Introduction and questions

[Rolock]

Hello all,
My girlfriend and I have started an aquarium and are very much beginners. Neither of us have ever kept a saltwater aquarium and have many questions. We are using a 28 gallon Nano Cube CF-Quad, because from what Ive read, it basically has everything you need built in. We have already added a small heater and the Tunze 9002 protein skimmer will be in on Friday.

We started by getting our water to a salinity of about 1.017. After a few days we added gravel and 2 medium pieces of live rock (not sure of weight) that were taken straight out of a store's tanks with fish in them (so they had some life in them). Another few days later we added 2 more pieces of live rock (1 medium and 1 large). Things were looking pretty good and we started to see small polyps and pods on the rocks.

With the tank being about 3 weeks old now, we tested the water and found that all levels seemed to be at the stable recommended range. A salesman at an aquarium shop told us we should be ok adding some clean-up crew and hardy corals. We purchased 5 small snails and 3 small hermit crabs. We also bought a frag of Zoanthids with 2 polyps on it and a frag of Green Star Polyps. When we got home we slowly added each to the tank. Lesson learned, we probably should have dipped the corals first but didnt. The hermit crabs went to work immediately eating algae off of the gravel and live rock. The snails were a little shell-shocked but are also roaming around and feasting on algae off the tank walls.

As for the corals, the Zoas opened up first and looked quite nice for a few hours. Unfortunately, they later closed and have been giving us trouble for a few days now. They remain partially closed and we are afraid they wont make it. On Monday we dipped them in Lugols and placed them back in the tank without much of an effect. Today they opened up halfway and spewed out this long brown string-like goo. My girlfriend looked up that this is them probably eliminating waste? Do they have any hope?

The GSP initially took longer to open up, but once they did they seemed to be thriving. However, this morning when we woke up, they too had closed up.

We did a full water test on Monday night and all the levels seemed to be within recommended ranges. The only thing to note is that there is quite a bit of algae on the tank walls. Should we clean that or leave the tank be for a little while longer? We want to try and diagnose the problem, but feel the more that we mess with the water, the more stress we are causing to the corals.

Thanks in advance and we look forward to learning more about this hobby!

 

[sponger0]

First problem.....saltwater tanks SG should be 1.025-1.026

Second...after getting it setup you should not be putting livestock in it a few days after. Your tank is probably going through a cycle which your tank with go through phases of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. That generally takes about a month. If you already cycled it, my fault. But from your post looks like it wasnt cycled.

Dipping is a good habit to get into with corals. You can get all sorts of hitchhikers. Its like safe sex for reefing lol

And the reason your corals and live stock arent doing doing well are definately contributed to your SG (salt gravity) being wayyyyyyy tooooo low.

Also do you have a basic saltwater test kit? (pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates)?

 

[Rolock]

First problem.....saltwater tanks SG should be 1.025-1.026

Second...after getting it setup you should not be putting livestock in it a few days after. Your tank is probably going through a cycle which your tank with go through phases of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. That generally takes about a month. If you already cycled it, my fault. But from your post looks like it wasnt cycled.

Dipping is a good habit to get into with corals. You can get all sorts of hitchhikers. Its like safe sex for reefing lol

And the reason your corals and live stock arent doing doing well are definately contributed to your SG (salt gravity) being wayyyyyyy tooooo low.

Also do you have a basic saltwater test kit? (pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates)?

Thanks for the comments Sponger. I think you are right that the SG is still too low. We are at about 1.021 now, but will raise it up to 1.025 as suggested.

We had the basic test strips with pH, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites tests on it. When we tested everything looked good. We have since purchased a more robust test kit and the levels still look good. This is why we felt ok about starting to stock the tank, even though its only 3 weeks old.

We will raise the SG, but what about the algae forming on the walls? Is it ok to leave it for now?

 

[HaKs310]

Bump up the salinity as mentioned. What are you guys using to measure it? Also, what temperature is the tank at?

You said gravel? Is this crushed coral or sand? If it is crushed coral I would take it out and replace it with sand before adding any more livestock.

Sounds like the LR pieces you have are already cycled so I am not concerned about a major cycle. I would wait two weeks before adding fish or other livestock. Can you post the test results from Monday?

 

[HaKs310]

What does the algae look like?

Make sure you slowly raise the salinity to desired level, dont want to shock anything.

P.S.
[welcome]

 

[sponger0]

Im not sure how accurate those test strips are but would recommend getting at least an API saltwater test kit so we can see some actual numbers.

And as Haks310 said about the temp. It should be between 77 and 84. but not too much of a swing...usually no more than 2 degrees in temp change.

And if you are using crushed coral, you should remove it. Bad in the long run and someone had a long post on here about it awhile ago. You dont have to put sand in. You can go bare bottom.

 

[disc1]

P.S.
<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

Hey that's my line! :lol2:


Like everyone said, bump up the salinity. Go slowly, it's not an emergency.

Also, if you're going to keep corals, you'll want to look into calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity tests. These three are the holy trinity of growing coral.

The best advise you can get in the whole world is to read and read and read the sticky threads at the top of the "New to the Hobby" board. Most of the questions you have and many more that you don't even know to ask yet are answered there.


Good luck with your tank!

 

[Rolock]

Thanks all for the warm welcome and great information. We do have a better testing kit now, and will get all the numbers tonight to share with you. We are also going to switch from the gravel/crushed coral to sand.

The algae on the walls is just a light film on the glass that makes it kind of cloudy to see through. Its more annoying than anything.

As far as temperature, we have been right around 80-82 for the most part. There has been some fluctuation so we need to get better at keeping it constant.

 

[HaKs310]

Algae sounds normal for a new tank. It will go away as the tank matures.

 

[HaKs310]

Also, what are you guys running in the back chambers? I would take out all the rings that are back there.

Look into getting one of these, inTank Media Basket. They also carry a Smaller Tunze Cup for the Tunze 9002.


Finally, check out the Nano Reefs section if you have not already.

 

[Rolock]

Thanks Haks, will do some reading in the Nano Reefs section. We swapped the gravel for live sand last night and will do our testing once everything settles a bit. Found a couple of bristleworms when we were removing the gravel, but Ive read that they shouldnt be harmful.

 

[sponger0]

Bristleworms are for the most part a good part of a clean up crew. The only harm is the bristles if you touch them

 

[Rolock]

Bristleworms are for the most part a good part of a clean up crew. The only harm is the bristles if you touch them

Good thing she got me some sweet purple kitchen gloves to do the work then!

I have 2 more questions:
1- Should we have a light cycle at this stage? Or leave the lights on 24/7?
2- How about the powerheads, should they be running full blast 24/7 or should we utilize the different setting to sort of cycle the flow as well?

Thanks!

 

[HaKs310]

Light cycle.
8-10hrs will be fine.

What type of settings do the powerheads have?

 

[sponger0]

More answers:

1. Your lights should not be on all the time. The whites should be on for 8 hours and the blue should come on 1 hour before and 1 hour after the whites.

2. What kind of powerheads do you have?

 

[Rolock]

Thanks guys! Should have done some reading on here in the weeks leading up to getting the aquarium. We started running the light cycle as suggested. The powerheads are just the standard ones that come built into the Nano Cube CF-Quad. So far we have had these running constantly.

 

[HaKs310]

Lol it's okay, you can still do plenty of reading now.

Power heads will run 24/7.

What are you guys running in the back chamber? Don't think you answered earlier.

 

[Rolock]

Back chamber remains as it came. Can you please elaborate on what exactly is back there, what the rings are that you are referring to, and the advantages of adding the media chamber you suggested? Also any maintenance information would be great.

 

[HaKs310]

Those are ceramic bio rings. They end up becoming nitrate factories, they just do too good a job at producing nitrates. Which is fine in a freshwater tank, but not so much in a saltwater tank. The sponge will also cause the same effect, but will also trap detritus and other decomposing matter that you don't want. So if you end up keeping it, make sure it is cleaned out regularly.
In a reef tank we want the LR to be the main and primary source of our biological filtration.

The media chamber Is larger than the stock one so you can run different chemical filtration and it forces the water through the media more efficiently, which what you primarily want.

 

[Rolock]

Those are ceramic bio rings. They end up becoming nitrate factories, they just do too good a job at producing nitrates. Which is fine in a freshwater tank, but not so much in a saltwater tank. The sponge will also cause the same effect, but will also trap detritus and other decomposing matter that you don't want. So if you end up keeping it, make sure it is cleaned out regularly.
In a reef tank we want the LR to be the main and primary source of our biological filtration.

The media chamber Is larger than the stock one so you can run different chemical filtration and it forces the water through the media more efficiently, which what you primarily want.

Awesome information. How do we go about cleaning the sponge?
Will the media chamber fit back there being larger than the stock one?