First Nano Reef Progress & Updates

[ejstras]

Start of my first nano reef. Any suggestions or advice is welcome!

 

[ejstras]

 

[ejstras]

Will be adding substrate, live rock, and water beginning tomorrow 8/16. Then begin adding bacteria and ammonia for cycling.

 

[ejstras]

Tank setup:
-25 Gallon Waterbox Peninsula AIO
-AutoAqua Smart AWC Duo w/ ATO
-AI Prime 16 HD Light
-IM Helio 2 x 100 Watt PTC Smart Heaters
-Hygger Mini Wavemaker
-AI Nero 3
-In tank filter cover, surface skimmer, and first chamber media basket

Filtration:
- First chamber with 3 chamber basket will be floss, carbon or chemipure blue after cycling, then bio noodles
-2nd chamber heaters, temperature probe, and AWC output pump
-Third chamber is just the return pump

Substrate:
-Will be adding about 15 pounds of coarse aragonite and 10 pounds of aragalive

Liverock:
-Have about 40 pounds, will be figuring out how much and how well I can fit it. Probably will only utilize 20 pounds or so.

Water:
Currently mixing 25 gallons of instant ocean to 35 ppt with conditioned ro/di water with a heater and small fluval pump. Stirring manually if sediment settles.

Cycling:
Plan to add Dr. Tim's One and Only saltwater bacteria and dose ammonia on a schedule while monitoring water parameters daily and logging them until 0 ammonia/nitrites before adding any live animals.

 

[reefiteasy]

25 lbs of sand is a lot for that foot print. I’d limit the sand bed to 1” max, which I suspect is probably closer to 15 lbs

 

[ejstras]

25 lbs of sand is a lot for that foot print. I’d limit the sand bed to 1” max, which I suspect is probably closer to 15 lbs

Alright. I'll throw in about 5 pounds of course aragonite and the full 10 pound bag of aragalive and measure my substrate depth.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following slice! Do you have plans for livestock yet?

 

[ejstras]

Following slice! Do you have plans for livestock yet?

I want to do some corals and a couple anemones that are reef safe. A goby and shrimp combo because I like their dynamic. And I'm not sure on fish yet. I kind of want to Shop around, but would like suggestions.

 

[ejstras]

Sea floor has been laid.

 

[adamg77]

Looking great! I would highly recommend seeding the tank with copepods and utilizing phyto at least in the initial phases. I used @Reef By Steele and had great success. I’m use the live rock will come with goodies just my .02; I'm excited to see the rock scape. I also love the relationship between shrimp and goby, I recently added them to my tank - I was so excited he picked a spot up front but then the next morning he migrated to the back of the tank!

 

[ejstras]

Looking great! I would highly recommend seeding the tank with copepods and utilizing phyto at least in the initial phases. I used @Reef By Steele and had great success. I’m use the live rock will come with goodies just my .02; I'm excited to see the rock scape. I also love the relationship between shrimp and goby, I recently added them to my tank - I was so excited he picked a spot up front but then the next morning he migrated to the back of the tank

I didn't go too crazy on the rock scape but I think it looks decent. Don't want to overcrowd the already relatively small tank.

 

[reefiteasy]

Rock work and sand depth look great man. How much sand did you end up using?

 

[ejstras]

Rock work and sand depth look great man. How much sand did you end up using?

You were pretty much right on the money. Ended up using 10 pounds of course aragonite and around 5 pounds of aragalive. So just about that 15 pound mark give or take.

 

[adamg77]

Looks awesome!

 

[ejstras]

Got the tank filled and added a little more rock. Took a while to get the water level right. My floor appears to not be level, so I had to put a board under the front two table legs to get the water level in the sump right. Running the pumps and the heaters. Eventually will set the awc/ATO. However, I'm quite nervous because the water level can vary quite a bit in the sump chambers based on filter media, intank surface skimmer position, etc., may just run my sensors in the display.

 

[Macbalacano]

Nice set-up. Following along!

 

[Reef.]

I would rethink the chemiblue as you are basically just doubling up on carbon as that is all chemiblue is really, as it doesn’t contain any po4 remove, you need chemi elite for that and even then rowaphos would work out cheaper as it’s not pre-bagged so you can use smaller amounts, which is all you’ll need.

 

[ejstras]

I would rethink the chemiblue as you are basically just doubling up on carbon as that is all chemiblue is really, as it doesn’t contain any po4 remove, you need chemi elite for that and even then rowaphos would work out cheaper as it’s not pre-bagged so you can use smaller amounts, which is all you’ll need.

Sorry, I did buy chemipure elite. And I was going to run that OR carbon depending on tank needs.

 

[Reef.]

Sorry, I did buy chemipure elite. And I was going to run that OR carbon depending on tank needs.

Well done you researched well, many people miss the difference between the two.

Just something to consider, I started with both carbon and rowa, don’t use either now, I use Tropic Marin bacto balance for nitrate and po4 control, and carbon when I removed it I never noticed a difference, if anything the water was clearer, carbon I would use only for removing contaminates now, a lot to be said for keeping a nano simple, always keep in mind that a lot of the gear people use is to save on water changes, because a water change on a big tank is time consuming and expensive, with a nano you can very easily do a water change, less gear now will also allow you to add more useful gear later such as dosing equipment, with space being a premium with a nano.

 

[Macbalacano]

Sorry, just re-read the above and had a couple of thoughts:

1) If you are using all live rock, I do not think you need to cycle?

2) Personally I'd hold off on any phosphate removing media until you actually test and see what the parameters are like once you have livestock in there. I have a 15G AIO and I actually need to dose phosphate daily and have 3 fish. So you may not even need to remove excess phosphate ata all.

Just my 2 cents! Wish I had gone with the 25 AIO myself. Excited to see your progress!