Down-under 65l (15g?) Nano!

[Troppo]

I've finally got around to posting some details of my new nano. Hopefully I'm doing it right!

So the tank's about 65L plus 15L refugium tacked on the back.

The main tank has about 1/2" of coral sand as a substrate and 9kgs (20lbs??) of live rock which came from north-western Australia. So far I've had some weird looking dead shrimps drop out, and itty bitty starfish on day one which I haven't seen since. And one little crab which we thought was dead then it started moving and now has disappeared into the LR. Also, other concerns are one aiptasia and one worm. It's brown and is nocturnal. I think it's the kind that eat snails but I can't remember the name.
Lighting in the main tank is 2 x 36W PC.

The refugium has some coral sand, some LR plus as many bits of equipment as I can fit! Such as my air-lift protein skimmer which I'm not running at the moment. It also has a 11W PC in the top which is one of the causes of my high temperature.

I had real trouble with the overflow setup. I couldn't use the simple siphon vs pump system of bigger tanks because it's simply too hard to match flows on such a small tank. One can outdo the other by the time I get home from work! I couldn't use a box inside the tank and box outside of the tank as the distance between the water level and outlet pipe level was so small the pressure could barely create any flow. So I ended up, as you can see, making a pipe on the inside of the tank which creates my inner overflow and then running a long pipe to the refugium so creating maximum pressure and thus a great siphon. Now I can run the Eheim pump at full (1000lph) and the siphon has no probs. My refugium is basically my overflow box aswell!

Currently, I'm waiting for the ammonia to kick in. Chemicals are:
Ammonia= approx. 0.1
pH = approx. 8.3-8.4
SG = 1.024

The tank has been running for just over a week with no real increase in ammonia. I've tried the prawn in the water but it just got eaten by what I think are copepods. As you can see I'm getting a lot of brown algae, probably due to the high temperatures I've been getting; from 26-29C. I guess I just have to wait and watch the slime grow?? I also put some Bio-Start in there on the weekend and am still yet to see any change.

So take a look and ask questions, provide suggestions. Any advice as I'm biting at the bit!

Final Testing!
http/i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/ep...no/IMG_1284.jpg
http/i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/ep...no/IMG_1285.jpg
http/i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/ep...no/IMG_1286.jpg
http/i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/ep...no/IMG_1287.jpg

Day One!
http/i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/ep...no/IMG_1290.jpg
http/i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/ep...no/IMG_1291.jpg
http/i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/ep...no/IMG_1292.jpg

One week later!
http/i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/ep...no/IMG_1342.jpg

I'm not sure what to put in yet in terms of CUC. Snails and hermits no doubt. Red & Blue legs are hard to find here in West Aust. but there'll be something.
For fish I'm thinking of a Clownfish (for the kids) and I'm not sure on a second one. I really wanted a Royal Gramma but I don't know if it would go well in the tank.

Let me know what you think.

 

[Troppo]

It's been a while so I thought I'd add some more details. I think I have a better handle on the photo thing as well... not so big!

Things have been going ok. So far in the tank I have as follows:
6 cerith snails
6 astraea snails
4 itty bitty hermit crabs
2 turbo snails
1 peppermint shrimp
1 banggai cardinalfish

I also got, in my live rock purchases, a not so healthy open brain coral and a zoanthid colony. The open brain isn't doing so well and after a week of it being there I don't think it will recover. The zoa is going ok and I'm trying to get them to establish. I still have to find the right gel glue to stick em down so they don't get knocked over. Any suggestions?

The peppermint shrimp is invisible. I know he's in there as I've seen a molted skin and the one aiptasia I had has disappeared. I guess he hides out in the LR all day... but it'd be nice to see him!
The snails are going great guns. I've had two turnovers with the astraeas so far but no big deal. I'm thinking of taking the turbos back to the LFS as they keep knocking over the little zoa frags.
I have one hermit with long spindly light red legs and 3 with short green legs. The red one is a ninja, he climbs over everything in a heartbeat and next you know he's in stealth mode in the substrate! The greens are far more lazy and tend to move slowly and graze bit by bit.

Once again my wife got the better of me and we now have a Banggai Cardinalfish in the tank aswell. Much to my dismay, being so early in the piece. Anyway, he was going good but this morning Spike wasn't doing so well. He was on the bottom of the tank and my wife said he was initially lying on the coral! He didn't look so good and was very sluggish, etc. I'm still yet to get him to eat. He won't take the dry flakes or frozen brine shrimp I've used. I've seen him eat some copepods but that's about it.
The water chem's were good this morning and I had done a water change of 10% on the weekend. I'm thinking I'll do a 20-25% change ASAP. I'm using Coralife salt mix currently but when it runs out I'm gonna get Instant Ocean instead. Anyway, any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Another problem is the standard new tank battle against cyanobacteria. I have a bag of Seachem phosphate absorber but generally I just pull out whatever I can. I've been told it happens to everyone and after a while it goes away, once the tank stablises more.

Other problems at the moment include my refugium beginning to show signs of wear. The apparently aquariums safe glue I used for the baffle plates is getting affected and I have seen some movement. I'm worried about it as I don't have a secondary filtration system. I'm in the process of devising a plan. I've had to move the protein skimmer into the already crowded tank. And the fuge hood needs some work so it's light hasn't been on and thus affecting pH without the caulerpa being able to do it's thing. Gah!

In the meantime here are some pics....

These are my two turbo snails
http/i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/ep...008_04_08-g.jpg

This is Spike, he's very shy!
http/i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/ep...008_04_08-d.jpg

My first attempt at feeding a brain coral... It sorta worked.
http/i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/ep...008_04_08-b.jpg

My zoa frag
http/i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/ep...008_04_08-f.jpg

An overall of the tank as it stands.. sorta
http/i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/ep...008_04_08-c.jpg

 

[cuticom]

Looking good, I'm using the same tank to start up a nano. Just curious your sump, is that that strange bowfront tank you get from Big W? Just without its hood?

 

[Troppo]

Looking good, I'm using the same tank to start up a nano. Just curious your sump, is that that strange bowfront tank you get from Big W? Just without its hood?

Hahaha, yes it is. That was our first fish tank with a few goldfish. Come a long way since then but I'm happy I found some use for it!
Speaking of which, I haven't had the hood on it since the weekend due to maintenance and I'm thinking that it might be a reason why the banggai is stressed. Maybe because the caulerpa can't do it's job and subsequently the pH is decreasing overnight. That possible? Because I got home yesterday and he looked lively but again this morning he was pale and listless.