misenplace101
New member
Great start amd plans...keep up the great job.
Love the cube tank..... take your time and don't rush it.
Love the cube tank..... take your time and don't rush it.
Scotty's 28 cubed
- Thread starter scotty
- Start date
scotty
Member
thanks guys.
yeah i did get almost too many hitchhikers. started getting annoying after the 2nd gorilla/rock crab, the huge isopod i had scared me pretty good, the fish are only a month old cause of that, i didn't want dracula sucking my investment dry so i made sure there weren't any others, the other ones were of the veggie variety. the amount of fauna on the rock is pretty evident of the quality of rock, and i got it at a liquidation sale down in tinley park none the less!
Some good size worms started showing up too, and i saw my first baby brittle this week got excited about that.
yeah i did get almost too many hitchhikers. started getting annoying after the 2nd gorilla/rock crab, the huge isopod i had scared me pretty good, the fish are only a month old cause of that, i didn't want dracula sucking my investment dry so i made sure there weren't any others, the other ones were of the veggie variety. the amount of fauna on the rock is pretty evident of the quality of rock, and i got it at a liquidation sale down in tinley park none the less!
Some good size worms started showing up too, and i saw my first baby brittle this week got excited about that.
scotty
Member
Natural Filtration
by Christopher Marks
The methods used to maintain a nano reef can vary greatly throughout the hobby. The methods described below are what I have found to work best in maintaining a successful nano reef. Simplicity is the key in nano reef keeping; inexpensive and easy to follow. This is of course by no means the only way to keep a nano reef. I will try to best explain everything, but should you have any further questions with this, please search existing topics or start a new topic on the forums.
The natural method of filtration consists of only liverock and livesand. No protein skimmers are used and no additives are dosed. The nutrient export is provided by frequent partial water changes of 10-15% about every week. Trace elements are replenished through water changes.
As you go about purchasing all of the supplies for your new nano reef, you're going to have to make a decision on which salt mix you should use. Because no additional dosing is usually done with this method, you will want to be using a good reef salt mix. Not all reef salts are created equal however. Unfortunately there is no set data that clearly shows which salt is better over another, which makes the decision even more difficult. The best recommendation I can make is to search around the online forums and see which ones people like best from their experiences.
When starting out your nano reef, your first livestock purchase will be liverock and livesand. You will want to purchase the highest quality live rock as you can possible afford. It will be the entire basis of your filtration so there should be no skimping. Only a small quantity of liverock is needed, so cost shouldn't be so much of an issue. For information on the different types of liverock, refer to the Liverock Selection article. Placement of your liverock can be nearly anything you like, just keep in mind that the more open it is the better.
In this type of system livesand is also important. You can purchase livesand from a variety of places, or create your own livesand by seeding dead aragonite with some sand from an established system. The depth of sand can vary to anything you like. Sand beds from 1/4"; to 4"; won't produce much of a difference in this system, but there are benefits to both. If the bed is deeper is tends to be a more efficient filter. If you choose to have a deep sand bed, make sure you have plenty of detrivores to keep the sand stirred.
With this natural method, no protein skimmers or dosing is used. Studies of skimmers have shown that they remove various trace elements, along with pods and plankton. When people run protein skimmers, they dose trace elements to replenish them after their corals and skimmers use them. Because the skimmer removes most of the elements, such as iodine, it is dosed back in causing almost an endless cycle. The main problem this holds in nano reefing is that many of the trace elements cannot be easily tested for, so no one ever knows where their level is. This can lead to overdosing which will crash a nano reef in a matter of hours. The skimmer also begins to starve your corals by removing their food source. It's simply too risky.
Protein skimmers are beneficial however, because they remove excess nutrients from the water, but this advantage is out weighed by the disadvantages. To remove the excess nutrients from this system you do a partial water change. The water change also doubles to replenish your trace elements, which are in your synthetic sea salt. Nitrates are removed, dissolved organic compounds are removed, and your trace elements are replaced. Your nitrates will always be at or near zero, and the elements will stay at a consistant level.
The whole maintenance procedure only requires about 15 minutes a week, so everyone can handle it. You can take short cuts to save time by pre-mixing water in a new, never before used, 5 gallon bucket and keeping it circulating at all times. Then when it's time to change your water, just scoop it from there. More details on the water changes can be found in the Maintenance article.
The last key factor to this system is having good flow. Use a powerhead or two to give you a flow rate of about 7-10 times the tank's total water volume.
I encourage everyone to try this method for their nano reef. It is uncommon to not use a protein skimmer, but nano reef keeping isn't the same as a traditional sized reef (though this method also works great on larger tanks). It's simple, it's cheap, and there is no extra equipment to worry about. As I always say, the less 'toys' you have on your reef, the less there is to go wrong.
by Christopher Marks
The methods used to maintain a nano reef can vary greatly throughout the hobby. The methods described below are what I have found to work best in maintaining a successful nano reef. Simplicity is the key in nano reef keeping; inexpensive and easy to follow. This is of course by no means the only way to keep a nano reef. I will try to best explain everything, but should you have any further questions with this, please search existing topics or start a new topic on the forums.
The natural method of filtration consists of only liverock and livesand. No protein skimmers are used and no additives are dosed. The nutrient export is provided by frequent partial water changes of 10-15% about every week. Trace elements are replenished through water changes.
As you go about purchasing all of the supplies for your new nano reef, you're going to have to make a decision on which salt mix you should use. Because no additional dosing is usually done with this method, you will want to be using a good reef salt mix. Not all reef salts are created equal however. Unfortunately there is no set data that clearly shows which salt is better over another, which makes the decision even more difficult. The best recommendation I can make is to search around the online forums and see which ones people like best from their experiences.
When starting out your nano reef, your first livestock purchase will be liverock and livesand. You will want to purchase the highest quality live rock as you can possible afford. It will be the entire basis of your filtration so there should be no skimping. Only a small quantity of liverock is needed, so cost shouldn't be so much of an issue. For information on the different types of liverock, refer to the Liverock Selection article. Placement of your liverock can be nearly anything you like, just keep in mind that the more open it is the better.
In this type of system livesand is also important. You can purchase livesand from a variety of places, or create your own livesand by seeding dead aragonite with some sand from an established system. The depth of sand can vary to anything you like. Sand beds from 1/4"; to 4"; won't produce much of a difference in this system, but there are benefits to both. If the bed is deeper is tends to be a more efficient filter. If you choose to have a deep sand bed, make sure you have plenty of detrivores to keep the sand stirred.
With this natural method, no protein skimmers or dosing is used. Studies of skimmers have shown that they remove various trace elements, along with pods and plankton. When people run protein skimmers, they dose trace elements to replenish them after their corals and skimmers use them. Because the skimmer removes most of the elements, such as iodine, it is dosed back in causing almost an endless cycle. The main problem this holds in nano reefing is that many of the trace elements cannot be easily tested for, so no one ever knows where their level is. This can lead to overdosing which will crash a nano reef in a matter of hours. The skimmer also begins to starve your corals by removing their food source. It's simply too risky.
Protein skimmers are beneficial however, because they remove excess nutrients from the water, but this advantage is out weighed by the disadvantages. To remove the excess nutrients from this system you do a partial water change. The water change also doubles to replenish your trace elements, which are in your synthetic sea salt. Nitrates are removed, dissolved organic compounds are removed, and your trace elements are replaced. Your nitrates will always be at or near zero, and the elements will stay at a consistant level.
The whole maintenance procedure only requires about 15 minutes a week, so everyone can handle it. You can take short cuts to save time by pre-mixing water in a new, never before used, 5 gallon bucket and keeping it circulating at all times. Then when it's time to change your water, just scoop it from there. More details on the water changes can be found in the Maintenance article.
The last key factor to this system is having good flow. Use a powerhead or two to give you a flow rate of about 7-10 times the tank's total water volume.
I encourage everyone to try this method for their nano reef. It is uncommon to not use a protein skimmer, but nano reef keeping isn't the same as a traditional sized reef (though this method also works great on larger tanks). It's simple, it's cheap, and there is no extra equipment to worry about. As I always say, the less 'toys' you have on your reef, the less there is to go wrong.
scotty
Member
Some shots I did today cause I gotta work Saturday, i get to have off today and I'm really bored.
See how it looks compared to my first attempt, I hate how the tank looks right now and I'm very open to critique on how to move the rocks.
The evil beast that is cyano. I'm "winning" the battle, but until I get my RO unit, just gonna have to keep scooping it out.
I cheated, I fed him last night
See how it looks compared to my first attempt, I hate how the tank looks right now and I'm very open to critique on how to move the rocks.
The evil beast that is cyano. I'm "winning" the battle, but until I get my RO unit, just gonna have to keep scooping it out.
I cheated, I fed him last night
Smitty
Premium member
Smitty
Premium member
Hey Scotty, I'm glad to see the cyno is getting better for you...have you tried a blackout after siphoning the cyno out, followed by a good water change.
As far as the rocks, trust me, you'll change it around a dozen more times...try stacking them up against the rear wall, creating lots of crevices, nooks and crannies.
As far as the rocks, trust me, you'll change it around a dozen more times...try stacking them up against the rear wall, creating lots of crevices, nooks and crannies.
Catran
New member
Nice tank-I wish my RSM had square corners! As far as the rockscape goes, I like it. Rocks are more or less a personal preference I think. I have arranged mine several times and I am still not happy with it either. You're lucky with the hitchikers you have. I have a eunice worm under 45lbs of rock. I can't move it until one of my colonies recovers. Nasty worm!!
scotty
Member
oh wow. In my first couple weeks of the tank i was convinced that my brittle stars were huge alien worms. haha, eunice worms are bad news for everything in that tank, hope you get him out soon.
I had an explosion of small aptasia's pop up in the last couple weeks, 1 right in the substrate, hes gonna be an easy scoop, no joes juice wasted on him.
cyano is still an issue, but battle begins.
I had an explosion of small aptasia's pop up in the last couple weeks, 1 right in the substrate, hes gonna be an easy scoop, no joes juice wasted on him.
cyano is still an issue, but battle begins.
Lmecher
New member
There are a lot of phosphates (among other things) in tap water. You are setting yourself up for trouble. I am worried the next plague will be worse, hair algae. If you don't want to purchase a unit, I'd beg, borrow or steal it from other reefers. I'd offer you all you can carry, I always have about 5 or 6, 5 gallon buckets waiting to be added to my 40 gallon bucket of fresh salted heated water. I am prepared for emergencies. I am pretty sure you'll find someone close who' be happy to supply you. You only have 1 tank right?
Hyperlitexr50
Member
Awsome cube I miss both of mine. I ran them nice and simple just flow and cheato and it worked great for me for years