***New Nano/Pico Tank Build - First Saltwater Experience

[karl.vanderschyff]

Hello All,

I am completely new to saltwater aquariums and thought I would do a bit of DIY and convert an old lagoon (i.e., shallow) aquarium to an AIO. Pretty sure I made some mistakes already, but thought I would share my journey anyway. I have attached a short video clip of the tank running with freshwater during testing. My main goal with the testing was to get the inlet weir to allow flow easily so that the water surface can get skimmed naturally as far as possible. Return pump area is low, but I probably made a mistake with the baffle sizes. Anyway, it does not run dry and manages to make its way through all the media, floss and carbon.

***specs***

I live in South Africa so can't get some of the more popular products often recommended, but managed to get a submersible pump rated at 900 liters per hour, some matrix, reef spec carbon, and filter floss of course. The tank is an ADA 60F with dimensions (in cm) 60L x 30W x 18H (tiny volume of about 8 gallons). Yes it is very shallow, but I have seen others use this specific tank spec before.

I have not purchased a light or ATO yet. Don't think the cycle needs light ?

***next steps***

1. Add the Caribsea Fiji Pink.
2. Aquascape the dry rock (was unable to get live rock locally).
3. Mix saltwater and add it to the tank.
4. Cycle the above (I have stability that I use on my freshwater aquariums).

Other than the tank modifications, are there any additional issues I should be wary of at this stage?

 

[Nanojoe]

Nice! great to see you delve into the saltwater world. Its a trying and fun hobby.

Your filtration looks pretty good and will do the trick. I am a little concerned about the water level in the display portion as it is very close to edge. Id lower this to reduce any risk of flood. Once that floss becomes clogged up and you dont get to it in time it will overflow.

Light is not needed during the cycle. The longer you can go without the light the better off you will be generally. A new tank with nutrients and bright light is a good concoction for algae growth.
During this time you are allowing bacteria to colonize and help fight off nuisance algae for when its time for lights.
If you do put lights on a little earlier you will more than likely deal with some headaches. Its okay though everyone has gone through this.

Get the ATO its going to be a great tool for your nano build. Evaporation will cause big swings in smaller tanks.

if you can get bottled bacteria then i would pick up some. Getting a variety of bacteria will be best. just not 1 particular brand or bottle. Reason i say this is that no manufacturer will say what strain is in their product. So, as a consumer and knowing there are millions of bacterial strains. Getting different bottles, in theory, will help broaden the bacteria you are adding. Different bacteria do different jobs in the tank. Some live on surfaces some live in the water column.
With bacteria they need food too. Their foods are primarily Nitrates and Phosphates. I believe nitrates are more essential to bacteria. Regardless, make sure these numbers dont hit 0 on your test kits.

Also note, FW bacteria is different than SW bacteria. Ensure what you are buying is geared towards SW. I personally dont trust bottles that say FW and SW bacteria.
Dr tims and brightwell are good brands to buy.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

 

[karl.vanderschyff]

Thank you for the help. Will be aquascaping later this week...pictures to follow. In SA I can only get the Red Sea Reef Mature Starter Kit. Is it suitable as a different type of bacteria?

 

[Nanojoe]

Thank you for the help. Will be aquascaping later this week...pictures to follow. In SA I can only get the Red Sea Reef Mature Starter Kit. Is it suitable as a different type of bacteria?

Yeah its a start for sure. If thats all you can get your hands on.

 

[karl.vanderschyff]

I have aquascaped (a little), mixed some salt and started the tank! I must be honest, even though I rinsed the Fiji Pink as instructed the tank is very cloudy. If I move the sand just a little bit it just completely blurs out what was already settled. Should I remove all the sand and rinse it some more?

Also, even though I followed the instructions on the Seachem Vibrant Sea salt I ended up with a SG of only 1.022/3. How does one now get that up to 1.026 eventually?

Have attached some pictures.

 

[MoshJosh]

Very cool! gotta love DIY. I am also new around here and new to salt, its good I'm not alone!!!

 

[KaitCorals]

Thanks for sharing your journey with us. One quick question, does the heater go deep enough? Many heaters have a line requiring it to be submerged until that height, I would not want you to fry your heater/tank.

- Love Kait!

 

[karl.vanderschyff]

You are absolutely right and I quickly removed that small heater and installed a much larger one (set to 25 Celsius). Its not in the ideal space, but its not that visible from the front. Works well as the water flows over it there at the back. Will post some more pictures as things progress, but for now things are just maturing. Need to get hold of a light though. Any suggestions? The Prime is quite expensive.

 

[KaitCorals]

AI Prime seems to be the standard for nano tanks (and I think I will eventually get one for mine) but is not the only option. The benefit of it or using other high powered lights on low settings is that if you catch the bug you could still use it to upgrade to a bigger tank.

I am currently using the hipargero a029 based on the inappropriate reefer's series on youtube but I don't have enough experience to comment on success yet. The light has good form factor over the tank, although it definitely gives a bit of disco ball effect. Here's the video series that inspired me to reef and use the light. Disclaimer that he calls himself the inappropriate reefer because he doesn't always do the right thing.

I've seen people use kessil a80 tuna sun for softies. It did not stand out to me so I have the least to comment on it.

I've seen reefbreeder's nano on a few nano tanks that look phenomenal and have been toying with the idea of trying one. Anecdotally I've seen tanks with zoa's, hammers, rbta, and mushrooms that seem to be thriving and definitely has a better visual pop than hipargero/kessil (at least to my eye). It seems so new that I have not been able to find par maps online of it.

These are the 4 that I've considered the most.

- Love Kait!

ps I lived in Cape Town for a half a year when I was younger and going back permeates my dreams.