The Nano Adventure, by Big Jay

[Big Jay]

Before I begin I would like to say hello to all my fellow reefers out there. I'm still a newb but my tank is 10+ months old as of this writing. So I'm going to post a lot of info about the last 10 months. It might take awhile but at some point you and I will make it to the present. Please take the time to read everything before you decide to jump my case about my bad past decisions.

Thank you and any comments, compliments, and criticisms are welcome.


The Nano Adventure
Chapter One: The Fish

So it all started with a fish. Not just nay fish but the craziest pattern of color I had ever seen. I was at a home show and saw a couple of marine displays. I had dipped my hand in saltwater a long time ago but got out of the hobby to pursue other hobbies. Back when I was younger the saltwater hobby was expensive and though not much has changed, well inflation changed the prices, the technology has. Now I’m a little older, not much wiser but make enough money to do all of my hobbies.
While down at the home show they had a 29 gallon nano “All In One” on display. I thought it would be cool to do a saltwater tank again. 29 gallons is pretty small compared to my old 75 gallon I had back in the day. I thought the maintenance would be pretty easy because the tank was so small. I asked the owner a few questions and was looking at the main display tank when I saw it. A fish with extraordinary colors, hoovering like a humming bird with perfect precision. I had to have one. You might have guessed it, Synchiropus splendidus or the Mandarin Dragonette.

Chapter Two: Finding a deal.

After some looking around at the different AIOs (All In One) at as many as 6 different fish stores I landed at a place called Southwest Saltwater. I told the owner that I had seen his display at the home show and that was what brought me in for the intial visit. He told me that since I was at the display at the home show that he would give my the sale price on the AIO I had seen on display. So that day I went home with a Oceanic Bio Cube 29. I couldn't pass up the deal, $199.
On my way home I stopped in Wal-Mart to pick up some odds and ends and passed by the furniture department. I saw a nice stand that I thought would go well with the tank. I went home and unpacked my new tank. Everything looked to be in place. All the lights worked. No missing pieces according to the instructions. So I go out the hose, filled up the tank with water and turned on the pump. Everything was running perfectly. I then built the stand. It looked kind flimsy so I crawled up on top and say on it. I wiggled around a bit and it was suprisingly sturdy. I moved the stand inside and drained the tank. After I placed the stand on top of the tank I stepped back and looked. “Not bad”, I thought. I went down the street to my friendly home improvement mega store and bought a couple of power strips. Then I went into Petsmart to look around. Petsmart didn’t have but a tiny section for saltwater hobbyists but they were having a sale on Instant Ocean Salt. I also bought around 30 pounds of live sand, a hydrometer, heater, and an API saltwater test kit and a book, “Saltwater Tanks for Dummies.”

The next day I bought live rock from two different stores. They both showed me the sniff test to show me they were cured rock. I went to a hardware store and bought some five gallons buckets and then filled them with my live rock and water. The stores were hesitant to fill my buckets with water but I told them I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I bought some RODI water from a local fish store and filled my tank, added salt following the instructions and turned the tank on. It ran for a few hours and I read my new book. I built my first aqua-scape with the rock I bought. I wanted the cove look. After the rock was fairly sturdy I added the sand. Topped off the tank was a little disappointed to see that the sand had turned the water into milk.

The next morning the cloud was still there but I adjusted the temperature, added a little salt and went to work. The rock I picked from the stores were pretty well cured. At least that was what I was told. After I got home from work the cloud was slowly disappearing.


Chapter Three: Hitchhikers.

As the sand cleared I found this stringy polyp on the side of my rock. “Cool!”, I thought. Free critter. I thought it was some kind of algae, worm, or coral at first. So I went back to the store and asked the employee about my new dicoverery. He was nice enough to tell me my precious FREE critter was not "cool" at all but rather a problem. He told me about “Joe's Juice” and that it will take care of it. Aptasia, off to a grand start!

I checked the parameters after a couple of days. Everything was zero's just like the guy said. He told me that I wouldn’t see much if any cycle because the live rock was already cured. I know what you experienced reefers are thinking. To bad I didn’t know this at the time as well. Around the same time I changed the rock formation. I wasn’t completely happy with the first one. The sandy cloud came back but I liked the new one better. I also found out that my tank was missing a part from the factory. I thought they shipped me the wrong filter cartridge but as it turns out one of the slots that holds the cartridge in place was missing. This explains why I scratched my head for a couple minutes on how the filter mounted. In the end I rubber banded the cartridge to the bottom of the drip plate. Seems to work well there. I also put in some filter floss and added a bag of Chemi-Pure Elite. I also installed a cheap protein skimmer. The mistakes just keep on coming.

A day or two later while I was at the LFS, (local fish store) the owner said I could buy some fish to help cycle the tank further. He was not surprised at all when I told him what my parameters were. He said it was to be expected because of the fully cured rock I bought from him and another reputable LFS. I kinda raised an eyebrow at the suggestion. My book said I should wait till after the nitrogen cycle ends but since he is the expert I thanked him for his help and went on my merry way with the bottle of “Joe’s Juice” in hand. I went to Petco to have a look around. I had never been in one and figured it was just like Petsmart. The difference being at Petco they sell saltwater fish and they had a sale going on. That was good for me since I don't know if the fish would make it in a new tank anyway. I bought a Green Chromis for $3 and a False Clown for $7. And to top it off they had hermit crabs, 3 for $1. So I left with a little bag of water towards home.

[BigAl07]

Awesome

Great chronicle! You'll be glad you did this later on

[BigJay]

freaky . 2 bigjay's with biocubes that joined in July '08

[Big Jay]

Originally Posted by BigJay

freaky . 2 bigjay's with biocubes that joined in July '08

That is a little weird.

[Big Jay]

About a week into the tank I decided to change the rock-scape again. I thought I finally got it. It had lots of caves and the better side of all the rocks are showing. I took the time to check the parameters on a daily basis. They always came out good. I never did see an ammonia spike, or a nitrite spike either. But it had only been a week. The fish and crabs were doing well at this point I couldn’t of been happier.


Now that I have had a few days to do more research I found out that the hermit crabs that I had bought were not blue legged hermit crabs after all. I didn’t know what they were but from all the pictures I saw they were not blue legged hermits. Things were still going well then on day eleven the diatom bloom was just starting. Parameters were in check. Everything was still alive and kicking and I added a pair of scarlet hermit crabs to the mix. I never had hermits in my old 75 gallon and I liked the addition. They were fun to watch and added a lot of activity to the tank. I also came across a book that did an excellent job of describing different critters of the saltwater aquaria. I found out that two of the hermits that I had were Vietnamese Yellow Tips and the other was still unknown. Ah well.


A few days later my tank looked like a rust bucket. It was going through a serious diatom bloom. It was probably due to the addition of fish and crabs to early in the cycle. It was too late now. Lesson learned. I bought a turbo snail thinking it would help combat the problem but it probably just made it worse. The crabs were fat. My one turbo snail is slow and the tank looked like hell. I was almost positive my fish were going to kick the bucket but I checked the levels everyday and I got zero's across the board. Now my pH was up to 8.4 and I thought for sure my Nitrates would have been through the roof.


After being disappointed with my last hitchhiker discovery I didn’t put too much thought into the polyp I found on one of my rocks.



Chapter Four: In Stride

At about three weeks things were calming down quite a bit and the diatom bloom was pretty much over. WHEW! I had made it. And with all critters still alive. I checked the parameters and everything was zero with the exception going to the nitrates, they were at 5. The green hair algae left behind was being dealt with by the CUC (clean up crew). I did one more rock-scape on one half. I really thought I had it this time. I ended up breaking one rock and shuffling some others around. The only thing I didn't like was the one rock that was high and center. It looked out of place.

I also added some more hermit crabs to my CUC. Five tiny blue legs. Also I added four large nassarius snails, one small turbo snail, and two more small scarlet crabs. I also added a peppermint shrimp to eat the aptasia that seemed to be all over one of my rocks. It was cool because he lives inside the very same rock and he already ate one of the bigger aptasias that I couldn't get to. I only squirted the big ones with Joe’s Juice.

I was also at a different LFS and they had a sale. 25% off all marine life. They got a shipment in the week before and in it was some clowns. I don't know what kind of clown it was but it had a lot darker and redder hue than my ocellaris. When the new clown finally did make it into the display he was bullied by Floyd (my ocellaris) all afternoon and evening right up until the lights went out. In the morning they were good friends and seem to stick together now. I moved the chromis to the QT tank after the new clown came out of the qt tank. What a PAIN IN THE BUTT he was to catch. I didn't want to add any more bio load to the Cube and the chromis was going back the the store. I also caught a huge bristle worm in chamber one. It looked like the harmless kind so I left it in there. A huge brittle star came out of no where as well. I have no idea where he was hiding but if I had to quess it was the rock with all the big holes all over it. I also saw a cool feather duster, tube worms, loads of tiny bristle worms, some amphipods and one copepod.. Life was beginning to flourish.

Friends at last.

Zombie

Brittle Star hiding in the rock.

[Grasspicker]

Gonna tag along on this one. I like the work. Very nicely done.

Only difference I see is I put 5 turbos in my cube and one of the nassarius snails. I read on someones post that they would starve if the tank didnt have that much of a waste load. I dont know how much truth there is to the statement. Maybe one of the more experienced reefers can shed some light to the statement. I dont mind being corrected at all.

[astiesi]

I really like the final rock-scape. Tank's already looking good at the 3 week point. I will be following along as you continue the story...

If you have a second I am curious which members of your CUC were the most effective in eliminating the hair algae?

[Big Jay]

Originally Posted by astiesi

I really like the final rock-scape. Tank's already looking good at the 3 week point. I will be following along as you continue the story...

If you have a second I am curious which members of your CUC were the most effective in eliminating the hair algae?

The GHA never got to big/long so the turbo snails wiped it out. I did have a little more growth recently and an elmerald crab and my Marshall Island Blue Knuckle hermit took care of that.

[JeffreyLebowski]

Great stuff!

[Big Jay]

It took a few days but I was sitting in my favorite place starring at the tank when I finally saw where the out of place rock was supposed to go. I moved the rock that was on the very top. I suppose it was the angle but I could just see the where the rock was supposed to go. So I moved it and found it was incredibly stable. It looks great too. Provided a bit of an overhang and some shade on the floor.
It was at this point that I had found other Bio Cube owners and started to read about making the BC29 even better. This was a very important stage in my tanks growth because it took my focus away from the livestock as I concentrated on making improvements to the tank. I started by removing about half my bio balls. I didn’t do this all as once because I didn’t want the tank to fall back into a diatom bloom with some of the bacteria removed. I removed the false floor in chamber two and built a little stand out of pvc and egg crate. The stand was used to build a shelf to put my chemical filtration (Chemi-Pure) onto. I also removed the grate on the bottom of chamber one. This made room for the heater. I removed the sponge in chamber three and replaced the stock Oceanic pump with a Rio6HF. The Rio is a bit better on flow with less watts used. Less watts is less heat. I also got rid of the sharp 90 degree elbow that mounts to the bulkhead for the pump return. This increased flow. I then mounted a Loc-line “Y” fitting and split the Rio’s flow. At the time I had a Koralia 2 on the right side of the tank but I hated how much space it took up.
Remember that cheap protein skimmer I bought in the beginning? Well it was time to make it work. I had purchased a Sea Clone 100. Yea the biggest pile of you know what in the skimming business. I read that you can make the work with some modifications. So I shortened the venturi tube, the collection cup was modified, a good air regulator was installed and the MJ1200 bioball/needle wheel modification took place. This has been nothing but beneficial in my personal opinion. The skimmer, to this day, has been pumping out black sludge for months.

During all the research and modifications my second clown disappeared. I thought there was some hitchhiker had gotten a hold of him and made a midnight snack. So while I was still researching, see a trend here, the modifications to the tank, I started researching deadly hitchhikers. What I read was that some brittle stars will eat fish. GREAT! I also read that if a bristle worm gets big enough it can eat fish too. SUPER GREAT!!! I have a huge killer starfish and a huge killer bristle worm! To top it all off a hermit crab carcass was on the sea floor. But luckily for me it was just a molt. WHEW! I never did find the clown fish so I bought a new one. Same hatch, same cool dark orange color.

Frank was by far, my most entertaining crab. Frank is the unidentified hermit with blue eyes. He had a habit of jumping on a turbo snail’s back and going for a ride. The best part is when the snail does it's little bucking defense thing and he falls off. Most the time he last well over 8 seconds. Frank’s a stud! My fire shrimp, Sparks, always went for my fingers when I was going in for some cleaning. It is still cool to feed him by hand. I couldn’t get the peppermint to feed from my hand though. I added some shells to tank and I think of the blue legged hermits switched at some point. One of my yellow tip hermits likes to hang out in the exact same place on one of the rocks. This kinda surprised me but after further observation they all have a favorite spot.

The dark orange clown only lasted a week before he died. I did catch and dispose of the huge bristle worm. I also decided that is wasn’t the brittle starfish. Some times fish just die. Just before the clown died I bought a Red Firefish (Ember) and some corals from a reefer in Florida. My first corals! I got a candycane, 6 head frogspawn, some zooanthids and some Florida Ricordias. The tank had been running for about six weeks and everything was doing great. I checked all the parameters I could and everything was great. Nitrates were 5ppm and Calcium was 460/480 a little high. At this point I was reading about the benefits of refugiums and macro algae. I was also considering modifying chamber one to accept my stock Oceanic pump. I wanted to set up the stock pump kind of like it was in chamber three. With the pump at the bottom and the return through a drilled hole with some more loc-line. This would get rid of the Koralia.


Ember the firefish

Sparks

Candycane

Hitchhiker polyp is starting to grow!

Zoas

[goldenmean]

Very nice start - 0n the tank and this thread!

Interesting reading and filled with photos!

[Emg]

Nice job Jeff.....I love the scape and your firefish is gorgeous !!!

[Big Jay]

I was a little bummed out about the loss of another clown fish. I know not all of it was in my control but I felt guilty about the loss. Everything in the tank was doing great. At the time I was using RO water bought in one gallon bottles from Wal-Mart. I was mixing my own saltwater and topping off with the RO water. I was dosing with B-Ionic, Seachem Trace, Kent Chromaplex, and phytoplankton. During the next couple of weeks I did some more work on the tank. I opened up the dam between chamber one and two. I also modified my drip tray by removing the central plastic (hard to explain) so the filter floss would fit nicely on the tray. To try and explain it better it works like this. The water flows over the dam onto the filter pad as the filter gets dirty the water flows further down the pad. The drip tray no longer covers the entire area of chamber two. So if the pad gets so dirty that no water flows through it the water simply flows over the end. This way the chambers are never put of balance.
I also bought a bulkhead fitting and did the modification to chamber one that I was talking about earlier. I put the stock Oceanic pump and put it chamber one exactly like it was in chamber three. This was great because if got to remove the bulky Koralia 2.
I bought this bulkhead.


Drilled a hole and used a dremel to open it as necessary.

I put the stock Oceanic pump down in chamber 1. Used a 5/8" ID vinyl hose and a plastic 90 degree fitting to attach it. Looks way better than the huge Korelia. I did end up removing some Loc-line.


I was in and put of many LFS through out the week to keep an eye one the ever changing live stock. I was in a store and came across a Percula clown fish that was averaged priced but had the nice Onyx coloration. I took him home and introduced him to my BC29. It wasn't long after that when I had noticed a single white dot on Ember my firefish. Ich.

[yungreefer2410]

oh that sucks the clownfish must of had it. its hard to tell on clownfish until later on.

[AndtheBonus]

Great chronicle! More please