Allow myself to introduce.....myself

[Aleks]

Hey all, just joined this forum, checked it out a few years ago when I was doing FW stuff.....Sold all of it, and now just getting into starting a Nano reef! :biggrin: Lots of questions, lots of info.....Hoping to pick your brains and snag some used gear :wink: Here's the hardware thus far

10g standard (20") tank
Fluval 204 (primarily for circ, maybe a tray or 2 of filter)....I know its a little less than ideal, 180gph
standard heater....letters worn off, but used it in my 45 so should be adequate


Soooo, I need a light....was thinking Coralife 36w 20".....Maybe go to a 24" because I may decide to goto a 20g tank instead.....but I can cycle my rock and stuff in the 10 and decide from there....Anyone want to sell a light? or tank? haha

Lastly, this tank will house a bunch of low maintenance coral, mushroom, a few crabs (thinkin pom pom), shrimp, snails and for swimmers a clown (how original!) and likely a boxfish.....very minimalist....

thoughts? suggestions? got stuff to get rid of (including rock/sand)? let me know!

Hoping as I get more knowledgeable I can help out some too.....

[christyf5]

Welcome to Canreef!! :mrgreen:

[Lance]

Welcome to Canreef

[Rbacchiega]

welcome to Canreef...have you stopped by Red Coral at all?

[Aleks]

Alright! So went to a 15gallon instead, wanted a bit more flexibility.......So got it, 15lbs of Live rock from Wai's, about 25lbs or so of live sand, and decided to pick up a new heater, 100W should be plenty. Mixed up my water, used RO.....Got my salinity around 1.021ish.....Waiting for the sand clouds to clear to do my first chem test.....Will be interesting, this packet of bacteria that came with the sand says I can start adding inverts when the water is clear......Not so sure about that, so I'll see what the tester says about that time! At any rate, I can't wait to start adding the cleaners to start things off and just drop feed them for a bit....My Fluval whips quite a bit of water around so I think the circ should be ok as it is for now.......

Question: How do most of you aerate/oxygenate your tank?? Just keep some ripples on the top surface? I don't want to introduce air because air=noise...And I'm not into noise...

Checked out the following today.....Big Al's, Red Coral, Wai's, Riverfront......Crazy Big Al's wanted 10.99/lb for rock!! ouch!

Still need a light, and maybe some wildlife eventually for the rock

[karazy]

Hey all, just joined this forum, checked it out a few years ago when I was doing FW stuff.....Sold all of it, and now just getting into starting a Nano reef! :biggrin: Lots of questions, lots of info.....Hoping to pick your brains and snag some used gear :wink: Here's the hardware thus far

10g standard (20") tank
Fluval 204 (primarily for circ, maybe a tray or 2 of filter)....I know its a little less than ideal, 180gph
standard heater....letters worn off, but used it in my 45 so should be adequate


Soooo, I need a light....was thinking Coralife 36w 20".....Maybe go to a 24" because I may decide to goto a 20g tank instead.....but I can cycle my rock and stuff in the 10 and decide from there....Anyone want to sell a light? or tank? haha

Lastly, this tank will house a bunch of low maintenance coral, mushroom, a few crabs (thinkin pom pom), shrimp, snails and for swimmers a clown (how original!) and likely a boxfish.....very minimalist....

thoughts? suggestions? got stuff to get rid of (including rock/sand)? let me know!

Hoping as I get more knowledgeable I can help out some too.....

sounds like a good start. one thing i have to say unfortunately is that their really isn't any boxfish that would bot outgrow your tank.(at least that i know of)

take a look at the Hagen GLO 24 inch T5HO fixtures. We sell them at elite aquatics and they are awesome quality! i'm using one for the reef im currently building actually, and i love it so far.

[Aleks]

sounds like a good start. one thing i have to say unfortunately is that their really isn't any boxfish that would bot outgrow your tank.(at least that i know of)

take a look at the Hagen GLO 24 inch T5HO fixtures. We sell them at elite aquatics and they are awesome quality! i'm using one for the reef im currently building actually, and i love it so far.

AHHHH, my noobism kicks in early.....I actually meant COWFISH....haha, yah they are a bit different hey? Thanks for the light suggestion I'll check it out! Anywhere other than Elite selling it?? I hate going down south just to "check stuff out"....Happen to have a pic of the Hagen you have setup? Is it 2 flourescents, or PC? Come with an actinic?

[VFX]

.

[karazy]

AHHHH, my noobism kicks in early.....I actually meant COWFISH....haha, yah they are a bit different hey? Thanks for the light suggestion I'll check it out! Anywhere other than Elite selling it?? I hate going down south just to "check stuff out"....Happen to have a pic of the Hagen you have setup? Is it 2 flourescents, or PC? Come with an actinic?

cowfish and boxfish are very closely related, and sadly there's also no cowfish i can think of thats good for a 15 gallon or a beginner.

the lights are double fluorescent, 48 watts of T5HO and you can use any T5 color bulbs you want(10,000k,14,000k,fiji purple, ect.)
i do have a few pics, and i think riverfront may sell it as well. here's a link to them online: http://www.hagen.com/uk/aquatic/glo/index.cfm

here's some older pics of mine (on a 30 inch tank):
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh266/karazy101/072.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh266/karazy101/069.jpg

[dsaundry]

Welcome:biggrin:

[Aleks]

Thanks!

Alright, so cowfish is out of the question....I guess I've never seen a large one, and the stores I've talked with haven't batted an eye when I mention my 15gallon tank....hmmmm......Oh well I've got a few weeks to figure it out...

[karazy]

Thanks!

Alright, so cowfish is out of the question....I guess I've never seen a large one, and the stores I've talked with haven't batted an eye when I mention my 15gallon tank....hmmmm......Oh well I've got a few weeks to figure it out...

haha, come into elite aquatics. we have a large 9 inch pet cowfish named george.

[ElGuappo]

take a look at the Hagen GLO 24 inch T5HO fixtures. We sell them at elite aquatics and they are awesome quality! i'm using one for the reef im currently building actually, and i love it so far.

+1


i have 3 of these on 2 tanks and love them. send me a pm and i will tell you where to get one. make that 4 as i use a 48" on a fw tank.

Check out the nano tank contest (under tank journal) for lighting and other ideas.

there is a fair bit of difference in bulb price between t5 and pc also.

[Aleks]

Thanks for the info, I'm picking up a light tomorrow! now to wait out the cycling...mmmmmm

[Aleks]

Well found life on the rocks tonite, set up my light (thanks BahCan), got a good look at my rocks, and found a few feather duster worms.....Hey its better than nothing! Looks like a very teeny tiny 3 head orangy zoa colony on there too (?), have to see how that develops.....Still testing every couple days waiting for my ammonia spike, been hanging at 4ppm since day 1......CaribSea comes with that active bac packet that they claim you can add inverts when the water is clear.....I added a couple snails and a hermit to see what would happen.....Snails are happily trucking around, crab likes hiding but he's small....

Anyone have experience with the CaribSea packets? I don't plan on adding anything swimming until I see the 0's with Ammonia and Nitrite.....

Filtering the water now with coarse foam, water polishing foam (just finer stuff), some ceramic bio loops and a little charcoal for clarity with that Fluval 204.....picking up a powerhead in the future for some oomph....

All other values (dKH, Ph, SG) within normal values.....

[JDigital]

same Aleks as on Beyond?

[Aleks]

same Aleks as on Beyond?

No, same Aleks from every site but beyond.....turbomedic on beyond :biggrin:

[banditpowdercoat]

Beyond where???

[Myka]

Well found life on the rocks tonite, set up my light (thanks BahCan), got a good look at my rocks, and found a few feather duster worms.....Hey its better than nothing! Looks like a very teeny tiny 3 head orangy zoa colony on there too (?), have to see how that develops.....Still testing every couple days waiting for my ammonia spike, been hanging at 4ppm since day 1......CaribSea comes with that active bac packet that they claim you can add inverts when the water is clear.....I added a couple snails and a hermit to see what would happen.....Snails are happily trucking around, crab likes hiding but he's small....

Anyone have experience with the CaribSea packets? I don't plan on adding anything swimming until I see the 0's with Ammonia and Nitrite.....

Filtering the water now with coarse foam, water polishing foam (just finer stuff), some ceramic bio loops and a little charcoal for clarity with that Fluval 204.....picking up a powerhead in the future for some oomph....

All other values (dKH, Ph, SG) within normal values.....

Welcome to Canreef!!

What kind of lights did you buy? Take a pic of the Zoas you found, and we can confirm they are Zoas. I'm just worried they might be some type of pest like hydroids, aiptasia or majanos. I'd also just like to see a pic of your new tank!! :D

You should not have added any invertebrates to your tank yet with the ammonia at 4ppm. That would be like bathing you for a week in bleach. I don't think you'd like that! Those bacteria packets or bottle bacterias are a well done advertising scam. You could have bought dry sand for half the price and you wouldn't be any further behind. Sorry to break it to you. You should do several large water changes (like 50-75%) to bring that ammonia down under 2ppm. With the ammonia so high it will be killing off some of the biodiversity that's on the live rock you just paid a pretty penny for.

I would suggest you remove the Bio Loops from your filter because they are designed for freshwater tanks and will become a nitrate factory in your reef tank. Be sure to throw out and replace the rest of the media at least once a week but twice a week is better. You can keep costs down by using bulk sheets of filter media that will be about 1" thick or so, just cut to size.

Take a read through some of the guides in my signature, which simplify a lot of things for you. :)

[reef bound]

Welcome to this great wonderful addicting hobby.

[Aleks]

Welcome to Canreef!!

What kind of lights did you buy? Take a pic of the Zoas you found, and we can confirm they are Zoas. I'm just worried they might be some type of pest like hydroids, aiptasia or majanos. I'd also just like to see a pic of your new tank!! :D

You should not have added any invertebrates to your tank yet with the ammonia at 4ppm. That would be like bathing you for a week in bleach. I don't think you'd like that! Those bacteria packets or bottle bacterias are a well done advertising scam. You could have bought dry sand for half the price and you wouldn't be any further behind. Sorry to break it to you. You should do several large water changes (like 50-75%) to bring that ammonia down under 2ppm. With the ammonia so high it will be killing off some of the biodiversity that's on the live rock you just paid a pretty penny for.

I would suggest you remove the Bio Loops from your filter because they are designed for freshwater tanks and will become a nitrate factory in your reef tank. Be sure to throw out and replace the rest of the media at least once a week but twice a week is better. You can keep costs down by using bulk sheets of filter media that will be about 1" thick or so, just cut to size.

Take a read through some of the guides in my signature, which simplify a lot of things for you. :)

I figured that the packet may be a wishful thing....I will do the water change, because that was gonna be my next question! What about the livestock in the rocks during cycling? Now, if I remove a bunch of ammonia, will it delay cycling? I thought the bacteria will consume it to create the nitrites and continue the cycle? No big deal, I just want to make sure its all working or I'll be chasing this problem for a while waiting for the whole cycle to continue.....

Filter media (the donuts) were always temporary, my intention with the whole filter is to just have foam and polisher, and occasionally run charcoal for clarity but not all the time. The foam is dirt cheap so no biggie, just keep the bigger stuff from hanging in the water, and let the biology do the rest (when established).

On another note, up to 6 feather dusters found, all sitting up out of the rocks proudly this AM. Also saw what I assume is considered a "pod"....Looked like an opaque spider about 2mm in size making his way up the coral? Neat to see.....I tried getting a picture of the things I think are Zoa's, but even with my photography skills there is waayyy too much distortion to get a good shot, including with my 90mm f2.8 macro lens....Maybe when it gets bigger :twised:

Thanks again for all the help, keep it coming!

[lorenz0]

No, same Aleks from every site but beyond.....turbomedic on beyond :biggrin:

No way lol. jdigital and i live across the street from you

same 2 from beyond and i am sure you are happy the exhaust is off the prelude now lol

[Aleks]

No way lol. jdigital and i live across the street from you

same 2 from beyond and i am sure you are happy the exhaust is off the prelude now lol

YES! I'm a Paramedic so I work nights, I hate the fact that my bedroom is on the front of the house.....Now who's got the blue civic?? :twised:

[lorenz0]

HA HA HA i had 23 complaints about that exhaust in a week after taking the silencer out. don't worry i hated it more than anyone on the street could which is why it came off. but the turbo accord is our other roomate.

but on another note, glad to see your in the hobby and your always welcome to come chat over here

[Aleks]

Alright.....updating things, and why not.....Levels normalized well, swapped some water, and moved some more peeps in.....Have 4 hermits (3 zebras), 2 mexican turbo's, probably 7 or so stomatellas, some little hairy hitchhiker crab thats less than 1cm in size (I'll watch him for trouble), couple little bristle worms (again hitchhiker), a bicolor chromi, and a peppermint shrimp (from RC, despite their love of aptasia there, won't touch any of mine....hmmm).....then just the GSP and the Kenya tree frag.....

Need something to stir more sand, had to do it myself this last WC cause the CuC isn't doing a good enough job getting rid of the accumilate.

Changed power head from a crappy topfin to a Koralia 1, and removed everything from my cannister as I had planned.....If my water stays clear I may eliminate it altogether because the K1 flows plenty for this tank.......Unless I pick up a surface skimmer, undecided on that, or park some rubble in it and some carbon....

[Boomboy]

welcome to canreef, i noticed your salinity is at 1.021 you should get it up to 1.024 or 1.025 before you get some corals in there. another good site for nanos with lots and lots of info on nano because nano are different than bigger tanks, is nano-reef.com go check it out.

[Aleks]

welcome to canreef, i noticed your salinity is at 1.021 you should get it up to 1.024 or 1.025 before you get some corals in there. another good site for nanos with lots and lots of info on nano because nano are different than bigger tanks, is nano-reef.com go check it out.


Hi, thanks for pointing that out, I've had SG level up to 25 for some time now, that was the first mix....And I'm on Nano reef too, same user name

[Aleks]

Found a couple more hitchikers last night....One fairly large crab with big purple claws, he barely came out and just hides under the rock...Keep an eye on him for a while make sure he isn't a trouble maker.....Annnnd, something that looks like a small brittle/sand stirring star? He is in a hole in my rock, and he hangs his arms out of multiple spots....Probably 2cm across, and white/black banding on his arms....Wish I knew what he was...

EDIT: Peeked around, definitely a black brittle star....Hope he comes out sometime....

[Aleks]

More stuff going on.....Remembered my old Aqua Clear 300 (guess now 70?) HOB filter from my FW tank was laying around, so will be doing a Fuge mod on it this week! Stock a little sand, rubble, and macro in it and see what happens! This will mean I'm taking the Fluval 204 offline, I'm only running carbon in it now anyhow......My flow characteristics will change a bit, I guess the 300 is rated for 300gph, but its indirect so I don't think it will make things go crazy compared to the 180gph directed flow from the Fluval....

Hitchhiker update... Believe I saw a green nudibranch (not lettuce, just lime green) creeping along some of my rock in the middle of the night....Couldn't get a good pic, so no way to identify.....

Where can I get Cheato locally?

[Snappy]

Welcome to CanReef and I can give you a little cheato to get you started.

[ElGuappo]

i have a thread in diy on how i moded my ac 70 into a fuge. works pretty good and i have a fair bit of sand in it as well.

[Aleks]

So finally some updates....here is the tank as it stands now.....Removed the Fluval due to piping and space requirements....and lets face it it was a PIA...

Hardware:
15G mixed reef
18lbs live rock
25lbs live sand/aragonite
CL 130W dual PC aqualight
Remora Nano skimmer
AC70/300 Fuge mod (cheato, rubble and sand) with a single halogen overhead
No filtration minus coarse foam in the fuge to keep sand out of the impeller
Hydor K1 powerhead (looking for 1 more used!)
100W heater (with mini 100W backup)

Livestock:
Maroon clown
Peppermint shrimp
Skunk cleaner shrimp
2x mexican turbo snails
4x hermits (3 zebras)
Mini black brittle star
Medium GSP colony
Purple metallic shrooms (2 large, 2 small)
Variety of Zoas (5 or so... 1 smallish medium colony, 1 small colony, and 3 frag sized bits)
Finger leather
6" bristle worm (may be larger, only seen him once....)

Pics, don't mind the white balance issue, or the remains of an algae issue.....lol....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3299/3634327208_c59c90115f.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3306/3634328724_397c016ab5.jpg?v=0
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2435/3634330174_3289bb8719.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3313/3634331638_67cf47e9d4.jpg?v=0
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2444/3633518477_57054abe59.jpg?v=0
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2442/3634334278_0f024ae583.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3304/3633521185_bb5c771cff.jpg?v=0

[BlueAbyss]

Looking good :mrgreen:

[globaldesigns]

Welcome to CanReef and I can give you a little cheato to get you started.

Be very careful of Snappy, if you get some cheato like I did, you will end up spending some money on SPS (AGAIN LIKE I DID)

He has some very nice stuff, so you better take some cashola to spend.