Journey to from Nano Tank to RedSea Peninsula

[mhcraft]

Hi Fellow Reefers,

I have been procrastinating to start my own tank journey but after encouragement from fellow reefers & hoping other new reefers will gain, here I go

I started my reef journey earlier this year - during the pandemic. I can't really recall  what drove me as I am always a freshwater guy, perhaps pandemic fatigue and the need to start a new hobby? In any case, like with most reefers, I started this hobby thinking I have done all the research but soon to realize that not only I just scratch the knowledge surface but also my wallet's surface  

Advise to any new reefer - this hobby requires a lot of reading, try & error and most importantly, patience. As frustrating as it can be sometimes, from spending a lot of money to tank crashes, the fulfillment of accomplishment is just none to other - plus, this is really a lifetime hobby, you learn a new thing every day. 

Naturally, I started the hobby with a Nano All-in-One tank - the Fluval Evo 13.5G:

- Stock Return Pump & Skimmer (wonders of AIO tank)

- Upgraded to Intank Media Basket

- 2nd hand Arctica 1/15 Chiller

I started with two clownfish and an anemone and a bunch of corals. Few things I have learnt:

1. Anemone can be extremely expensive buying from LFS - it is much cheaper getting one from a fellow reefer here and there are few advantages:

- Cheaper

- You know the Anemone has settled in staying in captivity and doing well, the fact that it has split or grown large enough

2. Corals

- Again, cheaper to get from fellow reefer but there are some really good ones from some LFS

- Always dip your coral

3. Fish

- Most of the time, you should just get it from LFS. Fellow reefers who sell their fish are usually for two reasons, quit the hobby or the fish has grown too big.

In a very short time, I overgrown this tank - it has became increasing hard to maintain the tank parameters and the lack of a sump makes thing much harder. I wasn't thinking to upgrade until I stumbled upon a chance to purchase my next tank

It was the RedSea Reefer Nano. Someone was actually selling the tank for only $500, along with livestock, rocks, skimmer, wavemaker etc. I am always a huge fan of the RedSea tanks and with everything in consideration, it was just a too good deal to miss.

Whilst the tank condition was pristine (1 year old), the maintenance of the tank was another story..will continue my journey on my next update but posting some initial photos!

 

[dtdream]

congrats on your tank thread! camping..

[Gongon78]

Pls keep us update.

[mhcraft]

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

 

 

[equiox]

Knowledge + hands on practise + more purchasing of livestock will get you there soon. 

[puffer_jame]

Notice any issues with the silicone lining so far? One of Redsea tanks greatest weaknesses.

Keep us updated!

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

[mhcraft]

Update after a long time....:)

Here is the pictures of my current tank:

Few notes:

1. I added a purple tang since and yes, i know..i have to upgrade very soon! I am hunting for deals and hopefully can get a bigger home for them soon or else will have to sell them away (blue & purple)

2. My RBTA survived and i have since added hammer & torch. All the corals are actually doing very well. I did had a red monti but it died after some time and i realized that my kalk was actually very low despite using Red Sea Coral Pro sands. I must admit i got lazy and didn't test much but i assumed its because the corals were much bigger and weekly water change is no longer sufficient. I have since started manually doing red sea alk.

3. I opted to once again have sands but this time i decided to have only a one inch sand...I am hoping that it would still give me the benefits of having a layer of sands and forgives me if i am unable to keep up to the weekly water changes.

4. My sump is pretty much settled. I started dosing kalkwasser to my ATO although i realize it is not the best ATO to dose kalk but since my alk is very low, i do not really have a choice. Once i manage to get it stable, i might stop doing kalkwasser via ATO. I have my seneye reef there connected to my intel stick! Very cheap solution compared to getting the seneye PC..

 

 

1. RBTA is doing very well. It is not splitting like my other RBTA but I really do like the colors. Mushrooms are also doing very well..

2. I managed to reuse my chiller and AI PRIME 16HD. 

P/S: the pictures looked a bit white as I increased the White so i can take better pictures otherwise i am doing about 20% white i think.

[mhcraft]

On 11/9/2021 at 10:04 PM, puffer_jame said:

Notice any issues with the silicone lining so far? One of Redsea tanks greatest weaknesses.

Keep us updated!

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app
 

So far still ok although i am being very careful when I am cleaning the glass so i do not hit the edges. I think the newer models are fine as per one of the reefer in this forum :).

The example he gave is VW cars with gearbox..lmao. Apparently the new VW cars are better

[Crazycanon68]

Nice


Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

[Ref00]

Suggest u remove the pulsing xenia and gsp fm the main rock structure. If not in no time they will overtake your main rock structure. Unless u planned for it this way.