My 20 Gallon Nano Reef Journal

[DarthPadre]

Before the update, Joey, there are tears in my eyes - truly! Look at the positive, though. You didn't put fish or coral in yet, and your losses were very small. Your tank did pretty damn well for having base rock only in it. I have so much to say. I'll keep it as short as possible. You have three choices at this point, IMO. #1 - Go with what the shop keeper said and add live sand and wait and wait and wait for the rocks to become live and cycle properly. #2 - Take half or more of the current rock out and replace with LR (along with the live sand), and I highly suggest uncured for many reasons (listed in previous posts), but specifically in your case to give the base rocks longer to become live. #3 - Start over. I would go with #2. It's probably the least expensive and will probably be the quickest cycle (unless you go with #3 and cured rock). Even if it's free, I would stay away from coral on the LR at this point. Starting over isn't a bad thing either. We've learned so much over these past two months and you can use that experience. Just don't give up now.

3/29/09

Nitrates closing in on 10, which was rather quick this time, but the tank has a fish and is being fed. Lost another Margarita. This time I noticed it upside down in the evening, but have seen them right themselves many times, so just left it. Woke this morning and the hermits had already had their way with him. I know this is completely natural behavior, but this (both the snails dieing and the hermits scavenging) is an indication that there's not enough (my glass is always clean now) for them to eat, or I'm overpopulated. Either way, I have lost a total of 5 snails now out of a total of 19. I know inverts are "disposable" and am not completely concerned at this point, but I don't believe I need to add any more inverts (maybe replace the Nassarius) and will keep a close watch - goes without being said. Goby is more comfortable. It doesn't mind me watching it and doesn't spook when I move, but it hasn't found a home yet and hasn't eaten (or I just haven't seen it eat). I turned off the HOB filter and moved some of the LR to the center of the tank to create a mini cavern and, hopefully, a more hospitable area for the goby. After everything settled I turned the HOB back on. Topped off the tank with saltwater to replace the loss from yesterday's acclimation.

 

[Joeyb1731]

Im just not ready to go through another 2 months of this. The guy told me that they have the base rock sitting in the tubs with uncured live rock for months at a time. He said to not touch it, and dont add anymore live rock. He said there is enough bacteria on it to still get me through the cycle and there is enough life in it to do what live rock does, he said the only thing different that I need to do is not add snails untill months down the road, he said let the tank stable out, and continue what I was doing, just skip the clean up crew for now until I have enough algae for them. I just dont know man, im stressed. I think I really need to sleep on it though and see what im gonna do. I might just do what you said and take 2 of my smaller pieces of gay base rock into him and have him weigh them (prob like 5-7 pounds) and trade it in for the actual cured live rock,which they have IN THE SAME TANK as the crap they gave me. I want to scream, that kid was an idiottt it was right there next to the crap he sold me. O also I dont know if you know this, I know you use instant ocean, I was told by the good fish store that if you want to keep corals, instant ocean is no good, and also No carbon when you put them in. Just FYI

 

[DarthPadre]

IO is fine for "beginner" coral (polyps, mushrooms, trees). In fact, some say IO is the only way to go. IO does make a reef mix which I may switch to, but haven't done any research yet. I haven't heard about the carbon, though. So you're saying when acclimating coral take the carbon out? Then put it back in after the few days of light acclimation or something? Please share.

 

[Joeyb1731]

Well from what he said the carbon pulls out stuff that the corals need to properly grow and that when you get corals take the carbon out and leave it out forever.

 

[DarthPadre]

3/30/09

Nitrates now around 15. Goby seems much more at home. He has a home/hole and is eating. I was feeding twice a day but with the increased Nitrates I may cut down to once. Prepared more saltwater in case of emergency PWC. Researched IO and other salt products. Normal IO doesn't have the trace elements in it, their reef formula does. If you are keeping soft coral. like I plan to do, IO is fine, either product. The best advice I read was to actually mix different types of salts as each one offers something different (and lacks something different for that matter). I plan to mainly use IO, but mix other salts randomly. I haven't read anything about the charcoal/carbon so am planning on starting a new post under the Saltwater forum to see what people say.

(Opinion - Regarding Coral: Try to acquire Aquaculture Coral. This is farmed, captive grown, coral and has very little impact on natural reefs. Though I know for a fact that the aquarium hobby/industry does an extremely small percentage of the overall damage to natural reefs, I truly believe we should all just be conscious of the impact. And remember, I say "try" as I know rare and exotic coral is hard to get, and Aquaculture is sometimes more expensive.)

 

[quaddity]

Instant Ocean is fine. See my 90 reef as evidence. Always have used Instant Ocean in it.
http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/saltwater-general-discussion/54847-my-90-a.html

Don't bother mixing just pick a salt and go with it. What you want to do is regular water changes. Do those weekly and it really don't matter what salt you're using. If you are running heavy SPS coral in the tank then you'll want to keep you Calcium and Alk levels good with dosing.

Look in your area for a local reef club. You'll have access to a lot of coral frags for cheap, many of them you won't see at an LFS either.

I'd say 19 snails might be too much in that tank unless it's heavily overgrown with algae. Best way is to add a few at a time, if they aren't doing a good enough job, add a few more, etc.

 

[DarthPadre]

3/31/09

Nitrates now at 20. I noticed detritus on the intake filters on both powerheads and inside the HOB filter. I placed snails directly on the intakes, which worked great. I will probably put one in the HOB also (will take the carbon out before I do this). Goby is eating regularly and is very calm. I was told that carbon will take some trace elements out of the water (the bad), and will also remove some toxins from the water produced by coral (the good). Also, the sock I am using is most likely a Nitrate factory unless I rinse in regularly. Currently undecided as to what I'm actually going to do with the HOB. Seems like a mixed bag.

(quaddity - That's great advice about a local reef club - reef safe and cheap. Yes, 19 snails and 10 hermits was way too much. Starting out slowly and adding inverts as needed is a much better plan than adding a full crew right off the bat.)

 

[DarthPadre]

4/1/09

Removed the carbon sock from HOB last night. Nitrates barely increased this morning. This is a good sign. The bag had green slime all over it, which I rinsed, but am yet to put it back in. I still am undecided about what to do with the HOB if anything. Goby is doing great. I even watched him hunt down a silverfish looking bug. I plan to get him a buddy or two very soon. I am currently performing PWC's every 5 days and will continue to do so until Nitrates stay under 10, at which time I will go to every 7 days and finally start thinking about adding coral.

 

[Chris_A]

I'd say if nothing else the HOB provides flow, worth keeping even if you do remove the media. I might have missed it but what type is it?

 

[Joeyb1731]

Darth i got my REAL live rock today. I replaced it all. Kept the sand, just switched the rock. Wish me luck, I think im gonna make my own thread for my adventure that ive had so far

 

[DarthPadre]

4/2/2009

Nitrates at 40. Performed PWC. There are no longer pockets of ash so I simply performed a top water change. I also removed the powerhead intake filters and manually cleaned them, and dropped a snail in the HOB (it's a Tetra - Whisper EX20 with absolutely nothing in it - no plastic, no inserts, no sock). I've seen a lot more critters in the tank - some tiny long looking shrimp/worm/silverfish things and a tiny green worm. I'm also seeing brown algae on the glass and the sand. I may trade some hermits or margaritas for a couple of asteras and nassarius.

 

[DarthPadre]

4/3/09

Nitrates still at 40 even after PWC. I am limiting feeding and will start running both lights (daylight and actinic) to encourage more growth. I will prep more water tomorrow and will perform another PWC if Nitrates get higher.

 

[DarthPadre]

4/6/09

Nitrates were 30 on the 5th. I must have screwed up the test the day before. Nitrates today were back at 40. I plan on a PWC tomorrow. I black and white striped worm killed a Margrita snail and I was lucky enough to get him in time, and remove him. Traded in the rest of the Margritas for 3 more Astreas and 1 Nassarius. The tank is now almost completely covered in brown algae. I will give the Astreas a few days to clean, but it looks so bad I may scrub the glass myself.

 

[AlleyKatt]

Alot of folks fill HOB's with LR rubble this give's more LR surface area, in a dark place where bacteria can thrive with maximum water flow. I have a teeny Aquatech on my 10 gal crammed full of LR rubble and it has helped immensely. Just a thought.

Seems you guys went about your first sw tanks the same way I did. I had to give up the daily testing and switched to twice weekly. I havent lost anything yet even though the params are far from stable. I was driving my self nuts with the testing though. Had to have it perfect with no exceptions... Once I gave up on daily testing my hair started growing back in the patches I'd yanked out.

Good luck guy's.

 

[DarthPadre]

4/7/09

Nitrates were at 40 so I performed a 20% PWC (normally I do 10%) and with a dose of Prime. Brown crap all over the tank. I cleaned the glass and tried to net as many of the particles as possible (and fed it to the FW tank). The stuff that wasn't netted was hunted down and eaten by all of the inverts. Speaking of which I keep finding more and more. The two newest are a tiny (1/4") looking dungeness crab (this has to be bad) and another hairy worm (bristle worm?).

(Alley - Awesome idea, and I'm ashamed I didn't think of it myself. Turn the HOB into a mini sump. Thank you.)

 

[DarthPadre]

4/8/09

Nitrates down to 10. Even though I did a 20% change yesterday I didn't expect a reading that low. I suspect my test kit is screwing up (always blame the equipment). Caught and removed the hairy worm. I also gathered the few little pieces of LR from the tank and dropped them in the HOB.

 

[Chris_A]

Perhaps take a look at the Seachem test kits when you need new ones. They come with a standard referance solution so you can make sure the kit is working (or you are using the kit properly ).

Chris

 

[DarthPadre]

I know for a fact that I wasn't using it correctly for the first few times. You have to shake the second bottle before adding it and since I didn't at first I think all the tests I perform now are suspect. I'll check out the Seachem kit. Thanks for the suggestion.

And the worm was a bristle worm. Good thing I used a net to get him out and not my hands. I will definitely be picking up some gloves this weekend, especially with coarl in my future.

 

[DarthPadre]

4/12/09

Another crab died. Nitrates fluctuate between 10 - 20. Performed another 20% PWC yesterday. Also picked up another yellow coral goby so the clown has a friend. It hasn't eaten yet but is acclimating well. The brown diatoms that I scraped off a few days ago has barely grown back. Its growth has definitely slowed down since the Nitrates have been lower and the Astreas and Conch are doing great jobs keeping everything much cleaner.

 

[DarthPadre]

4/16/09

Nitrates around 20 before PWC and less than 5 the day after. Everything is doing well, including the new goby. Though the green was picking on him (he's twice as big), the yellow found a home and is now even more active than the green. Diatoms (I'm pretty sure that's what all the brown growth was) are much more under control. I am now feeding twice a day again.