Nano Build

DawgDiggity · Feb 12, 2016

So I have been out of the hobby for 5 years and after buying a giftcard for my buddy's daughter at Aquatic Critter I have decided to pull a dusty 24g nano out of the recesses. Here is my setup:

All Cleaned Up on January 23

The tank has only been cycling since February 3rd.

Light came in late yesterday and I installed last night. This was a $100 LED non-programmable, manual dimmer from Amazon with 76 reviews 91% 5&4 star. Will let you know how it goes. This is the new location for the tank. Plan to move this weekend.

My fuge! Did some searching and was able to find a perfect fit for less than $30!

Temporary setup before the move.

Macro-algae and some cool barnacles came in today!

I added live rock earlier this week and also BIO-Spira (Great reviews). Added the BIO-Spira and turned off the skimmer for 48hours. Skimmer has been back on for a couple of days now (foaming with lots of milky liquid needing to be dumped about every 6 hours; back to normal tonight) - my parameters as of last night:

PH 8.3
Alk 6.5
Nitrite 0.15
Nitrate 4
Ammonia 0.1
Temp 78.3 (Adding the hang-on fuge dropped the temp of the tank by almost a full degree, back up to 78.8)

kimba · Feb 12, 2016

Nice. What do you plan on putting in it?

DawgDiggity · Feb 12, 2016

A family of gobies. I'm not a big fan of the popular ocellaris (just cause they are so popular) but may get a pair. Any other suggestions on nano fish?

I also want to keep some cool acans. Is the tank too shallow to keep sps? I am assuming they would require higher intensity light and the lack of depth may not be enough shade for the acans?

Defective_Weeble · Feb 12, 2016

DawgDiggity said:
A family of gobies. I'm not a big fan of the popular ocellaris (just cause they are so popular) but may get a pair. Any other suggestions on nano fish?

I also want to keep some cool acans. Is the tank too shallow to keep sps? I am assuming they would require higher intensity light and the lack of depth may not be enough shade for the acans?

Put the acans out to the edge and they should be fine. There's a great list of nano fish here.

fishdoc11 · Feb 12, 2016

If you aren't a big clown fan you might want to think twice about adding a pair. They could very well take over the tank and make it impossible to add other peaceful fish. They might work out fine they might not.
You can keep SPS fine in that tank if you have the lighting for them. Finding the right lighting for the Acans AND the SPS might be a little of a trick but you can certainly do it.

Salty1962 · Feb 12, 2016

Looking good! Watchman gobies w/shrimp are always cool in a nano.

fishdoc11 · Feb 12, 2016

Just saw the light you are using. You can definitely grow and keep SPS with the inexpensive Chinese LEDs. You will want to start with the blue and white turned down very low. For example on my current tank I have my blue at around 17% and my white around 10% and this is on a JBJ 30 gallon.

DawgDiggity · Feb 13, 2016

Defective_Weeble said:
There's a great list of nano fish here.

Great Link - That is a huge list! Added wheeler's shrimp goby and green banded goby to the wishlist

fishdoc11 said:
You will want to start with the blue and white turned down very low

Great advice Fishdoc! The amount of light that comes out of this fixture is insane. I am glad you gave me the suggestion. I was thinking of running blues around 20% for a day or two and slowing bring up the whites to 20-25%. I will keep much lower.

DawgDiggity · Feb 18, 2016

Tank is setup in permanent location in the office. I know I have jumped the gun a bit but after having a .1 then 0.0 reading on ammonia I added a few fish. 2) 3 stripe damsels and 1) engineer goby.
February 15th
PH 8.3
Ammonia 0
Nitrite .05
Nitrate 6
KH 10
Temp 79.9

Fish added 2/16 with first feeding

February 18th
PH 8.1
Ammonia .3 (?)
Nitrite .05
Nitrate 8
KH 10
Temp 78.1
Salinity 1.023

I have a sponge filter with a carbon mat filter just above it. Welcome suggests.

Defective_Weeble · Feb 18, 2016

Two choices. Let the fish ride out the cycle, or pick up some Dr Tim's (or Bio Spira) to add the good nitrifying bacteria that you need.

bknapp · Feb 21, 2016

You might want to consider bumping your salinity up to 1.025 especially once you start adding coral.

DawgDiggity · Feb 21, 2016

The salinity levels are back up where they need to be. I think the RO salt water from ACritter is at 1.023. Don't have a refractor at the moment to verify.
I've got half a bottle of Bio Spira left from first dose of tank when I added sand and live rock. Miracle mud came in today for the fuge and have added the second half of the bottle to the mud and am on the 48 hour wait for the BS to do its work on the mud. Diatoms and algae have arrived will have some new pics of tank when all that is cleaned up.
I installed a Smart ATO micro and was very disappointed with the vacuum brake design. What I need is a check valve not a vac break with my setup. Ended up with a gallon of water on the carpet and DT water in my ATO top-off supply just in the test. Hopefully a 3/8" push connect check valve will work...
Damsels and goby look happy! Damsels were very shy and would dart behind rocks when I walked up to the tank the first couple of days. They know who feeds them now and will come up to the front of the tank and stare right back at me today.

Here are some pics of my old tank:

[/URL][/IMG]

bknapp · Feb 21, 2016

Very nice sun coral, having any feeding success?

DawgDiggity · Feb 22, 2016

I was. I saved the sun coral from a very nasty 24 nano and it came back to life, several polyps regenerating and new polyps growing - then I broke down the tank. Just getting back into the game with the nano