12 gallon nano reef journal!

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harrytownend

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Mar 25, 2013
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168
Yesterday I set up my first saltwater tank after 4 years of keeping freshwater and after months of research and buying equipment here it is!ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1408386943.598822.jpg

I'm using a par38 led bulb with a gooseneck bulb holder, a hydor koralia 240 power head and a 125 gph hob filter with activated carbon. I also have a clip on blue led light for morning and night and about 12lb of live sand and 17lb of live rock.

The tank after adding sandImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1408387240.849116.jpg

And now, from the sideImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1408387295.046906.jpg

The live rock came from a friends tank with some Kenya tree coral and some coral I can't ID. Also there is a snail I cannot ID. If you know what either of these are please let me know!ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1408387436.362449.jpg and ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1408387581.200327.jpg It opened up today and the inside was fluorescent green.

I will try to update this as much as possible but it will be slow while the tank cycles. I'm hoping to keep soft corals and eventually some LPS. I am new to this so I will make mistakes but please forgive me and tell me how to do it right ! :)
 
FTS day 4. The Kenya tree seems to be doing great and the other coral completely opened upImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1408529137.581960.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1408529175.226484.jpg
Also these are my parameters over the past few daysImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1408529299.281155.jpg
 
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1408641913.978022.jpg I think this might be the start of a diatom bloom. What can I do to stop this? Should I just do a load of water changes or do I need to add clean up crew?
 
Just part of a new tank, they'll go away on their own just takes some time. Once they use up all the silicates in your new sand they'll die off
 
If my tank is cycled can I add a fish this weekend? One last question, are diatoms photosynthetic or can I keep my photoperiod at 8 hours as I have so corals that came on my live rock which are doing really great :)
 
How much did you spend on it I only have a freshwater tank but I'm thinking about starting a nano reef


Don't forget to cycle when you're done!
 
The tank was free,
Light- par38 with gooseneck holder -£75
Power head- hydor koralia 240 £25
Hob filter £11
Activated carbon £6
Live rock - £50 ( really good deal as I got it from a friend)
Live sand £15 for 10lbs
Hydrometer- £10
R.o unit £55
Reef salt 10kg £25
Saltwater test kit £20

I think that's everything so overall I spent just under £300 I think. It's pretty doable seen as though I'm only 15 and cut grass to make money. I've slowly bought everything over about 3-4 months so you should definately give it a go! Only thing with nano tanks is they are supposed to be much harder to maintain as temperature, salinity and others things fluctuate much quicker so just keep on top of everything and you should be ok.
 
Holy crap that's too much! I live in the US and 300 pounds is about $500 for us I spent about $250 on my fw 55g (thats about 150 ish pounds)


Don't forget to cycle when you're done!
 
Saltwater is just so much more expensive than freshwater. I set up a 10 gallon endler breeding tank for under £20!
 
I'll tell you what.

I will set up a SW aquarium and I will post every single purchase.
I will show u that I can set up a saltwater tank for under $175. ?

I already have the salt. Btw can you not use a fresh water test kit?


Don't forget to cycle when you're done!
 
As long as you can test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate you should be good. You'll need a reef test kit eventually to test other things though. I'll subscribe to your thread when you start it!
 
It's directly above your thread in nano tanks and it's called Nano Tank Build!


Don't forget to cycle when you're done!
 
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