First Time Reefer 10 Gallon

[Nisburgh]

Hi, I am just like everyone else. I am currently starting a tank and want to share each and every step of my aquarium projects with you guys. I plan on using this forum to make friends and branch out my aquarium knowledge and gain everything from you guys!

I currently am setting up a 10 gallon aquarium for a Pico Reef. I currently only have a 50W heater, an Aquaclear 30 power HOB filter, 10 pounds of live sand and about 5 pounds of live rock. I bought real seawater in the brown boxes from Petco for my initial water, so now I am away from my apartment for 3 weeks on winter break from school. My light is on a timer, so I expect my cycle to be fully established when I get back.

I am going to purchase a Hydro Koralia nano pump and a JBJ nanozapp UV Sterilizer for the tank, also, I will purchase more live rock and some cleaner shrimp when I get back, and slowly begin to make more decisions as I go along.

I have no boundaries for my aquarium and expect to have many thousands of gallons in my final aquarium! Please everyone subscribe to my thread and help me along the way! I would love to have conversations and get to know my fellow reefers!

Nick!

 

[Surfer]

Sweet, ill be starting my first reefer tank also once I get out for winter break Friday. I guess this will be a learning experience for the both of us. Mine will be a 16 gallon not much of a difference there. How are you going to cycle your tank? I can't decide if I should use regular ammonia or a market shrimp..

 

[Craigj247]

Tank looks nice... You should have bought the entire load of live rock before the cycle cause now as you increase the level of live rock you run the risk of your tank starting a cycle process again... Meaning fluctuations in ammonia and nitrates... Don't forget to get some good test kits.

 

[Beengirl]

Welcome to the world of SW!!

It's better to check your levels every couple of days during the cycle to make sure that you have a good strong cycle, but since you won't be there to do that, I would dose it with ammonia when you return from break and see if the BB can convert it in 24hours.
Just sometime during break, go to an ACE hardware if you have one and buy a small bottle of janitorial ammonia (there can't be any bubbles when you shake the bottle-if there are, it's the wrong kind of ammonia). It's usually about $3 where I live.
Then when you get back, put a few drops of ammonia in the tank, let it mix for about a half hour and then test it with your liquid test kit. You'll want it to be about 4ppm. If its not quite there, add a couple more drops ammonia and repeat until you get to 4. With a 10g, it'll probably take literally just drops to get there. Then wait 24hours and see if the BB was able to convert it all to nitrates. If when you test 24hours later you have zero ammo and Trites and have some Trates, then you're cycled and ready to do a PWC and add fish. If you still have ammo and/or Trites, then your cycle was a weak one and you'll need to let the tank finish cycling before adding fish.
Doing this extra test of the BB will ensure that when you add fish, you have enough BB to handle the bioload and the fish has a better chance of surviving.
Enjoy your break and good luck with the tank!!
Ill be following.

 

[Nisburgh]

Hey guys thanks for commenting and following me. I plan on just letting my tank cycle naturally without using any extra additives. This is because not only am I using live sand and live rock, but I put real seawater in my tank, so I'm not even sure it will need to cycle all that much.

Although I know it probably will, I specifically only put a small load of live rock in because I knew I was going to be away for about 3 weeks so I'm not even at the complete stage of live rock. I just wanted to get the aquarium set up and running and doing what it's supposed to do! Then when I get back from break I will buy my full load of live rock and allow that full cycle as you said! Thank you!

And lastly I will have a Hydor Koralia 240 pump with a wave timer and a JBJ Nanozapp UV Sterilizer on my aquarium by the time I start adding coral.

 

[Bettafanatic]

Hey guys thanks for commenting and following me. I plan on just letting my tank cycle naturally without using any extra additives. This is because not only am I using live sand and live rock, but I put real seawater in my tank, so I'm not even sure it will need to cycle all that much.

Although I know it probably will, I specifically only put a small load of live rock in because I knew I was going to be away for about 3 weeks so I'm not even at the complete stage of live rock. I just wanted to get the aquarium set up and running and doing what it's supposed to do! Then when I get back from break I will buy my full load of live rock and allow that full cycle as you said! Thank you!

And lastly I will have a Hydor Koralia 240 pump with a wave timer and a JBJ Nanozapp UV Sterilizer on my aquarium by the time I start adding coral.

Your tank won't cycle if you don't add ammonia. You need to feed the bacteria. And just because you put in saltwater from the ocean doesn't mean it'll be instantly cycled. Water doesn't carry that much bacteria. I would also add more live rock. Fish are always more comfortable with lots of hiding places.

 

[Nisburgh]

Update

Hi everyone! I finally got back from break to a tank that was doing great!!! The green algae that had been growing on the live rock purchased at the LFS had dissipated and there was some algae growth on the sides of the aquarium. Only about 20% of the water had evaporated, so I filled the aquarium back up with freshwater and then did about a 20% water change and filled it back up with the real sea water I had leftover.

I waited a couple days and went to the LFS and purchased two more pieces of live rock, two oscellaris clowns, a green emerald crab, and a cleaner shrimp (Walter). They have been in the tank for about 4 days now and they are doing great! I feed the clowns pellet food, and I use a fish hook remover that I got for Christmas to hand feed the shrimp flakes! Walter has learned where to go for the food and he always meets me during feeding time.

The heater I previously had was set at about 75ish degrees, so I attempted to adjust the temperature setting. After noticing the temperature shoot to about 84 degrees, I realized it was stuck in the on position. I purchased a new one on Amazon. It was an Aquatop GH50 (50 Watt) submersible heater. This heater works, but it is very weird...it only turns on if I adjust the temperature up when it is off, and only goes off when I adjust the temperature down when it is on. So I went on eBay and purchased an Aqueon Pro 50 watt heater...it will be here in the mail in a couple days. I don't foresee this heater not working! Fingers crossed!

I also had a lighting issue. I had previously purchased a Marineland 30-gallon LED light hood for my freshwater tank, but since I purchased a new hood and light for that aquarium, I had been using the light, which contains about 27 6500K LED's and 3 Actinic blue LED's in it. This light was OK, but I did not like that look and coverage of the light, so I went on eBay and found a guy selling customized LED light strips. I bought a 14000K White light (18") at 250 lumens/foot. I also bought a 420 nm purple LED strip light (18") also at 250 lumens/foot. So now I have the 14000K, 420nm purple, and the three actinic blue lights on the tank....WOW!!! Highly recommend! Here are the links to the lights I bought. They were very cheap. About <$20 a piece!

You can see the color difference in the pictures. The first picture with the clowns was my original lighting "situation," and the three other pictures are my LED strips and a picture of the new lighting in the tank!

420 Violet Purple UV Aquarium Light LED Strip 250 LMN ft Salt Water Reef | eBay
Saltwater Aquarium Reef Coral White 14000K Light LED Strip 250 Lumens ft 14 000K | eBay

Since I liked the look of the lights so much, I decided to do away with the original Marineland actinic blue lights and purchase another strip of 440 nm actinic blue LED's at 100 lumens/foot. Should be coming in the mail early next week.

Aquarium 440 Actinic Blue Moon Light LED Strip 100 Lumens ft Salt Water Reef | eBay

I still have my Aquaclear 30 HOB filter, with the original carbon, sponge, and biomax media in it. I don't plan on changing the carbon anytime soon, and actually think I am going to just remove it and get more biomax media when it is time. I like the biomax media because it is essentially small pieces of live rock, with 100 square feet (claimed by Aquaclear) of rock per piece of biomax!!!

My brother bought me a Hydor Koralia 240 power head for Christmas and it will be here early next week as well. That should complete my tank for the time being! I will decided on corals and such in a couple weeks or months, but for now this is going to be my complete set-up.

I will post some pictures. Let me know what you guys think of my set-up and my decisions!