Rudee Posted October 3, 2020 Author Share Posted October 3, 2020 Checking in from the new house! So we moved on August 12th and I had to transport my tank about 20 miles. My plan went very well but I ran into one snag. My dad was visiting from out of town and he packed my filter and heater somewhere and forgot where it was. I ripped the garage apart looking for everything but couldn't find them. It was 10 PM by the time we noticed it was gone (everything was closed) and I stayed up until 3 AM looking for something. Ultimately, I waited until morning, got replacements, and set the tank up as fast as possible. By then, I lost my xenia, hammer, zoa, and my goby (this was super, super sad because it was my favorite critter in my tank). I felt awful... I read through your comments and I agree about the lighting. I actually think my shrimp and goby (soon to be) need a little more space so I upgraded my tank to something with more surface area. It's a 10 gallon JBJ (24" wide) with a MUCH better light. As for the pump, I have been using a Hydor Koralia 425. It seems to be perfect for my tank size. I decided against the 240 with the recommendation from someone I trust and I'm glad I did. I also added some more sand to account for the increased surface area in my new tank. So the plan now is to let everything settle in and ensure stability before I do anything else. The next move for me is to get a new yellow watchman goby, but I want to be absolutely sure my tank provides the best conditions before I do. I also got a dedicated tank stand and so it's off of my desk (which I also upgraded). I will probably look for some baskets tonight for all of my tank tools and accessories, just to clean things up a bit. I'll keep upgrading each component one at a time until I get to the really nice (and expensive) stuff. I almost went kinda nuts with lights but figured these were a huge improvement over my old ones so it's s step up and another step forward. I figure with moving my sand from one tank to another there was going to be a significant ammonia spike. So to prepare, I did a 30% water change when I filled up the new tank and added salt water from my LFS. The salinity wasn't quite right so I mixed some salt in a separate container and slowly worked it in until it was between 1.025 and 1.026. My method is simply to take a gallon of water out, mix in a little salt and dump it back in. I keep repeating the process until the salinity is raised slowly without dumping huge salt concentrations into my tank. To my surprise, the "spike" wasn't bad at all. I think removing some of my old dirty sand and adding some new stuff, combined with the large water change, was just enough to keep things in check. I do see some brown on my sand already and the nassarius snails are all over it so I know I've got plenty of bacteria still if it's growing that fast. Updated Results: Test/Target Actual Value Water Temperature Reading (Farenheit) 80 F Salinity Test / Target = 1.024 ppm 1.025 ppm Ammonia Test / Target = 0 ppm 0.25 ppm Nitrite Test / Target = 0 ppm 0 ppm Nitrate Test / Target =10 to 20 ppm 5 ppm pH Test / Target = 8.4 8.2 *Note: I did not test KH and Mg because all I have in there is a GSP and it's fine. I'm not adding corals until after I get my goby anyway. I'll test it later. So I'm donna do some 8.4 dosing for a couple days and then call it good and just monitor the tank until next weekend. I'll add the goby and see how it impacts the ammonia increase. It should be undetectable really but I promised myself I would go very slow my first year of reef keeping just to be responsible and have time to react and keep things balanced. Hope you all enjoyed my new setup and I look forward to the future of the improved tank. Quote Link to comment
mcarroll Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 21 hours ago, Rudee said: packed my filter and heater somewhere and forgot where it was. I ripped the garage apart looking for everything but couldn't find them. It was 10 PM by the time we noticed it was gone (everything was closed) and I stayed up until 3 AM looking for something. Ultimately, I waited until morning, got replacements, and set the tank up as fast as possible. By then, I lost my xenia, hammer, zoa, and my goby (this was super, super sad because it was my favorite critter in my tank). I felt awful... Next time get them into the tank first and foremost. Realize the missing heater last. That way, in the meantime, corals can at least breathe and fish can find a hiding place to de-stress. For many corals "room temperature" can be tolerated for a fair amount of time. You could even heat up the room where the tank is with the door closed to help out. Close all the other ducts in the house to put all the warm air from your furnace into that room....or just run a room heater. The tank looks nice in it's new home though!! 1 Quote Link to comment
Rudee Posted October 7, 2020 Author Share Posted October 7, 2020 On 10/4/2020 at 1:26 PM, mcarroll said: Next time get them into the tank first and foremost. Realize the missing heater last. That way, in the meantime, corals can at least breathe and fish can find a hiding place to de-stress. For many corals "room temperature" can be tolerated for a fair amount of time. You could even heat up the room where the tank is with the door closed to help out. Close all the other ducts in the house to put all the warm air from your furnace into that room....or just run a room heater. The tank looks nice in it's new home though!! Sadly, even the tank didn't help. The first thing I did when I got home was set up the tank and get my water back in. So the corals were in transport for about an hour (in water of course). They just closed up, slightly reopened, and then slowly closed back up and they were gone. Whatever I did, it wasn't the best way for sure or maybe I'd still have them. Since I won't be moving again in the near future I have some time to come up with a better plan should I ever need to do that again. But for the foreseeable future, I'll use this as a starting point. Also worth noting... I wasn't sure about the oxygen levels in the water and how that all works so I scooped water out with a cup a few times every 30 minutes or so and dump it back in thinking that might somehow help keep the oxygen in the tank at a tolerable level. I have no idea what went wrong other than that. And thanks on the tank! I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Water parameters are as perfect as I could ask for them to be. So it's time to start planning out what to do with all this new, empty real estate. Right now, I'm currently staring at my GSP and willing it to grow off the plug. I'm one of those people that actually wants it to grow like a bad weed. It looks super happy in the new tank with the lighting though. Here's hoping. 1 Quote Link to comment
Rudee Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 Hey friends, just checking in. Next month will be the one year anniversary of my tank. I'm super excited because I can consider it "well established" and start doing some more stuff that I've really been looking forward to. I've still going nice and slow, just trying to be consistent. One of the biggest problems areas I've had it my lighting and my light schedule. So today I finally upgraded my light from the stock light I got from my AIO tank. I got a Kessel A80. I did get the controller but it's not set up yet so I'll be doing some research online for color, intensity, and schedule. I just did a massive cleanup in the tank, disturbed my sand, cleaned up the glass, and my tank is very happy at how dirty it is. If there's one thing I've learned it's that my small softies love a dirty tank. My corals are happy and growing slowly. Part of that was just not having adequate light so I'm super stoked to see how they respond to the improvement in quality and scheduling. Current Corals: Armor of God Zoas Green Branching Hammer Xenia Green Star Polyp I did ended up replacing the goby I lost in my move so my Tiger Pistol Shrimp is super happy to have a friend again. They paired up right away. Next on my list is to add another 2 pounds or so of rock to the right side of my tank, which has been empty this entire time. The goal is to have another place to expand my coral collection and get that Monte I've been wanting since the start. Updated Results: Test/Target Actual Value Water Temperature Reading (Farenheit) 78 F Salinity Test / Target = 1.024 ppm 1.026 ppm Ammonia Test / Target = 0 ppm 0.50 ppm Nitrite Test / Target = 0 ppm 0 ppm Nitrate Test / Target =20 ppm 20 ppm pH Test / Target = 8.4 8.0 My ammonia is higher than usual but I'm certain it's because I did a massive clean up today and release a ton of dead stuff from my sand bed. I have no worries. My pH is low so I'm gonna dose with 8.4 for a little while and re-test. I need to check my kH and make sure I've got enough Mg too but I ran out of test solutions. So I'll take in a water sample to the LFS tomorrow and adjust as needed. I have a feeling my kH will be low which would make my Mg high or at least not lower than normal. We'll see! Side note, I'm also looking for a way to take better pictures of a reef tank. I guess that's it's own challenge 😃 Quote Link to comment
Rudee Posted January 10, 2021 Author Share Posted January 10, 2021 Update on Ammonia spike. So when I went to install my new light I dropped a screw in the tank, which of course got lost in the sand. So after 45 minutes of sifting through the sand I finally found it... uh oh... Ammonia spike incoming! And man was it bad. It jumped to 0.70! So I took my Clown fish out of the tank and into our other 29 gallon for temporary lodging. He was showing signs of ammonia poisoning so that was priority #1. Next.... I did a huge water change, only to notice after (when I did all my water testing) that my salinity dropped to 1.022!!!! What the heck is going on? So I tested the salt water I got from my LFS (same on I have used for the past year) and it was 1.020! Soooo I went to the basement where luckily I had some salt leftover from when I used to mix it myself. Used what water I had left to raise the salinity and then booked it to the LFS for more water. I let them know and they made sure to give me good water this time. No idea what happened there. I got home, did a 50% water change and tested the water again. Ammonia was 0.20. Okay, now we're talking. So I let the tank sit and cycle itself and we're back on track. Well... my clown fish got lonely last night and he really likes my thermometer so my daughter stuck it in there only to realize... it reads 4 degrees high! What the hell!!!! So my AIO tank setup history has left me with a conglomeration of parts from different AIO setups. It's only recently that I started upgrading to high quality components. I put the thermometer back in my tank this morning and turned my heater up. All this time I thought I had a crappy heater but I guess it was more my thermometer (I still have a crappy heater). Today, the goal is to replace it will a high quality thermometer and use that with my crappy heater until I can buy a good heater (probably in a couple weeks). Pro tip: don't skimp on your setup, even if you are new. Get at least one step up from PetSmart our you will have problems down the line. For now, crisis averted but sheesh... 1 Quote Link to comment
Rudee Posted February 14, 2021 Author Share Posted February 14, 2021 Howdy, Checking in after another month. I recovered just fine from my last dramatic episode. After 4 weeks of stable parameters I tried to add a six-line wrasse to replace my last one that jumped out. Well... my yellow watchman did not appreciate that and killed the wrasse on the first day. So I'm not adding any more fish to this tiny little tank. I think everything has been there so long and has it's own place, any more additions to the population is going to cause stress and be too crowded. BUT! I did, finally, add a couple corals to celebrate the one-year anniversary of my tank. I've kept it super simple, Xenia, GSP, & Zoas just to focus on water, substrate, and my own learning curve in the hobby. This was a big milestone for me and it's nice to see everything has come so far, even just in my own understanding of the hobby and the science of keeping a saltwater tank. Current parameters... Updated Results: Test/Target Actual Value Water Temperature Reading (Farenheit) 80 F Salinity Test / Target = 1.024 ppm 1.023 ppm Ammonia Test / Target = 0 ppm 0.25 ppm Nitrite Test / Target = 0 ppm 0 ppm Nitrate Test / Target =20 ppm 0-5 ppm pH Test / Target = 8.4 7.8 - I put my glass top on my tank last night since I had a new fish and I think my temp was a little higher as a result. So I took the top off and I'll test it again tonight. No big deal. - My salinity is a little low for sure. I did a water top off / water change with RO yesterday and it was probably a little too much. My plan is to let the water evaporate some over the next day or so until it gets up to 1.024. I like to keep mine between 1.024 and 1.026. - Ammonia looks good - Nitrites look good - My Nitrates are suuuuuper low. I have done more frequent water changes this month as a result of my last ammonia scare so that makes sense. But I definitely didn't expect that! Go back to weekly 10% water changes will probably let that creep up a bit. I also have more corals now so that may stay low. We'll see. - My pH is consistently testing low. It doesn't seem to be a problem yet but just in case, I'm going to start adding a half-dose of 8.4 to my 10% weekly water change routine and monitor it over the course of a couple months. - Mg, Ca, and kH tests are definitely a recurring monthly test in my future, especially now that I have an SPS coral. It will just be better for the ecosystem to know the parameters allow for the best possible delivery of nutrients to the corals and that all of their needs are met (I definitely recommend doing some research on how these three elements interact with each other). Also have some green hair algae on my Trochus snail (he looks like a singer in an 80s hair band) and when he traverses my rocks it rubs off and gets on there. So I pick that off by hand from time to time, doesn't seem to be a problem yet, but it's really annoying. I cannot for the life of me get all the algae off of this snail. So before it becomes a serious problem I've been trying to get it off of him a little at a time and also reducing my light schedule just a touch to starve them out a bit. One-year anniversary means a celebration, so we went to the LFS (Aquatic Arts in Highlands Ranch, Colorado - highly, highly recommend / Tropic Pet Oasis (aka Tommy's) - Castle Rock, Colorado - also good people and recommended) and picked up the following: Rainbow Encrusting Montipora Green Candy Cane Branching Hammer Green Duncan Lord Acanthastrea (Aquatic Arts usually has a buy 3 get 1 free sale all the time) I tried target feeding for the first time last night, although I forgot to turn off my powerhead in all my excitement... I've been feeding my tank AF Liquid Artemia twice a week and everyone loves it. In between those feedings I feed my Clownfish & Goby Cobalt Aquatics Premium Fish Flakes twice a day, sometimes once a day if the tank is looking dirty. Two weeks ago I added another rock to fill my tank out and complete the idea I had for aquascaping. I now have my corals divided so I have LPS on one side and the SPS on the other, with some LPS in the sand at the bottom as well. I needed a little more help with my algae maintenance so we moved a Mexican Turbo Snail into my tank from my wife's bigger tank. That seems to be helping a lot and he does a great job. I still have to scrape once a week but that's way better than it was. I also tried moving a coral off of a plug for the first time last week. I very nervously scraped my GSP off its plug (it was completely covered) and used some Gorilla Glue to stick it to the back wall - I have some good Coralline Algae growing back there now to help it stick and grow. I'm excited to watch that sucker take over. The first couple days it was not happy with me at all. But now it's out again and ready to grow. I left a little extra on the original plug in case I want/need it somewhere in the future, or I can give it to someone else (my wife's bigger tank maybe). I haven't mastered the art of taking iPhone pictures with a salt water tank so bear with me as the quality, I know, is poor. So all of my corals are pretty much babies. This next year, my plan is to let everything grow out, take good care of them, focus on my parameters and quality feeding and light schedules (now that I have quality food and a Kessel A80 with a controller this is much easier and makes a HUGE difference). The only addition I'm looking to make is to add a few more Zoas to my LPS rock and a pink playing Montipora on top of my SPS rock. I also moved my powerhead to the right side to give the SPS more flow (indirectly) and control my LPS flow to medium-low flow. I stuck my hammer and candy cane in the dead zone and they seem very happy there. I would love to remove all the plugs for a more natural look but I won't risk the lives of my corals as a trade off. So if after the second year, I just Top 10 one-year lessons learned: 1. Be consistent. This applies to water changes, feeding schedules, cleaning, etc. And plan your tank out from the beginning. This includes gluing rocks (recommend depending on the angle of your rock configuration). If I had to do it over I would glue them, but mine still aren't glued together. 2. Make gradual changes, and do everything as slow as you can. Ten-gallon tanks are a hard way to break into the hobby. The swings can be dramatic. If I had to do it over again I would have started with a 20-gallon. I think it would have been easier and more forgiving. Plus, it takes up the same surface area as my 10-gallon long. 3. I know my tank isn't as glamorous as others but I took the responsibility of caring for living creatures very seriously and knew that I was very ignorant to this hobby right from the beginning. So be humble, don't too excited about all the bells and whistles that are out there, and upgrade over time, as needed. Don't go crazy on exotic corals because they look cool. Stick with the hardy stuff that's easier to maintain and level up your coral game as you level up your salt water game. 4. Keep more extra jugs of water than you think you need. I started with a single 5-gallon jug and was mixing my own salt. It was a pain in the butt and I was always going back for more. I now have at least 20 gallons of RO & salt water on hand for top-offs, and most importantly, those crazy nitrate or ammonia emergencies. 5. My personal opinion about salt water - as a beginner, just buy it. Mixing it is inconsistent, time-consuming, and can make keeping a balanced schedule and predictable parameters much more difficult. 6. Listen to other reefers and don't be too proud to admit you don't know something. Your tank will thank you. 7. Find a really good LFS. Even then, take what they say with a grain of salt, but don't be quick to jump on the Internet train of hating on LFSs. There are some good ones out there and they will help you out. 8. You can rent a par meter! My LFS rents out their par meters for $20/week. You probably don't even need it after that long so it's worth it to test your light and depths once and keep a record. There is no sense on spending a LOT of money on a good par meter as a beginner. 9. Corals are fun to look at at, but don't let that bleach everything by having your lights on too long. I personally believe upgrading my light and getting a controller to automatically turn my light on/off and change the intensity and color balance automatically throughout the day made the difference in my tank. The change was day and night in only a week or two.Plus, you can sleep in 😃 10. It's okay to get into the hobby on the cheap, but just know that you may end up needing to replace components very quickly (e.g., a crappy heater, light, or filter/pump). One of the first things I did was add a powerhead and that made a big difference. I also replaced my heater and thermometer and that made a huge difference. But you don't have to break the bank with upgrades. Take it slow, and just get things that are a step or two up from where you are. You'll get there. The only reason I got a Kessel A80 is because it was a Christmas present. I never would have spent that kind of money on a light this early in the hobby (I would definitely have done it in year two though). So that's where I'm at, one year later. it's worth noting that I purchased every living thing in this tank individually for $30 or less. So this is a very budget-friendly tank. I learned a lot in my first year and I appreciate all of the advice and support from everyone along the way. I'll keep learning and listening to you guys and hopefully, the end of year two will really fill this tank out and get the vibrancy and life I'm going for in a 10-gallon Nano tank that keeps me company at my desk while I work from home. So good luck! And thanks again for all of your support. I will still update this blog post monthly. We shall see where the tank is in another year! Reefily yours, Rudee Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.