My 4gal 'reef' Journal

[Splatter]

Okay, so I say reef, more like some live rock and a coral or two

While waiting to set up my 55gal reef, which I can't do for a few months I've decided to set up a smaller tank in my room, I've no idea of the make, but it's 38 cm long 20 cm wide and 25 cm deep. It probably did say the make, at least before I started tearing apart the lid to make space for the lights

Anyway So far it has:

one HOB filter (will fill it with LR once I get the chance)
One 25W heater,
one 200LpR powerhead.

Does anyone think I need a better powerhead? I only look to keep corals that require low flow like zoanthids and maybe a mushroom, so I assume it'd be okay?

In an hour or two I'm off to the LFS to get some lighting, I'm going to retrofit at 24W PC bulb with a reflector (Not sure what they have in stock, so I can't give specific details about the bulb) into a luminary over the tank, hopefully I won't mess it up!

I'll try and get some pictures up later when I've attempted to fit the light

 

[ox5477]

BIG WORD OF ADVICE BEFORE YOU GO INTO DOING THIS:

I would say you need to PM stealhlr before you do anything. He will prob find this and post but make sure you consult him. A tank of this size is normally reserved for expert marine aquaria keepers. This is not to say you can't do it, but talk to stealhlr before you start anything as he is the authority on nano reefs/tanks on TFF and can advise you to possible trip-ups and things to keep aware of throughout the life of the tank.

I hope this message didn't discourage you, just want you to know what your getting into with this small tank. The 55G is in theory easier, even though it is much larger....

 

[n3ont3tra]

BIG WORD OF ADVICE BEFORE YOU GO INTO DOING THIS:

I would say you need to PM stealhlr before you do anything. He will prob find this and post but make sure you consult him. A tank of this size is normally reserved for expert marine aquaria keepers. This is not to say you can't do it, but talk to stealhlr before you start anything as he is the authority on nano reefs/tanks on TFF and can advise you to possible trip-ups and things to keep aware of throughout the life of the tank.

I hope this message didn't discourage you, just want you to know what your getting into with this small tank. The 55G is in theory easier, even though it is much larger....

It sounds like he knows what he's doing....

 

[SkiFletch]

27liters aka 7 gallons... That's a SMALL tank. Take care of your water quality which can/will change fast in that tank.

To answer your question, the powerhead and filter sounds fine

 

[Splatter]

Thanks for the replies guys

Ox, I shall drop him a PM as soon as I get a replacement filter for my tropical tank

And thanks for the answer SkiFletch Now I just need to fit it into the tank and glue it to the side ^^

And if anyone's interested, I have an Update!

I went to the LFS yesterday and bought a reflector and my PC tube - an interpet daylight blue (50% actinic and 50% 'daylight white'). Unfortunately the reflector I bought was designed for a T8 tube so I'll have to wait on the ballast before getting the clips so I can actually start building a luminary for the light As the ballasts were 44 quid o) in the LFS, I got home and ordered it off of the web along with 5lbs of sand, which should be here monday.

 

[Splatter]

Hey all, I realise it's been a week and I've not said much, that's becasue not much has happened

Unfortunately my ballast and sand order was completely messed up - I ordered them both last thursday, I got a call Monday to say they can't supply me with a ballast as they're no longer produced (Has anyone else heard anything about this? 24watt interpet Power compact starters apparently aren't being produced anymore?), but they said the sand would be here tuesday. Anyway, called them yesterday to ask where the sand was and they said that it'd only just got posted that day So it should be here tommorow. *touch wood*

Ahh...Never using that website again for sure On a positive note though the hood is coming together! I ripped appart the old lid once again in order to build a luminary, I'm going to go down to the LFS tommorow to get some Epoxy putty to stick the reflector to the lid with, then put a few bits of the lid back together which I needed to rip open to put a plug though Might also get some live rock and salted RO if the sand comes so I can start cycling the damn thing while I wait for a light

Oh! I've also decided I'm going to be putting brine shrimp/Sea monkeys in from the start! xD I thought they'd give the aquarium a little bit of character

So yeah...I'll order the ballast from another website tommorow, and with luck I'll have pictures for you all monday, although kowing my luck - wednesday ...Next wednesday xD

 

[Splatter]

Picture time!

The HOB filtration I'm using:

Full tank shot:

As you can all see there's sorta no light The tank is illuminated by my lightbulb in my room and the camera flash. That'll change once I get the starter unit ^^ I'm building the luminary soon So here are the water parameters that I can check:

Sg : 1.0255
PH : About 8.2 - 8.3
Nitrite : 0.1mg/l (ppm?)
Nitrate : 5 - 10 ppm.

I bought the liverock cured yesterday, which might explain the good readings (or the cycle hasn't started yet, either way eh? ) I'll try and get a ammonia test kit suitable for marine so I can finish getting readings. I think I'mm get another kilo of live rock, I'd like to have a stack to the left hiding as much of the equpitment as possible, then if I can have it sloping downwards or something...I've got a plan in my head!

Regarding the HOB filtration, I think I might remove one of the sponges and put some ferric oxide or activated carbon in and change it weekly, gonna have to get a filter sock though.

Anyway, hope you all liked the pictures - I'll post a couple more when the luminary comes, and does anyone have an idea of when I'll be able to begin adding the Clean up crew? I ask becasue I saw two sexy shrimp at the LFS yesterday and I would really like to buy them before anyone else does ^^ I'm not an impatient person, honest!

 

[Splatter]

Hey all, quick update today -

Sg has rocketed up to 1.028 it appears from my hydrometer reading, I'm going to do a quick 30% change of the water to try and get the sg stable again.

In other news, the starter will be here tommorow - so the tank will have lighting other than that of the sun!

/EDIT, just did a 40% water change with salted RO water, the Sg is now back at about 1.026, however in doing the change the temp dropped from 27 degrees to 24...Hopefully if the salinity doesn't shoot up so high again it won't be a problem as I'll only be doing 10% changes weekly.

 

[littleme1969]

Its best to heat the water when you mix the salt as in a tank that small it will make a huge temp change when you add the fresh. It also halps the salt mix better, so you get a more stable reading.
Also sexy shrimp are fine in a tank that small, but I would add them after your CUC and not first as they are very sensertive little critters.

 

[Splatter]

Thanks for the reply littleme I shall take your advice and put into use my spare 100watt heater I'll have to go out and buy a small container and some suction cups for the water to be heated in though.

Thanks very much for the advise on the sexy shrimp I shall not add them untill the aquarium seems more stable

Update! (YAAYYY!!)

So the 24W ballast I ordered came today so I'm very, very happy. The luminary is now built - I put it together with a reflector epoxied onto the old hood, If epoxy is as strong as I hope it is it should be okay If not then I'll put a screw or two through the hood to keep the reflector secure (currently it's held on by - alot - of miliput brand epoxy).

Yesterday night I also removed the filter sponges that were in the HOB as they seemed to be collecting alot of dirt.

22/04/08 parameters:

Nitrite: 0.1 ppm
Nitrate: 15-20 ppm
PH: 8.2
SG: 1.025.

23/04/08 parameters:

Nitrite: 0.05-0.1ppm ('s not 1ppm, but it's not 0 either)
Nitrate: 10ppm
SG: 1.025
Ph: 8.2

I believe the salted RO I got from my LFS has a gravity of about 1.023(I've been aiming to have it at 1.026), so I'm going to use the RO I have left to change out the water in order for me to stablise the sg, then at the weekend I'll go back to refil my 25litre container with 1.023 and keep the salinity stable rather than me messing about with the salt trying to mix it to 1.026.

 

[SkiFletch]

With having this much issue with your sg, make sure you're using a verification method (either DIY solution, or your LFS if you trust them)

 

[Splatter]

Good point Ski, I shall have to take in a sample of it at the weekend to get them to test it against my Hydrometer. At the weekend I will also be buying a second container to fill with pure RO so that I can do top-ups. Currently my top ups are using the salted RO I have which I now believe are in fact causing the rapid salinity swings At the weekend though, I should be able to begin recifying the problem.

So yeah...At least I'm learning

Anyway, just a small update today as I'm at college currently and can't take pictures of the luminary or take readings, so you're stuck with the writing, sorry

Last night I tested out the luminary and came very close to the light falling in the water, this was due to me not accounting for the PC ballast in the luminary length (which was based on the old hood). However, tonight I'll be going at it with the saw and it should be okay I will also need to epoxy the clips back onto the hood as the screws they gave me were too small for the clips I used one of my computer screws for the luminary and that worked great once I added some epoxy to it to keep it completely in place, however the other one is slightly tempremental and I'm looking for a way to solve the problem, without ripping the reflector off of the luminary.

Anndd in more exiting news: I SAW LIFE!. It's true, I actually saw something living in the live rock last night. Granted, I have no idea what it was..but it was alive! Unfortunately I've not seen the brine shrimp yet, I'm hoping that they'll hatch soon. Anyway, the thing I saw looked like some sort of worm, it was about half a MM/1MM wide and a couple of CM long. It was slowly moving outside of the little hole in the rock when I tapped the tank by accident and it shot back inside.

Also I've seen a very small shell lying between the live rocks which has just appeared there...It's been sat there all of yesterday and today though so I think whatever was in it has either left it or was killed by the salinity swings But hey, the liverock was alive!

So my shopping list/to do list for the weekend is: 1 ammonia test kit, 1 25litre container, 25litres of RO water, 25 litres of salted RO water, some filter socks (for activated carbon in the HOB), getting the LFS to check my hydrometer is reading correctly, and then if I'm not broke by then I'll get some more Live rock for the tank and some for the HOB.

So yeah....there's another 50 quid I didn't expect to spend

 

[Splatter]

Small update today.

Went to the LFS yesterday and I bought some pure RO for waterchanging (no more rapid salinity swings FTW! ) and I also checked my hydrometer under Skifletch's advice.

...And as you all might guess, the hydrometer doesn't work properly It was measuring 2.5sg out by their refractometer. And so today I went onto ebay and bought a refractometer and PH measurer for the grand total for £27 .

That's about it really, brown algae is beginning to grow on the rocks.

Water parameters:

sg: 1.026
Ph: 8.2
Nitrite: 0 (tested at LFS yesterday)
Nitrate: 10
Ammonia: 0.25 (tested thismorning)

 

[SkiFletch]

Yup, those swing arms drift over time, AND they're very prone to user error, meaning repeatable results are difficult. When you get your hydrometer, bring it to your LFS, verify/calibrate it with theirs at a seawater salinity, and you'll be good to go.

 

[Splatter]

Oh myy, it's been ages since I put an update in, and so much has happened!

Yup, those swing arms drift over time, AND they're very prone to user error, meaning repeatable results are difficult. When you get your hydrometer, bring it to your LFS, verify/calibrate it with theirs at a seawater salinity, and you'll be good to go.

Well I went to the LFS yesterday to get it calibrated and take the hydrometer back (luckily they did and I have store credit for it now ^^). However they wouldn't calibrate the refractometer for me I'm not sure why. Thankfully the salted RO I bought for them and use for water changing I know to be 1.023 (asked one of the guys a few weeks ago) so I calibrated it at home

When I was there I also bought two hermit crabs, they're so cute! They just sorta sit there...all day...eating...*sighs* xD They're pretty cool anyway.

So I tested the water yesterday and all stats are fine, aside from SG which was up at 1.029...I suppose that's what it's been all this time so I changed two litres for pure RO which took it down to 1.026 I'm going to make sure that the refractometer is calibrated correctly the next time I go in just so I can be 100% sure.

Does anyone know any good websites to get snails/marine critters from? Google isn't returning me anything good at the moment and I'd rather have my CUC in before my corals Thanks!

So that's it really, untill next time!