Thanks Every One For There Advice

[john.o]

Just like to say thanks to every one for there advice.

I got my d&d 24G nano today I have made the holes for cables at the rear of the hood assembly a bit bigger,
Ordered a Hydro koralia nano 1 and a v2 nano skimmer
The tank has been running since dinner time the water is starting to clear now. So far I have seen a star fish about 5mm in size and a crab, the crab is about 15mm like a light brown colour with stripes. And a few other little tiny critters swimming round. I guess these have come in on the living rock and sand. Wonderful stuff
It’s a long time since I use to keep marine fish so I am a little rusty {17 years } things have changed a lot. (LIVING ROCK)
You have pc, s now where you can ask you nice people for HELP LOL
{Any advice is much appreciated on the matenense of the living rock as it is new to me and I no very little about it} any other tips or advice on nano tank keeping would also be very much appreciated

THANKS

 

[BigC]

Hi John,
Youve kept marines before so you probably know a great deal more than me. You'll need to aquascape the rock with an open structure so as your powerheads can get a good flow over and around it and not form any dead spots.When I got my rock, I think it was cured because it did not smell too bad out of water. I did have a lot of die off on the rock and I was testing for quite some time. First I was testing for Ammonia and I was getting very high levels of this (almost off the testing scale) Once the Ammonia dropped to zero then I began testing for Nitrite this peaked for around one week and then it fell away to zero now it was time for a massive waterchange (50%) After which I tested for Nitrates. If that reading comes in below 10 then its time for the cleanup crew. Make this as varied as possible. I employed hermit crabs, cerith snails, nassarius snails & astrea snails. By this time you will notice diatomic algae forming on the gravel and rocks followed by hair algae and so on. Dont panic these are all part of a process and it takes a fairly long time to get on top of, but eventually it will come right. I would also advise using a phosphate binding agent such as Rowaphos to help eliminate phosphate which contributes to the algal blooms.
Take a look at the journals and reap all the info you can from them. Keep asking questions, there are a good bunch of educated people down here, well versed in this field and will provide you with all the guidance you'll need.
Well good luck with your new tank and be prepared for many ups and downs ahead.
Regards
BigC

 

[sbreydin]

Hi John

Good luck with the new nano.

I too am a newbie just slightly further down the cycling process than you. As BigC said dont be afraid to ask for help. There are some people on this site who really know there stuff and are all to happy to share this info with you if needed.

I dont like to call the trails we go through for this hobby ups and downs. The downs are the learning curves we all have to go through to further our knowledge. The ups are when we are reminded its all worth it in the end!!!!

All the best

Steve