Nano Sapiens 12g - Ye Olde Mixed Reef

[BoBoBREWSKI]

But with six adult nano sized fish in this tank, it's a challenge.

Besides the 3 fish you posted pics of above, what are the other 3 fish you have in there?
Looks great!

 

[Nano sapiens]

I'm curious, how long did it take for things to fill in?

Since I started out with 'mini-frags', it took quite a while. The idea was to let the corals grow into each other in a more natural way, as opposed to using larger colonies:

They've all been battling for space for years and observing the combat strategies of each coral type has been quite interesting.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Besides the 3 fish you posted pics of above, what are the other 3 fish you have in there?
Looks great!

Thanks. The full compliment:

• Yellowline Cleaner Goby (Elacatinus figaro) - 1
• Green Banded Goby (Tigrigobius multifasciatus) - 2
• Eyebrow Barnacle Blenny (Ekemblemaria myersi) - 2
• Hasselt's Flaphead Goby (Callogobius hasselti) - 1

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Cool! A goby paradise.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Cool! A goby paradise.

Used to be a 'Clownfish Paradise', but they eventually outgrew their accommodations.

 

[Jason boles]

How do you keep gravel from going everywhere and on top of everything when you stir / clean / siphon your sandbed??

I’m new and am very inspired by your take on no filter media. Just finished reading through Teeny’s Buildthread and going to conquer yours on nano reef next.

I wanna try no filtration or tons of dosing, but I also don’t want to limit my selections of things..... I fee so confused. I figure I can always add filtration later....

 

[Nano sapiens]

How do you keep gravel from going everywhere and on top of everything when you stir / clean / siphon your sandbed??

When vacuuming, keep the gravel vac's end close to the bottom. When done, make sure all the sand has left the tube before removing. When turkey basting the sand bed in hard to vacuum areas, simply immerse the end of the baster into the sand and puff away! Simply blow off any sand that gets onto the corals with the baster when done.

When I 'stir' the water column, I create a vortex with my turkey baster some distance above the sand bed. If done right, mostly just the detritus will be kicked up since it's much lighter than the sand.

I’m new and am very inspired by your take on no filter media. Just finished reading through Teeny’s Buildthread and going to conquer yours on nano reef next.

I wanna try no filtration or tons of dosing, but I also don’t want to limit my selections of things..... I fee so confused. I figure I can always add filtration later....

In reef keeping, there are limitations as to what can be kept when the tank size is small. If you want to keep 'everything', you'll need a tank of sufficient size...

'Natural' methods of reef keeping have been around since the 1930s in Indonesia. All the requirements of the commonly kept reef animals can be met with live rock, live sand, correct temp, sufficient light (for photosynthetic animals), sufficient flow and stable chemical parameters within acceptable ranges. Only relatively recently have we seen the plethora of special gadgets, chemicals and various new 'methods' for reef keeping. Reef keeping in any form is not easy when starting out, but IMO it's best to keep things as simple as possible.

 

[Jason boles]

I’m gonna give your way a shot. Low tech, with regular maintenance. I’m starting to read through your build thread on nano reef right now.

I have a couple questions. I have the same pump you have on my 15 gallon and also bought an in tank Tunze (it’s on my build page but I can also look it up, it’s the nano one) for in tank.

I would like to remove it. It would seem your tank doesn’t have a huge whirlwind and it is perfectly great.

Do you think the 210 gph pump will work well on my setup?

I also have a lot of green hair moss growing on the live rock I used to seed the tank.

I’m going to get rid of most it and only save a few pieces for drag islands in the tank. It shouldn’t cause an extra cycle as it’s been in there with the dead rock for 3 weeks and I have dosed extra bacteria and started with live sand (Is my thinking...)

It was also suggested to setup the corals and then add fish later.... I added a tailspin Glenna to help with the algae as reading other threads scared me of hermits...

Should I remove the green carpet of moss from the rock or let it roll?

 

[Nano sapiens]

1. The 210 gph pump can work in a 15g as long as the flow is relatively unobstructed. This is best achieved in a cube shaped tank by having your live rock in the center so that the flow can circulate. The one caveat is that if you decide to add higher flow SPS (acropora), then you might look into a bit more flow velocity.

2. Hair algae is common with new systems as they aren't mature enough to handle the bioload imposed on them. Picking/scrubbing the stuff off outside the tank is beneficial and I did a bit of this when my tank was new. Some suggest using peroxide to help kill it off. Either way, rinse the rock off thoroughly with SW when you are done as you don't want dying/dead material put back into the tank. Lots of coralline will help reduce algae settlement sites. Coral cover will reduce the light reaching the algae and also compete with algae for nutrients (coral are quite efficient and add relatively little waste back into the system). Small CUC species of hermits are good herbivores for small tanks. The only issue I've ever had with them is that they will mob sick/injured snails. They can help a bit to reduce smaller patches of algae, but not so much a massive bloom. Removing their waste pellets via vacuuming is helpful in reducing in tank nutrients. Fish are the #1 cause of high nutrients due to our feeding (most of the eaten food ends up being excreted), so limit your fish during the tank maturation period and then slowly add later on once the system is more mature. Small blennies mostly help reduce film algae, but every little bit helps and they are comical

Main thing to remember is to be patient and keep up with the maintenance. Many of these early stage algae and other organisms are opportunists that should recede once the system stabilizes (as long as nutrient levels are not kept too high).

 

[Jason boles]

Ok. I’ll scoop up some little hermits at the LFS. How long do you think before I add some corals?

I made my structure to where it occupies the middle only and has space and flow all around

 

[Nano sapiens]

Ok. I’ll scoop up some little hermits at the LFS. How long do you think before I add some corals?

I made my structure to where it occupies the middle only and has space and flow all around

If your tank has cycled fully and parameters are good/stable, you can try a hardy coral or two and see how it goes.

 

[ramona]

I also read your thread on nano-reef multiple times as I am starting my 9 gallon eheim cube. It is my go-to thread to find my answers.

I have rocks from LFS and CC in with IO salt going on for 5 weeks with ambient light only. Regarding cucs, what would you add? would 5 small blue leg hermit crabs and one Hairy Chitons (from kpaquatics) be too much? If snails, what kind?

Thanks a lot for help

 

[Nano sapiens]

I also read your thread on nano-reef multiple times as I am starting my 9 gallon eheim cube. It is my go-to thread to find my answers.

I have rocks from LFS and CC in with IO salt going on for 5 weeks with ambient light only. Regarding cucs, what would you add? would 5 small blue leg hermit crabs and one Hairy Chitons (from kpaquatics) be too much? If snails, what kind?

Thanks a lot for help

Hermits and snails can work, but don't be surprised if the hermits consume a snail or two. This usually happens when there aren't enough suitable snail shells lying about for the hermits to use or when a snail is sick or injured. If you keep up with cleaning your glass regularly, then the snails are optional (maybe one or two in your small tank would suffice if you want to try them). If you see any die, remove them immediately as they cause a lot of pollution as they decay. Two or three 1" hermits would be acceptable in a new tank and I've found that different species put together tend to do better than all the same type (less fighting, especially if the species are very different in size since they won't be fighting over the same sized shells).

 

[Jason boles]

I made it all the way through your build thread!!!! Purchased my water bottle today.

I have a few questions... first one is would you rather me ask questions on my build thread and tag you?? I’ll be updating soon as changes have finally happened.

2. Did you create your acan garden by glueing them to a larger rock on the sand bed or just placing them close on the sand bed?

3. I know I need to look deeper into kalkwasser, but did you just continuously check calcium levels to know that you needed it? I’m assuming like everything calcium should stay stable.

Should I be testing daily??

I have acquired your cleaning habits and schedule!!

I’ll leave the rest till another time. I appreciate what you have brought to the hobby and specifically me!!

 

[Nano sapiens]

I made it all the way through your build thread!!!! Purchased my water bottle today.

I have a few questions... first one is would you rather me ask questions on my build thread and tag you?? I’ll be updating soon as changes have finally happened.

2. Did you create your acan garden by glueing them to a larger rock on the sand bed or just placing them close on the sand bed?

3. I know I need to look deeper into kalkwasser, but did you just continuously check calcium levels to know that you needed it? I’m assuming like everything calcium should stay stable.

Should I be testing daily??

I have acquired your cleaning habits and schedule!!

I’ll leave the rest till another time. I appreciate what you have brought to the hobby and specifically me!!

You can tag me on your build thread or even PM me if you have a question.

I just glued the Acan bases to a live rock.

Once you know how much Kalkwasser you need to maintain alkalinity (alkalinity is the one you should check regularly, every day at the same time is a good idea until you know for sure that it's stable day-to-day), calcium should stay stable. Kalkwasser is what's know as a 'balanced' supplement since alkalinity and calcium are supplied in the proper ratios that are used by calcareous skeleton builders like coral. Having said that, calcium does tend to rise very slowly when Kalkwasser is used (usually over many months time). I check calcium only once or twice a month, but in a less mature system I'd check it every week. Magnesium is the third one that needs attention and this one tends to decrease rather slowly over time unless you have a lot of coralline algae growth which will casue it to deplete much faster. I check this once a month or so in my very mature tank.

When cleaning any system regularly, just watch the corals for lightening from their typical coloration as it could mean you don't have enough nutrients. In such a case (if it occurs), you can relax the cleaning a bit and/or just feed the tank a little more. Much of reef keeping is about observation and understanding why organisms react the way they do.

 

[Jason boles]

Do you just dose iodine without testing?? How do you know how much, and what is it for?

 

[Nano sapiens]

Do you just dose iodine without testing?? How do you know how much, and what is it for?

Iodine addition is one of those older methods that comes from the early days of reef keeping. Scientifically, what we do know is that iodine is used/depleted from a system, it has antibiotic properties and it helps crustaceans to molt successfully.

Modern reef keeping says that if you do frequent water changes that iodine will be replenished, so adding it is not necessary. This can be true, but also depends on the rate of uptake of iodine by the inhabitants which can be different for each individual system. Testing for iodine is complicated/difficult as there are multiple iodine 'species' in seawater and any of the typical commercially available test kits won't test for most of them, so I'd suggest forgoing the test kits (ICP-OES testing will give you a more accurate idea of iodine levels if you are really interested).

Scientifically unsubstantiated anecdotal accounts over the decades have indicated that keeping iodine at sea water levels (or slightly above) is beneficial for many organisms, but especially mushroom corals. I have a lot of these so I add a few drops of Kent iodine every week as an 'insurance policy' of sorts that a sufficient amount of iodine will be available in the system.

 

[Jason boles]

If my Calcium level is staying steady, should I wait until it starts dropping to dose Kalk??

I have only had corals in the tank for a week and half. So far my Ca hasn’t budged....

 

[Nano sapiens]

If my Calcium level is staying steady, should I wait until it starts dropping to dose Kalk??

I have only had corals in the tank for a week and half. So far my Ca hasn’t budged....

If you keep alkalinity steady, then calcium will also stay steady. Remember, kalkwasser is a balanced supplement with a fixed alkalinity/calcium ratio that corals just happen to use up in that same ratio.

Google: 'kalkwasser randy holmes-farley' and read his articles for a better understanding of kalkwasser and how to use it.

To recap, check alkalinity a few times a week at the same time each day, and if it drops, gradually increase your ratio of kalkwasser to RO in your ATO until it is stable day-to-day.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Holiday Season FTS Update:

System is still going along rather well. Down to four old fish (lost a large female Eyebrow Barnacle Blenny recently due to being egg bound). Corals all doing their best to take over the tank, as usual