20G Nano Reef

[KeremAltinbasak]

FINAL SITUATION

First of all, greetings to everyone

I'm here with a new installation. I have previous experience with salt water, but this time I believe I will learn and experience more with you.

Moving on to the aquarium and equipment information, 4 glass ultraclear, 50x40x40 in size. I reserved a section of about 10cm from the back as a sump. Other equipment is QQ2 Protein skimmer, Eheim 600 head motor, 100w heater, SLW30 Wave motor. As a light, I am using the F30 model of the Aquareef brand in my country, which is more suitable for pico tanks for now, so I will change it. We'll see if I can continue with HD16 in the future :)

I used Caribsea live aragonite sand as sand and Aquaforest rock as rock. As for salt, I will continue with Redsea for now.

I have an RO device that gives 0 Tds and I filled the tank with it.

I continue with the images. I've just completed the setup now.
I'm open to your suggestions :)

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along! Your tank is looking good so far!

 

[cdemoss01]

First of all, greetings to everyone

I'm here with a new installation. I have previous experience with salt water, but this time I believe I will learn and experience more with you.

Moving on to the aquarium and equipment information, 4 glass ultraclear, 50x40x40 in size. I reserved a section of about 10cm from the back as a sump. Other equipment is QQ2 Protein skimmer, Eheim 600 head motor, 100w heater, SLW30 Wave motor. As a light, I am using the F30 model of the Aquareef brand in my country, which is more suitable for pico tanks for now, so I will change it. We'll see if I can continue with HD16 in the future :)

I used Caribsea live aragonite sand as sand and Aquaforest rock as rock. As for salt, I will continue with Redsea for now.

I have an RO device that gives 0 Tds and I filled the tank with it.

I continue with the images. I've just completed the setup now.
I'm open to your suggestions :)

Following! Can't wait too see progress!

 

[KeremAltinbasak]

Hi everyone
As the cycle continued, I came up with minor updates. There is no problem with the tank at the moment. 2 days after installation, I added 1 tube of biodigest bacterial culture. PS is currently inactive and sump is completely empty. I am waiting for the cycle to be completed with a salinity of 1024 and a temperature of 26 degrees. I came up with the idea of making a tower for the sump and had the plexi cut somewhere, but unfortunately it wasn't exactly what I had in mind because it wasn't cut to the dimensions I gave. But there was no problem, I fit it into the case :) I made a tower as in the picture and left it to dry. In the bottom layer there will be Sera siporax and Seachem Matrix. In the upper layer, Reeflowers zeocarbon mixture. But I don't plan on adding this now. On top, some sponge and fiber, to be changed regularly.
I'm waiting for your opinions :)

 

[KeremAltinbasak]

Hello again

Since there was a problem with the dimensions, it did not fit completely, so I placed it on the sump side, albeit a little rough. But just as I was reaching the final point, I think the grill at the bottom broke and fell off because I glued it on. I didn't want to touch it for now. I will remove it and process it again during water changes and cleaning.

Other than that, everything seems to be going well. I turned on the protein skimmer. I have a little adjustment problem, it collects a little water. I think I will achieve a fully stable setting by playing up and down in a few days :)

This weekend, I will add a chromis for trial purposes and a few cleaning crews.

A bacterial film has slowly started to form on the glass. I want the cleaning team to be ready before the diatoms arrive. I think it is better to have organic waste in the system to speed up the process.

I'm waiting for your opinions :)

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Without any nutrients your skimmer won't function properly. You will be readjusting as more become available. The setup looks really nice.

 

[KeremAltinbasak]

A small update.

This weekend I added 1 small Talboti Damselfish, Tectus Turbo Snail and 2 strombus Conch to the aquarium. For now, every creature seems very healthy and well. Damsel even started eating food within the first hour I added it to the aquarium. I believe this will accelerate the cycle.
Apart from that, since there are now fish, I made a protective net over the aquarium. Even though it doesn't look very aesthetic, it is more important for it to be functional for now :)

 

[Sinkers]

Is there anything for the snails to eat yet lol? Or have you got food for them.

I am new myself. It would be interesting to know if the skimmer will slow things down at all whilst being on during the tank cycle. Curious to know what others think

 

[KeremAltinbasak]

Is there anything for the snails to eat yet lol? Or have you got food for them.

I am new myself. It would be interesting to know if the skimmer will slow things down at all whilst being on during the tank cycle. Curious to know what others think

Hello first of all
I started running the protein skimmer 2 or 3 days after entering the bacterial culture. But I didn't think about what you said. Maybe it slows it down, I don't know.
As for conch and snail, they somehow find their way :) I think they feed on micro-scale algae that we cannot see. It is fixed with experience from the tanks I have built before. A few of them were experimental tanks, and the conch I threw the day after installation survived until the last day. So they are somehow feeding on something :D Or maybe I think so, I don't know.

 

[Sinkers]

Hello first of all
I started running the protein skimmer 2 or 3 days after entering the bacterial culture. But I didn't think about what you said. Maybe it slows it down, I don't know.
As for conch and snail, they somehow find their way :) I think they feed on micro-scale algae that we cannot see. It is fixed with experience from the tanks I have built before. A few of them were experimental tanks, and the conch I threw the day after installation survived until the last day. So they are somehow feeding on something :D Or maybe I think so, I don't know.

Have you been testing for ammonia at all or waiting to see what happens?

 

[KeremAltinbasak]

I haven't done any tests yet. All my tests from his old tank are expired. I didn't get new ones either, so it would be better if I got a few of them in the current period. This time I went with a little more trial and error. But since I added live sand during the installation and a bacterial culture after a few days, I think the ammonia quickly turns into nitrite and nitrate. So right now, probably if I were to test it, the nitrate might be a little high. Actually, I entered it live because I wanted to speed up this process with organic waste. I wanted to do this with a few durable species. I don't think there will be any new creatures in the coming period anyway, I will follow up a little and add a new creature after completing the missing parts. Even my ATO water top-up system hasn't arrived yet, it still appears to be in the cargo :(

Have you been testing for ammonia at all or waiting to see what happens?

 

[Sinkers]

Did you add ammonia as well for the bacteria to consume? Or just using the fish food/waste to get it going?

 

[KeremAltinbasak]

I didn't add anything. I installed with Ro water, salt, live sand and AF rock. After 2-3 days, I entered a bacterial culture. I added the creatures 10-11 days after the installation. For now, I will observe it for 1 more week and then I will continue to log in live.

Did you add ammonia as well for the bacteria to consume? Or just using the fish food/waste to get it going?

 

[Sinkers]

I didn't add anything. I installed with Ro water, salt, live sand and AF rock. After 2-3 days, I entered a bacterial culture. I added the creatures 10-11 days after the installation. For now, I will observe it for 1 more week and then I will continue to log in live.

From my understanding, without ammonia, the bacteria will starve and die (I could be wrong). I'd say it would take a lot longer than a week or two though so you're probably fine. However, I'd guess that your cycle is probably only just starting now as you've added a fish and fish food to the system (which will produce ammonia for the bacteria). Probably not a bad idea to start doing some tests now to make sure your fish is safe.

 

[KeremAltinbasak]

From my understanding, without ammonia, the bacteria will starve and die (I could be wrong). I'd say it would take a lot longer than a week or two though so you're probably fine. However, I'd guess that your cycle is probably only just starting now as you've added a fish and fish food to the system (which will produce ammonia for the bacteria). Probably not a bad idea to start doing some tests now to make sure your fish is safe.

There are definitely people in the forum who are more knowledgeable about this subject, but the process I am talking about is the diatom process and this can be triggered not only by ammonia but also by light, silicate, etc. This is how the nitrification cycle begins. The bacterial culture we put also adds these bacteria and helps support the process. After the organic waste enters, as you said, it accelerates the cycle that has already started to form by adding fuel to it. Actually, my goal is to make the diatom process painless and quick. In this process, as you said, it is important to control and follow up with tests.
If I'm wrong, I'd appreciate it if you let me know :)

 

[Sinkers]

There are definitely people in the forum who are more knowledgeable about this subject, but the process I am talking about is the diatom process and this can be triggered not only by ammonia but also by light, silicate, etc. This is how the nitrification cycle begins. The bacterial culture we put also adds these bacteria and helps support the process. After the organic waste enters, as you said, it accelerates the cycle that has already started to form by adding fuel to it. Actually, my goal is to make the diatom process painless and quick. In this process, as you said, it is important to control and follow up with tests.
If I'm wrong, I'd appreciate it if you let me know :)

Do you have a link to some information explaining this method you're using? I can't find any information that suggests you can use lights and diatoms to cycle a tank. I was under the impression diatoms come once your tank is producing nitrate, not before. Can diatoms grow in a tank with no nitrate?

 

[KeremAltinbasak]

Do you have a link to some information explaining this method you're using? I can't find any information that suggests you can use lights and diatoms to cycle a tank. I was under the impression diatoms come once your tank is producing nitrate, not before. Can diatoms grow in a tank with no nitrate?

I think there was a slight misunderstanding about what I wrote :) I wasn't talking about the cycle of the tank. In fact, I said that I was applying these to accelerate the diatom cycle in newly established tanks. Otherwise, the sump at the back does the cycling of the tank.
I think I misunderstood what you wrote :)
The diatom process does not start because the algae cannot reproduce without light, or it takes too long. What I mean is that the light feeds etc. Issues such as these are actually the diatom cycle of a newly established tank rather than the tank cycle.
I actually do these because I want to get them into the diatom cycle quickly and finish it quickly. Actually, if you ask me if you learned this from somewhere, I didn't read it and learn it. But I am trying this way, based partly on my own experiences and partly on what other people have done with their tanks. Let's say it's a bit like a test. But logically I don't think there will be a problem. Since the living load is not high and I have set my light to blue (also the day simulation works for 8 hours, I will arrange a 10-hour period when the corals arrive), it seems that I will not have any problems in the process, so I will start bacterial culture again after 9-10 days.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

A small update.

This weekend I added 1 small Talboti Damselfish, Tectus Turbo Snail and 2 strombus Conch to the aquarium. For now, every creature seems very healthy and well. Damsel even started eating food within the first hour I added it to the aquarium. I believe this will accelerate the cycle.
Apart from that, since there are now fish, I made a protective net over the aquarium. Even though it doesn't look very aesthetic, it is more important for it to be functional for now :)

Nice fish addition!

 

[KeremAltinbasak]

Hello

I couldn't stand my damsel being left alone :) It was fun to watch her wandering left and right in the big tank, but it seemed like she was in a void :) I bought her a friend and I believe she is in a better mood now. I ordered the tests today, I will test them when they arrive and share the details.
My watery collection problem in PS continues. Even though I increase it to the highest level, it fills it almost completely in a 24-hour period. I don't know how to solve it. There is no level left to raise it further.
Can anyone with knowledge provide support? Is there anyone who has used QQ2 and has such a problem?

 

[KeremAltinbasak]

The automatic water top-up system finally arrived and I incorporated it into the system. There is nothing in the way of diatoms yet :) I'm curious about the results when the tests come on the way. The tank completed its 17th day. The fish and other creatures I added are healthy.
A few images :) I just wanted to take it when the whites were on and the whites and blues were on, to make it clearer.