My Nano Reef Set-up/diary (upgraded 45g) Step-by-step

[Musho3210]

hmm, well i would have suggested nassarius snails AFTER the fish as the last clean up crew members, mainly because leftover fish food will sustain them, so you are going to have to feed them seeing that they dont eat algae and dont do anything except crawl on glass. Doesnt look like you got them from a good shipper either, he gave a wrong and bad description and he treated them like live rock.... *sigh* well its not your fault at least..... I just wouldnt buy from him/her again.

 

[1entra]

hmm, well i would have suggested nassarius snails AFTER the fish as the last clean up crew members, mainly because leftover fish food will sustain them, so you are going to have to feed them seeing that they dont eat algae and dont do anything except crawl on glass. Doesnt look like you got them from a good shipper either, he gave a wrong and bad description and he treated them like live rock.... *sigh* well its not your fault at least..... I just wouldnt buy from him/her again.

Well thanks for that Musho as I actually thought the seller had packaged them well as they all arrived alive and well but oh well...I suppose you live and learn hey!

Anyways the nassarius seem to be duing really well eating algae both of my rocks and my glass so I'm going to have to disagree with you about them not eating algae!

 

[1entra]

Ive just checked the nitrate levels in my tank and they seem to be at 0.5ppm which I am led to belive is ok right?

Added 2 small red legged hermit crabs and a couple of small frags of coral that I got thrown in for free from the shop!



Also starting to get diatoms growing on my sand bed! Hopfully my hermits and snails will help get rid of it!

 

[1entra]

I went out and bought myself some more CUC earlier on today:

• 1 x Red Leg Hermit Crabs
• 3 x Small Black and White Hermit Crabs
• 2 x Cerith Snails
• 2 x Trochus Snails
• 4 x Astrea Snails (turbo type)
• 1 x Serpent Sea Star

I think this is more than enough for my tank so wont be getting any more snails or hermits unless required!

Also I end up getting a lot of small zoo and polyp frags, most of which were thrown in for free so cant really moan! I have dotted these little frags around the tank on trying to attach/trap between gaps in the LR!



And finally... wait for it... (drum roll) I got myself a NEMO (clownfish) which I added to my main display tank and also a small Green Chromis for my QT tank as they are hardy fish and so should help me maintain the nitrifying bacteria as I am using a mature sponge filter!





As soon as all the above CUC were added they went straight to work and joined my previous snails in cleaning up the tank by eating the diatoms and other algaes on the sand, rocks and glass!

 

[1entra]

Both the clownfish and the green chromis seem to be doing well in their tanks, I fed them frozen marine mix earlier and the clown must have been very hungery as he ate non stop! The chromis didn't seem as keen but still ate a bit!

Most of the small frags seem to have opended which I'm assuming shows they are happy along with signs of good water quality. Will test my params tommorrow to make sure as I have been too busy with work and eveyrthing to have done so today!





Also all my CUC crew has been at it non stop getting rid of all the algae in my tank. Most of the rocks seem to have gone back to original colours! Now I see why they are inded called CLEAN UP CREW!!!

 

[piranha_trader]

Just curious....do you need to manually clean or scrub the tank at all with the presence of the CUC?

 

[1entra]

Just curious....do you need to manually clean or scrub the tank at all with the presence of the CUC?

Yes it is adviced cleaning/scrubbing the front and side glass of the tank as CUC will not always be able to get to all parts of it but they do however reduce the maintainance of the tank in general as it only takes approx 5mins max a day scraping the glass. Other than that the CUC carry out all the rest of the cleaning on both the sand bed and the LR!

 

[1entra]

Just tested my main tank params:

• Temp: 27 Degrees C
• SG: 1.025
• pH: 7.8
• Ammonia: 0ppm
• Nitrite: 0ppm
• Nitrate: 5ppm

I am quite pleased with the results as I thought since it has been over 3days since adding my little Clownfish, the nitrate levels would have rose by now but it even though they has not lowered since I last checked, they have at least remained the same!!

PS. Does anybody know if a Serpant Star is classed as a fish and if so would it add to the bio-load hence bringing down the total number of fish I can keep in my tank?

 

[1entra]

Just tested the water params in my QT tank:

• Temp: 27 Degrees C
• SG: 1.023
• pH: 7.8
• Ammonia: 0ppm
• Nitrite: 0ppm
• Nitrate: Between 10-20ppm

Although the Nitrates are a bit high the Green Chromis in my QT tank seems to be doing just fine as it has has a reputation of being a hardy fish, and is also feeding well, as everytime I open the lid it rushed towards the water surface looking to be fed!



I had added a 2kg piece of ocean rock in the tank for cover so the Chromis has something to hide behind and so it feels a bit more secure!

 

[robbhp]

not a set in stone rule but i due believe that they do better in groups/ pairs, great fish though .


rob

 

[1entra]

not a set in stone rule but i due believe that they do better in groups/ pairs, great fish though .

rob

thanks for that rob but are you talking about the green chromis? If so then it is recommended that they are kept in large groups/shoals but this is also debateable as they form a pecking order with the lowest ranking often being bullied to death or left to starve! But for a tank my size, 1 is more than enough!

 

[1entra]

Here are a couple of pictures os from of my zoo polyps (I appologise for the poor picture quality but hopefully you can see whats what!):

 

[1entra]

Here are a couple of pics of my ver own Nemo

 

[robbhp]

not a set in stone rule but i due believe that they do better in groups/ pairs, great fish though .

rob

thanks for that rob but are you talking about the green chromis? If so then it is recommended that they are kept in large groups/shoals but this is also debateable as they form a pecking order with the lowest ranking often being bullied to death or left to starve! But for a tank my size, 1 is more than enough!

yea i have heard this too, it is later on in life though. i was reading that they can get up to 10cm in the wild and at this point they turn, and will buly every but the larger fish in the tank. i my self have 8 of them and they dont seem to look at each other, great little fish though .

rob

 

[1entra]

Thanks for the input rob, the green chromis are a hardy little fish that can grow quite a bit bigger in the wild than they do in the aquarium. I would have liked to have had a shoal but I aint got the room for them!

The chromis in my tank is very active and quite fun to watch, it was a lot more shy when I first got it and kept hiding behind the rock, heater and filter etc but now its a bit more bald and it constantly on the move swimming through the whole tank! It is an ideal fish for my Qt tank as it is helping keep the nitrufying bacteria in my sponge filter alive and well and so the tank wont need cycling when I come to add my next fish!