DD 24g 100 Litre Nano cube!

[Animal3625]

Heya guys thought I'd set up my own thread for the developments in my new tank! Will walk you through everything I have done for the past 8 weeks so yea here goes!!!!! ;0)

 

[Shark_Bait]

Looks very nice!! How much lr is in there?

 

[Animal3625]

So managed to pick up a cheep DD 100 litre nano cube from a chap for £75 which was an absolute bargain, it came with the lights (2X 36w 50:50 marine blue and whites, 2X piddly LED night lights) pump and skimmer
Added some photos so you can see!

 

[Animal3625]

Looks very nice!! How much lr is in there?

I've got 6kg of live rock in there it's roughly about 75 litres once you take the back part out of it do well over half!

 

[Animal3625]

So off it was to my local fish shop on the 10/02/2012 where I must of spent roughly 8 hrs deciding what I was going to do and how we were going to tackle some of the issues that I was bound to face from having such a small tank! After the 8 Hrs the tank had changed all for the better and it really wasn't seeming to be any hassle at all! So off I went with my 6kg of live rock some ready made salt water a water heater and some sand! We decided on a weekly water change with no skimmer as it was going to be easier to maintain the water with it being such a small tank .
So the waiting game starts!
We decided it was going to roughly take 4 weeks for the water and tank to cycle as I was just using LR (I thought it was probably too mean on a fish to start off the cycle so that's why I went without!!!) I also left the tank water testing for this entire period as it wasn't something I wanted to watch happen, besides we know it roughly takes approx 4 weeks to sort out the nitrates!

 

[Animal3625]

I was such a sad sod i sometimes sat up late at night as most newbies do watching the developments of the tank and to try and see what new things were crawling and moving around in my tank! I did have a major battle with my diatoms however once turning my lights down for shorter periods it soon slowed them down! The worst stage for me was probably the snot stages ( you know what I mean!) I had to try on so many occasions try not to remove it all! Attached are some photos of the brittle stars an other bits and bobs which happened with the tank!
I also decide to invest in a marine blue LED strip light as the blue LED's which were built into the tank made quite poor night time viewing.

 

[Animal3625]

So time went on and eventually to my excitement I hit my 4 weeks (09/03/2012) and then everything just fell into place, unfortunately I do not have my first water perimeters however I was assured they were great ( I do have my following ones for you!) so after another long trip to my LFS I did my first water change at 25 litres this was so large as one had not been done for 4 weeks! And it was advised it would be better from starting out afresh! So to my excitement I managed to leave the LFS again with 2x common clowns 1x cleaner shrimp 1x fire shrimp and 4x hermits I also had a range of corals which names I forget!!!!

 

[Animal3625]

After dripping them all in for over an hours we thought it was time for them all to be introduced into there new tank, I also introduced a hydor streamer to increase the water flow for the corals etc!

 

[Animal3625]

Heres a few photos of the corals which had finished settling in and had come out!

 

[Animal3625]

15/03/12
Water perimeters temp 24 SG 1.030 PH 7.6 KH 7.6 Ca 490 Mg 1350 N03 0.2 P04 0.03 N02 0
I did another 25 litre water change as we were trying to increase some of the perimeters in the tank! We also debated a PH & KH buffer however we waited to see what the water levels were in the following week to finally decide whether we needed to or not!

 

[Animal3625]

23/0312
Water perimeters temp 24 SG 1.026 PH 7.6 KH 7.1 Ca 400 Mg 1260 N03 20 P04 0.03 N02 0
So a slight improvement on last weeks however instead of the buffer we decided on some Red Sea supplements to replace KH Ca and Mg which is being removed over the week by the tank, I also spotted some aptasia so we introduced some peppermint shrimps x2 and 2x turbo snails plus another coral which again the name slips me!! I also brought a test kit for the KH etc as my LFS were doing them for me!
We decided to reduce the water changes down so this time we did a 10litre one! I've also been introducing a copepod and rotifer soup to feed some of the critters in the tank and also to enable me to put in a mandarin, pipefish and electric scollop at a later date!

 

[Animal3625]

Look at the work the snails have done to my back board they certainly munched through that algae

 

[Animal3625]

24/03/12
After dosing the tank with 40ml of red sea reef foundation C, 15ml of red sea reef foundation A and 10ml of red sea Coraline gro my KH, Ca and Mg came up to:
KH 8.4 Ca 460 Mg 1400
I'm retesting in 4 days time and adding appropriately I then can work out roughly how much I need to add on a daily or weekly basis
Oh I should say that my intended water perimeters are
Temp 25 SG 1.025 PH 8.2 KH 8.4 Ca 450 Mg 1350
I will certainly let you know how I get on, on Wednesday

 

[Animal3625]

Some more photos of what everything looks like to date! I see I have a cyno out break towards the back of the tank! I've already ordered a more powerful streamer which should arrive at my LFS for Friday this week!

 

[Animal3625]

Total spend to date is £398.93 that includes everything including livestock etc

 

[Animal3625]

Just got back from work all day to find this in my tank thinking its Cyno??? Any suggestions guys and any solutions would be greatly appreciated???

 

[AquaRick]

Yup, looks like cyano. An increase in flow (your new PH should help!), decrease in light duration, and a decrease in feeding will help.

How often and how much do you feed now?

 

[Animal3625]

Yup, looks like cyano. An increase in flow (your new PH should help!), decrease in light duration, and a decrease in feeding will help.

How often and how much do you feed now?

Feeding is twice a day! And not over feeding (I hope) I'm feeding a frozen mix block which last around 3 days! I was thinking about the increase in flow and have ordered a new streamer to place some flow at the back of the tank! will water test tomorrow and here's hoping the PH has increased from last Fridays figure??? Thanks for your message and help?

 

[AquaRick]

To increase pH you can point your powerheads to the surface of the water. Increasing air agitation also increase pH by a bit.

So you're feeding 1 block each time you feed, twice a day? How big is the block?

 

[Animal3625]

To increase pH you can point your powerheads to the surface of the water. Increasing air agitation also increase pH by a bit.

So you're feeding 1 block each time you feed, twice a day? How big is the block?

No I'm feeding one block over 6 feeds (3 days)
And il try pointing the new power head up to agitate the water! There is some water agitation from my return pump! Thanks