Wiggles92's Nano Reef Build Thread

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I emailed Reef Cleaners and was told that the little bit of extra rock was typical, so all is well with that. At this point, I've added all of the rock that I'll be using as well as the sand and saltwater.

Now I just have to wait for it to cycle, but that should go fairly quickly because I used sand and a little bit of water from the 55 gallon saltwater aquarium to seed this aquarium. I also added a snail shell with some pink coralline algae on it in order to get that going; the other colors will be added as I get them on coral frags/rocks.

Oh, and here's the pictures:

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Wiggles92 said:
Well, it appears that the aquarium is already cycled! I tested it last night and cam up with a tiny bit of ammonia & nitrite as well as zero nitrate, and i just tested it again a little bit ago to find that there was zero ammonia & nitrite and 10 ppm of nitrate.
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Wow that is quick!!

Looking good so far. Keep us posted as you add livestock.
 
nonstophoops said:
Wow that is quick!!

Looking good so far. Keep us posted as you add livestock.
Click to expand...

I'm glad that you like it! I'll have to take a few more pictures tomorrow to show the various hiding spots that are in there for the goby and invertebrates; there's a decent-sized tunnel/cave on the left on the backside of the rock pile.

There's only about 2.5 gallons of water in there after sand, rock, and equipment, so I expected the cycle to go fast (but not this fast); I guess using sand & a cup or two of water from the 55 gallon really made the difference. I'll keep testing it at least twice daily just to be safe, though.

I added a dwarf blue leg hermit last night, and I added another a little earlier today. I also bought a small yellow prawn goby (~1.5") that I currently have in quarantine; it will go in there after a few days since I'm 99% sure that's going to be my only fish.

I'll be adding the first coral, a single zoanthid polyp (looks similar to these zoanthids), in a few days; it was an extra from the other zoanthid bunch that I got a couple of weeks ago, so it will make a good test coral. I plan on starting it out towards the middle of the rock, and I'll gradually move it on up to the top; it's currently about 14" away from the lights in the 55 gallon. Another plus about that zoanthid is that the rock that it's attached to is covered in dark purple coralline, so I'll be able to get some of that growing in there, too.

EDIT #1: Do any of you have any suggestions for other beneficial invertebrates to add? I was thinking of adding a snail or two, but I want to avoid ones that will get huge and knock over corals. I know that I will be adding snapping shrimp once I can find one; the goby should love having a little symbiotic buddy.

EDIT #2: One more thing, any ideas for cheap supplemental actinic lighting (preferably LEDs)? I want to kick the blues up a notch since there are only two blue LEDs on the fixture.
 
I'd keep an eye on that test kit - sandbeds are low oxygen enviorments not really known or used for converting ammonia and nitrite. It is very possible that the water from the other tank coupled with die-off from the sand is giving you the readings, BB doesn't live in the water column nor does it seed from their either. But who knows - hope it works for ya - very nice Micro.

As for CUC snails, Sandbed - Nassarius, Rocks - Nerite, Glass - Margerites, Coraline- Astrea, Diatoms + slim algae - Cerithium
 
Otherone said:
I'd keep an eye on that test kit - sandbeds are low oxygen enviorments not really known or used for converting ammonia and nitrite. It is very possible that the water from the other tank coupled with die-off from the sand is giving you the readings, BB doesn't live in the water column nor does it seed from their either. But who knows - hope it works for ya - very nice Micro.

As for CUC snails, Sandbed - Nassarius, Rocks - Nerite, Glass - Margerites, Coraline- Astrea, Diatoms + slim algae - Cerithium
Click to expand...

I haven't gotten any further ammonia and nitrite readings yet. I just tossed a couple of pellets in there to see a little bit ago if that will do anything, so I'll test it again in an hour. There were a few pieces of live rock rubble with the sand that I used, so maybe those helped speed up the cycle?

I'll have to get a few of those smaller snails; I'm hoping to avoid the larger ones that will knock over corals.
 
I tested the water again this morning and had no ammonia or nitrite & 15 ppm nitrate; I did a small water change to drop the nitrate down below 5 ppm. I'll test it again later to today to see what turns up.

Any ideas for supplemental actinic lighting? I haven't been able to find anything that's not too expensive and overly large/powerful.
 
I just finished separating the lone zoa polyp from its rock as well as slicing a few chunks off of the rock to help seed the nano with dark purple coralline algae; using an old Dremel takes way longer than expected when it comes to slicing up rock. I already added the coralline seeds and will add the polyp in a few days or so.
 
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