Carbon filter

[Wilioli]

hahahhaa, FINE! WE'LL SETTLE FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS.. lol!!! Its just getting boring watching this crabs analyze everything soo slowly and then move on! lol lol lol!

so what kinda fish you recommend for a 10 gallon? most if not all will eventually outgrow it, and yes ill transfer them to the 40.... is that what u meant? like skunks will be fine in the 10.. for now.. then outgrow? how long does it take fish to 'grow'.. ?

final question (for this thread).. what do you have in ur 10 gallon? equipment as well as 'livestock'

 

[Wilioli]

i didnt meant this thread, i meant for that posting.. THERE'S A TON MORE COMIN! lol

 

[Newman]

LOL
Here's a thread on my 10 gal:
Newman's 10 Gallon Contest Nano - Nano-Reef.com Forums
The tank look a bit different now, so the FTS is outdated by aout 1 month but each month I post up a new FTS so you can see progress.
But i am still having cyano issues there, so thats one thing that hasnt changed xD
I expect to eventually overcome it like i did in my 3 gal.

lgreen's Ultimate Guide To Nano Fish - Nano-Reef.com Forums
that link shows what kinds of fish can be kept in tank various sizes.

 

[Wilioli]

wow.. that guide to nano fish -- unbelievable and ur tank -- awesome! looks great... i think u'r tanks look has convinced me to get rid of my crushed coral and get live sand... looks amazing -- my tank is pathetic lol i have one 11 watt lightbulb.. pure patheticness.. dang... that forum is great too -- u know any other good ones that aren't just nano reefing?

 

[Newman]

that forum is not JUST nano reefing, it has all the components of a SW forum. you can discuss and share FOWLR tanks, giant reefs, its all there if you look.

My tank is kinda lame, idk why you think its cool haha, there are tons of others' 10 gals that look much better than mine (but mine's just starting out )

Live sand is not necessary at all, you can still go with your crushed coral sand if you'd like, they key is live rock (or either one or the other "live" item to seed the other non-live item) so your LR will work with your crushed coral sand.

Remember that guide to nano fish isnt perfect, and you should still research the fish listed to make sure they truly will be comfortable in your tank size for the duration of their lives. for example keeping a pygmy angle in a 10 gallon is generally not a good idea, even though some people do it. that fish will appreciate a lot more room (i picked it as an example because i wanted it in my 10 gal, but decided against )

11 watts over 10 gallons is fairly low (I notice at 4wpg my corals still stretch for light) so its best you go for something around 4-5 wpg or more if you think you can handle it.

 

[Wilioli]

ok so several updates -- not that you care -- but I do.. lol, and u are still responding back, so thats a good sign.. and there are 147 views on this... soo.. lol

I swapped for the live sand -- got rid of the crushed coral, put in live sand... this may have affected the crabs.. i hope not.. i was startin to like their stubborn ways... -- but i did it.

I also joined nano reef -- ur right, I was gonna message here sayin that its a lot more than just nano.. its excellent.. tons of info there -- and seeing all of that info and to be honest ur tank as well, iv decided to make this tank a little more than just an experiment.

The lfs didnt' have maxi 400's (that what i decided to get), but they had maxi 600 on sale.. and it was 50gph more than the 400... total of 160gph? somethin like that.... i thought, hey why not, the more the better, and its not overkill... the thing is massive.. i didnt realize how big it would look until i put it in the aquarium...im waiting for this mini sandstorm to settle to really see how ridiculous it looks... but hey.. wtv ...

Oh and at the lfs I asked for filter floss and was told they didnt have any but to just get the sponge filter and how its the best thing i could ever do. I declined, and that was that. can i put any regular sponge in there? like buy a whole bunch from the dollar store, and just reuse or chuck em every month or so?

 

[Newman]

nah, you need to be chucking that stuff twice a week at least, which is why filter floss is preferred. its cheap and can be ripped apart for usable small quantities at a time. its pillow stuffing i guess, the stuff you can get at most craft stores is basically the filter floss you use, but do a little research in case i am wrong. just search the cheapest filter floss method and you'll find what you need (look for forums that discuss it)

Now I gotta find you on NR

 

[Wilioli]

sand storm settled, and i think i have some sand settling on the live rock... argh...
so checked levels to see if i f'ed anything up... Ammonia and nitrites still zero.. nitrates seem to have increased from the 10-15 mark to the 15-20 mark...

i looked up the filter floss thing... looks like im goin to walmart and gettin me some pillow stuffer... the wife is gonna be pleased, until she see's that im rippin it apart for filter media... meh

I'm going to take ur advice for the magfloat scrubber thing... -- while i was doin the sand transfer i decided to wipe the aquarium with just a sponge, and well, streak marks everywhere.. lol

And im likin the maxijet..
AAnnnd, this thread is now a 'red envelope', so i spruced up this message with emoticons.. hahaha *DRUMMER*

 

[OrangeCones]

its pillow stuffing i guess, the stuff you can get at most craft stores is basically the filter floss you use, but do a little research in case i am wrong.

Pillow stuffing, filter floss, indeed one and the same

 

[Wilioli]

Pillow stuffing, filter floss, indeed one and the same

thanks for the confirmation!

 

[Newman]

just turkey baste thats sand off the rocks. I used to do that daily when i first set up my 3 gal. a turkey baster is a good tool to have for your tank.

nitrates will always be rising, of course, because there are animals in your tank that are producing waste. (hermits and other critters)
I'd do a water change sometimes this week if I were you. the goal is to keep nitrates below 20ppm for now. ultimate goal is to get them around 0. (you do this with macroalgae or other more complicated methods)

 

[Wilioli]

so thats what i was doin today..went to the dollar store adn got a turkey baster -- 'basted' the s@#t outta the rock, and of course created a sandstorm... round 2 is later tonite, with more patience and precision! Went to get that magnawipe thing -- i cant remember the name -- but anyways, right next to it was a 'scrub attached to a handle' for 4 bucks.. got that instead.. lol, cheaped out on that, and its all good..

I didn't realize that nitrates could actually be at the zero level -- but i guess thats the level that you need for the corals.. -- corals first or fish first? does it matter?

I read about calcium today -- importance for corals, etc -- couldnt find anything on natural sources to keep calcium levels appropriate, or increased -- is everything additives? i could start a new thread, but i think we'll stick to this one thats on fire (red envelope).. -- this is my first time on a thread thats gone on fire.. so im a little excited...

I'll do a water change friday nite, or saturday.. I got some studyin to do, and prolly some family quality time spending as well.. But i cant stop reading about soft corals.. lol

 

[Newman]

lol

how is that scrubber on a stick working for ya? xD

nitrates will be 0 in your tank when you first experience your real algae bloom. i dont mean just the starting diatoms, but sometimes along the line you may make a slip up in maintenance, and your tank will get trashed by some sort of algae. when that happens the algae will literally be taking all the nitrate out for the water. thats one very common way that the nitrates will be 0. another way is the preferred way, thats to keep macro algae around, like Chaetomorpha algae for example.

Not all corals will like 0 nitrates in the water, but most common corals will appreciate a number close to that.

fish or corals first, I dont think it matters much. ive seen people do things differently.

most soft corals like zoas, palys and mushrooms wouldnt mind a nitrate level, but as always you must keep it lower than about 20ppm.

The natural way to replenish calcium and alkalinity in a small tank like ours is to do water changes. i do not suggest additives when youre just starting, until you truly understand them and you test for what you're adding to the tank. so forget about things like C Balance for now.

good luck

 

[Wilioli]

there's a lot of great txt on nanoreef bout corals -- ur right -- the soft corals that u mentioned can 'deal' with that level of nitrate -- possibly using it as nutrition?

I've seen ppl mention Chaetomorpha a lot -- but i gotta have constant lighting on it (opposite light as the DT) and in a refugium?! thats gonna have to come later... lol -- i dunno bout that.. where in ur tank do u have that? i dont remember seein it in ur pics?

scrubber on a stick is... a scrubber... on a stick.. lol, it works... so far.. and it even wipes the salt stains too..

round 2 was brutal.. i keep blasting the sand too hard, and creating sand storms -- the rock is covered in sand again.. lol -- round 3 was the same! round 4 comin up tomorrow

 

[Newman]

lol keep at that sand, itll go down eventually xD

my chaeto is in my AC110. You do need to keep a light source over it and preferably on a reverse cycle as the display. This whole refugium thing can come later when you want it. or you can just place the chaeto in the DT but that doesnt help with the pH swinging issue...it will of course help with nitrates and phosphates however.

yea corals have internal symbyotic algae called zooxanthellae or something liek that, and although the algae will take ints ammonia/nitrogen requirements directly from the coral's waste, it can probably take the nitrates/ammonia/nitrite from the water column in small amounts as well.

 

[Wilioli]

the sand has been 85% blasted.. the other 15% is places 'u dont look at' and i know if i blast it there its gonna create another storm, and im done with that.. i'd like to start a sticky on sand blasting.. lol

soooo, one of my hermit crabs DIED... its out of the shell just.. lying there.. felt horrible... the other two seem.. lethargic, and one is just a trooper...

ammonia: 0, nitrites: 0, nitrates: 15, ph : 7.8 (its a bit low, but its been like this all the time .. stable at this), carbonate: 11 -- i checked everything to see what i did wrong... im guessin the detritus of the sandstorm? i dunno...

im gonna keep that dead crab in there to see what happens to the ammonia for the next couple days.. well at least tomorrow... then water change..

oh and the filter floss.. ive changed it 3 times in two days! Got brown reaaal quick both times.. like reaally really brown...

 

[Newman]

good call, keep changing it if it gets brown.

maybe the dead crab was a molt? are all crabs still in their respective shells? or can you find the abandoned shell of that crab? I hope you've also placed plenty of extra shells in the tank otherwise they will kill each other for shells..(one reason why i only keep one hermit)

7.8pH sounds way too low, it should not get below the 8 pH mark. test your new water change water, you should be mixing according to instructions (or for around 1.024-1.025 SG) that will give you around 8.1-8.3 pH and it should never go down lower than that. lethargicness can be indicative of pH swings. idk how its happening in your tank, but you changed the water recently right? did you do anything wrong? try to get your tank water to the same specifications as your new SW.
BTW what salt mix are you using? what do the instructions on the packaging of the salt mix say? they should give how much to mix per gallon and the exact specifications of the water if mixed like that (it will list calcium, magnesium, pH, SG and w/e else for the salt)

 

[Wilioli]

yea I was actually reading forums on hermit crab molting -- and trying to figure out if it did molt would it 'molt' its whole body in one piece? i always thought it wouldnt be such an 'impressive' intact structure... and with color? like the legs are brown, etc etc -- but... ur right, i have still yet to find the empty shell... and there are plenty of shells in the tank.. .i went thru an ocd phase of finding teh right size of shell for the crabs and ended up getting too many... which i still think could all be the wrong size.. lol

so tell my sg is actually 1.022-1.023.. I read somewhere that thats the ample sg for cycling? I dont want to just say the lfs told me that as well (cause they did) but i did read that too! I'm using instant ocean salt mix... the directions say if you follow their specifications u'll get 1.022 but that they recommend 1.024-1.025 -- there's no calcium magnesium or other levels listed. just sg, and it says its phosphate free...

no water change yet -- im gonna do a water change with a slightly hypertonic solution to slowly increase the sg of this tank -- hopefully that'll take care of business

 

[Newman]

yes good plan. start mixing SW to 1.024-25 and doing water changes with that. but not right now, when your nitrate gets to 20ppm or so. Also once you are sure that your tank is cycled, you can start doing weekly water changes regardless of nitrates levels (i mean if theyre low dont wait till next week, do the change anyway)

IO salt is what i use (I use reef crystal version. reg IO is the same thing). the pH of that mixed water should not be in the 7s. You will fix that with time like you said. water changes.

you can cycle at tank at any SW salinity. it may be optimum, but the tank will cycle just about the same at any other salinity.

About the crab molt, they are colored, but i cant tell how impressive or intact your's was because it would be hard to take a clear pic of that (and its probably gone by now)
did it have the soft posterior en of the body attached? that body looks soft, gross and curled like a worm. or did it just have the anterior colored carapace? try to keep searching for your crabs and see if you can find all of them lol.

 

[Wilioli]

I'm going to try and take some pics of the crabs... lol -- I've been searching I have no idea.. the thing is it was the anterior part, and this pinkish fleshy looking attachment -- that looked like it was 'ripped'. Almost looked like it got ripped out of its shell? But no wormy or anything definitive body looking piece.. meh, ill look around, see what the deal is...

Yea I'll wait to do the water changes.. I wanted this piece of molt/carcass to have been gone by now, but its still in the tank, just sitting there.. lol, crabs aren't goin near it, thought they would have devoured it.. But maybe they are mourning.. lol

I was lookin at your pics of your tank. The first page of your thread, that first picture -- is that the one you were saying is the most recent? Do you by any chance have any pics of your refugium? Curious to see your setup there -- I was telling my wife about it (forcing the information to her lol) -- showed her some pics of how much space your filter takes up on the top border of the tank compared to ours.. lol