Mark’s 25g lagoon

[Theshivinator]

Updated FTS 8/21/2020

Hey Everyone !

 

Newish to the hobby here , have set up a few pico tanks prior to this one , one 5 gallon and one 2.5 gallon . I figured now I would upgrade to the IM 20g peninsula 😍

 

Got a great deal on this used tank my LFS had just taken in off trade, came home cleaned it up made it look brand new! 
 

Now finally I’ve gotten around to setting up the tank after the holidays. 

 

What I have so far :

IM 20g peninsula 

MightyJet 326 gph return pump 

Cobalt 75w Heater 

Current USA Orbit Dual pro IC LED bluetooth ( replaced with Ai prime 16hd 8/14/20 )

Current USA 660 wave pump 
Live rock 

Fiji pink substrate 

 

added so far update 8/22/20: 

2 ocellaris clown fish ( Charlie & Clarissa)

1 six line wrasse ( Walter )

3 small blue hermit crabs 

tiger conch ( Connie )

1 nassarius snail 

3 bumblebee snails 

yellow colony polyp 

Duncan 
toadstool leathers

RFA

GSP

pink waving hand anthelia

pipe organ 

 

 

Now to wait for the tank to cycle .. trying to cycle naturally with the live rock. Any suggestions on if this is the best way? If not what are best products to use to speed up the process ?

 

Also wanted suggestions/ feedback on what everyone thought about the rock work ?

 

 

 

 

[Clown79]

2 hours ago, Theshivinator said:

Hey Everyone !

 

Newish to the hobby here , have set up a few pico tanks prior to this one , one 5 gallon and one 2.5 gallon . I figured now I would upgrade to the IM 20g peninsula 😍

 

Got a great deal on this used tank my LFS had just taken in off trade, came home cleaned it up made it look brand new! 
 

Now finally I’ve gotten around to setting up the tank after the holidays. 

 

What I have so far :

IM 20g peninsula 

MightyJet 326 gph return pump 

Cobalt 75w Heater 

Current USA Orbit Dual pro IC LED bluetooth 

Current USA 660 wave pump 
Live rock 

Fiji pink substrate 

 

Now to wait for the tank to cycle .. trying to cycle naturally with the live rock. Any suggestions on if this is the best way? If not what are best products to use to speed up the process ?

 

Also wanted suggestions/ feedback on what everyone thought about the rock work ?

 

 

Did you set up a new tank or transfer the liverock from an existing tank?

If you transferred the liverock from one of your other tanks, there should be no cycle- they are 

Established rock

[Theshivinator]

54 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Did you set up a new tank or transfer the liverock from an existing tank?

If you transferred the liverock from one of your other tanks, there should be no cycle- they are 

Established rock

I set it up with new live rock . 
 

I still have my existing 2.5 g set up . I’m thinking about tearing down that one and adding it into here but haven’t decided yet 🤔

[Seadragon]

4 hours ago, Theshivinator said:

Now to wait for the tank to cycle .. trying to cycle naturally with the live rock. Any suggestions on if this is the best way? If not what are best products to use to speed up the process ?

 

Personally, I'd test the water parameters and see what your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are showing up as.  And something I do for all of my tanks (and never had a problem or casualty) would be to add Instant Ocean BIO-Spira and then 1 or 2 hardy fish such as clownfish.  I'd then keep track of the water parameters until I know for sure the Nitrogen cycle completed and then I'd add additional livestock slowly to the tank.  Or if you don't like adding fish, you could add ammonia from a bottle and just follow their directions for that.  And there's countless other cycling methods as well, you'd just have to research them all and figure out which one is for you.

 

Unless you just transfer the established liverock from an existing tank, then you can skip the Instant Ocean BIO-Spira and add livestock slowly while keeping track of your water parameters.

 

4 hours ago, Theshivinator said:

Also wanted suggestions/ feedback on what everyone thought about the rock work ?

 

Personally, I would add at least one arch to your rockwork design to accommodate any Cleaner Shrimp you may get in the future.  They just look so cool hanging upside down from the arch.  I'd also keep about a 1.5" gap between the rockwork and glass to make it easy to clean with a magnetic algae scrubber and for large snails to move about freely.  Finally, if you're thinking about getting GSP (Green Star Polyps), I'd put them on their own isolated rock so that you can easily trim it back.

[Clown79]

1 hour ago, Theshivinator said:

I set it up with new live rock . 
 

I still have my existing 2.5 g set up . I’m thinking about tearing down that one and adding it into here but haven’t decided yet 🤔

Was the rock dry? 

 

Was it wet from an established tank with life?

[Theshivinator]

50 minutes ago, Seadragon said:

 

Personally, I'd test the water parameters and see what your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are showing up as.  And something I do for all of my tanks (and never had a problem or casualty) would be to add Instant Ocean BIO-Spira and then 1 or 2 hardy fish such as clownfish.  I'd then keep track of the water parameters until I know for sure the Nitrogen cycle completed and then I'd add additional livestock slowly to the tank.  Or if you don't like adding fish, you could add ammonia from a bottle and just follow their directions for that.  And there's countless other cycling methods as well, you'd just have to research them all and figure out which one is for you.

 

Unless you just transfer the established liverock from an existing tank, then you can skip the Instant Ocean BIO-Spira and add livestock slowly while keeping track of your water parameters.

 

 

Personally, I would add at least one arch to your rockwork design to accommodate any Cleaner Shrimp you may get in the future.  They just look so cool hanging upside down from the arch.  I'd also keep about a 1.5" gap between the rockwork and glass to make it easy to clean with a magnetic algae scrubber and for large snails to move about freely.  Finally, if you're thinking about getting GSP (Green Star Polyps), I'd put them on their own isolated rock so that you can easily trim it back.

Thanks so much for all the info and suggestions!

 

I may have a rock in my existing pico tank that would make a perfect arch 🤘🏼 I’ll play around and see how it looks. 
 

There’s about a 1.5-2” gap around all rock work from the glass . You can see it from all sides so tried to keep the rockscape in the middle. 

 

[Theshivinator]

44 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Was the rock dry? 

 

Was it wet from an established tank with life?

It was wet rock, I got it from World wide coral. 
 

There was No life in the tank only wet rock. 

[Clown79]

10 minutes ago, Theshivinator said:

It was wet rock, I got it from World wide coral. 
 

There was No life in the tank only wet rock. 

Then it may be established rock already. Not really sure depending on the system its kept in.

 

I'd test or get a seachem ammonia badge. Monitor for a week or so.

[Theshivinator]

Dosed the tank with MicroBacter startXLM two days ago and here are the results so far.

 

Is this good ? What I should be seeing so far ?
 

[Clown79]

Looks like a cycle, theres 0.25 ammonia

[Theshivinator]

5 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Looks like a cycle, theres 0.25 ammonia

Before adding any livestock I need to wait until the cycle fully completes ? Until I’m getting a zero ammonia reading ? 

[Clown79]

26 minutes ago, Theshivinator said:

Before adding any livestock I need to wait until the cycle fully completes ? Until I’m getting a zero ammonia reading ? 

Yes. 

 

Not sure why you are going through one with liverock though.

[Theshivinator]

2 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Yes. 

 

Not sure why you are going through one with liverock though.

🤷🏼‍♂️ I’m not sure . I’m still so new to the hobby I’m trying to figure things out as well. 
 

[Clown79]

8 minutes ago, Theshivinator said:

🤷🏼‍♂️ I’m not sure . I’m still so new to the hobby I’m trying to figure things out as well. 
 

It really depends on the quality of liverock, how it's been held in the store, if it was allowed to dry out. 

[Seadragon]

On 1/8/2020 at 6:07 PM, Theshivinator said:

It was wet rock, I got it from World wide coral. 

 

I'm assuming it was sent through the mail?  How many days did it take to arrive?  It may just have die-off which is causing it to cycle again.

[Theshivinator]

8 minutes ago, Seadragon said:

 

I'm assuming it was sent through the mail?  How many days did it take to arrive?  It may just have die-off which is causing it to cycle again.

No actually I’m pretty lucky I live in Orlando, Fl . World wide coral is a 5 min drive from my house. 

[Theshivinator]

Another day of testing ... another ammonia reading lol just being patient now 😎

[Theshivinator]

Cycle is complete !
Got my water checked from WWC to make sure. 

Picked up these two beautiful clowns 😍 

Trying to think of some cute names for them 

[Theshivinator]

I’ve read up some articles on this and hope to get some opinions on here as well.

 

Now that I have 2 clowns in the tank do I need to turn my wave maker off in the evening ? I’m running mine at about 70% right now just on a constant stream motion. 

 

I read some people keep on all night for flow , some people turn them down, and some completely off. 

Just curious as to what everyone does ? 

[Seadragon]

1 hour ago, Theshivinator said:

I’ve read up some articles on this and hope to get some opinions on here as well.

 

Now that I have 2 clowns in the tank do I need to turn my wave maker off in the evening ? I’m running mine at about 70% right now just on a constant stream motion. 

 

I read some people keep on all night for flow , some people turn them down, and some completely off. 

Just curious as to what everyone does ? 

I use a Wave Controller that alternates between two Circulation Pumps that never turn off except for when I’m feeding.  The circulation pumps are aimed towards the glass and I also put prefilters on them so that the water flow is never too much for the fish or corals.  It’s good to have decent alternating water flow running 24/7 because it allows for continuous gas exchange and lessens dead spots assuming that you have a decent aquascape with adequate space around the outside.

[Theshivinator]

FTS Update 1/23 

 

The clowns are doing great , already know when it’s feeding time and snatch the food right out of my finger tips ha. 
 

Got a small clean up crew for right now just to help with access food not eaten and a few diatoms. 

I got 3 small blue hermits and 1 nassarius snail.

 

As of now nitrate levels tested this morning still low. 
 

I haven’t done my first water change yet as everything seems to be going smooth. Any suggestions on when I should do one and how much water should I change ?

[Theshivinator]

Day off work = a double post day !

 

Been working on taking some of my old coral and frags out of my 2.5pico and transferring them over. 
 

So far just Brought over a yellow colony polyp and my Duncan ( started off with 2 heads now I can visibly see 5, only had it around 3 months ) . 
 

Everything opened up and is looking great 🙌🏼👌 
This is the Other side of the tank I haven’t pictured yet the  “couch side “ looking into the tank. 

[TatorTaco]

Most folks aim for 10% once a week as a general rule of thumb.  Of course, this is subject to change depending on your coral/livestock. 

[Theshivinator]

2 minutes ago, TatorTaco said:

Most folks aim for 10% once a week as a general rule of thumb.  Of course, this is subject to change depending on your coral/livestock. 

Thanks ! I did do a small water change today before adding in the corals 👌

[Elizabeth94]

Typically after a cycle I do a large water change. But seeing that your nitrates are low thats not necessary. I agree w/TaterTaco 10% to start. You can always bump it up if needed. 
 

Just wanted to say I love your scape. Very open. Makes the tank look bigger than it is!