TANKandSPANK’s 20g Red Sea Max Nano 20g project

[Tankandspank]

Hey all,

I bought a used Red Sea Max Nano 20g and will be using this thread as a personal journal of sorts and hopefully getting some feedback on my set up.


Currently, it is sitting in the bathroom running a vinegar/water 1.5:18.5 mix through it. Using this to check for leaks, to clean the tank and sump, and hopefully to break down some of the tough calcium built up on the back wall. Planning to empty this weekend, rinse with freshwater and then get it into place on its stand.

It has been 3 days with no leaks and the return pump and protein skimmer pump both appear to work great!

 

[Tankandspank]

Here’s some pictures of the calcium I mentioned. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Tried scrubbing with vinegar which didn’t do much.

 

[Tankandspank]

The vinegar run worked like a charm. Rinsed thoroughly with fresh water afterward.

 

[Tankandspank]

Now placing the tank into position in the stand. Unfortunately, it had to be on carpet. I bought a 3x4 foot plastic mat for office chairs to place underneath for spills and splashes. Also had to use some cardboard to get it perfectly level. I think I’m all set now.
Interestingly, the max nano is slightly larger than the stand so it kind of has to hang off a quarter inch on the front and back. Don’t think it’s an issue once there is 400+ lbs of water pushing it down into the stand, but was surprised.

 

[sammeeh]

Hey! I just also purchased a used Red Sea Max nano a few days ago and I'll be setting it up soon. I am actually missing the two bolts that secure the power center box/ base of the lamp to the tank. I have searched online and had no luck finding replacement screws so far. Definitely following your build. I'm in MD as well!

 

[Tankandspank]

Hey! I just also purchased a used Red Sea Max nano a few days ago and I'll be setting it up soon. I am actually missing the two bolts that secure the power center box/ base of the lamp to the tank. I have searched online and had no luck finding replacement screws so far. Definitely following your build. I'm in MD as well!

Hey! That sucks about the screws. As you start setting yours up, link me your build thread so we can compare!

 

[Tankandspank]

Purchased 10lbs of Marcorock and Caribsea aragaonite special grade dry sand this weekend. Also checked out the LFS options. Planning to work on the scape this week and then wait to fill and begin cycling until after traveling for Thanksgiving. I am concerned about not being able to add ammonia during a cycle while I am away so trying to be patient and wait until I can watch the cycle.

 

[sammeeh]

Hey! That sucks about the screws. As you start setting yours up, link me your build thread so we can compare!

I just got the screws from red sea. I will hit you up with my build thread once I get it going. I still need to scout the area for local stores. Only place I know so far is CTE aquatics.

BTW, did the vinegar help to break down the calcium on the back wall and filtration? I scraped most with a razor blade but there are some tough spots I can't get. I don't expect that to be an issue anyway. I got citric acid powder to fill up a bucket and run the skimmer and pump. Are you planning on modifying the filtration system at all or run it as is?

 

[Tankandspank]

So funny story... my place was burglarized during the above noted Thanksgiving travel. I had to move and had a lot of associated expenses so decided to sell the tank. Except I didn't so it sat empty for 2 years through an additional move.

I finally resolved after the second move to sell it. Unfortunately, I was that guy. I had a buyer interested and then realized I really wanted to dive into this again. So I apologized and kept the tank.

I will continue documenting everything in this thread, mostly for myself, but also in hopes that someone can learn from my failures experiences.

So in early May I cleaned the tank again, tested it for leaks after sitting for a couple years and we were good to go. I set it up in its place and designed a scape using that dry rock I had purchased before. I glued together my creation and placed it in the bottom of the tank. Then I used a little less than 20lb of Arag-alive special grade for the bottom. I decided to buy one of the BRS RO/DI units rather than lug water to and from the LFS so I learned how to do that and mixed with Red Sea blue bucket. Got 20 gallons to 1.025 or so and dumped it in. After about 36 hours with no pumps on, everything settled and the water was very clear. I then turned the main pump on but left the skimmer off since no bioload yet.

I watched a BRStv video about starting tanks with bottle bacteria and followed their logic. I ended up buying one smaller bottle of Dr. Tim's One and Only and poured that in the system with pumps off to let it settle into the rock and sand bed. After 5-6 hours, I went to the LFS to get myself some clowns. I ended up settling on just one of the standard captive bred Mocha Clowns to get things started.

Everything went well for a few days and my clown was eating great. My plan was to let things mature until I started seeing some algae and then add a clean up crew. Unfortunately, I made a critical error that I still feel guilty about. Growing up, I had many freshwater tanks and never had a lid. The nano reef tank doesn't come with a lid and when I go to the fish store they rarely have lids on their tanks. So, it didn't occur to me that this was an important piece of the process early on with just a single fish. Well the clown was interested in greener pastures I suppose and instead found dry linoleum. He had particularly poor timing (in the middle of the night) so I was not able to rescue him in time. Lesson learned. Get. A. Lid.

Now I was worried that I didn't have any source of ammonia in the tank for my bacteria colonies so I put a tiny bit of food in a couple times to break down and provide ammonia while I pondered what to do next. I truly felt awful about the first clown's demise and was hesitant to get more fish. I eventually decided I needed to get another clown to keep the tank on its trajectory. Buttttt I didn't want to go back to the LFS to face my shame... so I went to Petco.

There are 4-5 Petcos near me and I drove further to the one in the nicest suburb which was definitely a good choice as I now have tried the other Petcos and their tanks are very dirty with dying fish. This Petco though had very clean tanks and the employee clearly knew what they were doing and discussed their own tanks at home. I felt confident enough to buy from them so I got a small maroon clown and was upsold a long tentacled anemone after standing in the store doing research on my phone to make sure my tank could handle it. I acclimated my fish and anemone and in they went! I still didn't have a long term solution for a lid yet, but I tightly applied saran wrap and that has done the trick so far. I did notice too now that I have a comparison... this maroon clown is way less active and crazy than the mocha I had before. He is smaller too so maybe that is why. I don't expect him to be a jumper when comparing his behavior to the prior fish.

They have done excellently for the last few weeks. I feed thawed mysis shrimp with a syringe to the anemone every other day or so and give some to the clown too. On the other day I give a small pinch of flakes or pellet food to the clown. The clown is super food motivated. Like a Labrador.

The tank is positioned in a room with a lot of natural light and in the evenings when the sun is setting, it gets blasted by sunlight for about 1.5 hours from its left side. After a couple weeks, I started to see a lot of brown algae on the side that got sun so I decided it was time to get a clean up crew going. I'm also predicting the sun is going to be an issue...

I got 3 nassarius, 3 cerith snails, and 2 scarlet hermits to start with. I don't have too much of a bioload yet so I didn't want to get a ton. I probably could use more of the algae eating snails, but I think I have enough of the sand sifting/detritus team for now with the hermits and nassarius. I also couldn't help myself and came home with a royal gramma as well.

Everything was acclimated and did great after being added. The snails and hermits were really fun to watch get settled in. The nassarius immediately dug in and hid until nighttime.

The next day I went to check on the tank and my gramma was gone. I was devastated. How the hell did this happen again? I can't keep losing fish! I checked everywhere around the tank. I checked in the filter system in the back, took it all apart, etc. Nothing. I finally accepted that the only possibility was that my anemone ate the gramma. Size wise, it was certainly possible as the gramma was tiny and the anemone was pretty large. I found some case reports online of anemones eating various smaller fish, even clowns. So I blamed the anemone and wondered what I would be able to keep with the dang thing. Then a couple hours later as I'm watching the tank, the gramma peeks its head out of a hole in my live rock! Obviously I'm thrilled that its alive, but even still I have no idea how this fish completely disappears into the rock. It doesn't look like there is any room for them. I know the rock is solid. It just disappears into this hole somehow. I've looked from every angle with a flashlight and when they go in there, I can't see a single trace of them at all. But they seem happy with their hiding spot so all is well. Only issue is that it spends most of its time hiding and wasn't very interested in the flake food I fed the clown. Will try to shoot some mysis at its hole later today and see how it goes.

So that is the current state of the tank. 1 clown, 1 hiding gramma that I still haven't fed in 2 days, 1 anemone, 3 ceriths, 3 nassarius, and 2 scarlet leg hermit crabs. There is a lot of brown algae growing on the side facing the sun, maybe diatoms? I haven't stressed about it yet as I am content with waiting out the ugly phase and not trying to do too much. I currently have my lights on very low for only 3 hours a day, but may turn them off entirely. The fish will be fine as there is so much natural light, but according to BRStv, leaving the lights off for 3-4 months can reduce your "ugly phase". Currently more worried about the sun than the lights. Debating putting a piece of cardboard on the side facing the sun, but that seems like a short term solution. Would like the tank to mature to a point that the sunlight doesn't cause algae issues.

One other thing, I haven't tested a single parameter on this tank other than salinity, temperature (76ish rising to 78ish during the sunny hours), and TDS of my water. I trust the bacterial colonies to do their job in the short term, but will start testing soon (mostly because I think I will have to start correlating my values with algae issues here very soon). Currently researching options for cost effective and accurate testing. I decided not to stress over this after reading a detailed thread on R2R about all of the misunderstandings regarding cycling. I have a 10g backup tank and 20g of salt water already made if my fish start acting funny so I can rescue them immediately.

Ok, now some pictures...

 

[Tankandspank]

 

[Tankandspank]

The gramma hole

 

[Tankandspank]

Brown algae on the sunny side

 

[Tankandspank]

The anemone has settled into the back corner. Wish he was more toward the front of the tank where I can see him easier, but I think he likes the shade. He does get blasted by the sun in the evening though.

 

[Tankandspank]

More complete shot. Shows how the sun hits the left side of the tank in the evening.

 

[Tankandspank]

Update - Was able to get the gramma eating and everything was going well.

Then, about a week after my last posts, I noticed my clown acting funny. He was spending a lot of time on the bottom of the tank in the substrate. He would swim up when I approached him though and ate just fine. This was for a single day.

By the next day, he was barely alive and I noticed tiny white spots. My gramma was also suffering with tiny white dots. Within a few hours, both were dead. I am relatively certain ich was the culprit based on the white spots. It had been almost 3 weeks since I added anything new to the tank, but I suppose it can take that long for symptoms to show. I learned another lesson about quarantine... I will have to consider setting up a quarantine tank or experimenting with "pre-quaratine" retailers.

Now I wait 6 weeks for the parasites to die and can try again.

The good news is I am starting to see lots of purple and green algae on my rocks and my inverts and anemone seem very healthy. I am feeding my anemone mysis shrimp every few days and that seems to keep the tank happy.

I am seeing lots of tiny white creatures crawling along the glass. I think they may be copepods? They would have come in with one of my purchases as I didn't add them myself. I believe these are beneficial and provide an additional food source for some of the life in my tank so somewhat happy to see them.

I am debating starting with some easy corals while I wait to add fish again (GSP, Xenia...).

 

[Tankandspank]

 

[Lebowski_]

You had my curiosity with "Spank" in the title, now you have my curiosity. Glad you hung in there, tank looks good. Unfortunate about the disease, but such is life.