Lucas's 20g nano

[Babydaull]

Originally Posted by ssick92

I would recommend the Salifert nitrate kit as it will be a lot more precise than the API kit and give you better insight into your tank's stability and parameters.

And for the RO/DI I always recommend either the BRS, Marine Depot, or SpectraPure systems depending on what your budget is.

SpectraPure is the most expensive, but generally regarded as the best, BRS is probably the most popular, but then Marine Depot came out with the Kleanwater systems to compete with BRS. I went with the Kleanwater 100gpd Advanced system because it gets slightly more gpd than BRS for the same price, and you get 15% off all replacement filters. Whatever system you get you want to make sure it comes with an inlet pressure gauge and dual TDS meter so you can guarantee your water is 0 TDS.

Have you read anything about aquatic life 4 stage twist rodi system. Marine depot released it a week ago I think. It looks simple and nice.

[ssick92]

Originally Posted by Babydaull

Have you read anything about aquatic life 4 stage twist rodi system. Marine depot released it a week ago I think. It looks simple and nice.

I am not familiar with that system, but honestly it looks a little gimmicky to me. I would stick to the tried and true systems that is guaranteed to work (BRS, Kleanwater, or SpectraPure). Plus most of the replacement filters are interchangeable so you will always be able to get filters that work -- not sure you can say the same for that system.

[Babydaull]

15,000 views! wow thank you so much guys! keep up with the questions and all of the help!

[Babydaull]

Tank is doing fine at the moment! Knock on wood. As soon as I get some extra money I am looking to purchase a RO\DI system. I am finally getting tired of making 2-3 trips to Walmart a week. The next two weeks are going to be extremely busy for me. I probably won't be posting for awhile! But I'll try to keep you guys up to date!

[RcManChild]

The aquatic life 4 stage system has been recommended to me twice by my LFS. I would however instantly buy replacement canisters, that way when it comes time to change you are not wait 2-3 days for shipping or the LFS store to bring them in.

[ReefWreak]

Like everything in the hobby, you can pick which RO/DI setup you want, low end, high end, and there are options at either end.

I almost picked up the RO Buddie system, since it was really cheap at $65 or so. Looking at the local classifieds, I ended up finding a used Air Water Ice Typhoon 3 system for only a little bit more, and went for that. The filtration system is much more thorough on that, it's a higher GPD unit, and I know they last forever (AWI will even replace parts for free! obviously not filters though). So lots of ways of doing it.

I've been using the Typhoon 3 for almost 2 years now with almost no issue. I didn't even replace the original filters, which are kind of gross at this point, and the TDS is >2. I need to replace filters, but haven't gotten around to it. To replace all the filters, which shouldn't need to be done more than every 2 years on a nano, should be about $40 for all but the RO membrane, and the RO membrane should last 4 years on a nano (or more), and is $40 by itself. But all of this would be avoided if I bought new. But I've saved a TON of money in this hobby by buying used.

[Babydaull]

Well, after a very busy 10 days I am finally back. my tank is struggling. the tail end of the week was the worst. 52 hours in four days. My corals do not look too good. my acans have lost a lot of tissue. I need to waters changes out the wazoo to get my nitrates under control. I think after seeing reefwreaks post about ro/di systems. I think I am going to get the aquatic life twist in ro/di system. I also need to get a skimmer up and running just help with nitrates. Hopefully my tank makes a recovery.

[ReefWreak]

Sorry to hear that things didn't hold out well. They'll definitely recover, don't get discouraged. We've all been there (many times). Don't hesitate to ask for advice on turn around stuff, though the best thing you can do is water changes and leaving everything alone to settle back into their routine on their own. Don't buy any quick-solution chemicals or products or anything. SPS = Stability Promotes Success.

[Babydaull]

Originally Posted by ReefWreak

Sorry to hear that things didn't hold out well. They'll definitely recover, don't get discouraged. We've all been there (many times). Don't hesitate to ask for advice on turn around stuff, though the best thing you can do is water changes and leaving everything alone to settle back into their routine on their own. Don't buy any quick-solution chemicals or products or anything. SPS = Stability Promotes Success.

so many questions at the moment...

I cant wrap my head around the flow in my tank. I move my hydor pumps some where and some of my corals look great and then one or two isn't happy.

lighting... what lighting schedule works best. What percentages do I need for each color.

would a skimmer be beneficial if I cant seem to keep my nitrates down?

I've taken out all mechanical filtration, I'm thinking about putting some type of macro algae in the back. is this a good idea?

how often does chemi pure and purigen need to be swapped out.

lastly should I run gfo in my media reactor instead of carbon?

[ReefWreak]

Originally Posted by Babydaull

so many questions at the moment...

I cant wrap my head around the flow in my tank. I move my hydor pumps some where and some of my corals look great and then one or two isn't happy.

They're never all happy when things are changed. I would give it a week between changes, unless you're really noticing flesh being torn off, or the corals look like they're really struggling from the flow. Remember, if it's too much flow, but you don't want to buy new pumps, you can always deflect it off the glass or blow the powerheads into each other to make more random motion.

Originally Posted by Babydaull

lighting... what lighting schedule works best. What percentages do I need for each color.

I run about 12 hours, with 11 hours of full-intensity light. I run blues as sunrise/sunset for 30 minutes on each end, and then white/color lights ramp up for 30 minutes, then stay full brightness (55% in my case) for 10 hours. Percentages depend on your lamps, but I'm running 55% white/color and 100% on blues

Originally Posted by Babydaull

would a skimmer be beneficial if I cant seem to keep my nitrates down?

Always. 100%.

Originally Posted by Babydaull

I've taken out all mechanical filtration, I'm thinking about putting some type of macro algae in the back. is this a good idea?

It's okay. I did it with the second chamber and a cheap floodlight from ebay as the growing light source. Algae will grow back there for sure, then you can either just let hair algae grow, then scrape it off the walls and siphon it out with water changes, or run chaeto back there.

Originally Posted by Babydaull

how often does chemi pure and purigen need to be swapped out.

I think people change it monthly or bi-monthly? Hopefully someone else will chime in. I'd also check manufacturer directions.

Originally Posted by Babydaull

lastly should I run gfo in my media reactor instead of carbon?

If you need it. You probably need it. Be sure to ramp up GFO use SLOWLY, like 2 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons per week, and ramp it up over time. Doing it all at once can hurt corals (and potentially fishes).

Slow and steady. Don't do everything at once. Bad things happen quickly, good things take time and patience.

[ken1977]

I need GFO in my tank, im getting hairy green.

[ssick92]

Originally Posted by Babydaull

so many questions at the moment...

I cant wrap my head around the flow in my tank. I move my hydor pumps some where and some of my corals look great and then one or two isn't happy.
- How much flow do you have? The hydors are known for providing their flow in a very straight line, which means if they are pointed straight at your corals it will be too much for the corals directly in front, but not enough for the corals on either side of the flow stream. The best way to counteract this is point the hydors directly at each other, or direct one towards the surface, or glass, etc. to get the flow that you want. Your corals won't react immediately -- you need to let them adjust to the new flow before deciding you need another change.

lighting... what lighting schedule works best. What percentages do I need for each color.
- This is fully dependent on what lights you have. It is impossible to say what percentage you need without actually seeing the tank, but to give you an idea, I am running my AI Prime HD over my 10g Nuvo at about 30% at peak right now and slowly ramping them up over a few months to 40%. The color is typically more white during the day, and more blues in the morning and at night. Again, corals won't react immediately, so make a small adjustment and let it go for a couple weeks before making any more changes. My lights continuously ramp up or down to/from a peak brightness at 2:00PM. My overall light schedule is around 14 hours, with probably about 8 hours being "day light", with a very slow ramp in the morning and at night to mimic dawn/dusk.

would a skimmer be beneficial if I cant seem to keep my nitrates down?
- Always, but the more important thing is to find the source of your nitrates. Are you overfeeding? Is your tank overstocked? Are you not doing enough water changes? A skimmer will definitely help, but is rarely needed in these nano tanks due to small bioloads and the fact that we can easily replace 30-40% during water changes.

I've taken out all mechanical filtration, I'm thinking about putting some type of macro algae in the back. is this a good idea?
- What kind of mechanical filtration did you have? And what are you running now? The most popular option for filtration is to run an InTank media basket, with Chemi-Pure Elite and Purigen with filter floss on top to block all the detritus from entering your sump. This is what I am running and am having great success. You likely won't be able to grow enough macro algae in the back of the Nuvo to make much of a difference. You typically need like a softball sized ball of chaeto to make any impact on your water parameters, and we simply don't have enough room unless you run a separate fuge, which kind of eliminates the point of the AIO.

how often does chemi pure and purigen need to be swapped out.
- Chemi-Pure (Elite) should be replaced about once every month or 2, depending on bioload and water parameters. Purigen about every 2-3 months, again depending on bioload and water parameters. Chemi-Pure Elite needs to be completely replaced, whereas purigen can be cleaned and reused over and over again.

lastly should I run gfo in my media reactor instead of carbon?
- If you are having algae issues, then yes you should make the transition to GFO. If you are not having algae issues, then I would continue running carbon. However, keep in mind that Chemi-Pure Elite is literally just a combination of GFO and Carbon, so if you are running any Chemi-Pure Elite in your system you are already taking care of those 2.

[Babydaull]

Originally Posted by ReefWreak

They're never all happy when things are changed. I would give it a week between changes, unless you're really noticing flesh being torn off, or the corals look like they're really struggling from the flow. Remember, if it's too much flow, but you don't want to buy new pumps, you can always deflect it off the glass or blow the powerheads into each other to make more random motion.My euphilias do not look like they are being blow away and have a nice swaying motion when just the 240gph hydor is on.



I run about 12 hours, with 11 hours of full-intensity light. I run blues as sunrise/sunset for 30 minutes on each end, and then white/color lights ramp up for 30 minutes, then stay full brightness (55% in my case) for 10 hours. Percentages depend on your lamps, but I'm running 55% white/color and 100% on bluesAlright I will give something like this a shot.



Always. 100%. ( alright I'm going to get mine up and running right away.)



It's okay. I did it with the second chamber and a cheap floodlight from ebay as the growing light source. Algae will grow back there for sure, then you can either just let hair algae grow, then scrape it off the walls and siphon it out with water changes, or run chaeto back there.



I think people change it monthly or bi-monthly? Hopefully someone else will chime in. I'd also check manufacturer directions.



If you need it. You probably need it. Be sure to ramp up GFO use SLOWLY, like 2 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons per week, and ramp it up over time. Doing it all at once can hurt corals (and potentially fishes). (alright I will try this out as well.)

Slow and steady. Don't do everything at once. Bad things happen quickly, good things take time and patience.(thanks for all of the answers)

[Babydaull]

Thanks for all the answers, I will keep all of these in mind when making changes. Hopefully I can get things back on track!

[Babydaull]

Updates to come... *hint* coral haul

[JeffyT]

i have a 20gL nano reef. PM me if you have an questions you want answered.

[Babydaull]

Originally Posted by JeffyT

i have a 20gL nano reef. PM me if you have an questions you want answered.

will do thanks!

[Babydaull]

so since I last posted... I now have no mechanical filtration in my tank. I am still running carbon in my reactor and I got my skimmer up and running. I need to tweak a little bit because no bubbles are reaching the collection cup and the collection cup is all the way down.

I am pretty sure I am getting the Klean Ro/Di system from marine depot. the more expensive one with the pressure gauge and tds meter.

I still haven't gotten the t5 fixtures. college is expensive and the bank account is low.

I have revamped my lighting schedule to a better schedule and changes are being made slowly.

[Babydaull]

This the new red scolymia that I got a couple weeks back I haven't posted that much lately.



and then this is the new purple scolymia I got this weekend at the c-sea frag swap.

The new purple one, loves to eat shrimp as well.

[taby15]

I would like to install a ro/did system in my apartment for my nano but I wouldn't know what to do with the waste water. Dont have a garden or kids to bathe

[Babydaull]

I got this golden tipped torch coral about the same time I got the red scolymia. This coral is doing great, the only that made me angry with his coral is my snail literally bulldozed it right into my hammer and the hammer won the battle. half the coral is white and the other half has color still. I have noticed some improvement. so hopefully it will make a recovery.




I got this blue tipped torched coral at the c-sea frag swap as well. I am pretty sure this is my favorite coral at the moment.

[Babydaull]

This is suppose to be a yellow octospawn, but under my lights it green.



Mainly I want you guys to see the other frogspawn I got. dark green arms with dark purple tips. but I also kind of got a cool tank shot as well. I could not pass up on this deal. one of the vendors were selling these for five dollars a head.



So this is a different frogspawn. light green arms with light purple tips. again this frogspawn was 5 dollars a head so I couldn't pass it up. I am however, holding this coral for my uncle who lives in Indianapolis. As soon as he comes up to visit this is going into his tank!

[Babydaull]

Originally Posted by taby15

I would like to install a ro/did system in my apartment for my nano but I wouldn't know what to do with the waste water. Dont have a garden or kids to bathe

what do you mean by waste water

[keithrett]

Originally Posted by Babydaull

what do you mean by waste water

In addition to producing usable water for your reef tank, RO/DI units also produce waste water which contains elevated amounts of dissolved elements. Waste water is better thought of as "flush water" as it is what the unit uses to dispose of all of the unwanted "stuff" contained within the feed water. The ratio of usable water to waste water can vary depending on the level of TDS in the source water, but typically its around 4:1 (if I'm not mistaken).

[nirtza79]

Originally Posted by keithrett

In addition to producing usable water for your reef tank, RO/DI units also produce waste water which contains elevated amounts of dissolved elements. Waste water is better thought of as "flush water" as it is what the unit uses to dispose of all of the unwanted "stuff" contained within the feed water. The ratio of usable water to waste water can vary depending on the level of TDS in the source water, but typically its around 4:1 (if I'm not mistaken).

Down the drain...