Newbie questions about nano reef start

[TommyH]

Hello all.

 

I am new here and in marine aquariums in general. I had nano planted tank for couple of years now, stable growing but I wanted change and I did not know what it was untill in my local shop, small nano reef on counter with totally cute orange clown fish and beautiful live reef took me off guard. Well, at least now i have a goal, right?

So, idea was to sell my freshwater plants, fish and Niagara 190 filter alond with those 2 small led lights.

I would leave tank (30 liter or about 7,5 gallon according to my calculations) use spare Eiheim Liberty 75 HOB pump with combo of mechanical and biological filter. That local shop of mine apparently got experienced reef guy and awsome light for my tank (Amtra 18 W connected to Phone If i remeber correctly). I am pulling this setup from articles I read and  some videos and I would love to hear your comments on gear.

 

What I worry about is that current offer of live sand and stone is nonexistant here, so i guess i will need to go old route and make dead tank alive manualy. I have experience with being rushed so there is no worry about that I guess, but I would like to hear your advice about manual tank cycling (daily routines related to it) and what would I need from start apart from said sand and rocks. I guess it is worth to mention that tank is 45 x 23 x 29 cm and I planned to remove that blue back cover.

 

I am sure that i forgot to say and ask alot of important stuff, so feel free to advice, send links to good guides, etc...

 

(big file below for clarity)

 

See you

 

Tommy

 

[Natereef]

1st tip at that size of a tank you can only probably keep 1 clown fish max and maybe a couple of invertebrates like shrimps or hermit crabs.

2nd as far as "live rock" and "live sand" is concerned, that's just the same term as it is in freshwater. It just means that the bacteria are there and can process your ammonia and nitrites to nitrates. That's where people get confused all the time I observed is when people say live rock they probably think its rock pulled straight out of the ocean. Nope.

3rd for cycling your dead rock and sand just do it how u do it with your freshwater setup. Did you ghost feed? Squeezed dirty poopy water in your tank? Ammonia drops? All of those would work perfectly fine.

4th tip and this is very important tip for you. Dont spend too much money on this setup. As it is only 7.5 gallons, once the reef bug hits you, youre probably gonna want a bigger thank and youre gonna be hating yourself if you spend so much money on a pico tank. Use it as a practice tank, get your toes wet in reef keeping and then decide if you want to go bigger.

[Tuan’s Reef]

Good advises from above.  

 

The smaller the tank , the more difficult it is to maintain water quality . If you want in though , be prepared to spend. 

 

I came into into the hobby thinking I can get by on ok equipment .  But ended up upgrading to high end stuff.  Should of just went high end to begin with and save . 

 

Must haves in a reef system 

RODI water system 

live rock 

Sand is optional

test kits

ATO

heater - should have temp controller 

powerheads for flow

And the biggest ticket item on your equipment is lighting.  Do not skimp on this. 

 

If fish only , then lighting is not a major concern other than how your tank looks with that light . 

 

 

[Clown79]

To convert this system to a reef:

 

You need to remove everything and clean everything with a water/vinegar mix. This includes your filter.

 

You then need to get a good sand like aragonite sand or you can go bare bottom.

 

Since you can't get liverock, you will need dry reef rock like caribsea reef rock or liferock.

 

You will add the sand and rocks with salt water(using distilled or rodi water)

 

Then you need to cycle the tank, the easiest and cleanest method is using Dr Tim's cycling products.

 

The filter is best used with filter floss and carbon. 

 

In a 7g, 1 clown will be it. 

You could keep 2 small fish rather than 1 clown.

[Matteo]

Keep that tank and add a nano reef right damn next to it 😎

[TommyH]

I do realize that I forgot to mention that i also planned to get spare pump and heater for water mixing. This in tank is 25W with regulator 18 to 32 degrees celsius. It can keep tank at 27 easy be it winter or summer. I am guessing in time I will get some coolers, but apartment is with airconditioner so i hope for no issues (lol, famous last words). On my freshwater I went short way this time and cycled it in with easystart mix. Added some food to get ammonia going and in short time tank was ready. I see already that some of gear will do nicely even if I get bigget tank in time, but I would like to make my first mistakes in small tank. Fish will be kept on only one and some hermit crabs i guess (depend on local stock). But I wanna make sure that my water is fine before I start to populate. I saw a tip one fish per month and it looks like good tip I guess. Not sure thou should I put some corals first, or crab. I guess fish goes in last. In my current freshwater tank I got one betta and about 6-8 Cherry shrimps and my water is stable, but that is due to plants I guess. I think I will go with biweekly water changes of 3 liters which would be 10% and use Easylife Easystart again as it is for reef tank cycling too. According to sticker 2 weeks. As for water, my brother have small company that installs water filter systems in houses, so I have small filter with reverse osmosis, so after initial longer filling 10 liters at a time, regular water changes should be fine. Btw. Can i store premixed water in closed canister and only preheat it before water change?

First thing first, I need to sell my freswater stuff, to easy a bit price blow on  my wallet. my apartment is small, so I have that corner that can fit up to some 60-80 liter tank I guess with time.  I also saw lot of used gear in adds here, so i hope to save money when time comes. As for light I will get right one for this current tank right away. Guy at shop suggested 18w marine led from Amtra. Tbh, i forgot exact name. Anyway, I guess that my freshwater experience will help at least with some basic knowledge and it do teach to be patient XD.

 

That should count for something.

 

[Matteo]

Not sure how much money you'll really get for a little freshwater setup. It probably won't fuel the reef investment really. 

 

You can easily achieve a nano setup under $200. I could build you an Amazon cart 😉

[TommyH]

I am kinda hesitant to order tank from amazon, our post office is ..rather clumsy tbh. But I would love to see that cart, maybe I can find that here in my local shop. My other option is 49 liter Aquael nanoreef duo set (170 $ here in Croatia).

[TommyH]

Btw, is this that filter floss?

 

https://www.pet-centar.hr/juwel-filter-vata-za-compact-9-5x9-5x0-5cm.aspx

 

It is on Croatian, but picture has some english on it

 

or I think it is this stuff:

 

https://www.pet-centar.hr/jbl-symec-fina-filter-vuna.aspx

 

[TommyH]

Btw, why do you suggest to use coal along with floss? I know that in freshwater tanks it is not advised unless you had been using chemicals you need to grind down.

[Natereef]

Yes that is floss. Activated carbon is not really required or recommended. You can get by without it. You dont need fancy equipments. You can have a perfectly good reef tank with just your tank, heater, your existing eheim filter (also doubles as water flow), and your small light. You can get low light corals like mushrooms and zoanthids, again just to get started in reefing. Learn all the basics, make mistakes along the way and learn.

[Clown79]

7 hours ago, TommyH said:

Btw, why do you suggest to use coal along with floss? I know that in freshwater tanks it is not advised unless you had been using chemicals you need to grind down.

Some think carbon isn't necessary but it is a good media to use as it removes toxins and clarifies water.

Lots of corals release/shed material like leathers, and carbon prevents it from effecting other corals.

 

A good carbon like seachem matrix can be beneficial whereas cheap low grade carbons aren't advised.

[Tuan’s Reef]

1 hour ago, Natereef said:

Yes that is floss. Activated carbon is not really required or recommended. You can get by without it. You dont need fancy equipments. You can have a perfectly good reef tank with just your tank, heater, your existing eheim filter (also doubles as water flow), and your small light. You can get low light corals like mushrooms and zoanthids, again just to get started in reefing. Learn all the basics, make mistakes along the way and learn.

I run carbon , so do a lot of reefers.  I highly recommend it. Keeps your water clean, crystal clear, and removes toxins . 

[TommyH]

Ok, carbon then it is :), gotta love crystal clear water hehe.

I went to shop today to check out that Aquael nano reef duo tank, IT seemed rather small, but label says 49 liters. cube style. Light is Marine (10 W, 500 Lumen, white and blue lights) and hangon filter kinda like my eiheim. Price tag for that is 170 $. On the other hand I planned to buy only light and cheap pump and heater (for mixing water), which would totaled about 137 $. With gear i already got. Ok to most important thing, this is first measurement of my filtered water:

 

Plain filtered water Units used are mg/l

no3 about 15  mg/l
no2 about 0  mg/l
gh between 4-8
kh 3-6
ph about 6.6
cl2 0  mg/l

 

Test I used is Tetra 6 in 1, I know, not the best but good for regular checks I think and it has all important ones here.

So, what do you think? Is this good for Mixing salt water? I saw that this shop carry Red Sea products. I saw Res Sea coral pro and and regular sea salt too, along with mix of nutrients for corals aswell. Good thing is that I also have one more shop, but not sure what product do they carry, so thee are options. main thing is that you can give be "green lights" for water quality...I hope.

[TommyH]

I'm reading all those articles about chemistry and it will blow my mind even now! I am now under assumption that you have separate room, filled with chemicals, about 20+ testers to mix water and test tank. I would love to see general values of of your RO/DI water and one that is in your actualy (cycled) tank. This values abuve, what i forgot to mention are from my RO/DI system that I have under the sink for general cooking. I think i can make decent batch rather fast for water change use, but I wanna be sure that this values are ok. I would love to be more precise, but that test is heavily aproximated i think unfortunately.

[Firefish15]

I would be worried with your new water. Starting with 15ppm of NO3 will probably make things difficult. Lots of algae growth.

 

The rest of the values should be okay though once you add the salt mix to the water. It'll buffer the water and raise the pH to around 8.2

 

[TommyH]

It is a bit weird. I expected alot less since it is good RO/DI system. My wild guess is that either filters are close to be changed, or I just realised that small 1 liter bucket I use to fill freshwater aquarium was a bit dirty. I will test again in clean glass and see what i get.

 

[TommyH]

It was puzzling me a bit, so i did retest of basic parameters and here is what I got in clean glass from my RO/DI system:

 

no3 about old 15        new  closer to 10 (would say still not too big difference but i am still in safe zone according to colour chart)
no2 about old 0          new   0
gh between old 4-8     new   2   (this cvalues is now more precise I guess due to me being more carefull will doing measurement process)
kh old 3-6                   new   4   (same here)
ph about old 6.6          new   6,6
cl2 old 0                      new   0 

 

So , it is a bit lower and some values almost the same so i guess it is delicate to test water and rather unprecise. I will need to get better system for testing later on. I am happy over all and I think ill try that reef after all. I guess watter will varry slightly depending of my RO/DI filters state, but Should be safe. I will consult my brother aswell since he work with that systems for living XD.

Anyway. Tommorow ill test my Freshwater tank...for practise 🙂

 

See you all.

[Clown79]

13 hours ago, TommyH said:

I'm reading all those articles about chemistry and it will blow my mind even now! I am now under assumption that you have separate room, filled with chemicals, about 20+ testers to mix water and test tank. I would love to see general values of of your RO/DI water and one that is in your actualy (cycled) tank. This values abuve, what i forgot to mention are from my RO/DI system that I have under the sink for general cooking. I think i can make decent batch rather fast for water change use, but I wanna be sure that this values are ok. I would love to be more precise, but that test is heavily aproximated i think unfortunately.

Most only test tds levels of their rodi units but not their tanks.

 

My tds levels are 0 in my rodi.

 

In my tank

Nitrate 2

Phos 0.15(I got it up high on purpose)

Alk 8.7 dkh

Ca 460

 

I don't test ph.

[TommyH]

I just noticed that there are label on this test "for all freshwater aquariums", so this is why my test might be this of course. ALso, this water system here is meant to be used for cooking and drinking aswell, so there should be some minerals to it. I will have to ask my brother about it.

[TommyH]

YOu will forgive newbie for being so borign with this, but i was puzzled why my values are so weird. SO a couple of minutes ago i realise that tetra has app for precise measurement readings and now I feel a bit better cos i got this:

 

Nitrate 0 mg/l

Nitrite 0.09 mg/l

dH 0

Carbonate hardness 9

pH 6.9

and Chlorine  0 mg/l

 

So, I guess I cannot trust my eyes anymore. Gees, I guess my sight is a "bit " worse now in 40-ties that in my 20-ties :))

 

Ow yea, I went into shopping and bought myself Nice Amtra Wave 60 tank, awesome light, and starting gear. Separate post coming soon. I guess I could start new thread for this?

[Natereef]

Dont worry too much about parameters this early man. As long as your tank is cycled. Keep everything simple and dont chase numbers too much. How are your plans doing? Have you gotten around selling ur freshwater stuff yet?

[TommyH]

Unfortunately no. I set bare bones price, well below what is worth, just so i don't resolve to trash all plants and fish. I will try to sell it, if that won't happen, i will try to arrange with shop something. Here in Croatia, finances of most people are worrying up to plan bad, so there is very low demand for hobby items in general. I have several options and I count that I will at least get some discount or even minor free item for stuff donated to shop. Whole tank is healthy, but when I see rest of aquarium ads it become painfully clear that people have no clue what they have in their tanks and how to manage aquarium. I still hope that some of more experienced hobbyist will came along and offer a trade at least. I will get onto search for live sand at least before I pour first water to have jumpstart. Lucky me (or not) that I have time since even simple coral is expensive, so it will be introduced, very, very slowly to tank XD.