So my LFS took my Fiddler crabs, I decided to start a Nano.

kgb

kgb

Small Fish
#1
Jul 29, 2005
22
0
0
Mesa, AZ
#1
I've been pondering a couple things now; did I already mess up by not putting RO water in there? Would CC would be a good substrate for this, as the tank is small? I have a filter running with no media, and a powerhead in there and currently being heated with a Hagen heater, and I have two more choices for backup heating. Put the smaller heater in the partof the filter where the water collects, or just put another Hagen heater somewhere in the tank (maybe horizontal?)?
 

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FroggyFox

FroggyFox

Forum Manager
Moderator
#4
May 16, 2003
8,589
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Colorado
#4
I would use sand personally...the critters like digging in it :) You can make the sand or gravel bed as deep as you want to...its mostly for asthetics. If its sand and you have critters that live in the sand then you should probably have at least a couple inches.

RO water is not 100% necessary, but generally better to use because sometimes tap water has stuff in it that causes algae blooms. Mine tested OK and knock on wood I dont have a bad algae problem, but its only been up for a month so its still very new.

Living in AZ I wouldn't think you'd need to worry too much about backup heating. If you're having issues you could pull out the one that isn't working and put another heater in?? We're not talkin a very big tank (as nano implies...)
 

kgb

kgb

Small Fish
#6
Jul 29, 2005
22
0
0
Mesa, AZ
#6
I mixed in CC with some finely crushed CC, I'll see where that takes me. I was |----| THIS close to buying Somoa Pink Sand though. It looks beautiful. Picked up some BIO spira also...
 

lordroad

lordroad

Large Fish
#8
Sep 2, 2004
989
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Shelby, NC
www.joshday.com
#8
Comes in marine too. I was wondering the same thing when the owners of the new LFS in the area talked about cycling their marine fish tanks without live rock. Can't vouch for the product but I have seen it work. I'm friends with the lfs owners so I can vouch for them, though. :)
 

OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#10
Jul 29, 2004
1,817
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New Jersey
#10
I didnt know they even made a Bio-Spira for salt water. But either way Id think the live rock method is smarter (unless you dont plan to put any live rock in there), are you plannin on live rock?
 

kgb

kgb

Small Fish
#11
Jul 29, 2005
22
0
0
Mesa, AZ
#11
Yes, theres actually some in there now. I went out earlier and got a bag of "Tropical Play Sand" (just in case) which is supposedly safe for aquariums (same stuff as Caribsea, heard from another forum), then went to PetCo and asked if they were still selling LR, and she said yes, so I bought five pounds to start with, and get more when I can.

EDIT: I put filter media in my powerfilter also, should I just take it out now that I have the LR?
 

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OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#14
Jul 29, 2004
1,817
5
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New Jersey
#14
the floss wont do much imp except trap nitrates and cause some problems. If your looking for a way to trap debris and such, once your tank is cycled a cleaning will do that.


As for the live rock, is it cured? Also be carefullw hat ya buy at Petco, they tend to have some weird rock and may try and sell you base rock and cheap rock.
 

kgb

kgb

Small Fish
#15
Jul 29, 2005
22
0
0
Mesa, AZ
#15
I think it's cured, they had it in their tanks (does that help?). When I saw the tag it was being sold as "Fiji Live Rock", it looks pretty live to me (lol), coraline algae on it. Looks like they were selling a tube worm(correct me if I'm wrong) that was growing on it.
 

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