My New Nano Cube

[nano man]

I've had a 40g FW tank for a while now, and I decided to get into saltwater to. After researching for some time I decided to get a 24g nano cube made by JBJ. So today I finally went to my local store and bough my new nano along with the other supplies I would need (salt, sand, etc.) I also bought RO water from my supermarket. So now I have my cube all nice and set up with the sand and mixed water in the tank and I am currently waiting for the debris from the sand to settle (I went with a more course argonite sand). Tommorow I will be heading back to the fish store to get my uncured LR (they are getting a new shipment in ). I will be posting the progress of my new tank in this thread, I would also greatly appreciate any helpful advice, I am new to saltwater, but I have done alot of research. Tommorow I'll try and get pics up of my tank with the new LR, so unitl then .

 

[crazyelece]

So far all sounds good. Only suggestion I have is to make sure your rock is firmly seated and not just placed on top of the sand as future live stock can burrow around and under the rock and make it tumble.

 

[nano man]

I'll be sure to make sure of that, speaking of sand, I forgot to mention I'm also going to be getting a small amount of sand from one of my stores tanks to help jump start my bio filter.

 

[SkiFletch]

Thats cool, but he LR will do way more starting than the sand ever could

I agree with crazyelece, make SURE you get the rocks down to the glass when you set them up, cause they invariably will cllapse on you over time if they're just resting on bare sand

Btw, and cant wait to see pics

 

[nano man]

Well I'm back from the store and I have my liverock set up in my tank. I am very pleased with the rock I got, I was the first one there waiting for the new shipment so I was able to view each piece before it was placed in their holding tank (it was a very large order to). I got 20lbs of rock, most of it being very porous, and it is covered in several colors of coroline algea. On one of my pieces there are three small bunches of white branchy coral, I expect it to be dead, but it would very very cool if it ended up growing. I'll update later wiht pics once the water clears.

 

[nano man]

I've been a little busy lately, but I finally got s few pics. The water is a little cloudy from some re-aquascaping and my camera has a hard time focusing up close so they're definatly not the best pics, but they'll do for now.

Full tank shot

I don't know if you can tell, but on the right side there are two large pieces of LR one in front of the other.

That white coral I mentioned

another branchy coral on top of one of my rocks

So what do you thing so far? Its been up for a total of 5 days now and seems to be coming along nicely. I havn't spotted any hitchikers yet, could anyone tell me when they usually begin to appear?

 

[crazyelece]

usually after the cycle is starting to end or fully over. The white coral looks like a dead stony. Looks like a SPS skeleton. Can't tell on the other.

The rock work is nice, is that rock at the top epoxied or just resting on the other two below it? A curious snail or crab may topple it if it is just resting. Looks good though.

 

[nano man]

Well I actually had my first hitchiker appear today. It it a brown worm coming out the top of one of my rocks (looks like a stationary creature), I also noticed what looks like the head of another one still hiding in the rock right next to the first one. I'll get a pic of in a little bit, but for now I'm off to try and identify it.

 

[steelhealr]

Sounds like possible bristle worms. Make sure you have enough room for a magfloat or scraper to fit between the LR and the glass or you'll end up with opaque blindspots from coralline. Resist the urge to put in fish or corals. After cycling you can go with fish, but, I highly advise you to be patient for several weeks to months before you add your first coral. Welcome aboard. SH

 

[nano man]

I'm pretty sure its not a bristleworm because it doesn't have any of the features of a bristle worm other than being a worm (no brisles, body is the wrong shape, etc.) I've checked several hitchhikers resources, and still no identity.

I'm giving my tank plenty of time to cycle before I add my first livestock. Its already been up for 6 days and I' going on a 1 week vacation in a little while, so I plan on adding my first fish upon my return providing the water paramaters are correct and the tank has completed cycling.

EDIT: pic of mysterious worm

 

[nano man]

Another thing I want to do is the DIY fuge in one of the back chambers. I would do it in the 2nd chamber, but I have the tank up against a wall (should've thought of this earlier) and I obviously can't move it forward, so I'll have to have the light on one of the sides. I think I'll make it in the first chamber because I don't want it doing anything to the pump. I plan on keeping cheato and some LR rubble in the fuge. Anyone know what light I should use and where I can get one?

Edit: need some help. There appears to be a clear mucus like layer of something over most of my coroline algea. I have no idea what it is, anyone have any ideas?

 

[nano man]

Well I'm back from my weeks vacation, and most of my tank is covered in diatoms, so it was off to the lf's for a cleaning crew. I got 2 zebra hermits, 2 red hermits, 1 emerald crab, 1 cerith snail, 2 nassarius snails, 1 bumble bee snail, and 1 nerite snail. I forgot to check if they had astrea snails, which I want to get 2 of and possibly some more nerite snails. We'll see how things go, and I'll update again tommorow .

Edit: after re-reading part of steelhealr's nano thread (incredible thread) I have decided to get 5 astrea snails to help with the diatoms, and a few more nassarius snails to. Tommorow its back to the lf's for more snails.

 

[SkiFletch]

I'm actually not a fan of astreas... They're great crew members, but they tend to fall over upsideown and cant right themselves. Then they die and get consumed by hermits . I'd go with more cerith snails if I were you

 

[maidenfan]

and i know all about that

 

[nano man]

Well I got 2 astrea snails and 2 black turbos (reccomended be lf for diatoms). All seems to be going smoothly, except one of the astreas is stuck on a turbo's shell and refuses to get off, he crawled on there right after I introduced them to the tank. I'll see if he is still on there later.