Red Sea Max - slow and steady

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dapfunkera

Member
I started a thread in the Nano Section, but this seems to be more of the place for this.

Here is the thread I started

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/nano-reefs/26890-my-red-sea-max-34g.html

I will pick up the story from here.

DSC01020.JPG
 
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dapfunkera

Member
Day 4

I will test tonight, but I finally got my temps in line and they are holding at ~80ºC. They climb slightly over 80ºC with the lights on and will drop slightly under with the lights off. The heater needs to be set at 78ºC to obtain this temp. I have the skimmer off so hopefully that wasn't the problem with the high temps (got up to 84ºC) or I might have to get a new skimmer.

I took out the cermic filter dics and the sponges, but left the carbon. I tried to buy more live rock yesterday, but I went to a closer LFS and their rock was $2 more per pound, wasn't that pretty, and had a ton of algae and some troublesome hitchhikers that even I as a begineer new would be a problem. I will wait and go back to That Pet Place next weekend to get more of the rock that I have. So far I have not seen any hitchhikers as far as critters, but the rock does have some growth on it. Not sure if it is good or bad growth though?

I added one raw shrimp last night and now the house stinks this morning. If I get an ammonia spike I will likely remove the shrimp. I assume I can once I get that spike since it is a small tank and the shrimp was a tad larger than I might have wanted.
 
Jason25

Jason25

Active Member
Where is the other LFS at, I use that fish place all the time and would like to just check out another?
 
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dapfunkera

Member
Day 4 - contd.

My wife made me take out the shrimp :( Stunk too bad and she doesn't work so she has to smell it all day.

Ammonia = 0.5
Nitrites = 1.0
Nitrates = 0
pH = 8.2
Temperature = 79.8ºC
Specific Gravity = 1.022
 
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ReefGuy69

Member
ha ha ha i hear ya. i only get away with it because i told my wife if the shrimp cannot do their thing then she will never be able to put her fish in the tank. Needless to say she doesnt complain about it that much because she wants to see her fish swimming around soon.
 
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dapfunkera

Member
ReefGuy69 said:
ha ha ha i hear ya. i only get away with it because i told my wife if the shrimp cannot do their thing then she will never be able to put her fish in the tank. Needless to say she doesnt complain about it that much because she wants to see her fish swimming around soon.
Click to expand...

It was a big shrimp and I was "rough" with it when I removed it so I am sure it will still do its job. I have an ammonia and nitrite reading already as it is.
 
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dapfunkera

Member
Day 8

Ammonia = 0.0
Nitrites = 0.0
Nitrates = 10
pH = 8.2
Temperature = 78.6ºF
Specific Gravity = 1.022


I think I missed the ammonia spike since I got busy for a few days, but it is back to 0 along with the nitrites. I am going to take this slow so I am not very concerned with a spike at this point. The live rock I bought doesn't seem to have any hitchikers on it so I guess that is good, but it would nice to see something alive in there! It was fully cured though and I am sure that helped the cycling process. I want to buy another 30lbs this weekend to finish the rocks for the tank. I will then look to add a clean-up crew in about 2 weeks from now. I have not had an algae bloom so I hope that is a good thing? The water temp dropped 1ºF, but I am sure that was due to me turning one of the powerheads off. It was sputtering a bit so I took it out of the assembly and have not put it back in yet. I was unaware that those units could change the temps so much. I have not done a water change yet since I am pretty sure you do not do one during the cycling, but feel free to correct me if I am wrong about that.

I am now looking to research the clean-up crew that I want. More specifically the crabs since I hear so many good and bad things about them. I want to decide on my first fish as well as the first 2-3 corals. I guess adding the fish after the clean up crew and then the corals would be best? I have so much reading to do, but so far it has been fun.
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Sounds like you are off and running. Be careful to not overstock the tank. Many people make that mistake with the smaller tanks and have long term problems because of it. Add livestock slowly so your tank can adjust to each addition.
 
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dapfunkera

Member
lcstorc said:
Sounds like you are off and running. Be careful to not overstock the tank. Many people make that mistake with the smaller tanks and have long term problems because of it. Add livestock slowly so your tank can adjust to each addition.
Click to expand...

its expensive to stock the tanke so I am sure I can take it slow :)
 
D

dapfunkera

Member
Day 9

Ammonia = 0.0
Nitrites = 0.0
Nitrates = 10
pH = 7.8
Temperature = 78.8ºF
Specific Gravity = 1.022

I need to add a bit more salt and the pH dropped, but I think I was reading it wrong. I now have my wife doing it during the day with the natural light it is easier to read and I have some sight problems with some colors. Not sure why the pH would be a bit low. I will look into that more.

I got 5lbs of live sand from Something Fishy (LFS). We drove a little over an hour to get there and to me it is a really nice place. I think it is all SW? I also went to get some more live rock. I wanted to get some with a little bit more "life" on it but they were a bit short on the cured live rock. I got 8lbs and they had un-cured live rock and the one bin was filled with stuff that looked as though it was in the ocean yesterday - lol. I thought long and hard and went with 8lbs of the fresh live rock as well since I question how much of an ammonia spike I got and with all the stuff on this rock I should get a much bigger spike. I realize the cycle will take longer with this rock, but it was worth it to me to see some "life". Personally half the fun is that I have no idea what came with those rocks. I am sure I will regret this choice later, but for now I am having fun.

I just got the sand and rock in the tank, but I need to redo the rocks. I need to figure out what to do with the rock. I saw two critters that fell off the rock as I was putting it in. They were really small so I doubt they are harmful and tossed them in the tank. They were slightly larger than a grain of rice.
 
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dapfunkera

Member
Day 10

Ammonia = 0.5
Nitrites = 0.25
Nitrates = 10
pH = 7.8
Temperature = 78.8ºF
Specific Gravity = 1.022

In the last post I mentioned adding some fresh live rock - thus the new ammonia spike.

I will likely do a water change tomorrow since the ammonia looks like it might hit 1.0. I will do a 10% change since from what I read I do not want the ammonia to go above 1.0? I will try to get the salinity up to 1.023 and then with the next water change I will get it up to 1.024. The temp is down a bit, but I have the skimmer off and I think that adds some heat to the system The pH is still a bit low - I am hoping it just takes time move up past 8.0, but I will research this a bit more.

I have seen at least 10 things that are alive for sure on the rocks, but not sure what they all are. They are way too small for me to even think of getting a picture of them. At least there is some life :)
 
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dapfunkera

Member
Day 14

Ammonia = 0.0
Nitrites = 0.0
Nitrates = 20
pH = 8.0
Temperature = 81.2 ºF
Specific Gravity = 1.023

Things still look pretty good. I got 2 blue legged hermits and 2 turbo snails to get started. I will add a little more this weekend. I have what might be a rock flow anenome or some sort of bad anenome. I was able to get it to eat one brine shrimp. I do not want to kill it until I know for sure what it is. I will get some better pics soon.
 
D

dapfunkera

Member
Day 16

Ammonia = 0.0
Nitrites = 0.0
Nitrates = 20
pH = 8.0
Temperature = 80.8 ºF
Specific Gravity = 1.023

Hitchhikers

10 - Asteria Starfish
1 - Rock Flower anemone? still trying to ID it.
1 - sponge? Dead?
? - several things that may be corals of some sort and appear to be growing, but they are just to small to get a pic of them
? - Amphipods :)
? - all kinds of other small things I have yet to identify

Purchased

2 - Blue Legged Hermit Crabs
2 - Turbo Snails

Ammonia and nitrites are still 0 and things are looking good. I have the lights on because I found that anemone (only 1) and until I know for sure that it is good/bad I want to keep it. I get it to eat one brine shrimp and looks much better. It is still pretty small - less than the size of a quarter. I also see a few other things that might be some sort of coral growing and again until I know for sure I don't want it to die off.

I am starting to get a little algae on the rocks and sand, but not much and nothing on the glass. I am going to purchase some more CUC tomorrow and will likely re-arrange the rocks with epoxy to get better flow and eliminate the chance of an avalanche.

I have no idea what I want as my first fish, but I am going to wait at least another two weeks to get one.
 
D

dapfunkera

Member
Woodstock said:
Nice log :thumbup:
Try to keep the nitrates at 10ppm or less via water changes.
Remember to QT your new fish prior to adding it to your main display. http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums.../23584-fish-quarantine-process-step-step.html
Click to expand...

thanks - I found an eclipse 6g I had from a long time ago that I am going to get cycled for this very thing. I know 6g is pretty small, but with all the nano tanks out there I figure I can use it to hold a small fish. If I am way off on this just let me know.

I am going to do a water change tonight or tomorrow.
 
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