My first nano

[AzaZeL]

Ok, it's time for my first tank. I have no experience whatsoever. I have been a member for a while and have learned alot. After talking with a few people and given the fact that I'll be moving quite a bit in the next year or so, I decided to go with an AIO nano. Unfortunately for you guys, you get all of my questions on the nano forum ;)

So I just got my 12G HQI AP. The only thing I have done is pulled it out of the box. I am planning on going to petsmart and picking up a thermometer and a heater. I am also planning on going to the LFS and picking up some sand. I plan on getting some livesand to seed the dry sand. A friend of mine has a 33 long that has been established for a little over a year and he said he will give me some live rock. I also purchased 25lbs from marcorocks.

So, with that said, what are suggestions for mods and filtration? Should I use the sponge, carbon, ceramic, and bioballs that came with it? Is any of this redundant? I hope to have the sand, rock, and water in place on Thurs to start cycling the tank. I will update with pics as I progress. I can't wait and thanks in advance for all of the help!!

-Az

[FUA]

you will be very happy with your marcorocks. good luck in the wonderful world of reefing

[AzaZeL]

Thanks for the well wishes FUA.

[AzaZeL]

???

[Bluesop7]

The only think I would keep is the sponge and the carbon, ditch the ceramic and bioballs. Be sure and clean the sponge regularly though as it will collect particles, detritus, and whatever else which will accumulate and cause algae. Ive also heard that replacing the stock pump with a MJ 900 is a good mod to do. Also if you dont have it already, get the surface skimmer that JBJ makes that goes over the overflow. This will ensure that the surface of the water stays clean and clear allowing more light to get into your tank. Other than that I would get more flow into the tank via an additional powerhead such as a hydor koralia or a tunze nanostream pump 6025. What types of coral are you planning on keeping in the tank?

[jacksonpt]

Go to lowes/home depot and buy a small piece of plexi. Cut 2 pieces to fit the first chamber (below the overflow). use the first piece to block off the lower intakes so that all water is run through the overflow. use the second piece to block the lower half (or so) of the over flow. That second piece will control the water level in your tank.

Replace the stock pump with a MJ900.

Setup an auto top-off system. They are cheap and easy to setup, and they make a world of difference in keeping your salinity constant.

[AzaZeL]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11040910#post11040910 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bluesop7
What types of coral are you planning on keeping in the tank?

Thanks for the advice. A friend of mine has two MJ 900's and two MJ1200's that I'm going to get. No, they are not all going into the nano :D

As far as corals, I'm planning on keeping SPS's but from what I understand I'm going to have to keep them to a minimum because I want to add an anemone at some point as well.

[AzaZeL]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11041027#post11041027 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jacksonpt
Go to lowes/home depot and buy a small piece of plexi. Cut 2 pieces to fit the first chamber (below the overflow). use the first piece to block off the lower intakes so that all water is run through the overflow. use the second piece to block the lower half (or so) of the over flow. That second piece will control the water level in your tank.

Thanks for the advice Jacksonpt. The plexiglass stuff is a little bit confusing but I'm hoping that it will make more sense when I get home and can actually look at the tank again. And I never thought about the ATO but that makes sense. I will check into that as well.

[jacksonpt]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11041414#post11041414 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AzaZeL
Thanks for the advice Jacksonpt. The plexiglass stuff is a little bit confusing but I'm hoping that it will make more sense when I get home and can actually look at the tank again. And I never thought about the ATO but that makes sense. I will check into that as well.

It should make more sense when you're looking at the tank.

There are 2 sets of "vents" - one near the bottom of the tank and one about half way up. They, along with the surface skimmer pull water into the first chamber. Use plexi to block the vents. You can glue it in if you want, or put a few pieces of LR in there to hold it in place. That piece will be something like 7" tall by 5" wide. Cut a second piece (approx 3" tall by 5" wide) that you can use to block the lower portion of the surface intake. You can adjust it (move it up and down to cover more or less) to adjust the water level in your tank.

Doing these 2 things forces all water to go through the surface skimmer - you'll get better surface skimming and better O2 exchange from the agitation caused by the water entering the first chamber.

Hope this makes more sense - let me know if you have any questions.

[AzaZeL]

Ok, so I went home and looked at the tank and that makes perfect sense to me. The sponge is in the first chamber as well. Should I leave the sponge in there also?

Also, how long should I wait before I start putting critters in there. I visited my LFS last night to get some live sand and asked them. They told me that generally I can start putting a cleanup crew in there after the first couple of days. He told me to bring a water sample in and let him test it because they can deal with alot, but not everything. My friend said I needed to wait for a couple of weeks before introducing anything into the tank. What do I do?

[FUA]

I put a clean up crew in after a few days, but fish and corals usually I wait for 6 months for fish and around the same or even longer for corals. Sometimes I will start the fish sooner if they will not be feeding on my copepod population, thats why I wait usually though so it can build up.

[jacksonpt]

The sponge is up to you. Some people claim that they hold nitrates, which is bad for your water chemistry. I don't know if that is true or not as I removed mine.

As soon as you get your rock/sand in the tank you can start thinking about adding critters. But take your time and think about things logically. It's called a clean up crew for a reason - because they clean up algae and detrius (fish poop) and other waste/by products. So don't put a cleanup crew in until they have something to clean up.

IMO, I'd go to the grocery store and get 1 fresh shrimp from the seafood counter and drop that in. Live rock and live sand have bacteria in them that will begin to break down the shrimp. That will get your tank rolling. The first step in all this is to get the bacteria levels up so they can break down fish poop fairly quickly. This is what people are talking about when they talk about cycling a tank.

While the tank is cycling, you'll get algae growing on the glass, sand, rock... everything. Just be patient. Wait about a week then do a 25% water change. Wait another week and do another water change. Then take the water to your LFS and have them test it. You want to keep an eye on your nitrate, nitrite, and phosphate levels. During the cycle they will skyrocket, but as the tank begins to balance out (as the bacteria population increases) they will start coming back down.

Ideally you want all 3 levels back to zero before you add anything. That's easier said than done. If you can get trates/trites below 20ppm, you're in good shape for some starter critters - fish and cleaners.

From there just take things slow. Watch your parameters and make sure you don't overstock or over feed - overstocking/feeding is the number 1 reason for tank problems.

[Bluesop7]

Personally I would just get your water tested periodically as jacksonpt said. But as far as 6 months, I think thats just a ridiculous amount of time to wait to introduce anything to the tank. But thats just my opinion. I would say you should be fine after 3 months and probably sooner than that. It just kinda depends on your specific tank and situation. Just keep up with the water changes and testing and you'll be fine.

[AzaZeL]

Thanks alot for the help. I really appreciate. The in-depth explanation was awesome jackson. The live sand should have some bacteria and the live rock my friend is giving me still should be live. He is pulling it out of his tank So hopefully, that will get things rolling. My LFS also sold me a bottle of some "dormant bacteria" to put in the tank to get things rolling a little bit quicker. I will def use the shrimp idea though. I'll let the sand/rock work a little bit and then maybe next week throw the shrimp in and the clean up crew. Sound good?

Thanks again for the beginners course. I can't tell you how much it is appreciated.

[jacksonpt]

The fact that you are using cured (established) LR will really help speed things up.

Get a small shirmp (since your tank is small) to get the cycle going. Wait a few days them put the first few clean uppers in. Then just be patient and watch your water parameters - they will tell you when it's OK to add more.

On a side note - what nature of computer geek are you? I'm in IT now, though most of my background is in web/application programming.

[AzaZeL]

I basically do it all. I handle all of the IT needs for 8 offices within 75 miles for a real estate company. I do everything from break/fix, server builds and administration, user administration, high-level WAN maintenance. Basically anything that the office needs, I am the go-to person from an IT standpoint. It's an awesome job because it is so broad and I don't have to stay in one office. I get to drive from the ocean to the mountains.

[Bluesop7]

Ahhh, I didnt realize you were using cured live rock. You shouldnt have a very long cycle at all.

[AzaZeL]

Ok, so here's my question. I've heard of the MJ900 mod alot. Why haven't I heard much about an MJ1200 mod? is it because I haven't been around long enough and people are doing it? I put a 1200 in mind last night and it seems to work just fine.

[jacksonpt]

Assuming it fits in the chamber, it will be fine. People generally go with the 900 because most people don't need/want the additional flow of the 1200. Also, the 1200 runs a bit warmer which can make temperature control more difficult.

[AzaZeL]

Gotcha. I've read alot about people doing the mj900 and then a koralia? I have the1200 in there and it fits just fine. I'll monitor the temp but my thermo has been at 78.0 degrees all day. I'll keep an eye on it and tell my findings in a week or so.