First nano 10

[Dimdim]

Hey there all new to sw, experienced 3 yrs in fw, just setup a 10 gallon reef with

9 lbs live rock cured
3 lbs dry lava rock
8lbs carib sea ocean direct live aragonite sand
SG of 1.024
Dkh of 12
Nitrite and nitrate at 0
0 ammonia
Temp 76f
Hitchiker apatasia on small peice of live rock

Topfin 30 powerhead
Penguin 100 with no biowheel
2 10w coralife 5050 powercompactflorouscents self ballasted
Also have a 15 .3 w led do hicky i picked up for 5 bucks


Had a question about this, seems my tank has went thru its cycle in about 24 hrs? Set up tank on sunday evening. Anyone correct me if they disagree? Water tested at lfs marine specialty and said my water is great! So i picked up a frogspawn and a scooter blenny fairly cheap to test this theory, open to helpful criticism and insight !

 

[Dimdim]

Heres some pics

 

[Keithhjs]

I don't see how you could go through a cycle in 24 hours. SW tanks can take several weeks to cycle. Maybe you used a filter from an already established tank? If not I would recommend taking the fish back to the store so it survives otherwise you will be doing a fish in cycle and that's probably not the best fish to do that with. Also getting a good liquid test kit is important. The strips are not accurate for SW. Good luck. Tank setup looks good!

 

[Leonardo7689]

Just thought I'd put my two cents in, you just set up the tanks 24 hours prior to testing the water. You have live rock, live sand and dry rocks and your test came up to perfect. Were you by any chance using brand new filters? Coz if you are, it's possible that it's absorbing everything at the moment since there's not much there to cycle yet perhaps. Also, it takes a couple of days for the big spikes on the parameters to show the first round. That's when most of the decay of the dead creatures in the live rocks starts to leach out. Just keep a close eye on your water parameters and pets for any suspicious or sudden reaction to their environment. Best of luck!

 

[Dimdim]

Thanks guys! And yes i am using an established filter i scrubbed out super well from my fw. Everyone has told my my water is perfect, and as for die off, there was none, everything live was only in transport for under 15 minutes i let any mini cycles disappear, my tank is crystal clear... noticed copious amounts of copepods in my sand as well so scooter is very happy

 

[Dimdim]

I will be picking up a reef master test kit today i tested water rght after i filled up the tank, it was perfect then as well. In the past 4 days my water has been perfect and ive noticed alot of feather duster growing on some cured rock i got from a dimly lit supply tank

 

[Dimdim]

Also just a note! This is an experiment start up, i know and understand the "proper" way to do it, im looking for curveballs and exceptions, variables, with success so far so good

 

[Leonardo7689]

Glad to hear! Keep us posted please! It's always nice to learn something new.

 

[Dimdim]

Will do!!! Any thoughts on algae additives? Have tons of coraline, just wondering what kind of algaethe algae blennys eat i wanna do a blenny reef with 1 purple firefish

 

[Leonardo7689]

If I'm thinking right, you're talking about the lawnmower blenny. They eat algae like small hair algae, film algae and other soft forms of algae. But not coraline algae.

 

[Keithhjs]

FW bacteria is not the same as SW. You will have to build up all new bacteria.

 

[Dimdim]

I know the bacteria is not the same, i did a wicked cleaning to ensure the fw bacteria wouldnt die off in my sw tank, all existing cured piece of live rock came from a pre existing reef tank, with the exception of the piece with apatasia on it

 

[Dimdim]

Heres an update, it is now day 8 , ammonia is under .25 nitrite 0, nitrate under 10ppm, dkh is12, salinity/sg is 1.25 temp 77f/25c ph is 8.2 did a bit of a rescape, have brown algae on some rocks, took scooter back to the lfs for a peppermint shrimp and purple halloween hermit crab, as well as some spaghetti algae, my question is, my ammonia and nitrate have been the same for the past few days3 or 4 id say, should i do a 50water change to complete my cycle? My frogspawn and gsp frags have really plumped up! They seem to be thriving, im using instant ocean reef accelerator, what fish should i add and when? heres a few pics thanks for taking a look!

 

[Dimdim]

Im just over 3 weeks in and here it is ! Added a protien skimmer and a bi colour chromis! I had a false maroon clown but he fell to brookynalia or sumthin like that everything is now great! Have a qt dip set up now, looking to add some more corals, i would love hard corals, any idea on thier lighting?

 

[Coralbeauty81]

My fls runs all of their tanks on LEDS have fir 12 years

 

[Coralbeauty81]

Oops my lfs runs all their tanks even coral tanks on LEDS. I recently added LEDs I like them it seems a lot more powerful light medium now!



I love the glow of the fish and anemone!!!

 

[Dimdim]

Ive been curious about leds! I just dont see how theres enough wattage to soleley run a little nano off of a double bright led fixture ? I am using power compact flouros from coralife, 10 w and im using two of them on my ten gallon nano, anything that needs more light then others i just place higher up on my liverock, works fantastic!