What filtation do you use on your Nano?

[L76]

I have 12g JBJ Nanocube DX.. I'm using the stock sponges, bio balls, and ceramic cylinders + phosguard and denitrator. Thinking of adding protein skimmer. Any advice? I've heard folks have success replacing bio balls, sponges, etc. with live rock... if I do this swap how long should I monitor tank before adding new cratures? What impact should it have? What will I witness? What do you use?

-L76

 

[Meloco14]

I replied to your BTA thread with some info on nanocube filtration. Let me know if you have any specific questions about how I do things.

 

[L76]

Thanks Meloco. I did read your reply. My questions are:

1. Why would my Nitrate still be 10-12ppm after 6 weeks of consitent water changes... and I have minimal life in the tank (e.g. only rock, sand, 2 hermit crabs, and a single branch of a small torch coral)

2. Do I need to re-cycle the tank if I swap out my current media (sponges, bio balls etc.) with Live Rock? If so... how long should I cycle it?

3. What do you think about adding a protein skimmer? I am considering: http://www.marineandreef.com/shoppro/fi ... kimmer.htm

4. It's been 7 weeks now... and I would like to introduce 1 fish (maroon clown) ... but do not want to do so if it is not right. Thoughts?

Regards,
L76

 

[saltman123]

I'm a complete newbie so my comments may not be worth much But I've heard that the Fission Skimmer is an awesome product for its size and a nano. To be honest, I am not sure if there is anything else on the market other than the kind that hangs off the back that is this small.

From reading on the boards it seems like some say that its helped while others say they actually think it was throwing their ph off, etc. They are only $30 so it might not be too big of a loss if it doesn't work. Just keep in mind that it goes in the tank and will take up some space.

 

[brandon4291]

Of that 10ppm+ nitrate reading I'd question two things:

-Test kit accuracy. Color comparison kits are tough to read sometimes down into the double digit ranges. You might be reading 5-10 ppm off in either direction. I have used them on my systems, and I mainly just try to get that kit to read zero. Whenever there is some pink on the test strip line, I make the water changes more frequent.

-Rock dieoff not yet done or feed/waste accumulation. If there is nitrate, it is coming from one of these two sources considering your water change frequency. You can identify the source by temporarily removing some of the rock and placing it in circulated saltwater in another smaller tank to concentrate the water volume. If rock dieoff is the source, you'll get ammonia readings in this test system and that should be quickly detected. If this is the case, the bacterial populations in your main system are sufficient to convert this rock-emitted ammonia into NO3 which you are measuring. Make sure you have no pockets of feed or waste built up into the rocks, maybe this happened at the fish store too>?

--If you shake your rocks underwater or move them to a cleaning buckets and get a lot of grit and mud in the water, or any type of clouding, this material is likely protein and detritus accumulations which are feeding your nitrate stores.

-You can't go wrong with a skimmer if you don't mind the space usage. Anything that removes waste is helpful!

 

[Meloco14]

I agree with Brandon. High nitrates in a tank only 6 weeks old is nothing out of the ordinary. Sometimes it takes a good 2 months to finish a cycle. Remember, there are 2 types of bacterial populations you need to establish, aerobic and anaerobic. Your aerobic bacteria are fine, converting all ammonia and nitrite into nitrate. So those levels are zero. The anaerobic bacteria may not have become a significant enough population to denitrify all of your nitrate yet. Be patient and give it a bit more time. You can help by siphoning your rocks and bio-media when you do water changes. Or as brandon suggested you can take them off and rinse them in a bucket of salt water. If you replace your bio-media with LR rubble there may be another small cycle, but it won't be like starting over completely. It might add a week on to your cycle time. You could also just get some dead, dry reef rock rubble and use that instead. with that you'll have a minimal cycle and in time it will populate with bacteria. You really dont need the other hitckhikers of LR in the back unlit sump area anyway. As far as that skimmer goes, there are a couple threads on it here, try a search for them. IIRC they work well after tinkering with them a little bit. And as mentioned, adding a skimmer never hurts. HTH

 

[TheJGMProject]

I had the same question as L76. Will a maroon clown have a good life in a nano tank?

I saw the most smallest maroon clown at an LFS and I'm interested in purchasing it along with its small anemone. I'm considering having my tank revolving around this symbiotic relationship and removing some coral as well.

I have a JBJ 12 gal DX, with a few softie corals, a cleaner shrimp and a bengai cardinal.

Any thoughts are appreciated. Thank You

 

[brandon4291]

Im answering on behalf of Matt (RDO admin). Hope he won't mind this paraphrase! I told him the same thing once, and he reminded me that those clows simply get too big for life in a nano. Now as a small juvenile and then a graduate to a larger system, maybe, as long as water parameters and feeding are up to par for that part of the clown's journey.

I do agree they are pretty, it was the deepest maroon color I'd ever seen and the way they swim was simply amazing and mezmerizing.

 

[Anonymous]

I run a CPR BakPak 2R on mine. Wish i had a Aqua C remora but oh well it does its job none the less. Maroons are pretty but aggressive. I lost most of my hard corals in my move and im trying to rebuild slowly (costs)