Back on the Forum, lost at sea for awhile!!:) Nano up again

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Coralreefdiver

New Member
:lol3:
It's been awhile since I was on the forum. I thought I would seek the widsom of you professionals again, since I have set my 24 gal NanoCube back up. Ive made some changes, and what to see what people think of the setup, and get advice if I should change, upgrade things.

I trashed the hood (well actually kept it if anyone needs one..just not on the tank) that came with it and placed a 150 MH Aqualight on it. I upgraded the pump, and have currently about 15#s of live rock from a friends established tank, and 20# Oolite (I think) fine live sand. Its been running about 2 weeks, and with the addition of a fan, I have managed to perfect the temp to 77-78 F. My MAJOR issue has been water evaporation. I have been having to top the tank off 4 times a day!!! This was getting to be a pain, considering I am out of town sometimes quite a bit, I didnt think I would be able to manage it. I ordered a ATO by JBJ to automatically top off the water.

Any thoughts in the ATO? I am scared of it.....seems complicated, but I will find out when it gets here sometime the end of the week.

My water parameters are normal for a cycling tank, but I am starting to already get algae..... any thoughts?

Glad to be back!!! :strip :strip

Khara
 
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reefman23

New Member
:welcome back! The JBJ ATO will be one of your favorite investments! I love mine. They are very simple and work well. Did you get a pump for it yet? I would highly suggest the Tom Aqualifter pump. It is like an airpump that pumps water instead. Your setup sounds great. Good choice to dump the stock lighting for the 150 watter. Just FYI, the 150 watt 14,000k Phoenix is an awesome lamp. Dont worry too much about the algae yet. The tank should "grow" out of it. Keep us updated and please post pictures!

Jesse
 
TimSchmidt

TimSchmidt

New Member
Glad to see you back too! I use a aquahub.com ATO and it works well enough, but is a more DIY involved solution.
 
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Coralreefdiver

New Member
I bought and added a BioCube Oceanic protein skimmer today. I KNOW :neutral: .....I probably should have checked with you all to see if they're junk. I had a fission, and I promptly threw that in the trash when I had this tank set up last time. So far, it seems to be great.

Although, I have a question. I have placed it next to the pump in the 3rd chamber, as I dont have any other space in the back left. My MH light hogs the 2nd chamber, making it to small for the skimmer, and my 1st chamber has my filter media in it. Do you all think its okay to have it in the third chamber?

Glad to be back, :lol:

Khara
 
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Coralreefdiver

New Member
No bubbles in the main tank at all. The tricky part is since it is not made for a Nanocube, is getting it to fit right and all the that, and to get the bubble level right. I'm not producing any scum yet at this time.

I bought a power strip/timer combo by Aqualight. Anyone use these to set timers up? I thought I had it set up correctly last night, but it never came on this morning...so guess I have it wrong.

K
 
TimSchmidt

TimSchmidt

New Member
I use digital timers and soon will upgrade to a controller, but I did use one for my lamp when I went on vacation. Is that the type with the different colored jumpers? If so make sure the colors match when you want the power to go on. Also most of those jumper type timers have over ride switches to keep power on or to keep power off, might want to check to see that this isn't the case.
 
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Coralreefdiver

New Member
It has the yellow outlets for day, and blue for night. I have gone over and over the instructions, and think I'm doing everything right, but it aint working.

It has 2 day, 2 night, and 4 24hr outlets. I have my fan and MH lamp hooked up to the day, and the LED night lights for night. It says to keep it on auto, but that doesnt work. So if I turn the mode to ON, lights come on, if I turn it to off the day lamps go off and LEDS come on. But thats only when I MANUALLY do it.

I've gotta get this fixed or get a recommended timer, as I have tohave this working as I travel frequently with my job.

Bummer,

Khara
 
TimSchmidt

TimSchmidt

New Member
I have the coralife digital timers (MUCH easier to set up BTW). The one you have will work, the jumpers just have to be set. Any chance of a pic?
 
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reefman23

New Member
I had one of those aqualight strips and it broke soon after I bought it. If you travel alot for work you should really consider getting a good controller like the AC Jr. You can get it for $219 shipped which sounds like alot but it will give you piece of mind. Each of the eight outlets are individually controlled. I have my MH, my blue LEDs and white LEDS all controlled individually and it also controls my cooling fan and heater. It will turn on the fan when the temp gets too high (whatever you program it to) and it will turn it back off when it gets to the desired temp. Same with the heater. It also records all of the data so you can review it at a later time. It can also replicate the sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset.

Anyways, I got mine yesterday, set it up, tested all of the settings and I am now out of town in San Diego. I havent had this piece of mind while being out of town before.

Jesse
 
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Coralreefdiver

New Member
Reefman thanks for the info on that controller.

MY TIMER WORKED TODAY AND TONIGHT OUT OF THE BLUE:) Maybe it needed to cycle or something, but it turned on my fan & MH this morning at the correct time, and then it turned off and the night lights came on at the right time......

Must have been a gremlin. I'm so happy tho, the ATO is working awesome, although I might need a bigger resivoir, its 2 gallons, but it seems to not last that long. I really only have maybe 1 gallon to use with the pump on the bottom and the 2nd sensor above the pump. The 2nd sensor makes it so that it shuts off so m y pump wont run dry.

The timers are working..... YAY...now that I have it set for when I go out of town. NOW its time to start having some fun with this tank.

I really want to focus on corals.....and a LOW bioload of fish. Maybe 1 or 2..... thats it.

I'm still having trouble with algae, but I am assuming it can only get better. All my tests are in the normal range except ammonia.....its reading above normal but not high levels.


Happy,
K
 
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Coralreefdiver

New Member
Dunno yet. Recommendations are welcome. I would like to do maybe a hard coral in the tank, but dont want my whole tank to be hard cause I really like the softies as well.

The live rock that is in my tank now came from my nano about 2 years ago, and had been in a larger tank, and is now back in my nano. It has yellow polyps on it, and some brown soft coral (unsure of the variety), but other than that its chocked full of coraline algae and little feather dusters.
 
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