Cody & KCs Newbie Reef Tank!

[GeeWizzItsMe]

I like the tonga branches!

[cynicechoes]

Thanks so much for the encouragement & advice guys! That makes me feel a little more at ease about this whole process! I was really nervous because I knew next to nothing when we went and bought the tank, it was my husbands birthday present & supposed to be his hobby, but it seems its rapidly becoming more mine than his! lol I think we are both just going to be into different sides of it. I'm definitely going to know a lot more about the science of it & keeping it healthy, he isn't really taking the time to figure it out or grasping it all to well so he's just looking to me lol, and he'll probably be more into the maintenance & getting new machines & doohickies (the expensive side of course lol)!

On a recent visit to our LFS we spoke to a guy who seemed to think that our tank choice basically sucked! lol A little bit discouraging, but he did try and help us come up with some solutions to improve it, at least. He thinks we need to add a protein skimmer, and pretty much remove the whole lid/cover of the tank and elevate it above the surface somehow adding fans in order to get our temp under control. Any opinions??? We recently realized that there is a space to add a second fan to the light region of our hood, so we are to try that to see if that will do the trick before jumping to rigging the hood. But the only problem being is if we do get our temp under control w/o removing the hood there is no place to add a protein skimmer, so I don't know! We got some thinking to do!

Thanks again guys!

[cynicechoes]

Pics of Algae takeover, at least its some sign of life, in this long process that its gunna be! lol Even if it kinda looks like something crapped all over my tank HAHA

[Frankie]

Well the sapphire skimmer will fit in there np. Do a search on it. Also there are chillers made for nano's that work great. It all comes down to the almighty dollar. The diatoms on the bottom you can stir up until the tank finishes maturing. It is common and will go away in time. A few turbo snails will clean that rock up until the Coraline has time to settle in. Once that happens it will be much easier to control. From the looks of it, everything looks normal

[Frankie]

I just went back to page one to see the lighting you have. Replacing the hood with a MH pendant would be best if you plan on keeping any corals in the future.

[Melanie]

I'm sorry that guy made you feel like your tank is a piece of crap. Everyone has their tastes. Your tank is not bad. I will agree though that regardless of whether you have fish only or corals, you will definitely want a protein skimmer. Post a separate thread asking for suggestions for a good skimmer for a nano. Before you buy this (semi-expensive) piece of equipment, you will want to get a lot of feedback.

I made the mistake of buying the cheapest skimmer at $100 and it is now sitting in my laundry room. I had to go buy another skimmer. I'd say your skimmer is one of your most important investments in keeping your tank clean and healthy. You will never regret it if you get a good skimmer.

Once you pick your skimmer, check here in the equipment for sale threads, ebay, craigs list, and your local paper. A used skimmer is just as good!

[cynicechoes]

Thanks Melanie & Ffrankie! I appreciate the advice!

We are now definitely planning on purchasing a protein skimmer before we add coral or fish to the tank. We will most likely in the later future purchase the MH hood for the aquapod, but for the time being I think we are going to try and run it with what we got. The algae seems to grow more each day! The sand bed is looking pretty disgusting! haha I wish we could put CUC in soon! I can't imagine what that tank is going to look like by the time the cycle is done and we can add them!

[Piper1]

I have a question for you all as I am waiting on my AquaPod 24 to arrive via FedEx. This is my first tank ever so I am in the same learning boat as you all. I was reading the AquaPod website about the stock skimmer, and was wondering if this is different (and if so, how) from a protein skimmer. From the website:
The AquaPods efficient internal filter system provides true over-flow skimming unlike traditional integrated filters which only clean water under the surface. No more oil slicks or foam build-up on the waters surface! A mechanical sponge filter keeps out debris and dirt from the main tank while large capacity filter chambers have enough room to keep carbon, phosphate removers, heaters and other filtration gadgets (we’ve got some cool ones coming soon).

Anyways, one other thought for you on your temps, I see alot of other folks are replacing the stock pump with a Maxijet 900 and it only uses 8.5 watts, while the AP24 stock pump uses 20w if I remember correctly. I read a post where someone said the stock AP pump gives about the same flow as a Maxijet 600. Get the MJ900 online for about $17 and have better flow and less heat being put out. May cool some of your temps and give you better flow too.

Just a thought, but I am so new that all I have done is read online forums the last 2 weeks to prepare for the arrival of my AP24.

[cynicechoes]

Her Piper! Thanks for your suggestion about changing out the stock pump, Ima have to look into it. Just to warn you the tanks, as they come stock run between 81-85 degrees, with a lot of temp variation, which will kill fish! You will probably have to do some work on it to get the temp stable & down. I know how you feel, I was in the same boat when we first bought our tank, still am just with a little more knowledge now, but I still got a lot to learn! The stock filter/skimmer thingie, is not a protein skimmer at all! I have been advised by everyone I have talked to to get a seperate protein skimmer because, to the best of my knowledge, how they work is that whatever is inside of them, I am not sure what, literally breaks down the biological wastes before they can fill your tank with nitrates, not just trap them. Sapphire aquatics makes a protein skimmer specifically for the aquapod 24, and people seem to trust them, you can check it out on the website (sapphireaquatics.com) there is a lot of cool stuff on there. We want to get the refugium they sell with the built in protein skimmer, pump, and lighting (but I believe it's made for the nanocube 24, so I have to figure out if it will still be good for us). I have also been advised by almost everyone to ditch the bioballs and the bag of white filter crap that comes with the tank (whatever it is) before even starting the tank, it's no good & unnecessary. Most people have advised ditching the filter sponges for live rock rubble & high quality carbon, but they can do some good if you clean them religiously (we're sticking with them for the time being), its really up to you. Also, if you have the one like I do with the standard hood, not Metal Hallides, you'll have to remember that unless you plan on upgrading you won't be able to have any small polyp stony corals, only large, because they require more intensive lighting. One other piece of advice don't believe everything you read on the internet and in forums, there are a lot of people with good experience and info, but not everything is the same for everyone & not everyone is reliable either! I suggest reading up in some books too, our LFS recommended "The Consientious Marine Aquarist" to us & it's really good, A LOT of info & great pics to look at & show your friends when your telling them about how cool your empty tank is going to be, since it takes forever, it seems, to cycle! LOL I hope that helps a little, just trying to throw out a few of the things I didn't know when I bought my tank. It might save you a little trouble. Best of Luck to ya, keep in touch with me & let me know how its going, & I will too, maybe we can benefit from each others learning & let each other know what works! ok?!


When we took a water sample to our LFS our ammonia was really high, no duh due to LR & shrimp lol(overkill much!?), but since then we have run tests and the ammonia seems to have gone down. I am a little off on how the test works, though. It is a combined NH3 & NH4 test, and our readings show >.25ppm, I assume that is ok, but I am unsure especially since it seemed to drop so fast! Is it supposed to? Our nitrates we're reading at 20ppm, & nitrites were at 4ppm. we are going to test again today, though.

On the advice of our LFS we added 4 zebra turbo snails to help control the algae, it was getting terrible! They seem to be doing good & they are cleaning up the LR nicely! We are excited to have life in the tank, but we're nervous our levels might kill them, hopefully not!

[cynicechoes]

I'm happy to report all snails are still alive & kicking! And as soon as we gather up the money we are going to replace our hood w/ a MH pendant, get the Sapphire Aquatics HOB refugium w/ all the good stuff built in (i.e. protein skimmer, chambers for medium, lighting, and pump), and a refractometer! I can't wait!

We went in with a sterilized old toothbrush and scrubbed some of the algae off the LR, the snails didn't seem to get near the pieces that were covered badly. I don't know much about algae so I thought maybe someone could tell me, We started to get this green stringy things sprouting everywhere, that I assumed was hairy algae, but when we tried to scrub it it didn't go anywhere for the most part, it kinda looks like weeds... what the heck is it and if need be how do i get rid of it without chemicals?

Also coming from one of the holes in the live rock was this fuzzy greyish thing that looked kinda like something the cat would cough up only a lot smaller. My husbad pulled what he could out. Could this bee something that is bad?

Oh and there are red spots on the LR, some of which were there when we bought it, and it seems to be growing & some of it almost looks like it is growing like little fingers or something... Am i correct to assume this is corraline algae?!

[Melanie]

You are so cute! I can see you are doing a great deal of research and are off to a wonderful start. I'm really impressed and can't wait to follow along and see your progress.

I know it can be nerve racking trying to always do the "right" thing. Especially when you sometimes have people telling you different things are right!

You know, you are going to find on this forum some people you really trust. They are knowledgeable and helpful. I always look at their gallery of photos and use that as a semi-guide to help me wade through differing opinions.

I've been very lucky to find three or four GREAT friends (I hope I can call them friends!) on here that have walked me through every step, and falter for that matter.

PS I have a red/magenta something or other covering my LR and it seems to be growing. I'm wondering if it is corraline algae, a sponge, or a softy coral of some sort. Time will tell!

Karma to you!!

[GeeWizzItsMe]

Good Luck Casey! But with all of your research, you might not need it! I wish I researched more like you!

[Piper1]

I think that red tip and blue leg hermits like to eat hair algae.

From a website: The Dwarf Red Tip Hermit Crab is a valuable addition to either a saltwater reef or fish-only aquarium due to their voracious apetite for green hair algae and cyanobacteria. In addition, they provide a valuable service of aerating the substrate by sifting through the sand. It is one of the Hermit Crabs that is reef-safe.

The Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crab is a valuable addition to an aquarium because it will eat algae including green hair algae and cyanobacteria. In addition, it provides valuable aeration by sifting through the sand. It is one of the Hermit Crabs that is reef-safe.

The Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab is best kept in a reef-style aquarium where it will have ample supplies of algae to eat. It is helpful in keeping algae under control, including filamentous algae and Cyanobacteria.

Maybe they can help?

[cynicechoes]

Thanks Melanie, you have been really helpful so far I really appreciate it! And thanks to you too GeeWizz! (I wish I would have done the research before buying the tank though LOL cuz its going to cost way more than I wanted to spend to get the things it needs!)


Piper, thanks for the suggestion. I can't decide whether or not I want to put crabs in my tank because I have heard a lot of talk about them being abusive to coral and stuff, but I agree that they could have some benefit for sure! I still think its cool that we are pretty much starting out together!

[Piper1]

Yes, maybe we can learn together as we go. I think I am going to go with pre-cured live rock, so maybe I can catch up with ya. ha That is, if my tank ever gets here.