Help with Nano's

[msr316]

Hello,
First of let me introduce myself. My name is Sean and I have had fish tanks for most my life. Mainly freshwater tanks. For the last two years I have been keeping a nano tank. I started with a 10 gallon tank and for the last year I have moved everything to a 12 gallon nano cube. I haven't had too much problems I have sand and around 15 pounds of live rocks. I have a blue spot damisel (which I didn't do my home work on) that has been in the tank for the whole time. I have lost a star fish and a Royal Gamma. I have never tried to put any corals or polps in the tank. My rock had some mushrooms but all but one have died.

OK, now that i have you up to speed this is what I need help with.
I want to get my 12 gallon back to looking good and I would like to start keeping coral and polyps but I know nothing about how to start with the water or anything. I have the light that came with my nano cube in it now and no moon lights. I saw someone in another post say you should take out the carbon bag and bio balls I belive, I have not done that in my tank.

I have also just bought a 6 gallon nano for my office that I will recive in a couple of days and would like to set up for corals, polyps and things like that. I'm tired of not knowing what im doing and need real help so I can start taking care of my tanks as I should any help would be great, and I look forward to getting to know you guys!

Thanks,
Sean

Also in my 12 gallon I have a problem with red algae on the rock and green in the sand can anyone tell me how i can take care of that?
Thanks

[dobejazz]

Welcome to TRT !
for a reef you should remove the rings and balls as they allow the nitrates to stay to high. What kind of maintanence schedule do you follow on your tank?

[msr316]

I was doing a 2 gallon water change on a regular basis but here lately I have been slacking a bit. Other than that I add water when the water level gets low.

[gwen_o_lyn]

Welcome to TRT !!!

[msr316]

Originally Posted by gwen_o_lyn

Welcome to TRT !!!

Thanks!

[dobejazz]

Do you have any snails or hermits? they should help with the green algae. Not sure if anything eats the red

[msr316]

yes i have both

[wharyat]

Welcome to TRT!

The algae you have is Cyanobacteria (very old and basic bacteria). It feeds off of phosphates and nitrates, detritus is loaded with this stuff.

Frequent waterchanges are essential for removing it, siphon as much of it as possible during the day along with all the visible detritus. Might want to think about adding a skimmer (if you don't have one) and increasing flow to keep detritus suspended for removal by the skimmer. Also, try cutting back on your feeding to 3 or fewer times a week.

[msr316]

ok thanks. I'll give that a try. What kind of skimmer should i get for a 12 gallon nano?

[Loverotties]

Welcome to TRT!

Originally Posted by wharyat

Welcome to TRT!

The algae you have is Cyanobacteria (very old and basic bacteria). It feeds off of phosphates and nitrates, detritus is loaded with this stuff.

Frequent waterchanges are essential for removing it, siphon as much of it as possible during the day along with all the visible detritus. Might want to think about adding a skimmer (if you don't have one) and increasing flow to keep detritus suspended for removal by the skimmer. Also, try cutting back on your feeding to 3 or fewer times a week.

I agree with vince!

[dobejazz]

This one should work http://nanotuners.nanocustoms.com/na...roducts_id=150

[msr316]

Well, I did a water change of 2 gallons this week and I put my nano on it's new s stand today and I restacked the rock I have in there. I moved my heater to the thrid chamber and I removed everything but the sponge from the back chambers.

The next thing i have planned to do to it is to change the pump out with a stronger one and change the light bulb. Is there anything I need to add to be able to keep corals and polyps? Also I have thought about putting new fans in my hood and adding moonlights. Is this something that is easy to do? I have never done anything like that before. I posted some pictures so you could see what i've done with the rock.
Sean

[dobejazz]

Looks really nice!

[darthteddy]

Adding a pump is a good idea. The stock one doesnt really push that much and many people say they die easily altho this never happened to mine. Moonlights are a simple addition but the thing most people do is just buy blue LEDs and assume they are good for it. To do it properly you should reserch into what spectrum the moon has and buy lights acourdingly. As i recall when i purchesed my LEDs they were in the mid to high 400s. The lighting in nano cubes is alllright for what your doing. Buy the 50/50 light and it should be able to handle softies well but i would recomend some form of extra lighting. The biggest problem i had with my JBJ was that one day my ballast just died on me. Im not saying it will on yours but i think that it would be a smart idea to just go ahead and swap it out for a different one. I would recomend one or two 65 watt Compact Flourecents. Then you could support a much broader array of corals. It can be costly depending on where you buy but in the long run you will be happy you did it.

[msr316]

OK well I've been doing my water changes I changed around three gallons today and redid my rock a little I'm going to be buy some more rock soon to be able to get it ready for my corals and I'll be buying a new light in the next week or so. I bought a moon light from coralife. Its there 3/4 watt single moonlight and I just mounted in front of my other lights. I just wanted to finally get some type of light in it at night. Since I'm not real handy with the DIY's yet I just went that route, Anyway just thought I would give an update and some new pictures. You might not be able to tell a difference but I changed the rock around. Any easy and cheap DIY's you guys know of that I can do let me know!!
Thanks
Sean