Setting up a new 14g nano tank

[nagyee]

Hey everybody!
I'm pretty new in the hobby and spent the last few weeks researching and finding the perfect materials that I'll need for my tank. All my friends keep freshwater fish so there is no one to turn to. I'm really glad there are a bunch of people here who are willing to help beginners just like me. I really appreciate any help since I have a couple questions.
My tank: 14g nuvo peninsula pro with a mightyjet return pump (327gph), filter sock and customcaddy with puritypack filter media. 100w hydor heater, LED light 30 watts - dimmable, 15lbs purple dry rock, hygger mini wave maker (1600gph max), reef glass nano protein skimmer, prism auto topoff system. The rest really doesn't matter imo.
My questions are:

1, I was planning to put the heater in the 2nd chamber and leave it there. Is that a good solution?

2, I was thinking to put the protein skimmer also in the 2nd or 3rd chamber, since I have an auto top off, there won't be much water level fluctuation. Is that a good idea?

3, Should I use the filter sock? If yes, which chamber should I put in?

4, Should I use the puritypack media filters or just get my own? Is that something that's reliable?

5, Should I put rocks in the 2nd chamber for extra filtration?

6, What level should I use the hygger mini wave maker? I'm planning to put corals in it later on tho I haven't decided which ones. Any suggestion?

7, I was thinking to put the water level reader in the main tank, and put the auto top off exit pipe into the 2nd chamber. Is that something that's okay or doesn't really matter?

8, My tank is next to a window, facing north. No direct sunlight will be coming from there, especially because there is a shade on it. My plan was to run the LED for 10hrs a day and between 12am and 7/8am it's gonna be completely dark. Any suggestion to that?

9, I'm planning to use epoxy and glue mixture for the rocks and build something great. Is too much epoxy gonna mess up my skimmer? And how much is too much?

Thank you for your help. I wish I could ask my friends but they don't wanna keep saltwater fish, because it's too much hassle. But I'm glad if you took the time and answered some of my questions. Thanks again

 

[fishguy242]

hi welcome to the reef going to love it here!!
lots of fun/info/fun/help/fun...
sorry cannot help with q's i'm sure someone w aio will chime in

 

[Rjukan]

Hi neighbor. Im not an expert with AIOs, but I do have one set up for FW. I'll answer some of your questions best I can.

Heater in 2nd chamber is fine. I would keep the skimmer in the chamber meant for it, probably the 2nd. Im guessing the 3rd has your return pump right? Don't know anything about purity pack filters, but I would guess its a preference thing. I use a InTank basket that works well and allows me to mix up 3 different types of filter media. Sure you can put LR in the filter chamber. You can wait on the wave maker till you have corals, can adjust it to work best with what you have then. For now just get familiar with the settings etc. ** Water level sensor should be in the chamber with the return pump, thats the only area that will show evap. Imo you should only have the return pump and ATO sensor in this chamber. Have the ATO reserve feed dump into the first chamber so it mixes by the time it makes it to the display. Lighting cycle seems fine, its similar to how I have mine. I also have a North facing window behind the tank but I've blocked it to limit light during daylight. My lights come on around 1:30 and go off at 10:30. Unfortunately I don't have exp with expoy, I went the drill and pegs route to get my aquacape the way I like it.

So since we are in the NYC area we are lucky enough to have a very robust club in the long Island reef association, and a very active local buy/sell forum in manhattanreefs.com. Idk if it is a no no to post it here but I figured I would try. Goodluck with the tank, feel free to PM me with any questions.

 

[Jib]

Hey everybody!
I'm pretty new in the hobby and spent the last few weeks researching and finding the perfect materials that I'll need for my tank. All my friends keep freshwater fish so there is no one to turn to. I'm really glad there are a bunch of people here who are willing to help beginners just like me. I really appreciate any help since I have a couple questions.
My tank: 14g nuvo peninsula pro with a mightyjet return pump (327gph), filter sock and customcaddy with puritypack filter media. 100w hydor heater, LED light 30 watts - dimmable, 15lbs purple dry rock, hygger mini wave maker (1600gph max), reef glass nano protein skimmer, prism auto topoff system. The rest really doesn't matter imo.
My questions are:

1, I was planning to put the heater in the 2nd chamber and leave it there. Is that a good solution?

2, I was thinking to put the protein skimmer also in the 2nd or 3rd chamber, since I have an auto top off, there won't be much water level fluctuation. Is that a good idea?

3, Should I use the filter sock? If yes, which chamber should I put in?

4, Should I use the puritypack media filters or just get my own? Is that something that's reliable?

5, Should I put rocks in the 2nd chamber for extra filtration?

6, What level should I use the hygger mini wave maker? I'm planning to put corals in it later on tho I haven't decided which ones. Any suggestion?

7, I was thinking to put the water level reader in the main tank, and put the auto top off exit pipe into the 2nd chamber. Is that something that's okay or doesn't really matter?

8, My tank is next to a window, facing north. No direct sunlight will be coming from there, especially because there is a shade on it. My plan was to run the LED for 10hrs a day and between 12am and 7/8am it's gonna be completely dark. Any suggestion to that?

9, I'm planning to use epoxy and glue mixture for the rocks and build something great. Is too much epoxy gonna mess up my skimmer? And how much is too much?

Thank you for your help. I wish I could ask my friends but they don't wanna keep saltwater fish, because it's too much hassle. But I'm glad if you took the time and answered some of my questions. Thanks again

I have this exact tank, couple of thoughts regarding your questions above.

1. Second chamber is where I keep my heaters as well.
2. You could do a skimmer in the second chamber, but I dont belive the water level would be high enough in the third. The third is also where you need to put your ATO so I doubt you'll have room.
3. You use either the filter sock or the caddy, not both. I run the caddy with the cotton balls on top, carbon / gfo in the middle, and some bio balls in the last one.
4. I use the IM filtration and it has been fine for me.
5. You could, I recommend putting them in a mesh bag so you could easily remove them when needed.
6. It would depend on the corals you want to keep. I'm not running a wave maker yet. Just the return pump with a random flow generator.
7. ATO should go in the chamber with the return pump.
8. Lighting is a tricky topic, I'd do a lot of research on it.
9. You won't need the skimmer until you have fish. Sounds like your building dry, so the epoxy would be dry by the time you run the skimmer.

Last thought, what sand are you using? If you pick something too fine, it will blow around in the tank. I recently swapped my sand which was a real pain. My build thread shows the porcess it was.

Hope this info helps, let me know if you have other questions.

 

[nagyee]

I have this exact tank, couple of thoughts regarding your questions above.

1. Second chamber is where I keep my heaters as well.
2. You could do a skimmer in the second chamber, but I dont belive the water level would be high enough in the third. The third is also where you need to put your ATO so I doubt you'll have room.
3. You use either the filter sock or the caddy, not both. I run the caddy with the cotton balls on top, carbon / gfo in the middle, and some bio balls in the last one.
4. I use the IM filtration and it has been fine for me.
5. You could, I recommend putting them in a mesh bag so you could easily remove them when needed.
6. It would depend on the corals you want to keep. I'm not running a wave maker yet. Just the return pump with a random flow generator.
7. ATO should go in the chamber with the return pump.
8. Lighting is a tricky topic, I'd do a lot of research on it.
9. You won't need the skimmer until you have fish. Sounds like your building dry, so the epoxy would be dry by the time you run the skimmer.

Last thought, what sand are you using? If you pick something too fine, it will blow around in the tank. I recently swapped my sand which was a real pain. My build thread shows the porcess it was.

Hope this info helps, let me know if you have other questions.

Thank you guys for the fast replies, I really appreciate you. I have the Caribsea Fiji pink sand. I was looking for something not too small so it won't be blown away easily. I hope this does the work.
You guys helped me a lot. And thank you for the links, I'll use it later on.

 

[Jib]

I have the Caribsea Fiji pink sand

This is what I originally had too. It blows very easily in a small tank in my experience. I switched to the Special Grade which stays put much nicer.

 

[Reef.]

Hey everybody!
I'm pretty new in the hobby and spent the last few weeks researching and finding the perfect materials that I'll need for my tank. All my friends keep freshwater fish so there is no one to turn to. I'm really glad there are a bunch of people here who are willing to help beginners just like me. I really appreciate any help since I have a couple questions.
My tank: 14g nuvo peninsula pro with a mightyjet return pump (327gph), filter sock and customcaddy with puritypack filter media. 100w hydor heater, LED light 30 watts - dimmable, 15lbs purple dry rock, hygger mini wave maker (1600gph max), reef glass nano protein skimmer, prism auto topoff system. The rest really doesn't matter imo.
My questions are:

1, I was planning to put the heater in the 2nd chamber and leave it there. Is that a good solution? fine there, it’s where mine is.

2, I was thinking to put the protein skimmer also in the 2nd or 3rd chamber, since I have an auto top off, there won't be much water level fluctuation. Is that a good idea?

I wouldn’t bother with the skimmer, at least for now, the only place for it is the middle and that has the heater in and pro the bracket for the light, either way I don’t feel it’s needed.

3, Should I use the filter sock? If yes, which chamber should I put in?
no bin it, buy a media basket
4, Should I use the puritypack media filters or just get my own? Is that something that's reliable?
5, Should I put rocks in the 2nd chamber for extra filtration?
buy filter floss it’s cheap, sit it on top of the media basket
6, What level should I use the hygger mini wave maker? I'm planning to put corals in it later on tho I haven't decided which ones. Any suggestion?
low for now, when you get corals you turn it up or down till they are happy

7, I was thinking to put the water level reader in the main tank, and put the auto top off exit pipe into the 2nd chamber. Is that something that's okay or doesn't really matter?

the sensor has to be in the last chamber, the water tube can go in either the 2nd or last, best in the last though


8, My tank is next to a window, facing north. No direct sunlight will be coming from there, especially because there is a shade on it. My plan was to run the LED for 10hrs a day and between 12am and 7/8am it's gonna be completely dark. Any suggestion to that?
take it slow and again please the corals

9, I'm planning to use epoxy and glue mixture for the rocks and build something great. Is too much epoxy gonna mess up my skimmer? And how much is too much?
enoght to stick the rock too much looks

Thank you for your help. I wish I could ask my friends but they don't wanna keep saltwater fish, because it's too much hassle. But I'm glad if you took the time and answered some of my questions. Thanks again

Hope that helps.

 

[nagyee]

This is what I originally had too. It blows very easily in a small tank in my experience. I switched to the Special Grade which stays put much nicer.

Thanks for the tip. I'll take it back to petco and switch it up. It really doesn't matter to me but my guess is that we both picked the fiji pink for the same reason.

 

[Jib]

Thanks for the tip. I'll take it back to petco and switch it up. It really doesn't matter to me but my guess is that we both picked the fiji pink for the same reason.

The Fiji Pink was all my LFS had in a 10lb bag. And it looks really nice....looks like the sand I would see at a beach or while snorking. The Special Grade still looks nice, but it is noticeably larger. But overall looks better, because there aren’t bare spots in my tank and it isn’t all over my rock work.