Crytone's 10 Gal. Nano [New pics/frags added Mar 6th, pg.3]

[Crytone]

Nothing super to report today and no new pictures either but I did get my refractometer in today and was finally able to test the salt mix I made up for my liverock. I've been doing top-offs by eye and was quite pleased with my 1.027 salinity. A little high but not bad for just mixing to the ratios specified on the bag. Hopefully the rock is happy. I really need to get my RO/DI unit in though so I can get things rolling.

I also cleaned all the silicone off the aquarium rim. Rimless definitely looks good! I was a bit worried since I used GooGone so I made sure I cleaned it well (with water only), and when I thought it was cleaned and I was done, I sprayed it down some more. That hopefully did the trick. It'll hopefully be dry and ready for paint tomorrow after school! I don't really have anywhere to paint it though...

I'm also planning to design my own controller in the future. I figure my education (Elec. Eng.) better be useful for something! Most controllers don't do nearly enough IMO, or at least not everything I want them to do. I'm probably a long ways to starting or finishing any kind of controller but it is brewing in my head already. I think I first need to finish this setup and live with it a while first so I can get concrete plans on what I require from a controller.

[Crytone]

It's now Sunday and I got most of my stuff! Here's a few teaser pics since I'm still working on getting it all ready.

Aquarium on it's stand, silicon all removed from the rim and the back painted black. I decided against painting the bottom because it just wasn't going to be worth the hassle. Sorry for the aquarium being so dirty but the cat decided to sleep in in for the past few days...


The RODI unit arrived earlier in the week and I finally set it up. The instructions that came with it were a bit... engrishy. So it took longer than expected to setup. Working great now though!


The plans for tonight is to get this all setup and starting to cycle in it's proper enclosure with proper RODI SW mix. I would have been doing this yesterday but my RODI faucet hookup was female and I needed male so I had to do a run earlier this morning to get an adapter. Hopefully I have another update soon.

A problem arose though.. I need to get a new light for my setup. The light I have will work for now but is far from ideal. If anyone knows of any available for a decent price, will fit a 10G (I kind of want a 24" fixture), probably T5HO's (moonlights would be nice too) then please let me know. Also, would a 2x24W be best or go for 4x24W? Thanks!

EDIT: Wow, the water pressure in my condo SUCKS. Only getting max 25psi so needless to say my 100gpd RODI system is pumping out more like 20gpd. Taking FOREVER. So far I have only ~5 gallons (I washed the sand with some RODI water too.. maybe 1 gallon or so) and I've been collecting the water for about 6hrs now or so.... Doubt I'll get anything done tonight at this rate... LiveRock stays in the tupperware bin another day!

[Crytone]

The RODI unit is working much faster now. I guess it needed some time to sit.
I also got my float switches so just need to get a few other things to get my ATO done!

Got the aquascaping roughed in and 12lbs of sand placed. It's a little murky (was clear this morning when I woke up) because I was messing around with the sand/rockwork right before I took this. I was going to place my larger rock differently but accidentally placed it as shown and liked how it created a small cave at the bottom. Figure this would be a great place for things to 'hide'!

Should I get more rock? Should some be placed higher?

I also checked my params after letting it run overnight;
SG- 1.024
PH- ~8.3
And apparently Ammonia/Nitrates/Nitrites are 0...

I doubt this means my cycle is over. This is new water that the rock's been in for a day now (finished at about 2am Monday and worked on it more Monday night too) and don't think it matters much that I've had the rock in a bin for the past 1.5 weeks 'curing'. I'll keep testing throughout the week.

[lorenz0]

looks like you have a good little start going. Great start to a new addiction as well, its like crack, you start small and a year later you have a 50+ gal tank and just can't get enough of it. I am in the same situation as you, university student but it really keeps you sane between study breaks. Let it cycle for a month and than start looking into adding livestock, its torture but the more patient you are in this hobby the better the outcome.

[Crytone]

It's been a week and I felt I should post an update.

I'm getting a bit concerned. I've been monitoring my params over the past week and they haven't budged AT ALL. SG 1.024 (doing the odd RODI top off ever few days), Ammonia 0, Nitrate 0, Nitrite 0 and pH is about 8.0. I'm starting to wonder if a cycle will ever happen as I expected something to happen within this time. I've had the rock since Dec 31st where I kept it in a tupperware bin for a week (with my heater and Koralia powerhead keeping the water flowing/warm. I didn't monitor params during this time) before I moved it to my tank. I'm really starting to worry that the LiveRock is, infact, dead rock.

Am I worrying over nothing? I don't mind waiting longer but I expected at least some ammonia rise during this time! Should I go buy another piece of LiveRock to try and get things going?

[mseepman]

There are some products that you can add to help a cycle along. I think I've heard of people using "cycle" to help it along. I've also heard of other things but can't remember any names. You might want to search it on here.

Just remember that patience will be your greatest friend in this hobby.

[Crytone]

I'm trying to be as patient as possible. I really don't mind waiting but I expected something to happen in this time.

Today when I got home from school I noticed my sand looked 'dirty'. Brown sediment on it, which wasn't there yesterday (at least not this noticeable). I assume this is possibly a diatom bloom. I tested my params again and Ammonia is 0-.25 (depending how the light hits it you could argue either) but my Nitrate is now probably about 5-10ppm. Still 0 Nitrites.

Also, upon closer inspection I'm noticing growth on my rock. It's pretty small right now but it definitely is new. It's starting as small green 'petals', that's how I'd describe it. I assume it's a type of algae. The feather duster I found last week seems to be doing well too (it even retracts back sometimes too!). I also found some new red growths that I never noticed before. They seem to be like little red twigs coming from my rock.

Hopefully these are all good signs!

Edit: Decided to test the pH also. 8.3!

[Crytone]

I haven't posted new pictures lately so thought I should. Sorry if they are small but I try to resize them from being 'OMG HUGE' so it's not hard on the slower interwebs people.

Also had an order problem that worked out in my favor; ended up getting 2 AC70's, 2 AC20 impellers and 2 pumps (for my ATO I'm going to build). Can't beat deals like that! Not sure what exactly I'm going to do with the free stuff for now but I guess I'll probably have them as spares...

Parameters are still holding steady with 1.023 SG, 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites and ~5ppm Nitrates and a pH ~8.3. I'm waiting patiently and praying that my cycle is over without me even noticing but I'll give it more time to be sure I think. I'm getting excited to add a CUC though and the wait is torturous! I'm still debating what I want for a CUC too.

This picture is from earlier in the week. Notice how everything is so white and clean!


Picture taken tonight. Notice how 'brown' everything is. This picture doesn't really capture how brown it really is in contrast to earlier this week! Do you think it appears there's enough rock or should I get more?


Here is... something. It's rather small. Also sorry for the bad picture but it is VERY hard to get a good picture of it.


And some green algae (I think, correct me if I'm wrong). I talked a bit about it in a previous post. Nothing too exciting I'm sure.


So leave any comments, suggestions, complaints or anything! I like hearing it all!

[nlreefguy]

that first pic could be aiptasia, it's not really clear. The second is definitely some form of bubble algae. While it's only small and you have the ability to do so without completely rearranging your tank, I would suggest you manually remove it before it has the opportunity to take over your tank (and it does have that potential).