Blue02celi's Nano II

[Blue02celi]

well I finally filled up the nano after the move. I got caribsea tahitian moon sand, red sea coral plus sand and some old LR that has been sitting in a bucket for about 4 months. I cleaned the rock off, and put everything in this morning. its still a bit cloudy but im sure it will be like that for a bit. I know im not in NY anymore but theres no drama here and everyones always been helpful :smile:. I was looking at posts on RC, someone was talking about their cycle and someone suggested they add a piece of LR to it to seed it, I guess they had dead rock in there during the cycle. should I do the same? gonna try to see if I can find someone with some black sand out here to seed the sand but not sure if it will happen.

 

[NYreefNoob]

nano

welcome to the nano club, 1 piece of small live rock will seed the tank. and hope the move went well. you will love it out there, what part of col ?

 

[Blue02celi]

Im in littleton, SW of denver. Thinking about just getting like 10-15 more lbs, which I think will be all the rock Im gonna put in it, I think I had about 14lbs before. I was also thinking of upgrading my lighting, with one of nanocustoms/tuners kits, to a 108W. I think these come stock with 36W? would that upgrade give me much more options? I eventually would like to have clams, I know its not gonna happen soon but I wouldnt want to upgrade twice.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Ocean Direct (I think is the company) has a black aragonite livesand that actually buffers instead of the inert stuff.

 

[Blue02celi]

buffers instead of the inert stuff.

you lost me there...

and is this an online store? I would just want a little bit...

 

[NYreefNoob]

nano

i would just wait then and get a current sunpod and go mh. i had t5's on my other tank and switched to a nano with mh and love it, can keeo any corals i want

 

[lfsmarineguy]

The Tahitian Moon is an inert substrate. It doesn't effect the water parameters in any way. Aragonite will help keep the PH and alk and to some degree other parameters in check. Ocean Direct is a company that sells live sand it's the same company that sells the nutrisea water. They just added a black aragonite to their lineup of livesands. I've never used it myself so I can't verify but if it's aragonite it will buffer the tank.

 

[Blue02celi]

My fiance likes the stock canopy, I like the the way the light fixtures with the legs but for the most part I try to let her choose when it comes to choices on the nano. I will look at the aragonite sand. also I currently have a rio 800 in the nano, is that good enough flow? after seeing chief's nano my tank is lookin more like a bucket of water with rocks in it lol

think I talked my fiance into getting a sunpod, theres one on craigslist out here for 150 so hope he still has it (150w, 12 LED - 6 white 6 blue)

 

[Blue02celi]

well I should be picking up a sunpod tomorrow, hopefully that should be all the lighting I will need for some time, seeing as how my tank is not even cycled, and Im a new reefer so wont be buying any delicate coral anytime soon.

edit:decided not to get the sunpod yet, gonna wait for taxes to get out toys, just gonna stick with fish until then, still got lots of learning to do and I still dont know what kind of coral we want yet... just know I want clams lol

 

[Blue02celi]

Update

heya NY peeps
thought I'd come on here and update on my tank. well its been running for the past few months, still no residents, and it looks pretty much the same as when I started it. the numbers are as follows:

calcium - 320 (how can I raise this?)
alk - 12 dKH (214.8 ppm)
phos - 0
nitrate - 80
nitrite - 0
ammonia - 0
pH - 8.4
grav - 1.025

i know I have to get my cal up and nitrate down (fiance checked it past few days and said everything was 0 but I dont know if something changed or she did it wrong. whats the easiest way to correct the numbers?). I bought a 150W sunpod so waiting for it to get here. once the numbers even out, Im going to get a cleanup crew and then start deciding what corals we're gonna start with. as much as I dont want to admit, I think I need more rock. We want to keep an anemone, and a clam if I havent mentioned it in a previous post so hoping the lighting will be good enough for it. I currently have a rio 800 in the nanocube but wondering if thats enough flow for a BTA. think I will have to get a powerhead or two. as far as filtration I just have the sponge that I assume came with the cube in the 1st chamber, nothing in the 2nd. going to put one of those carbon bag (chemi pure?) things in the 2nd and just getting rid of the sponge as I dont think its really helping.

any suggestions on if I should add anything, take something away, or how to get the numbers better are welcome.

 

[marki24]

how often are you doing water changes and what kind of water are you using?

 

[Blue02celi]

I've been using distilled water from wal-mart, altho honestly I havent done a water change in a while so maybe if I start keeping up on it the numbers should return. I have one of those cheapo RO/DI units from ebay, but havent gotten it to work yet. had some issues with water not getting thru the membrane and was suggested maybe it dried up since I opened it and didnt use it until months later so I bought a new one but I just have a hose adapter for it and im out in colorado so theres still snow on the ground.

any suggestions on a pump to replace my 800 with?

 

[marki24]

well i think that where u need to start and test your water again.