Another Newbie with a Nano

[JDMac]

Greetings to all.

I've jumped around in hobbies through the years. I did the reptile thing for 7 years and at my peek had over 100 kinds of snakes, lizards and geckos. I burned out eventually on keeping up with the mouse / rat cages and the cricket box. My mailman used to deliver 2000 crickets a month he thought I was insane.

So now I'm turning to keeping fish. Another hobby with a some work but not as bad as what I was used to with the reptiles. Besides fish don't bite as hard has a 6 foot boa or python (6 foot was my wife's limit on snakes).

I have two freshwater tanks going 25gal and 55gal for about a year now. So now attempting my first salt water tank. One of the important things I learned with the reptiles is to look for help from those who know what there doing and learn from their and your own mistakes. From my reading here you are all the experts.

My local fish store had a 10 year anniversary sale so I thought it would be a good time to buy.

So I purchased the following on July 16, 2004
JBJ Nano Cube on sale for $80.00
9 lbs of Live coral
Sand (don’t' recall the amount)
Power jet
I purchased Salt Water at the store (I believe it's called Catalina Salt Water)

Went home put it all together, stacked the rock and added the water.
Having problems with the dang power head not sticking to the tank, falls down and blows sand everywhere (any idea's on this one?)

It's been running okay, it's still a bit cloudy.

So now what??

How long should I let it run before I add any crabs?
What kind of clean up crew should I get? And how many of each?
What am I missing (equipment, test kits, and etc)?

I appreciate you comments and words of advice.

I've been reading about Hwarang modifications and they sound good.
I'm just nervous about doing them now, not sure what I’m doing. I'm still reading this site to learn more about components and what they do. Reptiles were a bit easier when it came to equipment - cage, heat and humidity. Althought getting them to breed was took some extra work.

I apologize if I don't have the terms down yet, still learning.

Thank you for your time.

 

[keethrax]

Greetings to all.
Having problems with the dang power head not sticking to the tank, falls down and blows sand everywhere (any idea's on this one?)

Use magnets to hold the powerhead up (how well this owrks/vs how ugly it is depends on location.

Attatch a magnet to the powerhead, and one outside the tank. With powerful enough magnets it shouldn't move by itself, but as a bonus you can move it fairly easily.

I've seen this done, but never done it myself.

 

[birdman204]

I hope you mean 9 LBS of Live Rock :O

I would have the PH's hang on if possible. I don't know about using magnets as the impellers themselves are magnetized.

I am a firm believer in letting the cycle go for as long as you can stand it (at least a month) with minimal lighting and WC to combat algae, then start with your cleanup crew in section. Don't add them all at once. Maybe 2 or 3 hermits and or snails at a time, but in a 12 G, I'd think 10 - 15 small snails of different types, and maybe 3-5 hermits.

 

[keethrax]

I would have the PH's hang on if possible. I don't know about using magnets as the impellers themselves are magnetized.

That was my initial thought too, but I've seena few people doing it and never header of any problems. (Does't' meant there aren't any of course).

 

[JDMac]

Thanks for the info. As for Water Changes (WC?) would every 7 days be adequate

 

[keethrax]

I would have the PH's hang on if possible. I don't know about using magnets as the impellers themselves are magnetized.

That was my initial thought too, but I've seena few people doing it and never header of any problems. (Does't' meant there aren't any of course).

Nothing like a dying keyboard to reinforce my already terrible typing.

As such I apologize for any and all recent posts that were darn near illegible. :p

 

[Anonymous]

It's not really necessary to do WCs that often, but it certainly won't hurt. I usually don't do any the first two months or so, and then do 5-10% biweekly. If you can do 5% weekly, great. Just don't overdo it and change 25% a week or anything. That will stress your fish, coral, etc. I let the tank cycle 6-8 weeks before adding the cleanup crew. I haven't owned one of these test kits in years, but you can be pretty dang sure that you won't have any detectable ammonia or nitrite in your tank after this long.

I usually only add snails to tanks this small as a clean up crew. 2-3 snails of grape size should be enough for a nanocube, IME. I'm not a big fan of hermits, as they kill snails and don't consume all that much algae. You could also add a smallish serpent or brittle star to clean up excess detritus.

I'd say you're off on the right foot. As you probably know, research, research, research, then buy. There is a wealth of info here at RDO to help you. Welcome!!!

 

[abbeyspal]

My only advice to you is to use the next 6-8 weeks for planning and researching. If you lurk around these boards enough you will do awesome.

 

[Anonymous]

Welcome to Reefs.org and welcome to the nano clan