United_Poseidon
07/13/2006, 03:26 PM
Hello all,
I am new on this site and this is my first post (but certainly not my last), so I believe a short and proper introduction is in order. I live in Southern California and have always had a natural affinity for the ocean and as a result, majored in biology. I have no idea how I ended up as an aerospace engineer, but that’s life. That is about as short as I can make it.
First off I must admit that I am completely new to this hobby and to keeping aquariums in general. I have been interested in getting into the hobby for some time but I could never take “the plunge” if you will. Well, just recently, May 9th to be exact, I decided to buy an aquarium. I had been lurking around on this site and other and decided to go with the 2006 Nano Cube 24DX. At the same time I bought 20 lbs of LR and 40 lbs of LS. I can’t remember what type of sand it was but is was packed in water and contained both fine and course grains of sand as well as some larger shell fragments. I am sure that it is not entirely crushed coral, but haven’t been back to the place where I bought it because it is some distance away. I also bought some Seachem salt of which I used to make my first batch of water for the initial fill. The water I used was store bought distilled water. I would never think about using tap. I don’t drink it myself without it being run through a filter. The mix that I made was to a sg of 1.023. Everything was set up that night and the cycling began. After about two weeks I took my water sample to our favorite guys (the LFS people) to have it tested. I never experienced any algae blooms or anything like that during the cycling process which kind of perplexed me. They said that every thing was fine and that it would be ok to go ahead and add something. That day I purchased 15 Nasarrius snails and 15 hermit crabs per recommendation of the LFS guy. A week after that that I purchased two false clowns and a 3”x 4’ frag of green star polyps. At this time I started performing weekly 20% water changes with real ocean water just because it is readily available. After another two weeks I purchased a nice frag of blue mushrooms and placed them under an overhang at the bottom as I did not want them to bleach out. Up until this point in the game I had been checking my water parameters myself every day, obsessing about it. The salinity had been holding at1.023, ph was 8.2-8.3, no ammonia, zero to barely detectable Nitrites, and Nitrates from 10 to 30.
Anyway this summary could get long if I go into anymore detail so here is a short rundown of where my tank stands right now at about 2 months leaving out what was said above.
All water parameters are the same (Nitrates at 20 even after water changes…this I do not understand) Ph stable at 8.2, no ammonia,
Photo period is 9 hours.
All sponges removed, one bag of Kent resin in second chamber and some triple filtration pad cut to size and placed in the first chamber
Maxijet 1200 powering main return with a splitter on it and an additional Hydor flow retrofitted through a hole I drilled in the middle chamber and powered by the stock pump
All above live stock is still living with the exception or two hermit crabs
Current live stock in addition to the above: small frag hammer coral, one green brain, two 15 polyp frags of zoos, peppermint shrimp, small emerald crab, coral banded shrimp. I am sure you will all say that this is a little (or more than a little) overstocked for a two month cube and I agree. I was a little two eager but everything seems to be doing ok from my standpoint).
I feed everything on a two day on one day off schedule (cyclopeze, mysis shrimp, formula one mix or a combination of two)
Dose with Kent Calcium one capful twice a week and Kent Iodine four drops everyday. Nothing else is added.
I think that I have included everything in the short time that I have to write this. My main question is am I doing everything right up to this point, what should I do differently and why can’t I get my Nitrates below 20. Any and all input is greatly appreciated i.e. comments (positive and negative) criticisms, bashes recommendations ect ect. If you need any more clarification in order to answer my question thoroughly, pleas ask.
Thanks in advance reefers,
Just getting my feet wet.
I am new on this site and this is my first post (but certainly not my last), so I believe a short and proper introduction is in order. I live in Southern California and have always had a natural affinity for the ocean and as a result, majored in biology. I have no idea how I ended up as an aerospace engineer, but that’s life. That is about as short as I can make it.
First off I must admit that I am completely new to this hobby and to keeping aquariums in general. I have been interested in getting into the hobby for some time but I could never take “the plunge” if you will. Well, just recently, May 9th to be exact, I decided to buy an aquarium. I had been lurking around on this site and other and decided to go with the 2006 Nano Cube 24DX. At the same time I bought 20 lbs of LR and 40 lbs of LS. I can’t remember what type of sand it was but is was packed in water and contained both fine and course grains of sand as well as some larger shell fragments. I am sure that it is not entirely crushed coral, but haven’t been back to the place where I bought it because it is some distance away. I also bought some Seachem salt of which I used to make my first batch of water for the initial fill. The water I used was store bought distilled water. I would never think about using tap. I don’t drink it myself without it being run through a filter. The mix that I made was to a sg of 1.023. Everything was set up that night and the cycling began. After about two weeks I took my water sample to our favorite guys (the LFS people) to have it tested. I never experienced any algae blooms or anything like that during the cycling process which kind of perplexed me. They said that every thing was fine and that it would be ok to go ahead and add something. That day I purchased 15 Nasarrius snails and 15 hermit crabs per recommendation of the LFS guy. A week after that that I purchased two false clowns and a 3”x 4’ frag of green star polyps. At this time I started performing weekly 20% water changes with real ocean water just because it is readily available. After another two weeks I purchased a nice frag of blue mushrooms and placed them under an overhang at the bottom as I did not want them to bleach out. Up until this point in the game I had been checking my water parameters myself every day, obsessing about it. The salinity had been holding at1.023, ph was 8.2-8.3, no ammonia, zero to barely detectable Nitrites, and Nitrates from 10 to 30.
Anyway this summary could get long if I go into anymore detail so here is a short rundown of where my tank stands right now at about 2 months leaving out what was said above.
All water parameters are the same (Nitrates at 20 even after water changes…this I do not understand) Ph stable at 8.2, no ammonia,
Photo period is 9 hours.
All sponges removed, one bag of Kent resin in second chamber and some triple filtration pad cut to size and placed in the first chamber
Maxijet 1200 powering main return with a splitter on it and an additional Hydor flow retrofitted through a hole I drilled in the middle chamber and powered by the stock pump
All above live stock is still living with the exception or two hermit crabs
Current live stock in addition to the above: small frag hammer coral, one green brain, two 15 polyp frags of zoos, peppermint shrimp, small emerald crab, coral banded shrimp. I am sure you will all say that this is a little (or more than a little) overstocked for a two month cube and I agree. I was a little two eager but everything seems to be doing ok from my standpoint).
I feed everything on a two day on one day off schedule (cyclopeze, mysis shrimp, formula one mix or a combination of two)
Dose with Kent Calcium one capful twice a week and Kent Iodine four drops everyday. Nothing else is added.
I think that I have included everything in the short time that I have to write this. My main question is am I doing everything right up to this point, what should I do differently and why can’t I get my Nitrates below 20. Any and all input is greatly appreciated i.e. comments (positive and negative) criticisms, bashes recommendations ect ect. If you need any more clarification in order to answer my question thoroughly, pleas ask.
Thanks in advance reefers,
Just getting my feet wet.