getting my feet wet again

Welll i think it was about time i got my feet wet again. After i stopped all breeding and sold all equipment and have had a long break from all tanks . Had a fighter fish which my ladys mother took on me. This time i am giving salt water a go. I am going to setup a fluval edge 46 litre nano tank. I have conversion kit to change to marine with skimmer ect and i am also upgrading the lighting.
I have nearly got all now and just waiting on the sump and lights hopefully they will be here next week.
When thinking Marine take a number and multiply it by 3 and you might be close to what you will spend lol
Will try get some pics up but having problems

good man amd best of luck with the new project

Thanks hopefully i can get started next weekend and get live rock and sand in and week after clean up crew in depending on levels in tank. I should have near instant cycle as i have good live rock that is well seeded in a friends tank wait for me and i can get 50 litres of water straight from him . Going to try ATM colony and see if it is worth the money. Meant to be good cycle time around 5 to 7 days in full.
I cant seem to post pics here on my prgress so far .

Glad to see you backin the hobby again. You like a challenge, don't you?

LemonJelly wrote:

Glad to see you backin the hobby again. You like a challenge, don't you?

Love a good challenege so i do

A few shots of equipment i have been getting for start up.


STC 1000 Temp controller



Building in unit with plug 1 for cooling and 1 for heating element.



All the equipment i have so far Just waiting on new lighting and sump.

new tank i will setup will be marine
I have been waiting a while to get this in action and its now time.
I will use a 46 litre Fluval edge but with modifications.
So a will give a description of all the equipment and products i have ordered and waiting to get toghter and delivered so i can start.

First thing i have done is to order an upgraded filter and hang on sump for marine conversion of the fluval edge. Is the marine pac converter for fluval edge 46 l.

Fluval Edge II Marine-Pac 1 - Saltwater Conversion
I will be doing a few updates to this.
Pump will be EHEIM COMPACT 1000 PUMP, MARINE.

The heater will be aquael easy heater 75 watt
Aquael Easyheater Professional 75 Watt - Unbreakable - Will not overheat or burn.

Temperture controller Digital STC-1000 Thermostat Temperature Controller All-Purpose Aquarium & Sensor

Skimmer is TUNZIE 9002 and Skinny Skimmer Cup.

Air pump for the skimmer will be EHEIM AIR PUMP 200. 200l/h.

The filter media i shall use will be

Seachem Purigen , Seachem Phos gaurd , Seachem Matrix and i also have Seachem carbon but am unsure if i will use this always.

I will have for auto top up on the tank tunze osmolator nano.

Products for start up will be ATM Colony

Seachem prime and Stability.

Live sand and live rock.

Wave maker will decided have a jaebo but it may be too powerfull will see.

Lights will be LED aquarium light 12 x 3watt (36 watt) 6 white 6 royal blue 10 to 20 k mix.

LED Lighting programmable controller

Planned fish:
2xClown fish
1xBlue gold damsel
1xbangi cardinal
1xClown Goby Yellow
CUC
Turbo snail x 1 , Nassarius Snail x 2 , Bumble Bee Snail x 1 and Hermit Crab Calcinus Sp x 2

All fish are small now and have been ordered of my local marine only store with a gaurentee i can take them back and also have help determing if the mix is working.
This is a plan but as it is a high volume of fish i may reduce the numbers as i will add slowly bit by bit

So that is all for now , as soon as i have all together i will be starting slowly and making sure i get my tank cycled and a stabil controlled
envoirment for the fish.

As i dont have a RO unit yet my local marine store will supply me with all the RO water i need for weekly changes

Hope to have final equipment next weekend so i can finally start.

Hi, great to have another salty on here .

If I can offer a small bit of advice, the tank might be a bit small for the banggai and the damsel. I have had two banggai in my tank, and both turned aggressive after a while. One caused an outbreak of ich, due to the stress in my tank. And I lost a fish from it. . My tank was 80 ltrs. It was to small for them.

Best of luck with it, keep us updated.

Welcome to the salty side
ive seen some really nice nano set ups...any idea coral wise you'll be putting in???

I know i may be pushing with Bangi Cardinal and damsel. My friend has a fluval edge and it is working well for him and he has more fish that me. My local marine store has told me i can try and if not return without a problem. Will see all fish are small enough now , Bangi is the biggest of them . He is keeping in a tank for me at his place and they all get on fine . I guess i will see how it goes bit by bit Lets hope i dont eat my words .

For Corals i am not really 100% sure .
Maybe in time when the tank has settled down i will get :
Zoanthids and Palys and Polyps. Some Mushrooms . I really need to research this as i dont know enough but i think i am best to go slowly and have the tank very stable first of all. I have bought some fake corals for the time being.
Would love a Bubble tip Anemone if i could find a nice little small one.Can trade with marine store then when it is too big.
I am planning on going bigger in time just , have to much on at the minute and dont have the time to invest in a bigger tank.
Hopfily this weekend i get the last of things i need to start. Will get the cycle done and CUC in first.

As long as you are aware that it might not work, and you can bring them back. If you add the banggaii and Cardinal last it might help.

Love cardinals i have bangai,pyjamma and ghost cardinals in my tank who all came from my old tank which was much smaller,and ive never seen any aggression from any of them,think there great for a small tank as they dont really need a lot of space..they tend to look like there almost hovering most of yhe time

Id stay form the damsaels though...there aggresssive little f@#$÷ers......if you want something hardy from the damsel family try cromis or clowns would be alot better.

Will introuduce the clowns out of all the fish first then the bangi cardinal and then the blue gold damsel , they are not as aggressive as other damsels. Also Bangi are a bit more agresive in a small tank on there own from what i have been told and read about. As said i can take them bac if i want and mix and match until i find the mix i am happy with Got live rock and sand in tank now with heater and pump on. waiting on sump and lights but rock will be good with heat and filteration.

Got the rock and sand in now with circulation pump and heater unitl sump and lights arrive.
7kg LR and 9kg of LS.
i have tested the tank water last night and it is as follows:
SG 1.025
PH 8.2
NH3 0
NO2 0
NO3 10 MG/L

I have not bothered with reef test yet or po4 as media is not in and sump. Will do another test tomorrow.
Would love to add a photo to get a few suggestions for scaping but i seem to be having trouble doing this.

Welcome to the salty side, different ball game altogether it will take time and wreck ur head at times, but worth every tear drop when it matures into a picture from the ocean

I am expecting it to drive me mad some days i am having problems trying to figure out the scaping with the rocks i bought.

Test results today have been recorded at.
PH 8.2
NH3 0
NO2 0 / 0.5
NO3 10
KH 10

Seems to be going ok for now

How are you getting on with the scaping

Try to get no3 a bit lower, aim for 1-2 2 being the very highest it should go if you can maintain this you will have less problems in the future

What is ur po4

What about PO4?

HI Sorry P04 0.02ppm on red sea pro test kit . How can i lower NO3 ? water changes ?i am at around 10 ppm now
Got a few soft corals for free off a friend and have added fake ones just to brighten the tank a bit.
Added CUC also narcissus snail x 4 2 turbo and 2 of another type not sure what there were called for eating algae.

Update
Add Bangi Cardinal , Blue gold damsel and royalgramme and Hi Fin Red Banded Goby.

Water changes are not going to lower the nitrates

If you have a reading of 10 and you do a water change of 10% you will only get the nitrates down to 9 and by the next week of doing another 10% change the nitrates will be back up so it doesn't work

Cheapest way for you now, would be to use nopox

Expensive way but cheaper in the long run would be to run bio pellets in a reactor

jeff wrote:

Water changes are not going to lower the nitrates

If you have a reading of 10 and you do a water change of 10% you will only get the nitrates down to 9 and by the next week of doing another 10% change the nitrates will be back up so it doesn't work

Cheapest way for you now, would be to use nopox

Expensive way but cheaper in the long run would be to run bio pellets in a reactor

Is this the one you mean ?
Red Sea NPX 500ml Nitrate and Phosphate Remover NO3 PO4 NOPOX

Sorry for late reply, yeah that's the stuff

Start off with half the recommended dose for two weeks then do the recommended dose

And another tip dose half what ur putting in, in the morning and the other half at night it keeps it more stable

I bought it yesterday and dosed half like you said. I have ordered a dosing pump also for when i go away as i am also dosing caribsea aragamilk for buffer to keep my ph stable.

Update and a few pictures:
Specific Gravity 1.025
Temp 25.5 c
PH 8.3
NH3 0
NO2 0
NO3 5
KH 10
Calcium 400

A few pictures

good man keep to the half dose in the morning and other half at night, you do not want to rush this stuff let ur system get use to it

test the no3 in one week and you will see a small reduction, this is the result ur looking for 'slowly but surely

few tips for yeh dont think cause ur using nopox you can feed that little extra 'you cant'
and wash all frozen food well before it go's near the tank, its full of po4 when its straight from the pack

i use to feed every day but found that every second day works better, once everyone is getting something

never heard of that buffer but i think their all the same

you will also need to be dosing calcium and this can take a while to adjust to when you have corals that use allot of it, lps sps
so its a good idea to play around with it while theirs not much demand for it if that makes sense, learning this will also help you to figure out how to adjust dosing machine in the future, when i started dosing it was feck all now for ca its 6g per day buffer 8g per day and in 6mts or even less i will need to dose more as things grow

I have seen the N03 start to change some for sure. I will also be doing a water change this weekend so i hope this will help a little more.
I did not know i had to wash the food first as you said i had just been adding the frozen food.I dont feed frozen everyday. I also have 2 types of small and xsmall pellets.In total i have 2 frozen types and 2 types of pellets.
Aragamilk supplies calcium and also is used as a buffer for the ph. Since i have started using it my ph has not moved from 8.3. I use one cap full each day at night as it clouds the water a bit.
I will most likely only have soft corals for a good while as it is such a small tank i dont want to be messing with it to much as i am sure i can crash very easy.Do you just wash the frozen food in RO Water ? I have ordered the jebao dp4dosing machine so will see how its goes. Will mess around with it before i hook it up to the tank and make sure i am happy with the way it is working.
Thanks again for the advice

New additions N03 is barly reading on my test now. and all levels are good.
New Zoanthids and green star poylps Aslo my 2 clowns were collected today. All have eaten today and seem to be swimming around together and getting on well.
Some pictures it has changed a little again

Looking good...looks much better without the fake corals in there....the clowns look fantasic too...personaly and i dont know if its just me but my clowns looked a lot happier in the smaller tank.....are ya going to try an anomome???(f@#$k i've got to learn how to spell)