26 gallon Red Sea Max Nano Peninsula Build Thread

[JohnNYC8]

Hello everyone, I'm cycling my tank so I decided to join the community and post a build thread. I have experience with freshwater aquariums but this is my first saltwater tank.

My goal is to build a nano reef with 2-3 fish, a clean-up crew, soft corals, and one or two SPS corals when the tank is more mature. I plan to move slow so I can maintain a stable environment. I'm sure there will be ups and downs along the way but that's all part of the adventure.

My ultimate goal is to create a stable, fun, and attractive environment for my fish.

The tank will be on a countertop with most of the viewing done from one side. There's 4" behind the back of the tank to allow for airflow as recommended by Red Sea. I set aside a healthy budget of time and resources for the tank so I hope to share some cool updates.

Current Set-up:

Red Sea Max Nano Peninsula 26 gallon​

20lbs of CaribSea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink Sand​

CaribSea LifeRock Nano Tree​

3 pieces of CaribSea LifeRock to fill out the aquascape (about 15 pounds total including the Nano Tree)​

A 78* fixed temp heater to get the tank started​

Day 1: Dosed with Dr. Tim's One and Only and started the cycle with a few pellets of food (brought ammonia to 1.2, Nitrite to .05, Nitrate to 20 after 8 hours). I have the LED light turned off, the skimmer turned off and the filter sock out. The water was very milky but it cleared in 24 hours. I have pictures of how milky it was if anyone is interested.

Day 3: Dosed again with Fritz Turbo Start and Fishless Fuel ammonia to get a more diverse array of nitrifying bacteria (brought ammonia to 2.0, Nitrite to 0, Nitrate to 5, PH at 8, Alkalinity a little low at 6.5). I turned the return pump off for 30 minutes after adding the Turbo Start to let all the good stuff settle. I turned the skimmer on since the initial food is starting to break down, added the RSM included carbon, but still have the LED light off and filter sock out.

Day 4: Today, joined Reef 2 Reef to share my journey

Future additions:

Epoxy or glue to lock-in the rockwork after it settles (everything passed the push down gravity test when placed)​

Nero 3 powerhead for higher flow​

ClearView lid (possibly with evaporation covers)​

3D printed filter upgrade kit from eBay​

Some bio balls or cubes to create more surface area​

A better heater with adjustability and maybe redundancy​

A battery backup solution for my return pump​

A dosing system​

I'm testing with a Red Sea Max Marine Care Multi Test Kit

Here's the tank cycling with my little island for a zoa garden in the front

Lots of room in my aquascape for fish activities and coral placement

And here's the money shot. For those wondering, that's a tape measure being used to hold down the skimmer lid. I'm having a hard time fine-tuning the skimmer but I'm getting it under control.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Great looking nano!! Can't wait to see that tank stocked!

 

[JohnNYC8]

Great looking nano!! Can't wait to see that tank stocked!

Thank you! I checked out your build thread and you have a beautiful set-up as well.

 

[JohnNYC8]

Day 8 Update:

The tank has been cycled for ammonia control for days now. I don't think double dosing the Dr. Tim's One and Only and Fritz Turbo Start was necessary. When I add ammonia the level drops rapidly. I actually suspect it was cycled for ammonia after day 1 since ammonia dropped from 2 to .2 overnight but that's a debate I'll let other reefers have.

I started keeping an eye on more parameters:

76.6* temp​

PH 8​

Alkalinity 7.5​

Salinity 1.029 (I haven't topped off with RO/DI water today)​

Nitrates 20​

I plan to do a 4-6 gallon water change before I add my fish to bring the nitrates down and to lower the salinity. I definitely need a good ATO solution to avoid these swings in salinity. I've been topping off by hand once a day. I started with Nature's Ocean so I feel like I can trust that the starting salinity was in a good range. I'll be using a calculator to dial this in. My plan is to dilute pre-mixed seawater until I hit the target salinity provided by the calculator. Any advice here is welcome.

Since I have a single tank set-up with no quarantine system I'm ordering my fish from @Dr. Reef https://drreefsquarantinedfish.com/ I'm currently debating between a bonded pair of Ocellaris Clownfish or a pair of Percula Clownfish. If anyone has any advice, or a favorite, I'd love to hear your thoughts. [Edit Day 8, 5-22-23 with Reef2Reef answer I'm going with a bonded pair of Ocellaris based on this thread]

I cleaned some of the sand off my aquascape and plan to move sand from the front area to the back (the "back" being the right side of the picture).

I have a Nero 3 powerhead on the way from BRS that I plan to add and "tune" before I add any fish. I don't want to play around with 80% power and freak the fish out in their new home. I'll play around with the placement because it would be cool to put it in the same space as the return pump on the back wall but it might provide better flow and move detritus to the front if I put it on the back glass (oven side) and blow along the side of the skimmer/return pump area. I plan to add higher flow corals to the top of the reefscape but that's many months in the future. If anyone has any advice for where to add the powerhead I'm all ears.

 

[JohnNYC8]

Day 9:

List of items to take care of before I add my first fish

• Bring the salinity down. I'll bring it within a point or so of where Dr Reef ships his fish and then slowly raise it with future water changes.
• Install an ATO so I'm not topping off by hand and experiencing these salinity swings. I'll use the one included with the RSM for now but I'll have to place my heater in a different location.
• Place the Nero 3 powerhead
• Bond my rockwork with BRS super glue gel underwater during the water change [edit Day 10, 5-24-23: this did not work. I had to wrap Oceans Wonders Coralline Purple Reef Safe Epoxy around the IC Gel. I also shoved some Epoxy down the reef rod hole to lock in the nano tree. The main section is very solid and two-piece modular if I ever have to take it out. I was really worried when the IC gel did nothing but I'm very relieved that the epoxy worked.]
• Install a temporary cut-to-fit mesh top. I got a Jumpguard DIY from BRS.

 

[Stephen8169301]

Really like that rock buried in the sand good idea that is a rock right? Lol

 

[JohnNYC8]

Really like that rock buried in the sand good idea that is a rock right? Lol

Thank you, it is rock down there. Someone returned a box of Caribsea flatz to the LFS so they were selling it by the piece. I was planning to buy a premade zoa garden frag holder but I grabbed this flat because it's a perfect match for the rest of the rock. I want to build 3-4 levels of coral with the front being the lowest.

 

[Stephen8169301]

Thank you, it is rock down there. Someone returned a box of Caribsea flatz to the LFS so they were selling it by the piece. I was planning to buy a premade zoa garden frag holder but I grabbed this flat because it's a perfect match for the rest of the rock. I want to build 3-4 levels of coral with the front being the lowest.

Yeah that’ll be perfect for zoas or even a favia or mushrooms so many options lol

it’s looking good!