Blitz7737
Community Member
New member to the site and also new to the reef hobby! My cute gf agreed to start the journey with me and we have pulled together our very first mini ocean.
We named him Mr. Bubbles. He has had quite the rocky start, evolving from a jar of icky water to a super adorable little tank. We started him up at the beginning of April with dry rock, live sand, and instant ocean mixed at home with DI. To kick off the cycle, a few days with a fresh shrimp from the grocery store that was way too large (we didn't know that at the time, but we learned a lot, also, his name was Greg). Our cycle took foooooorrrrrreeeeevvvvveeeeeerrrrrr. Probably due to spiking way to high of ammonia at the onset (got well above 8 ppm, unreadable true value on our API test kit). For the longest time (like 2 months), we didn't know that was a problem.
Here is how it all started:
Went through the first bloom of yellow water, then it got so clear... Then nothing, just ammonia forever. Finally learned that we were riding too high, so we did a 90% water change at then end of May and started pseudo fresh. We picked up some Seachem Pristine from the LFS, began light dosing daily, and that seemed to help keep our ammonia spikes in check. Again, the cycle just lingered, though we were watching and keeping the ammonia around 2-4 ppm. Few weeks later, picked up some Seachem Stability and transitioned to dosing with that instead of Pristine. Few more weeks went by, saw another light bloom, got some diatoms... And then... nothing.
Along the way while waiting for cycling to finish, we made lots of improvements to the hardware and setup. Got a buddy to hook me up with 3d printed parts for a lid, hole covers, bubbler lines, and a mini magnet glass cleaner. Upgraded our initial heater as it was swinging way too much. Built a custom pumping action live rock canister filter and added a bit of LR to the tank as well. Hooked in a reefpi thermometer built with a Raspberry Pi. Built a small LED ring light. Picked up a PAR bulb as readiness for cycle completion. Built a mini fuge with a custom pump action and got some chaeto in it (still separate from the tank, for now). We named the cute little chaeto Mr. Moss Ball. Lots of attempts at patience and improvements.
Both the LR canister and fuge use an external aquarium pump and clever hosing to create a venturi effect. It works surprisingly well as a very low flow canister. There are three lines in it: one for air bubbling which runs into a larger tube for the second line (outlet, where mini pumping action happens as water rises and is swept out via venturi effects), with the last line being an inlet siphon. The mini pumping action in the canister tubing is just enough to keep the siphon fed. Probably a couple drops a second. They do stall on rare occasions, but really only if the inlet siphon gets gunked up, so regularly cleaning helps.
Here is my design and prototype when I was first testing it.
Finally got too impatient and bought some BioSpira. Dumped half a 3.38 fl oz bottle in and continued to try to be patient. That night, we finally had nitrites. A day later 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 20 ppm nitrates. CELEBRATION!! Booze was had. We let the tank linger a few days and then did a large water change (probably 50%) and vacuum. Got what we could of gunkies out of the bottom and kept a watch for things staying stable. This dropped our nitrates down to 10 ppm. Which dwindled over the next few days.
The Bio was dropped on July 10th and today after feeling the tank was safe and stable enough, we finally got our first CUC critters. Ran to the LFS right when they opened, got the owners advice, and picked up a very tiny Blue Legged Hermit Crab and an Astrea Snail. Thanks Southwest Reef Co, you guys are awesome! We named the crab Hellspawn and the snail Little Nicky. Been a few hours and so far they both seem really happy in their new home. ;Cat
Tank Gear:
Here is Mr. Bubbles with the LED ring on for pretty, think this was last week around cycle completion.
View of most the gear, with the LR canister off to the left.
Mr. Moss Ball catching some sunshine. He will probably live by himself for a few more weeks if not longer until we get the tank further established.
Close up of the front LR, there are so many things that might be alive on it, but more importantly it is real pretty.
Newest inhabitants, just got here today. Little Nicky is off to the left perched on one of the rocks, hasn't moved too far but definitely seems active. Hellspawn, right in the middle, has been roaming everywhere. So stoked to have them seem to be off to a happy start.
One last pic taken today as well, with a pencil for scale.
The journey has been really exciting so far. Stoked to finally have some critters roaming. The current plan is to wait a week or so and make sure nothing explodes. After that, probably get our first coral. Give it a few more weeks before hopefully getting a little shrimp (small pistol? peppermint? sexy? saron?). Want to make sure the algae has bloomed more and the tank has become more nutrient rich before we get any other CUC members for this tiny little ocean.
Thanks for reading! Looking forward to all the feedback in this awesome community. ;Joyful
We named him Mr. Bubbles. He has had quite the rocky start, evolving from a jar of icky water to a super adorable little tank. We started him up at the beginning of April with dry rock, live sand, and instant ocean mixed at home with DI. To kick off the cycle, a few days with a fresh shrimp from the grocery store that was way too large (we didn't know that at the time, but we learned a lot, also, his name was Greg). Our cycle took foooooorrrrrreeeeevvvvveeeeeerrrrrr. Probably due to spiking way to high of ammonia at the onset (got well above 8 ppm, unreadable true value on our API test kit). For the longest time (like 2 months), we didn't know that was a problem.
Here is how it all started:
Went through the first bloom of yellow water, then it got so clear... Then nothing, just ammonia forever. Finally learned that we were riding too high, so we did a 90% water change at then end of May and started pseudo fresh. We picked up some Seachem Pristine from the LFS, began light dosing daily, and that seemed to help keep our ammonia spikes in check. Again, the cycle just lingered, though we were watching and keeping the ammonia around 2-4 ppm. Few weeks later, picked up some Seachem Stability and transitioned to dosing with that instead of Pristine. Few more weeks went by, saw another light bloom, got some diatoms... And then... nothing.
Along the way while waiting for cycling to finish, we made lots of improvements to the hardware and setup. Got a buddy to hook me up with 3d printed parts for a lid, hole covers, bubbler lines, and a mini magnet glass cleaner. Upgraded our initial heater as it was swinging way too much. Built a custom pumping action live rock canister filter and added a bit of LR to the tank as well. Hooked in a reefpi thermometer built with a Raspberry Pi. Built a small LED ring light. Picked up a PAR bulb as readiness for cycle completion. Built a mini fuge with a custom pump action and got some chaeto in it (still separate from the tank, for now). We named the cute little chaeto Mr. Moss Ball. Lots of attempts at patience and improvements.
Both the LR canister and fuge use an external aquarium pump and clever hosing to create a venturi effect. It works surprisingly well as a very low flow canister. There are three lines in it: one for air bubbling which runs into a larger tube for the second line (outlet, where mini pumping action happens as water rises and is swept out via venturi effects), with the last line being an inlet siphon. The mini pumping action in the canister tubing is just enough to keep the siphon fed. Probably a couple drops a second. They do stall on rare occasions, but really only if the inlet siphon gets gunked up, so regularly cleaning helps.
Here is my design and prototype when I was first testing it.
Finally got too impatient and bought some BioSpira. Dumped half a 3.38 fl oz bottle in and continued to try to be patient. That night, we finally had nitrites. A day later 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 20 ppm nitrates. CELEBRATION!! Booze was had. We let the tank linger a few days and then did a large water change (probably 50%) and vacuum. Got what we could of gunkies out of the bottom and kept a watch for things staying stable. This dropped our nitrates down to 10 ppm. Which dwindled over the next few days.
The Bio was dropped on July 10th and today after feeling the tank was safe and stable enough, we finally got our first CUC critters. Ran to the LFS right when they opened, got the owners advice, and picked up a very tiny Blue Legged Hermit Crab and an Astrea Snail. Thanks Southwest Reef Co, you guys are awesome! We named the crab Hellspawn and the snail Little Nicky. Been a few hours and so far they both seem really happy in their new home. ;Cat
Tank Gear:
- Mr. Bubbles is a 1 gallon jar, obtained from a friend as a gift to dive into the fun.
- Mr. Moss Ball is living in his own little canister, prepped with custom pump design (5 gallon aquarium pump as bubbler), but not yet linked into the system.
- Live rock filter canister, also with custom pump (10 gallon aquarium pump as bubbler).
- 25 W Hydor Theo heater.
- ABI 12 W Tuna Blue LED Bulb as main light.
- Custom built LED ring light.
- 3d printed lid, hole covers, and bubbler tubes.
- Reefpi setup with thermometer.
- Custom mini magnet glass cleaner.
- Lots of testing gear (API master kit, refractometer, thermometers).
- Currently running InstantOcean Salt mixed with DI. We also have a box of Reef Crystals, but waiting until corals for that.
- Occasional dosing boosters with Seachem Pristine, Seachem Stability, and/or BioSpira.
- Diatoms.
- Mr. Moss Ball the Chaetomorpha hanging out on its own (gotta let this tank get nutrient soaked first).
- Some sort of worms on the LR (looks like really tiny thin spaghetti that is white-ish)?
- Hellspawn the Blue Legged Hermit Crab.
- Little Nicky the Astrea Snail.
Here is Mr. Bubbles with the LED ring on for pretty, think this was last week around cycle completion.
View of most the gear, with the LR canister off to the left.
Mr. Moss Ball catching some sunshine. He will probably live by himself for a few more weeks if not longer until we get the tank further established.
Close up of the front LR, there are so many things that might be alive on it, but more importantly it is real pretty.
Newest inhabitants, just got here today. Little Nicky is off to the left perched on one of the rocks, hasn't moved too far but definitely seems active. Hellspawn, right in the middle, has been roaming everywhere. So stoked to have them seem to be off to a happy start.
One last pic taken today as well, with a pencil for scale.
The journey has been really exciting so far. Stoked to finally have some critters roaming. The current plan is to wait a week or so and make sure nothing explodes. After that, probably get our first coral. Give it a few more weeks before hopefully getting a little shrimp (small pistol? peppermint? sexy? saron?). Want to make sure the algae has bloomed more and the tank has become more nutrient rich before we get any other CUC members for this tiny little ocean.
Thanks for reading! Looking forward to all the feedback in this awesome community. ;Joyful
