1st attempt at Nano, Please Help me!!!

[yuyiboy]

Yeah Suziq21, Randy;
That is what I was thinking in terms of corals and that light seems right for me.... will look around more too, never know what you'll find
The reef tank is up and was rescued from the mess. (will post pics)
as far as the overdosing randy.... That is a scary possibility however, when I fist started I got some really bad advise from another forum that shall remain nameless. I was getting all kinds of chemicals to the point that that was thinking I had more of them than water
I got the best advise here when I was loosing my mind and it was to "LEAVE THE TANK ALONE!!"
That really snapped me out of it "leave the tank alone??!!" and yes!! that is when my tank finally came to life
Now I'm glad to say that the chemicals are all but gone and that my money goes into testing kits more than anything.
I was told how to control my PH and calcium levels w/o chems. and the rest is pretty much supplementing and water changes, along with skimming and general house keeping.
So because of this I'm a little less worried about over dosing.
But like you said everything IS multiplied A LOT in this nano endeavor
I will not put anything in there until I'm sure all is well.
Ps What do you think of me going with a BB tank for the nano?? have you guys tried this?? sounds interesting.

Again thanks, u guys rock.

[OneDummHikk]

yuyi, you are going to run into other chemistry issues besides dosing. As Blue urinates/poops in that 5 gallons of water, it is going to get, umm, dirty faster than it will in a 29. You are going to have to be very diligent with the water changes and testing. And when I say diligent, I don't mean weekly. Test the water every other day and when you see nitrates, do a water change. I would go so far as to keep 5 gallons on hand in the event something goes wrong in a hurry. The smaller the tank, the harder they get because of that very issue.

[yuyiboy]

Yeah randy.... I'm aware of the cleaning and changing of the little fella I'm prety good at keeping up with that, I have the advantage that I work out of my home so that helps a lot.
But every other day seems a little excessive don't you think?? I've never heard of testing on a nano or any tank to be done that much....
I'm addicted to my log, That way I can spot a pattern if anything happens, I heard a lot of people say that it has saved them from headaches, I know I've avoided a lot of them.
The log for this nano will be even more..... under observations I'll probably have 2 pages

The 5 gal. idea is a great one ..... when the "incident" happened to me, it was the quarantine tank that saved me from having a complete loss.

I'll keep on reading more and doing more research

P.s. What skimmer is good and has a good size for a nano?? I have a prism I can use and it will do the job but it is huge next to that thank. any other suggestions??

Thanks again randy, guys

[OneDummHikk]

I am not even sure every other day with a 5 gallon tank is enough when its new. The water quality will change so much and so often that it gets hectic. Before I broke it down, I checked my 12 every other day and you would be totally surprised what can happen in 12 gallons of water in 2 days when its new.

Do some experiments with the tank.
Test the temp in the morning, and then at night after the lights been on all day.
Test the pH in the morning and at night after the lights have been on all day.
Take an eye dropper (or any measuring device) and dose it with 5 ml of bottle ammonia and then test the ammonia in it.
The water quality just gets crazy trying to keep it in check.

It's the main reason that when new people ask "What size tank should I get?", you see two answers - "The biggest you can afford" and "No, not that small, get the biggest you can afford". The second answer is in reply to someone telling them to get a small tank.

I wish you the best with it but just know that it takes a lot more attention on a pico sized tank (under 10 gallons) than it does on nano sized tanks and nano tanks take a lot more attention than a "normal" sized tank. I haven't touched my 90 in almost 2 months other than to feed it. In my 12 though, I had a fish die in it and got left in the tank and within 48 hours everything in the tank was dead. 700 dollars worth of corals lost over a dead fish. The same fish could have died in my 90 and I wouldn't have lost near as much.

As for a skimmer, the skimmer I have for my 12G tank is rated for a 90G tank. I have never had a nano skimmer so I can't help you with that one.

[yuyiboy]

Oh!!! You mean when it's being set-up..... Yeah every other day then might be even too little , I know that is going to be hell!! It's probably going to take 4 times as long to achieve any sort of equilibrium.

The 28 took forever but now it basically takes care of itself..... except if a fish dies like you said!!

This should be the biggest challenge I have ever taken in my fish trek.
I feel better than I did with the fist one for some delutional reason

The first one was just a mistake waiting to happen, I wanted 1000 years of mother nature to happen in a few weeks, boy did I learn quickly!!

About the skimmer, that was my concern that it might be not powerful enough if it's sized that small.... You can never get one too powerful in my book. uuummmmmm May be a sump tank??? for a 5 gal.?? ok I should stop now before I start having an upgrade episode

Thanks

[OneDummHikk]

It's not just during setup that you are going to see the chemistry swings, they will happen even after the tank is setup and running. Its just the nature of a nano/pico tank. As the water volume gets smaller, the chemistry gets harder to keep stable. Any little thing has a lot bigger impact on a smaller tank than on a larger tank. And with a reef tank, its even worse.

Water evaporation, salinity, pH, will all swing more often in a smaller tank than a larger tank.

As for the skimmer, yes, it is very very possible to over skim a tank. The smaller the tank, the easier it is to over skim. You just don't see it happen very often on larger tanks because it gets harder to do.

[yuyiboy]

I looked in to the "over skimming" before I even thought of doing a "Pico" before.... Nobody seemed to think that it is a problem as long as u are replenishing calcium and nutrient levels often??
All I replenish in mine is the calcium and the bicarbonates. And I do that anyway with my water changes usually.
I don't know how good a job a skimmer can do in removing most os the nutrients for the corals anyway, since most of them have particles to small to be picked up by the skimmer.
I personally had never heard of that
I took the skimmer out of the 28 "Nano" a long time ago and it's doing fine...
I found that after I fixed all the chemichal overload I had It stopped picking up anything for a long while. It was just removing the stuff I was putting in it.
Then I ALSO got from here that a skimmer is NOT needed on anything smaller that 20 gal. or something like that? I personally think that water changes do more and are easier to do that all the other stuff.
I just don't want to over-complicate the whole thing because that was the problem I had with the 28 Nano.
The only time my tank started to work was when I got rid of all the extras and did the basics.
How does it go?"The answer to a problem is usually the simplest"
I know the "pico" (See... I got the names down) will be a lot more work, but shouldn't I do what I'm doing on the 28 that is working great, only do it more diligently??

[OneDummHikk]

Over skimming is more of a Think Tank discussion more than anything else. It will very rarely - if ever - happen on a true setup. Don't worry about it. As for no skimmer at all, sure, just keep on the water changes and watch the water parameters.

[yuyiboy]

I tend to over think everything it's just my nature and also the fear of killing anything that is not a person

I will be adding blue to tank!!! Maybe, I think, Tomorrow
All is well in the tank and think all is well.
Needless to say, I will be sitting in front of it for a while, maybe with a book, just watching and freaking out.

If blue had the mind of a person he would just float upside-down to scare the crap out of me

Finally, will try to get my "possessed" Camera, "Yes it is possessed" . to work and will post something.

Thanks again Randy

[OneDummHikk]

Originally Posted by yuyiboy

I tend to over think everything it's just my nature and also the fear of killing anything that is not a person

I thought I was the only person who did that.

Originally Posted by yuyiboy

I will be adding blue to tank!!! Maybe, I think, Tomorrow

Congrats on getting it cycled.

Originally Posted by yuyiboy

All is well in the tank and think all is well.
Needless to say, I will be sitting in front of it for a while, maybe with a book, just watching and freaking out.

If blue had the mind of a person he would just float upside-down to scare the crap out of me

Finally, will try to get my "possessed" Camera, "Yes it is possessed" . to work and will post something.

Thanks again Randy

I have a possessed camera as well. My daughter possesses and won't give it back!
Welcome.

[yuyiboy]

LOL

Blue is in!!
All is well so far, That fish could care less!! that is why people use damsels so much as start-up fish I guess, I heard they were tough but jeez!!

Now I really need to get that light and make it look nicer.

I think T5 lamps r ok, do you agree? I want that algae to grow!! I head that it needs at lead 5500 I that right??
Everyone says I will regret asking for it

[OneDummHikk]

Coralline algae or just algae in general?

Go to Home Depot and look in the lighting section. You can get a T5 fixture that is sold to mount under your kitchen cabinets. 12" fixture. The reflectors in them are crap but they will do fine for a softie/fish tank the size you have.

[yuyiboy]

Cool!!!
I didn't Think of that!!
The reflector I can fix. The T5 bulbs for reef of course I can't get there, I hope that is not as hard to find in the LFS.
Thanks U Rock

[OneDummHikk]

Order a 24" parabolic SLR and cut it in half. Mount it, happy go lucky.
Bulbs, check your LFS.

[yuyiboy]

Will post pics as soon as all is set-up, Till then Plz keep sending me suggestions.
Stay tuned

Thanks Randy, Thanks All