My 24g Nano - The beginning

rethink

rethink

New Member
Hey everyone, I just wanted to introduce myself to you and share my new hobby with you guys. I have been looking at this website for a while now and finally decided to get my own tank. There is a lot to learn but I figure this is the pleace to help me..especially since it seems that my LFS doesn’t know crap.
So I purchased a 24g Nano Cube with 150w MH, two 18w PC's and some moon lighting. I guess my first questions is this enough lighting to eventually keep SPS?
So I just set up the tank three days ago with the LFS R/O salt water, 25 lbs of live sand, and just about 23 lbs of live rock. The tank came with a skimmer that the LFS told me would be plenty of filtration along with the rock....true?
The water seems to be running a little warm, just about 85 degrees. I have the heater set to 78, but I was wondering how you guys with MH lighting keep the nanos cool? Do I need a chiller? If so where and which one is good?
As of now I do not have any testing kits so I am not sure what the water parameters are, but plan and getting one this weekend. Any recommendations?
I am not totally sure what I want to put in the tank as of now, but I do know that my GF wants a paired clown set with probably a rose anemone. Other than that, I am sure you guys could help me out. I am very new to this hobby but have been researching A LOT!!...There are so many people out there with so many different opinions.
Anyways check out the pics below, the cloudy one is day 1, then the other two were just taken an hour ago on day three. Any and all help is greatly appreciated!!!


 
chaseter

chaseter

Member
Yes! A 150 watt MH in a 24g will let you keep any type of coral you want! (provided you have good water condition, weekly water changes, even run a protein skimmer).
You have over 6 watts per gallon...you should be able to keep whatever you want in there.
I do however suggest that you move your rock off the glass because it makes it easier to clean with a magnet or scrapper.
 
rethink

rethink

New Member
Yea i was thinking maybe i should move the rock around a little. Im just having a hard time creating a "cool" design. I want to make sure that i have enough spots for my coral.
I have the skimmer hooked up, and its doing an ok job, its just kinda hard adjusting it to work 100%.
Do you guys think that i will have a algae burst? The rock i bought was fully cured and the water came from the LFS that had it circulating through all of there tanks.
 
rethink

rethink

New Member
I heard somewhere that I should keep my lights off during my cycle...should I be doing this?
I also heard that I should keep them on, and do absolutley no water changes until the cycle is complete, that way the bacteria is able to grow faster feeding off the nitrates and ammonia.
 
chaseter

chaseter

Member
Keep your lights off. It keeps nuissance algae from growing in there when you have no cuc to clean it up! I waited until the cycle was complete before doing a large water change.
 
rethink

rethink

New Member
Yea I just started to notice this morning that there is brown hairy algea growing a little on the bottom part of the tank...very little bit but i shut the lights down.
 
rethink

rethink

New Member
Hey guys I just wanted to update with some new pics. I purchased a bi color and he seems really happy..I changed the rock a little. But other than that all remains the same. I figure in a week or two i can get my first piece of coral..as long as my water continues to test good.
Anyways, here are a few pics.



 
rethink

rethink

New Member
So I have added a few additions to the tank..I am very pleased with everything so far.
I got a pair of mated false percs. from a buddy of mine that had to tear down his tank. I also took a couple small torch corals and a big brown polyp piece. I think the brown polyps are ugly as hell, so ill prob sell it or trade it at the LFS.
Yesterday I also got a good deal on some green star polyps..this thing looks awesome.
I woke up this morning and my dottyback killed my peppermint shrimp...the little a** started nipping at him the second he entered the tank..
Also, I have read that I should dose iodine...is this safe for everything? What do you guys think?
Any tips on the corals I got would be great...I really want to torch and green star polyp to grow fast.
Enjoy







 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
So far so good. I liked reading yours because I had no clue about hte lights during the cycle. (who knew)
. I have 29 G Bio and waiting for it to cycle now. Yours looks great. I will be keeping in touch.
 
salt210

salt210

Active Member
did you ever get the heat under control?
maybe a small fan aimed at the light would help. most of the pics Ive seen of nano's have their halides a little higher off the tanks than yours
 
socalnano24

socalnano24

Active Member
I like your rock work :) and it looks like you've already got some corraline spreading, thats a good sign this early
 
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