Hi - continuing with my updates on my Journey
So the new tank - Reefer Nano Tank
The first thing I did was deep cleaning. Initially I thought of reusing the the live sands and live rocks to prevent the cycling stages however I am not comfortable (understatement) on the organism that i will inherit from the previous waters and since I have an existing tank, I took the more patience path (another skill that i learnt from this hobby
For the sands, I just discard them directly as I planned to use the sands from my existing tank
For the live rocks, I opted for to bleach them:
- Used the 1:10 bleach to water ratio
- Note: always pour the bleach into the water instead of vice versa
- Bleached them for a couple of days, and sink them into tap water for a few more days and finally left them to dry for a week.
- With the above, I trust that bleach solution would evaporated from the rocks
For the tank itself, i used citric acid to clean the tank, pumps, skimmer and sump
- I used a higher ratio as citric acid is general less acidic compared to vinegar
- Cleaned all the glass and let it the return pump run for a week.
After about a week or two, the rocks are ready, the tank is fully cleaned up and ready for the cycling stage to start
The immediate issue I had was I was undecided where to plug all my equipment. I can do it by the side of the tank / back but i would really like a cleaner look.
The other option was above the sump but i was very hesitant to directly screw holes into the RedSea cabinets nor dumb enough to use double-sided tapes as if it fails, bye bye everything What i noticed is that there was about a 10cm gap between the sump and the cabinet walls so it gave me an idea to place a piece of plywood that I can then drill holes into. This way:
- I don't have to drill directly to the cabinet walls
- I don't have to us double-sided types
- And lastly, i can drill as much as I want and the end results is:
Few additional comments before I wrap up this update:
1. I did not notice that there are some scratches in the inner glass tank before I started my cycling - if you are buying 2nd hand tank, please take note as you can easily buffed the scratches out - now its too late for me
2. RedSea Valve control could be tricky to get the water to be running quiet but it can be done
- Ensure you clean the valve periodically - RedSea has instructions to do so and I have cleaned mine (it was dirty :))
- Ensure you have strong enough return pump to have sufficient water returning to the main display tank