The following is the story of a pod, for those brave enough to hear it. I did a lot of things wrong in the beginning, and am still doing things wrong, but I’ve learned a lot. I suppose that is better than doing wrong and learning nothing from it.
Quick facts:
Tank established in mid September, aquapod 24g
X2 33w. PC, x2 actinics
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20-40
Alk: 9dkh (measured a while ago)
Maintenance:
Weekly water changes of 10% (2.5g)
X1/mo 25% water change
No dosing or supplemental
Additional Hardware
Reef Keeper Light (still in the package, needs to be set up)
100W. stealth heater
Swapped stock pump for 900 maxi
X2 koralia nanos (424g, 220g) on intermittently
Added LED strips
4 stage ROD, TDS meter,
Refractometer (that always seems to need recalibrating)
Livestock:
Clownfish
Frogspawn
Candycane (trumpet coral? Not sure exactly)
Neon green trumpet coral
Zoanthus
Palythoa
Ricordea
True blue shrooms
A few random frags someone gave me (on plugs)
History
Tank was purchased used off of craigslist. At the time, I didn’t know such great deals existed on Atlanta Reef!
I had a general idea of what to look for as I’d read for three or four months prior to its purchase. I knew I wasn’t going to keep SPS, and wanted only a few ‘challenging’ corals like a frogspawn. I only wanted a few fish, and didn’t want to do 20 gallon water changes every other week or so. A nano seemed perfect (by the way, as of now I still don’t regret the decision!).
Since I was/am in Macon and attending medical school, I left it for a friend to pick up the Pod. I bought 50 lbs of live rock and 20lbs of live sand from a local in Macon and set the whole thing up.
Immediately I ran into problems. The splash shield on the tank came melted, apparently a problem with the old pods. Also the weirs were missing. I opened the hood one day to hear a snap, and the whole structure broke off. It took me a long time to get the hood realigned and fixed with epoxide-JB weld was the only thing I could get to bond and even then it wasn’t pretty. One of the moonlights was dysfunctional, so I ran two strips of LEDs I picked up from an Autozone. This has seemed to be OK so far.
I was using coralife digital timers to cycle my lighting. Big mistake. If you don’t all ready know it, these things are junk. Based off a bad GE patent (you can pick the parent version up at home depot and it is just as bad). Also, the heat was a problem until October rolled around. I am sure it will be an issue again. It seemed that in terms of wattage, a combination of hydor nanos and the smaller maxijet was the way to go. I also built an extra fan into the system.
My ammonia and nitrites came down in three weeks (I let it go five weeks, I believe to be safe); I think my tank cycled quickly because I got live rock right out of someone’s tank, and used their salt water to jumpstart my pod. I added a CUC from ------ off ----- (ceriths, mainly, and a few turbos, great group to work with). I made the mistake of ordering too many and some of them have since starved. For any beginners who stumble across this, only add a few snails at first! They’ll get the job done eventually.
After I added the cleanup crew, I gave the tank an extra week or so for things to balance out. As my nitrates began to dip below 10ppm I decided to add a pair of clowns (at the time, didn’t think to find out a vital piece of information: their exact species). I wanted to add the clowns before the nitrates disappeared altogether, I didn’t want bacteria to starve.
Again, more problems.
I slow drip acclimated the clowns over three hours…still, after a day passed and I noticed the clowns had white dots all over. Jen et. Al helped me through setting up a quarantine tank that (a small 10g. marine land tank my neighbors had thrown out). I tested stray voltage in my tank and found it to be over 40V…though every appliance was throwing off voltage over 10 so the problem remains an ongoing issue.
Over the next six weeks I was able to save one of the clowns, but the other died pretty quickly. The surviving clown has been disease free and happy in the display tank for a few weeks now, so the Q tank seems to have worked. I later found out that the store I bought the clowns from (not a sponsor, I believe) keeps salinity low and their fish are usually diseased. Moral of the story: q-tanks are key.
Anyway, I have scrounged around these forums for ideas. I am in the process of replacing my timer system with a RKL system as someone suggested (it looks quite confusing, I must say). I have cut the feeding of my fish down to every other day, and only a very small pinch at that. I vary formula one and two flake. Occasionally I give my little clown freeze dried mysis shrimp or ground shrimp pellets by Omega one. (S)he really seems to enjoy the change in foods and is a ferocious eater (nips my hands if I stick them in there).
That’s really the tank’s story. Getting flow right has been a pain. I’ve still got high nitrates and red gunk growing. I know every one of my devices is throwing off voltage. There is potential for disaster when summer rolls around and the deep south gets hot again.
That being said, I’ve learned a ton about the hobby and love it. It has even helped me with my general chemistry and water bugs (mycobacteria marinia!)…
Future
The direction I plan on going (very slowly, of course. I believe I'll add another piece in late December)
a. Ricordeas I really like these guys
b. Acans and blastos
A hammer or torch? The torch may get too big for a small tank of this size
<u>Fish (one or two of the following)</u>
Pajama cardinal
Goby (green banded, neon striped)
Six line wrasse
Blenny
Fireshrimp
<u>Hardware</u>
ATO
Possibly setup some sort of sump
<u>Ongoing issues</u>
1. Nitrates, and suspected red crud (see photos)
2. Flow and angry mushrooms
3. Where to put random frags of zoas and torch, ricordia! I know the tank looks sloppy right now
4. Construct weirs
5. Continue to research skimmers. I’m not sold yet on a tank this size, and now that sapphire doesn’t make the skimmer that fits the pod I’m even less convinced.
6. Add more sand to areas where pumps built dunes
The end.
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<legend> Attached files </legend>
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class="gc-images" title="1. Broken Hinges.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a>
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class="gc-images" title="1. Corner Red algae.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a>
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class="gc-images" title="1. Damaged splash gaurd.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a>
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class="gc-images" title="1. Old cora timers.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a>
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class="gc-images" title="Frog.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a>
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class="gc-images" title="IMG_7682.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a> </fieldset>
Quick facts:
Tank established in mid September, aquapod 24g
X2 33w. PC, x2 actinics
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20-40
Alk: 9dkh (measured a while ago)
Maintenance:
Weekly water changes of 10% (2.5g)
X1/mo 25% water change
No dosing or supplemental
Additional Hardware
Reef Keeper Light (still in the package, needs to be set up)
100W. stealth heater
Swapped stock pump for 900 maxi
X2 koralia nanos (424g, 220g) on intermittently
Added LED strips
4 stage ROD, TDS meter,
Refractometer (that always seems to need recalibrating)
Livestock:
Clownfish
Frogspawn
Candycane (trumpet coral? Not sure exactly)
Neon green trumpet coral
Zoanthus
Palythoa
Ricordea
True blue shrooms
A few random frags someone gave me (on plugs)
History
Tank was purchased used off of craigslist. At the time, I didn’t know such great deals existed on Atlanta Reef!
I had a general idea of what to look for as I’d read for three or four months prior to its purchase. I knew I wasn’t going to keep SPS, and wanted only a few ‘challenging’ corals like a frogspawn. I only wanted a few fish, and didn’t want to do 20 gallon water changes every other week or so. A nano seemed perfect (by the way, as of now I still don’t regret the decision!).
Since I was/am in Macon and attending medical school, I left it for a friend to pick up the Pod. I bought 50 lbs of live rock and 20lbs of live sand from a local in Macon and set the whole thing up.
Immediately I ran into problems. The splash shield on the tank came melted, apparently a problem with the old pods. Also the weirs were missing. I opened the hood one day to hear a snap, and the whole structure broke off. It took me a long time to get the hood realigned and fixed with epoxide-JB weld was the only thing I could get to bond and even then it wasn’t pretty. One of the moonlights was dysfunctional, so I ran two strips of LEDs I picked up from an Autozone. This has seemed to be OK so far.
I was using coralife digital timers to cycle my lighting. Big mistake. If you don’t all ready know it, these things are junk. Based off a bad GE patent (you can pick the parent version up at home depot and it is just as bad). Also, the heat was a problem until October rolled around. I am sure it will be an issue again. It seemed that in terms of wattage, a combination of hydor nanos and the smaller maxijet was the way to go. I also built an extra fan into the system.
My ammonia and nitrites came down in three weeks (I let it go five weeks, I believe to be safe); I think my tank cycled quickly because I got live rock right out of someone’s tank, and used their salt water to jumpstart my pod. I added a CUC from ------ off ----- (ceriths, mainly, and a few turbos, great group to work with). I made the mistake of ordering too many and some of them have since starved. For any beginners who stumble across this, only add a few snails at first! They’ll get the job done eventually.
After I added the cleanup crew, I gave the tank an extra week or so for things to balance out. As my nitrates began to dip below 10ppm I decided to add a pair of clowns (at the time, didn’t think to find out a vital piece of information: their exact species). I wanted to add the clowns before the nitrates disappeared altogether, I didn’t want bacteria to starve.
Again, more problems.
I slow drip acclimated the clowns over three hours…still, after a day passed and I noticed the clowns had white dots all over. Jen et. Al helped me through setting up a quarantine tank that (a small 10g. marine land tank my neighbors had thrown out). I tested stray voltage in my tank and found it to be over 40V…though every appliance was throwing off voltage over 10 so the problem remains an ongoing issue.
Over the next six weeks I was able to save one of the clowns, but the other died pretty quickly. The surviving clown has been disease free and happy in the display tank for a few weeks now, so the Q tank seems to have worked. I later found out that the store I bought the clowns from (not a sponsor, I believe) keeps salinity low and their fish are usually diseased. Moral of the story: q-tanks are key.
Anyway, I have scrounged around these forums for ideas. I am in the process of replacing my timer system with a RKL system as someone suggested (it looks quite confusing, I must say). I have cut the feeding of my fish down to every other day, and only a very small pinch at that. I vary formula one and two flake. Occasionally I give my little clown freeze dried mysis shrimp or ground shrimp pellets by Omega one. (S)he really seems to enjoy the change in foods and is a ferocious eater (nips my hands if I stick them in there).
That’s really the tank’s story. Getting flow right has been a pain. I’ve still got high nitrates and red gunk growing. I know every one of my devices is throwing off voltage. There is potential for disaster when summer rolls around and the deep south gets hot again.
That being said, I’ve learned a ton about the hobby and love it. It has even helped me with my general chemistry and water bugs (mycobacteria marinia!)…
Future
The direction I plan on going (very slowly, of course. I believe I'll add another piece in late December)
a. Ricordeas I really like these guys
b. Acans and blastos
A hammer or torch? The torch may get too big for a small tank of this size
<u>Fish (one or two of the following)</u>
Pajama cardinal
Goby (green banded, neon striped)
Six line wrasse
Blenny
Fireshrimp
<u>Hardware</u>
ATO
Possibly setup some sort of sump
<u>Ongoing issues</u>
1. Nitrates, and suspected red crud (see photos)
2. Flow and angry mushrooms
3. Where to put random frags of zoas and torch, ricordia! I know the tank looks sloppy right now
4. Construct weirs
5. Continue to research skimmers. I’m not sold yet on a tank this size, and now that sapphire doesn’t make the skimmer that fits the pod I’m even less convinced.
6. Add more sand to areas where pumps built dunes
The end.
<fieldset class="gc-fieldset">
<legend> Attached files </legend>
