New reef JBJ CF nano

[AquaTricia]

are they good with inverts?

 

[AquaTricia]

i didn't see the website intil after i replied. yep, that's him. thanks for the ID. will force the lfs to take him back. they knew i was doing a reef so they never should have sold me one of those. thanks

 

[Phranque]

I would take him back.... He might do OK in a large reef tank, like 180+, but definitely gets too big for the nano.

 

[AquaTricia]

This lfs has a no return policy. Had quite a lot of beard alga in one of my freshwater tank, so she sold me Slime. Only good for saltwater. Figure I will have a fight. Now I have to return Jumbo, the hermit crab.

 

[Grizz]

I wouldnt deal with them any more IMO a store that has a no return policy is only out to get your money and will give bad advice to do so

 

[AquaTricia]

Yeah they did. I am not totally happy with the water they supply either. I like 1.024 and they sold me 1.022 with tons of particulates in it. They can have Jumbo, just like they took my big, yellow lab female back for no reimbursement, but this Slime stuff is the final straw. I may wind up there in an emergency, but I will know what I want beforehand.

 

[AquaTricia]

Anybody got any idea how to clean the pumps in the sump of my nano cube, and my koralia 425? I clean the tank tomorrow. Thanks.

 

[AquaTricia]

It's a koralia 240, and I got the instructions for it but couldn't get it to come apart, so I just wiped it down. No instructions available for the accela pumps, so I left them alone and will try to call JBJ tomorrow. Swept the sand and stirred it then blasted off the corals with a turkey baster. Sand is floating now that the pumps and power head are on. Dosed the tank with Reef Energy for the corals since the skimmer is out. The air stone is damaged so my husband is gone to get a new one. Water at 1.023. Will test tomorrow or Wednesday. Am going out of town Thursday through Sunday, and will have my daughter check to be sure everything is on and, hopefully, I can show her how to feed the tank. I have a fairy wrasse now who requires filter feeding. I've been using Cyclop-eeze, but I don't think I can get het to use it since to have to touch it and she's squeamish. Think I can get her to do cubes of brine shrimp.

 

[AquaTricia]

Had to go to the lfs for sw, but my 5 gallon jug didn't go with me so I had to buy pure sea water for an exorbitant price. But, I needed the water for my Monday cleaning and we won't be getting back Sunday until late. Woke up to cyano. Again. Maybe I shouldn't have stirred the sand? I will keep sweeping it out until we leave. My siphon for cleaning the tank jams when sand gets in it and so does the turkey baster so I sweep it to the front and dip it out with a spoon. I did teach my daughter how to feed cubes of brine shrimp once while we are gone. I will feed Cyclop-eeze on Thursday morning. All my fish are juvies, so I've been told I have to feed them more, especially the Filamented Fairy Wrasse, who filter feeds and since I'm running a skimmer, there isn't much for him to eat.
Ok, I also changed my wave maker from 2 minute waves to 10 second waves, pointed the returns down, and pointed the power head to the front corner. Does all this, along with major testing sound ok to everyone? How bad do you think the cyano will be when I return, and should I worry?

 

[Grizz]

Dont stir your sand better to slow down your siphon (pinch the hose) this way you can use it to clean the sand. You may still be over feeding Who said you need to feed small fish more often? To me that like saying a 6 month old baby needs to eat more than a grown man All of my fish started out at 1 inch or less i feed only as much as they will eat in 2 minutes I feed 2x a day some feed 2x a week and there fish seem happy The cyano was most likely caused by the stirring

You can get RO water from Wal-mart 5 gal cost me $1.84 get some salt mix and make your own you'll save a lot of cash

 

[danbstrong]

Dont stir your sand better to slow down your siphon (pinch the hose) this way you can use it to clean the sand. You may still be over feeding Who said you need to feed small fish more often? To me that like saying a 6 month old baby needs to eat more than a grown man All of my fish started out at 1 inch or less i feed only as much as they will eat in 2 minutes I feed 2x a day some feed 2x a week and there fish seem happy The cyano was most likely caused by the stirring

I agree never stir sandbed it will release nutrients i use nass snails to keep mine stirred

 

[Grizz]

I do too But i still siphon my sand just to be sure lol I do 1/3 of the bed with each W/C

 

[AquaTricia]

I certainly won't be stirring the sand again. I have two olive snails, but since the cyano attacks, I figured they weren't doing their job. The siphon I have has a bulb in the middle and the tube is very thick. Actually, it's hard to handle but I can't find anything better. It won't pinch and the sand clogs up the tube before it reaches the bulb.
I only feed the tank once a day and every third day, feed the shrimp pellets and the fish some flakes. By feeding the tank I obviously mean fish and corals. Is this too often? Cyclop-eeze and brine shrimp float around in the water so I can't use a timer on that. I do turn off the pumps and skimmer for 3-4 minutes when I do this. Same with Mysis, though I only feed that the day before or the morning of my cleaning. It fouls the water so bad.

 

[Grizz]

I'd get rid of the olive snails and add 6-10 Nassarius snails they do a great job stirring the sand bed To slow the flow on your siphon put your finger over the end of the tube (drain end) You dont need to feed the coral or shrimp they will get left over fish food Soak the Mysis and cyclop in a cup of tank water 5-10 minutes it will help it sink I feed flake 2x a day and 1 cube mysis wed and sun

 

[AquaTricia]

Ok. I will do that. Thanks.

 

[AquaTricia]

Another thought, please. I have a 28 gallon nano cube that's getting enough cyano that I have to rake it out every other day. I've been told that flow will ease it off. I have Acella SP1-1000 pumps that turn 266 GPH on a wave maker set at 10 second intervals. The nozzles are pointed down. I have a Koralia 240 power head. Do you think this is enough flow? I'm not objecting to buying more if need be. What do you think?

 

[Grizz]

Try setting a longer interval on the wave maker 10 sec hardly gets the water moving And another 240 or even a 450 wont hurt it may seem like a lot but it's really not

 

[AquaTricia]

ok, Grizz. will change the intervals on the wavemaker, and will get another powerhead. thanks

 

[AquaTricia]

another problem

Another problem. I went out of town for a wedding and was gone 4 days. My daughter came by once and fed the tank brine shrimp. She didn't really check the stock. When i got home, the first thing I noticed was that my Filamented Fairy Wrasse was missing. I looked everywhere and for speeds sake, I used Strips to check for ammonia and nitrites. i did have .25 ammonia and no nitrites. Since we got home so late, I cleaned the tank 30-35% on Monday morning and later checked the specific gravity and it was 1.023. Most of this i already mentioned. Removed a moderate amount of cyano in the front and all down the right side, ending in the back. This morning, my Pajama Cardinalfish is gone. i tested and ammonia still read .25, nitrites 5ppm, phosphate 0 and pH 8.0. i don't have a test kit for alkalinity but it was showing 300 per strip. i don't understand why I am losing fish so quickly. the tank has been up since 6/19 and cycled in 9 days. i waited 2 more weeks to put 2 Percula Clowns in there along with 3 corals. i slowly began to add corals each week, but 2 weeks before adding the Pajama and 2 weeks ago added the Wrasse and a neon goby. i clean the tank every Monday and use water from the lfs. She also provides me with RO/DI water for top off. the only critters that i have seen coming in on the rock was a bristle worm. i've been told by several people that if i have a water problem the first to go would be my peppermint shrimp. i still have all three and one just molted. i topped off the tank this morning after noting the Pajama was gone. SG was 1.026 at that time. sorry this is so long, but i wanted to give all the info i could think off. suggestions?

 

[AquaTricia]

Well, I'm embarrassed. After all the messing around I did to the tank, the pajama reappeared. And the 5ppm was nitrate not nitrite. Another goof. Chalk it up to being upset.