Snake's 20g Nano Build thread

[snakeblitz33]

Whole system up and running again, the ATS is on a separate timer, I just put the lights on for the pic. I'm still having some problems with microbubbles in my display tank. But, I guess until I can do something about it, I have to grin and bear it for now.

Up close pic of the sump. The ATS is actually picking up traces of the diatom bloom! The ATS is keeping the diatom bloom outta the display tank so far! HAHA

 

[snakeblitz33]

So, since I didn't like the look of all those cords there, I re-purposed my original canopy into a wooden box to house all of my electrical work, and on top will have a jug for an auto top off. Inside the stand, I'm going to mount the power supplies on the sides, and then when the door swings out, I'll mount the controller/monitor that I got my eye on.
Which, I can't post right now because my dang SD card can't be read at the moment. I'll try back later.

 

[travelerjp98]

Glad to see that improvements are being made! I know that this tank will look awesome when it's all done!

 

[snakeblitz33]

I like having the wooden box beside the aquarium to hide all of the electrical work and to store some fish food, testing equipment and other stuff.

I still need to mount the Coralife power supply to the side of the wooden box. But, that's no problem. Should get around to it in a couple days. XD The top of the box is also going to come really inhandy for an automatic top off unit. I'm going to wake up early in the morning and top off my tank with some saltwater to get the salinity back up to where it needs to be.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Yes, the couch is right next to the tank. But, I live in a small one bedroom apartment with my wife - and we are trying to make way for baby too. So, it's a little cramped right now till we can get a bigger place and she can get out of school. It will all work out.

 

[snakeblitz33]

So, today is a good day! Today I see the first signs of a diatom bloom in my tank. So, I know that the tank has started the cycle. Maybe when the diatoms get worse, I'll post a pic for all to see. I'm not even going to think about adding anything till I see some algae growing everywhere in the tank, and ghost feed it for about a week. I gotta go to the local pet store and buy some frozen foods. I got a pack of nori left over from awhile ago too, so that'll be good until I can dry some hair algae from my algae scrubber to feed.
I'm thinking about stocking my tank on the heavy side again. lol! My wife loves the fish, I love the corals. I'm sure we can come to a happy balance somewhere in between.
So, a new fish stocking list:
1 yellow watchman goby
2 false clownfish
2 firefish gobies
1 neon blue stripe goby
lastly
1 purple pseudochromis
I think that's a pretty well balanced fish stocking list for a 20g tank with a 10g sump with the filtration system that I have. The pseudochromis of course, will go in last. The pair of clownfish will most likely go in first, they are pretty hardy fish.
Inverts and clean up crew:
1 green emerald crab
10 nassarius snails
10 astria snails
10 hermits
1 mexican turbo
1 skunk cleaner shrimp
1 peppermint shrimp
If my snails run out of algae in the tank, which I'm sure they will, I'll supplement with some nori.
As for my wishlist of corals...
Green montipora digitata
Purple montipora cap
Pink (ORA) birdsnest - seriatopora hystrix
Green duncan(s)
Neon green candy canes... caulastrea furcata
I want to try my luck at some pink pocillopora sp. (cauliflower coral)
I'm going to try to stay away from encrusting sps corals,... too hard to frag. I'm also staying away from acropora until I get a much bigger tank. The next tank up for me is going to be a 125g. I'll probably stick with it until I start building my house (way in the fugure. )
I think I have pretty much already decided all of this already. These are going to be my base livestock and corals, and then I'll just go from there. Probably end up raising frags that people give me...

 

[snakeblitz33]

Oh, and I'm thinking about rearranging the rock in my tank sometime today. I'm still not completely satisfied with the aquascape. UGH!
And I did find some old base rock that I had from a long time ago... about 400lbs still left in my parents back yard. hahahaha hmm... well, at least I'll have some base rock for my next tank. lol.

 

[travelerjp98]

I really like the idea of the wooden box next to the tank to hide all the electrical work. I like your coral and cuc stocking lists, but I think that fish-wise it's a bit crowded. I'm not too worried as to bio load on your tank, because you have a pretty good filtration system, but I really do think it's a bit crowded. I would also be worried on compatibility issues as well... I don't see anything that is seriously incompatible with each other, I just think that there will be a fair share of fish nipping at each other in the tank.

 

[travelerjp98]

Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/387674/snake-s-20g-nano-build-thread/60#post_3418576
Oh, and I'm thinking about rearranging the rock in my tank sometime today. I'm still not completely satisfied with the aquascape. UGH!
And I did find some old base rock that I had from a long time ago... about 400lbs still left in my parents back yard. hahahaha hmm... well, at least I'll have some base rock for my next tank. lol.
I know, the never ending decision of how to aquascape your tank lol... and I have about 70lbs of base rock in my yard too... I really wanna put some in my tank, but I never get to it lol..

 

[snakeblitz33]

The only semi-aggressive fish that is in there is the purple pseudo, and it's going in last.

 

[1guydude]

well snake...seems to be coming along!

Someone i know actaully thinks that the brown diatom bloom is actually cyano...LOL
Tried to tell him that cyano was red and a nuisance algae but hes a bit thick headed!
Well as always ive got opinions
Fish:
have u owned a purple psuedochromis? (SP)
I had one in a 10gal..before it was my 20L and the dang thing was a terror! I ended up returning him!
Get one firefish...preferably a purple one or even more expensive helchi one or watever its called....
Get a smaller blenny of some type...
Neon blue stripe goby....as in cleaner goby? Try and get one already eating frozens! Meowzer and BTL have success with theirs eating frozen so may want to shoot em a pm!
My 20L consists of
1 red firefish
1 bi-color blenny
1 high fin goby/pistol shrimp combo
1 naked clown
1 bar goby/ zebra dartfish
its a great mix and everyone gets along great!
Inverts:
10 narris snails? How big are u able to get em? Ive only got two and both are reasonable sizes.....
in my 36gal ive got 5....

if u have enough open floor bed more power to u!
scratch the mexi turbo, unless u got some HA...which i dont think u will

hes a darn bull dozer!
Why not 2-3 pepps?
U can still get the cleaner shrimp too...
i always do less hermits than snails...
i would do 5 hermits man!
Coral:
Love ur selection here
ive just recently got a green milli...hes not doing that great but hopefully he will color up and be great! Ive got a pink milli that has beautiful color!
Ive got the pink and the green polliporas and a blue polyp birdsnest recently!
The two polliporas are gravy man!
Not a fan of the trumpet/candycane coral but watever floats ur boat! LOL
Not a fan of softies or LPS huh? I see moslty some light SPSs...
Also is this for u and ur lady?
This is just my thoughts and input bro...
Tank looks great and looking forward to some pics with coral and fish!

 

[snakeblitz33]

Hah, thanks dude. I like your fish list. I'm still tossing up the idea of the pseudochromis.
I absolutely love SPS corals. I think they are fascinating and a challenge - especially in such a small tank. My wife doesn't have much of an interest in aquaria, but she knows that I am passionate about it, so she allows it. lol. It's also going to be my job one day, and as long as it makes money - she doesn't care.
I've always loved watching a turbo snail. I'm looking forward to seeing him eat dry hair algae from the algae scrubber.
When it comes to a clean up crew - I go overboard. I'm just going to buy the reef cleaner pack from a bulk supplier. Whatever I don't want, I'm gonna be giving away to friends and clients.
Thanks for taking an interest in my tank. I appreciate it! Looking forward to seeing you comment more!

 

[snakeblitz33]

I'm only partial to candy canes because it was the first frag I ever got when I got into reef keeping. It brings me back to the old days.

 

[1guydude]

well i know mine was a terror! Theyre are some dottybacks that arent, but i cant think of the name for the one i almost got after the purple...
i went with the naked clown! My mom and gf love him.
It was mainly a goby/blenny tank till i got the clown, i had 2 of the darts but one went MIA! AAAAHHHHHHHH.....
I go way overboard on my CUCs as well...when i feed my tanks i feed em! LOL
ive got some crab/lobster pellets i use every now and again too...
Hey wat about stars/seaserpents? None?
Ya im more of a softy/LPS guy.... dont get me wrong i think sps are kool and add a nice edge to my tanks but something about the fleshyness and all the tentacles of the LPSs drives me! Lets me know its an actual animal lol.....
no zoos/palys for u either? Wat about shrooms? Cmon Acans, brains, sun coral....anything?????

 

[1guydude]

ahhhh well i had some pink daisys grow all over my candycanes...needless to say they arent living all that much anymore! Stupid daisys, id scrape em off but they grew back with the quickness and i was prob doing more damage than helping...thats why ive got a grudge u could say against em!

 

[snakeblitz33]

I consider zoas a nuisance and a pest. lol. I had some zoas that literally took over in certain spots and choked some stuff out. I've also had queen star polyps that have done the same thing. They are pretty, but just not my thing. I'm going to be getting at least one small standard brittle star to help with detritus in the live rock.
I like playing around with making SPS grow like crazy. How to balance out the water, wondering in which directions they will grow in next, and the challenge of it all. I do like duncans and welsi and blastos and acans and leather corals and xenia, and nepthea, and frogspawn and hammer coral and galaxea and gorgs, dendros, sponges, and corallimorphs of all sorts. BUT! I have to be very, very careful about what I choose for such a small tank. It's not like I have a whole lot of real estate to have all the corals that I love. If I did have all the corals I love, I'de have to have a 500+g tank! lol.
I've kept care of LPS corals for years, but my favorite tanks of all time are SPS dominated reefs. I don't know why I am attracted to them so much - I just am. lol.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I just thought I would post a pic of the pickling lime I use to dose my tank with calcium and alkalinity.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Well, yesterday I ended up breaking down and put some filter floss between the baffles of my sump to get rid of the microbubbles. I thought for sure that I could do it some other way, but I'm too lazy to make any baffles with EPDM. Now there are barely any microbubbles coming from the return line. In such a small sump, it's hard to get rid of them all. But! That's ok. I think everything will (hopefully) work out the way I want it to. I kinda modified the filter floss a little bit, and I'm going to see if it works for a little while before changing the design. I'm also thinking about putting an elbow joint on the input of the return pump, just to see if it will cut down on some of the bubbles.
Did a test this morning ...
Nitrate - 30ppm
Calcium - 440ppm
Alkalinity - 10dKh
Salinity - 1.023 - and rising.
My nitrates are starting to show up on the test so my tank is cycling just fine. There's a bit of a diatom bloom showing up on some of the rocks - but mainly the algae scrubber. The scrubber is turning brown! I'm going to rinse it off tomorrow. My salinity is still low from the move and all the rock work. I really would like to get it up to 1.024 to 1.025. I don't think I'm going to go as high as 1.026 because it is a smaller tank, and I don't want evap to make salinity rise too quickly, especially with it being an SPS dominated reef.
Equipment and other things I'll have to buy...
Small RO/DI Unit - I'm getting tired of driving so far to get water from the store
Extra water filters
2x40g plastic pickle barrels, covered
2x float valves
5x 5g blue mountain water spring bottles OR those cheap white plastic ones
2x 5g buckets of SeaChem Reef Salt
1x 20g plastic food grade storage tote for mixing small batches of water
All the plumbing that goes into this setup. including bulkheads
Refractometer - on order
Saltwater Master Liquid Test Kit by API - the one that has ammonia and nitrite and nitrate and pH. I don't have one, I just have the reef master test kit for now.
nannocloropsis culture from Florida Aqua Farms for my phytoplankton culture
Small pump/powerhead for mixing salt and water changes
10ft vinyl hose that fits the pump
20ft vinyl hose that fits the pump
Ball valve to control the flow at the end of the vinyl tube so there aren't any spills.
adapter for the vinyl hose in the middle to connect the two hoses and a couple hose clamps
MORE throw away towels that MATCH this time
Anyway, this is more of a list for ME than for ya'll. Some and none apply to my personal aquarium.

 

[snakeblitz33]

So, I run an algae scrubber on my 20g nano tank. I started the cycle two weeks ago with a good sized chunk of shrimp that I left in there! I also started the tank with half TAP WATER! woohoo! The first three days I got a good diatom bloom and my algae scrubber actually picked most of that up and kept it out of the tank. This week my algae scrubber turned from a brown diatom bloom to:


The other side is equally as bad. lol. I have a theory that if it wasn't growing on the screen, it would be growing in my tank. I do have some algae growing in my tank as well, but I don't have any snails or hermits or anything to eat it in the display.
When I started my tank, my water parameters were as follows: nitrate is high at start because of the tap water. (my guess)
Salinity: 1.019
Nitrates: 30ppm
Phosphate: 0.25ppm
pH: 7.8 - 8.2
Calcium: 440
Alkalinity: 10dKh
As of today, because of the growth on the screen:
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrates: 10ppm (maybe closer to 15ppm)
Phosphate: less than .25ppm
pH: 8.2-8.3 constant
Calcium:420ppm
Alkalinity: 10dKh
That's just 6 days of growth, and I haven't even cleaned it once yet. lol. I'm probably going to throw in some snails in my sump to keep the hair algae and other algaes at bay and help with some detritus build up. Also, something to watch when I can't sleep. Mise well throw in a hermit crab or two as well. lol. Oh, and yes, I did top off my tank with saltwater a few times to get the salinity up where I wanted it to be.
Saturday I am going to clean half of the screen and grow it another week and see if my water parameters improve. I'm hoping to get a pair of clownfish in the tank in the next couple of days.
Oh, and YES that is a protein skimmer in the background. I don't have all the parts and pieces to it, so I stuck it back there just to get it out of the way for now. I am going to try not to use a protein skimmer on this system if I can keep from it. If my algae scrubber does not work long term, I'm going to buy an ASM Mini-G protein skimmer in the future. But, I'm going to experiment with this set up for quite a while. I run this setup on a few clients tanks and have had success so far - but we'll just have to see.
I'm having a horrible microbubble problem in my display tank, but I have an idea of how to fix it. I just wish I didn't have to use filter floss . I'm also going to turn down my return pump to make it a little slower going through my sump. Maybe that will also cut down on some bubbles. Eh, a little maintenance here and there isn't going to kill me. lol

 

[travelerjp98]

Glad to see it's coming along! WOW... that's a crapload of algae in your sump pad thing!!
Edit: See, you can't think too clearly at 7:17 AM...