My First Nano Reef -12g

[blasterx]

About 7 weeks ago, it cycled in about 5 days which was impressive to me. My freshwater tank took over a month.

 

[panza]

cool, cool i definetly think you should add a shrimp (if you havent alread) just to give it a little more color

 

[blasterx]

I do.

CUC:
astrea snails - 2
peppermint shrimp - 1
blue legged hermits - 9

two firefish (because I feel they would do better with two)
1 yellow tail black blenny *gift* ( i dont think about him much because he is always hiding)

That's 3 fish and a cleanup crew of 12.

20 lbs live sand, 12.6 pounds of live rock.

I'd really like to add a feather duster but I don't know if it would do so well in a small tank.

I would love to have a clam but I know thats just out of the question, that will be some time in the future if I can ever find the money to do a large tank!

 

[panza]

Yeh lol i have a 14 galon bio cube and i thought that costed a bunch you sure do have a lot of fish for that tank i think you should get a sexy shrimp to top off your tank. Do you know much about Fire Shrimp tomarrow im getting one or two.



Hows the shrimp doing my brother has had tons of peppermints but they all die. Are they hard to take care of.

I thiink what might have happened to his is that he never acclimates them very long like only 45minutes.. How did you acclimate yours.



(im really trying hard to make sure these new shrimp will be ok) =P

 

[Ziggy953]

The tank is looking great!

 

[blasterx]

The shrimp he is doing fine, spends most of his time hiding away in the rocks. But sometimes comes out. I drip acclimated them for about an hour before adding them to my tank.

I wasn't real sure about having more than one shrimp so that's why I only put in one.

 

[panza]

ok and for the drip acclimation u just tie a knot in the siphen and so it just drips a few times every second then let it go for an hour

 

[blasterx]

I used a valve to adjust the drip, cost was 25cents. Attached that to the tube and started the siphon.

 

[panza]

ok thank you

 

[blasterx]

Well my RO unit came, I got that one off ebay. Big box, well packed. Looks like a real quality product. Just hooked it up in the guest bathroom. No RO water yet it's just coming out of the drain line. Maybe it takes time? I opted for the optional DI unit tho I'm not really sure what that's for. I'm going to let it run for awhile and check back.

If this works well I think I might mount this in my garage if I can find a large 55 gallon drum it would be perfect!

 

[blasterx]

After checking their website I started looking at some of the videos. It looks like they connected the auto shut off valve the wrong way around. I switched it out and now it works great!

On another note it seems my peppermint shrimp has molted, least I hope that's the case. I'll wait for the lights to timer on then take a picture.

 

[blasterx]

Here's the carcass of my peppermint shrimp, I think he has molted so we'll see in a few days if he comes out of hiding.

 

[Ziggy953]

I agree that looks like a molt to me. Mine sometimes hide for 2 or 3 days after molting.

 

[blasterx]

Well just an update. I've had this green algae bloom it's been going for well over a week but I think it's starting to come down a little. I have to clean the walls every afternoon but I notice that it seems to be getting less and less dirty.

Another plus I have noticed some coraline algae starting to take hold on the rock, thermometer, powerhead and back wall -Yay-