DanielHerrera Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Hello everyone, I recently joined the forum to educate myself on nano reef keeping as I venture on my own adventure. I am a college student at Penn State and I understand that a small tank will require much more care than the larger tanks, but I figured given my situation, a nano tank would be the best choice. So, after weeks of careful planning I finally got myself a 10 gallon Waterbox cube along a AI Prime HD from Saltwateraquarium.com. I went to a local fish store and got about 10 pounds of Caribsea Life Rock Shapes, saltwater and off I go to set up my tank. Current equipment in this tank is the following: Tank: Waterbox cube 10 gallon Lights: AI Prime HD Heater: Cobalt Neo-Therm Heater 50w Return pump: Stock pump Skimmer: Hydor Slim-Skim Nano Protein Skimmer (Fits like a glove!) Refugium light: Innovative Marine ChaetoMax 2-n-1 Refugium LED Circulation pump: IceCap 1K Gyre Generating Flow Pump ATO/AWC: AutoAqua Smart AWC Touch The first chamber of the back will house filter floss media for mechanical filtration and a small refugion with chaeto and ceramic media for bilogical filtration. The second chamber will hold the skimmer and some more ceramic media. The third chamber holds the heater and return pump. There is no sand in this tank since I intend to have strong water movement and will make it easier to clean. As of the time writing this post, the tank is in the third fourth day of cycling with no lights. Livestock that requires feeding will be added next year, until then, some input on the livestock would be awesome. What would you guys put in it? The plans for this tank is to eventually incorporate some sps corals. I am some time away from that, so in the meantime I am learning as much as I can. I am not an expert on reef keeping, but I am determined to experience and learn, hopefully not the hard way. I do not expect this to be an easy adventure, but surely will be fun. 3 Quote Link to comment
WV Reefer Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 18 minutes ago, DanielHerrera said: Hello everyone, I recently joined the forum to educate myself on nano reef keeping as I venture on my own adventure. I am a college student at Penn State and I understand that a small tank will require much more care than the larger tanks, but I figured given my situation, a nano tank would be the best choice. So, after weeks of careful planning I finally got myself a 10 gallon Waterbox cube along a AI Prime HD from Saltwateraquarium.com. I went to a local fish store and got about 10 pounds of Caribsea Life Rock Shapes, saltwater and off I go to set up my tank. Current equipment in this tank is the following: Tank: Waterbox cube 10 gallon Lights: AI Prime HD Heater: Cobalt Neo-Therm Heater 50w Return pump: Stock pump Skimmer: Hydor Slim-Skim Nano Protein Skimmer (Fits like a glove!) Refugium light: Innovative Marine ChaetoMax 2-n-1 Refugium LED Future equipment potentially includes (Need input from you guys): Circulation pump: IceCap 1K Gyre Generating Flow Pump ATO/AWC: AutoAqua Smart AWC Touch The first chamber of the back will house filter floss media for mechanical filtration and a small refugion with chaeto and ceramic media for bilogical filtration. The second chamber will hold the skimmer and some more ceramic media. The third chamber holds the heater and return pump. There is no sand in this tank since I intend to have strong water movement and will make it easier to clean. As of the time writing this post, the tank is in the third fourth day of cycling with no lights. Livestock that requires feeding will be added next year, until then, some input on the livestock would be awesome. What would you guys put in it? The plans for this tank is to eventually incorporate some sps corals. I am some time away from that, so in the meantime I am learning as much as I can. I am not an expert on reef keeping, but I am determined to experience and learn, hopefully not the hard way. I do not expect this to be an easy adventure, but surely will be fun. Welcome to NR! 🙂 Looking forward to seeing what you do with this tank. Quote Link to comment
DanielHerrera Posted November 25, 2018 Author Share Posted November 25, 2018 The tank is starting to look more wholesome! Pardon the mess around it. 3 1 Quote Link to comment
fulltang Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 How are you liking the AWC? Do you have any detailed photos oh how you have that set up? Quote Link to comment
DanielHerrera Posted December 12, 2018 Author Share Posted December 12, 2018 17 hours ago, fulltang said: How are you liking the AWC? Do you have any detailed photos oh how you have that set up? I have not installed it yet. I am waiting for the tank to be fully cycled before I do a water change. Though I should probably install it to do ATO. I do like its small size. 1 Quote Link to comment
fulltang Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 Any ideas on how you'll set up your reservoirs? Quote Link to comment
DanielHerrera Posted December 13, 2018 Author Share Posted December 13, 2018 4 hours ago, fulltang said: Any ideas on how you'll set up your reservoirs? Well, you need three reservoirs (ATO reservoir, AWC reservoir and AWC waste water reservoir). I originally wanted to have three 5 gallon buckets under the cabinet that I have the tank, buuuuut I soon realized it is too small to hold even two. Alternatively, there are some collapsible cube containers that I thought might also work, but the opening is too small for the little pumps!!! my last choice were three cheap 10 gal tanks, which I might be space consuming and not easy to move if needed. Ultimately, I decided that for the AWC I will be using two 5 gallon buckets and for the ATO either another 5 gallon bucket or a 10 gallon aquarium. Quote Link to comment
fulltang Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 56 minutes ago, DanielHerrera said: Well, you need three reservoirs (ATO reservoir, AWC reservoir and AWC waste water reservoir). I originally wanted to have three 5 gallon buckets under the cabinet that I have the tank, buuuuut I soon realized it is too small to hold even two. Alternatively, there are some collapsible cube containers that I thought might also work, but the opening is too small for the little pumps!!! my last choice were three cheap 10 gal tanks, which I might be space consuming and not easy to move if needed. Ultimately, I decided that for the AWC I will be using two 5 gallon buckets and for the ATO either another 5 gallon bucket or a 10 gallon aquarium. I had the exact same thoughts last night regarding the three buckets and I stumbled on these which might work, they look perfect if you have a couple of shelves! The airtight kid is a nice bonus https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000A6UF4U/ref=emc_b_5_mob_t Quote Link to comment
DanielHerrera Posted December 13, 2018 Author Share Posted December 13, 2018 15 hours ago, fulltang said: I had the exact same thoughts last night regarding the three buckets and I stumbled on these which might work, they look perfect if you have a couple of shelves! The airtight kid is a nice bonus https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000A6UF4U/ref=emc_b_5_mob_t They look nice, but I think I would want a larger volume at least for the ATO reservoir. Quote Link to comment
DanielHerrera Posted December 16, 2018 Author Share Posted December 16, 2018 ATO system is up now. I ended up going for a 5 gal bucket. So far it seems great! 1 Quote Link to comment
LesPaulGtr Posted December 18, 2018 Share Posted December 18, 2018 How do you have your smart AWC setup? Do you like it? I'm considering it for my Fluval 13.5. Any pics of your setup would be most appreciated! Thanks. Quote Link to comment
fulltang Posted December 18, 2018 Share Posted December 18, 2018 41 minutes ago, LesPaulGtr said: How do you have your smart AWC setup? Do you like it? I'm considering it for my Fluval 13.5. Any pics of your setup would be most appreciated! Thanks. Interested in pics as well! Looks like it's going to be a great setup Quote Link to comment
WindyCityReefer. Posted December 18, 2018 Share Posted December 18, 2018 Welcome! Always nice to see another college student in the hobby. Definitely will be following! You will come to find that the hobby is a nice break from reality (and school)! Quote Link to comment
DanielHerrera Posted December 18, 2018 Author Share Posted December 18, 2018 1 hour ago, LesPaulGtr said: How do you have your smart AWC setup? Do you like it? I'm considering it for my Fluval 13.5. Any pics of your setup would be most appreciated! Thanks. I do like the smart AWC system so far. I think it is great for AIO tanks if you intend to do small water changes more often. In my case, I think it will probably be lightly less than a gallon every week (or every other week if my filtration is on point). So far I only have the ATO portion set up. The great thing about the smart AWC is that you can set up one or the other independently or together. The sensors are in the return chamber since it is the one with the most fluctuations due to evaporation. The reservoir is inside of the cabinet, under the aquarium. When it comes to the AWC, I think I will have the drain pump come from the first or the middle chamber (if it fits). The tube to refill the tank will also end up in the return pump chamber. I decided to use another 5 gall bucket to for the fresh saltwater and a collapsible cube for the waste water. I should probably look for something to hide them from sight and make the area more pleasing. 1 hour ago, fulltang said: Interested in pics as well! Looks like it's going to be a great setup Thanks! I am quite proud of my set up since I have never done something this complex before. 1 hour ago, WindyCityReefer. said: Welcome! Always nice to see another college student in the hobby. Definitely will be following! You will come to find that the hobby is a nice break from reality (and school)! Thanks! I hope the hobby will also help me get on a better routine. Time for first corals is slowly approaching, so better start applying for some grants 🤣 1 Quote Link to comment
DanielHerrera Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 Update! After a two week winter vacation, I returned to a tank full with algae (no pics). GREAT! I cleaned all of the side glass panels, and did a small water change and added a cleanup crew: 2x Margarita snails (they did not have trochus snails) 2x Blue legged hermit crabs 1x Red legged hermit crab Here is a margarita snail getting straight to work. Now, it has been a bit more than a week since I added the CUC. Here is the red legged hermit and as you can see, the bottom is now impeccable! It has been a couple days since I see the two blue legged hermits, and I fear that the reason is that there is no more algae to eat! I want to get a fish soon so I can start feeding. I guess it is a good idea to feed the crabs as well. Any suggestions on the crabs? I have decided on an orchid dottyback will be one of max 2 fish that will reside this tiny reef. SOON! 1 Quote Link to comment
DanielHerrera Posted January 27, 2019 Author Share Posted January 27, 2019 I got the first coral today! It's a $10 zoanthid 1 Quote Link to comment
DanielHerrera Posted February 5, 2019 Author Share Posted February 5, 2019 I HAVE A FISHIE! It's an orchid dottyback that I got from LiveAquaria's Diver's Den. Sorry for the bad pictures, but it is difficult to photograph. Now, a short essay on how and why I named this fish: I decided to named it Calypso after the Greek mythology name for a difficult to find nymph, famously know from Homer's the Odyssey. The name means "to cover" or "to conceal" and since this fish likes to hide and scare the sh*t out of me, the name fits pretty well. Also, Calypso is the name of the genus of orchids from the north hemisphere that, just like the nymph, are difficult to find. Since this is an orchid dottyback and it's color amazingly matches that of the orchid, the name suits. Finally, this is my very first marine fish, and Calypso was the very fist species of orchid I got to see in situ, so the name is a match made in heaven. Thanks! 😃 2 Quote Link to comment
CoreyG Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 How is the Hydor skimmer doing? I have a Waterbox Cube 20 and are looking at options for the rear center compartment. Not too many options unfortunately. Any pics of it installed? Quote Link to comment
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