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December 1st started a new tank, I’m going to catch-up the journal a little at a time! To start my Rock and sand where in tank prior to the scape cycling for a month or maybe little longer. After the scape I’ll be adding copepods, a fish or two each week and corals pretty quickly. It’s going to be almost an insta tank. P.S. if your new to the hobby then don’t try this at home. Tank: Fiji Cube 20 Gallon Peninsula AIO Nano Filtration: Fiji Cube Media Basket heater: cobalt aquatics neo-therm 100w heater (best heater brand and type for a nano) Water Flow: upgraded to sicce return pump hygger Mini wavemaker set to 40% with a few different wave patterns through the day and night Sand: CaribSea Fiji Pink live Sand Rock: Real Reef Soulutions - Mini Reef Box Reef-Ready Rock Mix (The best rock I have ever used!) Aquascape: Prior Journal:
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Long time lurker, I've finally decided to post a tank journal... I’ve been doing freshwater for 30 years or so (as long as I can remember), and started a 20 gallon nano about a year and a half ago. I'm going to try to hit the highlights and keep this short and simple because I do have a tendency to ramble. I used a Waterbox Clear Mini 6 to build a custom AIO using 1/8" acrylic. I originally planned to have this tank at work but they decided it wasn't allowed so It's going on my bedside table. I started cycling with dry rock, sand, and ceramic discs in a 5 gallon bucket maybe 2 months ago. I occasionally dosed microbacter 7 and added some fish/coral food here and there. Display: Waterbox Clear Mini 6 with custom diy AIO Rock: US Live Rock 5# (Plus some dry rock I had laying around for support) Sand: CaribSea OceanDirect (left over from last build and no longer ocean direct) Salt: Reef Crystals Lighting: Noopsyche K7 Mini Return Pump: 165 gph cheap amazon pump with 1/4" VCA random flow generator Heating: 50w amazon heater with led display. Wavemaker: None, but I may add a hygger mini if when I need more flow Filtration: Small bag of ceramic discs, filter floss, carbon/gfo as needed. Mostly relying on planned 50% water changes. Top Off: Amazon Knock off Aquarium Lid: Some glass left over from another tank that's not in use right now. I might rig up something that fits a little nicer in the future. Doser: Manual (in the future if needed) Dosing: All for reef (I use AFR on my 20 gallon. Its not really needed on the pico yet, but when the time comes that's what I'll use) Current clean up crew: 2 tiny hermit crabs, 1 nassarius snail, 1 trochus snail, 1 cerith snail, 1 hitch hikin feather duster For livestock I’m planning on having a clown goby (probably green clown goby). Maybe a pom pom crab or cleaner shrimp at some point. Corals are mostly soft corals at least to start. Probably ricordea, zoas, duncans. I would love to get a few rock flower anemones too! Next time I accidentally break frag the montipora digitata in my 20 gallon I’ll include some of that just to see how it does. Maybe some cyphastrea or other encrusting coral as well…
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Current FTS (4-29-2020): I figured I'd start this journal a little early so I can get some feedback on what I'm planning to do ahead of time and after that use it to track my tank/get help. I used to be on this site all of the time when I was about 13 years old in 2011 and had possibly the most annoying account in the history of nano-reef.com “@Basketball Prodigy“ (honestly don't look it up it was an embarrassing time of my life). When I moved to college I basically got out of the hobby except for helping out with my old tank back home over holidays for my parents. But now my girlfriend and I are getting our own place in May after sharing my room in a party house for the past year, so I figured now is a good time to get back into it since everything is calming down. Monthly full tank shots, equipment, and livestock listed below: Equipment: -IM Nuvo 10 gallon -AI Prime HD (with mount) -Sicce Silent 1.0 Return -Eheim Jager 50 Watt heater Maintenance: Hella water changes Every other day scrape glass Fish: Black Ice Clownfish Corals: Zoanthids- Goblins on Fire Circus CB Latin Lovers Rasberry Limes Utter Chaos Gonzos Lost Boys CC Pink Constellations Armor of Gods PlayBoy Bunnies Rastas Scrambled Eggs Sunny Ds Soft Corals- Neon Green Toadstool Leather Orange Ricordea Yuma LPS- Acan Lord Green Branching Hammer Meteor Shower Cyphastrea SPS- Blue Pocillopora ORA Pearlberry Pink Monti Cap Inverts: 6 blue-legged hermits Tank set up and cycling (03-22-2019) Monthly FTS (04-22-2019) FTS after move: FTS (5-19-2019): FTS (7-19-2019): FTS (8-23-2019): FTS (9/24/2019):
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AIO Copepod Population Startup Journal of BK's 32g Biocube
Crusher895 posted a topic in Nano Reef Journals
Hey guys so I am currently very invested in buying and keeping a dragonet or something like it. So dragonets, they like copepods to feed on 24/7 right? Then that means we need a decent copepod population, enough for it to be feeding on all day. Of course the whole goal of dragonets for some people is to get them to feed on prepared foods. While that is a goal of mine I will be postponing it for a while. The real goal for right now is to establish a good "podpulation", haha, but the problem is that I have a biocube 32 which is not running a sump. So I have done a little research on it and haven't found much on keeping a successful pod population in an AIO (That doesn't mean there isn't any I just couldn't find any of them). I am making this a journal of my experience/journey of trying to keep a successful copepod population without having to do anything or buy anything frequently. I am hoping this helps anyone else who wants to keep a dragonet but have an AIO. So here are the tank specs currently: Aquarium: 32 gallon Biocube Light: RedSea50 LED Flow: Sicce 1.5 return pump (switched out for original return pump), and the aqamai kps Filtration: Intank media basket (takes up half of the 2nd chamber), using filter floss, chemi pure blue, and chemi pure elite (1 bag each) Heater: Cobalt aquatics neotherm Established July 2020 Yes I know it isn't the best pic of my tank, I don't have a camera so I am using my phone with a filter square, but it is the most recent I took showing all of the live stock right now (some corals can't be shown but that doesn't matter). So as you can see I have a goby pistol shrimp duo, clownfish pair, snails, hermits, and corals. So since I am planning on getting a dragonet, that means I need pods. Obviously there is the option of just buying pods every week or something like that, but that isn't fun plus your kind of wasting money IMO when you could either establish/culture your own population. (Yes I realize not everyone has the time to do that but for those of you who do I suggest you try keeping them on your own instead of buying them). Also I am successfully keeping amphipods in my tank right now so I think I can keep other types of pods. I am thinking of getting Tigger pods and apex pods but not sure so if you guys have any suggestions for who to buy from please do. So there are 2 ways I want to try keeping a population of pods in my tank. Option 1: The "pod hotel", the pod hotel is basically a small box with 6 different floors and each floor having room for detritus and other things that pods love to attract them to it and give them a safe haven for feeding and multiplying. So my plan with this would be to keep it in one of my chambers and input the pods I buy right into the chamber I put the pod hotel in and hope they multiply and survive and also possibly feed into the main display without me having to do anything. If they don't go into the main display then I would take it out every certain # of days (3-7) then dip and shake it into the main display or just simply set it down somewhere and leave it overnight and let them leave it and go into the rock or wherever while everyone else is sleeping. I am not sure which chamber I would put it in though, I could either put it in the first chamber at the bottom which has nothing in it except for a heater, in the second chamber to the left of my media so they would get clean water I guess, or the third chamber where the return pump is. Where do you guys think it should go? Also is it true that the pods will die if they go through the return pump? Anyway onto option 2. Option 2: An HOB refugium, an HOB refugium is basically self explanatory. Not sure what side I would put in on but I can't do the back because it would 1 not fit, and 2 flow right into the return pump so if any pods flowed out and they do die from the return pump then I would be sentencing them to death. So I would obviously just put in some macro algae or something and input the pods right into the refugium most likely, and so on so forth. If neither of these work then I will simply culture my own copepods as well as phytoplankton maybe. So now you know my goal/objective, my tank specs, live stock and soon to be live stock. Do you guys have any other ideas that might work to keep a thriving copepod population for dragonets in an AIO? Do you have any experience keeping a thriving copepod population already in an AIO? Please leave any ideas/suggestions and please answer some of my questions if you are able to, thanks! -
Tank Specs 32Gal Bio-Cube 150Watt heater Steves LED light upgrade (110 Watt LED) hurricane x controller 2x jebao wave maker 1x hydor koralia nano powerhead 1x stock return pump 20 lb dry rock 10lb cured live rock 10lb Fiji pink sand Filtration In-tank media basket w/ filter floss, marine pure bio balls, purigen in-tank refugium w/ chateo Corals Torch frogspawn Split purple/green hammer purple hammer Zoas (purple hornet, Rasta, belladonna, fire and ice, others unknown) ricordian orange pulsing Xenia gsp Acans montipora plating montipore digitata Everglades Favia Devils fingers leather duncan purple palythoa Inhabitants 5x hermit 2x cerith snail 2x “mocha domino” clown (what it was sold to me as. I’m told it’s a cross between, well, a mocha clown and a domino clown) named Newt and Theseus 🤷🏻♂️ yellow clown goby named Tina Six line wrasse named Queenie ——————————————————————————— Where to start? 🤔 I’m excited! Picked up a 32 gal biocube locally from a guy for what I consider a good deal (if not a steal). I got the tank, stand, media and refugium baskets for the back, wave maker, heater, attached grow light in back for macro and best of all, upgraded light system. It’s upgraded with the Steve’s LED turbo system with the hurricane x controller and iridescent booster. He also sent me home with about 10lbs of rock to seed the new tank with. this isn’t technically my first reef tank, I ventured in about a year ago with a 13 evo. It went great for about 6 months until I had a crash. Soon after I ended up moving across the country. The. Covid happened and just, I stepped back for a while. However this is really only my second go at it, but I’m really excited about it! I’ll take any advise offered and any input, I’m still learning so much. I’m most excited about the upgraded tank size and lights. It seems as though the sky is the limit as far as the light are concerned. I have a specific love for torches and rics. But I want to try maybe a monti, some sps in time, in addition to many softies and lps. I also intend to do another nem. I had a turquoise bubble tip in my 13 before it crashed and I enjoyed it very much. I have spent the day moving the tank around the apartment trying to decide on a location. Atm it’s in its forever location, I believe. It’s right next to my desk for optimum viewing, but also there is a fantastic side view from the couch right next to it. Hoping to create a diverse enough scape that I can enjoy it from either angle. I’ve got the tank and some supplies, waiting for an order to come in with 25 lb of dry rock (in addition to the 10 or so lb I already have). Sand, epoxy, salt. I’ve already got a second wave maker from my evo, test kits and prime. I’ve also ordered an RO/di unit that is supposed to come in the same day as everything else. Fingers crossed. My goal is to do this as right as possible this time around. at the moment trying to decide what to run filtration wise. I feel like this is such a widely debated topic with everyone having such diverse opinions. Filter floss is a given. I’ve got a chamber and grow light for macro so I feel that’s also a given. Anything beyond that is undecided. I know purigen is a popular choice. As for right now I’m also undecided on inhabitants. The only thing I know for certain is a canary wrasse (one of my all time fave) and likely a pair of clowns (how original an idea is that? 😅). Beyond that I’m unsure. I know many will recommend a Goby/pistol shrimp combo, but I’ve done that before and would like something different. I’m not rushing it. I’ll find something I like. anyways. Here’s a more organized rundown. Feel free to chime in with whatever... comments, suggestions, etc.
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Hi everyone, I decided to start an aquarium journal to log my progress. I've never had an aquarium before, and I'm about as beginner as they come. Feel free to make suggestions. So far I've learned there's about a hundred ways to accomplish the same thing and twice as many opinions about it. Thanks for reading Start date: October 1, 2017 Tank: Coralife LED Biocube 32 Heater: Aqueon Pro Heater 150W Circulation: Hydor Koralia Nano 565 Back Chamber Filtration: Boyd ChemiPure Elite 11.74oz, Seachem Purigen 250ml, Acurel Filter Fiber Rock/Sand: Caribsea Liferock 12 lbs, 8lbs live rock, 6 lbs base rock, mix of Nature's Ocean No.0 Bio-Activ Live and Caribsea Arag-alive Fiji-pink live sand (20lbs) Salt: Instant Ocean Just got my first ammonia reading yesterday at 0.25 ppm and today 0.5 ppm, nitrite and nitrate still zero. pH 7.9 and Sp.G 1.024 Will likely adjust rockscape at end of cycle for slightly more room near the glass. Wish list: Blue banded coral shrimp Longnose Hawkfish Blue chromis Midas blenny Clownfish pair Red mandarin Valentini puffer Hammer coral Frogspawn Mushrooms Brain corals Will keep updating! Ashley
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This will be my first attempt at a complete aquarium journal. I've been deeply inspired by other journals here at Nano-Reef (my favorite reefing forum) and my hope is that this will somehow inspire others in the future as well. It's been four years since I retired my first reef tank, a 40 gallon custom rimless tank with 20 gallon sump. I had that aquarium built for me while living overseas in Taiwan and I'd say it was a pretty resounding success for a first tank. I used live rock for that build and while that made the tank cycling and stability a breeze, it eventually led to tearing the whole thing down once the hitchhiker Bryopsis took over the display tank. I resolved never to use live rock again. Fast forward to now, four years later. I watched Chasing Coral with my wife during quarantine and it rekindled my passion right away. I'm pretty sure my wife reluctantly realized what was happening as I started watching more and more reef-related videos on Youtube in the ensuing weeks. She knows I have had a lot of hobbies over the years and tend to get obsessive with one and then move on to another, the cycle repeating itself endlessly. I knew I'd have to shoot for a smaller nano setup for affordability as corals are much more expensive here than Taiwan... I was shocked to find that the 7 headed Indonesian Tri-color Gold Torch I bought over there for around a hundred bucks is worth thousands here! After scouring local classifieds for a few weeks, I found a sweet deal on a used Red Sea Nano Max. Stimulus money in hand, I convinced my wife to join me for the three hour drive to go pick it up. Over a week or so, I began the cleaning process. I disassembled the AI Prime HD that came with it and cleaned the light thoroughly of all salt creep and residue. I ended up painting the black stand white with chalk paint, finishing it with a polycrylic topcoat. It goes much better with our home decor and made my wife happy. As for cleaning the tank, vinegar was used a plenty. At one point as I used a shop vac to remove old putrid water from the sump area, my condo was overcome with one of the worst odors I've ever encountered. It smelled like a sewage treatment plant. The vinegar wasn't doing the job so in desperation I dumped some bleach back there, only to realize in a panic that you aren't supposed to mix bleach and vinegar. Why? It creates a bioweapon known as chlorine gas. Fortunately I realized my mistake instantly, drained it all out and flushed it away. I opened all the windows in my condo and called the poison control center to make sure I hadn't endangered our lives. It was a scary moment at the time, slightly funny in hindsight. Now for the microcosm! It's a 20 gallon cube which really made aquascaping difficult. I ended up spending hundreds of dollars on Caribsea LifeRock to get something I wanted. In the end, I'm still not sure I'll stick with the current 'scape. As you likely know it's about balancing aesthetics of the structure with future coral space and mounting options. Tough balancing act but I'm fairly happy with where it's at now (after redoing it yesterday for the Nth time). Goal: LPS/Softie dominated tank that is fairly simple and low maintenance. I may add 2-3 easy SPS later on but LPS/softies are really my favorite corals. I don't want to mess with dosing or complicated setups... I aim to rely solely on water changes, skimming and maybe a DIY algae reactor down the line for fun. I've scoured journals on Nano-reef and other sites extensively to get a very clear picture of what I want to achieve in the end. This tank has a pretty small footprint so I need to be very intentional with stocking. I don't want a hodgepodge of impulse-bought corals. Instead this will be an intentionally-composed, organic work of art. I will update this journal and clarify my specific goals in this post as time allows. Here is a really beautiful tank I found online that inspired me in regard to the overall scape and style: As for stocking and just jaw-dropping beauty, I also found great inspiration in Lizzyann's IM 20 Peninsula Nano Reef which was the featured tank here in May. Stock List Under Consideration: LPS Purple & Green Frogspawn (Euphyllias are among my favorite corals) Torches Various Acans (one of my absolute favorites) Purple and Green Duncan Aussie Teal Duncan Orange Fungia Plate Metallic Red Goniopora Softies Papaya Clove Polyps Giant Bali Xenia Palau Green Nephthea Weeping Willow Toadstool Rasta Zoas Grube’s Gorgonian Purple Candelabra Gorgonian Purple Sinularia with Green Polyps Green Polyps Toadstool Pulsing Sinularia Green Star Polyps Candy Apple Zoas SPS Bird's Nest Green Stylophora Plating Montipora Inverts Randall's Shrimp (I'd love to pair one with a Yasha Goby) A few hermits Various snails Fish (These are my favorite fish, about 4 will be selected in the end. Names in bold are most likely candidates) Barnacle Blenny Yasha Goby Ocellaris Clownfish Firefish Yellow Watchman Goby Royal Gramma Six Line Wrasse Yellow Banded Possum Wrasse Griessinger’s spikefin goby Tailspot Blenny Swissguard Basslet Pygmy Wrasse Yellowface Pike Blenny Hector's Goby Court Jester Goby Green Banded Goby Pearly Jawfish
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So after a few years off from keeping a tank, the big bit again, and armed with the knowledge gained by making ALL the mistakes (open top, over feeding, under filtered, canisters, poor research, eels...) I set out to make a Pico reef that would tick all my boxes. So a 30cm cube was bought from a certain large river, as well as a tiny wave maker, a budget LED light and a minuscule preset heater. The five gallon format would allow for 100% water changes in a matter of minutes and for a couple of quid. The old tank was big (and annoyingly deep) enough to make maintenance a chore (especially with our growing family) so this was a major consideration. Endless topping off would be dealt with by the construction of a lid from acrylic. The original plan was to try and mimic Jake Adam’s Ecoreef Zero, bare bottomed, no filer, minimal bioload, however the plan changed slightly to accommodate a pistol/ goby pair, so sand happened. Not just any sand though- 1.5 kilos of Limpopo black sand, which gives a minimalist look. As this was now starting to go the reef route, rather than the original minimalist ethos, some nice branching rock was procured from my lfs along with my first flexible water carriers full of salty water. pic below is a couple of months in.
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So this is my first saltwater/reef tank; I've had several FW setups since 2011. Tank: IM Nuvo Fusion 20 gallon Pump: Siccra 1.5 Light: AI Prime HD Heater: EHEIM 50W Skimmer: Reef Glass Filter media: InTank media basket for 1st chamber with 2x chemi pure blue nano, filter floss (some carbon); also use phosguard as needed Substrate: Arag-alive bimini pink sand - about 4lbs Wavemaker: Jebao SW2 I set up my tank with live rock and sand on 7/6/17. Corals: Utter chaos paly frogspawn green star polyps ricordeas green toadstool leather Duncan mushrooms Livestock: 1 frostbite clown 1 mocha picasso clown 1 six-line wrasse hermit crabs nassarius snails FTS 5/2/20
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Hey guys, just wanted to give a start my aquarium journal with a little info on what im running and hope to keep this updated pretty frequently. i setup my tank yesterday after purchasing 10lbs. of live rock from my LFS. now just playing the waiting game of letting cycling run its course. hopefully ill be able to snap some pics of the tank tonight that dont look terrible. Tank- IM nuvo fusion pro 10 Stand- DIY from 2x4 cause im cheap Pump- stock(mightjet 326) Filter- media basket with filter floss & carbon Heater- eheim jager 50W Flow- koralia nano 425(upgrade to mp10 in future) Light- nanobox mini tide but dave has been having lots of setbacks so i also ordered an AI prime hd 16. for now just running an old starkLED strip until i decide what light i will actually be setting up. like i said i will try to snap some better pics tonight with the rockwork in!
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Hi everyone! Total beginner here who decided to start a reef tank. I've always been fascinated with marine life since an early age, and I did a bunch of research/planning before jumping in. That said, I'm sure I have a lot to learn, which is why I decided to document my progress here and hopefully get helpful tips along the way! Full disclosure: this tank was originally a display model at my local reef shop. I was originally planning to start from scratch, tank cycling and all, but the deal was just too good to pass up (I'm working on a tight budget). So I may have slightly cheated because this tank was already set up and running for a month or two before I got it. I did change up the aquascaping quite a bit though to make it my own. Tank: IM Nuvo Fusion 10 Gallon Heater: Aqueon Preset 200W Light: Kessil A80 Tuna Blue Filtering: Carbon/Weekly Water Changes Pump/Powerhead: MightyJet 326 GPH Return Pump ATO: DIY implementation (as seen here) Fish DaVinci Clownfish Inverts (still identifying/counting things as they crawl out of the rockwork) 1 Margarita Snail 1 Nassarius Snail 3 Bumble Bee Snails 4 Stomatella Snails Common Bristleworms Corals (Came along for the ride from the shop) Green Star Polyps Green Pavona "Scrambled Eggs" Zoanthids "Utter Chaos" Zoanthids "Scooby Dooby" Zoanthid "Radioactive Dragon Eye" Zoanthid "Rasta" Zoanthid Other Zoanthid Unidentified Palythoa Neon Green Candy Cane Duncan Frogspawn Toadstool Leather Goniopora 3x Micromussa Lordhowensis Acanthastrea Echinata Hollywood Stunner Chalice Ricordea Florida Acropora Previous Inhabitants 1 Ocellaris Clownfish (deceased, likely due to stress of initial move) 1 Peppermint Shrimp (coral muncher, returned and replaced with Skunk Cleaner Shrimp) Blue Snowflake Polyps (removed due to potential for taking over) 1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (was stealing food from inside coral, decided I prefer the corals and returned it) I would definitely appreciate comments/tips/suggestions!
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So here it is. I built this tank from some free shelves I got from a couple on Craigslist. It’s 12x12 inches. I have a 250gph return and a 110 gph in the display for flow. An aqueon 10w heater, coralview 3” smart fan and inkbird to run them. Smart auto top off with a 5g rodi storage container. Filtration is tanken care of by foam, filter floss, chaetomorpha and an ns80 reef octopus skimmer. Great lil unit! There is around 9lbs live rock and a 2” sand bed. The tank is lit by a nanobox mini. Big upgrade from the Chinese box light. Livestock includes a oscilaris clown, pajama cardinal, Randall’s goby, margarita snails, astrea snails, electric blue hermit, red hermit, and left handed hermits. Corals. Chicken pox discoma and a red and blue dot disco. Green branching hammer. Blue branching hammer. Green octospawn. Eagle eye, gobstopper, and Rasta Zoas. Montipora setosa. Sunset montipora. Green palys and utter chaos paly. Birds nest. Some sad ass trumpets and acan that burned up with a crappy Chinese box light. And a green and purple Favia. I have had a lot of success’ and failures with this tank. I have lost fish,inverts ands corals. I have also brought corals back from the dead. I fought and beat bubble algae and bryopsis. All in all this tank has been a rollercoaster but I feel like I am finally getting on the right path. I do weekly 3-5g water changes. Clean the glass daily and test weekly to bi weekly. Hope yall like like what you see and happy reefing.
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Hello all, new to this forum and the nano community. I currently have a 54 Gal Aqueon corner tank, which was my first saltwater tank. I have successfully had that tank running from July 2019 and in that time, I instantly fell in love with owning and maintaining ( weird, I know) a saltwater aquarium, its almost therapeutic. I find myself now always looking for places to put a tank in my small ish home and I decided to look for nano for my bedroom. Marineandreef had a sweet deal for the 16 biocube with stand for $269 (after discount and sale) and I decided it was time to expand ha. After convincing wifey (really just ordering and apologizing after), I found myself tracking and waiting. Fast fwd to today, I have the stand set up in the corner of our room with the nano boxed back up ( did not want the toddlers to move it around and possibly drop it empty). I am currently studying, reading the journals and ordering the necessary items needed to begin the tank and start the cycle (so much fun, bleh). Enough backstory, the following will be about the nano I decided to start a journal from the very beginning of this nano to notate what is planned and get advice. As far as Filtration, I have decided to use the included basket for now with the following in order: Poly Filter Floss SeaChem Purigen SeaChem Matrix bio-media in bag (obviously) I have contemplated so much on the filtration and am open to any suggestions. I do not think I will be doing a refug at this time, so that will not be currently considered. The Heater I have decided to go with is the Aqueon Pro 100W, which will be placed in the 1st chamber after false floor is removed. Rock & Substrate: Walt Smith Reef Rock 2.1 20lb dry purple rock Carribsea fiji pink live sand 20lb I do plan on taking some of the smaller pieces of live rock from my current 54 gal to assist in seeding nano. Wavemaker will be the Jebao SW2. This is the brand I currently use on my 54 Gal, and have had no issues and love the controllers for them. I do not plan on modifying the led lighting just yet. Also, I will NOT be running a skimmer on this nano at this time, as I don't mind maintenance and will be planning on weekly 5 gal water changes. Now, Salt.. When I started my 54 gal, I initially went with IO salt as I was not planning on having coral, but of course I was seduced by the beauty.. now I am wanting to switch to some type of high quality reef salt for both tanks. I am leaning more towards Red Sea Coral Pro Salt, I would love any input on this! As far as livestock, I am planning on having 2 designer clownfish (havent really decided on type yet) and maybe a firefish or goby, also undecided lol I will have a clean up crew consisting of a couple trochus, cerrith and maybe astrea snails as well as a couple hermits and debating on a fighting conch. I am undecided on which corals I will be adding just yet, as I want to aquascape first and see where I can place them, which will better determine what I decide on. I will be posting on this journal for anyone who would like to keep up with the nano build. Let me know if anyone has any advice or critique! Thank you! 505nano
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Hey everyone! So this is my first post on Nano-reef but I've been a long time lurker. I've kept reef tanks in different forms for about 10 years now but due to constant moving in my 20's never really had anything that I would consider a well established tank! Now that I'm in my 30's and feel fairly settled when I saw a 40 breeder with stand pop up on my local Craigslist for $40 I jumped at the opportunity to pull out some old equipment and start my journey again! I've always loved the dimensions of 40b's and to me its the perfect nano sized tank. it has a big enough foot print to come up with some interesting aquascapes and house some interesting creatures while still being relatively affordable by not needing to go overboard on equipment like the fact that you only need one light. I used a majority old equipment I had laying around for this system. This system has been up for about 5 months now and has gone through a few changes, mainly lighting related. Equipment: Aqueon Tank Breeder Black 36X18X16 40gal Older Reef Octopus HOB skimmer, closest thing I can find now is a classic 100 Aquaclear 70 with InTank media basket running filterfloss, chemipure elite, and biomedia 165w black box led (started with 4 bulb t5 fixture and may go back to t5 if I find a reasonably priced 6 bulb fixture) 2 old hydro powerheads I had laying around (plan to pickup single crossflow style pump in the near future) Stock list: only stock at the moment are a pair of snowflake clowns, a few frags, and clean up crew (random snails and a few hermit) Future plans: As someone who has had a bare bottom tank in the past I don't know why I thought I would like having a sand-bed. It's messy and I hate it so I'm going to start siphoning it out with water changes and go bare bottom. I like the look of reef tanks with a lot of "flowing" corals in it so I'm probably going to be pretty BTA and LPS dominated with the possibility of some SPS in the future. Also looking at adding a six-line wrasse and maybe a dwarf angel of some sort as tank mates. Early August 2019: initial set up July 2020: start of tank journal
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Hi, I hope you don't mind me posting here I am looking for some sound advice. Quick background, usual story, used to be an expereinced freshwater keeper moved house, always wanted to keep salt, have a baby on the way but regardless decided to give it a go. Long story short to keep costs down I have gone for a smaller tank, despite everything I have read about it being harder etc. I have made a start but, the advice on the wider internet/youtube seems to be so diverse I decide maybe speaking to people would be a more sound way to progress. I have engaged my local fish store, who are relatively well stocked, but don't seem all that knowledgable (seem to just want to sell things). So what I have managed so far...... First off I bought a 60 litre (13.19 imperial gal, 15.85 US Gal) tank made by Tetra. This wasn't my first option but I have a cat who is an avid predator and this model offered the most robust lid for my price point. The tank came with an internal filter which found a new home, a T5 bulb and a basic heater. The heater and the light are currently being utilised in the tank. Acquisitions made so far include two large pieces of Dry rock with funky purple colouration, Red Sea Coral Live Sand and an All Pond Solutions 1000EF Aquarium External Filter. I know some people don't like canisters but I have essentially stuffed it full of Bio Balls at the moment and a single layer of fine filter floss. My thinking behind this is to add a tiny bit of mechanical filtration and a lot more biological filtration. I do have some Chemipure blue that I may add into the canister at a later date. I will be conducting maintenance on the canister monthly to avoid any build but waste. The tank is currently in the process of cycling and I'm testing PH, Amonia, Nitrite, Nitrate every other day using an API test kit. I'm not big on corals at the moment so in the first instance this is likely to be a fish/cleanup crew tank). I am willing to invest in the tank further within reason. Short term I'm looking at a powerhead to improve flow and a replacement heater (don't like the look of the one I have). Longer term I will be looking at retrofitting a LED light into the hood to replace the T5, adding an auto top off and potentially a heater monitoring system and potentially some form of skimmer if I can jerry rig it in somewhere. I am conscious that this is a small tank however and I want the fish to be the highlight of the tank not all the devices hanging off the top of it. Now the interesting part, for those of you who are so obliging, questions: Firstly what am I doing right/wrong? I'm new to this and willing to learn. Once the cycling is complete, I will be looking to add a clean up crew, what would you recommend for this tank. What are your thoughts on chemical filtration in marine tanks? I had a lot of success using it in freshwater and I was wondering if that translates to marine. What additional test kits to I need beyond PH and nitrogen cycle stuff, any recommendations? I have read a rule about 1/2 in of fish for every Gallon of tank, is this US gallon or rest of the world gallon? Finally what fish would you stock this tank with? I apologise fo the long rambling post! But I would appreciate any advice you would be willing to give. Thank you in advance! PS. the tank looks a tad murky because I was just trying (and failing) to even out the sand.
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Setting up a new saltwater tank and thought I would create a journal for everyone to follow. Setup: i stared with a Corallife LED Bio Cube 32. I used dry rock that I had from a previous tank and dry sand. To get the cycle started I added a bottle of Purple Helix and something the LFS gave me to increase the ammonia. I purchases a couple items from InTank Aquatics. A upgraded media basket and refugium for the 2nd camber. In the Media basket I added filter media at the top, Seachem Purigen and Boyd Chemi Pure Blue 5.5oz. I also bought a Finnex HMX 150w digital Heater which I placed into the first camber. The tank cycled after about 13 days. I added saltwater from LFS, Seascape Studio, which is also where I bought the tank. After 2 weeks: i had a small diatom bloom that I clean up and it didn’t come back during this time. My Nitrates have been around 5ppm. first fish a pair of Snowflake Clown Fish Added Electric Blue Daisy Zoathids Added Orange Delight Zoathids Afrter 3 weeks: i have seen very little algae and diatoms so far tank was looking great. Doing weekly water changes of around 10%. I get the water from LFS. pH was low around 7.4. I moved my pump outlet to point more at the surface of the water. I also put the refugium light on a reverse cycle. Added a Emerald Crab Added a Trumpet Coral frag which I got for $10 Added Neon Green Nephthya Leather Coral (Favorite Coral) Started a refugium with chaeto and a Inovative Marine Refugium light added copepods added cleanup crew 2 Trochus Snails Nassurius Snail Scarlet Hermit After 4 Weeks: The refugium is not doing well. My Chaeto isn’t growing Nitrates are still at 5ppm and I’m having problems getting it down any lower even with increased water changes. pH went to 7.8 then is now around 8 Added a Hydro FLO rotating Water Deflector purchased a better test kit, Red Sea Marine Test kit Added a Blue ricordea added a green ricordea added a candy cane coral purchased a Hydor Slim-Skim Nano Protein Skimmer to maybe help with the nitrates After 5 Weeks: Snail died and I didn’t realize it until to late. Nitrates went to 20ppm and then I figured it out. Did a 50% water change and the Nitrates went to 10ppm. My calcium has been consistently around 450. PH still around 8. I have had a diatom bloom ever since the snail died. I have clean it multiple times and still comes back. I have decided to leave it be and wait it out. i couldn’t get the skimmer to fit in chamber 1 so I moved rocks around and placed it into the tank. The top of the hood will need to be modified a little for a better fit this week. i mounted corals to the rock. i have been adding Phytoplankton every couple days removed the chaeto since it has just been dying. i have seen copepods occasionally but still would like to seed the tank with more from algae barn. I wont be getting another fish until my diatom bloom is over and my can get my Nitrates closer to 0. I’m thinking I need better flow and might get a power head this week. I will upload picture of my fish and tank later this week.
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Hi Everyone! Really excited to start this writeup and document the journey of my first saltwater extravaganza. The dream of having my own reef has long been with me, but I always found a reason to put off starting one. It was the usual reasons: Too expensive, Not settled yet, Maybe I should wait and get a bigger tank, Not enough time, etc (I'm sure you guys know the deal). Fast forward through some awkward and weird times, past college and into the working years, and I finally ran out of excuses - so here we are! I draw most of my knowledge from the freshwater world as I kept a few different fresh tanks through my teenage years and had great success with planted tanks and a variety of fish. My only experience in the salt world was a short, summer job working for an LFS building custom tanks and stands. When I wasn't sweating to death building tanks, I soaked up as much knowledge as possible. Most of that has been lost since then and I am learning as I go through forums, books, and the not so occasional mistake. But hey - that just makes it more interesting! On to the fun part! The tank was setup on August 17, 2018, making it about one month old now. The cycle was incredibly quick on this tank (just under 2 weeks). Not sure if it was the live rock and live sand combo or beginner's luck.On my own skepticism, I verified the water quality with my LFS prior to adding the livestock. Everything has been doing great so far and my two clowns seem very happy. The corals are growing pretty quickly and showing fantastic color. The clowns are fed one third of a cube of frozen spirulina brine shrimp (Hikari brand) and considering adding in a second/third food source to mix things up. I also started dosing RedSea's Reef Energy A+B product recently to help promote growth/coloration. Results of this are TBD, but I'm looking forward to seeing the outcome! Equipment Tank - 26g Aqueon Bowfront Light - Aqua Illumination Hydra 26 HD (Modified David Saxby Settings) Heater - Fluval 150 Watt Filter - AquaClear 50 (Sponge, Floss, Bio Pellets) - AquaClear 70 (Sponge, ChemiPure Elite, (Soon to be a HOB Fuge for Chaeto..)) Flow - Hydor 1350 (2) Rock - ~20 lbs Live Rock from LFS Substrate - 40 lbs CaribSea Arag Alive Fiji Pink Livestock 2 Fancy Ocellaris Clownfish Cryptic Six-Line Wrasse Gold Maxima Clam Fire Shrimp Softies - Interstellar Mushroom - Ricordea Yuma - Green Ricordea - Sonic the Hedgehog Galaxea Zoanthids - Bam-Bams - Blue Hornets - Bob Marleys - Bowtie Blasters - Crybabies - Daisy Cutters - Fangbangers - Gobstoppers - Hawaiian Ding Dangs - Lunar Eclipse - Magicians - Rainbow Infusions - Rastas - Scrambled Eggs - Spiderman - Utter Chaos - A few others I'm forgetting LPS - Atomic Torch - Purple Tip Hammer - Gold Tip Hammer - Branching Duncan - Green/Red Aussie Big Polyp Blasto - Kryptonite Candy Coral - Acans (3 rainbows and 2 no name) SPS - Jason Fox Jack-o-Lantern Leptosiris Thanks for reading! Going to update this periodically to track the tank as it matures. Look forward to chatting and hearing any ideas/recommendations you may have!
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After starting a new job around October last year I decided to start a new tank with the goals of 1. Being easy to set up. 2. Ease of maintenance. Limited time during the summer and late fall mean little time for enjoyment and even less for tinkering and water changes. 3. Simple and stable. Keeping energy thing in one place with all equipment together and preferably in in the tank. 4. Nice outside appearance with a solid lid and minimal outside the tank. 5. Potential for upgrade later on. After researching looking at my lfs and browsing the forums I settled on the fluval evo 13.5. In the 3 months since I started the cycle and the 2ish months since I got my clownfish I've been very happy with it. Nice dimensions, decent flow with the stock pump, lights strong enough for the corals I'm currently interested in, and I don't think I'll ever have a tank without a lid again. I'm starting this journal to document how far I can go with just the stock equipment. Not to say I won't upgrade down the line but for now I'm just enjoying the simple tank. Start up in later December.
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Hello everyone, Thought it was about time to get started on my build thread for my first pico tank. Over the years I have had nano's and larger reef systems but this is my first pico so looking forward to getting it going. My light holder, filter, seachem prime and carbon will be delivered tomorrow so I can get going on it. So far this is what I have... Microvue3 5.5 gallon cube tank Koralia Nano 240 - Maybe, depends on flow coming from filter 50w Tetra Heater Aquaclear HOB Filter Digital thermometer ABI LED Aquarium Light 5 lbs Dry Rock - Will seed with some rubble from my 36g Bow Front Sand The two pics here are of the first idea for my aquascaping. Gonna play with some other idea's before making a decision. The one branching piece I am gonna take a frag from my GSP to put on it to make it kind of look like a GSP tree if I stick with it. If not then may attach the frag to the back glass and let it cover it like a all of GSP. Let me know your thoughts on this scape, will post more tomorrow once I play around with it lol.
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Hello everyone, having kept various planted freshwater tanks for several years I decided it is finally time to try to keep the beauty of a coral reef in my living room, and am in the process of setting up a Biocube 32. Already I've asked around this site for suggestions on equipment, process and stocking, and have appreciated everyone's advice and support thus far. To start off, this is the equipment I will be working with. 1. Biocube 32 2. Red sea refractometer 2.Instant ocean salt mix 3.Aqueon heater 4. Red sea test kit for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, Ph, and calcium hardness 5. Powerhead 6. Digital Thermometer 7. RO/DI unit 8. c 23 Lbs of dry rock (I'm not using all of it, but it was pretty cheap and I wanted to make sure I had enough to give myself some flexibility) 9. Purfiltrum Stuff I still need 1. Large bucket for mixing saltwater (I have a few smaller ones but they don't really seem suitable) 2. Auxiliary heater for mixing saltwater 3. MAYBE a protein skimmer, I know these are considered essential to many people but the guy at my LFS said the smaller ones compatible with my Biocube aren't really very effective, so for now Iwill be going with the Purflitrum in the filter and frequent water changes. I might get on in the future though, i'll have to see how everything progresses. 4. Live rock 5.Live sand I do have a stocking plan, but as this is obviously still a very early stage, there is a good chance it will change completely by the time i'll actually be ready to add animals. Fish 1. One Purple firefish 1. One Banggai cardinalfish 1. One ocellaris clownfish 1. One starry blenny Corals 1. Mushroom coral 2. Green star polyps 3. Xenia 4. Button polyp 5. Yellow colony polyp Invertebrates 1. Two skunk cleaner shrimp 2. Several trochus snails 3. Possibly four or five smaller hermit crabs 4. One porcelain crab (eventually) 5.Possibly one emerald crab This is my tentative dry scape, I had to remove a lot of the rock I had in my initial plan to make sure it wasn't too crowded. I still plan on adding a few small to medium pieces of live rock, and my goal is to create "courtyard" area with a few cave formations. I hope to actually have the remaining items I need and start cycling by this weekend, and will continue to update this thread as I continue.
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I set up Old Man Sea's Marineland Profile 5.6 Gallon Reef in January 2017 and Old Man Sea's Shallow Reef Creative Contest Pico Tank in October 2017. I greatly enjoyed both tanks but my day job became hectic and I needed to consolidate. This issue was compounded by the success of the corals in the 5.6 gallon tank – it is tall and narrow which made space for growth scarce as the frags grew. In fact, members of both the ricordea garden on the left side and the acan garden on the right side began to be crushed against the glass. There was no place to go! Thus, close to three months ago, on September 10th, I replaced the 5.6 gallon tank with an IM10, which has a much larger footprint. I simply drained the 5.6 gallon tank, placed the IM10 where the 5.6 had been, pulled the rock and coral from the 5.6 gallon tank and moved them en mass to the IM10, added fresh Instant Ocean salt water, then pulled the ricordea, zoas and green-banded gobies from the pico reef and moved them into the IM10. Presto Chango, a new reef was born. Tank Specs Display: Innovative Marine 10 Gallon NUVO Fusion Nano all-in-one aquarium, 12” x 15” x 13” Lighting: Aqua Illumination Prime HD Heater: Aqueon 50 watt on homemade controller (until system is added to Apex) Chiller: None Circulation: Sicce Synchra 0.5 return pump Skimmer: None Filtration: Stock Fusion filter sock Filter Media: None beyond filter sock Top Off: Tunze Nano Osmolator 3152 Dosing: None at present, considering addition of dosing of two-part since now beginning to dip prior to weekly water change Controller: Recently obtained an additional Neptune Systems Apex 2016 Energy Bar 832 and PM-1 module for use on this tank for control of temperature and monitoring pH to control impending dosing pumps Wet date: September 10, 2018 I moved the rock flower anemones from the pico into the Red Sea Max 170 (which already contained a number of rock flowers) and gave the mangroves to a fellow reefer. For the past couple of months I have been moving things around a bit and I have removed some corals and added several new corals. For example, the large, green monti cap, which was a tiny frag when I got it 21 months ago, was moved to the RSM170 since it had grown to nearly completely blocked all the light below it. I had removed the red monti cap a few months earlier. However, the mainstays of the 5.6 gallon tank – the ricordea garden and acan garden have been kept intact. Since this tank has a more open footprint than the Marineland, I plan to slowly replace much of the live rock with more appropriate pieces. In this full tank shots it is easy to see that there is much more room compared to the Marineland. In the top down shot the two zoa colonies just below the Montipora (green on left and red on right) are the first two corals that were placed into the tank in January 2017. Several of the others followed soon after. The Seriatopora and Stylophora on the frag shelves are new additions from a friend's reef. Both were fragged from massive colonies - she made 50 Seriatopora and 100 Stylophora frags from her colonies in her 180 gallon tank. As I replace the rockwork, these pieces will go to the rock. The blue Cyphastrea on the right side of the back wall has been with me since early 2017. It had grown to cover about half of the back wall of the Marineland. I was able to pry off just over half of it and made 12 frags, keeping this one. It is rapidly encrusting the wall as can be seen. Soon after combining the tanks, I experienced a plague of aiptasia. I noticed two of them, added Aiptasia X, then had a dozen, and soon had literally 100s of them, covering all the rocks and even a few on the glass walls. I added some Berghia to eat them but the resident clownfish and perhaps the Geometric Pygmy Perchlet (Pete Plectranthias), ate the Berghia. As a last resort, I purchased a single peppermint shrimp from the LFS – a specific specimen which I was told is a voracious eater of aiptasia – they kept it in a frag tank for this purpose. I was told it would likely eat all of mine in a day or so. I laughed since everything was covered with them. However, the next morning at least half of the aiptasia were no longer visible and a day later there were none visible. I have not removed the shrimp and have not seen another aiptasia for the past six weeks. The shrimp thus far has not bothered any of the corals, not even the zoas, but it does make the green banded gobies very nervous! I feed the shrimp and fish very well in hopes of keeping shrimp predation on fish and corals low. I will remove the shrimp at some point but I hate to get rid of it since it is so effective on aiptasia. I would move it to the RSM170 but the flame hawkfish in that tank are very happy to immediately eat any shrimp or snails as soon as they are added. At about the same time that I noticed the aiptasia, several patches of bryopsis became apparent, all on bits of rock that had been transferred from the pico. I added fluconazole and the bryopsis melted away in a couple of days. I change close to 100% of the tank water every week and did not add additional fluconazole. Thus, I have experienced rebound outbreak of bryopsis several times. I am trying to remember to add fluconazole each week after the water change to attempt to kill all the bryopsis. Livestock Fish 1 ocellaris clown Apr 2017 1 Geometric Pygmy Perchlet Sep 2017 I had a Gobiodon histrio (Goby Dillis) but it disappeared a few months ago. It was an adult when I got it so it may have died of old age. Invertebrates 4 Astrea snails Early 2017 Stomatella snails – original hitchhikers and vary between none to many tiny, to several adults then back to none and the cycle repeats. I get a bit of brownish algae on the glass from time to time - diatoms? -and the Stomatella’s love it. When they are around I never have to scrape it. Bristle worms – dozens; they come out of the rock and cover everything whenever I add Reefroids 1 Peppermint shrimp (for now) Corals 9 acan lords – Micromussa lordhowensis Feb 28, 2017 – Oct 4, 2018 1 unknown Micromussa “ASD Brain Freeze Micromussa” Oct 4, 2018 ~12 Caribbean ricordeas Feb 28, 2017 – Oct 2017 4 encrusting Cyphastrea Apr 2017 – Jun 2018 1 Cyphastrea decadia Nov 2017 1 Tangerine leptoseris May 2018 1 Sunset Montipora Jun 2017 1 unknown ‘favia” Oct 4, 2018 1 Seriatopora Nov 2018 1 Stylophora Nov 2018 1 Torch “ASD Notorious Black Torch” Oct 4, 2018 4 assorted zoa colonies Jan 21, 2017 – Oct 2017 Target Water Parameters Calcium 420-450 ppm – sometimes dips to 380-400 by water change day – will start dosing 2- part with Apex Magnesium 1600-1620 it is at this value in the make up water (Instant Ocean and always stays a similar level in each of my tanks; I have made primary standards at 1000, 1250, and 1500 ppm and the Red Sea kits that I use read them perfectly pH 8.0 during the night and 8.2 during the day Alkalinity 9.8 immediately after water change, dropping to 8.4-8.6 by water change day – I will start dosing 2-part with Apex Nitrate Near zero after water change; usually around 0.3-0.5 ppm by water change day Phosphate “Zero” after water change; usually around 0.02-0.04 by water change day Temperature 77° F These zoa's were added from the Pico contest bowl. The green is radioactive dragon eyes plus some polyps of a friend. The red with blue centers were collected some years ago in Florida by a person who works at the LFS. They grow prolifically - there are two of these colonies in the tank. I gave away another colony. This picture just reminds me to mention the ricordeas. Most of the ricordeas were added in early to mid-2017 but a couple were transferred from the pico contest bowl. Among those are the one on the sand (it refuses to play with the others and removes itself every time I attach it, and the very light green one on the front of the rock in the FTS. The ricordeas are much happier with some stretch out room. I like Cyphastrea's. The blue one grows wildly and will likely encrust much of the back wall in a few months. The green one was obtained during summer 2018 and sat on the bottom for several months. In the sale image it was solid green and on the bottom of the tank it was solid green. When I moved it up the wall a month or so ago, the polyps remained the same even shade of green but the encrusting body turned brown from light shock. It has now become a blushing color, beginning about a week ago, and I hope it ends up green again. The rust colored colony on the bottom has been there for around a year. It has always been very healthy. Once I add more rock it will go there. Finally, the branching Cyphastrea decadia has been on the bottom for right at a year. It has grown a little. It never opens during daylight but is always open at night. I have been trying of late to remember to target feed it once a week at night. That has caused the coloration to become much more intense, hopefully, it will also induce growth. This specimen will also go onto the rock. There is another encrusting Cyphastrea on the sand that I forgot to photograph. Next time. Acans are my other favorites. There are 9 colonies in the tank. The red with blue rim colony was purchased with 3 heads in February 2017. It now has 26. The heads have always been small on this specimen. The others have come at various later times. Here are pix of several of them. All were purchased with2 or 3 heads. I made a recent order from ASD since I wanted one of there dark colored torches (at the top of the rock in the FTS). Even more, I wanted one of the non-lordhowensis Micromussa species. This is a very interesting coral. If it does well and if the vendors still have them in a few months, I would At 20000K it is bright yellow, at 14000k (these images) it has a lot of green in it. Finally for today, ASD sent a freebie as they always do. I believe it is a Favia? If anyone knows for sure, I would appreciate knowing. -
So this is going to be a thread following my IM 25 AIO tank. So I'm planning on this to be a mostly LPS with some softies and some SPS at some point. I am sort of new to the saltwater hobby. But I've kept high tech freshwater tanks with great success, so I have to move onto something more challenging. Now time for the specs: Equipment Ai Prime W/ Aquatic Life T5 Hybrid Fixture (Using 1 Coral Plus, 1 true actinic, 1 blue plus, and 1 purple plus) Reef Glass Protein Skimmer IM MiniMaxx Reactor W/ Roxx Carbon 2x Custom Caddy (Filter Floss, Seachem matrix, Purigen/ Phosguard) IM Refugium Basket 2x Neotherm heaters (2 50 watt heaters) 3x Current USA wavemakers (660 gph) IM Mighty Jet DC return pump AutoAqua Micro ATO Seneye Reef Monitor Livestock 1x Clownfish 1x Blackline Blenny 1x Lubbocks Fairy Wrasse 1x Randall's Goby W/ Pistol Shrimp 1x Pair of Scarlet Skunk Cleaners 1x Pom Pom Crab 5x Algaebarn Nassarius 5x Algaebarn Trochus 5x Algaebarn Ceriths The tank has water, but im currently waiting for my Seneye to come in and my Prodibio Nano so I can start cycling my tank. But here are some pics
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I have used this site so much in my research that I thought it would be best to chronicle my journey here. I am new to reefing and after half a dozen books and countless hours online I finally took the plunge and bought an IM Fusion Peninsula 20. For lighting I found a good deal on a Current Orbit Marine PRO 24" and so far I really like it (but then again, I'm new so not much to compare it too). I also swapped out the filter sock for an inTank media basket and changed the stock pump to an Eheim compact 1000 after a few days of dealing with the noise (this tank is on my custom built work desk). The tank has 20 lbs of live rock from the LFS and 10 lbs of CaribSea Ocean Direct sand. I also added a Jebao SW-2 powerhead to the back wall and an IM Hydrofill hooked up to a TOM Aqua Lifter for ATO. There is a 75w Cobalt Neo-Therm heater in the third chamber as well. Here it is the day I flooded it: I mixed my own salt with RO water from the LFS that I transported back to my house in truckload of Home Depot buckets. I used Tropic Marin Bio-Actif and did the mixing in a new Rubbermaid Brute 28 gallon recycle bin with a heater and cheap powerhead. I installed my new RO/DI system a few days later and my TDS is zero. I rigged it up so I could bypass the deionization if I wanted drinking water. Here it all is under the sink: It has an dual in-line TDS meter measuring both RO and RO/DI separately. I calibrated it to my handheld TDS meter and it reads true. Red hose is for fish, blue hose is for me. The tank I have been using to store RO/DI has an air release port that the water line fits into perfectly. I used a sharpie to make the measurement marks on the jug more visible from across the room. I have a 1/4" airline from my ATO pump running into the same hole when it is set up near the tank for that purpose.
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Danny Tran's Reef Adventures : IM Nuvo 30 Long Journal
dannyhaitran posted a topic in Nano Reef Journals
Hi Nano-Reef'ers, My name is Danny Tran and this will be the start of my reefing experience. My goal? To record every success and mistake and lessons learned through this forum. I'm located in Vancouver, BC Canada. A little about me, I'd been a freshwater aquarist for about 4 years, mainly focusing on aquascaping with easy to keep small fish. I've had marble angels, pleco of all types, tetras, and shrimp! I never thought that one day I would start a reef tank. My interest really started when I saw all these beautiful aquariums with amazing colourful corals and very few fish, feeding corals, growing up them, propragating them, it all was so fascinating. I also spent 2 hours reading this CRAZY incident of a bobbit worm taking over an entire aquarium and destroying everything in it's path, here is the link....http://www.michiganreefers.com/forums/advanced-topics/84173-bobbit-worm-chronicles.html So here we go.... I don't have anything in possession yet but I just wanted to begin with a Hello and get your best advice on getting started. -
After many hours of research and questions I have finally begun my new mini reef tank! I decided to use a Biocube 32 and I plan to fill the tank with relatively hardy soft and lps corals. My setup is as follows: Tank: Biocube 32 Lighting: Stock LED’s Flow: Stock AIO pump/ Hydor Koralia 565 Filtration: Carbon, filter floss, live rock, live sand, chemipure?, chaeto? And stock filter (no bio balls) Heating: Eheim Jager 100W Water: Purified Distilled water with instant ocean salt Stand: DIY stand Parameters: Refractometer/ API Test Kit Stocking plans: 4-6 fish, invertebrates (including 3 hitchhiker hermits and a turbo snail that came on my cured LFS rock), hardy corals to start I started my cycle on Saturday February 10 with 15 lbs of cured live rock, 20 lbs live sand (caribsea arag-alive) and water mixed by yours truly. I have already encountered a few minor snags involving one poorly chosen live rock that was already inhabited by at least one aiptasia and what I found out was green hair algae. I have since returned the rock and replaced with new and hopefully pest free rock. My first tests have indicated 0.125 ammonia (probably close to 0), 8.0 pH, 0 nitrite/nitrate and 1.025 SG. Temperature is 77 and the snail and crabs appear to be doing fine. I have also found what seems to be an asterina starfish on one rock which I’ll monitor closely unless someone thinks I should just try to rip him off. Welcome to my newest adventure!
