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
[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)
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
[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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