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

[renegade510]

This thread should be a sticky!

[Insalubrious]

This thread should be a sticky!

 

We could just bump it until the end of time

[steelhealr]

Thanks everyone. To the life aquatic..not sure what 4 chambers will give over three. Can you fit your hand back there? SH

[PirateFish52]

Steel,

 

Thanks for the advice on the bristleworm. I am not gonna try real hard to catch him, but if the opportunity presents itself, he will be caught.

 

I have a question about zoos.

 

I have a supercolored orange zoo and some of the polyps don't have any orange coloring. These ones are rusty brown, while ones directly right next to them are bright neon orange.

 

I have no idea what the deal is, as the entire frag is fully opened and happy. It's just that some of them aren't orange like the rest.

 

Water params are acceptable and positioning, water flow, and light is ok as well.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks.

 

PirateFish.

[steelhealr]

Thoughts: many of the colors we see in our corals that are photosynthetic are supplied by the symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae. This organism sustains both itself and the coral by obtaining nutrition by photosynthesis and sharing. When a coral is stressed (eg, transport or water params), a coral can bleach, ie, it will DUMP some of it's zooxanthellae in a survival move. The coral can lose some color or change color when this happens. It may not have happened on your watch, but, at some point along the way. SH

[YeahitsK]

Hi all, just a heads up. I was down at Home Depot in the lighting section and I found this light:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EOEU0...lance&n=1064954

 

It's literally called "Sun Light desk lamp" and it has the exact same 27W 6500K PC light as the executive lamp Stealhealr is using. They also had the executive light right next to it so I got to compare them side by side. I was in there the past few weeks and they had neither, so I don't know if these are new products or what. The nice thing about this sun light is that Home Depot had it for 20 bucks where the executive

light was 40. I'm still a few weeks away from setting up my tank so I can't tell you how it will work, but I assure you it has the same bulb as the executive light (lights of america FML-27EX-D). The product is Lights of America model no. 1137. Hope this helps.

[truckee99]

Hey SH, Thanks for all the great information on how you successfully set up your nanocube. It was a huge help in setting up my 24G Aquapod,without your great advice I would have made tons of mistakes. I just have one question. I set up my tank about 8 weeks ago and all my parameters are great except my nitrates are stuck at 40. I have been doing water changes about twice a week and nothing seems to help. This is how I set up my tank.

 

·Removed everything from the rear chambers and added SeaGel, Purigen, and Chemipure

·24 lbs of Fiji LR

·20 lbs of live sand

·1 blue damsel (that I never should have put in there). I only feed it a tiny amount of mysis shrimp twice a week.

 

Any ideas of why my nitrates are stuck at 40?

[cyenna]

It took me 4 days but I finished reading this entire 47 page thread. Whew. This may be a "duh" question but somewhere along the way everyone started talking about "chambers". What chambers? Is there a pic somewhere? I am doing research for a 20g or maybe 10g (depending on which freshwater fish i am willing to give up) AGA and I have been playing with the idea of pulling out the filter material of my Aquaclear 20's, putting chaeto and a light on them. Any opinions?

 

Anyway, I'm totally stoked about starting a nano but since I'm just a college student, I want it to be most economical and to make as few mistakes as possible which means tons of research instead of studying for my midtems . This thread has definitely taught me more than I could ever find on my own by visiting different web sites. I definitely think it should be a sticky, my heart palpitates when I can't find the thread with a quick skim.

[Insalubrious]

It took me 4 days but I finished reading this entire 47 page thread. Whew. This may be a "duh" question but somewhere along the way everyone started talking about "chambers". What chambers? Is there a pic somewhere?

 

Check the thread again. See the three chambers in the back of the tank? The ones with the powerheads in them, the macroalgae, chemi-pure, etc. Those chambers

 

edit: because I'm a nice guy

 

They're conveniently built right into the nano cube itself. Pretty sweet!

Edited April 23, 2006 by Insalubrious

[steelhealr]

YeahitsK...that looks like the same bulb. Compact, 4 tubes, 27W, 6700K. That'll do it.

 

Truckee....keeping sponges, ceramics or bioballs in there? Are you running a refugium?

 

cyenna....the AC20 is better than nothing....if you can fit larger...the chaeto needs some room for growth. HOB's can be easily modified into small refugiums.

 

SH

[truckee99]

Hey SH,

 

I took out he sponges,ceramics and bioballs. I have not set up a refugium, but that is on my list of things that I need to do.

[steelhealr]

OK...meaning..just now or before setup? The external fuge light makes setting up a fuge easy. SH

[truckee99]

I took everything out before setup. I am going to try a fuge and see if that helps. Could a high temp have anything to do with the nitrates being so high? I wouldn't think so, but I am running out of ideas. My tank runs in the 84-86 degree range. I am trying to figure out how to add a second fan to my Aquapod 24G, but I have not been able to find any forums that have good step by step instructions on how to add the second fan. It seems like a ton of people have temp problems with their Aquapod.

[steelhealr]

Truckee, I don't think that the increased temp leads 'directly' to increased nitrates unless the high set point is leading to a loss of livestock or whatever is in your tank. Higher temps can increase a fish's metabolism requiring a higher food requirement.

 

Stability in temperature is always more important in my mind vs the actual set point. However, I DO think that 86 degrees is very high and should be rectified soon. Although I don't believe that for brief periods, that range is bad, but, sustained I wouldn't be happy with it. My tank is steady at 81.5-82.7 by Coralife dig temp probe. I am very happy in that range. In fact, I'd be unhappy with tank temps in the 70's. I prefer to accept ocean params of s.g. 1.026, temp to 83 degrees as my model parameters. SH

Edited April 25, 2006 by steelhealr

[rroselavy]

My tank is steady at 81.5-82.7 by Coralife dig temp probe. I am very happy in that range. In fact, I'd be unhappy with tank temps in the 70's. I prefer to accept ocean params of s.g. 1.026, temp to 83 degrees as my model parameters. SH

 

Why would 76<->79 not make you happy? Because your corals would develop slower? I am struggling to get my nano below 80, based on The New Marine Aquarium book suggestion that aquariums with lower temps (closer to 75 rather than 80 or above) are easier to manage (lower metabolic rate, slower growth, less detritus, less algae) than warmer ones. I haven't done any mods yet, but may start with replacing the stock pump with one that generates less heat.

 

I am only halfway through this thread, but I would like to thank you for an excellent resource.

Edited April 27, 2006 by rroselavy

[PirateFish52]

Steel,

 

Thanks for the advice about the corals. Is there any supplement or additive to get that algae back into the zoos?

 

Thanks.

 

PirateFish

Edited April 27, 2006 by PirateFish52

[steelhealr]

No problem.....just was a product of all that I was reading. It was an article by RShimek that made me formulate what I thought were good parameters. Average coral reef temps of 83 and ocean s.g. 1,026. Thanks for the comments.

 

 

Pirate....no...JUST SAY NO TO DOSING. Water changes, my good pirate, water changes. SH

[VannReefer87]

my god, SH this thread is amazing!...Check out my tank sometime and let me know what you think!

[CGill311]

Steel,

 

I just wanted to thank you for this great forum. It's been my guide over the past several months setting up my 24 g NC. Great work. I'm just starting to add corals to my tank, and I've been wondering which corals are safe to handle and which should you wear gloves for? I know you're supposed to handle them from the rock they're attached to. I'm just hesitant to stick my bare hands into the tank without knowing what's safe and what's potentially dangerous. Thanks for the help!

[gjones]

Hows it goin SH, sorry to hear about your bad luck latley. Just caught up again, its been a few months! My tank has prety much crashed, with giant bubble algea completly covering everything in the tank. I have a few LPS survive, and my fish cleanup crew was prety well nuked except for a few snails, and my starfish. I'm working on gettinbg a new tank set up and running bu july. Sumthin like a 40BR with a sump and MH, or T5.

 

Your tank is still lookin good SH, and thanks for keeping this great thread going.

[steelhealr]

CGill311.....I try to keep my hands out of the tank as much as possible. Not out of fear, but, out of risk for contamination and killing something in my tank from stuff on my arms. I really rinse well before shoving my arms in there. I also purchsed a really long pipette from Drs. F&S to help with this. I wear gloves all the time..not to protect me from the corals, but, from unknown stuff that may be in the tank, eg, bristleworms. Although I've never been stung, I HAVE had some mild itching on the arms...might be nematocysts.

 

gjones...HEY.....thanks for coming back. Long time no see. Don't feel bad. I've had my battles. I had a bad 'blight' last fall and my tank is recovering, slowly. I'm sure my new pix will be disappointing, but, considering, it could have been MUCH worse. Funny thing....my tanks has been running 0 nitrates now. Go figger. Great to see you back. SH

[gjones]

Its good to be back, my tank is 0 nitrate, and 0 PO4, I think something posioned the tank, and fertilized the bubble algea all at once. I'll try to post a pic of the carnage on my thread sometime soon, I'm still fighting to keep whats still alive, alive. I don't think i can make a dent in the bubble algea anymore though. A few days away, and my tank gets over-run, oh well, sh** happens in this hobby.

[steelhealr]

I think there are more 'near crashes' than people post. No one likes losses. Many of my buddies here have had some sort of decline at one point. Sh** DOES happen in nano reefing....I think the key is how well you carry your tank thru it. I don't think you're a REAL nano reefer until you've lost about $500 dollars worth of livestock (just kidding). SH

[NYReef]

$500 loss of corals and/or fish? Piece of cake! If they don't die or get killed they jump out of the tank. Another thing I never thought about in a nano or smaller tank is that a lot of corals will outgrow the tank rather quickly. Luckily one of the stores I deal with will take the corals and give pretty generous store credit. These things will crash a tank in no time. As for the arms in water, I also notice that if I get any tank water on my arms while doing some tank maintenance, I get some mild irritation and itching until I rinse with warm water. Interesting to read you think its nematocysts SH, I had to use some cortisone cream the last time because I got some raised red patches with the itch.

Edited May 2, 2006 by NYReef

[steelhealr]

Most likely is...stinging cells from the corals and other beasties in there. Yeah..lost my yashia haze. He was behind my surface skimmer. Fortunately my Randall's made a tunnel right in the front of the tank and I've been hand feeding him. SH