Kkober October 1, 2014 Share October 1, 2014 (edited) After a couple years of freshwater I got bored with it, still an active member of CCA . Thought i’d go ahead and try salt - and I caught the fever. I still have two african tanks but I started to buy pieces here and there to start a salt. I have followed WAMAS for about 6 months and just became a member recently. Well long story short - there is my tank and it has been up-running for about 5 months. -20 Gallons. -approx. 30 lbs. live rock -Chinese brand of LED lights that have a rather nice spread from LFS around Frederick (Aquatic Solutions). -Bio-cube hang on skimmer -Maxi-Jet 400 powerhead/circulation pump -(Working on a little aquaclear 50 refugium to maybe add macro algae) - I saw it on here somewhere someone made an old ac70 in to a miniature refugium so I thought, why not? -No sump -7 head trumpet coral -Scooter blenny (named Scooter; clever, I know) -Two ocellaris clowns are coming from Marco within the next week -Plenty of corals coming soon, I just wanted to get everything rolling before I went all out and filled with corals Water parameters: Calc: 460 Phos: < .25 Ph: 8.3 Specific gravity: 1.025 Difficulties: -I think I feed a little heavy which is causing my phosphates and ammonia levels to be a little high. Which is causing my trumpet corals to stress, but I want to keep Scooter happy. -Hair algae spikes every once and a while. I try to keep the lights down to keep it from going out of control. (80% Blue, 20% Others) I was thinking maybe my light is too close to the top of the water @ about 5-6 inches. -Skimmer, I don’t really get that super dark skimmate that everyone refers to and I see in photos. Thanks for all the information everyone provides subliminally through this forum, you guys are awesome and truly have inspired me to take this build serious and I look forward to being more active in WAMAS. The amount of knowledge and experience this group has to offer is spectacular. Thanks in advance for any input or suggestions, I really do like constructive feedback as we all learn from our mistakes and mistakes in this hobby seem to be pretty costly. Edited October 1, 2014 by Kkober Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuffyGeos October 1, 2014 Share October 1, 2014 Welcome! Looks like a great start. How many times a day are you feeding and how much? It doesn't take much to over feed. What kind of food are you using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kkober October 1, 2014 Author Share October 1, 2014 Welcome! Looks like a great start. How many times a day are you feeding and how much? It doesn't take much to over feed. What kind of food are you using? Using frozen mysid shrimp for now and I am feeding once in the evening. About 1/4 of a frozen food bubble (Maybe 1/4 tbsp.) But when I get the clowns from ERC, I am also getting reef frenzy so that will be easier to measure and feed better portions so there isn’t any leftovers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind October 1, 2014 Share October 1, 2014 A 1/4 tablespoon is too much for one fish of that size. You might not need to feed at all if you just have the one fish. If you started the tank with good live rock it should have pods on it which the scooter can feed off of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuffyGeos October 1, 2014 Share October 1, 2014 A 1/4 tablespoon is too much for one fish of that size. You might not need to feed at all if you just have the one fish. If you started the tank with good live rock it should have pods on it which the scooter can feed off of. +1 Way too much food IMO. Rinse the food first and strain it to clean it, then feed half as much and maybe skip a day every couple days. No way is that one fish coming close to eating everything. About an hour after you feed, use a turkey baster to blow the rock off and the top of the sand (just a little) to stir up any extra food so it gets filtered out. Like the rock work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime October 1, 2014 Share October 1, 2014 Welcome, even though it sounds like you've been here a while, and you're hooked now you're in salt! You'll see! Your tank looks larger than it is in the pictures, nice rock work. Feed less, as mentioned. Once you get your lrs in, it's very clean, so no need to rinse etc. Take it slow, and keep asking question! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kkober October 1, 2014 Author Share October 1, 2014 Thanks for the hints - I will feed less and keep up with water changes. What are some good nano corals to grow in there other than zoas? I want to get an octospawn or frogspawn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcrazyjoker81 October 1, 2014 Share October 1, 2014 (edited) Anyone else think he should raise up his LED's a bit? I think 5-6 inches is pretty far down and not giving enough spread. I know the light is probably only designed for 24x24 with most of the 120W versions out there, but there is a lot of shading on the outside edges. Thanks for the hints - I will feed less and keep up with water changes. What are some good nano corals to grow in there other than zoas? I want to get an octospawn or frogspawn. Most of the LPS/Sofite selection out there will work well for you. Hammer, frogspawn, octospawn, torches, acans, favias, leathers, sinularia, etc. you could also get away with some of the easier monti's out there. I would focus on adding another pump or a better one for internal flow and getting a better HOB skimmer if you are going that route. With a tank that small you could just ditch the bio-cube skimmer altogether and just focus on water changes. Edited October 1, 2014 by wildcrazyjoker81 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kkober October 1, 2014 Author Share October 1, 2014 What type of pump do you recommend? Also if I got rid of the skimmer, what is a better one for such a small tank or how much/how often would I have to do water changes to compensate not having a protein skimmer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcrazyjoker81 October 1, 2014 Share October 1, 2014 What type of pump do you recommend? Also if I got rid of the skimmer, what is a better one for such a small tank or how much/how often would I have to do water changes to compensate not having a protein skimmer? If your going to stay with zoas/softies/LPS then you don't need a super strong pump. I (like many others on here) personally like the Jebao RW and WP series pumps. They are good little pumps for a bargain of a price compared to the higher end Vortech's and Tunze's. I would recommend either a Jebao RW4 or WP10. The RW series is newer and provides more control and has a wider flow. It only costs a little bit more than the WP series. I am sure there are members here who have one of the WP10's laying around they would sell you for cheap. I would ditch the skimmer all together and just do weekly water changes of 3-5 gallons. That should be enough to keep all the nutrients under control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuffyGeos October 1, 2014 Share October 1, 2014 (edited) What type of pump do you recommend? Also if I got rid of the skimmer, what is a better one for such a small tank or how much/how often would I have to do water changes to compensate not having a protein skimmer? I would not ditch the skimmer. Do you get any skim mate out of it every couple days that is at least a tea color? if so you are at least removing some of the detritus. Any of the powerhead pumps that have a propeller will work. Post an add in the For Sale/ WTB/ Trade forum to see if anyone has some old ones they will sell for cheap. You will only need one or two, not bad to have a back up. Also with smaller systems, the more things can go wrong in a shorter amount of time. Edited October 1, 2014 by DuffyGeos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kkober October 1, 2014 Author Share October 1, 2014 Ditch the skimmer or not ditch the skimmer? Anyone else have some opinions on that. I am about to head over to King of Corals to add to my CUC. I have some hermits and I am going to add a couple snails and maybe a small star if they have. What is the difference between what I have (maxi jet 400) and a Jebao RW4 or WP10? P.S. Can a moderator please close the duplicate post I have up here so I can keep all information and stuff on this thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lnevo October 1, 2014 Share October 1, 2014 Big difference between the maxijet and the others. The maxijet is good for mixing salt. The others are good for flow Don't ditch the skimmer, set it a little drier and dont touch it for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kkober October 2, 2014 Author Share October 2, 2014 Added 6 snails and an emerald crab this evening. The only brittle stars they had were huge. I am looking in to a new pump, maybe a jebao or has anyone had any luck with the hydor Koralia? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmerek2 October 2, 2014 Share October 2, 2014 Welcome do you have the micro brittle stars that come in as hitch hikers? If not I can fish out some pods and brittles and possibly some live mysis if I'm fast enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kkober October 2, 2014 Author Share October 2, 2014 I had a couple hitch hikers but none were brittle stars. I would really appreciate it though. That would be awesome and you are right around the corner from me also. Ill shoot you a pm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kkober October 2, 2014 Author Share October 2, 2014 Tested alkalinity and it is at 9-10 dkh° Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuffyGeos October 2, 2014 Share October 2, 2014 Tested alkalinity and it is at 9-10 dkh° Good range. How is salinity, Ca, and Mag? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kkober October 2, 2014 Author Share October 2, 2014 Specific gravity is 1.025-1.024 Ca is around 460 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuffyGeos October 2, 2014 Share October 2, 2014 Specific gravity is 1.025-1.024 Ca is around 460 Sorry didn't remember you posted that on your first post. Everything looks good to me, I would think the CUC, 20-30% water changes (ever week until reduced- then back down to 10-20%), less feeding, and make sure it is clean don't pour the defrosted liquid in the tank should get it under control. Maybe blow around the top 1/2"-1" of the sand to get detritus stired up, and clean out the holes in the rocks with a turkey baster. Improve the flow with a couple jebaos or the hydor Koralia. as long as they have a propeller they will spread out the flow of water better then a nozzle like the Maxijets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toastiireefs October 2, 2014 Share October 2, 2014 (Working on a little aquaclear 50 refugium to maybe add macro algae) - I saw it on here somewhere someone made an old ac70 in to a miniature refugium so I thought, why not? Hi, Awesome work! I am also working on a HOB refugium. So far I have a bit too much flow happening through the chamber-- so all the pods got washed out into the tank already. I will post pictures of how I finish modifying it once I get it all together in my thread! I have sand, rock and macro algae in the fuge at the moment-- and hopefully have some pods left. :/ if not I will have to make another trip to get some to reseed the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kkober October 2, 2014 Author Share October 2, 2014 I applied silicone on my hob refugium last night. I don't think its going to do much - im going to add a little chaeto and live rock just to add another quart of water to my system since I am limited to space. Also my maxi-jet 400 is set up on circulation mode and not the powerhead mode if that makes any difference. There is a prop on it. If this is not enough I may go ahead and get a jebao rw4 or a wp-10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuffyGeos October 2, 2014 Share October 2, 2014 I applied silicone on my hob refugium last night. I don't think its going to do much - im going to add a little chaeto and live rock just to add another quart of water to my system since I am limited to space. Also my maxi-jet 400 is set up on circulation mode and not the powerhead mode if that makes any difference. There is a prop on it. If this is not enough I may go ahead and get a jebao rw4 or a wp-10. Sorry if I didn't make my suggestion clearer. What I meant by a propeller is having a power head with propeller exposed with a cage around it so the water comes out in a wider flow. Not with a cover over it that forces the water down a 1/8"+/- tube on a pump. Like the Jebao's, Vortech's, and Koralia's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob A October 2, 2014 Share October 2, 2014 Looks like you're off to a great start. Watch those Koralias. They have a tendency to spin backwards sometimes when the power is cycled, then you have to fool with them to get them to turn the right direction. But otherwise they are ok. I have a couple in use that are 4 years old. Just remember, more submerged pumps means more heat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami October 3, 2014 Share October 3, 2014 Sorry if I didn't make my suggestion clearer. What I meant by a propeller is having a power head with propeller exposed with a cage around it so the water comes out in a wider flow. Not with a cover over it that forces the water down a 1/8"+/- tube on a pump. Like the Jebao's, Vortech's, and Koralia's. The new maxijets - as manufactured and packaged by Marineland - come with accessories that allow them to be converted to a propeller pump. Marineland refers to this configuration as their "circulation" option. See here for details on how they're packaged today. That's probably what kkober means when he refers to a "circulation mode" on the maxijet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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