The adventure begins!

C

ChrisCummins

New member
Hi,
Well, here is my little peice of the ocean: my 12 gal nano.

Thanks to a stroke of luck, a bit of chance and a lot of persuassion I'm now 25kg heavier in the salt department as I managed to talk my parents into buying me a 750ltr bucket of Instant Ocean that was on sale at Ã"šÃ‚£39.99 at the lfs.

So, yesterday I started adding the mix (I added it directly to the tank) and got the s.g. to about 1.026 at 26C but, basically to cut a long story short, it wrose overnight as the last of the grains dissolved to about 1.028 so I've done a water change and am have stabilised it at 1.024, which I'm hopefully going to keep it at as that allows greater margin for error with evaporation etc. One thing I've noticed is that the s.g. seems to read at around 0.5 more on the left side then on the right. The left side has two powerheads and the heater so I'm thinking there might be a slight temp difference which could influence the sg?

The current is very strong which I really like as both my fresh water tanks are comparitevly quite slow so I want this tank to be a manic, 10 billion times an hour turnover washing machine! :crazy: :scared:

I've tried (I'm not good with free hand on laptops. :doh: ) to draw on roughly what the currents are in the tank from what I've observed with the movement of bits of dust/salt particles being blown around:



I've drilled up the power strips for the tank. The top rail is for all the electronics in the tank (powerheads and heaters) and I'm just trying to get in the habit now of just getting used to flicking off the switch every time I put my hands in the tank. The bottom rail is for lighting and, as the lights will still be on when I've got hands in tanks, I've put it on an RCD for now, until I eventually get a 150W low bay or maybe even if I can afford one an Arcadia 40cm pendant. :)



So heres what it all looks like now:



Now, with a bit of luck, I'll be going out today too pick up 2kg of live rock to begin the cycle.

All comments/insults appreciated. :)

Thanks,
Chris
 
Out of interest, 99.9% of the people on this forum are from the U.S. and I think it's v.early morning there right now, so you may not get any replies for a while!

A couple of points you may want to get you started. You don't appear to have a protein skimmer. These things are useful for extracting organic compounds (proteins etc) from the water. Nitrate production is generally of more worry to a marine tank than your freshwater ones, so it is ideal to actually extract alot of the waste, before it converts down to nitrates.

It may be worth saving up for one in the longterm.
You can get hang-on ones which will attach to the side of your tank. I have a red sea prizm skimmer (which generally everyone hates!) which seems to do a good job and is readily available on uk ebay.
You can do with out one, but just means you will have to make sure you do regular water changes.

Second thing: Are you using Reverse Osmosis De-Ionized (RODI) water? This is water which has been passed through a number of different filter stages etc, resulting in very pure water. You can buy it (usually very cheaply) from your local fish shop (lfs).
Tap water is likely to contain a number of things tetrasafe etc won't remove e.g. silicates, phosphates etc, which can lead to an algae bloom. In the long run, it's worth moving to RODI water now as it will save a lot of battles against algae.
Get hold of 4 25ish litre water containers and get them filled up at your lfs, then you'l always have a supply (can make one of them up with saltwater in preparation for any changes).

Neither of these are completely essential now, especially as you need to cycle. If you want to keep soft corals in the future though, definitly think about using RO water in the future.
Your starting setup looks good, much better than when I started! I like how well you've arranged your power cables (they can get into a bit of a mess, and that theyre off the floor!
When I first started out, this site was incredible. The secret is to read read read and this site is a good resource. Don't be disheartened by a few negative insults people sometimes throw, the VAST majority of people are really helpful. In addition, the site below is written by one of the most helpful members of this forum and really helped me get going, have a search around:

http://www.melevsreef.com/overview.htm

All the best,

Seb
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6829646#post6829646 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sebwin
A couple of points you may want to get you started. You don't appear to have a protein skimmer. These things are useful for extracting organic compounds (proteins etc) from the water. Nitrate production is generally of more worry to a marine tank than your freshwater ones, so it is ideal to actually extract alot of the waste, before it converts down to nitrates.
Click to expand...

I've been told that I should be ok as long as I keep up weekly water changes as you said (which I already do on my two freshwater tanks). I might look into the Berlin counter currents though when I have the money.

Second thing: Are you using Reverse Osmosis De-Ionized (RODI) water? This is water which has been passed through a number of different filter stages etc, resulting in very pure water. You can buy it (usually very cheaply) from your local fish shop (lfs).
Tap water is likely to contain a number of things tetrasafe etc won't remove e.g. silicates, phosphates etc, which can lead to an algae bloom. In the long run, it's worth moving to RODI water now as it will save a lot of battles against algae.
Get hold of 4 25ish litre water containers and get them filled up at your lfs, then you'l always have a supply (can make one of them up with saltwater in preparation for any changes).
Click to expand...

At the moment unfortunately I'm not using RO water, it's on my list of things to buy before adding fish and corals (I can get one from RO man for Ã"šÃ‚£50).

I like how well you've arranged your power cables (they can get into a bit of a mess, and that theyre off the floor!
Click to expand...

Yeah, they're very easy access but they do look abit ugly, I'm considering ripping out the bottom cuboard and turning it into a shelf for marine stuff.

When I first started out, this site was incredible. The secret is to read read read and this site is a good resource. Don't be disheartened by a few negative insults people sometimes throw, the VAST majority of people are really helpful. In addition, the site below is written by one of the most helpful members of this forum and really helped me get going, have a search around:

http://www.melevsreef.com/overview.htm
Click to expand...

That site seems good cheers for the link. I've been reading through some of the articles on here and Advanced aquarist, along with a book I borrowed off a guy on another forum.

Thanks ever so much for the help! :)
Chris
 
No problem!

Yeah, they're very easy access but they do look abit ugly, I'm considering ripping out the bottom cuboard and turning it into a shelf for marine stuff.
Click to expand...

Probably worth doing anyway, as will help to have a space to keep all the random stuff you'l end up collecting!

Although not generally used with nanos, you could even eventually put another small tank on the shelf beneath and plumb it to attach to the main tank as a sump. You could then leave your heater etc in it rather than the main tank + is easier to do water changes out of/adds to your total water volume, could grow macro algae in it etc, but this is not at all necessary, just a possability if you feel adventurous later on!

I'd leave the power cables where they are, they don't look ugly + makes everything a whole lot easier than having them hidden somewhere. Best of all, they are above the tank, in the cupboard, there'd always be the chance of water dripping on it by seeping down the cords.

A possible future idea (again not necessary), you could put a cheap (but very strong) shelf a couple of foot above the tank. You could put the power extensions on top of it = easy access but un-obtrusive + no chance water could fall on them. You could screw them into the shelf so there'd be no chance they'd fall off, and if you ever got an arcadia pendant etc, this could be hung from the bottom of the shelf.

That site seems good cheers for the link. I've been reading through some of the articles on here and Advanced aquarist, along with a book I borrowed off a guy on another forum.
Click to expand...

There's lots of stuff hidden in it, that links just to the setting up overview. There's also a section on this forum called 'New to the Hobby' which has a lot of good advice.

All the best,

Seb
 
I would invert that power-head on the left (it could suck up sand). Do you have a refractometer or a hydrometer?---the SG should not be different anywhere in the tank (investing in a refractometer would be wise-$50).
Add all GPH from pumps and divide by gallons of water in tank--and you have your "turn-over" rate. With SW 30-40x turn-over is what I prefer--minimally (I have 80x in my 65g and 30x in my 20g clown) so don't worry about too much flow.
Adding some food will jump start your cycle and get the bacteria going (a piece of shrimp works well).
Good luck, Rodney
 
Thanks Rodney, the powerhead has been moved so it's spraying directly onto the rock. My turnover is somewhere near 17x per hour if memory serves correct and I hope to add extra pumps in the futer.

Thanks,
Chris
 
That's good---and the comments about RO/DI water is true. If you get a couple of new 5g gas jugs you can keep enough water for a month of water changes (there are alot of things you don't want in tap water).
It looks great BTW !!!
 
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