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Blinky

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Jun 22, 2004
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I set up my tiny reef tank today, thought I'd keep a diary for those who are interested and to track my progress. Everything I'm doing is the result of some serious lurking on nano-reef.com and reefcentral.com - if I go off the path anywhere, please feel free to correct me; I'm completely new to this side of the hobby :)

Set up/equipment:
14g tank, 10" x 20" x 16"H
20" Satellite PC w/ 40W 6700K/10 000K, 40W actinic, LED moonlight & fan
50W Ebo-Jager heater
AquaClear 70 HOB filter (will be the refugium)
13W PC desk lamp (refugium light)
Hydrometer
20lbs sugar-sized aragonite sand
13.5lbs cured Tonga live rock
Kent salt (200g worth!)
Several 18L bottles of distilled water

Right now the AquaClear is filled with floss to catch some of the bits and pieces and help clear the tank, I need to pick up some epoxy tomorrow to add a baffle and turn the filter into a refugium (I'd like to keep algae in the refugium and light it on a reverse photoperiod for nutrient export and pH stabilization).

The rock was cured for 3 weeks in the store, it doesn't look like there's actually much growing on it but there's space in the tank for more. If this rock doesn't produce 'critters', I can always put some more rock from a different source into the tank.

I bought a little powerhead (used, from work), the suction cups are no good, I will buy an algae magnet to silicone the pump to. Once it's cured, I'll install the PH but for now the AC is providing lots of circulation - it will slow when I add the baffle and possibly change the impeller for a smaller one so the water flow through the refugium is slower.

I'm primarily interested in keeping soft corals, an emerald crab, a few shrimp, snails and hermit crabs, and in no rush to stock the tank (my pockets are nearly empty!).

Tonight the salinity is 1.023, the pH is 7.9 or 8.0 (3 hours after lights out) - I will be purchasing something to buffer it at work tomorrow. The temperature is 79F. It's still pretty cloudy, but I'm pleased with how it looks so far :D

[Edit] forgot to add, I used distilled water (not exposed to copper coils, label lists Cu content as 0) to mix the salt. [/Edit]

Here are a few pictures of the tank tonight:
Here's how it looks with just the actinic bulb on:


The setup with just the refugium and moonlight on (I lifted the fuge light up so it would shine into the tank, there's not this much light spill when it's laying on the filter):


Some interesting growth on the rock (sorry for the lousy pic, it looks like there may be bits of pink coral and some green coralline algae, not sure)
 
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Oliver

Oliver
Jan 17, 2005
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starting to look good, welcome to the 'other side'. I don't think you should get any hermit crabs because when they need a new shell they kill the snails in order to get a shell. But if you keep spare ones in there is will probebly be ok. You should now wait a few days, advisebly a week, and test your water every 2nd day for ammonia and nitrite. If they are both 0 after about 1 week then you can slowly start to get some hardy critters in there. Take it slow when adding things though, if the bio-load gets to high then you will get a spike. Good Luck!
 

Blinky

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Jun 22, 2004
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Things are progressing slowly but surely...
Tested NO2 today, it's 0.03ppm. I realized I need a SW ammonia kit, the one I have is designed for FW only. Luckily, I'm going back to work tomorrow and I'll be able to purchase one there.
I bought an AquaClear 200 impeller assembly and replaced the one that came with the filter. The water flow is noticably slower, I hope it's slow enough - evidently if it's too fast, the macroalgae doesn't have time to 'scrub' the water clean of nitrate. Still need to turn the filter basket into a baffle, but I need to grab some marine epoxy (silicone apparantly doesn't work well with this type of plastic).
Test results:
pH 8.0
KH 120ppm
NO2 0.3ppm
PO4 0.25ppm
Ca 360ppm
salinity measured 1.021, so I added a little more salt along with a tiny bit of top-off water.
I found some suction cups for the PH (AquaClear 101) at work (gotta love the back room, there are all sort of little treasures in there!). I installed the PH in the tank across from the filter outflow, there's now quite a bit of current in the tank.
There are some emerald crabs at work, they're amazing little critters. I'd like to get one when the tank is fully cycled.
 
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mogurnda

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Apr 29, 2003
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Wow! Looks like things are going really well.

I wouldn't worry too much about the pH just yet. For the moment, just keep an eye on the ammonia and salinity.
 

Blinky

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Jun 22, 2004
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Today I got a SW ammonia test kit, NH3 measures <0.1ppm (nearly zero). NO2 has gone up to ~0.5ppm.
The water is really clearing up, still a bit 'dusty' looking. Something on the rock is dying off, becoming slightly fuzzy looking - I think it's pieces of sponge.
Got some Caulerpa and threw it in the HOB, still need to get epoxy and add a baffle, need to do that ASAP - the flow is probably way too fast for the algae to remove many nutrients. I'm a tad concerned about the mysterious PO4 reading, hope the macro algae will help take care of it before other algae begins to grow all over my rocks.
I'm very curious about the little pink bits, I think they're a type of coral but I can't find any information on them. A friend at work said they're probably little pieces of hard coral that will either die or take years to grow into anything more than the teeny nubs they are now.
No hitchikers to report, though I haven't lost hope yet. I find myself sitting in front of the (empty) tank for hours at a time - you know you're truly a fish geek when...
 

mogurnda

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Apr 29, 2003
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The PO4 may be coming from the die-off. In a small tank, it doesn't take much to bring it up.

I can't remember hearing of tiny pink stony corals. I'd guess foraminifera or some weird coralline. If it is a coral, I suspect it will survive if it has made it this far. I have had some teeny polyps develop into nice colonies.
 

Blinky

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Jun 22, 2004
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Ugh, bring on the algae!
Looks like the tank is cycling right along, ammonia is now 0. Nitrates are still nearly zero, but the nitrites are <0.1 (the colour is lighter than the lowest measureable test result) so I'm guessing they'll start to rise quite soon. PO4 is still just under 0.25. Because it's not going down (I guess the Caulerpa can't keep up) I'll probably do a water change tomorrow to help lower the levels and maybe slow the algae down a bit.
I'm seeing some brown diatoms on the rocks (just a little), some velvety red algae that I believe is cyano (a rather large patch on one of the rocks), and tiny tiny clumps of green hair-like algae in two spots.
I'm researching an appropriate clean-up crew, hoping to add a few crabs/snails as soon as the cycle finishes.

I've been looking for a fish or two that would suit the size of the tank and that both my husband and I will enjoy. I really like the way damsels look, but I've read way too many horror stories to even consider them in my tank. I fell in love with a little green chromis at work (such a cute face!), but my hubby thinks they're bland, and wants a colourful fish. I think a six-line wrasse would make us both happy and could live happily in a 14g tank, and we both think they're beautiful. I also wondered about keeping a pistol shrimp and a goby (hoping they'd pair up), but I'm not sure if they'd mix with the wrasse or if that would be too much bioload.

Off to do more research! :D
 

reiverix

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Sep 4, 2004
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I was planning to add a firefish to my nano. They look really neat but it will be the only fish I'll stock since it's only a 10g. Your tank is looking nice, Blinky.
 

Blinky

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Jun 22, 2004
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Heya Reiverx, thanks for the compliment, I'm really happy with the tank so far :)

Things are going well, the spike is over and the algae are slowly but surely making more of an appearance. I figure it's time to bring in the 'cleaners', so I recently added five zebra hermit crabs and plan to pick up a few snails today. I'm still undecided about getting an emerald crab - I've read that they can be wonderful and awful, and there's no way to tell which you're going to get.
When I got the hermits I also picked up a small tiger pistol shrimp, he's busy excavating as I write :D. One of the tigers at the store had paired up with a goby, their behaviour was fascinating to watch. When the tank is ready for fish, the first one in will be a goby (not sure what type yet). Once the more docile goby is established and the tank has had time to adjust, I'll go looking for a small sixline wrasse (I understand they should be the last fish added, or they'll attack any new fish introduced into 'their' tank).
I'm getting excited about eventually adding corals. I'm hoping to find 'frags', as it's a small tank and I like to watch things grow rather than adding them full size. The soft corals that really appeal to me so far are mushrooms (different colours), hammer, and xenia (I know many people aren't fond of it, but it's pretty). Little 'zoos' are gorgeous as well, they look like fields of daisies to me.

June 15th I did a 3.5g (35%) water change.

Yesterday I took apart the refugium - the silicone wasn't holdng so it hasn't been on the tank for a couple days, I've just been keeping the Caulerpa in a jar under some light. I used epoxy and a piece of plexiglass to create a baffle, put 1.5" of aragonite and the Caulerpa into the fuge and it seems to be working well. Now that the macro will have an appropriate place to grow (with 24h lighting), I'm hoping to see the NO3 and PO4 go down within the next few days.

This morning's test results:
NH3 0
NO2 0
NO3 5
PO4 <0.25
pH 8.2
salinity 1.023
 

pl*co

Feeds low on the food chain
Jul 18, 2004
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That's a really nice piece of LR, Blinky. As for the fish/inverts, think of something that could take advantage of all those nice little "caves". Time for a recent pic of the tank? :D
 
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