Daan6661 Posted February 4, 2020 Share Posted February 4, 2020 Red sea max office nano (20 gallons) Started februari 6 2020 ~Rock rescape march 10 (old scape broke while remodeling) April 24 Update March 30 2020 Update Hey reefer friends!Due to a reconstructionproject off the house for a bigger kitchen/dining room, and yes ofcourse a bigger tank, I recently sold my reefer 350. After that I changed jobs. With the new job came my own office. To keep my fingers salty and to stay in touch with the hobby, I bought a second-hand red sea max nano to set up as an office tank. Which, to be honest, kinda is a dream come true. The reason I went secondhand is to see if the set up is maintainable in a work-environment. I might upgrade to a 40 gallon later. Equipment: AI prime hd Vortech mp10 Smart ATO micro Tunze 9001 Reef Tops UK custom top D&D coral lense Filtermedia: 10 Maxspect biospheres Bag of carbon when needed Substrate/Aquascape: Red sea reef base pink Real reef rock -second hand, bleachcured ~ 10 lbs Fish and inverts Pair of Wyoming clownfish Dwarf blue hermit crab Coral Toxic green torch Rainbow acan Red acan Green acan Gold/purple acan Red blasto Purple blasto 7 Quote Link to comment
Daan6661 Posted February 7, 2020 Author Share Posted February 7, 2020 So 6 days after I added the shrimp and 3 days after I pulled it out, I tested my parameters. NH3 1 ppm NO2 0,25 ppm NO3 0 ppm Getting some microbacter 7 in a couple of days and plan on adding one more piece of cured dry rock. Do you guys think it's wise to add another ammonia-source when I add the bacteria or was that initial first spike enough? Since nitrite is already present my ammonia should be on the decline, which means it probably spiked higher than 1ppm. I'd love your guys opinion on this. No worries, I'm okay with taking my time with this cycle. Thanks guys 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment
picoreef78 Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 Keep an ammonia source in so that the bacteria can continue to have a food source. It does not have to be big. Some people put a few pinches of fish food as a sources. I also cycles my tank in 4 weeks, though my ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels normalized in about a week. I used Macro reefsaver rock. 1 Quote Link to comment
Daan6661 Posted February 7, 2020 Author Share Posted February 7, 2020 2 hours ago, picoreef78 said: Keep an ammonia source in so that the bacteria can continue to have a food source. It does not have to be big. Some people put a few pinches of fish food as a sources. I also cycles my tank in 4 weeks, though my ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels normalized in about a week. I used Macro reefsaver rock. So you mean ghost feeding? Quote Link to comment
Ratvan Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 Cool set up, I have the RSM 130D in my Office, absolutely love it. How do you like the tank, compared to the 350? 1 Quote Link to comment
Daan6661 Posted February 7, 2020 Author Share Posted February 7, 2020 6 minutes ago, Ratvan said: Cool set up, I have the RSM 130D in my Office, absolutely love it. How do you like the tank, compared to the 350? Thank you! Compared to the 350 it's small haha. I was thinking about a 170 at first but this one is so easy to unplug and take home during holidays. A sump would have made it a lot harder. Going to replace the skimmer for a Tunze 9001 though. Saw a fellow reefer in my hometown running one and it's dead silent. So all in all, it's perfect for my office situation. Sadly Inovative Marine doesn't sell their tanks here in Holland. If they did, I would have bought one of their shallow reefs. How's the whole office reef tank working out for you? Quote Link to comment
Ratvan Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 5 minutes ago, Daan6661 said: Thank you! Compared to the 350 it's small haha. I was thinking about a 170 at first but this one is so easy to unplug and take home during holidays. A sump would have made it a lot harder. Going to replace the skimmer for a Tunze 9001 though. Saw a fellow reefer in my hometown running one and it's dead silent. So all in all, it's perfect for my office situation. Sadly Inovative Marine doesn't sell their tanks here in Holland. If they did, I would have bought one of their shallow reefs. How's the whole office reef tank working out for you? Really good actually, left it alone and stocked over Christmas shut down for 11 days and everything made it through fine. Only thing I don't like it the chamber of death for the heater I only have 1 store that will sell IM products in the UK and I won't use them. Messed me around so much in the past. Looking at. JUWEL lido for next tank. Quote Link to comment
picoreef78 Posted February 8, 2020 Share Posted February 8, 2020 Just so there is a constant source of ammonia throughout the cycle so that the system can develop the bacterial colony to continuously manage the source. 1 Quote Link to comment
Daan6661 Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 21 hours ago, picoreef78 said: Just so there is a constant source of ammonia throughout the cycle so that the system can develop the bacterial colony to continuously manage the source. Just to be clear, a small pinch of food every day or every other day to simulate feeding my first fish? Quote Link to comment
picoreef78 Posted February 9, 2020 Share Posted February 9, 2020 Small piece of shrimp or even pinch of food daily to every 4-5 days. Just enough to break down and keep a constant source of nutrients so you can build your bioload to manage the constant nutrient export. It is a smaller tank and should not take much. WHat are your ultimate stocking plans? 1 Quote Link to comment
Daan6661 Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 8 hours ago, picoreef78 said: Small piece of shrimp or even pinch of food daily to every 4-5 days. Just enough to break down and keep a constant source of nutrients so you can build your bioload to manage the constant nutrient export. It is a smaller tank and should not take much. WHat are your ultimate stocking plans? 2 designer clowns. Maybe a fridmani or a six-line wrasse. Love the way the six-line moves trough the tank but might not want to risk the aggression in a 20 gallon. 1 Quote Link to comment
Daan6661 Posted February 10, 2020 Author Share Posted February 10, 2020 13 hours ago, Daan6661 said: 2 designer clowns. Maybe a fridmani or a six-line wrasse. Love the way the six-line moves trough the tank but might not want to risk the aggression in a 20 gallon. After some thought, I might just stick with the clowns. Maybe add a clown goby or something small after the tank matured a bit. Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 On 2/4/2020 at 1:01 AM, Daan6661 said: I'm Daan from the netherlands. I've been into reefing for over 6 years. After starting a freshwater tank I stumbled upon BRS' youtubevideo's. I'm in love ever since. Daan, glad you decided to participate. We've been fortunate to have several non-USA contestants in the past. The only issue might be international shipping, which typically isn't part of the prize package (but maybe that can be addressed later, if you win). 2 Quote Link to comment
Daan6661 Posted February 15, 2020 Author Share Posted February 15, 2020 3 minutes ago, seabass said: Daan, glad you decided to participate. We've been fortunate to have several non-USA contestants in the past. The only issue might be international shipping, which typically isn't part of the prize package (but maybe that can be addressed later, if you win). Ah no worries, it’s all about the fun. 🙂 3 Quote Link to comment
kimberbee Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 Add the 365 Day Challenge tag to your current thread tags! There's already over 25 participants, it'll ensure everyone can locate your thread - especially Chris! 1 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 nice tank! and welcome! good to have some level headed Euro in the comp. might rub off on us " crazy Americans"..haha 1 1 Quote Link to comment
Daan6661 Posted February 15, 2020 Author Share Posted February 15, 2020 15 minutes ago, devaji108 said: nice tank! and welcome! good to have some level headed Euro in the comp. might rub off on us " crazy Americans"..haha Thanks dude haha! Love all the kindness on this forum Quote Link to comment
Daan6661 Posted February 15, 2020 Author Share Posted February 15, 2020 1 hour ago, kimberbee said: Add the 365 Day Challenge tag to your current thread tags! There's already over 25 participants, it'll ensure everyone can locate your thread - especially Chris! Done! 2 Quote Link to comment
This guy is extra salty Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 8 hours ago, devaji108 said: nice tank! and welcome! good to have some level headed Euro in the comp. might rub off on us " crazy Americans"..haha Whoa 😮 crazy? Lol ok I might’ve built everything from scratch 1 Quote Link to comment
Daan6661 Posted February 17, 2020 Author Share Posted February 17, 2020 Not my best weekend in reefing. So, After cleaning out the tank so I could enter the 365 challenge I thought I'd rescape a bit. Well, that didn't go as planned as I broke the entire scape while drilling a small corner off so I could move the entire scape back a bit. After fiddling with the broken pieces for a good hour, I couldn't make a decent looking scape with the rock I had anymore. I was bummed pretty bad. I bought some used real reef rock yesterday which has only been drying out 2 days so there's prob a lot of dying stuff on there. On the brs bleach curing video they don't reconmend bleaching man made rock because it might lose it's purple color. Honesly I don't care about the color as I usually use pukani dry rock. I just want clean rock. Anyone see any harm in bleach curing my real reef rock? I did a quick scape at the dudes place I was buying it from which I thought looked pretty cool. Left front piece is getting trimmed. Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 3 hours ago, Daan6661 said: Anyone see any harm in bleach curing my real reef rock? It will do what you want it to do (remove the organics on the rock). Afterwards, rinse thoroughly. Having it dry completely may also help. I'd also soak it in some water with Seachem Prime before using. Finally, I might wait another 24 hours (after setting up your tank) before seeding a bacteria culture. Then follow the fishless cycling protocol to seed your tank and established a biofilter. Start with a nitrifying bacteria culture, then dose ammonium chloride to build it up. By the way, the new scape looks good. 1 Quote Link to comment
Daan6661 Posted February 17, 2020 Author Share Posted February 17, 2020 32 minutes ago, seabass said: It will do what you want it to do (remove the organics on the rock). Afterwards, rinse thoroughly. Having it dry completely may also help. I'd also soak it in some water with Seachem Prime before using. Finally, I might wait another 24 hours (after setting up your tank) before seeding a bacteria culture. Then follow the fishless cycling protocol to seed your tank and established a biofilter. Start with a nitrifying bacteria culture, then dose ammonium chloride to build it up. By the way, the new scape looks good. Yes, already have some dechlorinator on hand. I probably let it sundry and give it 1 or 2 ro/di baths with dechlorinator. Good news: the maxpact bio spheres are still cycling so I'm not "loosing" any time. So you don't expect any issues with the rock changing color? Thanks mate. Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 2 hours ago, Daan6661 said: So you don't expect any issues with the rock changing color? Losing the purple color? I'm not sure what the coating is. Bleach will eat through most organic substances, but it's possible that it's just a dye. It might turn pink, I don't really know. Eventually the rock will get coated with a biofilm and various algae (including coralline). You might wish to test a small piece first. If the result from bleaching is not desirable, then just cure the rock normally. The cycle will eventually break down the dead organic material. 1 Quote Link to comment
Daan6661 Posted February 17, 2020 Author Share Posted February 17, 2020 7 minutes ago, seabass said: Losing the purple color? I'm not sure what the coating is. Bleach will eat through most organic substances, but it's possible that it's just a dye. It might turn pink, I don't really know. Eventually the rock will get coated with a biofilm and various algae (including coralline). You might wish to test a small piece first. If the result from bleaching is not desirable, then just cure the rock normally. They cycle will eventually break down the dead organic material. Bought the rock recently cheap, so I'm going for it. If it doesn't work out I'll just buy some new. Thanks for all the elaborate replies man 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment
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