my new nanocube

[daveat]

well i finally got it up and going, kinda. i keep having problems with heaters. my first heater, an allglass 100watt that tried to boil my water, i put it in at 6pm and the next morning the temp (set at 79) was at 92... now my new heater a tetra whisper can't seem to keep a steady temp, allday yesterday it stayed 78 and this morning it was 73. it has no temp. settings on the dial so i think its just a crappy heater... oh well time to try another heater!

 

[Craig Manoukian]

Welcome and good luck davet.

I had a heater that had a dial that was outside the tank that you could set the temp. Even with a temp indicator on the heater it gets covered up with algea/coraline. I bought it on-line although I can't remember where. I'll try to find it when I get a minute.

 

[Craig Manoukian]

I found this at MarineDepot

Here is the link

http://www.marinedepot.com/IMD/150/WB1125.jpg

 

[Woodstock]

Bummer Daveat It is a good thing you didn't have any livestock in it!! karma to ya for taking it sloooow....

 

[daveat]

still fighting temperature issues... at night i'm staying steady at 79.8 but then daylight comes and its time to turn on the lights and it starts goin up. yesterday i got it balanced out during the night time i would check every half hour until i got the temp to hold steady at 78.5 finally it stayed there for about 4 hours straight. then i turned on my lights, by the end of the day it was 80.6 this sounds like to much variation to me does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[ReefLady]

78-80 over the course of a day isn't perfect, but I would think it's acceptable. Lots of us running MH get more variation than that... unless you plan to keep acros or other sensitive corals, I think you'll be OK.

What kind of lights are you running?

BTW those temperature dials on the heaters are never right. Ignore them and adjust until you get the temp you want, from there it should stay consistent.

 

[Craig Manoukian]

BTW those temperature dials on the heaters are never right. Ignore them and adjust until you get the temp you want, from there it should stay consistent.

Mine worked like dream 81 -82 degrees, must be lucky, eh Travis?

 

[daveat]

got the temp worked out, put in some sand and a peice of live rock. Also one little blue-green chromis.

just has 72 watts of CF lighting and its fan cooled but i think the fans are pretty lame, you can't hardly feel any air coming out.

 

[daveat]

well the ammo is a little high, around 2-3ppm. everything else is good. the live rock that i used was in a running system and had been there for several weeks so i'm surprised it ever went up. its probably the live sand that is affecting it... i dunno i just wanna put stuff in it!

oh yeah my biggest feather duster on the rock shed its thingys (i really do know what their called... promise) could that be because of the water or because i moved the rock around a couple of times. i was watching it when it did it and it didn't seem to have any good reason, it was several hours (8-10) after i moved his rock

 

[tommyp]

Aquacontroller jrs are nice at controlling temp and other things. A little pricey but they can keep your temp really stable. I am running a bad heater with mine right now and it keeps it in check nicely. though I don't recommend doing this. you can also get a ranco dual temp controller and run a fan and the heater on the separate lines. its a little cheaper.

Why cycling with critters? ammonia is going to stress things.

 

[Craig Manoukian]

The ammonia may have zapped your feather duster. Rock can take up to eight weeks to cycle. As tommyp suggested, go slow and let it grow.

 

[daveat]

cycling with critters that came on the rock! place i got it from gets it wet shipped from the indo-pacific area. a little pricey(9.99/lb) but its nice. rock is already cured and cycled pretty much, i know the guy that owns the store and he's had some of this rock for 6 weeks

 

[daveat]

well i'm patiently and helplessly waiting watching green algae cover the entire world... i'm keeping it off the glass though. i do have two "new" critters, not sure what they are, one looks anemonae-ish and the other is totally unknown, can't get a good pic of either one. the unknown looks like 10-12 hairs in a ball shape and has little worm looking things that come out from the source of the hairball.

really getting frustrated watching the algae take over the world but from the sounds of it, it is the best thing to do :-(

 

[Craig Manoukian]

Brown diatoms, green algea, and red cyano bacteria are all part of the extended cycling when introducing new live rock/sand/livestock.

 

[daveat]

yeah i know but i don't have to like it... green algae seems to be dying off though... i noticed some red algae growing on the rocks. i'm getting to be real impatient

 

[Craig Manoukian]

Go slow and let it grow is the mantra for this hobby When silica is depleted diatoms will go. When phosphates and nitrates are reduced the red cyano and green algea will disipate. Siphoning off the red cyano is a great way to export phosphates. Increased circulation and fresh light bulbs will help mitigate the cyano.

 

[daveat]

290gph on 24g but i do plan on putting in a light pump to get more random circulation since it just kinda spirals around I also have brand spankin new bulbs but i am relaxin and takin it nice and slow, had plenty of people that rushed telling me to relax so.. i am.
thanks for the advice though i might do a light waterchange (just enough to siphon off some algae)

 

[daveat]

getting a hundred pounds of live rock for free!! might be adding a new tank to the home, gotta convert the 55g to salt now... anybody want a gold gourami, a leopard pleco and some other nice freshwater fish???

yeah!

 

[daveat]

yay got my live rock in, got some free mushrooms off of it as well!!!, course i did find two bristle worms but they go down the toilet pretty easy!

pics comin soon

 

[Little Luey]

Good deal.
We always like pictures.