New Setup w/ Pics

Rybka · Jan 25, 2019

Hey Guys

I think I'm nearly ready to fill up...

Please please advise me with any thing you may see as this will be my first Marine Set up, finally took the plunge from Freshwater

Have an aqua one mini reef 90 (45cm cube), from the original bits and pieces the only thing I kept stock was the heater (And that's only until my other one from Amazon arrives) .

Salt to use - RS Coral Pro

Upgrades

Lighting - Ai Prime w/ arm
BM - c3.5 Skimmer
Jebao Wave Maker WP-10
Ehiem Compact 2000 (RP)
Aqua one 150w heater (Replacing soon)
Tunze 3152 ATO
Small Fan to cool water (we live in the land down under so we get temps)
Small breeding enclosure for Chaeto in right side of sump (possibly may put some LR in there if I feel like it
Small LED light for Chaeto

hdsoftail1065 · Jan 25, 2019

Nice cube, following!

nautical_nathaniel · Jan 25, 2019

Great setup, so nice and clean and organized!

Waters · Jan 25, 2019

Don't you wish it stayed that clean all the time

I love the look of all that brand new equipment....so hard getting it all dirty lol.

Matt Carden · Jan 25, 2019

Welcome to R2R! Nice build

Captain Quint · Jan 25, 2019

Welcome to R2R and what a beautiful, sleek and clean looking system.

You have chosen wisely.

Please keep the pics coming.

~Cheers~

SPR1968 · Jan 25, 2019

That’s a beautiful cube tank, and spotless!

And welcome to R2R it’s great to have you with us!

xaflatoonx · Jan 25, 2019

Beautiful tank.
What are you doing about sand and rock?

Welcome to R2R

saintsreturn · Jan 25, 2019

Welcome to the site! Looks good so far, just time to start the cycle

Not going to be much help on stocking, so good luck with that

Rybka · Jan 25, 2019

xaflatoonx said:
Beautiful tank.
What are you doing about sand and rock?

Welcome to R2R

Rock, using Caribsea Shapes, going to make a nice shape, as for sand will also use Red Sea Pink - i think its 0.5-1.5. So far caribsea comes in a 9kg box and a 18kg box... which means I'm still short a few kg (As I bought the 9kg pack), pretty much the package is being delivered as we speak, I will create my shape and then go to some LFS and pick out some more dry rock..to add to the shape Or a separate part of the tank if I want to add some 'fast' growing corals.

After this period I will try cycling with the red sea mature start up, never used this method (usually in fresh water I use DR Tims ammonia and let the bacteria do its work...

One question I have... I haven't tested the tank for leaks etc.... I'm about to start filling up with my RO water but takes time (obviously), should I take the risk and mix the salt before I fill up OR should I fill up with the water and then add salt in the tank? I'm just not sure how well its going to mix and if it does how long it will take?

As for pics will continue to add as it progresses...

Captain Quint · Jan 26, 2019

Rybka said:
........................................
One question I have... I haven't tested the tank for leaks etc.... I'm about to start filling up with my RO water but takes time (obviously), should I take the risk and mix the salt before I fill up OR should I fill up with the water and then add salt in the tank? I'm just not sure how well its going to mix and if it does how long it will take?

As for pics will continue to add as it progresses...

I might be too late in answering this as I had a busy evening yesterday after this post. I would either use tap for a leak test and then simply wipe it down after your leak test.

It seems to be best to mix your RODI fresh with your salt in a container(s) versus mixing in the tank itself.

Rybka · Jan 29, 2019

Okie.. added rock and water (rock I'm still moving around I really don't like the wave maker in view so will try play around)

4

Captain Quint said:
I might be too late in answering this as I had a busy evening yesterday after this post. I would either use tap for a leak test and then simply wipe it down after your leak test.

It seems to be best to mix your RODI fresh with your salt in a container(s) versus mixing in the tank itself.

Captain Quint · Jan 29, 2019

Looks really nice and thanks for sharing.

Ronny Bello · Jan 29, 2019

Looks good I set up a poor man's reef tank built my sump. But hey it works. After I got parameters to where I needed to have I got 2 of these little guys. Happy reefing

Rybka · Feb 4, 2019

**UPDATE**

Day 8 of cycling. Using REEF MATURE KIT, its advising me to add the CUC (AT day 10), however as I'm using Dr Saxby's Signature for AI lighting, its eliminating most of the red/green wavelengths which in turn reduces algae production. Now please see the pictures attached, however I do not see any algae whatsoever so I'm reluctant to introduce CUC , as I'm afraid that they will starve.
Params are on track and I already have NITRATE production. Now its advising me to add a HERBIVORE fish at DAY 14, however I have my eye on a pair of snowflake clowns. I have a dilema because I believe its too early to add 2 clowns, even if they are hardy. (and don't really want to 'not' add them at the same time as they are a pair).

So I guess my question is...

Instead of adding a fish at day 14 I'm thinking about adding DR TIMs Ammonia to 'increase ammonia / ammonia breakdown' and then adding the 2 clowns at day 22? If so not sure how much ammonia to add (i.e. maybe 2ppm worth per couple of days?)

OR

Should I add a herbivore fish (maybe a tailspot blenny) and then add clowns at day 22?

Also anyone have any idea where to move the 'wave' maker to make it less 'physically' visible? eventually hopefully there will be some LPS to cover it, but for now...

Brandon787878 · Feb 5, 2019

Rybka said:
**UPDATE**

Day 8 of cycling. Using REEF MATURE KIT, its advising me to add the CUC (AT day 10), however as I'm using Dr Saxby's Signature for AI lighting, its eliminating most of the red/green wavelengths which in turn reduces algae production. Now please see the pictures attached, however I do not see any algae whatsoever so I'm reluctant to introduce CUC , as I'm afraid that they will starve.
Params are on track and I already have NITRATE production. Now its advising me to add a HERBIVORE fish at DAY 14, however I have my eye on a pair of snowflake clowns. I have a dilema because I believe its too early to add 2 clowns, even if they are hardy. (and don't really want to 'not' add them at the same time as they are a pair).

So I guess my question is...

Instead of adding a fish at day 14 I'm thinking about adding DR TIMs Ammonia to 'increase ammonia / ammonia breakdown' and then adding the 2 clowns at day 22? If so not sure how much ammonia to add (i.e. maybe 2ppm worth per couple of days?)

OR

Should I add a herbivore fish (maybe a tailspot blenny) and then add clowns at day 22?

Also anyone have any idea where to move the 'wave' maker to make it less 'physically' visible? eventually hopefully there will be some LPS to cover it, but for now...

When I first setup my tank I used Dr Tims and let it cycle for 7 days with no lights on. I added my fish to the tank on day 8. I added 3 chromis and 2 clowns. I had nk problems with ammonia or my fish looking sick. I still had my lights off at this point.

I hadn't added anything to the tank for 2 weeks after that. Which was coral frags. Then I had turned my lights on.

2 weeks after that I had gotten a coral beauty and a purple fish. Keep forgetting the name.

3 months after I added a clean up crew. My tank looks healthy and I've had no issues so far. Purchased the tank used as well. You want the fish to up your load of waste to get those nitrates started. No point in adding CUC when you can clean the tank with siphon and a glass cleaner until the tank really starts getting dirty.

Jmo.

Marekp · Feb 5, 2019

Thats a nice setup cant wait to see what you put in there! good luck

Rybka · Feb 14, 2019

**Update**

Equipment:
Skimmer - BM c3.5 (just broken in finally as you can see by pics)

Ehiem Compact 2000+ (may go up to 3000 if I want to do advanced SPS later down the track)

Lighting - Ai Prime w/ arm (Using DR SAXBY light schedule)

Jebao Wave Maker WP-10

Aqua one 150w heater (Replacing soon)

Tunze 3152 ATO *** REPLACED*** (Was already jamming up and wouldn't fill up properly so I replaced it with the AUTOAQUA Smart ATO (micro), really good has an optical sensor and works well.

Small Fan to cool water (we live in the land down under so we get temps), temporary added a second COMPUTER fan as had some heat waves and was a 'just' in case method (will remove or fix in properly later)

Inkbird ITC-308 for TEMPERATURE Control, seems to be working well

Small breeding enclosure for Chaeto in right side of sump (possibly may put some LR in there if I feel like it
*Updated* Chaeto is in (have nitrates already with cycle, reef mature pro by RS), also added DR Tims Ammonia so Nitrates are slightly higher than usual. Will also add some copepods into there (Also into DP before fishies get in)

Also added some MarinePure Balls in there, for bacteria, I may put in a tiny pump in there to increase flow down the track (necessary??)

Small LED light for Chaeto,

**Livestock**

1 Turbo Snail and 1 Strom Snail (I throw in some seaweed for them for now everynow and then, however they seem happy eating up whatever algae I do get.

Cycling is nearly done

Day16
Ammonia already at 0
Nitrite at 0.25
Nitrate at 20-30ish

Ordered some snowflake clowns (pair) for my first fish once cycling is done. Planning to add soft corals (probably a mix of nice zoa's) and then LPS, progressing onto SPS.

For a nano tank like this (Don't want to mix Kalk with ATO), whats the best way to dose kalk? Small doser set maybe OR simply manually for now? One thing I noticed is that I seem to be loosing around 0.3-0.5DKH of Alkalinity daily without any corals etc... is this normal? I'm guessing coraline is growing however not sure if this is a normal amount?