15 Gallon Nano Build

[TheMikey]

Hey all. I've been trolling these (and a host of other forums) for a few months now and just this past weekend I decided to get serious about finally getting a reef tank started. I have to admit that I posted this on my local aquarium forum a few days ago and just got my account here evened out. So sorry if I missed the present-tense on some of the descriptions.

So my story begins on a cold and bitter Friday when I crawled up into the attic in search of my ancient 10G aquarium that's been sitting there for years. Fishing it out of it's corner I found that it got cracked when some skis were tossed up and that there would be no way for the aquarium to hold water. I drove to a host of pet stores in the area looking for a good deal on just a tank but, in the end, picked up a 15G in great condition from a guy on Craigslist. A stand came with it for the good price of $25 and I was ready to start picking up my supplies.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/IMG_2057-1.jpg

I took the aquarium into the backyard after pulling all the gravel out and doing a quick rinse before filling it with water (to make sure it wasn't going to break on me) and going off to get my filter, a powerhead, etc.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/IMG_2058.jpg

The Equipment I picked up was an Aquaclear 30 Filter (which I'll throw some chaeto in to make it a mini refugium), an Aquaclear 20 powerhead (which I returned for a 480 GPH Koralia powerhead which I really like), 100W heater, thermometer, an $8 specific gravity meter which is pretty inaccurate (though it's telling me I'm between 1.022 and 1.026), some Caribbsea Aragonite live sand, and Instant Ocean Salt.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/IMG_2061-1.jpg

I filled my tank with Polaris RO water from ExtraFoods and started mixing the salt. The powerhead is rated at moving 180GPH but I didn't think it was moving the water very well, I was doing a lot of the mixing with a big wooden spoon. (The picture is with the original powerhead I bought. Amazingly, it was $18 more than the one I upgraded to...)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/IMG_2063-1.jpg

After two days and my SG meter is still giving me different readings (sometimes low, sometimes high, and twice about 1.022). So I think I might look and see what else I can find for other readers as I want my SG evened out so I can add some live rock on Tuesday. My temperature is hovering around 80F right now, which I think will be about right for when my tank begins to cycle.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/IMG_2062-1.jpg

Last night I picked up a light and ballast from Chris, a Saskreef member, and immediately set out to modify my canopy to make it fit. Sorry I didn't take any pictures of my drilling and modifying the side of the canopy, but restassured I just drilled a 1/2" hole in the side. nothing too amazing.

Here's a picture with the new light:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/IMG_2064.jpg

I left the light on overnight and had to adjust the heater in the morning as the heater jumped to 82F.

I turned it down to even out the temperature and, when I hit 79F it held for 24 hours with the lights on (not that they put out that much heat). I went to Bayside today after classes and picked up 12lbs of Live Rock from Colby and Gustavo and took it home to try my hand at aquascaping.

I'm pretty happy with the finished product but it seems like it's missing something. Not sure what. Maybe it needs to be higher in the middle... I'm not too sure. I still like it though. First one is a pic with the flash and the second without a flash.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/IMG_2068.jpg


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/IMG_2067.jpg

In case anyone was wondering, the hydrometer will come down once I get some more stuff in there. I just like having an instant salinity gauge at the ready in the early state of the build.

As I'm sure you know, I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions.

As for long term plans, it's going to be a nano reef. Primarily softies I think (at least to start - as you all should know...) and a few fish (I've got three kinds picked out - now I just need to wait!).

[mseepman]

Welcome to Canreef...not too often you see someone's first post being their build thread.

My advice on a nano is that you would probably be well served to look into replacing that hydrometer with a reflectometer. They come for a pretty reasonable price on e-bay these days and are a lot more accurate. Nano's don't have a lot of room for flexibility so where-ever you can reduce inaccuracy for not a lot of dough, you'll be well served.

[TheMikey]

I bought a refractometer a few days ago off ebay ($34 shipped) and am just waiting for it now. I'll probably take back the hydrometer once I recieve my new toy!

Thanks for the input (:

[TheMikey]

UPDATE:

Hey all,

Setting up my first saltwater tank after a massive amount of research on these internets. Anyway, I finally got all my testing kits together except for Calcium and Phosphates after having live rock in the tank for five days. Parameters are as follows:

Ammonia: 0-0.5 (about halfway between colour bars on the chart)
Nitrates: 10
Nitrites: 0.2
KH: 180
PH: ~8

I'm really confused about these numbers as it looks like the tank might be nearing the end of the cycle. Is this at all normal for parameters this early in a nano?

Using RO/DI water and 15lbs of bagged live sand as well.

Our lone LFS in the area is one of the best though, and they keep all of the rock in a large heated rubbermaid container without any light and lots of flow. The guy at the store said that some of their customers have had rock cycle within 10 days. Regardless the incredulity of such a fast, I completely trust Colby and Gustavo - they're some of the most knowledgeable people I've ever met about this hobby and they've helped me out since I started researching in June. Incidently, I'll put a plug out for them anyway - hit Bayside Corals (http://www.baysidecorals.com/) for all your reefing needs (:

[Ryan_Lap]

The rock I got from Colby completely cured in less than a week.

[TheMikey]

The rock I got from Colby completely cured in less than a week.

Did you mean cure or cycle?

[Ryan_Lap]

yah sure cycled....:biggrin:

[lorenz0]

do not rush. let it run for 3 weeks before cosidering snails in that tank. your cycle is not near being done.

[pastout]

give it a realy good cycle you will be very glad down the road i set up a 10 gallon nano let it cycle for 2 months its on month 4. this tank is bare bone to no mechanical filter or skimmer and its running better then my90 gallon with all the bells and whistles. i truly apreciate a good cycle now

[TheMikey]

I'm not planning on adding any part of a cleanup crew for at least two weeks yet, regardless of my parameters. I'm just a little wary about the potential of *not* seeing an ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate spike that would let me know about the cycling in general. As I mentioned, I wasn't able to pick up a test kit for almost five whole days of running my aquarium so seeing safe levels of ammonium and nitrite set me on edge - which is why I updated with the question.

[lorenz0]

to be honest with you, when i set up my second nano I just let it run for a month till i tested my water.

but what are you doing with your lighting??? also what size of HOB filter is that

[TheMikey]

Its an AQ30 running without any filter media. I've modified it to be able to hold some Chaeto and some rock rubble that I'm going to get on my next trip to the LFS. I picked it up primarily so that I could add another direction of flow to the tank (as well as the added chaeto filtration).

As for lighting I've pieced together a 55W PC (50/50) light for the time being. I think that should be enough given the depth of my tank for the basic corals I'm planning to get (softies and leathers).

[TheMikey]

Update!

I turned the light on at 9am before work yesterday and came home to find that in nine hours I had a healthy collection of brown algae (diatoms, I assume) on some of my sand and creeping up the walls of my aquarium. I'm still testing 0 for ammonia, 0 for nitrites, and 0 for nitrates.

Looks like it's cycling!! :D

[Snaz]

What substrate are you using? If it is crushed coral you might consider replacing it or mixing in something with smaller grains.

[TheMikey]

Argonite "live sand' by Caribsea. 15lbs of it.

[Snaz]

Argonite "live sand' by Caribsea. 15lbs of it.

Perfect. Welcome to the world of Nano where everything in the tank is only inches from your eyes!

[Doug]

Bumped for Mike. Just moved it for him and it was buried way back in the boonies. :lol:

[TheMikey]

ALrighty, it's been a very long time since I updated my build thread. This is mainly because my basement flooded and killed my laptop, camera, textbooks, books, guitar amp, etc. and I've had a bitch of a time dealing with insurance and the like...

From my initial posts I added a yellow/green torch coral which was two heads and split to four before it mysteriously fell apart and died. I was most displeased and replaced it with a really nice red open brain which is looking really good. The pictures in the update were still when it was new and looking kinda skeletal but now it's nice and puffy (pics WAAAAY far down).

Anyway. Here's my journal entry I just pulled off my once-fried HDD I yanked out of the flooded laptop:

Alrighty. I borrowed my friend's old Canon 2MP camera with no macro, and took a couple shots to update it. I've changed my aquascape to something... less drab.

We're currently getting in some carpet so I wasn't able to get all the pictures I would have liked.

Enjoy!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/IMG_2168.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/IMG_2166.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/IMG_2169.jpg

Brainnnnnsss (or Brain rather)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/IMG_2164.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/IMG_2162.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/IMG_2163.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/IMG_2161.jpg


More pics to come! Also with a better camera, I hope...


And yes indeed, a better camera came along. It's still a point and shoot (with me spending all this money on the SW hobby I don't have anything left for a DSLR.) Santa brought me a Panasonic DMC-FS20 which takes really nice photos.

[TheMikey]

I had to break this post and the previous one into two parts because I had 17 images. Here's the tank update for today:

Like I mentioned, we got flooded so carpet came out and the walls were painted so I had to wait an agonizing four months before I added my first fish - a yellow watchman goby now paired with a pistol - who is ridiculously shy and rarely comes out from his burrow. I'm trying to get a picture of him but have been unsuccessful since I got my new camera.

First off, the FTS. I changed my aquascape up a little so it wasn't such a big pile of rock too:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000178.jpg

Some shots of my two zoanthid frags:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000174_2.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000174.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000172.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000179.jpg

And an attempted macro crop with some colour alteration:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000179macro.jpg

The Shrimp:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000180.jpg

Remember how the brain looking in my previous pictures? Here it is today:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000170.jpg

Then I started fiddling with the camera settings (-.3 exposure with WB set to hallogen):

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000171.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000167.jpg

Anyway, I really like my new camera! It's no D90 but I think it does just fine (:

I'm in a GB on a Boxing Day sale from an online seller and will be adding some nice frags in the next few days so I'll update this thread with those when I get to them. I'm running 96W PC bulbs, so this will be an LPS tank with some zoanthids. In the new year I'll be putting in a couple more fish. Two false perc clowns unless our LFS gets true percs at a reasonable price.

I'm going to wait and see how the tank handles those and might (JUST MAYBE) add a 6-line wrasse down the road. I'm really hesitant about doing so but we'll see how things work out.

[TheMikey]

I took part in a boxing day order from Fragalot and got some killer $10 frags. Here they be!

Candycane (from a fellow reefer, actually):
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000207-1.jpg

Coral I used to have an ID on, but can't remember:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000209-1.jpg

Red Acan:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000210-1.jpg

Green Acan and Purple Chalice:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000212-1.jpg

Purple Zoanthid Colony:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000217-1.jpg

Nuclear Halo Zoanthids:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/P1000218-1.jpg

I have another shipment of stuff coming later today, so more updates to come!

[fishytime]

Obviously a gambling man. Lookin like its coming together nicely.

[TheMikey]

Gambling man? You must explain (:

[TheMikey]

I'm really no good with keeping journals up to date - might be why the ones I take backpacking always seem to stop two weeks after I start the adventure...

Anyway, the aquarium has had many changes since the last update in January (2009). I've upgraded the lighting to a 4 x 24W T5HO by AquaticLife (fantastic product, by the way) which is keeping my clam and SPS pretty happy. I've also added a Tunze 9002 skimmer and completely redid my Aquascape.

I had a mini-crash in June of 2009 when my lighting went (right before my current fixture arrived) and I was without high-intensity lighting for 8 days. This was also followed the next month by an absolutely ludicrous explosion of GHA which was most certainly the spawn of Satan and would not die. The sudden explosion of nutrients nuked four little SPS frags (which were starting to become some nice colonies).

I ended up pulling all my rocks and scrubbing them with metal brushes to rid myself of the vile weed. It worked pretty well, actually.

Then - tragedy struck. My little clownfish, George Orwell, ended his life carpet surfing. Shortly after his friend, Krusty the Klownfish, developed Ich and could not be saved.

The Goby is still alive and well, though she looks to be more of a Grey Watchman than a Yellow one. I tried to pair her up with another pistol shrimp but I haven't seen it in almost a week now. I hope it's still alive.

I took some pictures today with my SLR and here's what came out:

FTS

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/FTS1.jpg

Clam

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/clam.jpg

Zoa colony

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/zoas.jpg

Plate

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/plate.jpg

Green SPS

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/GreenSPS.jpg

[TheMikey]

Double-post.

[TheMikey]

So I decided to take a break from writing my term paper tonight and snap some pictures of my 15g.

I guess this is my 2.5yr update? Wow... time flies.

FTS
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/Aquarium/fts1.jpg

Acan
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/Aquarium/acan1.jpg

Stag
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/Aquarium/acro2.jpg

Cali Tort (pics don't nearly do it justice!)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/Aquarium/calitort.jpg

Green SPS (under actinics)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/Aquarium/greensps.jpg

New SPS and clown
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/Aquarium/littleacro.jpg

Orange Plate
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/Aquarium/plate1.jpg

Shrimp and Brain
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/Aquarium/shrimpy.jpg

Stylo
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/themastersmew/Aquarium/stylo.jpg