Nano Cube

[Tony240ZT]

I have the same problem, it's annoying. It's anything that will attach itself to the surface of water, similar to the stuff that a protien skimmer will remove.

I think the best bet is to get a small power head in there and power it near the surface of the water to break it up. Look for a power head that is around 100gph.

My tank looks like it is about complete with a fishless cycle. I started out with live rock piled to the top, put in pure ammonia until 5ppm and then gave it a little each day while lights were out (i'm using tap water here and I get algae blooms with light on). I also rased the temp to a little over 80 degrees, and I think one or two more days and it should be complete. Nitrites are now coming down. It has taken about a week and a half so far. I did however have the tank running before this with fish for a couple weeks, then removed them as I saw ammonia rasing too high for them. Overall the tank has been running for about 3-4 weeks.

[gobywankenobi]

not sure about the reddish/brown surface scum... i noticed my surface scum level went up when i put my fans in, but i don't think it had a weird color...

still, glad to hear about your fans working! i got mine in finally and was more or less happy with the results --the temp is down but the noise level is bothering me. it's hard to enjoy the serenity of the ocean garden with this WHIRRRRRNNN in the background, you know? are your fans loud at all? mine are a little bigger (about 3 inches) so that may be the prob. but they're still not big enough to cover the vent hole --maybe i'll go with one, 3.25" fan... any ideas?

re: the brownish/redish algae...

i read somewhere that algae problems tend to happen in the first couple months and then level off... anybody know about any truth to this? some sort of reefer initiation?

[gobywankenobi]

tony24zt:

are you using live sand? i have a feeling this is key.

and did you say you are adding pure ammonia? i've never heard of this. kinda sounds crazy, but i'm a beginner and it all seems crazy at this stage. so what's the advantage of the full-on ammonia adding?

[Tony240ZT]

No sand, I'd like to have some though. Just lots of rocks that had been in my other tanks. Sand helps a lot as well, and can potentially rid of some nitrates, but it's not too easy.

Look up "fishless cycle" on yahoo.com. You can cycle a tank without stressing fish. Fish sometimes get deceases when stressed, and this rids of those chances. Pure ammonia promotes good bacteria, and rids of the time it takes to get your ammonia spike, which is usually a around a week. So this shortens the cycle time by at least that amount, you are able to raise the temp because fish aren't in there, and this also helps.

[ckreef]

I guess I don't understand part of this thread.

If you add LR why would you need to add amonia to cycle the tank ??? The bacteria population will flucuate with the amount of amonia produced in the tank --- as soon as you stop adding amonia all the extra bacteria that was produced is going to die and your sort of back to where you started (not exactly but sort of).

If the LR came out of allready established and cycled tanks --- and you put it directly into another tank then you shouldn't have any real cycle and the new tank will be almost ready to go immediatly (a few days anyway). If you used cycled LR and you then didn't see a cycle its because the LR was allready cycled.

You get a major cycle when using fresh LR due to the organism die off on the rocks.

I started my Nano w/ LR from my main tank --- no cycle due to only being out of water for the 20' walk across the room. A few days later I packed it with corals and wa-la instant reef without any cycling time.

[ckreef]

As for the surface scum problem --- that is solved by useing some kind of surface skimmer (do not confuse this w/ protien skimmer).

If useing a HOB filter --- Aqua Clear makes a nice little surface skimmer attachment. It's a little bulky in a Nano but doable. It's easy to adjust and does do a good job at keeping the water surface skimmed so no scum forms. The only drawback is that you need to remove it every 2-3 weeks and give it a good cleaning but that only takes a few min. It is also easily adapable to any HOB filter not just Aqua Clears.

I use one and wouldn't live without it.

[ckreef]

The only real time I could see using a fish to cycle (or Fish-less amonia) is if you are using totally dead and dry base rock or some kind of under gravel filter arrangement.

[reiple]

you can also make a surface skimmer. plug your small powerhead upside down below a plastic cup with slots on top. make sure cup is deep enough so air will not be sucked in.

[nanoreef]

Good idea, I bought a Brine Shrimp net today and I'm going to try that for the time being, as long as it dosn't become a daily thing. I added a blood shimp yesterday. It's money in the bank!! Super bright red with white polka dots. He seems a little shy though, the gal at my LFS told me that they have good personalities, whatever that is supposed to mean. Does anyone have any idea if he will become less shy as he gets used to his surroundings? I figure CK might have an idea as he seems to know a lot about this nano reefing biz but anyone else with knowledge would be helpful. Also, forgot to ask my LFS if there are any special feeding instructions but he seems to like the mysis shrimp I feed my Blue Spotted Jaw. Is this fine? Thanks in advance for the advice.

[ckreef]

Well the good personalities might suggest he will come out of hiding after a while when he figures out that he's not going to get eaten. It can take a little while for critters/fish/corals to get use to a tank.

[nanoreef]

Cool, that's pretty much what I thought. Thanks for the confirmation