My New Nano

[seb_negrete]

i'm in the process of starting up a nano reef tank. been putting together the equipment i need bit by bit over the summer.
it's my first salt water. my other tank is a 37 gallon planted new world cichlid.
the tank is 27 gallons (30x12x18). i'm using 2 coralife double linear strip T5s with actinics for lighting. (only one of the fixtures is in the following pictures because i lent the other to a friend).
i mixed up the salt water 2 weeks ago for the first time and put the pre-cured brazilian live rock in 1 week ago. the cycle is well underway (very high nitrite levels yesterday, haven't tested nitrate yet).
i had the lights on for 5 hours/day for the last week and now i've upped it to 8.
i'm very happy with the live rock i picked up. i've got lots of caves and crevaces and tons of places to securely anchor corals.
i'm thinking that in a week or 2, i'll be able to put in my clean-up crew and maybe my first fish. i plan on waiting a while longer to start doing corals but i plan on sticking to softies and leathers and other not very demanding things.
i'm not in any big rush because the tank is at my apartment dowtown where i'm only spending a couple of nights a week until mid-august when i go back to school so i need everything to stay very low maintenance until then.
so here's a couple of pics:

any input/suggestions welcome as i'm still a total newbie with this.

Seb

 

[AQUAKING]

Your tank is very nice. Sorry i cant give any infomation as i am only planning my first marine tank now. Good luck anyway i hope you saltwater quest goes smooth.

AQUAKING

 

[SkiFletch]

Fish wouldnt be advisable before you move back in fulltime... Otherwise, lookin good so far. Tank will have plenty of time to cycle huh?

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Looking very nice especially that brazilian rock

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Double post

 

[seb_negrete]

Update:

Tank has been running for 2 weeks now and is just about fully cycled: Ammonia = 0, Nitrite = 0, Nitrate = 5.

Lot's of purple coraline algae developing on the live rock. the diatoms are also starting to bloom but i didn't have time to put in a clean up crew so it'll have to wait until next tuesday at the earliest... hopefully things don't get out of hand.

 

[JJ1234567]

love your aquascaping...although looks like you might be lacking a bit in your flow rate? what is the tank volume V flow?

 

[seb_negrete]

it's a bit more than 10X

 

[JJ1234567]

would shoot for closer to 20x personally. You should try the Hydor Flo rotating powerhead attachments, they are really cool and help randomize your flow patterns.

 

[seb_negrete]

yeah. i may well add another powerhead and put one of the powerheads i have in there into my smaller tank i'm using to keep extra water and possibly as a quarantine.

as another note, i added the first members of my cleanup crew this week. 15 turbo snails so far. there were no hermit crabs but i'll pick some up when they get in. the snails really went to work right away. lots of fun to watch actually.

 

[JJ1234567]

one thing i wanted to add after having a bit more experience with the hydor flo, using aquarium silicone to hold it on is much better than counting on luck to hold it on.