Nart

Will do! After further research, it looks like Chemi-Pure Blue has the same properties as Purigen along with activated charcoal. I think when it is time to change out the chemi-pure I am going to just bag my own activated carbon, along with Purigen, and use PhosGuard as well. Tank parameters tested well yesterday @ pH 8.4, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrates 40, kh 9 drops. Did a 30% water change last night along with putting in Purigen and Chemipure blue. The tank should be ready for fish Thursday after another water change today! So I am thinking of picking up a Yasha Goby/Pistol shrimp at BRK on Thursday. However, I was sifting through material and folks kind of got annoyed at their pistol shrimp killing their clean up crew. This one person even said "I am certain my pistol shrimp is starting to collect his victims shells and making it his trophy case infront of his entrance". Does anyone have insights to this? I did want a nice size CUC to help me maintain my tank. Thanks. Ben

Hmmm. Yeah I agree that it's high. For some reason it's hard to find info on how much water to change after cycling. I was afraid of doing too large of a water change because of how it would affect the BB colony. So as discussed with @rtelles we both thought that a macro algae in a hob refuge for a tank my size would not register enough nutrient export to justify it. Rather, than doing macro its going to be far more beneficial to run Chemi-pure and Purigen. When I spoke with John from BRK he said they same thing. So I think for my nutrient export or nutrient absorption I should say... I am going to jam my Aquaclear 70 with bags of Purigen, ChemiPure Blue, and PhosGuard. This should lower all nutrients across the board. By the way... I upgraded to the AquaClear 70! This filter is huge compared to my AQ50 [emoji16] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow. Very neat. Beautiful xenias too. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I was still stuck on high nitrites. I decided to stop by BRK anyways to check out the store and I'm glad I did. John tested my water for me we bounced some ideas around and I decided to go with buying one of his live rocks and changed out 20% water. Next day? My nitrites are almost gone and my cycle is nearly done. Whoo hoo! Not too much pictures to update on asides from my small rock rearrangement. I think I'll be ready for a fish this week. I'm thinking of changing out 25% water before the fish? And 10% two days later after fish to help lower nitrates. My current nitrate reading is 40ppm. Any thoughts? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@rtelles thank you for your insights! I'm thinking Astrea, trophies, and Nessarius snails. I hope they don't go on a mass breeding spree though? What snails would you recommend for a nano? I'm not able to view the buy/sell section. Looks like I have to be a full time member? I'm considering the Tunze nano ATO on Amazon for $96. As for the HOB, would you not recommend using matrix bio-media at all and just run Purigen or Chemi blue, but not both? I read that folks make their own bag of Chemi pure by buying phosguard and carbon. I'm not sure how true is that? My thoughts on matrix bio-media is that it would help me maximize the biological filtration on top of my rocks/sand. One thing that boggles me in the saltwater world is how people are able to achieve 0 nitrates. Is this because of refugiums being used with large amounts of macro algae? If this is true, for me to properly run a nano tank, should all my water parameters always be at a constant 0,0,0? What were your water parameters when running a successful nano tank? Perhaps I will go for the pistol shrimp again [emoji16] Thanks again for the great tips everyone. I've done a lot of reading and it's different hearing tips and insights from people first hand. Much appreciated. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You all are awesome! Thank you for the great advice and I will take in all the insights for nano to heart. I have been looking into the Finnex breeder/refugium box or modding an AQ110. Finnex seems like the cheaper route to go, does anyone have any experience with that? As far as a small HOB refugium does it really help much? Or do you think it would be better to just load up the HOB with Purigen and Chemical-Pure blue? So with the clean up crew... The wife absolutely does not want hermit crabs in the tank. She had a bad experience with a pet hermit crab as a kid and never wants to see one again. As long as I get the snails, and cleaner shrimp would that suffice? I did look into ATO top offs... That was also overwhelming too. I tried looking for a relatively affordable unit on Amazon and it seemed like they all have issues. Does anyone have an ATO unit that they would recommend? Long story short... I had to scale back on fish purchase stuff because of a recent puppy we adopted from the shelter. Little man's vet visits quickly added up. So, I don't want to seem too cheap when I say "affordable" and what not. I'm hoping for my nitrogen cycle to hit 0,0,0 by Sunday so I can make a visit to Blue Ribbon Koi [emoji16]. Currently my cycle is 0,2,5. I think I am set on getting a yasha goby as the first fish and maybe 2 Zoa frags. I read that pistol shrimp can be kind of annoying due to their snapping sound in the tank... So I might pass up the pistol shrimp. Lastly, I'm shutting down my freshwater tank with two gold ocellatus. If anyone is interested I am looking to re-home them.. PM me! Thanks again all! Much appreciated. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just tested ammonia (0.25) and nitrite (2.0). It seems to be trending down fairly quickly. I'm actually using powder ammonium chloride (by Fretz Pro Aquatics) and dosed it at 4ppm ammonia. So that's why it is so high right off the bat. I thought back afterwards, I may have dosed too much... So which might've stalled the BB colony a tad. I'm also using Stability everyday till the cycle is done. What % water change is recommended after its done cycling? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you for the suggestions Mari! I just saw that BRK got some new corals in and Centreville just got in a bunch of clowns so sad that I can't get anything yet..... Hopefully my tank will be done cycling soon. Also, is it bad to get a handful of frag corals at a time and put them in the tank? Would that cause a huge strain for the bio-load? Here's the latest status of the cycle. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I completely get what you mean Mari. I would probably buy up all the corals too. I just want something easy to care for and maintain for now and still look vibrant to go along with my fishes. Thanks Rob! Yeah I will be very diligent with water changes. I'm a huge stickler with dirty tanks and can't stand it. I would really do a sump. I tried doing research in putting together one and my lord... It is a bit overwhelming especially with the in/out pump. I'm afraid of overflowing. My wife would be very angry with me lol. I think for starters I would go with Zoas and frogspawn? Unlike my freshwater tanks I am very nervous in diving right in with stocking the saltwater tank. This will be a learning experience for me so I will keep you all posted! I know my setup is nothing much compared to the setups I've seen here, but it's all I have for now and I am so excited about this hobby and meeting local reefers! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I love it! I'm going to look it up. Hopefully I will get to participate in this thread once I get my corals going. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Understood. I think l the more challenging corals I will save for when the tank matures a bit more. I think I am concerned about getting fasting growing corals that will overtake the whole tank and have trouble fragging them. I was considering making it 1 coral specific only tank, but that might be too boring? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks beautiful! I like that coral pic you have up close. What is that? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you Mari for the suggestions! Some more corals for me to consider! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hello All! I am new to this forum and also new to the saltwater world. Finally decided to get back into fishes after moving to the Northern Virginia area. I came from California where I had access to plenty of fish stores for my freshwater tanks. Anyways... Here is my 15 gallon nano tank that I just started. I would love for any tips, guidance, and recommendations. Prepping my 15G freshwater tank to saltwater. Live rocks arrived early so I quickly threw together the Rock scaping. Waited for water to clear and re-did my rock scaping. Here is the list of what I have in the tank so far: 20lbs of CaribSea Aragonite sand 20lbs of APurpleReef.com live rock 11 gallon of NutriSea water 100W Aqueon Pro heater Koralia 425gph power head AQ50 hob w/ Matrix bio-media (will also use ChemiPure Blue and Purigen once tank is cycled) Current Satellite 24" LED light (white/blue with adjustable dimmers) Glass lid Planning to stock the tank with: Fishes: 2 Picasso/snowflake clowns 1 yasha goby + 1 pistol shrimp 1-2 Astrea snails Corals: Zoas, Acan, frogspawn, Duncan, toadstool, Xenia. What do you guys think of my tank stocking? Also, do you have recommendations in the corals just to get my feet wet? It's pretty overwhelming with all the different kinds of corals but for the most part I think I've narrowed down the easy/beginner corals to get into. I'm thinking of stopping by Blue Ribbon Koi once my tank is cycled. Any recommendation of where to buy starter corals would be greatly appreciated as well. Also, I am either planning to make the AQ110 hob refugium or turn a spare 10G into a sump. I know 10G sump is a no brainer... But I am having a hard time trying to figure out the schematics to make one. It's a fun learning experience but so overwhelming at times, especially since I am not the best DIY person. Thank you. Benjamin Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk