My 20g nano (New build by a newb)

[SK360]

Staring at rocks today and noticed some little flea sized bugs crawling on them. First signs of life, assuming pods.

 

[SK360]

Picked up an AC30 tonight
Wasn't planning on running a HOB but noticed we had some dog/cat hair and dust gathering in the tank... Decided I should have something to pull this crap out of the water. Might turn it into a fuge down the road but running it with the stock sponge only right now.

Getting some crazy multicolor shimmer off of the full spectrum bulbs now... Not sure if I am a fan of that yet.

 

[SK360]

Got some worms on the rock and some that seem to have made their way to the sand... Not sure what they are. Spotted what looked like a tiny snail crawling around the rock last night, was round and I could see 2 antennas

 

[SK360]

Wondering if I'm going to see a cycle at all... This rock came out of a frag tank if I remember right... Assuming it was well cured.

I think I'm showing nitrates can't tell with this API kit, maybe I'm just bad at colors... Ammonia is coming back 0 as are nitrites.

 

[dsrtfox1942]

Congrats. My 20h is about 2 months old now, some coral but no fish yet. I'd love to set up a lighting bar like yours. I have two t5's over my tank. One actinic and one 12k daytime bulb. I'd like a little more actinic lighting to bring out my coral colors better. Where did you pick the bulbs up? I used LR from my local store that cycles the rock and only had a mini cycle followed by a cyano outbreak. Everything has been settled now for about a month. I have tons of pods running around my tank. You'll be amazed at the stuff that will come out of your live rock. Stomatella snails were the first that had my majorly worried until I looked them up and found out they are a major benefit. I have seen one small bristle worm, but shouldn't be anything to worry about. I also have quite a few mysis shrimp swimming around the crevices in my LR. Good luck! I'll stay posted to see your progress.

 

[SK360]

Tested again tonight, 11 days in. Can't tell if I have trates or not... Seems to have some orange to it.

 

[SK360]

Looks like I have a Stomatella snail

Snail on live rock? - YouTube

 

[la1fan]

Can you provide some additional information about your lights, please?

 

[SK360]

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/do-yourself-diy/106737-my-do-yourself-par38-poly-vinyl.html

They are LEDTRiC PAR38 Fullspectrum Reef Lamps with 90* optics

LEDTRiC PAR38 Full-Spectrum 18w ReefLamp - LEDTRiC

 

[SK360]

Tested against distilled water to see if my eyes were misleading...

Tank water on the left, distilled on the right.

Def looks like 'trates in the 10ppm range. Ammonia and trites are still 0. Cycle skipped?

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

I would ghost feed the tank and check the parameters daily. If there is no spike in ammonia or nitrite, the tank should be ready for its first fish. The amount I would feed is the amount I would anticipate feeding the first fish and the same frequency.

 

[SK360]

Thanks.... I got a piece of frozen Krill from the LFS when I bought rock, I put that in a mesh bag and threw it in the tank last night, will see what happens.

 

[SK360]

Got a flashlight and peeked in the tank last night... saw at least 3 Stomatella snails crawling on the rock and a few worms moving their heads, saw a tiny snail on the other piece of live rock too, at least his shell. Def cool stuff.

Checked levels yesterday and still at 0/0/10ish with the krill in the tank, granted its only been there for 4 days.

 

[SK360]

Checked last night and still at 0/0/10-20ish

Amphipods have ripped into the mesh bag that has the krill in it and are feasting.

 

[SK360]

Someone wanna take a stab at ID'ing whats in my rock? Thinking its a small star of some kind?

 

[dsrtfox1942]

What your probably seeing are asterina starfish. Some say they are good, some say bad. Depends on the species really, just keep an eye on them if you get coral. Mine leave my coral alone and are just peaceful cohabitants. If they are the bad kind and start to damage coral, Harlequin shrimp are the prescribed solution. They apparently think asterina are candy.

Reefkeeping Magazine - Reefkeeping 101

 

[saltydawg]

Brittle star or serpent star. Harmless.

 

[SK360]

Took a trip down to the LFS with a water sample to have him double check my levels.

He said everything looked good. Said a pair of clowns and a small cuc would be fine to add now and to wait a while before adding anything else.

Came home with these guys.

4 astraea snail, 4 little hermits and a pair of ocellaris clowns.

They really pop under the full spectrum bulbs

[video=youtube_share;FtKgoEwUkjg]http://youtu.be/FtKgoEwUkjg[/video]

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

The clowns look great in their new home!!

 

[SK360]

Thanks.

Full tank shots

I am going to raise the lights by about 6" tomorrow to reduce some of the spotlighting... Really noticeable when the fish are going across the top of the tank.

Clowns are spitting out the herbivore blend pellets that I have... From what I read they will eventually take them before they starve themselves... They ate a few but spit the rest.