# My Adventure Into SaltWater With a 20 Gallon



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Hi, this is my blog on the history of my new Salt Water tank. So let me begin.

Just tonight I went out and bought some bio-spira and an air stone (cheap Wal-Mart one broke in 2). So I got the tank air going and I read the back of the Marine Bio-spira and it doesnt have directions for tanks less than 55 gallons. So I have sent Marine Land and email on dosage and are awaiting a reply until I can continue. My uncle has a Wet\Dry filter and protein skimmer he's giving me. Currently all I have in the tank is an air stone, a heater and a small power head to insure constant temperature throughout the tank for cycling. Tank Status:


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Well I called my uncle and he said he couldn't find the overflow box for the filter. He said that he might of thrown it away because it was cracked. I can easily get a used one on eBay anyway. But then he says that Corals simply aren't possible in a mini-reef aquarium of that size. He says if I put fish in with corals in a mini-reef with no live sand bed. I would have a problem with nitrates and he says that If I did try to implement the deep sand bed I would be tanking away a large capacity of water from my tank. So I think I'm going to need to figure out some way so my tank can be a mini-reef with fish in it since I know people have done it. Plus he has a 200 something reef tank and Failed at a 55 so he moved up and it looks so cool now. But people do do mini-reefs with fish so I will just need to find out how they deal with nitrates. Since I would much rather spend a lot of money to make my tank compatible with corals so I don't need to remove everything from my balanced tank to rip up the substrate.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

I have decided I am going to go with a 10G refugium sump. I am buying everything I need and looking for the best deals around I am trying to do this quickly since I don't want my Marine bio-spira to expire. I want to use it ASAP.


----------



## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

Good luck with everything!

If you don't already know, bio-spira usually says "use before 6months" os omewhere close to that, prolly a little longer. Also you can add the whole thing a tonce, too much bacteria isn't going to harm anything.


----------



## Georgia Peach (Sep 23, 2005)

way cool! Im looking forward to reading your trials and tribuals!


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

flamingonhot said:


> Good luck with everything!
> 
> If you don't already know, bio-spira usually says "use before 6months" or somewhere close to that, prolbally a little longer. Also you can add the whole thing at once, too much bacteria isn't going to harm anything.


Umm... actually take a look at this. Right from the Bio-Spira FAQ. 

Anyway...

I got my clip on PC light today. 13W for my refugium. Gonna need to convince my dad to take me to somewhere that sells acrylic since I need that to modify my 10G tank and to build my overflow box. I still have a lot more boxes coming that I am waiting for. Oh yeah and LOL my box came wrapped in Christmas present wrapping paper turned inside out so it was white.

:lol:

Thanks peach for your interest! :smile:


----------



## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

Hmm...oh well. I just read around and it says it can be stored in the fridge for about 6 months. Well good luck with it all!


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Got my power head (skimmer) and my return pump. There is only 1 thing the power head was cheaper than the pump I bought. So when I looked at the box of the maxi-jet power head it said is could be used too pump water thought a tube. I thought power heads had no head power. This is the strongest maxi-jet they had 1200. I could of just bought 2 power heads. Oh well I wouldn't be saving much money anyway. I also got my bulkhead fitting everything seams to be going fine with that. I am now looking to buy acrylic the Internet seams to be the cheapest since my local stores are more expensive even with shipping added! I am looking for a 4 sq.foot piece of acrylic (preferably 2'x2'). I found a good site. Here http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.asp for some reason when I click on a link it loads for ever when I hit open in new window it works fine. I can't open in new window to add to the shopping cart to see what the shipping would be. It must be a problem on there end since It worked fine before. So mean while I'll look for even cheaper acrylic.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Well I have just returned from petSmart with a 10 gallon tank. Some red ludwigia witch I could not stop myself from getting. I saw it and I had to have it! Anyway I will order the Acrylic and get that shipping for Monday. Right now I am looking at supplements when I start getting alive things. Excluding my Bio-spira:roll: . So the site I will be ordering from is http://www.aquariumguys.com/. Right now I am going by this for the kinds of supplements I need. I'm Not sure if it's right since some people say the only things you should be adding is alkalinity and calcium and water changes will take care of the rest. It's all coming together now!


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Hi, I haven't put up anything in a bit because I've been so busy cutting my acrylic and stuff. So I got my acrylic and have already cut it into the right size pieces to make my overflow box and my baffle. You'd be suprised how hard it is to cut straight with a jig saw So I bought acrylic glue online and are waiting for it to arrive. So then I can glue my overflow together.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

WOW! what a day. I spent all day up until 8PM riding around to different pet stores buying stuff with a fellow reefer. It was fun! Too bad stores close early on Sunday. I also got my skimmer it's a cool piece of equipment it is loud though. I went out and bought some more silicone sealant also since my baffle broke free of the grip of the little silicone I had holding it in place. Now I am trying to get all my plumbing in line.

well... I found out I will need to partially take apart my stand to fit the 10 gallon in there so I will need to drain my 20 gallon in to a bucket and a spare tank so I can partially disassemble it it will be a pain:chair: ! Oh well


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Found a good setup for my sump and have glued my baffle in place. Now I have 48 hours of time to waste! Now I am just looking at RO systems since I can get a bare bones for about 80-100 $. That is right in my range. Just looking since my DI filter has kinda a low output but you never know. I also cut a hold in my hood with a jig saw for my protein skimmer to fit. 

Oh yeah and I got a job as a paperboy witch should help since I only had 30$ left.  . Don't know how much I will be making or anything yet but anything is good. 

Well that's that, now I wait.......... and look at items I can drool over. cya


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Got my sump\refugium working. It sure was a hassle to get it in my stand though. I had to take apart my stand practically to get it in. It is a very tight fit. Almost like it was made to fit. I filled up my sump\refugium got the salinity right and connected it all up. Right now I am waiting for the glue to completely dry on my overflow box. It says it takes 24 hours. I have already made sure it retains water and it does. I would like to get some aragonite based sand for my DBS. I tested every type of sand they had at Home Depot and none tested positive for aragonite. I have heard from my uncle that he got his sand for his DBS at a Lowe's. So I suppose that will be my next place to look. Although he said he bought it in the summer and it isn't exactly sandbox time yet but maybe they will have it. I will also be getting some live sand and macro algae from him to start up my tank. So I won't have a substrate in my main tank for a bit since I am very determined to find some aragonite sand. All the remains now is what to buy as my first fish? A clown fish? Goby? It will take a lot of thinking. I am hoping to get my overflow working by tomorrow and get all my heating issues sorted out and put in the bio-spira. The only thing I am a bit concerned about is that the bio-spira package says to turn off protein skimmers during the first 48 hours. That will mean I will need to get another means of importing oxygen into the tank for 48 hours. I will probably need to use a spare air pump and air stone. I am just not sure if it will be enough. I will have to hope.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

I knew everything wouldn't go according to plan! I'm having trouble plumbing. I bought some vinyl tube but it is to stiff and not very workable at all. I think I may just want to go with PVC. I will need to do some thinking and see what I will do.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Well I got my overflow working. It is extremely slow!! Oh well that everlasting kink in the U hose could be the problem. Going to Home Depot to get a U PVC piece or plumb me one with 2 90* angle pieces and a few straits. Also gonna get enough pieces to re plumb my whole thing in PVC.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Well I figured out a way to get my overflow box working. It involves an old yogurt container  . Anyway my dad is all of a sudden feeling uncomfortable with the safety of the sump. So we are putting in extra safety measures to ensure it doesnt overflow. Meanwhile I am searching hardware stores high and low to look for aragonite based sand for my DSB. No sign of any yet but I will find some eventually. I hope to get at least 1 fish this weekend.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Well, I discareded all my SW in my tank. My dad said he would buy me a new dionizing filter and some salt since he made his descision at the last minute. So I have moved my tank in the callar. I have siliconed up all my PVC. JUst need to fill up mt tank with tap water to test in it will run for a week then I will move it back up to my room and finally get some fish in there! Got to go to the hardware store be back soon.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Got everything all tubed today. Tomorrow I will just need to do a few miscellanies things and then i will be ready to fill it up and test away.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Well I have got my tank all filled up and right now are testing the reliability of my overflow\return line in the basement in case of overflow. I will test this until friday then I will bring it to my room fill it up with SW and finally mabey get a fish by sunday.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Well this totally sux. My dad says it's too dangerous to have the setup I have in my room because of risk of flood. So he says I can either eliminate the sump and have it in my room or I can put it in the cellar. So I chose the cellar he said maybe after the summer there will be a chance he will let me put it in my room. So I have picked out a spot and will drain out the tap water and will fill it with RO and then salt. On the brighter side I asked a person at a local reefer forum and they said where they got there aragonite sand so I will go there for my sand, they also sell it year round!


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Today I had a high temertture so I stayed home from school. While I was staying home I worked on my aquarium all day. I got all the tap water out of my tanks and disasembled all the plumbing. Then I moved the stand and tank to a more permanent location and reattached the plumbing and got everything resituated. Now I will need to see If I have an adapter that will go from garden hose to dionizing filter and fill it up. May have time tonight, may have time tommorow. Don't know.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Got it filled and salty. I am trying to heat the water though my heater is not strong enugph because is it too cold down there! :evil: . Time to get a 200W heater! :evil:


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Got a 300W heater. Nicen' toasty! Also put in my bio-spira. Now it's time to get a fish. I specifically like ckarkii clowns. So I will get one of thoes tonight. Or I could wait and get my sand then a fish but of corse I will get the fish first. There may just be a bit of a storm when I put the sand in. I was also having some probalems with water level. When I got how my pump was pumping air. Alot of water either evaportaed or got out via airstone bubbles. I will beable to get my airstone out soon because I will be able to turn on my protien skimmer 48 hours after I put in bio-spira. Witch means then I will have air.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

I'm also having a probalem with my protien skimmer. The skimmer puts out micro bubbles. So I emailed an aqua C guy and he's gonna send me a special sponge to put in the output. Other than that I'm fine.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Got a sebre clown in my tank. He's cool though he's kinda shy since my tank is bare. The rock will come in later. I tested my ammonia it is .25. Will need to do a water change or somthing to take care of that.


----------



## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

cheseboy said:


> Today I had a high temertture so I stayed home from school. While I was staying home I worked on my aquarium all day.


 

:lol: :lol: uh huh, It's coming along good i give it a thumbs up!


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

, Thanks. I am doing 5 gallon water changes as that is the maximum I can do because I only have a 5 gallon bucket and it is really annoying and hard work. Takes about 2 hours to make the water heat it, salt it and siphon out water in my tank etc.. One of the first things I want to get when I get paid is to buy a water sensor so I won't overflow my bucket again and again! I also want to DIY a top off system since water evaporates pretty easily when it is like 40 degrees outside of the tank and it messes up my overflow\return system. Other than that I would also like my reef lighting! (65x2 PC with moon light)


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Well here's something interesting. I tested the ammonia of my replacement water and my tank water. The color was exactly the same. whatever the color matches up to the card. My tank ammonia must be 0 then since My bucket was just deionized water salted. Plus my clarkii clown is showing no stress. He is just swimming around happily but I did test the nitrate of my tank and it was 0. So I am guessing all the frequent water changes was removing nitrate as it was produced. Only one way to find out though. I need to wait. I also went to get DSB sand and they said they don't sell it anymore. They also say they get alot of aquarium people looking for the sand there since he asked if I needed it for an aquarium.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

My clown fish seams to be doing fine, the only problem is at night he seams like he is almost dead. He just sits in a corner and does nothing. When the lights are on he's as happy and as frisky as anything I've ever seen.

Here's some nice pics!:
















Tank's a bit dirty from all the waterchanges!


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

*Ick attack!* my clown fish is now covered in ick. I don't understand. I gave him a FW dip before placing in the main tank. So I'm gonna need to figure out something. Kinda funny. When I first set up a FW tank everything in it died because of ick. Let's hope the same fate is not for my clown!


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

You'd never guess what happened. I came back the next day after I saw the ick and it was gone. Not a speck on the fish. My guess is that he healed himself just as he would in nature. Since I don't believe that all the parasites would burst out of the fish at the same time but obviously I can not be sure that the ick is totally gone. If my fish doesnt have white spots in the next 2 weeks or so I'm going to assume that my fish is fine..


I still have micro bubbles in the tank even though I put the sponge in. Not as much as before but still. I think when I get the money I'll want to buy a new protein skimmer.

I talked to someone at a pet store and they were saying if I have bio spira with a completely bare tank. The bacteria will die off little by little. So I have made getting either a DSB or live rock a priority.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

I was doing my weekly test and I noticed I have ammonia it looks like a different color since last time I checked. So I guess I will just keep on doing water changes and possibly put in some bio-spira if it is ok.

On the good side I have got a lead on some aragonite sand. I called and they should of received their first shipment of aragonite sand on April first. So they said call back in a few days.

Also, I am just itching to get some live sand and macro algae in my tank. I would like a get a large amount of sand from my uncle who has a 200G established reef. That should help me get some beneficial bacteria in my tank. Macro algae will help get some harmful things out of my tank such as ammonia.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Well... my fish died. My guess it was a 5* temperature drop combined with ammonia that killed it. My heater got screwed it was set at 77 and the temp was 81 so I lowed it to 77 then I moved it too much and it went down to about 72 or 73. The night before he was kind of letting his dorsal fin touch the surface and swimming around very high. Plus I just wasted 20$ witch really saddens me.  . I definitely do want to get on of those ammo alert things though and this time I will buy the cheapest SW fish I can find in the store so I can use it to cycle. Probably a damsel but I will need to get rid of it some how afterword.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

I will just use flake food as a source of ammonia instead of making an damsel suffer. So I will let the tank go through it's mini cycle and I still need to get some sand though I probably shouldn't put any live sand in the tank to seed my sand because the creatures in the live sand might very well die. If I don't find any sand I will eventually run out of patience and buy reef sand from the pet store. Only 40$ for my DSB sand.


----------



## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

are you gonna have live rock? if so, buy regular sand, and live rock, and let the rock cycle your tank. thats what i did, too little over a week.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

That sounds good the only thing is I was gonna use live rock to seed base rock. So I don't know If my live rock would contain enough bacteria. Do you mean cured on uncured. Uncured would surly ruin my tank. I can see very high ammonia spikes. Anyway I have a nice sign of life diatoms. Brown algae is covering my glass and equipment pretty quickly.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Quick update! I tested my ammonia and nitrite my ammonia is 0 and my nitrite is about 0.15. I am going to turn off my protien skimmer and add some food as an ammonia source so my bacteria won't be as weak as when I add one fish it will cycle again!


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

I have finally decided a good path to take that will cost me nothing. I threw a piece of shrimp into my tank. Now I just wait. Then I will get the lighting and sand and then I will buy uncured rock and basically let it cycle in my tank. After that then comes the fish, live sand, macro algae and other things like that.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

I'm going to buy the dual satellite 2x65 PC fixture w/moonlight once I get my payment within two weeks. Since I found a good cheap site I am going to buy whatever I can ahead of time to save on shipping, such as a calcium test kit, calcium additives and a nice timer for my light. I did some research and I will need to buy a clear glass hood at a LFS for my fixture to go on. If I find it dosen't work I will make my own out of acrylic.


----------



## PerculaClown (Apr 25, 2006)

yeah the clownfish was a waste. you bought it too early. i know you are eager to by stuff right away but you have to take it slowly and step by step so you dont make any mistakes. If i were you i would by the sand and rock first then start buying the crittters.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

yeah, I'm gonna cycle with LR now. Anyway I have ordered my light and various other nick nacks to go with it. I have also got 1/3 of my sand. 30$ for 30 pounds. It's aragmax sugar fine sand. Also got my glass cover for my tank.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Gonna order my live rock this week. Though I figured if I didn't like my overflow box it's much better to fix it now rather than when I have water in my tank. My overflow box would slow down over time. I am pretty sure no air can get in but not 100% sure but I think putting a non-siphon overflow in the tank may be even better than the overflow box. So anyway I will drill the hole as soon as possible and then hook it all up!


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

I've drilled my hole and it was a complete success well right now at least. Last time I checked my tank wasn't cracked in 2 . So I got my live rock order in and it's coming on 6-15. Oh yeah, and I got my lights and stuff too.


----------



## Guest (Jun 13, 2006)

yea reading this whole journal. u are going way to fast. i don't do SW, but u are move'n to fast with the add'n fish oh so soon. slow it down. set up your tank. get your live rock going if ur going ot get live rock. and let things settle. check ur levels as often as u should be checking them and when everything is right. not when u think its the time. but when it is time. then add the fish and your cleaners.

just some advice


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

K, thanks for the advice but today is a special day. I got my live rock today all 22 pounds. About the only thing I was not pleased about was the way marine depot packed it. I really received a dry hunk of rock. I would have at least expected them to put it in wet newspapers. Another downer is that UPS did not come up to the door to have it signed they just left it near the garage. So it sat there for about 2 hours until I checked the tracking and looked in the delivery location. Luckily it was in the shade. So now begins the long and tedious cycling process. Luckily summer vacation starts tomorrow!


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Wow. This cycling is going quick. I have already had my ammonia spike and are now having my nitrite spike. This is quick even considering I dumped some bio-spira in. The test kit says I have either 2.0 - 5.0 ppm of nitrite but I am skeptical so I will get it tested at a pet shop. If I had my nitrate test kit I would test but the kit has yet to arrive.


----------



## Guest (Jun 19, 2006)

post new pics!

really diggin the small tank salt water set up


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

I added in 60 pounds of aragmax today. The tank is quite cloudy and I have shut off all pumps except the main circulation pump since my main tank needs heated and filtered water. I just hope it won't do any damage to the impeller but aragmax is very smooth and all of the grains of sand are little spheres so I don't think it'd be as bad as sharper tropical play sand.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Well my tank is crystal clear now. The main sand bed averages at about 4". The sand bed in my refugium is 5". I tested my water parameters and my alkalinity is about 7.7 DKH (a little low) and my calcium is around 400. This might be partially because I had to use oceanic salt one time to do a water change and oceanic salt is known for having high calcium levels but at the cost of alkalinity. I'm going to do a water change once I receive my reef crystals and I am also waiting for my live sand to arrive!


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

My livesand has arrived . It seams like it's a pretty good quality sand or it was at least. The guy shipped it on monday and it came on friday. Probably because of the fourth of July . Well atleast it used to be very much alive. I found a crab... well it was dead and it was a gorilla crab but it's a start! Plus I found a few snails but I did find somthing live on my rock. It was a little snail probably smaller than 1/4 in. Ran away before I could snap shot it. Anyway my nitrates are 10 and I want to do a waterchange ASAP. To get them down since I diden't have any salt on the day thae sand came.

I'm sure it will be fine though.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Here's a nice high-res pic of my tank. Dial-up Beware!

http://home.comcast.net/~cheseboy/P1000017.JPG

I also have made the decision that a fish will not be put in my tank until I get Ozone or a UV sterilizer. Since I want more protection against ick because I can't put medications in the tank since the live rock and live sand is in there and I can't set up a quarantine either. So I will probably start with cheap cleaners like reef crabs first and then work my way up once I know I can get some more sensetive and expensive cleaners. Then a coral once my water quality is fine.


----------



## harif87 (Jun 5, 2006)

wow, those rocks are huge lol..... Where did you order your LS from?


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

I got my livesand on ebay. http://stores.ebay.com/Exotic-Aquatics-and-Pets_Live-Sand_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ4QQftidZ2QQtZkm

I bought the 5lb size.


----------



## harif87 (Jun 5, 2006)

Hey i ordered my LS from his too...How did you get it sent to you? Priority or express?


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Priority. What kind of base sand did you have? I had Argamax sugar fine sand witch happened to be the same kind of sand this guy was selling so it was a double score.


----------



## harif87 (Jun 5, 2006)

I got regular masons sand but i think im going to change it out for some argamax looks nicer and i feel its safer. I just got my LS yesterday it was FULL of life it was beautiful, in my 1lb order i found at least 6 hermet crabs and i spoted a couple of arthro/amphipods (not sure which ones i saw, theyre too small). Im probably going to order some marco-algae from the same guy...


----------



## harif87 (Jun 5, 2006)

Man this aragamax takes a long time to settle...its been a week and a half and my water is still cloudy... any ideas how to help the water clear?


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

harif87 said:


> Man this aragamax takes a long time to settle...its been a week and a half and my water is still cloudy... any ideas how to help the water clear?


Wow, what I did was I installed an HOB filter and it cleared up like magic. I would have to guess that the same would be with canister, Internal etc.

Well my nitrates are about 2.5 witch is very good and I am auctioning off a bit of huge macroalgae. Actually my macroalgae was dieing on the bottom. It was just turning yellow and floating away. They Macro was as dense as hell so I thought that it wasn't getting enough light because it was only happening on the bottom. I turned it over and sort of squeezed the massive ball of macro like a sponge and tons of bits of crap floated out of my fuge and got sucked up by a filter. The whole bottom of the algae was very light green and the top was dark green. So I took about 3/4 of the algae I had and I am auctioning it right now. 

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&ht=1&shortcut=0&from=R41&query=300013140027&category0=

The link won't work right now because the auction is set to start This Sunday (Aug-6). It won't allow others to view before it has begun so it'll ask you to sign in, it'll work once it starts.

I've also ordered 2 150 Watt heaters rather than my huge 300W because the 300W's thermostat is "almost broke" in short terms. I decided to go with the Hagen Tronic brand because I have heard good things about them.

I also want to get a refractometer for hyposalinity so I can treat ick by that method in my QT which I also want to set up. So I'll probably cycle my QT and leave it up for a few months since I'll probably be stocking my tank the most in the first few months.I hope to get my quarantine up and running by end august and get a fish in there all by end august.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Well the auction has been cancelled because the macro completely died off. All of my water parameters are fine except for temp. The new heaters should arrive today. Then I'll need to get some new macro.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

When I was looking at the glass I saw little copeopds on the glass zooming about, this is about the first live animal I have seen in my tank. Besides the snail which has yet to show itself again.

Well, now I'm having a bit of war with the temperature. I got the new heaters I turned them down to 78, (the tank was 80) and the tank remained at 80. So I'm like what is happening. I unplugged the heaters for an hour, no change. Then I turn off my refugium light and unplug my lights over night after a bunch of other tests and the Temp stays at 80. So I'm like what the hell the temp is not moving and I have 2 mercury thermometers in the tank. The only thing left in the tank is powerheads and they are all good brands except for the viaaqua ones. The outside air temp is about 75. Since the tank is in the basement it does not get heated during the winter therefore the temp of the tank should get much better in the winter. I'll probably wind up buying a chiller during the winter so when summer comes again I'll be prepared because really I can not see how powerheads could possibly heat a tank to a 5 degree temp difference from the outside air.

Meanwhile, I guess cleaning my powerheads could not hurt. :x


----------



## Sesa (Sep 11, 2006)

Hey, I've found this thread very interesting and useful and I'm just wondering if there are any updates? Ty


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Not much yet. I've set up my QT tank made my filter to go in it and such. I am cycling the tank right now with a dead shrimp from the super market. I fixed the overheating problem in my main tank. Let me see. I'm going to buy a RO/DI system since I'm fed up with the aquarium pharm. deionizing filter thing. It leaks and you have to adjust the flow until it fills up a cup in 25-30 seconds. Plus it lasts the minimum it says it should in the manual in terms of filtered water.

I'm also going to buy a top off system for my tank. I'm getting the JBJ system. http://www.jbjlighting.com/sys_ato.html Going to use a 5 gallon gas caddy for the reservoir and a mini-jet for the pump. I'm going to QT everything from fish to corals in the QT tank so I'm going to buy a 1x65 JEBO cheap power compact light for the QT. 

I've moved my protein skimmer to the QT tank and put an air stone in the main tank to keep in aerated. For my main tank I would like to get an in sump protein skimmer weather that means selling the Remora and getting an EV AquaC, or an Urchin or keeping the remora in my QT. I would prefer though to have a protein skimmer on my QT when I'm going to QT corals but right now the plan is when I'm done QTing my first fish in the tank I want to move the protein skimmer back to the main tank. Oh yeah and I need to buy macroalgae also.

I'll post a more detailed update with pictures once i get my first fish in my QT.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Well here is is the big update you've all been looking forward to. Well here is goes...

I just got a fish for my QT tank. It's a Blue Line Tomato Clown. This is a big one, as you can see in the pictures I posted below. My QT tank actually just finished cycling today so I added this fish as soon as I possibly could. I have a 1x65 PC light on it. I am keeping the light off for the rest of the night to help reduce stress. I also went out and bought a heater for changing water since the heater I would usually use is in my QT. 

I am gathering the stuff for my top-off on my main tank. I have a 5 gal gas tank and a float valve for filling the tank up so all I have to do is plug the RO/DI system into the float valve and it will fill up the container. I also bought the float switch system for activating the pump in my top off reservoir. That's on it's way as well.

Well I just tested my QT water with all the tests I have and here are my results.

Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- Around 5
Alkalinity- 8.6
Calcium- 320
PH-8.0
Salinity-1.023

My calcium is a little low but that won't matter for a fish. Kind of makes me wonder how it got that low. I have not had anything in the tank until now. It's been nothing but instant ocean and water and the calcium is low. Oh well I'll need to raise it obviously when I'm going to QT corals.

Oh yeah and I am using power heads to move the surface of the water a lot for good oxygen exchange so I don't have to have an air stone get salt creep over my light fixture and everything near my tank. It must be providing sufficient oxygen because he isn't gasping or anything.

Well here are thoes pictures I was talking about.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

Sorry for the long time without an update but I have been hard at work on my tank. So I got the blue line clown in my tank now. It got no ick while in the QT. I also have QTd and added a cleanup crew to my tank I will post the list at the end of this post. Right now I am Qting a small pulsing Xenia rock and a large button polyp rock. I also have switched salts since I didn't like IO's CA level. I changed to reef crystals and that has like 425ppm instead of 345ppm of calcium. Not to mention alk and PH raises. So I am doing small water changes to switch over the parameters on my main tank. 

In other news I have ordered an AQUA C EV-120. Basically the best protein skimmer that's on the market today because of it's spray injector. Also it's the only one that is small enugph to fit in my stand that I also want to replace along with my sump. I want to replace my stand because it's gotten a little soggy from having a sump in the cabinet when the stand is made out of particle board. Also since I'm getting a new stand I might as well make a new sump. I want to make an acrylic sump because right now my current sump has no bubble traps and is basically crap. It let's micro-bubbles into my main system. Plus I can custom build it as big as I want and I'm custom building my stand also. So I want to make a bigger stand as well as a bigger sump for more water volume.

No progress has been made on tunze's but I think I will just stick with a mj 1200 because I really don't want to fork out another 250 for 1 nano pump and it's controller when I just spent 350 on a skimmer.

My water conditions are all pristine in my tank. Now I know my DSB works because I have 0 nitrates. My macroalgae is also growing like crazy more so since I switched to the 5100K bulbs melev recommends. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CC#2 - $65
3 Emerald Crab 
6 Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs
12 Blueleg Hermit Crabs
12 Astrea Snails
6 Cerith Snails 
12 Nassarius Snails
1 Serpent Starfish


----------



## CollegeReefer (Sep 1, 2006)

It was very interesting reading your journal. I saw many mistakes, but also saw you learn from your mistakes. I must say that I am a little disappointed that the experience saltwater people on this forum didn’t help you out. They could have saved you time and money on your set up. I am glad to hear you got rid of the air stone. They really are not used in saltwater tanks that often. For the most part your water gets oxygenated from falling into your sump and as well as the service water breaking. Anyways…….I just want to ask a couple of questions. Why did you insist on having a dsb. Was it your uncle? The only reason I ask is because all the reading I have ever done advises not having a dsb in nano tanks. I could understand you uncle having a dsb because of the large tank. Hopefully it doesn’t cause you any problems when your tank matures. Also why did you freak out when your tank was 80? 80 is not bad at all in a saltwater aquarium and is actually the temp I keep mine at. Lets see…..Oh if you are making a new sump/ref to get rid of the macro bubbles you are going to want to make a bubble trap using 2 or 3 pieces of alcrylic/glass. This way the bubbles get trapped. Well I thought I had more to say but I am drawing a black currently. Take care and always remember read read read.


----------



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

CollegeReefer said:


> It was very interesting reading your journal. I saw many mistakes, but also saw you learn from your mistakes. I must say that I am a little disappointed that the experience saltwater people on this forum didn’t help you out. They could have saved you time and money on your set up. I am glad to hear you got rid of the air stone. They really are not used in saltwater tanks that often. For the most part your water gets oxygenated from falling into your sump and as well as the service water breaking. Anyways…….I just want to ask a couple of questions. Why did you insist on having a dsb. Was it your uncle? The only reason I ask is because all the reading I have ever done advises not having a dsb in nano tanks. I could understand you uncle having a dsb because of the large tank. Hopefully it doesn’t cause you any problems when your tank matures. Also why did you freak out when your tank was 80? 80 is not bad at all in a saltwater aquarium and is actually the temp I keep mine at. Lets see…..Oh if you are making a new sump/ref to get rid of the macro bubbles you are going to want to make a bubble trap using 2 or 3 pieces of alcrylic/glass. This way the bubbles get trapped. Well I thought I had more to say but I am drawing a black currently. Take care and always remember read read read.


Well thanks for reading my logs. As for your questions...

1.I insisted on having a DSB because the only real reason people don't have DSBs in nanos is because of the water volume take up. It takes quite a bit of water volume to have a DSB in an other wise small tank to begin with. This was fine once I decided to add a sump that increased my total water volume replacing the water that was used in implementing my DSB.
2. Ahh. This question question goes way back. I have kept all my fish tanks at 80 degrees fahrenheit since I began keeping any tank. The reason that I "freaked out" was because of the massive temperature shift. If I recall correctly it was like a 5 degree shift or something like that sorry if I was unclear.
3. Ah, yes the sump. Well for the most part I am tired of this silly glass thing. As you have read I am building a new stand out of wood. The stand I have decided will be big to house a big sump/fuge. So I will make the sump/fuge as big as possible to fit my stand so I can get more water volume and more room for my skimmer and such because right now it would be a very tight fit for my skimmer. I also want my sump to be organized being input and skimmer on the left side of the sump with a bubble trap. Then in the middle will be return. On the right side will be fuge with baffle and flow so water will flow back into my return. This is a very common setup.


----------

