Tank Journal Archive

[daveH]

Finally kick started the Yasha today. Everything went together well, little bit of drama with the skimmer but have sorted that out.
PIcked up some nice rock, might throw a bit more in tommorrow.
Threw some Purigen, PhosGuard and Bio Pearls in the back to help the process along.
Will post more as the tank progresses.

Up and running

Nice live rock

Filter material

 

[MTG]

looking great mate do you have any pics of the skimmer in its place etc?

 

[LFSdirect]

Nice tank, make sure you don't leave your phosguard in long term. Remove it when you get your phos down to 0.00 that stuff is very powerful and will melt your corals if left in permanently.

 

[daveH]

So I should remove it once the tank has cycled through and before I put corals in?

 

[daveH]

Protein skimmer pic

 

[daveH]

A couple of questions I have in getting started.
What is the best for topups - should I just use R/O on its own or does it need any additives?
Does the rock need a certain amount of light during cycling and if so how much?

 

[jashay]

Nice tank, make sure you don't leave your phosguard in long term. Remove it when you get your phos down to 0.00 that stuff is very powerful and will melt your corals if left in permanently.

does this go for all phosphate removing filter media? I am searching now for the stuff I used when my tank crashed as I cant remember the name of it but it looked exactly the same as media (not the brand though).

 

[LFSdirect]

does this go for all phosphate removing filter media? I am searching now for the stuff I used when my tank crashed as I cant remember the name of it but it looked exactly the same as media (not the brand though).

I can only say this about Phosguard, it will get you down to 0.00 in a couple of days. My morph garden and acan collection melted. I can only put it down to leaving the bag in long term.

 

[VaultBoy]

Great looking little nano daveH

I just straight RO/DI water for my top-ups but just RO should be fine! A lot of organisms on the live rock will appreciate the light while it is cycling but i dont think its strictly neccessary.

 

[LFSdirect]

A couple of questions I have in getting started.
What is the best for topups - should I just use R/O on its own or does it need any additives?
Does the rock need a certain amount of light during cycling and if so how much?

Rock gets a normal cycle of light. You should add a touch of KH powder to your top off water as generally it's low in KH.

 

[jashay]

cheers LFSdirect :)

I actually threw out the box after putting the media in. it has been in for a fair while now without any noticable effects. I think I might pull it out though and see if there is any improvements, not that whats in my tank looks like it is suffering at all.

do you think this could of affected a candy cane in recovery? the candy cane was sort of a rescue and I knew it was 50/50.

sorry for the highjack! just thing this sort of thing is important ;)

 

[LFSdirect]

In no way having a go at Phosguard, it's a real good product, as phosphate nears 0.00 just whip it out. I believe a bacteria driven phosphate reduction system is more gentle on your tank.

 

[jashay]

In no way having a go at Phosguard, it's a real good product, as phosphate nears 0.00 just whip it out. I believe a bacteria driven phosphate reduction system is more gentle on your tank.

I know mate all good ;)

totally agree that the phosate removing media is awesome. i seen a huge difference within a day when my tank went phosphate crazy.
will still pull it out to see how it goes.

sorry bub is sittin on me and typin one hand, taken ten min to write this lol

 

[daveH]

I read up a bit more on PhosGuard on the Seachem site and they kind of suggested limited use, so I think I'll pull it out before I start putting corals in.
How does that sound?

 

[tonyf]

Great looking little tank! I seriously considered this one as my first before I went a custom 3 foot tank:)
will be watching this one with interest to see the progressionn

 

[daniel]

love the rock formation looks nice as

 

[MTG]

hows the skimmer going so far?

 

[NiCd]

awesome little nano, ive been tossing up with getting one of these for my office

 

[daveH]

Thanks for the compliments. I'm really happy with the setup, everything went together well.
Everything is running fine so far. The skimmer has settled down now, it was creating a huge amount of foam even when turned right down. No discolouration of the foam yet.
The filter materials I put in are the same as a local reef shop set their Yasha up with, and has been running perfectly fully stocked with coral and fish.
Current readings are:
Ammonia is at around .25ppm (what will it probably peak at?)
Nitrite is 0ppm
Nitrate is 5.0ppm
pH is 8.2
It's kind of funny to see the family oooing and ahhing over 4 pieces of rock, I can't imagine how impressed they're going to be when I start stocking it. :)

 

[NiCd]

if you have nitrate readings you would have peaked. new LR is really fun, wait to you start seeing all the little tube worms and brittle stars poping up and freebie corals! you will never spend so much time looking so closely at things