Paulie's Lagoon 25

[Pauliex77x]

I got into the saltwater hobby about 20 years ago along with my Father and uncle. we had multiple FOWLR tanks set up and my own personal tank was 20g with a HOB skimmer and Fluval filter. 10 years ago While planning to take the plunge into a reef tank setup for myself, marriage kids and real life put the hobby on hold for a while. The kids are older and my boys really didnt have any pets of their own so the wife suggested a fish tank. She was on board when i told her it had to be a reef tank or nothing.

I knew i didnt want to just set up another garden variety 20 gallon but space with 4 kids is at a premium. While starting the tank research i found innovative marine and the AIO Lagoon style tank. I thought the 25 gallon was perfect for my build in terms of volume, footprint, and also price range .

My equipment list so far:
The 25 Lagoon w/aps stand
Ai prime HD
2x Sicce Syncra .5 185 gph returns.
In-tank media basket, floss basket, and refugium basket that currently has some rock rubble.
Eshopps Nano skimmer
Tunze osmolator Nano
And a 5 stage RODI that i bought from air water and ice years ago but never got to use

The tank and Stand i purchased second hand off of FB marketplace. All the other parts so far are new.

I had about 20 pounds of rock that was live when i bought it 20 years ago but has spent the last 10 years covered in a mall garbage pail at my parents house. It was really covered in hair algae when i took my old tank down so my first step was to get it cured. I got a bucket of reef crystals and hooked up the RODI and got the ball rolling. The rock cured for about 3 months before i filled the tank and added the rock and a dry bag of sand about 2 weeks ago.

Last thursday i added 2 Ocillaris clowns and a bottle of fritz turbo start to start the cycle. I was worried because after the first water change ammonia levels were zero but the nitrites and nitrates really didnt drop. After asking on the forums here what i should do next, i decided to do a build thread.

The pictures are from today. Fish are looking happy and have adjusted to the flow of the return pumps. im justbwaiting for nitrites to hit zero before doing a water change (Like the members here suggested in my cycling post).

Im open to any and all suggestions/critiques/advice etc. If you made it this far thanks for reading .

 

[arturoo1977]

Thanks a nice tank setup. I like the rock scape. That tank model is one of my options for a second project, soon I hope.
Congrats and happy reefing!

 

[TheWB]

Nice start. I like the scape. The lagoons are great tanks, I have the 50 gal version. Looking forward to following your progress.

 

[Dierks]

So awesome to see people come back to the hobby after being gone for a while!! I will be watching this one as well, great start to a great tank.

 

[Pauliex77x]

Sometime today or tomorrow ill be testing to see if the cycle is complete. I thought it would go faster with using the turbo start but eh, i guess patience is needed.

Im trying to figure out a lighting solution for the refugium. Ive seen a bunch of options anywhere between 10 and 100 bucks. I think ive narrowed it down to the IM chaetomax or the JBJ magnet fuge light. Both are reletively inexpensive so price isnt a problem. Does anyone have experience with either light? The science behind the chaetomax makes me think macroalgae growth will be better using that light over the JBJ.

If there is another light someone recommends im open to all suggestions.

After the fuge is set up and seeded, I need to do some cable management in the cabinet. I also have to find or build a shelving system that can accommodate my testing materials, dosing pumps (eventually) and the ATO reservior. Ill try to get some better pictures uploaded than the ones i took with the cell phone as well.

Im enjoying the process so far. Especially the design of the lagoon. Really happy i chose this tank.

 

[Pauliex77x]

Today i tested the water for the first time since tuesday.

NH3 <.15
NO2 1 ppm
NO3 50ppm

Everything is up and nitrites and nitrates have actually doubled.

Noticed the first diatom bloom in the tank as well .

Mixing up some salt for a 20% water change and ill test again tonight or tomorrow to see if that brings down the NO3.

Here are some pictures. Dont know if you can see the diatoms, also the skimmer has started producing but on the light side. Im guessing this is because of the small bio load? Picture is of about 3 days worth of skimming.

Trying to be patient but i expected the cycle to be complete by now with the turbo start. If im missing something let me know .

 

[Pauliex77x]

*Update*

So after roughly a 20% WC i waited an hour or so and tested again. Nitrates still at 50 ppm.

Would adding chaeto at this point be something to consider at this point or do i just continue to wait for the cycle to finish?

 

[TheWB]

*Update*

So after roughly a 20% WC i waited an hour or so and tested again. Nitrates still at 50 ppm.

Would adding chaeto at this point be something to consider at this point or do i just continue to wait for the cycle to finish?

Adding Chaeto won’t hurt but you won’t have enough in there to make a big difference. I added a ball of it early on and it never grew. I’m having more luck growing ulva now but I’m also much farther along. I still have algae problems though because it’s hard to get enough macro in these smaller systems to really make a difference, at least for me it didn’t. If your nitrates are still that high I don’t think your cycle ever finished. Did your tank ever convert 2ppm ammonia to zero within 24 hours? I would work on getting the nitrates down with water changes until they get lower and then stabilize for a while. Your bio load is pretty light so that shouldn’t take too long hopefully. Good luck.

 

[Pauliex77x]

My ammonia levels were never that high when i tested them. they never jumped higher than <.15 on the salifert kit. on tuesday and they were at 0. today they were at <.15. as i said before NO2 and NO3 doubled as well in that time. possible that sometime between Tuesday and today it spiked and is now Coming down but no way to tell that now.

I don't think the cycle ever finished either and that's whats troubling me as i used the fritz 900. i feed just enough for the Clowns to get 3 or 4 bites of pellets each so bio load really is super light.

not panicking but i dont want to start off with an algae problem right out of the gate lol.

 

[TheWB]

My ammonia levels were never that high when i tested them. they never jumped higher than <.15 on the salifert kit. on tuesday and they were at 0. today they were at <.15. as i said before NO2 and NO3 doubled as well in that time. possible that sometime between Tuesday and today it spiked and is now Coming down but no way to tell that now.

I don't think the cycle ever finished either and that's whats troubling me as i used the fritz 900. i feed just enough for the Clowns to get 3 or 4 bites of pellets each so bio load really is super light.

not panicking but i dont want to start off with an algae problem right out of the gate lol.

You’ll be fine, just go slow. Since you’ve got the clowns in there you really can’t dose ammonia to jumpstart the cycle again. Just do water changes and let things equalize with the current bioload. With a light bioload you’re not going to have a lot of bacteria anyway, it takes time to build up. Keep the lights off if you aren’t already doing that as long as there’s no coral. I did a 4 month cycle on my tank before any fish went in. It was repeatedly able to convert 2ppm of ammonia to zero in 24 hours and stayed that way for a long time. I still managed to make mistakes which has now resulted in a fairly bad algae outbreak. You’re going to get one at some point, everybody does. It’s manageable, just takes time to sort out when it happens.

 

[Pauliex77x]

My lights have been running since i added the fish. I was actually going to ask in my last post if turning off the lights would be a good idea because i wasn't sure if it would affect the clowns negatively.

 

[TheWB]

My lights have been running since i added the fish. I was actually going to ask in my last post if turning off the lights would be a good idea because i wasn't sure if it would affect the clowns negatively.

Lights are pretty much for us, not the fish. If you’re still cycling I would leave them off.

 

[Pauliex77x]

Quick update before the chaos of xmas with my 4 kids happens and i have no time for one.

Waited 48 hours or so after the water change to test again.

Ammonia 0 again
Nitrites 1ppm still
Nitrates 50ppm still

Starting to think i may be doing something wrong with the tests. Full disclosure the Salifert test vial that came with the nitrite kit was broken on delivery. Ive been using the same vial to test both nitrate and nitrite. I of course rinse it thoroughly with RODI then wipe out with a clean paper towel. I guess it is possible though that im getting a bad reading because of it.

Lights have been off for 2 days. Fish dont seem affected by it as the tank is in a main room and mostly always has some kind of light on. It has stopped the diatom bloom though.

Thinking of taking a ride to the LFS and having them test a sample for me.

Happy holidays everyone

 

[TheWB]

Quick update before the chaos of xmas with my 4 kids happens and i have no time for one.

Waited 48 hours or so after the water change to test again.

Ammonia 0 again
Nitrites 1ppm still
Nitrates 50ppm still

Starting to think i may be doing something wrong with the tests. Full disclosure the Salifert test vial that came with the nitrite kit was broken on delivery. Ive been using the same vial to test both nitrate and nitrite. I of course rinse it thoroughly with RODI then wipe out with a clean paper towel. I guess it is possible though that im getting a bad reading because of it.

Lights have been off for 2 days. Fish dont seem affected by it as the tank is in a main room and mostly always has some kind of light on. It has stopped the diatom bloom though.

Thinking of taking a ride to the LFS and having them test a sample for me.

Happy holidays everyone

Getting a second opinion on the test is a good idea, if only to make sure your test kit is accurate. You should get a phosphate test as well.

 

[Pauliex77x]

Did some work on the cabinet yesterday. Added a shelf and did some wire management. Also swapped out the 5 gallon bucket for a 5 gallon tank reservoir. Finished it off with a pair of battery puck lights.

Today was testing and WC day

Still zero ammonia
Still 1ppm nitrites
Nitrates 100

Gonna wait 24 hours and test again. Probably end up doing another WC tomorrow too.

Sicce multi pump came as well... No more lifting heavy buckets

 

[Pauliex77x]

Water paramaters are finally under control. After doing a series of 3 5 gallon water changes over the last two days...

Ammonia 0
Nitrite .25 ppm
Nitrate 2 ppm

Not sure if this means the cycle is over though. Gonna wait a while before i start adding anything new livestock wise to the tank. Next purchase will probably be a fuge light and some clean chaeto.

 

[arturoo1977]

I think your tank is ready for some live stock.
You should start slowly, adding one fish at a time and every 2 or 3 weeks in between.
You can also add some CUC.

 

[TheWB]

Water paramaters are finally under control. After doing a series of 3 5 gallon water changes over the last two days...

Ammonia 0
Nitrite .25 ppm
Nitrate 2 ppm

Not sure if this means the cycle is over though. Gonna wait a while before i start adding anything new livestock wise to the tank. Next purchase will probably be a fuge light and some clean chaeto.

It’s just those two clowns in there now, right? I wouldn’t call it cycled unless you consistently get zero readings on both Ammonia and Nitrite. There shouldn’t be a detectable level of either if you’re completely cycled. Good idea to wait on an more livestock.

 

[Pauliex77x]

It’s just those two clowns in there now, right? I wouldn’t call it cycled unless you consistently get zero readings on both Ammonia and Nitrite. There shouldn’t be a detectable level of either if you’re completely cycled. Good idea to wait on an more livestock.

Just the clowns. They're doing really well even without the lights on. A snail and/or a hermit crab will probably be my next purchase along with some clean chaeto for the fuge. But no rush. Im just happy to have nitrates under 50.

The nitrite reading was from yesterday before the last water change. Only tested the nitrates today to see how much they dropped. They fell from about 25 ppm yesterday to 2 today. Im getting better with the test kits too. Baby steps lol

 

[TheWB]

Just the clowns. They're doing really well even without the lights on. A snail and/or a hermit crab will probably be my next purchase along with some clean chaeto for the fuge. But no rush. Im just happy to have nitrates under 50.

The nitrite reading was from yesterday before the last water change. Only tested the nitrates today to see how much they dropped. They fell from about 25 ppm yesterday to 2 today. Im getting better with the test kits too. Baby steps lol

You’re Nitrite is probably fine then but I’d still check it a couple more times. Unless you really like them I would avoid hermit crabs. I got mine to handle some hair algae when it first broke out in my tank. They knocked it out in short order and then immediately converted into a roving band of snail murderers. If I had it to do over again I would have just gone with snails to start with and left the hermits out. I believe there are some dwarf hermits you can get that are supposed to be less aggressive, although who knows if that’s really true or not. Available here: https://www.ipsf.com/index.html
I actually wish I would have gone with a package from this place when I started adding livestock to my tank. I had all dry rock so some diversity would have been beneficial. Its too cold where I live right now to trust a delivery of anything alive to my house when I might not be home so I’ll probably get some stuff from there once the weather gets better.