MrSexyShrimp

What kind of pellets did you crush? I have some "Formula One Medium Pellets" I could try crushing. It's really easy to find her! (I'm decided it's a she for absolutely no reason.) She follows me around, watches me work. She's really cute.

Thanks guys! http://www.cuttingboardcompany.com/1-2-inch-white-cutting-board/

Wow people responded before I posted part 2. It's very nice. I love the shimmer. I have it on low right now since I don't have any corals, but it can get pretty darn bright. I think even its low setting killed my red gracilaria macroalgae. (I've moved the surviving algae into the shadows.) I also bought the overpriced metal arm which looks very sleek, but unfortunately I must unscrew the arm in order to remove my inTank media basket. Earlier I was having noise issues with a loud MP10 and MJ1200 return pump. I discontinued use of the MP10 which I still need to sell. EcoTech sent me a new dryside. I don't think it's defective, I think I'm just more noise-sensitive than most of their customers since this setup is in my bedroom slash home office slash pleasure palace. I solved the MJ1200 noise problem by downgrading to an MJ900. It's much much much quieter. I am pleased. I'll keep the MJ1200 for mixing saltwater, I guess. I also have the 9001 Tunze Comline skimmer, which skims gray water. I haven't figured out how to make it skim 'dry' yet. Other reviewers noted their skimmate is wet also, so it might not be possible. It's louder than I'd like but it seems pretty necessary. Tomorrow I should receive via UPS a Tunze ATO, a BRS DIY screen top w/ 1/4" mesh, a JBJ fuge light for my chaetomorpha, and some garlic extract to entice the goby.

Clean up clew, macroalgae & dry rock were ordered from ReefCleaners. Photos & review here. The Florida ceriths mostly died en route, but stayed in the tank for a few days anyway to see if there were any survivors. (A few survived, I think.) This is causing a mini-cycle which I'm keeping my eye on. The clown goby, along with 2 astraea and 2 trochus snails, came from The Marine Scene, which is on my (long) way home from the office. Luckily it's a drive I don't need to make often. I have not seen the yellow clown goby eat yet, which concerns me, but I have read this is somewhat normal for them. I used a turkey baster and frozen mysis directly in front of its face, but no luck. I have some garlic juice on order to try to tempt it. I am quite fond of it (him? her?) and after some initial shyness, it spends most of its day watching me work at my computer. My two largest nerite snails are dying, possibly from shipping stress. When I put them in the tank, they quickly found a "spot" which they stayed near for a week. Monday morning one was on its side, foot partly extended. This morning (Wednesday), the other followed suit. I tried feeding with some seaweed I keep on hand for making miso soup, but no luck. I think they're too far gone, so I took those two out. I put a few pieces of seaweed in the tank for the other snails. So far the dwarf ceriths seem to be enjoying them. The nassarius snails are quite active and have been happily consuming the mysis rejected by the clown goby. The remaining nerites seem useless. Mostly they stay huddled in the back near the water line. A few cruise around at night. (I check on them with a flashlight.)

FWIW, I ordered an MJ900 (by Cobalt) and it's waaaaaay quieter than the MJ1200. There is a light electrical hum sound, but that's it. And it seems to provide adequate flow. I think the MJ1200 was too powerful for the small return chamber, the noise wasn't the pump itself, more like a weird echo caused by the rushing water. It's hard to explain. But when I mix saltwater and my pump gets too close to the sides of the bucket, the same type of noise happens. Still haven't sold the MP10 because procrastination. The Hydor Koralia powerhead that came with the tank when I bought it is quiet and sufficient. Currently the loudest thing about the tank is the Tunze 9001 comline skimmer. Its noise is more an "air" noise than a pump noise. It has a silencer but it's still pretty loud. Not sure if there's anything I can do about it. Even though it's louder than the MJ1200 noise, it's less annoying somehow. More like a 'white noise.' Or maybe this is some type of "I have spent over a thousand dollars on this setup, I'm stuck with it" Stockholm syndrome.

same care requirements as the green mandarin?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Are there any valves or anything? MY BRS rodi has a valve that you switch in order to flush the membrane. If it's in the wrong position water won't flow to all of the stages. Didn't see it at first which confused me.

Ahhh... disregard. I ran the test two more times. It seems I didn't shake the #2 reagent bottle sufficiently the first go round. Getting an amber color now.

I'm doing a fishless cycle in my nano. Did 2 weeks with high ammonia, got impatient, ordered a bottle of BioSpira, nitrites showed up the next morning. Yesterday nitrites plummeted from 5+ ppm to between 0.25 and 0.5 ppm, and this morning I'm looking at 0 nitrites. However nitrates is a golden highlighter/urine yellow, indicating 0 ppm. It was my understanding that nitrites turn into nitrates, but nitrates can't be processed without an anoxic zone like a DSB or some sort of biopellet reactor. I've just got (formerly) dry rock sitting on starboard. No sand at all. No skimmer running. No additives. My API test kit was purchased recently on Amazon, expiration date says 2019. Shouldn't I be seeing nitrates?

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2438291

I saw and commented on something similar to this on Reef Central a few weeks ago

mermaid bra!

I got a nano package of dry rock from ReefCleaners.org. It's rather dense, not as pretty as BRS pukani, but this is what sold me: http://www.reefcleaners.org/aquarium-store/florida-reef-rock-30lbs-free-shipping

34g Solana AIO. I literally only ordered the MJ1200 bc other people on the internet said it was a good replacement for the stock pump. Measuring the inside diameter of the return tube, it's about 1/2"... the rigid tube it comes with fits pretty tight, the silicone tube on there now is a bit loose but I used a zip tie to tighten the fit. What kind of plumbing should I look for? Thanks btw for the great idea.

Tested out the replacement dryside tonight... long story short, the quiet setting is about the same, and the loudest setting is a little quieter, but still too loud for my tastes. (Latest decibel readings posted on NanoReef.) So it seems the equipment is working to spec, I guess I'm just a special little flower who can't handle much noise. Will probably try to sell this thing on the WTS forums before too long.

Check out Cadlights and SC Aquariums. SCA has an AIO nano (25g I think) for very cheap, and larger "plug-and-play" systems that come with sumps, pumps, plumbing, etc. If you go with IM, make sure you get the new Fusion line, or at least do some research before getting the Nuvo line, certain Nuvo models are prone towards spontaneously cracking.

The new ones are made by Marineland in China, but the old design is still made by Cobalt in Italy for a little more money. I actually bought a Marineland version last night at Petco in Sterling... it's almost exactly the same volume as the Cobalt version. However if I restrict the flow by putting my finger over the intake, the Marineland version gets really loud and rattle-y and the Cobalt one gets much quieter. Other than that the amount of humming/vibration/echo in the rear compartment is about the same. (The cashier said it would be no issue returning it if the pump was too loud for me.) I'm wondering if I could mod the (Cobalt) pump to permanently reduce the intake... but pretty sure this would burn up the motor down the road. Both pumps are fairly quiet suspended in the middle of the display section, but once they're in that rear chamber, everything is amplified. I could look into it, but I've read mixed reviews. The Sicce 1.0 would be a downgrade in terms of GPH (251gph vs MJ1200 rated at 295gph) but that would be acceptable to me if it's truly quieter. The Sicce is only16W vs. the MJ1200's 20W... My tank is 80℉ withOUT the heater, maybe investing in a less powerful pump would solve 2 problems with 1 stone.

Well apparently there are 2 manufacturers, and the cheaper Marineland ones have a reputation for being quite noisy, and the type I have, the Italian Cobalt ones, have a reputation for being divine gifts sent from the heavens (according to product reviews on Amazon, Marine Depot, etc).

Called up EcoTech, gave them the decibel readings from my iPhone. Due to decibel difference being so minor between dry-only and dry-plus-wet, he thinks the issue is the dry side, so he's shipping a new one to me today. Still haven't decided what to do about the MJ1200. Any suggestions for a quieter return pump?

noise, noise, noise!

I mean I had tanks in my bedroom as a child (freshwater) and a saltwater nano literally next to my bed in my college dorm room, and this was never an issue. Don't people get deafer as they age? If anything I should be LESS bothered by tank noise!

OK. It hasn't been quite 2 weeks, but I'm still having noise issues. I disassembled and re-assembled the MP10 wet side many times, nothing seems to be loose or out of the ordinary. I downloaded a decibel metering app for my iPhone to rule out psychological issues (i.e. in case I became more tolerant of the noise over time). The MP10 is maybe 2-3 decibels quieter, every reading fluctuates so I'm kind of just taking the average. Condo level baseline noise: 36 dB (For the MP10 tests I turned off the return pump.) MP10, wetside attached, lowest power setting: 46 dB MP10, wetside attached, highest power setting: 69 dB MP10, dryside only, lowest power setting (held in hand): 44 dB MP10 dryside only, highest power setting (held in hand): 67 dB I thought the MP10 was appreciably louder with the wetside... Science proves me wrong, it seems. They're actually about the same volume, but the quality of the sound becomes different. One thing I did realize until this week is how terribly loud my new Cobalt MJ1200 return pump is. Its volume was masked by a waterfall noise that I was able to fix with the purchase of a foam holder tray from inTank mediabaskets. As soon as the foam went in, I was horrified to learn how loud the return pump is. I completely wrapped the pump in filter floss foam, used a soft silicon return tube (which is slightly quieter than the rigid tube)... this thing STILL clocks in at about 72 dB... It's a much lower pitch than the MP10 motor noise, but it's still annoying. I did lots of Googling, and everyone says the Cobalt brand MJ1200s are wonderful and silent and only the Marineland MJs are noisy... but it's not the case for me. This is just a little quieter than the stock return pump. Also, using the suction cups doesn't help at all... the vibration seems to be inside of the pump itself, it's not caused by the pump touching the walls of tank. Is this just really bad luck, or is this a princess and the pea situation, i.e. am I always going to be driven insane by my pump noise no matter what? edit: 72db from the MJ1200 is when I hold it directly above the waterline in the third chamber. When I raise the phone up so it's about an inch above the top of the tank (but still hovering over the third chamber) the reading is about 62dB.

i'm pretty sure months of fish waste and the occasional rotting dead thing waste trumps all other concerns. "oh it's OK to drink my tank water, i used the rotting shrimp method, not human urine, everything's cool."