New JBJ Nano Cube 6 g

started a little 6 gallon nano cube for my grandma.

it was her christmas present but secretly its my present as well just thats its located at her house and not mine.

Christmas eve,dec 24, while she was away. we went and set it up for her.

 we rinsed the inside, the chambers, the ceramic rings, the bio balls, the activated carbon, and the sponge.

added 10 pound bag of live sand.

added 5 gallons of fresh saltwater from the fish store.

i was missing about half a gallon of water so i brought some water from the fish tank at my house and added it to the tank.

 this is how we left it for her and how it looked that day. 

its located on a small table and will get minimal sunlight.

in the first chamber the large sponge is there.

then at the bottom of the second chamber is the ceramic rings.

middle of the  second chamber is the activated carbon.

then at the top of the middle chamber are the bioballs.

dec 25

salinity: 1.024

nitrates:25

temp: 67

dec 26

salinity: 1.024

nitrates:25

temp: 75

dec 27 

added about 6 lbs of live rock to tank.

i replaced my nitrates salifert test with a new api master test kit so results might be better.

dec 30

nitrates 20

temp 74

ammonia 13

ph 7.8

nitrites 0

 that day i did a 1 gallon waterchange.

dec 31

nitrates: 20

temp 74

ammonia 0

ph 7.8

nitrites 0

jan 2

salinity 1.025

nitrates 40

temp 75

ammonia 0

ph 7.8

nitrites 0

jan4

salinity 1.024

nitrates 40

temp 75

ammonia 13

ph 7.8

nitrites 0

i added less then half odf a krill

i have a hard time reading those tests  so my numbers might not always be so accurate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by meowzer 

WELCOME TO SWF.......very cute tank.....have you read the top threads in the new hobbyist sectpion on starting a tank???

thanks.

ive had a sw tank for a while now. just never a small tank. or any corals.
 

theres not much to do but keep testing and keep waiting.

dont know yet. havent taken her in to the lfs to look at smaller fish.

shes under the impression that she can get a small fish and as it grows i can move it to my tank.

dont really want to do that. would that be ok?

for corals. as ive never looked much into any of them but i really like the zoos. gf likes the green star polyps.

any recommendations i can give my grandma? fish inverts corals..

any other advice  for anything else?

its making me want to upgrade my tank back home....:-)

jan 6 2012

salinity  1.025

nitrates  40

ammonia  13

ph 7.8

nitrites 0

temp 74

jan 8 2012

salinity  1.025

nitrates 20

ammonia 0

ph 7.8

nitrites 0

calcium 440

nitrates 20

phosphates .25

kh  143.2

temp 76

its my grandmas birthday today.

would i be able to put anything inside yet?

i did a wc on dec 30 and jan 4. one gallon each.  

i thought so too about the test kits. my saltwater one i bought last month. and i bought the reef kit yesterday. thats why im testing twice for nitrates.

i went today and i noticed that in the 2nd and 3rd filter chambers in the back. where the bioballs and the pump is located.

theres a blue greenish, oil looking layer on top of the water.

and its only in those two chambers and it looks fine in the display tank.

im wondering if all nano tanks  do that or if its grease from it being close to the kitchen. although the lid is always completely shut.

added 4 margarita pink snails today.

where do people usually put heaters in these small tanks? what wattage?