kitchen nano progress pics (old and new)
- Thread starter brooklyn johnny
- Start date
rubberduck
Active Member
bump
jsullivan
New Member
Brooklyn Johnny,
Beautiful tank!!
Do you use a skimmer??
I have a 12g nano with about half the animals that you show and I am very worried about may water levels, minerals, etc..
even though I religiously do my water changes once a week. In short can you describe your filtration that you have established?
Thanks for the help!!
Beautiful tank!!
Do you use a skimmer??
I have a 12g nano with about half the animals that you show and I am very worried about may water levels, minerals, etc..
even though I religiously do my water changes once a week. In short can you describe your filtration that you have established?
Thanks for the help!!
psoup
Member
Originally posted by jsullivan
Brooklyn Johnny,
Beautiful tank!!
Do you use a skimmer??
I have a 12g nano with about half the animals that you show and I am very worried about may water levels, minerals, etc..
even though I religiously do my water changes once a week. In short can you describe your filtration that you have established?
Thanks for the help!!
PLEASE SHOW NANO!
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
Thanks for bumping this thread guys... while this system was upgraded a while back most of the corals I still have. Do a search with my name and "65 gallon" and some threads will come up showing some of my other systems. My wife and I have been in our new house for almost three months now and I have my 400+ gallon system up and running and looking good (180 display tank). Sanjay Joshi is driving down this weekend and he'll be bringing me some Penn State frags on top of hitting some local stores, so I'll soon update here at swf.com with photos and discussion of the new system being that I'm cleaning all of the coralline in preparation for the weekend.
jsullivan, to answer your questions, I did not use a skimmer on this system, although it would have helped. In reality it's amazing what live rock with good water flow and macroalgae can achieve in dealing with wastes. With such a large refugium I never detected nitrates, even though I did have a high bioload. If I were to do the system today I would leave substrate out of the refugium and probably put a small amount of crushed coral in the display and keep it clean as I have done with my large system. When you mention "minerals" there really isn't much to worry about in a nano... I dosed kalk and B-ionic because of the high uptakes I had, but in reality in such a small system where you are able to do large water changes conveniently many times additives do more harm than good.
The hobby (especially those into sps) continues to evolve and current filtration philosophies basically lean towards vigorous waste removal through various means... On my new system I use "filter socks", a large refugium, a Euroreef CS 12-2 recirculating skimmer (a beast!), and water changes... all while leaving the frag tank and refugium without substrate to trap detritus, and the display with a small amount of crushed coral for show that I gravel wash regularly... DSBs, and even shallow sand beds, are going the way of wet/dry filters... they were nice advancements at the time but the hobby has moved past them. Wet/drys are great in breaking down ammonia and nitrite aerobically, but leave nitrate virtually untouched to build up. DSBs answered that by anaerobically breaking them down, but their long term stability is tough and sometimes impossible to maintain without too much hassle. With good water flow, quality live rock, and better skimmers nitrates are now seldom a problem for experienced reefers so DSBs are uneccesary... and anything that traps detritus becomes a burden eventually... including DSBs... people talk about maintaining the health of the detritivores and such, but why? Other simpler means accomplish this these days...
For those who haven't seen the current Tank of the Month in Reefkeeping Magazine it contains sps under fluorescents using the same basic principles I used in this nano (lights very close to the water line with a good reflector). Also check out the September '04 issue where my 65 gallon was featured with many corals that started in this very nano...
In relationship news... Jerry, my onyx Solomon Islands percula has been paired up for about a year and has since become the female in the raelationship... more importantly... my wife and I are expecting our first baby (a boy!) in August right before my 28th birthday! I'll update in this thread when I start a new thread on the new system... but for now a shot of my 65 in its heyday last year before the move...(edit: for now it seems I cannot post any photos due to a technical problem at swf... will try soon)...
.jsullivan, to answer your questions, I did not use a skimmer on this system, although it would have helped. In reality it's amazing what live rock with good water flow and macroalgae can achieve in dealing with wastes. With such a large refugium I never detected nitrates, even though I did have a high bioload. If I were to do the system today I would leave substrate out of the refugium and probably put a small amount of crushed coral in the display and keep it clean as I have done with my large system. When you mention "minerals" there really isn't much to worry about in a nano... I dosed kalk and B-ionic because of the high uptakes I had, but in reality in such a small system where you are able to do large water changes conveniently many times additives do more harm than good.
The hobby (especially those into sps) continues to evolve and current filtration philosophies basically lean towards vigorous waste removal through various means... On my new system I use "filter socks", a large refugium, a Euroreef CS 12-2 recirculating skimmer (a beast!), and water changes... all while leaving the frag tank and refugium without substrate to trap detritus, and the display with a small amount of crushed coral for show that I gravel wash regularly... DSBs, and even shallow sand beds, are going the way of wet/dry filters... they were nice advancements at the time but the hobby has moved past them. Wet/drys are great in breaking down ammonia and nitrite aerobically, but leave nitrate virtually untouched to build up. DSBs answered that by anaerobically breaking them down, but their long term stability is tough and sometimes impossible to maintain without too much hassle. With good water flow, quality live rock, and better skimmers nitrates are now seldom a problem for experienced reefers so DSBs are uneccesary... and anything that traps detritus becomes a burden eventually... including DSBs... people talk about maintaining the health of the detritivores and such, but why? Other simpler means accomplish this these days...
For those who haven't seen the current Tank of the Month in Reefkeeping Magazine it contains sps under fluorescents using the same basic principles I used in this nano (lights very close to the water line with a good reflector). Also check out the September '04 issue where my 65 gallon was featured with many corals that started in this very nano...
In relationship news... Jerry, my onyx Solomon Islands percula has been paired up for about a year and has since become the female in the raelationship... more importantly... my wife and I are expecting our first baby (a boy!) in August right before my 28th birthday! I'll update in this thread when I start a new thread on the new system... but for now a shot of my 65 in its heyday last year before the move...(edit: for now it seems I cannot post any photos due to a technical problem at swf... will try soon)...
liverock27
Member
Johnny, Congrats on the up coming addition to the family! Also, I am sure the rest of the people on this site are like me and can't wait to see the new tank. I am curious to see the Refug without any substrate, how do you plant the micro algea?
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
Thank you! I am super excited about being a father... my little guy is going to be spouting scientific names before too long.... I have plenty of live rock in the refugium, just no substrate. The majority of macroalgae is Chaetomorpha sp. (spaghetti algae) and requires nothing to attach to. The remainder is a fast growing species of caulerpa thwat attaches to anything, even the glass. Any species of Caulerpa will root into live rock, so substrate is unnecessary... come to think of it the 2x36 watt hood from this nano is on the 40 gallon refugium, with one 5700k and one 6500k bulb. Try two on the pic...
. I have plenty of live rock in the refugium, just no substrate. The majority of macroalgae is Chaetomorpha sp. (spaghetti algae) and requires nothing to attach to. The remainder is a fast growing species of caulerpa thwat attaches to anything, even the glass. Any species of Caulerpa will root into live rock, so substrate is unnecessary... come to think of it the 2x36 watt hood from this nano is on the 40 gallon refugium, with one 5700k and one 6500k bulb. Try two on the pic...
F
flashzg
Guest
I dont think I have EVER seen a nicer tank....
salty chee
Member
Nice job filling her up Brooklyn Johnny! Very good scheme!
annanymous
Member
im actualy considering dripping kalk. i have a 20 gal tank. anyone, pros and cons about it? i heard kalk dripping is not good for nano's but adding liq calc everyday doesnt seem to be a better option.
thanks everyone :thinking:
thanks everyone :thinking:
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
The benefits of dripping kalk are many. However, the one drawback that is especially of concern in a nano is the sharp short term increase that adding kalk can cause. This could be a benefit if monitored as it will keep your pH running higher. The first part (buffer) of two part additives also cause a sharp short term pH increase. Therefore, when using either, I strongly recommend a Pinpoint pH Monitor (about $80) to be sure that you never cause more of a .2 increase in your pH over a short period of time and to be sure that you never spike over 8.4 (although up to 8.6 doesn't cause any problems). Without a pH monitor, it is almost suicide dripping kalk on a nano, and also makes for much easier dosing if you also use two part additives... hope that helps...
John
John
scubataibi
Member
how many lb of live rock?
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
I can honestly not recall, but I am almost sure it was between 10 and 15 lbs of porous Pacific (again, forget the location) rock. At nano-reef.com there are many threads on this system and I'll see if I could go back and see for sure. It was very porous rock... good for the tank and good for the wallet
scubataibi
Member
so, the "fuge" in the cabinet is the filterTION?
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
That and my live rock. Most modern reefs have mechanisms to remove organics before they break down (protein skimmers, filter socks, other mechanical filtration) and live rock and refugiums to deal with what's left.
I've found that good water movement makes a big difference in the denitrification capabilities of live rock, yet thankfully we usually do have high flow as a result of keeping corals.
I've found that good water movement makes a big difference in the denitrification capabilities of live rock, yet thankfully we usually do have high flow as a result of keeping corals.
scubataibi
Member
are there any anemones? do you use figi or tonga lr?