russ nano reef build!

[Russ_gibbo1985]

Sooo after a long while dreaming and a bit of saving after the loss of my betta out of the tank in our befroom i decided to upgrade it ti an 18gal nano marine i set it up and added sand and water last week i added the live rock yesterday, i love the bits of rock plenty of flat areas and grooves for frags should be great. The only thing im not 100% sure on is my rock arrangement?? What do u guys think or any suggestions??

 

[Ausfish]

I think it looks like a great tank! What kind of lights are you running? I have two similar pieces in my tank and I places them like an arrow pointing upwards, leaning against each other. The diagonal sides are inhabited by mushrooms and a hammer coral, all very happy!

 

[GoldieLocks1]

Looking good! I like the hole bit in the middle. Are you sure the bit on top is stable?

 

[redsea]

Sooo after a long while dreaming and a bit of saving after the loss of my betta out of the tank in our befroom i decided to upgrade it ti an 18gal nano marine i set it up and added sand and water last week i added the live rock yesterday, i love the bits of rock plenty of flat areas and grooves for frags should be great. The only thing im not 100% sure on is my rock arrangement?? What do u guys think or any suggestions??

The tank looks great! I love the cave in the middle!

 

[Russ_gibbo1985]

I think it looks like a great tank! What kind of lights are you running? I have two similar pieces in my tank and I places them like an arrow pointing upwards, leaning against each other. The diagonal sides are inhabited by mushrooms and a hammer coral, all very happy!

Thanks your mushrooms look great! Lighting is stock but i have added some blue led strip lighting to give it a better blue hue as the stock blue leds were very dim!

 

[Russ_gibbo1985]

Looking good! I like the hole bit in the middle. Are you sure the bit on top is stable?

Lol thanks goldie im pretty sure if i didnt have such a good relationship with the guy at my lfs he would of got pretty irate at how long selecting the right rocks for my little rock cave setup took! As for the top piece its got a very good grip on the rock below and it leans on the back of the tank on the front wall of the weir overall VERY sturdy!

 

[Russ_gibbo1985]

Also i could do with some more advice, i have 3 fw tanks currently setup and running, so i have a bunch of kit. I have a sw and fw api master test kit, i was wondering us there any equipment i shouldn't use for both setups (siphon pipes gravel cleaner nets etc) also what ADDITIONAL equipment am i likely to need so i can get it now rather than messing around down the road??

 

[Ausfish]

I always use a different net and bucket on each tank I own, gives me peace of mind not to spread potential disease between them. I only have one syphoning hose but I wash that with almost boiling water after I use it. Can't really think of anything else

 

[tlkng1]

OTher than possibly contaminating your freshwater with the little bit of residue from the saltwater, you can basically use the same equipment between both. Just make sure to do a good rinse in between the two setups. OBviously the test kits have to go with the respective tanks, although, I found out that the ammonia test is the same for both SW and FW...the colors are just a little bit off. As well, a high range pH test in the FW kit can be used for SW since that is all the SW pH is..higher range.

I use to run both fresh and salt as well and I was pretty paranoid. I had a blue bucket and net for the saltwater and green of each for the freshwater (blue is more of a marine type color in my mind ) The two never touched the opposite tanks. I also routinely ran two seaprate siphon hoses but as long as the hose is rinsed very well in between, it shouldn't be an issue. SW parasites can't really exist in FW and vice versa.

BTW Russ...I love the cave It always seems that the hardest part of setting up a reef is getting the LR JUST right.

 

[Russ_gibbo1985]

OTher than possibly contaminating your freshwater with the little bit of residue from the saltwater, you can basically use the same equipment between both. Just make sure to do a good rinse in between the two setups. OBviously the test kits have to go with the respective tanks, although, I found out that the ammonia test is the same for both SW and FW...the colors are just a little bit off. As well, a high range pH test in the FW kit can be used for SW since that is all the SW pH is..higher range.

I use to run both fresh and salt as well and I was pretty paranoid. I had a blue bucket and net for the saltwater and green of each for the freshwater (blue is more of a marine type color in my mind ) The two never touched the opposite tanks. I also routinely ran two seaprate siphon hoses but as long as the hose is rinsed very well in between, it shouldn't be an issue. SW parasites can't really exist in FW and vice versa.

BTW Russ...I love the cave It always seems that the hardest part of setting up a reef is getting the LR JUST right.

I'll definitely do that with the second bucket and siphon pipe could save a bit of hassle Lol
As for the rock yess I've become obsessive over it lol i love the way it looks with the cave and although the rock on top was very steady but to look at looked quite unsteady. I wasn't happy with the amount of contact area with the rock below. So ive had a play and now its not resting on the rock below on two litlle legs sticking down now 80% of the bottom rock is touching the top (thanks goldielocks!) what do you think??

 

[Russ_gibbo1985]

Lol sorry about the ram!

 

[Ausfish]

Lol sorry about the ram!

Yeah, they're sneaky little buggers aren't they lol

 

[Russ_gibbo1985]

Lol its coz this app tries to crash every time I upload photos you've got to do it quickly or it crashes clicked the wrong photo in my haste!

 

[xxlbreed]

I test hardness, Ammonia, Nitrate, calcium high range ph and salinity.

 

[Russ_gibbo1985]

I test hardness, Ammonia, Nitrate, calcium high range ph and salinity.

Is there anything else I should be testing for and roughly what sort of parameters should they be??

 

[xxlbreed]

Well I test these values for my reef. I love corals and have a lot of varieties. What I do is look for my species if coral or fish on live Aquaria and find it's favorite values, then I average it out and make sure I keep my parameters within error. Calcium I have at 450ppm. I maintain it along with ph and hardness by a simple kalk drip.
Nitrate and ammonia you want 0 or just a tad above is still okay after you have cycled. Does that make sense?

 

[Russ_gibbo1985]

Well I test these values for my reef. I love corals and have a lot of varieties. What I do is look for my species if coral or fish on live Aquaria and find it's favorite values, then I average it out and make sure I keep my parameters within error. Calcium I have at 450ppm. I maintain it along with ph and hardness by a simple kalk drip.
Nitrate and ammonia you want 0 or just a tad above is still okay after you have cycled. Does that make sense?

It makes total sense i see what you mean with setting your parameters and using liveaquaria like that is a great idea!
The only piece that doesn't make sense.......... Kalk drip??!!

 

[Ausfish]

It makes total sense i see what you mean with setting your parameters and using liveaquaria like that is a great idea!
The only piece that doesn't make sense.......... Kalk drip??!!

It's called kalkwasser, used for a lot of things around reefs

 

[Russ_gibbo1985]

So do i get this kalkwasser from an lfs??
How much do you dose to keep things straight?

 

[Ausfish]

Kalk is German for calcium. It comes highly concentrated, not sure where the best source is where you are but you have to be careful not to overdo it. Too much calcium can harm your tank off. Usually calcium is at 450, raise it slowly and see how the tank behaves