is with a pair of snips. Pretty accurate, easy to do, and I didn't cut any fingertips off with an X-acto knife. 

[CharlesFoxtrot]

All seems to be well, and I'm expecting my Pico powerhead to arrive by the end of the week to test it out. Snails can be super hard to find sometimes, but they're all present and eating. Hermit just molted, which might explain his lazy behavior? 

 

Best of all, my temps are stable at right around 77 degrees, thanks presumably to opening up the feeder lid. As long as I remember to keep the house AC and heater at the right temps, things should be fine on that front. 

 

DB has been agitating for a fish, so based on her preferences and lgreen's nano fish guide,  I'm thinking of adding a small ocellaris or percula sometime soon. Things seem stable, the GHA is under control, and I'm thinking it's time to move the plans along. I'll try out the Hydor Pico, and then see how it'll go. Very exciting times! We may be fish shopping by next Wednesday or so if all goes well. 

[Weetabix7]

A small Clown is perfect!!

Glad you've been able to stabillize temp. 

Things are coming along nicely in here. 

[CharlesFoxtrot]

Okay, Support Crew! I'm getting ready to fire up my micro ATO, and I'm feeling a certain degree of trepidation. Please read my procedure below and tell me if I'm going to overflow my tank. 

 

1. Filled DT to the correct level. 

2. Put sensor in return chamber, level with the top of the water in there. 

3. Ran refill tube into return chamber as well. 

4. Hooked tube up to pump.

5. Dropped pump into reservoir. It won't suction to the bottom, though. 

6. Hooked sensor to pump. 

7. Filled reservoir with about 3 quarts RODI.

8. Waited, hedged, waffled, and vacillated before hooking up the power. 

 

I'm still on step 8. Is there anything I'm screwing up here? Is there a safe way to test this out and quell my anxieties? Thanks for your expertise... reassure me, please. 

[CharlesFoxtrot]

Well, a night's rest has increased my courage, and I have hooked up the power to my new ATO. I'm not a big YouTube watcher, but after a few videos on how to set it up, I'm much more sanguine about the whole thing. I am now in the mode where I hover over it and fret that it's going to go awry. I'll get tired of that in about an hour and a half, and then it should be smooth sailing. 

 

For all you other NC 6 owners out there, this ATO seems to want the top of the water in the DT to sit exactly at the max fill tab. A little alarming, if you are like me and prefer not to set things to the absolute maximum, but everything seems fine now. I'm going to check my salinity just to make sure I didn't throw it out of whack with the first top off. Good times. 

[CharlesFoxtrot]

Everything seems to be progressing fine, but I've had an odd test result. I changed about 1.5 gallons of water last Saturday, and today I'm still showing no nitrates. Reasons? 

 

1. Very low bioload (CUC only) means not a lot of nitrates?

2. Chaeto is exporting some nitrates? 

3. Filter media (Chemipure and Purigen) lowering nitrates? 

 

The reason I was testing today in the first place was to see if conditions should be favorable for adding a fish soon. I'm somewhat concerned that my nitrogen cycle has stopped due to not enough bioload, if that's even a thing. Should I be okay to try the fish maybe this weekend, or is there something I should be doing first? Thanks for the input, I'd hate to have little fishy blood on my hands. 

[debbeach13]

The tank is only 4 weeks old but if you continue to test 0 for ammonia, and nitrites and below 10 for nitrates. It should be safe to add a fish. Having said that if it was me I would probably wait another week to see if the tank stayed stable.

[Weetabix7]

Is it already 4 weeks??

If so, I'd say safe.