tinytides 17g Japanese Style Nano

[Altitude Reef]

Really like your build so far! How do you like the canister filter? Is it quiet?

 

[tinytidesnano]

Really like your build so far! How do you like the canister filter? Is it quiet?

There’s a myriad of reasons to use a canister filter imho, and not the least of which is that they are dead quiet. The tank is basically silent.

With careful planning, maintenance, and proper husbandry a canister is a great option for a small tank.

Personally, I’ve always loved the aesthetics of a clear “see through” tank with no background and no overflow.

 

[tinytidesnano]

This guy has a fantastic video about going against the grain:



Well worth the watch-

 

[tinytidesnano]

Patience Grasshopper

 

[tinytidesnano]

A non reef related Amazon delivery

 

[tinytidesnano]

Quick update here:

 

[tinytidesnano]

Stocking Plans!

Fish-
Orange Skunk Clown
2 more small fish TBD

Inverts-
5 Trochus Snails
5 Blue Leg Crabs
1 Sexy Shrimp
1 Pom Pom Crab

Month 1 Plan
Soft corals for left side of tank/rockwork-
Ricordea Florida
Ricordea Yuma

Month 2 Plan
LPS for left center solo-
New York Knicks Torch

Month 3 Plan
LPS for left side of tank/rockwork-
2-3 Blastomussa Wellsi
1 Blastomussa Merletti
Possibly one Blasto Vivida
2-3 Goniopora and Bernardpora

Month 5 Plan
SPS for right side of tank/rockwork-
3 Acropora Millepora

*plan is subject to change due to impulsiveness, emotional distress, insanity, or typical reefer syndrome

 

[tinytidesnano]

Bakin a cake ova here

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Bakin a cake ova here

Can't wait to see the cake come out of the oven!!! Following!

 

[tinytidesnano]

You don’t know the power of the dark side…

 

[tinytidesnano]

Not too much to report: I’ve done a few small water changes and sucked out a very small amount of hair algae. I have 6lbs of real Aussie rubble on the way from Pristine Marine Aquariums.
I’m glad I’m still showing ammonia in a way because I want to continue cycling with the rubble. It may extend the cycle a bit, but in the end the tank will benefit. I’m planning on integrating it into the rock work to help seed and establish the tank. After all, this IS the foundational base.
Ammonia is definitely trending down. As you can see here the reading from today on the bottom vs the readings from the last couple of weeks. I’m a reefkeeping turtle and I like it that way.

 

[tinytidesnano]

Here’s the Aussie Rubble from Jason over at Pristine Marine Aquariums. I was initially pretty annoyed because he sent it the bottom of the barrel “Ground Saver” which ended up arriving today- when it was supposed to have arrived Friday or Saturday.

You know what though, the rock he sent is incredible, fresh with little die off, and I suspect he gave me more than 6lbs so it’s hard to complain. His is still the best rock I’ve seen in 25 years.
I don’t know how he gets it, but it’s the real deal from Australia.

I tested Ammonia before adding the rock and of course the tank already hit zero, so, by adding the rock this way, I’m probably adding an additional 10-14 days, or so, to the full cycle.

I will say, I’m incredibly pleased with how I integrated the rubble into the two structures, and I had a nice amount of small bits left for the first chamber in the canister.

I’m currently working on water changes to remove the first layer of detritus, and I’ll test ammonia again in exactly a week.

 

[tinytidesnano]

Below:

 

[tinytidesnano]

More here:


*note the weird worm creature, on the left side, in the last pic

 

[jonelder68]

I can't comments on the ph pen but I've had two of the salinty checkers and both read .002 low when calibrated with Hanna calibration fluid. Just mentioning it in case you don't have another device to compare it to.

Same. Sometimes it will drift also. I just stick to using TM hydrometer anymore.

 

[tinytidesnano]

 

[tinytidesnano]

Calibrated and dosing

 

[tinytidesnano]

Definitely spiked the ammonia from LR die off. I’ll test all levels this coming Friday

 

[tinytidesnano]

A little nitrifying bacteria never hurt

 

[tinytidesnano]

Alright, added the last 1/3 of the bottle of Fritz 9 this morning. I shut the filter off for 2 hours then ran it for another hour and tested:
Ammonia .1 ppm
Nitrite 2+ ppm
Nitrate 50+ ppm

PH has been running consistently low @ 7.63-7.72. The highest I’ve seen is 7.81.
My place is small so I’m sure that contributes to it. In addition, I’m running at 1.024 while the tank starts, and I’m using a lower quality salt for startup. Tomorrow I’ll do a larger water change and bump it up to 1.025 or even 1.026.
In the interim I’ve been slowly shortening the Kalkwasser drip intervals and I tripled the Kalk slurry density today.
Hopefully I can add a fish by Friday- Wednesday if I’m lucky.