Newbie setting up a 1.5ft nano

[dulcet]

Hi seniors!

I have been cycling my tank for almost 2 weeks, meanwhile doing some of readings

My tank a nano, 45cm * 30cm * 30cm, 10 gallon, with a build in back filtering compartment divided into 4 parts.

Lighting is build in PL.

Temperature is around 26-28, probably due to the rainy season now ....

Would like to keep corals and fishes.

Now the questions are:

1) If i wanna keep corals like shrooms, anemone, LPS etc, what lighting do i need ??

I am pretty confuse when searching around... some say T5 itself will be enough, but some say need to get at least 3wpg of T5 ...

I like to have a colorful tank haha , is there any suggestion for some hardy ones that i can start with? sun coral looks damn nice!!

2) I believe I will need a cooling system like chiller in order to keep corals?

But chiller is so expensive, and i am keeping the tank in my room, hope to have something that's not noisy.

I heard iceprobe is good, and does dolphin mini work?

3) One of the LR in my tank is totally white!!!, Doesn't look like they are dead organism, is the LR dead? (ammonia reading is 0.5, nitrate 0.5, nitrite 5)

Btw, i am still a student, high end product is out of my options

hope some senoirs can give me some advise

PS: please bare with my noob-ness...

[raymus]

Hi seniors!

I have been cycling my tank for almost 2 weeks, meanwhile doing some of readings

My tank a nano, 45cm * 30cm * 30cm, 10 gallon, with a build in back filtering compartment divided into 4 parts.

Lighting is build in PL.

Temperature is around 26-28, probably due to the rainy season now ....

Would like to keep corals and fishes.

Now the questions are:

1) If i wanna keep corals like shrooms, anemone, LPS etc, what lighting do i need ??

I am pretty confuse when searching around... some say T5 itself will be enough, but some say need to get at least 3wpg of T5 ...

I like to have a colorful tank haha , is there any suggestion for some hardy ones that i can start with? sun coral looks damn nice!!

2) I believe I will need a cooling system like chiller in order to keep corals?

But chiller is so expensive, and i am keeping the tank in my room, hope to have something that's not noisy.

I heard iceprobe is good, and does dolphin mini work?

3) One of the LR in my tank is totally white!!!, Doesn't look like they are dead organism, is the LR dead? (ammonia reading is 0.5, nitrate 0.5, nitrite 5)

Btw, i am still a student, high end product is out of my options

hope some senoirs can give me some advise

PS: please bare with my noob-ness...

Hi ..im no Senior

dolphin mini- if im not wrong, it is not a compressor chiller.using heat sink, fan kind of stuff.

-getting a Ice Probe might help. smallest horse power is enough for a nano tank. a good choice will be artica which is quiet and reliable. spending on dolphin, i suggest getting a second hand chiller from reefer which might costs a little more than dolphin.

do be patient to go a long way for ammonia reading is 0.5, nitrate 0.5, nitrite 5). it does not reach a fully cycle period.

IMHO, i suggest T5 is good enough for shrooms, leather corals etc

do do a reseach on Cure rock and uncured rock from this forum.A LR which u mention appear white does not means it is dead.

lots of factor contribute on the growth of aglae on the LR. you might be comparing why some LR entrusted with COraline while yours is not. temp, calcium , lighting etc all contribute to the growth of coraline.

most important, get a skimmer to fit into your tank. there is lots of hang on type of skimmer ava.

hopes my two cents help..

welcome to reefing bro!

[dulcet]

hmmm, so if i am planning to keep zoas and mushshrooms T5 will be ok right?

is it ok if i use 2x 16w T5? becos they are around 1.5ft if i am not wrong, fit nicely on my 45cm tank

for skimmer is reef octopus NS-80 enough?

[raymus]

hmmm, so if i am planning to keep zoas and mushshrooms T5 will be ok right?

is it ok if i use 2x 16w T5? becos they are around 1.5ft if i am not wrong, fit nicely on my 45cm tank

for skimmer is reef octopus NS-80 enough?

to quote you,

one of my friend is using 1.5 Ft T5, 2*16w . he is keeping zoa, so far ok but growth of others LPS is weak.

NS80 ,25 gallons. depend on stocking too. i believe it should be fine, zoa thrieve in high nutrient enviroment if im not wrong.

[dulcet]

will it help if i use better brand tube? like ATI ?

[Solo77]

Hi, just to add, as a student with tight budget, just continue to stick to yr pl lighting. Just ensure the tubes used are for marine purpose. There are high output vs low output lightset and tubes. T5 high output tube may not come in many length, in general it comes in 24w(2ft), 39w(3ft), 54w(4ft) and 80w(5ft). The corals u mentioned do need lighting but don't mean they need T5 to survive. However, with higher intensity light, they will flourish and looks nicer as polyps are generally bigger. For sun coral, they don't need light but feeding . If exposed and yr tank has nutrient, algae will grow on them and they will not do well.

For chiller, consider the flow. The space constraint will affect the pump u use as it will determine efficiency of the chiller.,Artica is recommended due to it's proven reliability but price on the high side. Hence, u can consider hailea, etc from china. Cheap and works for many reefers out there. Just google for review as they usually have thermostat problem which reefers used external one to overcome.

For rocks, just culture them if u have the time if not, u need to spend money to buy bacteria to speed up the process. Hope this help. Be patience as even snr reefers might overlook at times.

[allantang]

As God created earth before he made man n living creatures.

Likewise, ensure the environment is good before u introduce LS.

IMO, let the tank cycle abit more to ensure higher chances of successful reefing experience.

[tunicate]

Hi Fayeth,

Firstly, a warm welcome to you. I encourage you to read up as much as you can from reefing forums as well as books to gather as much knowledge, as well as experience from fellow reefers regarding nano marine tank. As you current tank cycles, it is a good time to plan on how you'd like your tank to develop into.(This includes budget plans.)

Besides our "Nano Reefs or Pico Reef ?" forum topics, other forums are:

http://www.nano-reef.com/

http://thenanoreef.co.uk/forum/

http://www.nanotank.com/

Pictures in these forums serves as inspiration for your up & coming tank. Then zoom in to read about how it is done, or what equipment & husbandry is required. This is a hobby that demands both time & $$.

As nano tanks are generally limited in real estate, you'll notice most nano reefers keep small size corals & fishes. There's even an online calculator to figure out how many inches if fish your water volume can support. For basic info on LS, you can visit:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/

A Dolphin mini works in the same principle as an Iceprobe. It's just designed differently. If you do not intend to purchase a chiller, an Iceprobe (as compared to Dolphin mini) should be a better choice if it can fit above your "build in back filtering compartment". This is because the Dolphin mini would probably requires you to hook it up to an extra pump, thus introducing additional heat source to your system.

[Tian85]

Just asking. Will 4.8wpg be too strong for zoa or soft coral?

[dulcet]

thanks for the advice

meanwhile i think i will hunt for 2nd hand stuff, and read up on thinks tunicate provided

... no income is so sian

[Ketchup]

Just keep things simple. Nano tank don't requires a lot of high end equipment. If your room is not too hot and stuffy, you may even get away without chiller/ice probe.

[samuel88]

thanks for the advice

meanwhile i think i will hunt for 2nd hand stuff, and read up on thinks tunicate provided

... no income is so sian

i'm also on a damn tight budget like you, don't be too stress about the chiller cause its more of the temperature fluctuations you should be worried about. if your temperature is constant it should be ok.

if you like colorful corals, you should stock up your tank with corals realllllyy slowly, i've been guilty of stocking up my tank with corals so fast that sometimes i regret cause after buying a coral i see more colorful versions of the corals that i already have. so enjoy the stocking process slowly, sometimes over months before you fully stock it. first start with soft corals to boost your confidence before diving into LPSes.

lighting wise, T5 is actually just the size of the bulb if i'm not wrong, what you really wanna look at is the wattage that it has, WPG rule can sometimes be a lil inaccurate because what matters more is the depth of your tank. i use a mix of actinics and super sun bulbs.

don't worry about the LR cause any other life you have in your tank will probably spread over it in time.

oh yes, and if you're on a tight budget i don't suppose you have an RO/DI unit, so you wanna be careful about adding water into your tank. best to buy distilled water from supermarket, or if you're like me and don't like to see so many plastic bottles going to waste you can get a tap water dechlorinator but don't do freshwater top offs too often with this kinda dechlorinated tap water especially in a nano tank where it builds up very fast you wanna give it time to dissipate from your system before adding again. trust me i've had alot of bad experience with this.

good luck with your tank!

[dulcet]

i'm also on a damn tight budget like you, don't be too stress about the chiller cause its more of the temperature fluctuations you should be worried about. if your temperature is constant it should be ok.

if you like colorful corals, you should stock up your tank with corals realllllyy slowly, i've been guilty of stocking up my tank with corals so fast that sometimes i regret cause after buying a coral i see more colorful versions of the corals that i already have. so enjoy the stocking process slowly, sometimes over months before you fully stock it. first start with soft corals to boost your confidence before diving into LPSes.

lighting wise, T5 is actually just the size of the bulb if i'm not wrong, what you really wanna look at is the wattage that it has, WPG rule can sometimes be a lil inaccurate because what matters more is the depth of your tank. i use a mix of actinics and super sun bulbs.

don't worry about the LR cause any other life you have in your tank will probably spread over it in time.

oh yes, and if you're on a tight budget i don't suppose you have an RO/DI unit, so you wanna be careful about adding water into your tank. best to buy distilled water from supermarket, or if you're like me and don't like to see so many plastic bottles going to waste you can get a tap water dechlorinator but don't do freshwater top offs too often with this kinda dechlorinated tap water especially in a nano tank where it builds up very fast you wanna give it time to dissipate from your system before adding again. trust me i've had alot of bad experience with this.

good luck with your tank!

thanks for the advice! how much will the dechlorinator cost and where can i get them?

topping up with distilled water is not really a gd option for me... my house here got no NTUC, only got shop N save and apparently they are not helping me to save anything

i'm using seachem to dechlorine my tap water now, but dunno whether it works lol

will it be better if i get a air pump to age the water?

my temperature is normally around 27-28, hardly see it hit 28 though, thinking of getting 1 or 2 clip on fan when the weather start to turn really hot.

if say i were to get a 2 x 24w 2ft T5 will it be too much? becos the price difference between 2 x 24 and 2 x 16 isn't much

oh ya, my ammonia is somehow stuck at 0.5, same goes for nitrite 0.5 and nitrate 5, is this kind of reading normal?

[dirtnitro]

Have you consider using par38? Cos I m nt sure how much is t5, but I tink par 38 is worth on the long run, I am also starting a iq5 in my office, using Dymax fan and getting a par38 next week

[samuel88]

thanks for the advice! how much will the dechlorinator cost and where can i get them?

topping up with distilled water is not really a gd option for me... my house here got no NTUC, only got shop N save and apparently they are not helping me to save anything

i'm using seachem to dechlorine my tap water now, but dunno whether it works lol

will it be better if i get a air pump to age the water?

my temperature is normally around 27-28, hardly see it hit 28 though, thinking of getting 1 or 2 clip on fan when the weather start to turn really hot.

if say i were to get a 2 x 24w 2ft T5 will it be too much? becos the price difference between 2 x 24 and 2 x 16 isn't much

oh ya, my ammonia is somehow stuck at 0.5, same goes for nitrite 0.5 and nitrate 5, is this kind of reading normal?

price wise depends on how big the bottle is. if you're already using seachem just stick to that, any LFS should sell dechlorinator. it should just take a few minutes for the dechlorinator to do its thing, but aging it won't do any harm i guess. for me unless its RO water i wouldn't top up with dechlorinated water so much cause it didn't work for me, might work for you tho. safest is to wait at least 24 hours, before topping up with freshwater again, cause it lets the water stabilize. tap water dechlorinator if i'm not wrong it doesn't remove impurities in water, it just makes it easier for your filters to process them so you have to give your filters time to get rid of them. and seachem prime according to the webby takes 24 hours to dissipate from your system.

when it comes to lighting, it all depends on what you wanna keep, i'm not really good at how many watts you should have over a tank, but for me i just get whatever fits nicely onto my tank, after all its a decorative piece in the house.

the ammonia and nitrite should both be zero, if there's still a bit its best to just let your biological filter run longer, some people wait even months before adding anything. the longer you let your tank mature the more stable it will be.

[dulcet]

haiz, after 2 days, reading become even more abnormal...

ammonia: 0.5 << how come it's jam at 0.5 ..................

nitrite: 0

nitrate: 5

btw, if my tank is a 40L tank, what will be the recommended power for my power head? will 1000L/hour be too much? becos i dun feel like having a waver to take up space.. haha

[tunicate]

Your tank has not complete cycling yet. Give a few more weeks.

Patience is the key here.

[kaganesti]

btw, if my tank is a 40L tank, what will be the recommended power for my power head? will 1000L/hour be too much? becos i dun feel like having a waver to take up space.. haha

1000L/hr will be 25 times turn over. I will say it's defnitely not too much. If you just want to keep some simple zoas, shrooms and maybe some LPS should not be a problem at all. They can definitely take more flow than that ; just don't keep them under direct flow. Your flow is mainly determined by the type of corals you intend to keep.

[dulcet]

thanks man!

[dulcet]

hey guys, i got a new problem...

I tested my tap water with my ammonia test kit, the ammonia was 0.5ppm ..........

I tested my age water, aged a few days ago, with dechlorinated it with seachem also a fews days ago, added salt for salinity.. and the ammonia was 1ppm ..........

On the bottle of the seachem, it mention that it will reduce ammonia, how come the ammonia increase instead?

The water container i am using is new and was washed with tap water (no soap) before aging the water...

Does this means i have to get a RO unit or lots of distill water for topping up evaporation and water change? OMG!!!

I will do a test on distill water to check my test kit tml...

please help ~~

[tunicate]

Hey bro,

First of all, don't add salt to your top-up water. Salt don't get evaporated from your aquarium, just H2O. If you start topping up with salt water, your tank salinity will start to rise.

Secondly, the NH3 rise may be due to micro-organism die offs in your aged water, or may even come from your dechlorinator. I suggest you start a fresh pail of aged water without adding dechlorinator nor salt. Then test it to compare results.

[dulcet]

thanks for all the advices

but now the ammonia is still 0.5 (3 weeks of cycling) ............. and worst i am see red algae on my sand bed

any recommendation for nano wave maker? my tank space is quite limited...

or do u guys think changing form a 400L/hr to a 1000L/hr pump will help?

[raymus]

hey guys, i got a new problem...

I tested my tap water with my ammonia test kit, the ammonia was 0.5ppm ..........

I tested my age water, aged a few days ago, with dechlorinated it with seachem also a fews days ago, added salt for salinity.. and the ammonia was 1ppm ..........

On the bottle of the seachem, it mention that it will reduce ammonia, how come the ammonia increase instead?

The water container i am using is new and was washed with tap water (no soap) before aging the water...

Does this means i have to get a RO unit or lots of distill water for topping up evaporation and water change? OMG!!!

I will do a test on distill water to check my test kit tml...

please help ~~

Hi, my TDS reflect 55 to close 60 in reading.

while reflect 0 in distill water.

Tap water is comprised of nutrients that may result in ongoing algae problems in the aquarium. These include phosphate, nitrate, and silica etc.

Chlorine can often be removed simply by letting the water age appropriately prior to use. Some aquarists aerate it, and others simply let it sit for a few days. Chlorine can also be removed with a variety of different commercial products that react with chlorine and reduce its toxicity.

Chloramine is not so readily removed by aging, and is more complicated to remove with commercial dechlorinating products since one must also remove the ammonia.

there are some aquarists who use only tap water and are seemingly very successful. We've also heard the opposite.

Short of testing your own water, there is no way to be certain that your water is acceptable. Some testing with kits is likely desirable, but certain tests will require professional labs.

cheers

[raymus]

thanks for all the advices

but now the ammonia is still 0.5 (3 weeks of cycling) ............. and worst i am see red algae on my sand bed

any recommendation for nano wave maker? my tank space is quite limited...

or do u guys think changing form a 400L/hr to a 1000L/hr pump will help?

hydrowave wavemaker, which will cost more.

increasing the flow will helps to reduce the cyano algae, but provided ur sand bed will not be flush up by ur wave marker.

Actually, cyanobacteria are blue-green slime or grease algae. Red film algae, the type that grows in mats on substrates and over animals.

Nuisance algae thrives on nitrate, phosphates, and silicate. Reducing these components will help arrest a nuisance algae problem.

A first step toward limiting nutrients could be to add more water flow. This helps to keep the nutrients suspended in the water column so that mechanical filtration and protein skimming can remove them

[dulcet]

Does washing the cotton in the filter compartment affect the bacteria growth? As I washed the cotton in tap water... I read somewhere in the forum saying it's fine...

But I did quite a number of searches on the web, some of them say not to use tap water to wash the cotton while cycling...

Now i am confuse, am I suppose to restart the whole cycling process?

It's totally weird that my ammonia reading is stuck at 0.5 for almost 2 weeks after the first ammonia spike...