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Innovative Marine Aquariums

Introduction and 20h plans


Webbedfeet

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Hello, new member, I have been lurking for a while and decided to join up since I will be putting things together soon. I am looking at making a nano reef out of an old 20 gallon high tank that was in my Dads attic. I currently have a 46gallon bowfront planted freshwater tank, which was previously my Turtles tank but she passed away after 30 years. The plan with the 20 gallon is a simple mixed soft/LPS tank. I plan to use a aquaclear 50 hob, 100w heater, 1 or two powerheads(what flow rate would be best?) and Nicrew Hyperreef 50w light. I am going to use Caribsea live sand(20lbs) and 10lbs of their life rock and a few lbs of live rock from the lfs to start. Any hints/pointers would be welcome, I am thinking 3-4 fish and a cleanup crew of course.

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:welcome: to Nano-Reef.com.

 

3 hours ago, Webbedfeet said:

what flow rate would be best?

I'd say 20 to 35 times turnover is plenty.  So for a 20 gallon tank, that's between 400 to 700 GPH of total flow (that's filtration plus powerhead).

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      So the plan. I have the tank and have checked it to make sure it doesn't leak. I painted the back and made a riser for it to sit on on the side table next to our couch, the 46gal planted tank is at the other end :) I ordered 20 lbs of Caribseas Arag Alive Bahamas oolite sand as well as a bag of instant ocean salt, a 50 watt heater for my mixing bucket, hob and some sealant for a couple corners of the tank. 

       Tomorrow aside from pick up the aforementioned stuff I am going to clean the tank and apply sealant to some of the suspect corners. My Dad still has a 6 stage rodi filter so I am going to fill 3 6 gallon jugs with water from his barrel to fill the tank and do a fishless cycle with ammonia while I wait for the light and power heads to arrive.

     Here is a photo of the dirty tank on its riser for now.

 

20220913_082233.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

The rest of the hardware should be here tomorrow: light, wave pumps and mesh filter media bags. I am thinking for my initial startup since I am going to use Fritz turbo start and ammonia and then do a 90% water change I will use tap water, my local tap water is actually quite good, and prime to get things cycling.

 

Should I put any filter media in the filter for the initial cycle or just the sponge and or floss, I have both? After the tank is cycled and I do a 90% water change what media should I put in the filter to start with?

 

I would assume i should either use RO water from my Dad's filter or distilled for the first and subsequent water changes? Dumb question I know. I would also assume after the 90% water change I can also add a Clown and turn the lights on to a less then full blast setting to start getting things settled in?

 

Thanks in advance, I guess I need to get off my duff and get the tank cleaned out and corners sealed.

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Does your dad have a TDS meter?  What's the TDS coming from his RO unit?  If your tap water is really that good, RO might be good enough.

 

A lot of people don't use any media when establishing the nitrogen cycle.  Partly to save money, and partly because you want the bacteria to get established on your rocks, not your filter media.

 

Most people use filter floss instead of the sponge, as it's more disposable.  You have to keep sponges clean.

 

If you wait for your tank to process the ammonia (don't dose it past 3ppm), you should be able to add the clownfish after the water change.

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Don't know on the TDS, we used to take a sample to the LFS every couple months when he was using it on his reef but not since. He got the 6 stage RO filter when we moved to the neighboring town and they have horrible well water. I will get the tank cleaned and sealed tonight hopefully. I might go to my Dads and fill jugs to bring home and fill the tank tomorrow after work and get it going. I will have to take a sample to the LFS to test before adding coral ect. but I figure it will probably be fine with just fish as the tank is acclimating for the first month or two. I can always pick up distilled too.

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Got the tank put together last night and filled. I used tap water and prime and added the salt last night. It is still cloudy this morning but getting better considering I failed to not stir up the sand. I also tested the gravity this morning and it was reading at the very top of the scale, 1.032. So I traded out 4 gallons of water and let it mix for about half an hour and tested again. Same thing, me thinks my cheap hydrometer is wrong. To test this theory I dropped my sanitized homebrew hydrometer in and it read roughly 1.012 and when I filled the aquarium hydrometer with fresh water it went right up to 1.032 again. So until I can order a refractometer the brewing hydrometer is pulling double duty. Aside from that I poured in the bottle of Fritz Zyme 9 and dosed the tank with 80 drops of the Fritz ammonia. I will test the water this evening after work for ammonia ect. and add more salt to bring the gravity back up.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tank is still cycling: SG is 1.028, Ph is 8.0, Ammonia is 0.25ppm,  Nitrates at 2ppm and Nitrites were 20ppm yesterday afternoon. Also yesterday I decided to add 20 lbs of Nature's Ocean aragonite sand and a couple more rocks from the LFS. I will try and post a photo tomorrow when the lighting is better, I need to finish modifying the light mount. 

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Hello and welcome! Looks like you’re off to a good start; I like the tank and riser and the blue background! How did you make the riser? 
 

That’s amazing that your turtle lived 30 years! 🐢 

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Nice, another 20h nano reef! I see that you went for a bit of a deeper sand bed like I did too. Really helps with light penetration at this depth, especially when you can't afford expensive lighting.

 

Are your rocks resting on the sand, the glass, or something else like egg crate or acrylic? I have my rock reaching to the bottom for better stability, but in retrospect I probably should have added egg crate between my rocks and glass just in case.

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No, just firmly pressed into the sand bed. I decided on the deeper sand bed because I could already see I hated the fine sand blowing everywhere. It also helps if I want to get a pistol shrimp and watchman goby and I do. I think the first critter will be a good old clown and an anemone. I should probably start a reef journal at this point. 

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1 hour ago, Webbedfeet said:

No, just firmly pressed into the sand bed. I decided on the deeper sand bed because I could already see I hated the fine sand blowing everywhere. It also helps if I want to get a pistol shrimp and watchman goby and I do. I think the first critter will be a good old clown and an anemone. I should probably start a reef journal at this point. 

Just be careful with anything that digs in the sand. A misplaced burrow under a rock could destabilize your entire rockwork if there's not some structure supporting it underneath. If they dig directly underneath a rock, it works out nicely. But if they dig out under one end, especially one that's also supporting another rock, the whole thing might come down.

 

As for the anemone, I don't know what your plans are exactly but you might want to hold off on that one a little. It's usually best to wait until the tank matures and stabilizes a bit. Not saying it can't be done, but keeping the anemone happy and healthy is a lot easier once the tank has some age to it. I'll let others with more experience keeping them chime in, but I've heard a lot of people/places say 6 months to a year.

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Yes you always need to make sure the rock is resting on the bottom of the tank, or on egg crate, not just sitting on the sand. You don’t want to risk your rocks toppling over in the future if something digs under them or if you are siphoning the sand. 

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For anemones, you typically do want to wait a bit to add… you might consider looking for a clownfish that hosts in a coral and buy the clown and coral together… that’s what I’ll be doing for my next tank if I can find one at my LFS… that way you don’t have to worry about a nem that moves around the tank stinging corals. 

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Update. The tank was still cycling on Monday, Ammonia was down to 0 but still had 2ppm of Nitrates and Nitrites of course had gone up a bit as well. Should I wait till the Nitrates go away before dosing again with the ammonia? PH was at 7.8 and SG was 1.026. The drain fill kit finally showed up yesterday for my long Python so when it is time I can suction out the water. I still need to finish modifying the light mount but i haven't been too worried since the tank is still cycling.

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58 minutes ago, Webbedfeet said:

Update. The tank was still cycling on Monday, Ammonia was down to 0 but still had 2ppm of Nitrates and Nitrites of course had gone up a bit as well. Should I wait till the Nitrates go away before dosing again with the ammonia? PH was at 7.8 and SG was 1.026. The drain fill kit finally showed up yesterday for my long Python so when it is time I can suction out the water. I still need to finish modifying the light mount but i haven't been too worried since the tank is still cycling.

I haven’t used Fritzzyme 9 or their Fishless Fuel before. You can check out the directions and FAQs for each product on the Fritz website:

 

https://fritzaquatics.com/products/fishless-fuel

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Nitrate won't come down, so I think that you meant nitrite.  Ideally, (if testing for it) you would wait for nitrite to come down before dosing more ammonia; but it isn't absolutely necessary.

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You are correct. Tested again today sg 1.027(2 gallons of evaporation) ammonia was 0 as well as nitrites and nitrates were up to 20. I added more ammonia and will test again Wednesday, first water change is looking like Sunday and pick up a couple of clowns on Monday from the LFS.

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Tested the water last night and there is still traces of the added ammonia and 2ppm nitrites, I didn't bother testing Nitrates. My hope is to do a water change Saturday night give it a couple days to stabilize and pick up a couple of Clown fish next Monday, we shall see.

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