James’s 29g Nano Build

[shadow_k]

Yup! That’s my LFS it’s an awesome place.



It takes that long to get 5 gallons of water!?

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I will start off the cycle with dry rock and as much live rock as I can afford. Once I complete the cycle, I will most likely get more live rock, or stoc

Yes for that model it does take a while you can always upgrade to a better one to produce more , but if you buy 4 5 gallon buckets from home depot you can store the freshwater untill you need to use it I have 2 for mixing saltwater and 2 for fresh RO/DI water for my ATO I always keep 10 gallons handy just in case I need to do a 50% water change

 

[rykone]

Yup! That’s my LFS it’s an awesome place.



It takes that long to get 5 gallons of water!?

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I will start off the cycle with dry rock and as much live rock as I can afford. Once I complete the cycle, I will most likely get more live rock, or stock.

Yes it can take that long.
It will depends some with your water temp and pressure. It usually takes me about three hours for four gallons. In the beginning I hooked it up to the bathroom sink, set the bucket in the tub and tucked the waste line in the sink drain. That way if I got distracted my bathroom wasn’t flooded. I ended up spending a little more and now have the unit mounted under my vanity with a tube passed behind to the bucket with an auto shutoff installed. Below is the list of parts I bought to do this, although if you look I think you might be able to find one kit that’ll do it cheaper than what I bought.
This is an adapter for 3/8 mip to 1/4 tube with shut off. I had to buy this separate because the kit I ordered below came with 1/2 mip and my plumbing was 3/8.
This is an auto shutoff. You can buy the floats cheaper by themselves but without the valve the waste water will continue to flow.
I also bought a saddle from brs to connect my waste line into my drain line.
None of this is required for the kit you bought but it definitely makes it more convenient.

 

[James_O]

Once the water travels through the filters, I do not need to use water de chlorinator, correct?

So after it goes through, I just add salt, use the powerhead to mix it, wait 24 hours, then add it to my tank?

 

[shadow_k]

No if your using the RO/DI water just mix with salt let mix for 24 hours since you don’t have any live stock right you can place the water right away but once you get fish and corals you would want to heat the water to tanks temp before changing it

 

[James_O]

Ok good! That removes another thing to think about.

Unit should come in tomorrow!!

 

[shadow_k]

Welcome to the hobby ! Remember to invest in a TDS meter along the way that will tell you when you RO/DI cartridges need to be replaced

 

[James_O]

Thanks! I’ll look into that.

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I saw this person selling a Rose Bubble Tip Anemone, for $30. Would this be worth it?

 

[Brady4000]

Thanks! I’ll look into that.

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I saw this person selling a Rose Bubble Tip Anemone, for $30. Would this be worth it?

That’s about what they go for from a private seller, here in CA. As for caring for them, or how they would do in a new tank, not mine thing. I wouldn’t know.

 

[shadow_k]

Thanks! I’ll look into that.

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I saw this person selling a Rose Bubble Tip Anemone, for $30. Would this be worth it?

I wouldn’t recommend it l bought one and it looked great for a couple months , after that it moved and split I just took the clone out yesterday because it died and started falling apart o had to do an emergency water change because dying anemones can cause spikes in your tank , the mother anemone I have is holding on but I don’t know how long , start with soft corals first , if you want fast growth Xenia, Kenya trees , GSP are fast growers same with zoas, mushrooms and some leathers unless you want an anemone only tank don’t invest untill your tank has gone through all these maturing stages

 

[James_O]

RO system came in! I’m totally clueless on how to set it up though. Any advice?

 

[Brady4000]

RO system came in! I’m totally clueless on how to set it up though. Any advice?

YouTube, not trying to be condescending, I had to YouTube it myself.

 

[James_O]

Had to YouTube it as well, and got it figured out, lol.

It’s doing it’s initial 30 min run right now:

I should have the tank full of RO/DI water by tomorrow!

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Next on my list is live/dry rock. After that - fish!

 

[shadow_k]

What kind of wavemaker did you decide on ?

 

[KingTideCorals]

Love seeing the start to a fresh tank build! Loving this!

Keep us updated through it all!

 

[James_O]

What kind of wavemaker did you decide on ?

Wavemaker? I just have a powerhead.

Love seeing the start to a fresh tank build! Loving this!

Keep us updated through it all!

I may start a new thread for when I actually make progress, so I don't get the same people answering every time. I'll make sure to leave a link if I do!

 

[shadow_k]

My apologies what kind of power head ?

 

[James_O]

My apologies what kind of power head ?

Eh, it's this one:
I didn't know I needed a wave maker? I though the powerhead and the filter would provide enough water movement. :/

 

[shadow_k]

Eh, it's this one:
I didn't know I needed a wave maker? I though the powerhead and the filter would provide enough water movement. :/

I call them wavemakers lol that should be fine if you ever want a cheap upgrade down the line Jebao is a good pump and it’s controlled by a controller

 

[James_O]

I call them wavemakers lol that should be fine if you ever want a cheap upgrade down the line Jebao is a good pump and it’s controlled by a controller

I just got the cheapest one I could find, lol. I do plan to upgrade in the future though.

 

[James_O]

Decided to start using this thread again, hopefully I will get more/different responses.

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Huge update from when I last posted

I added 2x DaVinci Clownfish and 1x Turbo snail:

Turbo snail is hard at work!

I current have an algae issue, but that is to be expected with a new tank.

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Clownfish decided to host under the powerhead, which is... meh. I was hoping they would use the fake nem, but oh well.

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Here is my feeding schedule for the clowns:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday: NLS Marine Pellets (4 each) twice a day
Tuesday, Thursday: Mysis Shrimp (4 each) twice a day

Turbo snail is just happy eating algae. ;Penguin

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Future plans for equipment:

I plan to get this powerhead next:
It has a lot of programming options and is also a lot more sleek than the one I have in there now. I also need one for my tank and one for mixing salt. (I’m using that one for both now)

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Future plans regard livestock: (in order)

1. 2x Scarlet Skunk Shrimp
2. 1x Turbo Snail
3. 1x Royal Gramma
4. 1x Watchman Goby

(I will probably get #1 & #2 at the same time, then wait a week, and get #3)

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Future plans for coral:

No clue. Don’t get me wrong, I really want coral, but I don’t want to jump the gun on this one. As I said above, I have an algae issue, which isn’t really an idea, stage for getting coral.

When I do get my first frag, it will probably be a zoa.

That ^ will probably happen a week or so after I get my SSS

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Thoughts? Suggestions? Please comment!