new to the hobby with 24g nano

mv12

mv12

New Member
what I have:
24 gallon aquapod
30 lbs of LR
my LFS is OK, but employees arent that helpful or friendly so hopefully i can get some q's answered here.
set the tank up 9 days ago, put the rock in 8 days ago. about 5 or 6 days in it really started getting brown. LFS said not to clean glass and wait about 2 weeks before getting CUC.
Should I wait that long? should i clean glass now? what should i include in CUC? do I need a PH?
thanks for any info. i'm excited because the tank looks great with the rock in it, but I want to make sure I wait to populate it.
thanks again.
 
poop_head

poop_head

Member
brown stuff is diatoms. This is normal. I would wait a little bit to get your CUC in. Have you done any mods to your unit. It is usually a good idea to switch out the pump out for a more powerful one in. It is also a good idea to take out bioballs/rings with live rock rubble if your are going with corals. search around here in the nano forum there are a bunch of others of use setting up these 24 g nanos now.
 
mv12

mv12

New Member
I haven't done any mods to the unit. I did remove the white bio bags, but left the bio balls and sponges in place for now. Everything I read said to remove the white bags.
Since I last posted, it appears that the tank has gotten a little cleaner, at least the glass anyway. Also, it appears that there is some kind of powdery dust on the rocks. Is this normal?
 
mckevinfang

mckevinfang

Member
Originally Posted by mv12
http:///forum/post/2451180
I haven't done any mods to the unit. I did remove the white bio bags, but left the bio balls and sponges in place for now. Everything I read said to remove the white bags.
Since I last posted, it appears that the tank has gotten a little cleaner, at least the glass anyway. Also, it appears that there is some kind of powdery dust on the rocks. Is this normal?
take pictures so we can better help you out. but yes remove the bio balls it will bit you in the future
 
nwdyr

nwdyr

Active Member
My experiance is yield to the "higher" power.....the people who make the tanks, they know more than all of us .... thats why THEY make the tanks! I have a 24gal jbj, stock everything and could not be happier! no problems. If you want a bigger pump that is ok, or you can add another power head for more flow. If you are going to remove all the filter media you could have saved allot of money and just got a tank with nothing on it. I talked with a marine biologist who told me that the bio-rings and bio-balls have more "space" on them for micro blah blah blah. Anyway he lost me real fast but the moral of the story is "If its not broke...." everything you are saying about your tank also happened tpo mine, I added a cleaning crew right away and it was ok. It worked for me, but again thats all I can say, I wont say my way is "the way". I have been in and out of this hobby for years and all I have learned is read,read,read and talk to qualified people who do this for a living to get technical advice. This is a great forum to learn from and the people here are great help, they helped me with allot of questions. But PLEASE befor you rip your filter apart, and re-arrange anything, check with the people who built it first!
 
mv12

mv12

New Member
I'll try to set up my camera tonight. Has anyone else experienced this "dust"?
so should I leave the blue sponges in the back chamber or remove them with the bio balls? why will the bio balls bite me later?
 
mv12

mv12

New Member
Thanks guys. nwdyr, the tank came with instructions saying to remove the white bio media for a reef so thats why I pulled it out, but I left everything else intact.
How quickly did you add your cuc? My lfs said to wait about two or three weeks, then add a cuc and then wait another week to do my first water change.
 
mckevinfang

mckevinfang

Member
Originally Posted by mv12
http:///forum/post/2451240
I'll try to set up my camera tonight. Has anyone else experienced this "dust"?
so should I leave the blue sponges in the back chamber or remove them with the bio balls? why will the bio balls bite me later?
the are nitrate producing factories but leave the sponges they really help! instead of bioballs use Live Rock Rubble works a lot better but dont just take my advice i have seen many threads on bioballs just ask or look around
 
snaredrum

snaredrum

Member
When I first set up my 29 Biocube I took the Bioballs out and replaced with rock rubble. That is now replaced with a skimmer in the second chamber. I figured with all the live rock I didn't need the rubble so I went with a skimmer which has helped me greatly. Good Luck.
 
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