Gettin geared up for nano cube. Need your opinion!

thedocta

thedocta

Member
I got a plan in place so LMK if I need anything or if I plan on overstocking. If you need LR, LS, or anything else that I might have check my classified by doing a search for: MIGHT BE SELLIN FULL SYSTEM IN KZOO MI. I'd liek as much advice as I can get!
EQUIPTMENT:
12 Gallon nano cube with dual moonlights, dual fans, and 48 watts PC. (Coming wednesday)
50 watt heater (Is this enough)
Hydrometer
Thermometer
Reef crystals
Powerhead (What kind and gph?)
INHABITANTS AND SUCH:
20 pounds agra-alive (How much should I use?)
One big piece, about 15 pounds of LR (about 15 pounds I think)
15 astrea snails
Emrald crab
Orange linka starfish
Percula clown
Goby/shrimp pair
Corals: Feather dusters, mushrooms, zoas, softies, some small LPS.
DETAILS: I plan on adding R/O water, salt, and LS on wednesday when I get the tank. Then waiting about a week or at least till the weekend to add the LR. Wait another till the next weekend and add the snails and emrald crab. Wait another week and add the percula. Wait another week and add the starfish. Another week and add the first coral, probably something simple like mushrooms or feather dusters. I'll add corals about once a week or every two weeks from then on and I'll add a pistol shrimp and shrimp goby sometime after starting the corals. I got a few questions tho...
How long do I keep the lighsts on for?
Should I leave the filtration media in?
What temperature should I keep the tank at?
What salinity?
How often and how much water do I change?
Should I feed just brine or do I need coral/invrt food like marinesnow?
Did I forget anything?
Thanks for your input -Greg
 
gfk

gfk

Member
starfish is a no.... way to small of a tank, i cant even get one for my 20 gallon.
i dont know what reef crystals are...
heater should be fine...
 
thedocta

thedocta

Member
NO starfish at all? What can i get instead of a starfish that will do it's scavengering job? Reef crystals are basically reef tank salk...supposed to be better for reefs.
 
T

tuningvis

Guest
those crystals seem like a hoax
and you can get shrimp/crabs/snails
 
thedocta

thedocta

Member
OK...i donno I've heard good things about them and don't wanna take chances with such a small tank without a skimmer.
 
T

tuningvis

Guest
DETAILS: I plan on adding R/O water, salt, and LS on wednesday when I get the tank. Then waiting about a week or at least till the weekend to add the LR. Wait another till the next weekend and add the snails and emrald crab. Wait another week and add the percula. Wait another week and add the starfish. Another week and add the first coral, probably something simple like mushrooms or feather dusters. I'll add corals about once a week or every two weeks from then on and I'll add a pistol shrimp and shrimp goby sometime after starting the corals. I got a few questions tho...

wait till your levels level out before adding anything(besides snails and such) ... maybe about 3-4 weeks ...
How long do I keep the lighsts on for?
depends on what happens in your tank and your lighting.. i'd say start with 6-8 then see how it goes from there
Should I leave the filtration media in?
What temperature should I keep the tank at?
79-82 i'm pretty sure
What salinity?
30
How often and how much water do I change?
either 10% a week or more once a month
Should I feed just brine or do I need coral/invrt food like marinesnow?
depends on your corals
Did I forget anything?
a good test kit
 
gfk

gfk

Member
ya the star fish will die. i wanted one for my 20 but ophiura or whatever her SN is told me i shouldnt.
emerald hermits, blue legged hermits, will work
snails, get one mexican turbo, some nassarius and some astreas and you should be fine. search around a bit in this forum to see what others are using.
 
thedocta

thedocta

Member
OK...What'a a good test kit that wont leave me broke? Also can I use just astrea snails? Those things aren't overly large and clean like mad.
 
T

tuningvis

Guest
marine lab test kits i've heard okay things about
salifert is the best but pretty $$$
 
thedocta

thedocta

Member
Ordered a "Red Sea Marine Lab" test kit and a maxi jet 600 for the nano. I don't think the marine lab has every test I need but it's got alkalinity, amonia, nitrate, nitroit, and PH so that should get me through cycling right? Also does anyone know if the maxi jet 600 fits in the back of the nano and if it fits the tube the stock pump is hooked up to? If it doesn't I'll put it in the actual tank section but if it does I'd like to hide it. Thanks -Greg
 
thedocta

thedocta

Member
Alright the tank will have been setup 1 week as of wednesday. I have done one 1 gallon water change so far, plan on doing another tomorrow. Right now my salinity is at 1.021 but I'll get that up to about 1.024 by the end of the cycle. I ordered a test kit and a maxi jet 600 for the tank. I still got a couple questions tho...
Will the maxi jet 600 fit in the back of the nano and fit the tube the current pump is hooked up to?
Is the "Red Sea Marine Lab" a good test kit? It comes with PH, amonia, nitrate, nitrite, and alkalinity tests.
When my tank is fully cycled should I do two 1 gallon water changes per week or one 2 gallon water change?
What are some specific foods that would be good for my corals? Fish? Inverts? Is "Murph's Stew" good?
NEW ROUGH TIMELINE:
Wait for cycling to end
Add a few mushrooms and polyps after levels are stable for a few days
Wait a week or so and then add pistol shrimp, shrimp goby, 4 nassarius snails, 4 cerith snails, 4 astrea snails, and 1 big neon blue hermit crab (the $10 ones)
Wait a couple days to a week then add percula clown
From this point on I'll be slowly adding only corals, probably a softie or 2 as well as 1 or 2 pieces of LPS, but mostly zoas and mushrooms.
I'll feed every other day, I'm trying to find an all in one food for my corals, fish, and inverts but there's so many I don't know what to do lol.
Test when something goes wrong, and the day after water changes.
Change either 2 gallons of water once a week or two 1 gallon water changes per week. What one?
Lights on 10-10 as long as the algea doesn't grow alot, moonlights on when daylights go off.
Keep temp. at 78-80, salinity at 1.024-1.025
I'm leaving everything but the bioballs in, cleaning the sponge once or twice a week and replacing carbon every 2 weeks.
I think I covered everything...how does that sound?? Thanks-Greg
 
gfk

gfk

Member
add the crabs and snails before you add anything else. youll have some crap leftover after the cycle, and they can help get rid of it. also you want to make sure its truely cycled before adding anything, so put like one or 2 crabs in at first to test it out
 
T

tuningvis

Guest

Originally Posted by TheDocta
Alright the tank will have been setup 1 week as of wednesday. I have done one 1 gallon water change so far, plan on doing another tomorrow. Right now my salinity is at 1.021 but I'll get that up to about 1.024 by the end of the cycle. I ordered a test kit and a maxi jet 600 for the tank. I still got a couple questions tho...
Will the maxi jet 600 fit in the back of the nano and fit the tube the current pump is hooked up to?
i dont know
Is the "Red Sea Marine Lab" a good test kit? It comes with PH, amonia, nitrate, nitrite, and alkalinity tests.
yea it'll work.. even though if you are going reef you will only use PH and nitrate and maybe alk..
When my tank is fully cycled should I do two 1 gallon water changes per week or one 2 gallon water change?
its really up to you and how heavy your bio-load is ... you can start off with one water change a month about 3 or 4 gallons and then if you start noticing more nitrates then you can make the water changes more freaquent(sp)
What are some specific foods that would be good for my corals? Fish? Inverts? Is "Murph's Stew" good?
i throw a bit of frozen mysid shrimp in there for my clowns and use to spot feed my sun coral with the same. hope that helps
NEW ROUGH TIMELINE:
Wait for cycling to end
Add a few mushrooms and polyps after levels are stable for a few days
Wait a week or so and then add pistol shrimp, shrimp goby, 4 nassarius snails, 4 cerith snails, 4 astrea snails, and 1 big neon blue hermit crab (the $10 ones)
you can add your snails and clean up crew before the corals ...prob be better .. it'll let them get started

Wait a couple days to a week then add percula clown
From this point on I'll be slowly adding only corals, probably a softie or 2 as well as 1 or 2 pieces of LPS, but mostly zoas and mushrooms.
I'll feed every other day, I'm trying to find an all in one food for my corals, fish, and inverts but there's so many I don't know what to do lol.
Test when something goes wrong, and the day after water changes.
Change either 2 gallons of water once a week or two 1 gallon water changes per week. What one?
Lights on 10-10 as long as the algea doesn't grow alot, moonlights on when daylights go off.
Keep temp. at 78-80, salinity at 1.024-1.025
I'm leaving everything but the bioballs in, cleaning the sponge once or twice a week and replacing carbon every 2 weeks.
I think I covered everything...how does that sound?? Thanks-Greg

sounds like you have a great grasp on it ... :)
keep us updated
 
thedocta

thedocta

Member
I got my maxi jet 600 and test kit today. Maxi jet is in and teh flow seems much better. Here are my tank readings as of today. The levels seem pretty good so I hope I did the tests right...are these readings normal for a 1 week old tank? Thanks-Greg
PH: 8.1
Alk: "High"
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 2.5
Total amonia: 0.25
Toxic amonia: 0.0145
Salinity: 1.023
Temp: 76 F.
 
thedocta

thedocta

Member
Bought frozen mysis and "formula one" marine pellets. Are these two foods mixed together with phytoplankton, like DT's, a good diet for the mini reef? I plan on feeding every other day as much as the fish can eat in a couple minutes. What's a good phytoplankton food? Thanks -Greg
 
thejdshow

thejdshow

Member
I would not recomend doing water changes while your tank is cycling. It may prolong the cycling process.
Where abouts in michigan? Maybe we shop at the same LFS
 
thedocta

thedocta

Member
I'd take your advice but I have been advised by at least 10 people on michigan reefers to do 50-75 percent water changes during the cycling. Keeps amonia in check and prevents algea. I'm in kalamazoo so I doubt it unless you drive a while to get here.
 
thejdshow

thejdshow

Member
Ask around online. I think you will find many people agree with me. I am all for water changes after the tank cycles, but while the tank is cycling there is no need for them. As long as you dont have any fish yet I see no need for water changes. Someone PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong, I will take no offense. Water Changes will increase your cycle time. Amonia is supposed to spike.. this is part of the cycle. It will spike, then drop off to zero. you may get some algea, but this is normal. If you don't want to take my word for it (which is perfectly fine, there are people much smarter than I) at least do yourself the favor of getting a couple more opinions on here. I think you will find people agree with me (if they dont let me know so I can stop giving bad advice
)
Good luck with your tank!
-JD
 
thejdshow

thejdshow

Member
Some links agreeing with my statement, I have not found any that disagrees (to be fair I have not searched for them either)
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=163144
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...ighlight=cycle
The above article is about cycling in general. The poster does not mention water changes untill the very end of the tanks cycle. I hope this doesn't seem to forward, as I am not trying to come acrossed as hostil. I just want you to see apposing views. In the end you are free to do as you feel without discrepancy from anyone. :D
Good luck! :yes:
JD
 
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