Think Geek: The Nano Reef Project

Sexy Down

2008-05-01T22:54:00.000-07:00

I came home yesterday to find that one of the sexy shrimps had committed suicide. I'm not sure how it happened but I found her dried up by the edge of the tank. So my sexy trio is now a duo and I don't think I'll be adding more anytime soon. R.I.P. little sexy.

News

2008-04-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

It appears that I've somehow completely neglected this blog. The Nano Reef Project is still going strong with many new updates including a DIY refugium that I'll do a thorough write-up on as well as some new and exciting corals in the tank. Additionally, I helped a friend start up a 9-gallon tank back in mid-March that is now doing well with some points of interest all its own. Stay tuned!

I'm Bringing Sexy Back

2008-02-11T22:41:00.000-08:00

Sexy shrimps that is. I finally got my hands on a trio of sexy shrimps by making a special order through my favorite LFS. Sexy shrimp (Thor amboinensis) are commensal shrimps that are found in the tentacles of anemones and various coral polyps. This fascinating shrimp exhibits an unusual trait of swaying its abdomen back and forth, hence the name Sexy shrimp. Growing to a maximum size of 1.5 inches, they are tiny which is why most aquarium shops don’t carry them regularly and are only available by special order.

I made a special order last weekend and finally got my shrimps over the weekend and what a sight to behold. Apparently they fare better in odd numbers so I got three, which is a pretty good number as far as odd numbers go.

Here they are huddled together in the bag from the store.

Sexy shrimps—like all shrimps in general—are highly sensitive to changes in pH and salinity so a slow drip acclimation process is required. I used a simple drip acclimation kit I got from Drs. Foster and Smith a while back but this can also be easily rigged together using airline tubing and a check valve.

I hung the hard u-shaped end inside the tank…

…with the opposite end with the check valve dangling over the bag which I secured inside my graduated bucket.

After starting a siphon I adjusted the flow rate to about four drops per second for the next two hours.

I topped off the tank with saltwater as it evaporated while disposing some of the excess water from the bag. After an hour, I began recycling the water back into the tank as it was mostly tank water at this point.

I used a small glass container to transfer them from the bag to the tank to allow me to give them a close inspection.

Once they were in the tank they began finding their own niches.

It wasn’t too long before they started gyrating their bottoms, which they are famous for.

The first twenty-four hours were critical but they all successfully passed. In fact one of them has already molted. I feed them shrimp pellets every other day and frozen brine shrimp once a week before my water change to minimize the mess. I also plan to give them some variety so I’ll be including Cyclop-eeze and mysis shrimps in their diet.

I’ll make sure to capture their sexy dance on video to post up here soon.

Let there be light! Or not.

2008-02-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

My tank has finally undergone its first major upgrade. I was determined to keep my tank with the stock light right from the start but lately have been entertaining the idea of possibly upgrading the light. Aesthetics aside, I also wanted to see if my corals can thrive even better and grow as oppose to simply surviving which it has successfully done with the stock lamp.

I decided to go with a Current Dual Satellite fixture ($75 at Big Al’s Online), which upgrades my light from 9-watts to 36-watts. The hood comes with dual daylight tubes (10,000k and 6,700k), dual actinic tubes (420nm and 460nm) and an LED lunar light, which altogether provides a complete 24-hour light cycle.

Package shot:

Right out of the box.

Testing the dual daylights.

Testing the dual actinics.

Daylights and actinics on.

Testing the lunar LED.

Installing mounting brackets.

The light fixture has three separate plugs for each light making it possible to plug into switch timers. So I decided to get a Digital Power Center ($35 at Petsmart) to automate my lighting.

To my disappointment, the power strip only comes with two daytime outlets and two nighttime outlets that can’t be both on at the same time. I wanted to be able to switch the actinics on before the daylight fixtures in the morning to simulate a dawn effect, and have it turn off last at night to simulate a dusk effect. I also couldn’t set the lunar light individually to come on at night so I had it plugged into my old timer switch on a different power strip.

I programmed the timer and tested it. But because I installed it at night, I wasn’t able to run the lights on as my photoperiod schedule is from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. This was on Monday. On Tuesday I didn’t make it home until past ten so I only caught the tank with the lunar light on. It wasn’t until Wednesday that I was able to come home on time only to find all the lights off! The Digital Power Center had apparently failed! I checked all the settings and everything was right but somehow it did not turn on like it was suppose to.

So I made a mad dash to Petsmart to return it and pick up a different power strip. I got the Aqualight Power Center ($45) and while it has analog controls, it also comes with better features.

It has specific outlets for actinics, daylights and lunar lights. It has two separate timers with 15-minute intervals so it could also be used as a wave-maker. The actinic and lunar outlets are set to the same timer so when the actinics are on, the lunar lights are off and vice versa.

The daylight outlets are set to its own timer independent from the other two.

I ran a late photoperiod from around 7 p.m. until midnight to make up for the total darkness in the past couple of days. As for the new lights, the results are incredible. I had no idea my tank could look this good.

Top-down shot:

Isometric shot:

Underside shot:

Back shot showing all three wires:

Actinics only:

The new lights not only brought out better coloring in my corals but they also promoted full polyp extension in all the corals. In short, the corals look much happier.

View from the left:

View from the right:

Close-up of the button polyps:

Close-up shot of the daisy polyps:

Zoanthid garden. The small group of daisy polyps on the left broke off from the main colony while I was trying to rearrange the rock.

Green star polyps now with full polyp extension.

The night scene is markedly different with the lunar light on.

Three Months Later: Big Update

2008-02-02T22:42:00.000-08:00

This post is the beginning of a series of updates to make up for the slow progress. While I finally defeated my bout of cyanobacteria and my purple mushroom has split and produced another cap, my orange-green zoas were nearly decimated.

The lush dense colony on the branching coral is no more, save a few polyps here and there. At first I blamed the hermit crabs for constantly climbing and perching on top of the polyps. But then I started noticing a very shy and mysterious crab that’s found a hole in one of my live rocks. Round beige body mottled with brown, fuzzy legs and black-tipped claws. So far it sounds like it could be some kind of xanthid crab, which is not reef safe as it’s known to prey on coral polyps and other invertebrates in the tank.

I’ve also been looking into acquiring more corals. This time I figured I should get something that would fill my tank up all at once as oppose to getting another random frag. I was willing to depart with the top rock in my tank in exchange for a rock with multiple corals. Coincidentally, this also happens to be the rock where the mystery crab has made its home.

After an afternoon of coral shopping with a friend, I finally found the perfect rock at Atlantis, the same place where I got my live rock. The rock is more or less the same size as the rock I’m willing to let go and is encrusted with four different types of polyps: daisy polyps (Clavularia spp.), green star polyps, button polyps (Palythoa spp.) and two or three varieties of zoanthids. For me, the diversity of coral polyps on this rock more than justifies the steep $119 price tag.

I rushed home to drip acclimate the rock for an hour.

I removed and isolated the top rock in a separate container. I inspected it thoroughly to make sure I didn’t accidentally remove any good hitchhikers. More importantly, I was hoping I’d find the mystery crab in his hole and be rid of my problem once and for all but the crab was nowhere to be found which means that he’s still lurking in my tank. Now I’ll have to setup some kind of trap to catch him.

Back to the new rock, here’s a top view of it while acclimating in the bag.

I placed the rock in the middle of the tank after it was acclimated. On the left are the various zoanthids with some polyps already open, in the middle are the button polyps, daisy polyps on the right and the purple patch in the back are the green star polyps.

Front shot taken right after it was placed in the tank so the polyps haven’t opened yet. I’m concerned about the green star polyps in the back being too close to the surface.

The water just barely covers the tip of the rock when filled all the way. This leaves the green star polyps vulnerable to being exposed out of the water with normal evaporation. Also, the orange ricordea is a bit too close to the button polyps which is preventing one of the polyps from fully extending. I will have to reposition the rock to find a good angle where the green star polyps are fully submerged and to make sure there’s ample space between the ricordea and the button polyps but I’m letting it alone for now to give them time to acclimate in their new environment.

More to come:

• Lighting upgrade

• Sexy shrimps

• DIY refugium

Photo Updates

2008-01-13T20:47:00.000-08:00

Progress is a little slow on the reef project but what it lacks in changes more than makes up for in stability. Parameters have been at a constant though I'm still battling the pesky patch of cyanobacteria. I still haven't been able to single out the source of my problem as my phosphate constantly tests at zero. I've been siphoning out the layers during my water change but to no avail. I may have to tweak my powerhead a little to redirect the flow more over to that side as high water flow usually prevents cyanobacteria from taking hold. A last resort would be to ditch the top rock completely (the only piece with the cyanobacteria) to free up some room for more corals.

Now on with the photo updates...

From the left:

From the right:

Top-down view:

Purple mushroom macro:

Orange and blue Ricordea yuma:

Orange and green zoanthids:

General Cleaning

2007-12-30T22:55:00.000-08:00

Seeing as it's the end of the month and the end of the year, I decided to do a little general cleaning. Plus the tank has been looking absolutely filthy. And what I've been trying to play off as thick fluffy coats of coralline algae are undeniably mats of red slime algae which is cyanobacteria.

Cyanobacteria outbreaks are often caused by nutrient buildup, specifically nitrates and phosphates. The odd thing is neither of these two are showing up in my water tests so it's hard to pinpoint exactly why they're growing prolifically in my tank. For now I was able to siphon these mats out during my water change but I will have to monitor their growth carefully to identify the source of the problem. Cyanobacteria is not only unsightly but can also cause complications in the grand scheme of things.

I scraped the front and sides of the glass to get rid of some nuisance algae that have taken over some of the tight spaces and bottom parts of the tank. I left the bank wall alone as I hope to allow coralline to grow in these parts. I shifted and stirred the sand to allow for circulation and to refill empty pockets that have been cleared out from the turbulent current created by the powerhead.

I also took out the powerhead and the heater to clean off all the crap that's been growing on them. Cleaning out the powerhead also helps circulation which has probably decreased a little over time from all the debris and detritus that's stuck in its intake compartment. I also changed out the Purigen as it has now become completely discolored.

Another Mysterious Creature From the Deep

I found another mystery creature while siphoning around the rocks during my water change. A worm-like creature, about an inch long, swam frantically out into the open. It was surprisingly big with an undulating motion as it darted from one end of the tank to the other. And just as it quickly appeared, it quickly disappeared never to be seen again.

A little video I caught of the worm:

Eight Weeks Later

2007-12-28T23:18:00.000-08:00

To make up for the long inactivity these past few weeks, I decided to pick up a couple more corals, I stopped by a LFS I had previously visited before while my tank was cycling to "browse around." Instead I walked out with an orange ricordea and another zoanthid rock.

I was planning on trying my hand at some pulsing xenias and was thinking of getting some this time around. The store had quite a few of them around and in several sizes so at least I know that they have some readily available. What caught my eye was a rock with a pretty good sized orange ricordea. This is another specimen that I had plan on eventually putting in my tank so this was definitely a good find though a little pricier than I'd like ($65). To top it off, it's attached to a fairly small rock so I knew I wouldn't have a problem finding room for it in the tank. As my luck would have it, there's actually another smaller piece on the same rock. Also attached to this rock is a nice feather duster worm so that's another plus.

Another one I couldn't resist was a colony of green/orange zoanthids on a small piece of branching coral. Although I already have a colony in my tank, this one came on a small attractive piece of coral that I can easily tuck into a crevice. Also a bit more pricier than I'd pay for zoanthids ($40) but I found the colors too amazing to resist!

Acclimating the orange ricordea. Notice the feather duster worm poking underneath.

Green/orange zoanthids. Some of the polyps had already opened up even while still in the bag.

I acclimated them both for an hour, changing out the water every ten minutes. I decided to place them on the right side of the tank to balance things out.

The diva purple mushroom taking center stage, not to be outdone by the newcomers.

Mystery Hydroids

While acclimating the new corals I made an interesting discovery. I typically turn off the filter and the powerhead while acclimating to prevent unwanted turbulence in the water. With the water completely still, I noticed little movements in the water. Upon close inspection I realized that I was looking at some type of jellyfish or hydroid-like creatures. I found about four of them, pulsating vertically to the top and then drifting back down. Not sure what they are, how they got there and whether they're good or bad. But they're pretty nifty.

Here's a little footage I caught on camera:

Night Shots

The corals in my tank have adapted pretty well to the daily lighting schedule. Around 9:30 at night, thirty minutes before lights out, the blue zoanthids will start tucking its polyps away. The purple mushrooms begin to shrivel up at this time as well.

The orange ricordea has an odd way of closing up at night.

Holiday Update

2007-12-25T23:58:00.000-08:00

With the holidays under way, things are moving pretty slow in the nano reef. On the other hand this has given the corals some time to settle and for the tank to mature even more. Parameters have been great across the board and everything seems to be thriving. Aside from the pesky algae growth here and there, the tank has adapted to my routine maintenance. I should probably pick up a few more hermits to help keep the algae down, along with some new empty shells as they seem to be growing faster than I anticipated.

Coralline algae growing in nicely.

The blue zoanthids are looking good with new polyps cropping up in some places.

The purple mushrooms are also doing well. The big one is the most expressive one by far, changing through various shapes, sizes and color depending on its mood. Sometimes it worries me but I guess this is pretty normal behavior for them.

Santa has especially been kind and generous this year and got me a refractometer (thanks Mike!).

I'm super stoked because now I can accurately see where my salinity is at and not just rely on the specific gravity readings I get with the swing arm hydrometer.

View through the eyepiece as the instrument is calibrated to zero using RO/DI water.

First accurate snapshot of my water salinity. Much to my surprise, my salinity is actually 40 ppt which is close to a specific gravity of 1.030.

This is a little higher than where I should be at, around 35 ppt (~1.026). But now that I know for sure, I can gradually adjust my water to the proper level.

This weekend I might look into adding more livestock along with a couple more hermits to help clean up some of the mess that I can't keep up with.

Corals From A Meth Lab

2007-12-01T20:16:00.001-08:00

With my water parameters in stable condition these past few weeks, I've finally put in some corals after a month of staring at rocks. Since the corals at my favorite LFS (Atlantis) are somewhat pricey I went on an adventure to find a bargain. The best deals are found online but this being my first experience buying corals and all, I wanted to see them before purchasing. And I didn't want to have to sit and worry if they're going to make it okay through shipping.

I heard about this place called Tropical Expressions (for all you locals, it's at Rainbow and Oakey behind Lee's Liquor) which apparently has good prices on livestock though I was warned about the strange woman that runs the shop. So I went with a friend to investigate and sure enough the place looked like a meth lab (that's what my friend described it as); not immaculate at all like Atlantis and there were strange tanks with pipes and beakers all over the place. Jackie, the owner, introduced herself and was pretty cooky and strange, like she hadn't had any sleep in days. But nice nonetheless. The best part was the prices on her livestock: I walked away with a purple mushroom coral and some blue zoanthids for $46.33. Not bad considering a regular mushroom coral at Atlantis would run you a good $80 while a colony of zoanthids can get close to $100. I also gnored the fact that her tanks were dirty and murky.

I ran home and acclimated the corals for an hour. I displaced some of the water from my tank to accomodate the weight of the rocks and floated them in.

I poured a small cup of water from my tank into the bags every ten minutes after throwing out a cup of water from the bags.

An hour into acclimatization I carefully placed them into the tank. I decided to place the rock with the purple mushrooms on the sand bed in the middle of my tank. The rock with the blue zoanthids I placed almost vertically on the left. At this point I'm realizing that I probably have too much live rock as I struggle to place my first two corals.

The blue zoanthids hid their polyps for the first two hours but eventually opened up. The purple mushrooms all opened up nicely except for the big one which is still pretty shriveled up from the transfer.

I found some pretty interesting hitchhikers on the coral rocks: bristle stars, some mystery anemones and something that looks like a feather duster but might very well be a coral polyp of some sort. At this point, it's too small to tell.

All in all the transfer seemed to have gone smoothly though I'm a little worried about the large purple mushroom polyp that's still pretty shriveled up. I'll just have to pay close attention to it over the next few days.

Three Weeks Later

2007-11-28T22:46:00.001-08:00

Things have been pretty uneventful in the nano reef as it approaches its first month. The good news is that everything has been consistently stable for the past two weeks:

Temperature: 80° F
Specific gravity: 1.024 ppt
pH: 8.3
KH (alkalinity): 10° dKH
NH₃/NH₄ ammonia: 0 ppm
NO₂ (nitrite): 0 ppm
NO₃ (nitrate): 0 ppm
Calcium: 560 mg/L
Phosphate: 0

The calcium level is a bit high. Ideally it should be somewhere between 400–500 mg/L. A level this high shouldn't be too alarming but fluctuation in levels can cause pH and alkalinity levels to fluctuate as well, which isn't a good thing. For now I'll have to monitor the calcium level carefully to make sure it stabilizes. On the plus side, this high level of calcium is probably responsible for the rapid growth of coralline algae.

As far as livestock, today I found an empty nassarius snail. Not sure if it died on its own or if it was attacked by one of the hermits. The hermits have been playing nice with the snails all this time though so I'm ruling that possibility out for now. My clean-up crew in general can't seem to keep up with the algae growth so I will have to add a few more recruits.

With the tank's steady progress and stable parameters, I might just be ready to throw in my first coral this weekend.

The Clean-Up Crew

2007-11-18T22:26:00.000-08:00

With my ammonia, nitrite and nitrate down to zero, I've decided to recruit my clean-up crew. I paid my favorite LFS a visit to find my recruits. Candidates are typically small reef-safe hermit crabs and reef-safe snails. A lot of people tend to pick one group or the other and hardly mix as hermit crabs can be aggressive towards snails; eating them and stealing their shells. So far my blue leg hermit has been nice to my mystery snails so I figure as long as the snails are smaller they'll probably leave them alone.

I decided to recruit two blue leg hermits to go along with the one I already have and three nassarius snails which are known for their habit of consuming detritus and decaying organics. Nassarius snails like to bury themselves in the sand which will help maintain adequate oxygen levels in the substrate. The blue leg hermits on the other hand are great for keeping down algae and sifting through the sand.

Acclamating the nassarius snails (left) and the blue leg hermit crabs (right) by floating the bag for fifteen minutes. While some people employ a long process with water drips, I find these specimens to be pretty hardy enough to be readily tossed in the tank.

The hermits congregating shortly after being thrown in the tank while the snails scoped out their places...

Another addition to the tank is a ball of chaetomorpha. Chaeto is a type of macroalgae commonly used as additional filtration as it removes phosphates and nitrates from the water. In doing this, chaeto can also prevent the growth of undesirable algae in the tank by using up the nutrients needed by the algae. Like most macroalgae they are commonly placed in an outside filter box or in a separate refugium sump.

In large tanks, a separate sump can serve as a refugium where heaters, protein skimmers and other filter devices can be kept without cluttering the display tank. A deep sand bed can also be kept in a refugium for added biological filtration as well as macroalgae like chaeto and serve as a protected breeding ground for copepods and amphipods which are a food source for certain types of fish. Considering the size of my tank, a refugium is out of the question though some people have rigged power filter boxes into small ones. I however, want to keep a simple minimalist approach to this setup without having to add external sumps and extra lighting.

I placed a clump of chaeto in the rear right corner of the tank where it is tucked away yet it can still receive the sufficient lighting that it needs. It's also in the spot where the power filter and the powerhead intakes are located so it receives good circulation but not so much turbulence that would otherwise scatter it all over the tank.

Notice from the top how this spot is conveniently concealed:

With its fast growth rate, the only thing I have to make sure is to tumble and harvest it regularly to keep it from taking over the tank and getting everywhere. In return, it will help maintain stability in my tank.

Today's Expenses:

Chaetomorpha bunch: $10 (with plenty of leftovers)
(2) Blue leg hermit crabs: $3.80 ($1.90 each)
(3) Nassarius snails: $4.50 ($1.50 each)

TOTAL COST: $18.30

Two Weeks Later

2007-11-17T19:41:00.000-08:00

I finally got two new individual testers today and feel more comfortable with my readings. One is for ammonia and the other for nitrite, both by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. Ran some tests today (one day ahead of my scheduled maintenance) and got some pretty good results:

NH₃/NH₄ (ammonia): 0 ppm
NO₂ (nitrite): 0 ppm
NO₃ (nitrate): 0 ppm

Here are the test tubes with those readings:

I did a 10% water change and replaced the stock carbon filter with Purigen for stronger chemical filtration. While the use of activated carbon in reef aquariums (there's a link to a good article on the right) is debatable depending on who you speak with, I think it's an important component in order to maintain stability in a tank this size. It removes dissolved organics and selected chemicals from the water by absorption and adsorption.

Anyway all geek talk aside, Purigen comes highly recommended by people as it's supposedly 500% more effective than your ordinary activated carbon.

I got a 250 mL bottle of Purigen that's formulated to treat 250 gallons of water which means that a gallon of water can be treated with 1 mL of Purigen.

Purigen has the consistency of tiny little beads so I got a filter media bag to put the stuff in.

They recommend you rinse the filter (with RO/DI water, of course) prior to placing it in the filter. Doing so didn't release any residue or debris in the water so I'm not exactly sure why they tell you to do this.

I also got a mini Mag-Float which comes in handy for cleaning algae off the glass. Up to this point I've been doing it ghetto style—sticking my hand in the tank and scraping the algae off with my fingers.

Copious amount of debris have settled on certain parts of the live rock where the diatom bloom use to be, trapped under a layer of biofilm. This is a perfect time for me to pick out a clean up crew to help clean some of that mess.

Today's expenses after a recent trip to Petsmart:

API Ammonia Test Kit: $7.49
API Nitrite Test Kit: $6.99
Seachem Purigen: $6.98
Aqua-Pure Filter Media Bag: $0.89
Mini Mag-Float: $7.99

TOTAL COST: $32.69 (plus tax)

Day 10

2007-11-14T22:50:00.000-08:00

Ten days after setting up and the tank and the water parameters are looking good. The tank has definitely benefited from the added circulation and has been crystal clear. This may have also helped keep the diatom bloom down. I didn't get the chance to pick up a different test kit to compare against the Red Sea Marine Lab which I feel has been giving me inaccurate results. The readings from today are as follows:

Temperature: 80° F
Specific gravity: 1.023 ppt
pH: 8.3
KH (alkalinity): 2.7 meq/L (10° dKH with API)
NH₃/NH₄ (ammonia): less than 0.25 ppm
NO₂ (nitrite): 0 ppm
NO₃ (nitrate): 2.5 ppm (0 ppm with API)

The test results actually gave me some new figures though I'm still sketchy about its accuracy. While the ammonia is showing at less than 0.25 ppm, it's still not completely down to zero although nitrite is down to zero all the way. Nitrate is reading at 2.5 ppm but is reading at zero with the API tester.

As tempting as it is for me to start adding livestock at this point, it's probably best to wait for a couple more weeks until I know for sure that my parameters are stable and that the levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are consistently down to zero.

Diatoms: What's all that brown crap?

2007-11-11T21:53:00.001-08:00

My tank has been up for a week now and just a day ago I started noticing patches of brown algae on one of my live rocks and parts of the sand. These brown patches are diatoms which are one of the most common types of phytoplankton found in marine habitats. Although diatoms are generally not a good sign in an established tank, they are part of the nitrogen cycle and their presence in a new tank can signify that the cycle is moving along. Several things can trigger a diatom bloom: high levels of nitrate, significant amounts of phosphate among many others. I dismissed phosphate as a possible cause as I've been diligently using reverse osmosis water for top offs. This could only mean high levels of nitrate in my tank which means ammonia and nitrite levels have dropped down to zero (or pretty close to zero) and my tank is nearing the end of its cycle! Or so I thought.

The Lying, Cheating Test Kit

So I ran the scheduled water test today and expected to see some new results. Zero levels of ammonia, zero levels of nitrite and a high level of nitrate which could possibly explain my diatom bloom. Instead I'm getting the same readings all across the board!

So I ran out and picked up a different test kit. This time I got the Reef Master Test Kit by API. This test kit has testers for everything important you need to know in a reef aquarium: carbonate hardness, calcium, phosphate and nitrate, but not ammonia and nitrite. There's another test kit called Saltwater Master Test Kit that has testers for ammonia and nitrite, but not calcium and phosphate. I figure as my tank matures, I'll be using the Reef Master Test kit more and more so I opted for this instead.

As I mentioned earlier, test readings with the Red Sea Marine Lab came out with the same readings as the last one. The Reef Master Test Kit on the other hand came out with an entirely different nitrate reading, which is the only test I can compare between the two kits. While Red Sea Marine Lab reported a nitrate reading of 5.0 ppm on both tests, the Saltwater Master Test Kit reported a nitrate reading of 10 ppm—twice more than the first kit. This level of nitrate explains my diatom bloom.

Top view of the diatom bloom:

This threw me off completely so for now on, I'm sticking with the testers by API and could probably end up banning Red Sea's testers altogether after I do some more comparison tests. The Reef Master Test Kit also reported the following readings:

Alkalinity: 12 dKH
Calcium: 500 mg/L
Phosphate: 0

The calcium reading is at a normal level and the phosphate result is a relief and again helps to point the diatom bloom back to high nitrate levels. In any case, this calls for my scheduled and probably much needed water change.

So I did a 10% water change and hopefully this will improve water parameters in the next week. I also cleaned out the media in the power filter and rinsed them with reverse osmosis water.

Mod of the Week

I added the first extra equipment in the tank aside from the heater. I've always felt that the stock filter that came with the tank might not be able to provide any circulation as it only circulates water at 40 gph. I added a Rio 50 powerhead which circulates water at 60 gph. The powerhead is tiny at 2.2" x 1.4" x 1.8" which is perfect for a nano tank. This added water flow gives the tank a combined circulation of 100 gph which means the whole tank is recirculated 33 times in an hour. Hopefully this provides enough circulation for the tank without producing too much flow for some of the corals that I plan to add later that require very little flow.

My expenses this week:

Rio 50 Powerhead: $15.00
API Reef Master Test Kit: $30.00
(6) 1 gallon bottles of purified water: $6.00
1 bag Oceanic Natural Sea Salt Mix: $4.00 (for making a fresh batch of saltwater)

Photo Updates

2007-11-08T19:20:00.000-08:00

Some interesting things are cropping up in the tank, though most of them are too small to be captured on camera. The hitchhiker hermit crab and snail are alive and well and today I found yet another snail. There appears to be on one of the rocks some kind of worm, one end attached to the coral and the other end twitching around. Swarms of copepods can be observed on the tank glass which is definitely a good sign.

Front view:

From the left:

From the right:

From the top:

First Water Test

2007-11-07T21:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight I ran the first test on my water parameters and the results where just as I expected. These are the following readings:

pH: 8.0
KH (alkalinity): 2.5 meq/L
NH₃/NH₄ (ammonia): 0.25 ppm
NO₂ (nitrite): 0.05 ppm
NO₃ (nitrate): 5.0 ppm

The pH is slightly lower than it needs to be which should be within the range of 8.1-8.4. Ideally around 8.3. This is important in absorbing a certain amount of acidic matter produced by waste. This correlates directly with my ammonia and nitrite level which I will soon get into. The alkalinity on the other hand is right where it should be which is a good thing as this helps prevent the pH from going any lower.

The ammonia and nitrite levels are pretty low and should expect to see them close to zero by the end of the week. This is one of the reasons why I waited until midweek for the first test as an earlier test would have shown a spike in ammonia from the amount of initial die-off. The nitrate level reading higher than the first two can only mean that nitrobacter has already started the process of converting nitrite into nitrate.

For full information on the nitrogen cycle refer to the resource link at the sidebar.

UPDATE: Upon further research, I've come to the conclusion that the Red Sea Marine Lab is highly unreliable. So unreliable they shouldn't even be selling that stuff! I'd recommend test kits by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals or Seachem. Salifert test kits are apparently the best ones. Pricey, but reliable and highly recommended.

Cycling—Thoughts and Updates

2007-11-07T21:18:00.000-08:00

The tank is cycling beautifully and I still haven't made any water changes. So far everything is smelling good which means that nothing is rotting. And that's a good thing. The hitchhiker snail and hermit crab are also alive and well, and signs of copepods and/or amphipods can be seen in a few places. That's also a good thing.

Topping off is a bitch. Basically, as water evaporates it leaves the salts behind so a tiny fall below the water line can make a big difference in a tank this size. This is remedied by constantly re-filling the tank with reverse osmosis water. Usually once in the morning and once at night. Specific gravity has been fairly constant although I feel that my hydrometer often lies. I should probably look into getting a refractometer which not only measures specific gravity accurately but also salinity in the water. Maybe someone reading this might be nice enough to get me one for Christmas. *cough*

The stock power filter that came with the kit seems a bit bleak. I'm afraid it might not be providing enough circulation in the tank although a lot of people have had good results with only the stock filter. I might look into adding a powerhead of some sort to help move around some of the water. Thoughts for the future while I'm cycling.

Setting Up the Tank—Hurry Up And Wait!

2007-11-04T22:27:00.000-08:00

With all the equipment and supplies in place, the only thing I was missing was live rock which I was determined to find a good supply today so that I can setup the tank as soon as my homemade seawater was ready to use.

Last night I did some research online on local fish stores and I found one that I thought was worth visiting based on the costumer reviews that I read. The store is called Atlantis Tropical Fish & Aquariums. When I got there I was really impressed by the store and their wide selection of livestock. All their fish looked healthy and all their tanks were nice and clean. I made my way towards their corals/invertebrates area and was slightly disappointed when I couldn’t find any live rock stocked in any of their tanks.

So I asked one of the guys if they carried any live rock and was caught by surprise when I was escorted all the way to the back of the store into a storage room where they kept a vat full of rocks. I was elated by what I saw: mounds of cured Fiji live rock. They came in all sorts of shapes and sizes and all had good coloring and pleasant smell (unpleasant smelling live rock is usually a bad sign). The owner of the store himself even helped me pick out the rocks I need base on my project and was very helpful and friendly. He placed them in a styrofoam box and covered them with wet newspaper to prevent them from drying and to minimize die-off. I walked away with 6 lbs. of Fiji live rock (four rocks altogether) for $40. Not a bad price at all.

These are the four pieces of liverock I came home with:

Note the healthy coloring and the clusters of coralline algae.

I inspected the rocks carefully, removing any unwanted and dead pieces that could possibly rot in my tank. I gave them a good rinsing and prepared them for the tank. Aquascaping turned out to be a little difficult especially with such a small tank and I had to do this quickly as to not keep the rocks out of water for too long. Plus I think I took home one rock too many. Nonetheless I figured out the best configuration that created open areas between the rocks for good circulation as to avoid any dead spots.

Once I had the ideal configuration I filled the tank halfway with my seawater and added the live sand. I added the live sand after I laid out the live rock to make sure the rocks are grounded firmly on the tank floor. I used a small plastic cup to slowly add the sand around the rocks, making sure not to cover any part of the rocks which could clog up the rock and increase the die-off rate in my tank during the cycling period. This became even harder as the water became cloudy and I was literally working in the dark.

An hour later the tank started to clear up and have already found a couple of hitchhikers in my live rock—a hermit crab and a snail. This starts the cycling period which means I’ll have to wait before I can add anything in my tank. The bottle of Bacardi to the right will help me through this waiting period.

As far as cycling, most people turn off their lights and encourage die-off which is referred to as hard cycling. Since my live rocks are already cured, I don’t anticipate a large amount of die-off and decided to do a soft cycle with a 12-hour photoperiod each day. However I won’t be doing any water changes just yet and have decided to just let the ammonia spike up to speed up the nitrogen cycle. I will check my parameters halfway through the week and see where I’m at. For now, I shall wait.

The Preparation

2007-11-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

First thing's first, I ran a water test on my tank. Filled it up with freshwater and I let it stand to check for leaks. This also gave me a chance to rinse the tank before setup.

Then I made seawater. I poured three gallons of drinking water into my 5 gallon bucket. The use of reverse osmosis/deionized water is important and can easily be bought at the store if you don't have one installed at home. I mixed in a bag of Oceanic Natural Sea Salt Mix pre-measured to make five gallons of seawater.

I did vigorous hand mixing before pouring in the other two gallons of water. I threw in the submersible powerhead to aerate and continue mixing the salt. Using the hydrometer, I adjusted the specific gravity to around 1.023 ppt (seawater ranges anywhere from 1.020 to 1.025 ppt. Reef tanks are usually maintained on the higher end between 1.023 and 1.025 ppt). Threw in the heater set at 80° F which is what I plan to set my tank at.

This helps to keep an even temperature on my water throughout the process and also to ensure that the hydrometer works fairly accurately, which can be a little off depending on fluctuation in temperature. Placed a lid over my bucket and I’m leaving it alone for 24 hours.

UPDATE: The heater and the powerhead are both in the bucket the entire time. The heater ensures that the temperature is stable and the powerhead helps to aerate the water and adds circulation to make sure the salt is completely dissolved.

The Fruitless Hunt For Live Rock

People who aren’t in the know often freak out when they hear the word live rock. The rock itself is not alive but is encrusted with various organisms that are beneficial to the reef aquarium. No two rocks are ever alike. Most of the time live rock comes directly from the ocean uncured and are teeming with organisms from corals to shrimps and crabs. These rocks must be put through a curing process to eliminate “die-off” from some of the organisms living on the rock that might not have survived the transfer from its original location to the tank. This curing process is a big part of the nitrogen cycle and must be completely done prior to adding any livestock. Cured live rock are also available as well as base rocks that have been seeded by placing them in mature tanks.

At first I thought about buying my live rock online through LiveAquaria.com (a fantastic site for marine supplies and livestock) but was wary about the type of rocks I would get. With a small tank to work with, I feel it’s important to be able to assess the rocks personally for optimal aquascaping. Another advantage to buying live rock locally is to minimize the amount of die-off in the process which drastically shortens cycling time.

I started my hunt for live rock locally and went to Trop-Aquarium, a local fish store (LFS) that I’ve used numerous times in the past. However I wasn’t impressed with their live rock which looked like massive lumps of potatoes with weird tumors and there were hardly any color on them. I asked the guy at the store if he had any smaller pieces as I’m trying to put together a nano tank. He told me no and proposed breaking one with a hammer into smaller pieces as a solution. I politely declined and walked away.

Then I remembered a co-worker telling me about this place that had saltwater fish and supplies so I thought it might be worth checking out. The store is called ATM II and it was tiny, and all his tanks were dirty. They didn’t even look like the kind of tanks you find in an aquarium shop. Instead, they looked like the kind of tanks you’d find in a Chinese supermarket with live fish for food. In all fairness, the shop keeper was nice and helpful and offered to part ways with some of his smaller liverock pieces after I told him about my project. However it seemed to me like his rocks were seeded which wouldn’t offer much diversity in organisms. Plus his tanks were dirty.

At this point I’m absolutely disappointed and my hunt today has been fruitless. Maybe I’m better of buying live rock online which would delay this project by a week.

Introduction

2007-11-02T22:53:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been setting my eyes on these nano reefs that everyone's been doing and I've been dying to do one myself with complete envy. Most people who know me know that I'm a big fish freak so I've decided to get in touch with my inner geek this weekend. For those who don't know, a nano reef is a saltwater aquarium that's less than 15 gallons and fully sustained by live rock, corals and various invertebrates. These tanks can look absolutely stunning and can even look much bigger than they really are. Google the word "nano reef," click on Images and you'll see what I'm talking about.

After doing some research and talking to several people online, I've finally decided to take the plunge. I'm no stranger to keeping marine fish though it has been ten years since I've kept a saltwater tank (Good God, I'm old!). In the past I've kept mostly fish only tanks so keeping invertebrates and planning my tank around them is completely new to me.

Another factor I considered is overall aesthetics. While it's definitely easy (and cost-effective) to take any size tank and pick and choose your own components to go with it, you'll often end up with a Frankenstein tank with wires, sumps and crap dangling everywhere. I definitely didn't want that. On the other end, there are a lot of all-in-one tanks on the market with all the necessary equipment and component housed within the tank itself and packaged in a nice little cube. These types of tanks can be found at decent prices and can go way up depending on the type of lighting and extra features you want.

Since this is my first venture into the unknown, I didn't want to commit to an all-in-one setup just yet so I opted for something smaller. I found a good deal at Doctors Foster and Smith on a Picotope kit by JBJ. It’s much smaller than a nano—it’s a pico—and it's definitely small. I like that it's entirely made of glass with a bownfront and seamless corners for a nice panoramic view.

The kit comes with a 3 gallon glass tank, a modest 13gph power filter and a 9 watt 50/50 compact fluorescent lamp (half blue/half 10K). The tank all in all is very nicely designed but I’m also aware of the limitations the stock lighting presents. Obviously with a 9 watt 50/50 CF bulb my corals are limited to mushrooms, polyps (zoanthids) and various soft corals which are still some pretty good selections. And I probably won’t be able to keep fish in a tank this size.

I decided to document every step of this project to not only share with everyone who might be interested in setting one up themselves but also to share my experience and serve as a guide. Initially I wanted to post this blog on MySpace but decided it was probably far too nerdy to be on it. Plus with all the details and ongoing progress associated with this project, it ultimately deserves its own little place on the net.

Equipment

Here's a breakdown of the equipment and supplies, where I got them and how much I spent:

JBJ Picotope 3 gallon tank ($37.99 at Doctors Foster and Smith)

About $100 worth of supplies from Petsmart:

Oceanic Natural Sea Salt Mix (pre-measured to make 5 gallons)
Hydrometer (for measuring specific gravity in saltwater)
Hydor THEO 50W submersible heater and thermometer
Top Fin generic submersible powerhead
Red Sea Marine Lab master test kit (measures pH, alkalinity, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate)
6 lbs. Ocean Direct Caribbean live sand

Spent about $8 at Lowe's:

5 gallon bucket with lid
(2) small graduated buckets (comes in handy when measuring water during water changes)

$5 at Von's:

(5) 1 gallon drinking water (reverse osmosis/deionized NOT mineral water)

So far I've spent about $150 which is not too bad for the initial expense of gathering all the necessary supplies and equipment.