Nano Lagoon (17): Day 25

[Magnetul]

Can you show how to put the soft coral into the tank? Been watching all of your videos today (in order) I hope to have a tank of my own soon. I am very grateful for these videos because as a full time student I have every limited budget, however I am very egar to start a tank of my own. I also think a time line would be great or when to add certain features like the soft coral and the packs that you mentions in previous videos.

[ipsfdotcom]

For a timeline please see the "more info" section to the right of the page.

[Magnetul]

Thanks so much, I've finished watchying all of the Nano Lagoon Videos and hope you keep it up! I hope to see the addition of fish soon :)

[aquafresh1208]

@ipsfdotcom i enjoy your videos. i followed your videos step by step and i have already like two months with my nano lagoon. i never change the water and never feed my coral: pulsing xenia, frogspawn, candy cane, zoas, mushrooms, and anthelia that are doing great. just wondering when you are going to post another video. thanks

[matthewups]

i hope you guys keep showing up dates on the tank because i'm going to make one like yours. thanks for all the help. Matt

[theaquareef]

ok thanks

[ipsfdotcom]

That's good. One thing to b careful about with Yellow tangs is that when you have two in a tank, one will try to dominate the other and may kill it, especially if they are of similar size. You can avoid this by having just one, or three or more. Also do be sure your oxygen level is okay.

[theaquareef]

yes this is the 55 and i checked all my parameters and they were good. and my ph was down to 7.8. Thats what i assumed was the problem =/ but its back up now and everything acting normal

[ipsfdotcom]

Sorry to hear of the losses. Is this in the 55 gallon setup? Just curious how you pinpointed low pH as the culprit.

[theaquareef]

i just last 3 fish in my tank because of low ph. the fish were perfectly fine at night when i turned the light out. but when i woke up, my 2 tangs and flame angel were dead....=(. i finally got it back up and checked ammonia, ph, etc. and its great now. do you know why my ph could have possibly gone down?

[nanoreef101]

could you tell me where you got the corals or a good website where to find coral

[picolagoon]

Good choices all. Caulastrea, Blastomussa and Euphylia (frogspawn) are super hardy and attractive and will do fine under your 4 WPG. Galaxia is another very hardy one but it does have industrial strength sweeper tentacles and has to be placed very carefully. Start with these and gain mastery before moving on to more challenging ones. And think captive-bred:)

[theaquareef]

i was thinking of some LPS corals that i could put in after a few months. i thinking candy cane, frogspawn or hammer coral, and brain corals etc. would these be able to live in my tank?

[ipsfdotcom]

Congratulations! Full polyp extension is a positive indicator of good water quality. However, don't freak out if it closes up for a while, even for a few days. That's normal from time to time:)

[theaquareef]

just went and got my toadstool that i reserved. it has only been an hour and a half and i put him on the bottom of the tank and he has already opened 75 percent of his polyps. he is doing very well. im so excited!!!! =DDDDDDDDD

[theaquareef]

how long are you taking to introduce the soft corals to not overload the tank? And can you please do an update on the tank, i just want to see the corals you have used and where you put them. thanks!

[ipsfdotcom]

We're careful to start all of our coral frags on the bottom so as not to shock them with too much light too soon. After a week or two on the bottom we can move them higher on the rocks, but only if we are sure that the polyps are fully open and extended. This indicates good health and favorable acclimation to the light and water quality parameters in the tank. Remember, these parameters may differ from the conditions under which the frags were produced.

[ipsfdotcom]

If this is to be a reef tank, our recommendation would be to wait on adding the fishes. It's important to build your 55g ecosystem from the bottom up for long-term stability. That means establishing beneficial bacteria, diatoms, protozoans, coralline algae and other photosynthetic organisms like beginner corals first -- long before the fishes go in. By "long" we mean several months. If you wait on the fishes you can also wait on the skimmer:)

[theaquareef]

currently in my 55 gallon i dont have a protein skimmer, i am going to have 6 med. sized fish and then the corals. I am kind of tight on money right now. Do i need to have a protein skimmer if i only have a couple frags for the beginning? I plan on getting one in a little more than a month and then will start to add more corals.

[theaquareef]

ok, and yes he is in the 55

[theaquareef]

i have one turbo snail in my tank should i sell it back since they can knock over corals or do you think i will be ok?

[ipsfdotcom]

Is this for the 55 gal or the 10 gal tank? I would say it's okay for the 55g but too big for the 10g. In the 10g any snail much bigger than our Strombus grazers is going to be bulldozing small frags, unless they're glued down.

[theaquareef]

yeah i dont know that there are many here in PHX but i will keep a look out. thanks

[ipsfdotcom]

One way to cut costs is to join a local reefers club. Most members are willing to share frags if you let the word out.

[theaquareef]

just a normal brown.but i also saw some rare orange w/ green skirt zoos. they were sweet but quiet expensive. like $45 for a 10 polyp

[ipsfdotcom]

Sweet! What color?

[theaquareef]

yay! i just went to my lfs and reserved a 4" toadstool mushroom. he was only $32 dollars. couldnt resist =)

[ipsfdotcom]

That sounds great. With 260 watts over a 55 you can do any of the softies and some LPS species as well. Glad to hear you're still doing the 10g! Caution: these things are addictive (but in a healthy way:) Educational, too. Go for it!

[theaquareef]

btw i am still going to start up my 10 gallon. =)

[theaquareef]

ok, i thought i would ask you to make sure. im going to return it tomorrow and order the coralife 48" double power compact. which has 260 watts. and it is $35 cheaper off of drsfosterandsmith. that would be almost 5 watts per gallon. that way i know i will be ok. thanks =)

[ipsfdotcom]

That might be underpowered for a 55 g setup. For softies about 4 watts/gal is a pretty reliable rule of thumb. One way to go about this is to find an existing system that you like and then just replicate the hardware. That way you can concentrate on the livestock.

Are you aware of anyone using this exact setup now, successfully/ If so you have nothing to worry about. If not you may be charting new territory. Not a bad thing, but it can get spendy:)

[theaquareef]

its a 2x54 watt with actinic and 18000k bulbs and a full polished reflector. thats all i can find on the box. also i might be getting a 10000k bulb to replace the 18000k

[ipsfdotcom]

We'd need to know the total wattage and specs of that particular system before commenting. The brand names mean little to us because they come and go. And keep in mind that lighting is just one component of the overall suite of husbandry requirements for these and other reef organisms. We always recommend starting slowly if this is your first attempt at reefkeeping:)

[theaquareef]

i just bought a GLO T5 HO 48" light system for my 55 gallon! =D with marine glo and power glo 54 watt bulbs. these will be ok for soft corals correct?

[theaquareef]

do you know some good places online for frags?

[ipsfdotcom]

We recommend working with companies that offer captive bred livestock, that have been in business for a long time, and that prominently display customer feedback on their websites or forums. There are quite a few out there that meet these criteria.

[MRPLATYPUS89]

Will Snails/hermits cycle a tank or will i need something more?

[ipsfdotcom]

Yes, you'll need something more. Please see our discussion of the Nano Start pack in the 'more info section" of this video:)

[ipsfdotcom]

This video was shot 25 days after we added the first life to the tank (the NanoStart pack). More important than the precise number of days that have elapsed is the biological processes that have occurred.

We have allowed time for bacteria and diatoms to become established, then for the introduced grazing organisms (the Nano Lagoon Grazer Pack) added on Day 10 to consume most of the diatoms.

Paranoia helps sell a lot of products in the aquarium industry. We think it's highly overrated:)

[BlackBerryStormReVue]

This is three weeks after the day you put the sand, rock and saltwater in correct? You will probably see me asking tons of questions from now on :)

Also, I am a little paranoid about using tapwater. Should I be worrying about dissolved solids, heavy metals, and chloramines. The water here is potable but I don't want to be killing anything!

[puck126]

i have a 10 gallon reef tank and i added a small blue tang the 5th day and its still alive. do u think my tank is done cycling?

[ipsfdotcom]

We wouldn't want to discourage you in any way, however you might want to reconsider having that particular fish in a 10-gallon nano. It needs a much larger system.

As to the idea of using a healthy fish to cycle a tank, it puts the fish at needless risk of death during the ammonia spike. There are better, more humane ways.

Our recommendation would be to add beneficial microorganisms, plankton, grazers, detritivores and photosynthetic organisms like corals long before adding any fishes:)

[DaytonaRoadster]

get rid of the Tang, the require a 55 gallon minimum, 80 recommeded

[ipsfdotcom]

Aloha! Thank you for the comment. We appreciate your kind words and we're really happy to hear that you're going to try the hood mod! It's cool!

[MRPLATYPUS89]

i have watched all your vids on this nano lagoon. i have a 10 gallon tank and am going to use the same hood mod that you have done. seems very inexpensive and that is what i have been looking for. thank you keep up the good work with the vids!

[ipsfdotcom]

Hi folks -- YouTube has modified its protocol for watching in High Quality mode.  To watch in HQ, stop the video above and click on the link in the "more info" section. Mahalo!

[stephengeckos]

i have a nano reef tank 20 days old do u think that i can add 1 fire fish to ensure that the cycling process is over. i have live rock

[ipsfdotcom]

If the rock has some life on it then the tank should cycle on it's own. When the water gets cloudy that means the bacteria are blooming; a good sign. When the bacteria run out of nitrogen the bloom stops and the water clears.

Also look for evidence of a diatom bloom as discussed in our earlier videos. When that occurs you need to get a snail and 'pod grazer package into the tank, pronto.

I would hold off on adding the fish for now. It will just add more nitrogen to an immature tank.