Nick’s 10g

[nickkohrn]

Have you tried your skimmer out yet? Interested to see how you like it? I’m planning my sump tank and looking for a good skimmer

I haven’t had a chance yet because my quarantine tank is only a 10g AIO, so I don’t have any room since my Waterbox is delayed by a couple of months.

 

[nickkohrn]

I did a 50% water-change yesterday evening and let my UV filter run overnight. The cloudiness seems to be getting better. I’m going to let it run for a few more days and assess it then. In the meantime, I’m heavily researching different types of rock because I’m still unsure about what type I want to use. I love the look of Life Rock and Real Reef Rock, but I also like rocks with flat bottoms that sit well on bare-bottom systems. On top of that, I think my wife wants me to have sand, so I have a bunch of decisions to make.

ANY input would be very helpful, especially with regard to why you prefer sand or bare-bottom over the other.

 

[Deiblerj]

I have sand in my tank and love the natural look of it. It can be frustrating at first trying to get a good balance between your blowers and not causing a sandstorm. It takes a few weeks but your sand starts to find its place and settle in. It also gets a “thicker” (hard to explain) but doesn’t blow around as much as new sand. It also depends on the grain of sand you use. If you aren’t going to have any fish that burry in the sand you can use thicker grains or crushed coral. The smaller grains will be easier on the fish that dig into it. (At least that’s how it seems to me haha)

I’ve seen a lot of people say the reason they go bare bottom is because it’s easier to keep clean. Sand goes through ugly stages but works itself clean or you just suck the funk off the top. Bare bottom is easier to just suck up anything on top.

Personally, I feel that we are trying to replicate an ocean environment and the sand gives it a more natural look. It also adds beneficial filtration.

 

[nickkohrn]

I have sand in my tank and love the natural look of it. It can be frustrating at first trying to get a good balance between your blowers and not causing a sandstorm. It takes a few weeks but your sand starts to find its place and settle in. It also gets a “thicker” (hard to explain) but doesn’t blow around as much as new sand. It also depends on the grain of sand you use. If you aren’t going to have any fish that burry in the sand you can use thicker grains or crushed coral. The smaller grains will be easier on the fish that dig into it. (At least that’s how it seems to me haha)

I’ve seen a lot of people say the reason they go bare bottom is because it’s easier to keep clean. Sand goes through ugly stages but works itself clean or you just suck the funk off the top. Bare bottom is easier to just suck up anything on top.

Personally, I feel that we are trying to replicate an ocean environment and the sand gives it a more natural look. It also adds beneficial filtration.

Thanks for your input! I agree with what you said. I would miss the natural look, but I love the ease of cleaning bare-bottom. I’m struggling with the decision. I also like how the sand helps reflect the light upward to the underside of corals. If I go with sand, I will definitely clean the sand weekly. My wife jokes about me having OCD, so I know that I will take the time each week to clean the sand and keep it as white as I possibly can. I’ve seen some nasty sand beds, and I don’t want to fall into that trap of getting relaxed with my husbandry practices. Also, I don’t like coralline on glass, so I wouldn’t want to scrape the bottom glass lane regularly. I’d rather just stir the sand.

 

[Deiblerj]

Thanks for your input! I agree with what you said. I would miss the natural look, but I love the ease of cleaning bare-bottom. I’m struggling with the decision. I also like how the sand helps reflect the light upward to the underside of corals. If I go with sand, I will definitely clean the sand weekly. My wife jokes about me having OCD, so I know that I will take the time each week to clean the sand and keep it as white as I possibly can. I’ve seen some nasty sand beds, and I don’t want to fall into that trap of getting relaxed with my husbandry practices. Also, I don’t like coralline on glass, so I wouldn’t want to scrape the bottom glass lane regularly. I’d rather just stir the sand.

LOL...I wish you the best of luck.

Like I said, it will go through some ugly stages, especially as it starts growing the beneficial bacteria. The best thing you can do is to actually let it go. It will take care of itself. I was the same and probably sucked up 1/4 of my sandbed trying to keep it clean initially. After I got so frustrated with trying to keep it spotless I gave up and let it do it’s thing. And it got UGLY. Diatom blooms, cyano, algae. It was a mess. But after a couple weeks it kind of disappears. The sand returns to a nice clean look.

You do get some algae build up under the sand that sometimes can be seen if it’s agaisnt the glass but over time it goes away.

Thing with sand is you need to be careful on disturbing it too much. It can potentially release bacteria and cause mini cycles or throw your parameters off.

For me, now all I do is suck up some fish poop when doing a water change. Occasionally I’ll gently stir the sand a bit just to break up some small clumps or even out the mountains my pistol shrimp and watchman goby make.

A good amount of hermits and snails also help keep the sand looking good too. I have a bunch of nassarius snails that bulldoze through my sandbed helping to stir it up. I’ve also read that fighting conchs are really good are keeping sandbeds clean as well.

I’ll send you a picture of mine when I get home. I haven’t touched it in a few weeks and it’s abot as clean looking as when I first put it in the tank.

 

[nickkohrn]

My thinking behind keeping it stirred up is that it shouldn’t have time to collect enough crap to cause issues when it gets stirred up again. I’m one of those weird people that actually likes tank maintenance, so if I build it into my daily routine, then I should be in a safe place to keep it stirred up without issues. As always, in this hobby, consistency is key.

I have been looking at Tropic Eden Reefflakes, and I have found nothing but good reviews for it. I’m going to do some more research about it and see if it will suit my desires and needs.

I’d like to see some pictures! Feel free to post as many as you want here. I love seeing other systems and getting inspired by them.

 

[nickkohrn]

I came home and checked on my water, and the cloudiness is almost cleared. It should be looking really good in another day or two of running the UV sterilizer. [emoji846]

 

[nickkohrn]

Here’s a quick update on my quarantine system.

The clowns are doing well. They are eating like piglets, and they get along well. They quarrel slightly, but that’s to be expected. They race to the glass and to the water’s surface when I walk in the room, and they seem to always be looking for food when I’m around. They also enjoy handing out near the PVC pieces.

The MarinePure and Fritz TurboStart 900 seem to be doing the job. The water gets cloudy after I dose the bacteria, but it seems to get better after a day or two, especially if I use my UV filter after a day since the last dose. Ammonia and nitrites are staying almost undetectable. I test twice daily. I’ll start testing for nitrates next week since I just did a 50% water-change a couple of days ago to combat the overly-cloudy haze after the initial large dose of bacteria.

 

[nickkohrn]

Since the clowns are looking great, eating voraciously, and getting along well, I ordered a few corals today from Tidal Gardens’ live sale. I will move the MarinePure plate off of the drag rack, and I will stand it up against the rear wall. I’ll slowly acclimate them to the Radion over the next few weeks and see how they do.

Sorry for the low-quality photos, but I had to take photos of my laptop’s screen since there are no photos on the website of the corals that I purchased.

I’m a SUCKER for Lobophyllias, so I got two of them.

I also picked up a Midnight Princess Favites.

 

[nickkohrn]

I received my Lobophyllias and Favites from yesterday’s live sale at Tidal Gardens. These corals are gorgeous. I have them in the frag rack getting acclimated to the Radion. I’ll raise the intensity by one percent every other day or so until the intensity provides a good PAR reading.

I just can’t get over the feeling of having beautiful fish and corals again. It’s amazing.

 

[nickkohrn]

Here are some photos of my new corals after lunch. I fed them some PolypLab Reef-Roids, and I received an immediate response.

Sorry for the blues. I haven’t picked up any filter lenses yet for my phone.

 

[nickkohrn]

My green Lobophyllia has looked “off”, for lack of a better term, all day. I tested my water, and I have no detectable ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. I did not test calcium or magnesium, but my alkalinity is at 11.8 because I’m using Red Sea Coral Pro salt, which is almost identical to what they advertise. I will leave it alone for another few days before I attempt to make any changes. The corals eat, so I’m not extremely worried about it, but I wish I knew why the green one looks the way it does when the red one looks to be happy.

Attached are some photos and videos for reference. I’d greatly appreciate any advice or input.

 

[nickkohrn]

I just awoke and wanted to see how my quarantine tank was doing before I leave for work. I found my clowns hanging out in the PVC pieces, where the water is much calmer. They usually share one, but here they are in their own beds. [emoji846]

 

[NY_Caveman]

Very cute!

 

[nickkohrn]

I just placed an order with Aqua SD, and I used their 40%-off coupon to snag these gorgeous pieces. I can’t wait for them to arrive!

 

[nickkohrn]

In advance, I apologize for the blues from the lights and for the browns from algae’s and diatoms in the following photos; I placed an order for a lens filter, and I’m picking up some snails tomorrow. I wanted to wait until there is enough for them to feed on.

I picked up some frags yesterday from a LFS that was running a sale on some frags that have been there for a while. I ended up getting a chalice, a favia, a blasto, beautiful gray and blue acans that have red oral discs, and a brown and green platygyra with baby blue centers.

I’m in love, and it’s a good thing because I’m done buying corals until I get my new system set up; I’m out of space on the frag rack, and I want to give the system and corals time to adjust.

 

[nickkohrn]

I noticed my corals not looking very happy today, so I tested my water... Ammonia was at 0, nitrites were at 1, and nitrates were at 5. I concluded that I have been feeding too much. I did a 100% water-change because there was so much crap on the bottom of the glass; the old-water buckets were gross. Everything looked great, almost immediately, as soon as I put everything back into freshly-mixed, temperature-stable water. All of the corals opened, and their feeder tentacles were out about thirty minutes later. I was getting a lot of diatoms before the cleaning today, so I’ll likely grab some snails this week as long my nitrogen levels are acceptable. It was good timing because I get my order from Aqua SD on Thursday.

I’ll get some pictures posted when I receive my PolypLab Coral View Lens; I’m sick of the blues being overwhelming in photos.

 

[nickkohrn]

I tested my water this morning, after performing last night’s maintenance, and I have no ammonia, no nitrites, and no nitrates. I’m going to be cutting back on feeding, and picking up some snails this week.

Also, I added a Maxi-Jet 900 to the left-side of the tank so that I can program it to come on every few hours and really stir up the tank in hopes of forcing any detritus into the overflow. It also gives the clowns a brief minute of exercise as they have to work against the current, which is adorable to watch since they are usually seen calmly swimming in aquaria.

Attached is a photo of the cleaned system before the lights came on this morning. Notice that the Maxi-Jet faces the bottom-left of the tank so that the corals don’t get blasted; it provides a brief, strong flow, aimed under the frag rack.

 

[nickkohrn]

This week is going to be fun, except for the move on Saturday. My Aqua SD order will be here on Thursday, and I picked up a few corals and a few Trochus snails from World Wide Corals last night, which will be here tomorrow.

I received my PolypLab Coral View Lens today, and it’s useful! I’m excited to get better at taking pictures and videos of my corals and fish!

I’m glad that I picked up the lens because I saw some detail on my acans, pictures above, that I haven’t seen before. It was a pretty light-blue and brown when I bought it, but I’m now seeing hints of green and red. It was on sale at the shop that I bought it from, and the lights weren’t very intense; it must have browned out, and it’s starting to regain its coloration under my Radion. I’m looking forward to seeing it progress!

Now, it’s time to focus on equipment since I will not have any room left for corals after Thursday. [emoji57]

 

[nickkohrn]

I forgot to add this short time-lapse video of my clowns. It shows how active they are. I can’t wait to see how they act in the larger system!