New Excited Stressed and Confused

[United_Poseidon]

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.

[WaterKeeper]

Hi United
<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

It sounds like you are doing OK and I won't comment on the livestock load. :D

I would consider getting a little more "real" LS, possibly on-line, to add to the bed. That alone should help to get the bed running in a fashion where denitrification can take hold. Stay with the water changes as it is not all that uncommon for a six week old tank to have elevated nitrates for a few weeks more.

Now I'll leave you to our select team of Newbie Bashers. :D

Oh BTW, If your feet are getting wet I'd be checking the tank for leaks. ;)

[AngeloM3]

:wavehand: Everyone come quick! Look at the newb!!

I'm just playing with ya... I was in your shoes not to long ago.

Sounds like everything is going good. Livestock is a little on the beefy side. I hope your using a skimmer!! You didn't mention one. But with that sort or bio-load, I would.

Also with all those corals.... I would put some carbon in one of those chambers. Not sure if you know or not, but corals release toxins in the water to kill or fight with any near by corals. Carbon removes those toxins from the water.

Where you nitrates MIGHT be coming from is the "real ocean water". That water has all sorts of bacteria that is good and not good for tanks and also includes other stuff that might not be good for a reef tank. That "stuff" is ok in the ocean b/c the ocean isn't 24g. I would save yourself a lot of "beach-runs" and buy a RO/DI unit. Ebay sells them for just over $100, I got mine there and works perfect.

Try this test.... buy a ton of distilled water at your local food mart and use that for water changes for a month. See if the nitrates go down. If they do... then it's the ocean water your using

[PRESTO2345]

Welcome and post some pics....show us what you got!!!

[purza_00]

Did you test the ocean water for nitrates?

[TOURKID]

i would ask your lfs to test the ocean water for the iodine levels too. you might not need to do that.

I do regular water changes with IO, and it adds enough iodine that I dont need more. (too much is rumored to make your invertebrates molt more than they need too)

[United_Poseidon]

Thanks for all of your quick input. In answer to all of your questions. I do not have any of the sponges in the read chambers. I have been reading on here on filtration methods and it seem that the majority of you have taken all of the sponges out, so I decided to give it a try and took all of them out. I am now using a Pura filter pad in chamber one and changing it every three to four weeks. in chamber two I have a Kent resin bag and in chamber three there is no filtration media, just the two pumps. The rock that I have is mostly Fiji and a couple of pieces on Marshall Island and Tonga. The rock was cured and had a fair amount of coraline algae on it there is 24 lbs of rock. I am thinking that the part of the reason that the nitrates are so high is because my sand bed might be too deep, or at least not deep enough to impliment the deep sand bed function. It is only 3.5 inches. I read that six is ideal and that it should be spread out over a large area. I think that I started out with too much sand. Should I take it down to an inch to an inch and a half at the most while the tank is still fairly new. There is some denitrification taking place because I can see the nitrogen bubbles forming in the areobic strata amongst the purple and green algae that is also growing in the sand. What do you think about all of this? What are your experiences with the refugium in the middle chamber? Should I change my filtration? Oh, and thanks for the info on the dosing. I will stop this. It was recomended to me by...you guessed it...the FLS guys. As a matter of fact, I did test all of the ocean water that I bought from the LFS. All parameters seem to be in check. Nitrates are zero in this water. AngeloM3, about that skimmer, I have been reading on several sites and looking for info on this. I guess the fission skimmers stink and most of the other skimmers available for the Nanos do not fit without modification. What do you suggest. Keep the well needed advice comming. Thanks.

[LivinThaLyfe33]

HEYY ANGELO...im from RI too...just like to say hi lol...i WAS going to read this thread and realized everybody wrote a book...can someone who has read it summarize lol

[Sk8r]

I use a 4" sandbed, and 100lbs of lr in a 52 with a smallish sump and a mag 9.5 return and carry no nitrate at all. I'd say the nitrate you're getting might possibly relate to shallow sandbed and low lr.

[LivinThaLyfe33]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7740009#post7740009 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
I use a 4" sandbed, and 100lbs of lr in a 52 with a smallish sump and a mag 9.5 return and carry no nitrate at all. I'd say the nitrate you're getting might possibly relate to shallow sandbed and low lr.

i would agree...deeper sandbed traps more and more LR will take unwanted "stuffs" out of the water and keep nitrates down...still havent read it all:)

[AngeloM3]

IMO......... do the easiest thing first........ test the ocean water your using

if thats not it... then go step by step..... adding or subtracting sand and LR

i dont know the details behind it........ but there is a reason why no one uses real ocean water in their tanks