First SW tank!! 12G Nano

[dsmhero]

I am completely new to this hobby but I am very excited about it. I hope to post my progress in this thread and get some feedback and ideas from everyone.

First day:

I was told to wait about 2 weeks to let it cycle and then I can take the water in and get it tested and the store will give me a damsel for free if everything is correct.

Goals:
- lots of coral, i enjoy soft and zoanthids.
- a few fish
- pistol shrimp! Dunno why I find these so cool

Ideas and comments?!

 

[CoreyGardner]

Very Nice. Just take your time with it and you will have no issues

 

[dsmhero]

Thank you! I will go slow even though I am already getting antsy. I am thinking I probably need more rock or will this suffice?

 

[CoreyGardner]

They usually recommend 1-1.5 pounds of rock per gallon tank

 

[Rudolph]

definately more rock....

 

[GF3]

only that one piece on the very left looks porous, keep the one tonga branch for decoration, but get more of the stuff that looks like the one on the left to fill out until you have about 12-15lbs of rock in the tank.

 

[dsmhero]

Thank you all for the comments! I will get more rock by the end of the week.

 

[dsmhero]

So i was looking at my tank today and I noticed this little guy. Can anyone tell me what it is?

 

[duncantse]

Looks like aiptasia. Can you get a clearer pic?

 

[ange062]

Look forward to seeing your tank progress. As the others have said, 1-1.5lbs of rock per gallon is standard, so shoot for 12lb minimum.

 

[dsmhero]

Looks like aiptasia. Can you get a clearer pic?

Not really, my camera will not focus passed this point.

 

[dsmhero]

it looks very similar to this aiptasia

 

[duncantse]

If it looks like tentacles, then most likely an aiptasia.

 

[dsmhero]

Ok well I will let it grow a bit bigger so I can inject the lemon juice easier. I am still in the cycle phase so I don't think it will do any harm just sitting there for the time being.

 

[1Snapple]

Instead of waiting for it to get bigger, get scissors, get close, and chop it in half.

 

[dsmhero]

Instead of waiting for it to get bigger, get scissors, get close, and chop it in half.

I heard doing damage to it will only make it replicate. It is far too small to use scissors anyways. I am going to cross my fingers and try to use a syringe tonight. I will post updates.

Oh and I am getting a bunch more live rock today!!

 

[dsmhero]

Well I got 10 more pounds of LS and another 7 pounds of LR. Here is my aquascape right now, I am pretty happy with it. Comments?

 

[GF3]

Well I got 10 more pounds of LS and another 7 pounds of LR. Here is my aquascape right now, I am pretty happy with it. Comments?

How many lbs of sand do you have now? I only have 10 lbs in my tank and even that seems like too much. If you are going for a DSB (deep sand bed) for biofiltering, you going to want at least 3-4 inches of sand, don't go by weight. For the rock, if you are happy with it and have the minimum needed for adequate filtration, then you are good to go, it's not detrimental to have more than you need, other than taking up space. Try to stack less and leave more room for flow around all sides of your rocks. Caves and archways are pretty popular and work well with good powerhead placement. Have fun with it and come up with something you will enjoy looking at everyday once it starts getting stocked up.

 

[dsmhero]

GF3 - Hey thank you for the reply. i have 20 lbs of sand in the tank, I only went this much because the LFS said that I would need more. I definitely have at least 3".

I plan on getting a powerhead for more flow.

 

[GF3]

GF3 - Hey thank you for the reply. i have 20 lbs of sand in the tank, I only went this much because the LFS said that I would need more. I definitely have at least 3".

I plan on getting a powerhead for more flow.

One thing I learned is that most LFS will sell you anything they can, you definitely didn't need 20lbs of sand, like 5-10 lbs fills the bottom of these little tanks well. It still seems like you might be happier with a little more porous rock, if just for having more places to mount corals as you stock up the tank. If I may make a recommendation, hit up eBay to get a good price on a Hydor Koralia nano, if you are sure you only want zoas and soft stuff, the 240 will do fine, if you want to be sure you can keep anything (assuming you have enough light for it) spring a few more dollars for the 425 model. The nice thing about the HK Nano is their magnetic mount, you can place them on the back panel if you like, where normal suction cups can't go. They are also controllable and ultra quiet. If you end up with a reef controller system, the nano can handle multiple start stop cycles to create random flow in the tank, many other pumps can't be run this way.