My 12 gallon nano

[Braun036]

So it has been a couple of weeks since I have started the tank. I am pretty pleased with how things are going. The newest addition to the tank is my new light the AI Prime HD which I am very happy with. Last night after all my levels held for the past week with PH at 8.2  ammonia  at 0  nitrate at 0  nitrite  at 0 the guy at the LFS said I could start to slowly add my corals. So last night I purchased a small frag of green star polyps which look really good. I plan on waiting 2 to 3 weeks before adding anything else in the tank. Which I really hope I am able to add some frogspawn.  Finally my hermit crabs started to leave my snails alone. At first I wasn't sure the snails were going to make it though the first night.   But it appears they were just trying to eat the algae on the snails shell. I just wanted to share a picture of my tank and star polyps with you guys.  I am very excited!!! Lol

[Pinner Reef]

You have the patience of a saint... I might have missed it; but was it only the CUC and GSP that you've added so far? If it were a fish I could see waiting a couple of weeks but those hermits, snails and that one coral are not going to add too much of a bioload to the aquarium... I'd say give it a week to see that everything is on an even keel then start adding more. 

 

If it were a fish I'd say 2 weeks were necessary between additions. They are the biggest polluters of the system and the bacteria need time to catch up.

 

Tank looks good tho!

[Braun036]

Thank you very much. Trust me I agree with you and I would love to start adding more corals but I just don't want to screw anything up.  At the moment I do not have any fish in the tank. I plan on getting a yellow watchman goby and a clown fish in about a month.  I just really want to make sure everything is good to go before I start adding fish. 

[Pinner Reef]

Nothing wrong with that... I actually admire it.

[Braun036]

Yes the only thing in the tank is 4 snails and 5 hermit crabs and then I added the GSP last night.  Trust me the tank as been very boring over past couple weeks and I have had to listen to my daughter every day saying can we get nemo yet.  Lol 

Thank you.  If it wasn't for this site and advice from the LFS I would have done things much faster. 

[Braun036]

Okay update on the tank this week and I am going to need some advice. I went to the LFS last night. The guy who trust said I was ready to start adding fish. So I added two small clown fish he told me that they might not eat pellets so I should buy these frozen blood worms. I got them home last night and put them into the tank about an hour after  acclimating them. They seem to be doing really well. When I came home from work today I tired to feed them pellets the one clown would eat them and the other would not so I defrosted some blood worms and put them in the tank and neither one would eat them.  So I am not sure what is wrong with the one I feel bad he has not eaten today. What should I do? 

 

Also so he told me it was okay to add a small frag of Xenia so I did even though my calcium level is 360. I have been trying for weeks to get the calcium up and I have had no luck.  They guy told me to use this coral up small like one drop every week which didnt seem to do anything at all. So tonight I went and bought Kent liquid calcium and added 6 ml per the calcium   Calculator online. They said I needed to add 19.1 ml over the next three days to get my calcium level to 425.  The Xenia stalk is looks all small and  shriveled up but his arms look really nice  also I seem to have a very high flow tank.  I am running a 240 nano power head in the tank which I think it is to strong even though others say it is fine. But the Xenia looks like the flow is to much for him. Not sure I should just shut the power head off and let all the flow came from the filter. 

 

 

Another her question the calcium I bought came in a three pack with iodine and strontium/molybdenum are those things I should be adding to the tank. To be honest I did add a drop of strontium/molybdenum to the tank. 

 

 

My numbers for the tank as of 4:30 est were PH 8.2  ammonia  0  nitrates 0  nitrates  0 and calcium 360. 

 

 

I plan on doing a water change tomorrow as I do them every 4 days since I am not using a skimmer

 

please help 

[Weetabix7]

Give the Clown who's on hunger strike another day to decide it's hungry. 

Be very cautious about adding too much of the bloodworms, don't want your system to get fouled by uneaten food. 

 

You don't yet have anything in there that has much of a need for calcium, so your calcium level is not something I see as a big concern right now. 

It's good to understand how it works, but not something you need to worry about perfecting at the moment. 

Don't try raising it too quickly cause that can cause imbalances and problems, take it gradually. 

 

Don't be messing with the Iodine or Strontium/Molybdenum right now, completely unnecessary and playing around with it will likely get you in trouble right now.

 

The Xenia doesn't look too bad to me. You can try moving it to an area of slightly lower flow or try directing your flow slightly away from it. 

 

Doing a WC tomorrow wouldn't hurt, but doing one every 4 days seems a bit much. How much are you doing?

[Braun036]

Okay I will definitely will not use those products anymore.  I will also cool it on trying to raise the calcium and maybe go back to the weekly dosing like I was told. I just started to get nervous when I was reading that Xenia like a calcium level at 425-450 ppm. Yes I as far as the blood worms I cut that cube into 5 little pieces and only put in one piece seemed like the hermit crabs ate up the pieces though. But yes I will make sure I continue to only add a couple little pieces of them if the one clown want to eat them. My biggest fear is having some crazy tank crash due to over feeding. 

 

Do you think it is a good idea to just shut my power head off for the night and see how things look tomorrow. The filter still has a very nice flow in the tank by it self. And I am doing a 1 gallon water change every four days unless you think that is to often. I was planning on cleaning the sand tomorrow I have noticed the middle layer is starting to turn brown. 

[Braun036]

*Another thing I have noticed with the power head off the clowns are swimming all around the tank. When the power head was on they only stayed below the power head in the corner 

[Weetabix7]

I don't think it would hurt anything to turn the powerhead off overnight as long as you have good flow in the tank without it. 

Make sure the surface of the water stays well agitated. 

1g WC also wouldn't hurt anything tomorrow & might help since you just increased the bioload. 

 

You can start worrying about calcium when you begin adding LPS corals although to be honest I have LPS and I don't worry about calcium. I also have a different WC regimen on my lil Pico tho. 

I don't even test for it or dose for it though. 

You def want to keep good parameters on CA and Alk when you add SPS. 

Until then just research it til you have a good understanding of it and also about how to keep it in balance with Alk. 

 

Soft corals will be totally fine with the Ca at 360. 

[Braun036]

Okay I only plan to do frog spawn and hammer coral then I think I will be done adding but I do not plan to add them for awhile. What is your water change  regiment. 

 

also what do you think about changing out the carbon every two weeks and rinses the sponges out weekly is that something I should be doing. 

[Weetabix7]

23 hours ago, Braun036 said:

Okay I only plan to do frog spawn and hammer coral then I think I will be done adding but I do not plan to add them for awhile. What is your water change  regiment. 

 

also what do you think about changing out the carbon every two weeks and rinses the sponges out weekly is that something I should be doing. 

 

On a Nano tank I like to do a 20% Water Change once a week. 

I would rinse sponges every week when you do a WC. 

On the carbon, change it every 1-2 weeks, it kinda depends how much carbon you have, I think. 

[Braun036]

I noticed this little white/clear thing crawling up my glass tonight does anyone know what it is.  Also I purchased a leather coral frag tonight does this placement of the leather coral look okay.  

[Weetabix7]

Can't totally tell on the white blob on the glass. 

 

Leather's like low to Medium flow and lower light, so I'd personally start it out closer to the bottom. 

[Braun036]

Yes it was hard to get a good picture of it. Kept moving and camera wound focus on it. Okay I like the sound of that I will try to move him closer to the bottom just didn't want him to close to the Xenia.  I also really like your water change  regiment  I will also do that. 

[Braun036]

Planning on getting a new piece of coral this weekend.  I really need something at the top of my tank with a lower water flow any suggestions? Water is still good and everything seems to be doing really well. 

[Weetabix7]

8 hours ago, Braun036 said:

Planning on getting a new piece of coral this weekend.  I really need something at the top of my tank with a lower water flow any suggestions? Water is still good and everything seems to be doing really well. 

 

Is it low flow or Medium Flow at the top?

I'll have to think about that, cause there aren't as many corals that like high light and low flow. 

[Braun036]

It is medium flow or I could make it high flow with a PH. I was thinking about doing frog spawn up there or even maybe hammer? I also did end up buying a cleaner shrimp.  He is pretty cool! I love how my tank is transforming I just wish I had something at the top. 

 

 

The guys at the LFS sold me a protein skimmer today and omg was that a mess I ended up taking it back. Wouldn't fit right. I think at the moment I will be fine with no skimmer and just keep doing my weekly water changes. 

 

 

So after being being annoyed with the one LFS, I went to another down the street and I was telling him how I started to get brown algae in a couple areas nothing my cuc can't handle. He informed that is was a normal thing in new tanks as the tank is still cycling. Is this true? He sold me a product made by API and it is called "stress zyme" told me to add 7 ml a week to help feed the good  bacteria in the tank. Also I think he said it puts a protective film on the fish.  Has anyone ever used this? 

[Weetabix7]

He's right that brown algae is normal for this phase. 

I'm not so big on stress-zyme, although I don't think it will hurt anything. 

Frogspawn would like the lower flow, just not sure if they would do okay with higher light there. 

[Braun036]

Weekly picture update 

Yes that top rock as you can see in the picture I just posted is going to be about 12 inches under the light.  Which for coral growth i have my led set to 14,000 k at 60% which is 23 watts. That is how the guys at the LFS set it up anyways. 

[Braun036]

I just ran out and measured that top rock is 13 1/2 inches from the light. 

[Weetabix7]

You could always try putting a Torch or Frogspawn up there and if it doesn't do well, turn the light down some. 

Or if you like, you could also post a thread asking other people's opinions on how well a Frogspawn or Torch would do 13" under your particular LED light at it's current settings. 

Sometimes you get more responses to threads with specific questions. 

Y'know, I was just thinking, what about something like Clove Polyps?

[Braun036]

Okay I will do that.  I will also look into clove polyps I have never heard of those. 

[Braun036]

Added a hammer coral into the tank last night.  I was a little worried about putting him where I did but last night he started to puff up a little and today he just looks beautiful. I ordered a  magnesium  test kit last night so it should be here within a day or two.  I am just really going to have to  Monitor the calcium level a little more closely now that I am starting to add these types of corals in. 

I plan on doing a frog spawn in may all depending on how the hammer does. 

[Weetabix7]

Looks pretty and healthy!!