12 gallon nano tank filtration question

[213chrisp]

Well i am new to the salt water aquarium, im use to freshwater so still learning when it comes to all this, as my welcome section says, my setup right now is just running salt water around 1.021 which i will be increasing to around 1.025, and i bought ph buffer to 8.3 so that should be good as well... i am currently running RO water from don (thanks again!), is there ANYTHING else i have to worry about or missing? i will be getting 1 20lb bag of sand for the bottom and gettnig a cup or two of live sand from another memeber and 10lbs of rock.... my major question, i know the rock is the main filtration unit in a reef setup.. and the nano tank has 3 stages of filtration, 1st sponges, 2nd bio balls and white ceramic rings, and 3rd is carbon bags..... DO i just remove the bio balls and the rings and leave the sponges and the carbon bags in the tank, or remove it all but the sponges?

[deuce2004]

Chris a good person to ask about that would be Andy (chromulux) hes got experence with nano's

[213chrisp]

good idea, ill send him a IM about it...

[marinelife]

Yeah he knows alot about Nano tanks and had an awesome one. I would say removed the rings and bio balls. Clean the sponge often and you should be ok

[213chrisp]

that is the assumption i am under because the rock is basicaly the natural filter, but still wanted to confirm, i just need to go buy a sack and carbon chips for the filer because i dont have any currently...

[chromiumlux]

Yeah, that is a good idea. Forgive me I have brain cells missing, is this tank up and running now?

[213chrisp]

it is full right now and running, currently has just saltwater in it, NOTHING else besides the sponges... i will be getting live sand and rocks tomrrow to fill er up...

[chromiumlux]

Make sure you clean the sponges 2-3 times a week if you are going to use them during your cycle. After that pitch them. No good for a reef.

[213chrisp]

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b332/chrisp6108/HPIM1334.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b332/chrisp6108/HPIM1333.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b332/chrisp6108/HPIM1332.jpg

[213chrisp]

its as clean with all the buildup as i could get off the walls, stuff wasnt exactly easy to get off, but yes, i did notice they are a huge filter media , ill give them a cleaning tonight, because i know there is stuff floating around.

[213chrisp]

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b332/chrisp6108/HPIM1329.jpg

[213chrisp]

ohh and forgot to mention, the heater is going in the back once its all up to temp, which it seems to be stable right at 80.00-80.5

[chromiumlux]

Thats a good temp for that tank. I ran mine at 81 to speed up metabolisms of corals.

[213chrisp]

about the filtration, the far left side has vents on bottom and top, where the 3 sponges slide into, then water flows over top of the wall to the middle compartment and thats where the ceramic rings, carbon, and bio balls would be, and then flows over another water slightly lower into the sump where the pump goes back into the tank obviously LOL

[213chrisp]

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b332/chrisp6108/fish/tank3.jpg

[deuce2004]

Distilled vinigar is great for cleaning saltwater equipment, and coraline algea,

[213chrisp]

ill have to remember that, because its a pain in the *** with just your elbow and a scott scrub pad!

[chromiumlux]

Ok. similar set up as the biocube. Chamber where water flows in(grates), use your carbon there. Sandwich it between the sponges with some filter floss. second chamber--live rock rubble and heater, or just live rock rubble and put heater in return area with pump. If that would work. You may need to raise water level a bit to cover heater.

[213chrisp]

sounds like a good plan, i will be getting hopefully around a total of 20lbs tomorrow of live rock, probably 10 life fuji from a setup aquarium and then probably 10 live rock rubble from another person. that ill use to fill the filter area with..

[chromiumlux]

You can also turn the center chamber into a fuge. Use cheato on top the rock and light with some led whites.

[213chrisp]

what kind of lights you speaking of? yes im aware of leds, but what kind of leds?

[chromiumlux]

Cree 3w leds would fit in your hood. If you ever do a mod for lighting you could place 2-3 over that middle chamber.

[213chrisp]

After a long winter of work, seems ive neglected myself, the forums and my tank all together :( .

But am working on getting it back to where it was, fish are still going good, frongspawn looking just as good as day one and the candy coral, and my mushrooms have spilt up and now i have a few smaller ones and 1 larger one, so they seem to be doing good.
Only issue i keep fighting is keeping the tank clean, it started when i forgot to do a water change and got alge growth all over the live rocks and on the back and side walls, i would clean with my scrubber and would get the majority but never all of it. would do a 40% water change when i was doing them. But after some time ive noticed my snails have died, i still have 2 or 3 red legged hermit crabs and there still growing. So i went to jacks (because it was local and it fit my work schedule) and got a few more smaller snails and i still havnt seen them since i put them in at all, so im guessing they have died off already, was probably 2 weeks ago when i put them in.

This week i did a 40% water change on monday, and another 30% on tuesday, and i plan to do another tonight , probably 40%, im woundering what is causing the alge growth. would it be the amount of light im running? (lenght of time) as i think there set for 10 hours last time i checked. or would it be something else im not aware of?

[213chrisp]

and what would be the water paramaraters for the snails? so when i do a full water test, i know what to look for exactly and see where and what i need to do to keep them alive for future reference.

[chromiumlux]

Sounds like your first responses would be regular water changes. If animals (snails) have died in the tank and not discovered this could possible fuel outbreaks of algae due to elevated nitrates. Water changes are a necessity in order to keep the pollution diluted. Filtration is paramount in a nano tank. Carbon is really not an option for a small tank. You would do well to employ it now along with regular water changes. As far as lighting is concerned, It may be a good idea to cut your light period by a couple hours and maybe give the tank a dark day once or twice a month. When did you last change your bulbs? Do a water test today and let us know what your parameters are. If you are still using sponges in the overflow you may consider removing them altogether if you are not cleaning them on a regular basis. If you would like I could come by and check it out, maybe give you a few hands on pointers with nano reefing.

[213chrisp]

Yes, i agree with what your saying 100%, As i do have a some carbon between the 2 large foam filters wrapped in filter floss, so i think what ill do is pull out all the LR, search for all the shells in the tank and the rocks so i dont have to worry about anything being dead anymore in the tank, Clean off all the walls fully, clean all the foam filters and replace the carbon, and put it all back in and do another large water change, and of course ill do a water test before i do all the changes, and then last ill check the timer and set it up for the day light savings time anyway :)

[213chrisp]

and as for lighting, i forgot to add, im using a 36" current usa PC lighting fixture sitting atop of the hood, i dont have the hood closed, the stock lighting just wasnt enough for the corals so i "borrowed" my brothers unit that he wasnt using. the hood has less then a year total run time on it. so i would hope they would be ok, i would assume...

edited

its a 96W light bulb in it too.
i have it because im still wanting to set up my 29 i have setting here empty :(

[dogfytr]

a idea for a refuge on that nano is to1927 scape of the black backing on the compartment you plan on putting the macro in and run some under the counter led lights on the back of the glass1926

[dogfytr]

i found my led under the counter lights at home depot or puck style lights 25 bucks for three they have a frosted plastic lens i pop it off and used a dremel tool to cut the center of the frosted lens out then pop them back on

[213chrisp]

water test is as followed.

phosphate .25
nitrate 5.0
calcium 420-440 mg/l
carbonate hardness 9-10 dks (wich seems slight high)
amonia .25
ph 7.8 (will be adding my "marine buffer" to 8.3)
nitrite 0.0

[chromiumlux]

What test kit are you using?
Phos is high....needs to be 0
calcium is ok
alk is ok
ammonia is off the charts.....needs to be 0
ph is low but not dangerous...water changes should help
Nitrates are to the moon dude. You need to pull the sponges and all the filter media that has not been changed. Do small water changes daily until it comes down.

[marinelife]

Agree!!

[213chrisp]

What test kit are you using?
Phos is high....needs to be 0
calcium is ok
alk is ok
ammonia is off the charts.....needs to be 0
ph is low but not dangerous...water changes should help
Nitrates are to the moon dude. You need to pull the sponges and all the filter media that has not been changed. Do small water changes daily until it comes down.

I had rounded up on both the ones that looked bad as im using a api test kit, and guessing the colors some times is hard so i figured better be safe then sorry and round them up then down and treat it as they was bad and not the other way around.

using the API master freef kit and the saltwater test kit both. if i recall the nitrates was closer to 0 but it wasnt a exact match.

[213chrisp]

http://www.youtube.com/embed/-uhcEG7Ha3c

[213chrisp]

and what kind of snail do i need to purchase that will clean the rocks?
the clean up crew im bad with and i have the following
3 small red leg hermits
2 of the larger snails that stay on the glass.
and i have 2 that stay down in the sand.

and seems my alge issue is slowly going away, after cleaning out all the gunk under the rocks, in the rocks holes and so forth, and the glass is getting 1000% better, so just need to work on somehing to clean off the rocks.


side note, when i traded my red bubble tip anemone, back 4 months ago when it split, his grew and split so he gave me half back and seems its not doing well here, so im woundering if its my water or if its something else like the hermits eating it, or just simply the stress from the move...

[chromiumlux]

Nitrates and ammonia are the culprits for declined health and death of invertebrates. I would recommend getting these two parameters under control before adding a clean up crew. Snails will not tolerate these two tank killers. Regular water changes and active carbon will help.

[213chrisp]

water test is as followed.

phosphate .25
nitrate 5.0
calcium 420-440 mg/l
carbonate hardness 9-10 dks (wich seems slight high)
amonia .25
ph 7.8 (will be adding my "marine buffer" to 8.3)
nitrite 0.0



phosphate .00 (maybe a shade off the guide)
nitrate 0.0
calcium 460-480 mg/l
carbonate hardness 9 dks
amonia 0.0 (may just be a shade off as well)
ph 7.8
nitrite 0.0

so after a couple water changes (Mon, tuesday, fri and just now) and fresh filter floss with carbon in the middle(friday when i did full tank clean) seems im getting on the right track.

[213chrisp]

here is a video of the tank in its current state, bsicaly to get an idea of the alge im fighting, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-rZ7z45coo

[chromiumlux]

If you keep these numbers in line, do water changes and feed less you may just beat the algae issue. Plus if you add a sump with cheato to compete with the algae it will keep it in check even better

[dogfytr]

another idea for a refuge is to convert a hang on the back filter into a fuge

[213chrisp]

update on the nano....
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b332/chrisp6108/fish/HPIM1394.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b332/chrisp6108/fish/HPIM1396.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b332/chrisp6108/fish/HPIM1398.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b332/chrisp6108/fish/HPIM1399.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b332/chrisp6108/fish/HPIM1401.jpg

[213chrisp]

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b332/chrisp6108/HPIM1402.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b332/chrisp6108/HPIM1403.jpg

[chromiumlux]

Nice pics! thanks for sharing. Emerald looks good.

[marinelife]

good looking pictures!

[dogfytr]

looks good i like those blue or purple shrooms

[marinelife]

How is everything doing?

[mousley]

Bio balls/sponges etc. are ultimately nitrate factories in the long haul w nanos. Live rock and sand for biological filtration is the best bet. In my nano I would swear by using a combination of chemi-pure elite and purigen together w/ weekly water changes.