Well it's been 20 years in the hobby for me and I've finally decided to try out a nano tank. I set up a 20g Innovative Marine All-In-One a few days ago and the cycle has started. Here's the steps I took to get this thing up and running.
1. I made a cardboard template of the tank bottom to play around with aquascaping on. 23" x 11" didn't sound too small but when I had the template cut I realized just how nano the tank actually is. I fooled with a lot of different configurations, picks a few that I liked and then sent pics to friends to get some outside input. I deleted most of the iterations but here's what I settled on.
2. The levelling mat that was on the tank was kind of torn up and I decided to replace it. If you find yourself in this situation, make sure you have a new razor blade for scraping the close cell foam mat off. I initially went at it with a blade that I thought was adequate but I was wrong. Switched to a new blade and it started coming off a lot easier. I did have some help.
3. I set the tank itself up and added the rock. Took a few pictures at this point to send to my reef pals just to make sure the 'scape got a thumbs up all around before I added the sand.
4. Added water and voila! On a tank like this it's possible to actually measure the exact water volume since I was adding it in 4g increments. This 20g tank took 15 gallons to fill up given all of the rock, substrate and other hardware taking up space.
5. The temperature stabilized at 77° and within 24 hours it got really cloudy. The larger rock on the left side of the tank was added without being cleaned. Everything was dry but I figured the dead organics would help kick start the cycle. Everything else was thoroughly rinsed and clean before added to the tank. The only "live" stuff I added was a handful of matrix and a few bioballs from my basement tanks to help seed things.
7. Now I'm waiting. I did add some nitrification bacteria ( thanks @Adam ) and I'll ghost feed every once in a while before I even start testing for anything. I'm in no rush and will let the cycle cycle without any lights. I may start to look at adding living things some time in May or at least that's the goal.
1. I made a cardboard template of the tank bottom to play around with aquascaping on. 23" x 11" didn't sound too small but when I had the template cut I realized just how nano the tank actually is. I fooled with a lot of different configurations, picks a few that I liked and then sent pics to friends to get some outside input. I deleted most of the iterations but here's what I settled on.
2. The levelling mat that was on the tank was kind of torn up and I decided to replace it. If you find yourself in this situation, make sure you have a new razor blade for scraping the close cell foam mat off. I initially went at it with a blade that I thought was adequate but I was wrong. Switched to a new blade and it started coming off a lot easier. I did have some help.
3. I set the tank itself up and added the rock. Took a few pictures at this point to send to my reef pals just to make sure the 'scape got a thumbs up all around before I added the sand.
4. Added water and voila! On a tank like this it's possible to actually measure the exact water volume since I was adding it in 4g increments. This 20g tank took 15 gallons to fill up given all of the rock, substrate and other hardware taking up space.
5. The temperature stabilized at 77° and within 24 hours it got really cloudy. The larger rock on the left side of the tank was added without being cleaned. Everything was dry but I figured the dead organics would help kick start the cycle. Everything else was thoroughly rinsed and clean before added to the tank. The only "live" stuff I added was a handful of matrix and a few bioballs from my basement tanks to help seed things.
7. Now I'm waiting. I did add some nitrification bacteria ( thanks @Adam ) and I'll ghost feed every once in a while before I even start testing for anything. I'm in no rush and will let the cycle cycle without any lights. I may start to look at adding living things some time in May or at least that's the goal.
