24G Nano Cube DX Startup, Setup, Manual for newbies, in the works

[steelhealr]

Some updated coral photos for others curious about what can survive under stock NC lighting:

 

Ricordea florida, has split into three polyps

 

 

Euphyllia ancora, hammer coral

 

 

Acanthastrea echinata

 

 

Cladiella sp (?spaghetti finger leather), needs fragging

 

 

tubipora musica, Organ Pipe

 

 

Pterogorgia sp., Purple Gorgonian, Purple Sea Whip

 

 

Zoanthids, button polyps, blue ricordea

 

 

Just a few pix. It CAN be done. If expense and time are issues with regards to having an SPS tank, you can still have a colorful and aesthetic marine aquarium if you work at it. SH

[gjones]

(disclaimer. all shots were taken in my POS basement/cat toilet, or workshop portion of basement and do not reflect the clenliness, or sanitaryness of the rest of my house, or the people in it. Yes that is lead paint, yes the pipes coming into the house are lead, and yes the pipes after those are copper, thus the RO/DI)

 

My water params out of the ro is PH-8.8+ SG-1.000 PO4-0 Nitrate-0 Copper-0 TDS-?? i don't have a tds meter.

 

 

 

 

 

My house psi (150 sumthin psi)

 

My fuge being siliconed into my tank.

 

Temporary LR curing tank, until 29gal silicone is cured.

[Markus]

hu, just read the whole thread. (4 days!!) Thanks for your work, Steelhealr!

I wish you the best for your tank, it looks wonderful. Keep on!

 

 

I will start a mini tank (~14 us-gal.) soon on my own..we'll see, im new to SW but well experienced in FW (discus and more).

[steelhealr]

Gjones..strange...your connections look fine. You know what? Have you made a bucket of RO...checked params before...then aerated...then recheck? without salt mix added? Try it next time you make SW. Maybe be can figure it out. The only other thought is that the resin in the DI chamber looks half full...wonder if some of the RO water is sneaking by by not passing thru the resin???

 

To Markus...WTG and thanks. This thread is here to help people start a marine aquarium in their home with input from others who pop in. Good luck and post back when you are up and running. SH

[gjones]

The resin chamber is full, just alot of it is already exhautted(I made less 20 gallons, I must have really bad water) I left some ro water out overnight to oxygenate, and it's still 8.8+, but i hooked up the unit this morning, let it run for a while, flushed the membrane, tested the ph, and the ph is lower! It's down to just above 7.0! maybe my di resin needed a longer break in time, i'll mix some salt water, and change out some of the water in my curing tank.

[steelhealr]

..also..if it's new, you need to flush it for awhile. Good news anyway gjones.

 

Interesting stuff:

1) My Hawaiian feather duster dumped it's crown. I've read about this before and implies stress or inadequate food. Some people have written that you really have to dump a ton of plankton in there to keep them alive. It's tough now as the sun corals have pushed my nitrates up to the 10-15 range.

 

 

2) Finally nabbed him...yashia lives. Go yashia:

 

 

 

So, maintaining certain animals is not often easy in this little system. Pick wisely. SH

[limulus]

Hey SH,

Nice Gobie! Also, I like the individual shots of all your coral on the previous page. Do you have a recent FTS? Also, my little clown got trapped in my cassette skimmer a couple of days ago.

[steelhealr]

Hey Lim...glad you 'stopped by'. Be careful....the cassette skimmer can trap fish. I need to do an updated FTS. SH

[limulus]

SH,

I have another question for you. Does your pistol shrimp ever move your corals around? Mine is constantly moving rocks twice his size. He's like an ant! He uses them to hold back the sand that clogs his holes. He uses his claws as shovels and can move a lot of sand. The only problem with moving my rocks is they have Rics and shrooms on them and he always turns them over. I have a tiger pistol shrimp and I think he is probably full grown. He looks like a small Lobster. He used to attack my turkey baster which was kinda fun but he is now used to it. What's even funnier is the way the Gobie sits like a litte Bulldog keeping watch as the shrimp bulldozes.

[steelhealr]

So far...I have no big rocks to move, but, he moved shells, some macro (a small piece of halimeda) and small 'sand boulders'. I swear it looks exactly like a snowthrower when he is moving sand. SH

[levon15]

SH your thread has been so imformative, I was looking at any size of JBJ Nano until i read your post. Then I decided on the 24 just like you. Then I got punched in the gut along with you when your crack appeared. I have since started looking for a nice acylic tank. I would like for it to be as close to the JBJ as it could be (I love the clean look of the Cube). I am looking into a tank with a Ecosystem 40 filter. Has anyone heard anything about these, their site says that a protein skimmer is not needed. I also have a couple of questions

 

Should a tank be a certain distance from electronic devices because of salt creep?, my LFS told me this.

 

Can you use the Ecosystem 40 as a refugerium without their magical mud ?

 

Is there a great website or thread that explains lighting and the differnt kinds available for tanks?

 

Is there one place other than this forum with a "guide" from start to finish that explains cycling, LR, LS, adding corals, all of the parameters to watch ex. PH, salt, nitrates.... , I mean everything for a tank. I am sure there are books, but I'm more or less looking for a detailed checklist, like I used when flying planes, A sort of preflight for the fish.

 

Thanks all who have contributed to this thread, I would still have no idea where to start without the information provided here.

 

Thanks

Levi

[steelhealr]

Hi Levon.....welcome aboard. First the easy questions. Any aquarium must be 'protected' to protect YOU when water comes near electricity. Think of any catastrophic aquarium failure and then judge where you want to place the aquarium. I certainly would give it a little bit of distance from your stereo equipment eg. What I consider absolute aquarium MUSTS:

 

1) water test the tank for leaks

2) Install a GFI outlet near the tank....shuts electrical down if water comes near it

3) Keep the surge protector off the floor

4) use drip loops

 

As for saltkreep, it can be sneaky. I didn't know that everytime I lifted my hood up, some water was going down the back of the stand. I had a 'salt trail' back there.

 

As for lighting, this is always one of the most difficult areas in marine systems because there is just so much darn stuff out there. Just have to keep on reading to get a feel for it. Read the two books I linked to on the first page to get a feel, Paletta and Kurtz...and read this forum's lighting articles. It's a tough area. One outline to figure it out:

1) Decide on what you want to keep in your tank...FOWLR, low light corals, SPS, etc and what lighting they require

2) Decide on what tank size you are going with

3) Estimate the lighting requirements and then what light type you want....PC's, metal halide, T5's, combined

4) research the fixture that will fit your tank.

 

As for 'one place' on this forum, well, that was the impetus for this thread. You know who else has a fantastic one? Lgreen http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...recommendations

This whole forum 'has the answer' if you search things out. Start with Paletta's and Kurtz's book..these two threads...should cover a lot of ground.

 

Finally, I had to look up your Ecosystem 40. It looks like it could function as a hang on refugium if you put a light over it. You wouldn't have to use miracle mud, IMO, why not some LR ? Otherwise, I don't have much experience with that type of filter..but...looks like a reasonable refugium. SH

[gjones]

hey SH, started my own thread today, and i got my LR and other stuff today, handpicked all of it. Premnium Aquatics rules!

[gjones]

hey SH, started my own thread today, and i got my LR and other stuff today, handpicked all of it. Premnium Aquatics rules!

[steelhealr]

OK...gonna check it out and add it to my thread list. (Meet the Parents: I'm ....watching......you.....LOLOL. You're now IN the circle). SH

[steelhealr]

OK...gonna check it out and add it to my thread list. (Meet the Parents: I'm ....watching......you.....LOLOL. You're now IN the circle). SH

[jabesnyder]

Hi guys.. read entire thread in the past couple of days.. GREAT thread!! I'm a newbie with 24G DX (or whatever the latest model is). I wish I had stumbled on this thread before!

 

Anyways, though I've never had any sort of fish tank before, I've been reading a lot. I plan to have a nice reef with fish like you guys

 

I don't think I've screwed up -yet- but am hoping to get some advice from you guys.

 

Here's my set up:

 

RO/DI

24G Nano Cube w/ nanocustoms modded hood 108W lighting / ICA chiller / Icecap 5W LED

12G Sump w/ ETSS Protein Skimmer (not running - plan to only run as necessary in future)

Additional thermoelectric chiller/heater in sump to keep temp at 75 F

Auto top-off

 

I've been running only SW in tank for 3 months - I travel a lot and did not want to add anything until I could monitor the tank daily for 3 weeks straight, plus I wanted to make sure that all the equipment was running smoothly.

 

Added LR/LS 6 days ago - got "The Package" from tbsaltwater.com (which had gotten good reviews as far as I read).

 

There is quite a bit of life on the rocks - I can't recognize it all but I have identified 2 feather dusters, 2 cerith snails, a small anemone-looking creature (haven't removed it) and lots of plant life including fuzzy fingers and halimeda. There is lots of color on the rocks and new growth keeps appearing.

 

tbsaltwater shipped a brown packet of "seed bacteria" that they told me to put in with the LR/LS. I did.

 

Here's my cycling problem: I've been testing Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrate at least twice DAILY and have not seen any spikes at all in any of them. My water parameters are: Temp 74 - 76 F, SG 1.024, PH 8.2, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0. Should I add cleaning crew or a fish or should I wait until I see spikes or algae growth on the walls or substrate?

[steelhealr]

Hi jabesnyder and welcome aboard. As I understand it, TBS ships their LR 'fresh' out of the water and supposedly has a low die off. I'd wait another day of so and if you don't have any spike, I would think you are cycled. And..for heaven's sake...stop testing twice a day....LOLOL....save your money for livestock instead of testing supplies.

 

S.G. is OK...I started at 1.024 and keep mine at 1.026.

 

I'd bring temp up, JMO, 78-79 degrees

 

If your params are still zero, and you got stuff to 'munch on' in there, I'd go ahead and start to add your cleanup crew. SH

[jabesnyder]

SH, thanks very much. That is what I will do! I read somewhere that keeping temps low helps to prevent algae blooms (actually oregonreef.com which I very much admire) but I do think it is a good idea to raise the temps for the initial cycling. You have obviously caught on that I am itching to do things to my tank.. it takes all the discipline I've got not to test it 3 times / day!!!

 

Keep up the great work and I'll post pics when I get somewhere.

[steelhealr]

WTG....remember the line...beauty happens slowly, disaster happens quickly. TAKE YOUR TIME and resist the urge to make the classic newb mistakes of tossing stuff in there too early. I didn't add my first coral for over a month...tank needs to mature but MORE IMPORTANTLY..it's sorta like getting a new car or taking up a new sport..you gotta get a feel for the tank/maintenance/ etc. Better to screw up and lose five snails than $100 worth of coral. Unlike a FW tank (IMO), crashing this baby is a painful frustrating event.

 

As for the temp, there is a lot of conflicting data out there. If you read RShimek, he feels low 80's is better (actual reef temps average low 80s, 79)and that lower temps stress fish and inverts. Others feel the lower temp is better. Oceanic s.g. is about 1.026....others feel lower s.g helps reduce risk of disease. It's an art. Pick a setpoint and see how your fish and corals do. If it works for you, stick with it. SH

[Weezer]

Thanks for creating an informative thread, it helped me out alot.

[steelhealr]

No problem Weezer. SH

[NeonDottyback]

Awesome info!!!

I just upgraded my 7g cube to a 12g Nano JBJ

My False Perc loves it so far.

Will post some pics soon. Your thread is very informative.

[steelhealr]

WTG Neon....come back and definitely post some pix here when you are up and running.

 

 

..I was finally able to capture what happens between these two animals and it's interesting . As mentioned above, the pistol shrimp maintains the cave but has poor eyesight. The shrimp retrieves food and shares it with the Yashia Haze goby. The goby in turn protects the pistol and keeps guard. I was able to finally catch a few pix (not the greatest):

 

In the first pic, the goby emerges and in front of the pectoral fin you can see a claw emerging:

 

 

Second pic the pistol emerges but remains in contact with the goby:

 

 

Pistol continues to work on the cave carrying debris out:

 

 

When the pistol returns, the goby turns crosswise against the cave to block it off and protect the pistol:

 

 

Cool stuff. SH

[levon15]

That is truly amazing. If I ever get my act together and find out all the info, and collect enough funds, I will be happy if all i get are these two creatures to watch and enjoy.

 

Are they the best combo fish/shrimp to watch or are there even more interesting combinations of animals working in teams to keep in a salt tank.

 

Thanks for sharing SH

 

Levi