First Nano Tank!

[ReeferMadness1023]

Okay so I started this 14 gallon journey three months ago. My daughter is really into Finding Nemo and Finding Dory. I used to have tanks about 12 years ago so have a bit of knowledge but always larger tanks than this one. Everything was going great for two months and now its getting wonky and with never having such a small tank I'm looking for advice and help to get my husbandry foundation more solid.

Purchased a used Oceanic Biocube 14 w/ stand
Light was upgraded already to an older Nicrew or similar blackbox LED
Adjustable 930 GPH Marineland return pump
Added Hygger Mini 530 GPH Powerhead
Intank Media Insert (Chemipure Elite, Matrix mixed with ceramic media, purigen, and Fluval Bio Foam Filter Block.
10 lbs of dry Aragonite Sand
8 lbs CaribSea Life Rock

Beginning of tank, checking my rockscape and sandbed before filling it up.

Filling it up.

I did a fish cycle. Added Fritz 900 and one Clown fish(Nemo). Made it through the nitrogen cycle without fuss. Everything leveled out and stayed consistent after about 15 days. Unfortunately no pictures of the cycle period. On day 21 I did a 20% water change and have been doing that weekly since.

After a month I brought in a Purple Firefish(Blueberry) and five Astrea snails. Of course Blueberry hid for about 18 hours and finally came out and started interacting with Nemo and has been a great addition. I waited another two weeks and went out and grabbed some zoas and a Branching Montipora as well as an emerald crab.

I let everything settle for another month. During this time I tested every 3 days just trying to learn any absorption and increase rates. I started dosing Fritz RPM Part 1 Alkalinity. Alk was staying around 7. I dosed the adjustment dosage once a day for two days. It leveled back out and now i am able to just maintain dose it a couple times a week. After getting that figured out I grabbed two mushrooms. They are actually still in a jar/ shotglass with rubble.


Okay so the tank today.

Parameters:

Alk: 9.0 dKH Nitrite: 1.5 ppm Ammonia: 1.2 ppm Calcium: 440 ppm

pH: 8.0 Nitrate: 7.5 ppm Phosphate: 0.25 ppm Magnesium: 1280 ppm
Salinity: 35 ppt

I'm using RedSea Tests and Salifert for Cal., Phos., and Mag. Refrac for Salinity.

I've only been dosing the Fritz RMP Alkalinity at this point. Feeding frozen Brine Shrimp and Mysis. I target feed the corals ReefRoids. I found broadcast was too much for my phosphates. I feed the fish twice a day very tiny amounts. Brine in the morning and Mysis at night. I have been feeding ReefRoids once a day at night. Corals mostly seem to be okay except the Montipora has been keeping its polyps sucked in most of the time. It was fine at first but its definitely not been happy. It does extend polyps when I feed it thankfully but still not all of them or a full extension.

I am currently waiting on an AI Prime HD non 16 to get here next week. As well as scouring and brainstorming how to get a sump/ refugium going on it. Also looking at smaller powerheads/ wavemakers to lower my flow. This isn't a low budget setup but definitely not looking to spend a lot of money on it either. Buying used and DIY is more my speed.

You will see in my last pictures that I'm also dealing with flow issues. I have too much at this point or can't figure out how to break it up enough to not move the sand bed around. (This could also be part of the Monti’s issue?). I was moving it around almost daily for awhile but have vowed to let it rest and see if the monti levels back out.

Any advice is welcome. I really need to get this figured out and have a routine so i can keep it dialed in and everything thriving. Right now I am doing weekly 20% water changes, cleaning out my sponge in fresh RODI once a week and replacing half a month. Plan on replacing partial bio media once every month. I will not be adding anything else to the tank until I get it under control. Thank you in advance and Happy reefing!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Off to a great start! As far as flow, sandbed moving around isn't always a bad thing. I forget who but there was an expert on here that said if the sand aint moving your flow isn't high enough lol. I would say either bigger return pump and run just that (if the back chamber allows for it), or if there is a smaller powerhead available, or an adjustable powerhead where you can dial the flow down. Following along though :)

 

[ReeferMadness1023]

So a little update as this original thread was written on Feb 4th.

Parameters

Alk: 9.0 dKH Nitrite: 1.5 ppm Ammonia: 0.2 ppm Calcium: 430 ppm

pH: 8.2 Nitrate: 15 ppm Phosphate: 0.25 ppm Magnesium: 1300 ppm

Salinity: 35 ppt

I've added a little more rock to get another level for future coral and help a little bit more with biological filtration. I also received my AI Prime HD and have that up and running on there since Feb. 8th. My montipora has started extending its polyps again! It has a few bleached spots and shrank a little bit around the bottom of the plug but I'm seeing improvement and think if I keep up with husbandry it will start to comeback soon. I also think i finally got my flow corrected. sand is constantly being moved around and everything is happy. A bit of diatoms right now but nothing I'm stressing about. After the light and added rock to the tank I am striving to finally keep my hands out of the tank other than testing and maintenance. I am also learning to slow down and stop changing things so much and let it just be and everything adjust and acclimate to the changes that have been made. I realized that this was my first real cycle in a tank. I always had a buddy with a tank and got water, rock, and whatever else to kick my tanks off. Now i have to just let the tank come into itself and watch the magic!

 

[ReeferMadness1023]

Off to a great start! As far as flow, sandbed moving around isn't always a bad thing. I forget who but there was an expert on here that said if the sand aint moving your flow isn't high enough lol. I would say either bigger return pump and run just that (if the back chamber allows for it), or if there is a smaller powerhead available, or an adjustable powerhead where you can dial the flow down. Following along though :)

Yeah I am saving now to get a couple dc powerheads so i can have the ability to dial it in better but i ended up using my rock work to break it up a bit for now and i still get slight sand movement just not making dunes lol. Also, thank you!

 

[Tahoe61]

So a little update as this original thread was written on Feb 4th.

Parameters

Alk: 9.0 dKH Nitrite: 1.5 ppm Ammonia: 0.2 ppm Calcium: 430 ppm

pH: 8.2 Nitrate: 15 ppm Phosphate: 0.25 ppm Magnesium: 1300 ppm

Salinity: 35 ppt

I've added a little more rock to get another level for future coral and help a little bit more with biological filtration. I also received my AI Prime HD and have that up and running on there since Feb. 8th. My montipora has started extending its polyps again! It has a few bleached spots and shrank a little bit around the bottom of the plug but I'm seeing improvement and think if I keep up with husbandry it will start to comeback soon. I also think i finally got my flow corrected. sand is constantly being moved around and everything is happy. A bit of diatoms right now but nothing I'm stressing about. After the light and added rock to the tank I am striving to finally keep my hands out of the tank other than testing and maintenance. I am also learning to slow down and stop changing things so much and let it just be and everything adjust and acclimate to the changes that have been made. I realized that this was my first real cycle in a tank. I always had a buddy with a tank and got water, rock, and whatever else to kick my tanks off. Now i have to just let the tank come into itself and watch the magic!

Much better scape. Looks great

 

[Gumbies R Us]

So a little update as this original thread was written on Feb 4th.

Parameters

Alk: 9.0 dKH Nitrite: 1.5 ppm Ammonia: 0.2 ppm Calcium: 430 ppm

pH: 8.2 Nitrate: 15 ppm Phosphate: 0.25 ppm Magnesium: 1300 ppm

Salinity: 35 ppt

I've added a little more rock to get another level for future coral and help a little bit more with biological filtration. I also received my AI Prime HD and have that up and running on there since Feb. 8th. My montipora has started extending its polyps again! It has a few bleached spots and shrank a little bit around the bottom of the plug but I'm seeing improvement and think if I keep up with husbandry it will start to comeback soon. I also think i finally got my flow corrected. sand is constantly being moved around and everything is happy. A bit of diatoms right now but nothing I'm stressing about. After the light and added rock to the tank I am striving to finally keep my hands out of the tank other than testing and maintenance. I am also learning to slow down and stop changing things so much and let it just be and everything adjust and acclimate to the changes that have been made. I realized that this was my first real cycle in a tank. I always had a buddy with a tank and got water, rock, and whatever else to kick my tanks off. Now i have to just let the tank come into itself and watch the magic!

I love the new aquascape design for your tank! I feel like it gives you plenty of room for your fish to swim around in and good placements for your coral!

 

[ReeferMadness1023]

Much better scape. Looks great

Thank you very much! It’s the first time I scaled anything. I always just stacked them in there against the back wall. Having that open and using it for better flow is definitely a better option!

 

[ReeferMadness1023]

I love the new aquascape design for your tank! I feel like it gives you plenty of room for your fish to swim around in and good placements for your coral!

Thank you! I’m definitely loving all the levels and availability to have gardens for a mixed reef approach.

 

[ReeferMadness1023]

Update:

Parameters

Alk: 8.5 dKH Nitrite: 0.2 ppm
Ammonia: 0.0ppm Calcium: 430 ppm
pH: 8.2 Nitrate: 15 ppm
Phosphate: 0.0 ppm
Magnesium: 1110 ppm Salinity: 1.025sg Temp: 78F

Alright so I’ve done what I was hoping for and kept my hands out of the tank except for cleaning. I did clean my sand bed in theory I was hoping it would help with the diatoms. It didn’t do much for it at all and actually started either an algae or bacteria bloom in my water column. I’d say the cloudiness started about 10 days ago. On the 14th I added five tiny blue leg hermits and two nassarius snails. I’ve pulled my inTank media basket scrubbed it down and replaced my chemiclean elite and purigen. I have also pulled my return pump and powerhead and ran them in a bucket of RO and vinegar for about 30 minutes. I started doing two 2.5 gallon water changes a week now. I do them on Wednesdays and Saturdays. At the same time I am scrubbing down the back wall, powerhead, return nozzle and any where my magnet cleaner can’t get. I turn off all pumps while scrubbing and am sucking water out at the same time trying to get as much out of the water column as possible. I am using reef crystals right now and debating on changing salt just not sure where I’m going to go. My concern is my magnesium level seems to just be plummeting out of no where. From my little research the only thing I can come with is maybe my test is faulty although it was reading different for quite awhile and it changed up and down each time. I dosed Fritz RPM magnesium last night and I’ll test in a little bit to see what it did and if it doesn’t change I’m guessing my test took a crap. I will also have this checked by my lfs this week to compare. I went ahead with Fritz RPM 2 part + their magnesium since I was already using the part 1 for my alk. Eventually I’m going to switch over to brs 2 part hybrid. Oh and a buddy wouldn’t take no for an answer and gave me a little hammer frag I believe this was on the 15th. All corals and fish look fine. Been worried about oxygen levels with the bloom in my water column but everyone seems fine so far. Hoping, now that most of the diatoms have passed the bloom will die back soon. My montipora is still doing good since I’ve started feeding reef roids heavier it has even better polyp extension. Time will tell.

Questions:

1. What salt do you guys recommend?

I’m looking to keep my numbers around
Alk: 9 Calcium: 450-480
Magnesium: 1380-1400

2. Are the diatoms or bloom just eating my phosphates?

I’ve been feeding reef roids like crazy since it started trying to get some phosphates in the tank but just rides zero.

Thanks everyone! Happy reefing!

Sorry it’s so blue, took it this morning right after my water change so still blue ramp up.

 

[ReeferMadness1023]

Happy Easter! New update. I’ve semi broken the whole keep my hands out of the tank but don’t think I’ve over done thankfully. I’ve switched a few things around with the rock just too ensure I can clean all the glass and back wall. Added quite a bit of coral to the tank as well. Switched from Chemi pure elite to chemi pure blue. I also completely got rid of using the purigen. I have started using rows phos as well to help with PO4. I have dosed copepods twice now first from algae barn and the second time I added 32 oz of pods from Dinkins. Will never buy anywhere but Dinkins again. What a difference in quality and customer service! Quit dosing reef roids like quite a few people have recommended and am only feeding phyto now. All levels have been holding fairly stable. When my carbon runs its course I get that spike but I’ve been on top of it and switching it regularly at around 3 weeks. Completed my lid and I’m pretty happy with the outcome. My daughter just had to have this leopard wrasse. I know, I know the tanks way too small for it. Thankfully it’s tiny right now and doing really well. I have a 75g build I’m working on right now and will switch it over as soon as needed. Once she outgrows that I will either take back to lfs or start a bigger build haha. A new toadstool just flopped over and start disintegrating, unsure why but I have dragged it and hoping I can save it. Here’s a few pictures and parameters!

Parameters

Alk: 8 dKH Nitrite: 0.0 ppm
Ammonia: 0.0ppm Calcium: 445 ppm
pH: 8.1 Nitrate: 25 ppm
Phosphate: 0.3 ppm
Magnesium: 1500 ppm Salinity: 1.026 sg Temp: 78F

 

[Tahoe61]

Happy Easter. The tank has certainly come along ways. You're getting to the stable phase soon. If you have not tried AFR I highly recommend it, a much easier way to maintain the chemistry and trace elements.

:)

 

[ReeferMadness1023]

Happy Easter. The tank has certainly come along ways. You're getting to the stable phase soon. If you have not tried AFR I highly recommend it, a much easier way to maintain the chemistry and trace elements.

:)

I remembered to stir my salt around this time and am getting more stable magnesium results! I may just be able to use AFR. I was worried originally because my mag was staying so low. Thank you I’m really enjoying this tank!

 

[ReeferMadness1023]

Mini Reef, Maximum Chaos: Post-Easter Upgrade Update

It’s been a bit since my last post (Easter!) and a lot has happened... both in the tank and in life. Between baby feedings, water testing, and a full-blown mud wrestling match with miracle mud, I figured it was time to catch everyone up.

Since the last update, I’ve added some key equipment to the setup. I installed a Bubble Magus Mini Q skimmer, which is already pulling out that sweet, stinky reef coffee. Swapped in a MightyJet Mini return pump for better control and added a Jebao Sow-4 wave maker that’s keeping the flow throughout the tank. I also added a Tunze Osmolator 3 Nano ATO; that’s made a world of difference for stability. At this point, my tank’s got more automation than my kitchen.

Big milestone: I officially launched the refugium! I layered in 2" of miracle mud, topped with 2" of Brightwell Koralagoon substrate in the second chamber. The tank looked like a reef-themed snow globe for a bit... cloudy and chaotic... but cleared up after about an hour once flow resumed. The chaeto tried to make a break for the return chamber, so I had to weigh it down with some rubble rock. Flow's looking good now, and oxygen exchange is solid.

The refugium light is running manually for now, but my smart plug arrives tomorrow: that’ll finally let me automate the reverse photoperiod. It’s been like playing musical lights at night... but hey, when you’re already up feeding a newborn at 2 AM, what’s one more switch?

On the livestock side, my leopard wrasse is still doing great. I know a Biocube isn’t a forever home, but I’ve got a 75g build in progress for when she needs the upgrade. Until then, she’s living her best life hunting pods. I’ve been dosing pods once a month and they seem to be doing okay. Hoping that the refugium will give me some solid breeding ground so I don’t have to dose as often. Corals are doing awesome except I lost some of my hammers. Still unsure if it was the dinos or my emerald crab. I found him on top of my frogspawn the other night. Couldn’t tell if he was going for a midnight snack or what was going on. I’ll be keeping an eye on him though.

I’ve cut Reef Roids out completely and am sticking to just phyto now. Still dosing Microbacter Clean weekly, and I recently removed my Rowaphos to let the refugium and chaeto take over nutrient export duty. I’ll be keeping a close eye on NO₃ and PO₄; this new setup could start pulling them down faster than a toddler clears a snack tray.

To top it off, my dosing pump arrives any day now. Went with a Simplicity 4 Head pump. I’ll be switching to Bulk Reef Supply’s Balling Method to manage Alk, Ca, Mg, and trace elements. Stability is the name of the game, especially since I’m prepping for more demanding corals in the future. I may be crazy... but hey, so is raising a newborn and a reef tank at the same time.

The dino battle got intense...
Midday strings, bubble-tipped slime, creeping across the sand and rocks.
Fast forward: refugium is active, UV has been running, flow is solid, and the dinos are pulling back.

Life’s been full throttle lately. I smell like detritus and spit up most days; but the tank’s maturing, and baby Juno is thriving. Appreciate all of you for following along and offering advice.

I’ll be posting more progress pics soon, along with a daily photo log to track how things change post-mud. Stay tuned—and if you’re currently elbow-deep in chaeto and baby bottles like me, just know: you’re not alone.

Can’t upload images right now for some reason but I’ll try again later.