Help with 1 week old 10g nano

[kwirky]

Originally Posted by nano-sean

I know when I first got sucked into this hobby I didn't follow any of the recommendations about cleaning the LR because the thought of having an empty tank with no cool critters seemed anti-climactic after the initial expense. Between dealing with Algae, Aptasia, etc problems I learned my lesson.

I just follow the mantra of innocent until proven guilty. Or aiptasia... or very big...

"Cleaning" new rock requires experience anyways. Don't worry too much over what's good and bad right now. You'll learn as you go, and the next batch of rock you get, you'll personally have a better feel for what to remove and what to leave alone.

I remember when I first got live rock, I watched it for hours wanting to identify everything in there. Especially when I had my nano because there's less rock to look over, so you notice everything.

Just make sure you leave your lights off for a long while. So many people made that mistake for their first tank (myself included), and it causes headaches for MONTHS afterwards. Took about 4 months for my tank to settle out and start behaving. Give your tank a month before turning on all your lights.

[Nixon]

thanks for the advise guys. and yes, i didn't clean off the LR when i got it. I thought that the established rock would aid in the tank's cycle. i just got my light a few days ago so it hasn't been on. the only thing i have is the 2 led moon lights on (should i shut those off too?). i'm very slowly adding a clean up crew to get the tank undercontrol before adding fish. once again, thanks for the feedback guys

[Phanman]

Im new to this "expensive" hobby to Nixon. I just got my 10gallon nano up and running 2 days ago. I did the same thing, got LR from a friend as well as the water. Now im a newb too and trying to absorb all the info i can, but since your using established water/LR from a friend why would you need to cycle anything? Should it not be "ready to go"? I plan on just doing a 10%water change once a month as I also have a Rio Nano Skimmer (works beautiful already). Which was the heated debate Skimmer vs. Water changes... which is better??? I dont know, lol.

I was also impatient and got 2 clown fish and a few zoo's and everything is going good, and the water looks crystal clear

[Nixon]

my sand bed was new and i just wanted to make sure that if it did go through a mini cycle, i wouldn't have any fish or anything in there to stress out. i recently added a peppermint shrimp and he pretty much ate 80% of my aiptasia already. i was quite surprised. i also have the rio and i'm doing almost 40% water changes weekly. the water still has some particals floating around but it's much better since i got that little surface skimmer attatchment (which kindda gets annoying to be honest. it's very finiky with the skimmer. slight water level changes like evaporation will offset the skimmer. still working on perfecting it). i think the little particles come from the filter inside the rio skimmer but i've yet to find any place in calgary that sells replacements i tried golds and oceans. no luck.

[Phanman]

what kind of surface skimmer did you go for? and where did u get it? I've been looking around in calgary for an attachment to the Rio Nano Skimmer.

Also whats the price tag on it?

I'll post some pics of my 10 gallon tomorrow for you to see mine

[Nixon]

Pieces has this generic one that plugs into the rio (aquaclear i believe). I just can't figure out how to get it to float and adapt as the water level changes due to evaporation. it was something like $17.99. Pretty cheap but I guess you get what you pay for. Let me know if you end up getting the same one and if you get it working properly. I have an elastic holding the top piece down and just setting it to 100% surface skim instead of 50/50 surface/underwater.

[Phanman]

will do, ill keep you posted as to what i do, going to get something tonight