New to saltwater- New tank setup

[Iamjeff6]

Well after setting up a freshwater tank my daughter saw a clownfish at the store and said she wanted a nemo fish.. so I did what every sensible dad does... throw a chunk of money at setting up a saltwater tank for her

here is my fluval 13.5

started it up on Saturday

Running-

AI Prime 16HD
Intank media basket with floss, chemipure blue and purigen.
Marine pure spheres in chamber 2
Koralia nano power head (will be here tomorrow)
Live rock and live sand

only problem so far seems to be a ton of evaporation- today I think I topped off with 4 cups of RODI (is that much normal)

Look forward to the cycle finishing and getting some fish and corals.

 

[Rollman]

Welcome aboard. Nice set-up .

 

[CuzzA]

Well after setting up a freshwater tank my daughter saw a clownfish at the store and said she wanted a nemo fish.. so I did what every sensible dad does... throw a chunk of money at setting up a saltwater tank for her

here is my fluval 13.5

started it up on Saturday

Running-

AI Prime 16HD
Intank media basket with floss, chemipure blue and purigen.
Marine pure spheres in chamber 2
Koralia nano power head (will be here tomorrow)
Live rock and live sand

only problem so far seems to be a ton of evaporation- today I think I topped off with 4 cups of RODI (is that much normal)

Look forward to the cycle finishing and getting some fish and corals.

Looks good. Evaporation is what it is, unless you're going to put a lid on the tank. But topping off comes with the benefit that you can put kalk in to dose your tank should the need arise.

You have a few options. Keep adding by hand. Setup an unsightly bottle and gravity feed it from a rim mount. Or buy an ATO and hide the reservoir.

Bottle mount.

There are various ATO systems available to choose from. Any should work well.

Finally, I will add that a lot of new reefers put in "beginner" corals and later come to regret it. This is a small manageable system, but research everything and if you hear others mention it "grows like a weed, invasive, help it's taking over", best to leave it out of the tank. Zoanthids, ricordeas, acans and perhaps later on a bubble tip nem for the clown are corals I would stick to in a nano for your first tank.

Good luck.

 

[Iamjeff6]

Looks good. Evaporation is what it is, unless you're going to put a lid on the tank. But topping off comes with the benefit that you can put kalk in to dose your tank should the need arise.

You have a few options. Keep adding by hand. Setup an unsightly bottle and gravity feed it from a rim mount. Or buy an ATO and hide the reservoir.

Bottle mount.

There are various ATO systems available to choose from. Any should work well.

Finally, I will add that a lot of new reefers put in "beginner" corals and later come to regret it. This is a small manageable system, but research everything and if you hear others mention it "grows like a weed, invasive, help it's taking over", best to leave it out of the tank. Zoanthids, ricordeas, acans and perhaps later on a bubble tip nem for the clown are corals I would stick to in a nano for your first tank.

Good luck.

Got a AutoAqua Smart ATO loaded up in my cart, just waiting to pull the trigger.

Awesomw, thanks for the advice. I’m the type that reads a ton before I decide on something so I’ll def do that when it’s tile for corals.

 

[Iamjeff6]

So I saw this in the tank on my live rock.. hard to get a pic of it.

being new to this not sure exactly what it is

 

[kidrobotny]

looking good so far

 

[El_Guapo13]

So I saw this in the tank on my live rock.. hard to get a pic of it.

being new to this not sure exactly what it is

Aiptasia anemone. Pest. Will cause harm to coral, fish, and anything else living in your tank. Spreads quickly.

There are a few methods to deal with this. You can use a product like Aiptasia-X to kill them, just nake sure to get the solution into its mouth. I have also heard that squirting lemon juice on them would kill them, although I have no experience with this myself.

If your tank was fully cycled, which using live roc and sand definitely helps speed up the cycling process, then you could always add certain livestock that eat Aiptasia. One would be Peppermint Shrimp, although you will sometimes hear from people of theirs eating some corals as well. If you had a larger tank, and Aiptasia eating Filefish would also be a good choice, but once again I think a 13 gallon tank would be too small to house one permanently. The best Aiptasia eating creature though, is the Berghia Nudibranch as it ONLY eats Aiptasia. Which of course means they will die out if there are no more Aiptasia anemones in the system.

 

[El_Guapo13]

Aiptasia anemone. Pest. Will cause harm to coral, fish, and anything else living in your tank. Spreads quickly.

There are a few methods to deal with this. You can use a product like Aiptasia-X to kill them, just nake sure to get the solution into its mouth. I have also heard that squirting lemon juice on them would kill them, although I have no experience with this myself.

If your tank was fully cycled, which using live roc and sand definitely helps speed up the cycling process, then you could always add certain livestock that eat Aiptasia. One would be Peppermint Shrimp, although you will sometimes hear from people of theirs eating some corals as well. If you had a larger tank, and Aiptasia eating Filefish would also be a good choice, but once again I think a 13 gallon tank would be too small to house one permanently. The best Aiptasia eating creature though, is the Berghia Nudibranch as it ONLY eats Aiptasia. Which of course means they will die out if there are no more Aiptasia anemones in the system.

Red Sea Fish Pharm ARE22231 Aiptasia-X Eliminator Kit for Aquarium, 2oz/60ml

Berghia Nudibranchs : ReefTown, Berghia Nudibranchs for saltwater aquariums | Eliminate and kill Aiptasia Anemones naturally

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reeftown.com

 

[Iamjeff6]

Aiptasia anemone. Pest. Will cause harm to coral, fish, and anything else living in your tank. Spreads quickly.

There are a few methods to deal with this. You can use a product like Aiptasia-X to kill them, just nake sure to get the solution into its mouth. I have also heard that squirting lemon juice on them would kill them, although I have no experience with this myself.

If your tank was fully cycled, which using live roc and sand definitely helps speed up the cycling process, then you could always add certain livestock that eat Aiptasia. One would be Peppermint Shrimp, although you will sometimes hear from people of theirs eating some corals as well. If you had a larger tank, and Aiptasia eating Filefish would also be a good choice, but once again I think a 13 gallon tank would be too small to house one permanently. The best Aiptasia eating creature though, is the Berghia Nudibranch as it ONLY eats Aiptasia. Which of course means they will die out if there are no more Aiptasia anemones in the system.

I pulled the rock last night, found where it went into and covered in superglue. Hopefully that’s the last of him.

 

[El_Guapo13]

I pulled the rock last night, found where it went into and covered in superglue. Hopefully that’s the last of him.

That works too lol. Knew I forgot something.

 

[js_marra]

Welcome to the hobby! I would definitely go with an ATO, especially in a small system where salinity swings happen faster. You will find yourself enjoying the hobby a lot more by not having to top off everyday as well. Personally, during my cycles I do not run any chemical filtration, so no chemi pure or purigen. Reason being is that I just things start off as natural as possible and give good bacteria every chance to colonize without chemicals getting in the way. I have set up a couple nano tanks cycling with just bottled bacteria, live rock and sand, and filter floss. Never failed me, but just my opinion and would save you some cost on media during the cycle. Once I add fish is when I put in some media.

 

[Iamjeff6]

So wondering if im cycled.

18ish lb of live rock and live sand

been running for a week, parameters are as follows- measured with Red Sea kit

ammonia -0
Nitrite- 0
kh- 9 dkh
Nitrate- 10
ph- 8.2
Salinity- 1.023

 

[js_marra]

So wondering if im cycled.

18ish lb of live rock and live sand

been running for a week, parameters are as follows- measured with Red Sea kit

ammonia -0
Nitrite- 0
kh- 9 dkh
Nitrate- 10
ph- 8.2
Salinity- 1.023

did you first see a rise in ammonia or nitrite before they went to 0? If so, you’re probably cycled

 

[Iamjeff6]

did you first see a rise in ammonia or nitrite before they went to 0? If so, you’re probably cycled

first time testing was tonight- kit just came today.

 

[reef lover]

Small tank with live rock might not cycle much.

 

[SCReef'n]

Off to a heck of a start. Best of luck and welcome to R2R

 

[SCReef'n]

Off to a heck of a start. Best of luck and welcome to R2R