Diary Of Slowswims 14.5 Imp Gallon Nano

Hi guys!

I've already started the nano but ive had a change of heart with the live rock

I had loads of problems with aptesia nems and i had enough ive taken the rock back to the LFS they were glad to see it because it has loads of great bio life on them.
By the way eveything was at 0 before i took the rock out.
So ive taken a plunge into man made (made to look like reef rock) and dead corals which looks quite good aquascaped.

Here is the step by step way about i did this.

1. I took the rock out and put them in a ready mixed bucket of water to go to the LFS.

2. Turned everything off, waited till it settled and the heater had cooled down

3. Scrubbed all the hardware till all remnants of algea and nasty nems were gone.

4. Cleaned the substrate and scrubbed down the tank inside walls to make sure their were no surviving nems.

5. Layed out the new aquascape and filled back up with the original water.

6. Filled the canister filter with filter media called Eheim Substrat with a massive surface area for benifical bacteria (around 420m-Squared worth) Then put a polyfilter at the top to polish it all off.

7. Got it running and within a few hours it was clear.

8. I retro fitted a blue atinic lamp 14 watt compact combo (has a few spectrums that are not visable to the eye) which should balance out the red, white spectrum pl 11 watt compact lighting that came with the AquaOne 500. In the future when the tank is ready for corals i'll get 2 full spectum 14 watt compacts. and fit them in too.

Im starting a fish less cycle tomorrow and keep up on the tests.

hope you all had a good christmas holiday season! and happy new year!


- Matt

Good luck Matt, got any pics?

Here are the pics

Front veiw with blue moon on.

Second with all lights on.

Third veiw with just the side.

Side veiw..

Ive dosed the tank with Redsea nitro bac to get the cycle going that much faster.
I'll be getting a few damsels along with a cleaner shimp when i hit 0's in the tank which will increase the bacteria to a stronger colony.
Then when ive got a good chemical balance going that i know is stable i'll put in a couple of corals maybe a leather or a califlower coral and throw in maybe a decent coloured fan worm.

I'll update again once ive checked the water.

- Matt

this will be intresting to watch as was gonna set up the aquaon 500 but upgraaded lol

rhysiboy,

My AquaOne 500 has been upgraded the atinic lamp is a retro fit, I have plans to fit full spectrum lamps in also.

It looks like im at the start of my cycle:

Ammonia: 0.4
Nitrite: 0.25
Nirtrate: 0
PH 8.5

Ive been browsing several LFS and im quite taken with dragon wrasse, and i wouldnt mind a mated pair of common clowns which i saw quite a few of.

I'll be Fish Only till the tank is matured. I may throw in a couple of peices of uncured LR to speed up the cycle and recieve a healthy batch of bacteria.
But i may not because of all the systems ive seen around my area where they stock the live rock ive noticed the blood curdeling glass nems. I really dont want to get in that mess again

Im merely speculating at the moment my tank is empty apart from what you see of the pictures.

My tank will be Live Rock free unless i see a couple of peices i can not refuse

- Matt

Untill the next time

that sounds like quite the project. it will be fun to watch mature and seee how live your rock gets! fun fun! are you using live sand or argonite?

Its Argonite..

Salanity btw is at 1.023.

I'll do another reading in a couple of days.

Its by birthday guys! 19!

- Matt

1.023 is a little low, might wanna bump that up, or wait till evap occurs, then fill it up with SW. Happy 19th man!

Hi again just thought id update!

After comming up 4 weeks of waiting for my tank to come to 0's, Ive gone out and bought a mushroom colony..

Ive been staring at it for ages and ive noticed about 3 feather dusters and looking down one of the wholes i realised that the rock has a cave inside it. And to my suprise i have a bristle star quite a small one.

Tonight around 8 i'll turn off the lights and leave the blue moon on (as i usually do) to see if it has any nocturnal activity.

Ive only seen the tenticals they are white with black stripes hope i get to see abit more of him.

Well i know you all love pictures and here it is.




Tommorrow i'll be getting a skunk cleaner shrimp. Then keep two eyes on it for a couple of weeks.

- Matt

Nice Ricordea, well done

It was £28 with a 10% discount.. quite a steal really

Thanks ski

hello again for another installment from SlowSwims 14 gallon nano!

The shroom colony is still doing great its really open'd up this couple of days can hardly see the rock their on

I've found another hichhicker on it but i havn't a clue as to what it is. Its red and has a head shaped like a clam mantle with lines of black going round the centre; From what i can see in the middle there is a whole and the head of it fans out to create some kind of funnel. On its right side it has a tube like mouth. When i move quickly infront of it (outside the glass) it retracts inside the rock, its only a few cm across.

Sorry but i cant get a decent picture of it I'll try again tomorrow.

My stats are

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0 - 0.1 The tube looks clear till you look down it and you can see its still alittle pink (Can't seem to get rid! lol)
Nitrate 0
PH 8.5 Stable
Salanity still 1.023 - 1.024
Temp 25C no fluxuations


Do you think that the cause for the slightly pink nitrite could be something to do with Calc or alk?

Otherwise everything is fine!

Oh i havnt had the chance to go out and buy my cleaner shimp yet (Due to spending on getting drunk! ) but earlier on this year i claimed for a car accident of which im getting a poor £750 out of a possible £2000. But My tank and verious other pocket miners will be pretty happy! B)

Does anyone know how much gallonage a dragon wrasse needs? (As im obsessed with anything dragon)

Good day!

- Matt

Actually a Dragon wrasse needs a big tank, (4' long at least) and needs to be kept in fish only setups. Their behavior will destroy a reef tank unfortunately. They literally grab small rocks with thier beaks and throw them across the aquarium, searching for small inverts underneath them (bristleworms, pods, crabs, etc). The rocks are thrown with enough force to damage/destroy smaller corals, and sometimes the dragon wrasse will throw corals themselves. Absoloutely gorgeous fish with a fantastic personality, but only suitable for fish-only aquariums.

Bugga ahh well,

well just to update green algea has started and the brown algea is being replaced by it.

I havnt been able to go out and get more corals or anything because ive got a really bad cold its affecting my throat really soar.

On a happy note everything is stable on 0
I plan on getting some shrimps n cerith snails when im well enough.

Future Coral stocking:

Pulsing xeynia
"Devils hand" Or some other leather.
Another mushroom.
n some zoos.

Im not sure on fish at the moment i said earlier on id get some damels but they need to be in a group of atleast 5 or more. Im quite taken with a mated pair of clowns.

I may end up going corals only.

And set up the 3' tank i have up for a Fish only set up.

I'll let you all know when ive made my mind up.

- matt