Hello to all the reef builders out there. Making my first attempt at building the ideal reef habitat for my family. I have plenty of experience with fish only tanks (sharks), thought I would give it a try with the reef.
I recently purchased I neat little Cardiff 24g nano, cleaned it up, and got started. After reading 100's of posts on here (thanks to all), I figured water quality and lighting seem to be paramount. With that I purchased a 6 stage RO/DI water purification system with a dual TDS meter to closely monitor the quality of water going into the tank. This little puppy kept the 125 PPM tap water down to 0 PPM every gallon.
Several buckets later, I started every thing up. I let it cycle for a few days before testing the water parameters.
27 July - PH/8.0 NH3/0.0 NO2/0.0 NO3/0.0
My local reef shop recommended tossing in a piece of raw shrimp to start things off. After a week with the shrimp I had some change
3 August - PH/8.0 NH3/0.25 NO2/0.0 NO3/0.0
Then I added a small damsel and red hermit crab to take it to the next leve. Also used some "Proper PH" from API to increase my PH a bit. Seems like good results so far.
10 August - PH/8.2 NH3/0.0 NO2/0.0 NO3/5.0 ppm
I have 35lbs of live rock and 15 pounds of live sand arriving on Tuesday. I am unsure if that's enough or if I will need more. I plan on doing a 20% water change when I add in the LR and LS on Tuesday to see if I can get the Nitrate (NO3) down to 0ppm
Few questions I have:
Do I need a UV sterilizer? I have a 45w on my 300g and an 18w on my 125. Not sure if I need one on a nano reef system
Is the MH light this system came with enough or should I add more?
Do I need a heater added on? My house stayers a cool 72 degrees year round
How long after the LR and LS are added should I wait before adding the SPS?
The local reef store uses pickling lime for calcium in his tanks. They all look healthy, but is that the norm?
Is there anything I have missed?
Thanks in advance for your time
James
Few pics from today
I recently purchased I neat little Cardiff 24g nano, cleaned it up, and got started. After reading 100's of posts on here (thanks to all), I figured water quality and lighting seem to be paramount. With that I purchased a 6 stage RO/DI water purification system with a dual TDS meter to closely monitor the quality of water going into the tank. This little puppy kept the 125 PPM tap water down to 0 PPM every gallon.
Several buckets later, I started every thing up. I let it cycle for a few days before testing the water parameters.
27 July - PH/8.0 NH3/0.0 NO2/0.0 NO3/0.0
My local reef shop recommended tossing in a piece of raw shrimp to start things off. After a week with the shrimp I had some change
3 August - PH/8.0 NH3/0.25 NO2/0.0 NO3/0.0
Then I added a small damsel and red hermit crab to take it to the next leve. Also used some "Proper PH" from API to increase my PH a bit. Seems like good results so far.
10 August - PH/8.2 NH3/0.0 NO2/0.0 NO3/5.0 ppm
I have 35lbs of live rock and 15 pounds of live sand arriving on Tuesday. I am unsure if that's enough or if I will need more. I plan on doing a 20% water change when I add in the LR and LS on Tuesday to see if I can get the Nitrate (NO3) down to 0ppm
Few questions I have:
Do I need a UV sterilizer? I have a 45w on my 300g and an 18w on my 125. Not sure if I need one on a nano reef system
Is the MH light this system came with enough or should I add more?
Do I need a heater added on? My house stayers a cool 72 degrees year round
How long after the LR and LS are added should I wait before adding the SPS?
The local reef store uses pickling lime for calcium in his tanks. They all look healthy, but is that the norm?
Is there anything I have missed?
Thanks in advance for your time
James
Few pics from today