Nano ?'s

[Anthonyh821]

I am posting this over here because I didn't get a response in the beginers forum.

 

Hi all. This is my first post on this forum. I have a 6g Eclipse with the stock bio-wheel. I converted the 8w light to to 13w PC lights. They are combo lights with 10000k/acitic. I have about 7-8lbs of LR and and a 1-2 sand base. I have 10lbs of live sand coming in tomorrow that I am going to add to the sand that I already have. I am going for a 3-4 DSB. I am also getting a cup of sand from an established tank that has all kinds of critters in. It has been setup for about 3 weeks. The LFS told my to put a damsel in at the beginning so thats what I did. After 2 weeks I started getting some macro algea so I bought 3 snails. (1 astrea, 1 starcus (sp?) and 1 turbo) My question is what kind of additives should I use. I have some RO water that I use for my topoff and they said it already has buffer in it so I don't need to add anything. Is this true? Also while my tank is cycling do I need to do any water changes? And once it's done cycling what do yall suggest to do for my water changes? Weekly or biweekly 1 gallon or 2? Sorry this is such a long post but any help would be greatly appreciated. By the way I am from Dallas is there any local people here?

[ajroahkni]

While you wait for a response, how's about doing a search on the following topics:

1. DSB

2. RO

3. Cycling

4. W/C - water changes

5. Clean up Crew

6. bio wheel

 

THat's what I did, and was exposed to enough info to not need a response to my questions.

 

Happy nanoing. Probably didn't have to follow the LFS advice for anything, esp. the sacrificial damsel.

 

John

[printerdown01]

I'll go in the order that ajroahkni recommend that you search (just for simplicities sake):

 

1)Cool deal on the DSB. You might want to add more than 1 cup of LS, unless you have really great LR with lots of worms . If you do you will be just fine (not sure that this was really a question of your's but I figured that you posted the info in hopes of comments -so, NICE WORK ).

 

2)RO/DI does not actually have a buffer, unless they are putting one in it (but then again it shouldn't really need a buffer). I use RO water from the grocery store, and I do add a couple of drops of Prime.

 

3)I say do a water change mid cycle. I am not a big fan of doing several water changed during the cycle -but this is just a personal thing (there are decent arguments on both sides of this issue)...

 

4)Regular water changes: I don't like doing 20% I think it is too much on the inhabitants. I do a 10% every other week. -I used to say 10% weekly or 20% bi-weekly, but my nano is a LOT more stable than I thought it would be. -imagine that opinion changing with experience , lol.

 

5)Clean-up crew: I would toss in a couple more algae eating snails, possibly one turban and one margarita -something like that... I would normally recommend more astrea, but the turbo eats the same stuff as the astrea and will consume it at a much faster rate. Also you are going to need a good ground crew... Go for either the smallest hermits you can find or Nass. snails (some people wish to avoid hermits). I am probably going to be switching to nass, they seem to be WAY more effective at seeking out food on the sand bed than the hermits, and more effective at turning the sand bed over (thanks to their habit of burrowing). Side note (for anyone that is interested): the nass are kind of scary to watch, the second food hits the water the pop out of the sand, it looks like something out of Sandlots!! Then when the find the food the twist and squirm all over it, until it is gone -honestly it looks like attack of the killer snails! very cool to watch.

 

6)Additives: this will depend on 2 things, the first being what you are going to keep and the second being what brand of salt you have (some salts are low in iodine and other trace elements while others are high). If you get a salt that brags about adding trace elements you wont really need to dose with any.

....Anything that I over-looked??

[ross76053]

Anthonyh821,

 

I live in Hurst (15 mi. from Dallas) and work in Las Colinas. Welcome to nano-reef...

 

Sounds like you're in just about the same place I am with my 10-gal. I'm gonna take PrinterDown's suggestion with the cleanup crew (he's full of good info).

 

Be sure to post pics of your setup when you can...

 

Good luck,

Ross