# fader's 25g reef



## fader (May 31, 2011)

Hi guys,

Just started into all of this and pretty excited. Been getting setup all of the last few weeks and I finally have my LR in and the cycle's started!!!

Now I guess I wait and read up on what type of CUC I should start with???

The specs:
25g starfire from Aqua Inspiration
2' Vertex 50/50
MP10ES
Aquaclear 70 (mech filter now and fuge later)
100w heater

LR is Indonesia just in from SUM
Arag-Alive sand

FTS: Jun 5 2011


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## fader (May 31, 2011)

ug. waiting is really boring isn't it? the tank water is really clear and nothing seems to be happening! my last ammonia test looks like it's just over 1mg/l. that's 1ppm right?


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## explor3r (Mar 14, 2010)

Nice set up, this is the fun part just be patient and in not time u will have a nice reef....


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## ozi (Aug 23, 2007)

Sweet tank!!!
I have a couple suggestions: 
- add a background (it looks best with black or blue)
- move the aquaclear on the back left side, so you have a more turbulent flow distribution in the tank
- raise water level to meet the lip of the filter - that way you won't get the bubbles and the splash-back from them.
Wait for a few days (weeks) until you see algae kicking in and then add a CUC (as varied as you can find)


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## fader (May 31, 2011)

thanks guys.

i tried raising the water and it works perfectly. guess some sort of mesh cover will be needed to keep fish from jumping out though right?

i'd like to move the aquaclear to the back but the spot the tank is in there isn't much depth space.


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## fader (May 31, 2011)

guess the LR was pretty clean? I just finished my checks tonite and my ammonia has dropped to 0.2 and my nitrite has gone up to 0.5. didn't bother checking the nitrate still.

so my ammonia peaked only at 1ppm? is that normal? should i try and force more of a cycle now with something like uncooked shrimp?

i'm guessing at this rate untouched the cycle will complete in 2 weeks? if my ammonia drops to 0 by Friday would I be able to add a few snails or should I wait until the nitrite drops to 0 too?


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Wait for:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: detectable

But, once it reaches these levels, you either have to add something to keep producing ammonia (fish, etc.) or add more shrimp, or something similar.


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## ozi (Aug 23, 2007)

I wouldn't recommend going the shrimp route in a nano. That's meant more for larger tanks, and especially if you started with dry sand and dry rock.
If you do it in your small tank, you'll have ammonia thru the roof and then you'll wait longer for things to come back to normal, plus a massive water change to get rid the nitrate created by that shrimp.
Better to slowly start adding several snails, hermits, etc, and only later fish & corals. Keep every single addition spaced at about 1-2 weeks and you should be fine.
I think you're only at 1ppm ammonia because the rocks didn't loose much of their bacteria during transportation. Whatever bacteria died, formed that bit of ammonia and now it's being proccesed by the rest of the living bacteria.


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## fader (May 31, 2011)

Thanks guys for the help. Even with all the reading its still quite a bit of ramp up.

I'll have to check my levels in a bit but surprisingly I came home from work and a lot of the LR is covered in this weird deep brown stuff. Is that algae bloom? I'm hunting around for pictures similar to it and I suspect it is.

I'll def take the advice and do long slow micro cycle steps. Hopefully the levels drop to 0 soon and i'll add a couple of snails and maybe a hermit.


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## fader (May 31, 2011)

Well. Things have changed quite a bit since wed. Levels dropped to zero on thurs and I picked up 3 trochus snails and 2 hermit crabs from SUM today. They've got quite a bit to go through as there's brown stuff all over the sand and it's really encrusting the top most LR areas.

I also modified the AquaClear into a fuge and put some cheato in adding this Home Depot LED utility light that's actually quite strong. The impeller is pushing a lot of water. I might do the impeller mod to reduce flow but not sure. I'll leave it for now.

I also noticed what might be really tiny green bubble algae growing in places too. Guess i'll monitor to see how it's fairing.

I'll let the small CUC sit for a week or so and then increase the CUC numbers a bit?


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## ozi (Aug 23, 2007)

Yup, sounds good.
The algae you have I think is diatoms, and it takes place in every new SW tank. Nothing to worry about, it will go away in time with the help of the CUC.


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## fader (May 31, 2011)

One happy hermit has been munching around the same outcropping for the last 24 hours. But now I've got green hair algae starting too. So far so good. I'm thinking about adding an emerald crab soon too. Leave that as the CUC set for a while.


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## fader (May 31, 2011)

ok. it's been a while! added some fish and a frogspawn coral but the green hair algae is going nuts still. i've been battling it all this time. it's coating everything! so no tank shot or anything as the tank has better looking grass than my lawn.

i've given up using fingers or tweezers and used an old toothbrush in the exposed areas. i guess that's a little rough on the LR?


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