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Everything covered in soot from the aragonite...

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nano reef tank sounds cool

Here's the snail

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Here's another one...

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Here's what I think is a tubeworm???

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Alright, I got some LR and a turbo snail... There is what appears to be tubeworms (??) on the LR

Pics

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I've got stock listed up there ^^

tiny tank... what are you going to put in there?

Nick
"Impossumable- unable to play dead"

Here's the hydrometer... not quite enough salt in there yet...still adding it bit by bit (I don't want to add too much at a time and end up wasting it )...

Now that I think of it, I'll probably have to wait another 12 hours after I get my salinity right to wait for the ammonia spike to go back down...ah well, all the fish stores close in an hour anyway (it's sunday).... I'll have to get my LR tomarrow night


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Here's the temp according to my hydrometer/thermometer...

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Here's the whole deal with the thermometers...

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Alright, I've got an acrylic 2 gallon hex tank... I wanna do SW in it, but this is my first SW tank, and I'm a little confused. Please keep in mind that I'm trying to keep expenses down... I don't have a lot of money to put into this right now, but I've got to get it up and running now, or mom won't let me do it after school starts

The Plan-

I'm plannin' on getting a little HOB filter and a 7w 6700k CF bulb (I know it's a weird color, but it'll work for shrooms and stuff, right?). I've got a 50w HOB heater that's going in there too.

I'm planning on having some fine sugar sand... or aragonite if I can find it cheap. Probably 2-3lb of live rock in the back of the tank. I want to get a shroom or 2 (and put 'em on top of the LR), and a few shrimp of some sort (I was thinking shrimp, but they're a bit spendy...any other ideas?). Would I be able to fit a fan crab or snail or any other sort of invert in the 2g aswell?

A few questions -
What specific gravity should I keep it at, and what sort of salt and hydrometer should I use?
What temperature should I keep it at? 78-80?
What should I feed everybody?
How long should the light be on every day?
How far above the tank should the light be?
How should I cycle the tank?
Am I missing anything?

BTW, I'm ordering a 9w UV sterilizer (w/ 285GPH pump)... I'm getting it for my 29g, but if I need to, I can run it in this tank for a while

Any help would be appreciated, thanks

Here's the aragonite.... I put the edge of the tank in it to kinda give ya a scale....

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It says you have msn in yer profile, liana

I got the aragonite all in there, and it's really cleared up... I'm going to leave the filter floss in there for a few more hours and then put the cartrage back in...

I discovered that my thermometer isn't giving the right temp, so I've got 4 in there for now to see if it's the only one that's bad (I'm getting readings between 80 and 83)...I'll have to get that straghtened out. I did turn the heater down a notch tho...

I'm thinking I'm going to pick up some LR tonight, and maybe see if I can buy some that already has shrooms on it, so I don't have to attach them. I'll pick up my KH test kit too...

And yes, I'm going to be doing partial waterchanges daily (a cup or so a day), and 'bout 1/4-1/2 gal every weekend, so I don't think I'll have a problem with iodine... if I remember correctly, the city does put a rather large amount in the tap water...

Alright, for stock I'm thinking -
1 shroom (hopefully it will multiply)
1 peppermint shrimp ( shrimp are too expensive and would have to be ordered online... I might get 1-2 eventually and trade in the others)
1 turbo snail
If I can fit it, 1 fan crab

And I'll have 2-3lbs of LR.... how does all of that sound to you guys?

Thanks for all the help

Here's some pics

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Scott, we already went over a lot of this in chat but Ill hit on a couple of things real quick.

The photoperiod of 12 hours isnt really needed, but it wont hurt anything.....you will just have to watch your evaporation, but it shouldnt change it that much considering the lighting that you are using.

Get the live rock first, before you add anything else. Get it settled in and arranged the way you want it. Then add your inverts/animals/whatever. If you want to do a shrimp, try to pick a smallish one. Dont get a coral banded. A peppermint might work nicely. I think cleaners and blood shrimp get a little big.

Dont forget to wait and see if you get a spike from the live rock A cleaner in a 2g would be fine....you just need to get a small one and plan on trading it in when it gets too big Ive seen peppermints the size of a large skunk cleaner also I still think you should go for the shrimp

Remember, you're going to need to dose iodine if you're going to have shrimp, they need it to help molt correctly.

Not with the small daily water changes he is planning on doing....with a bigger water change weekly. Remember, Iodine can be very toxic to a reef tank so if you are adding it, you better be testing for it. There really is no reason to add it IF you do water changes like one should.

How should I attach the shrooms to the LR? Epoxy? Superglue?

The easiest way to attach shrooms is to use wedding veil....just loosly place the netting around the shroom and the rock. You can also sew them onto the rock with a needle and thread, or you can loosly rubberband them to the rock.

Aragonite is fine! That's the sugar sized oolitic (sp?) sand that you're supposed to use in marine tanks.

You dont really need a photoperiod of that long...I think it'd be a little intense at 12 hours. And your evap rate might shoot through the roof.

Get the live rock first, before you add anything else. Get it settled in and arranged the way you want it. Then add your inverts/animals/whatever. If you want to do a shrimp, try to pick a smallish one. Dont get a coral banded. A peppermint might work nicely. I think cleaners and blood shrimp get a little big.

Remember, you're going to need to dose iodine if you're going to have shrimp, they need it to help molt correctly.

Get the LR as soon as your salinity and temperature are fine.

Cant think of anything else you're missing off the top of my head...I gave you the iodine bit so...

Err...Scott? I dont have MSN.

I have AIM if you want?


-Ferret

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Alright, I got me some red sea salt, and a floatin' hydrometer

I've been adding salt, and I'm not quite up to 1.023 yet, but I'm getting there

I got the light and filter, and I've got a 50w heater in there

No subsrate in there yet, but daka sold me some aragonite that he had that he was going to put in a filter for a fw tank... I dunno if that'd be alright to use?

Can I have a longer photoperiod? Would 10 hours a day be fine? Even 12 maybe?

I'm thinking I will get 2-3lbs of LR, shrooms, a fan crab, a turbo snail, and some sort of shrimp ( shrimp are too expensive and would have to be ordered online anyway... should I get a cleaner shrimp or peppermint shrimp or something, or forget the whole shrimp thing altogether?). Should I add the LR first and then wait to get other stuff? Or should I get the LR and some of the stock at the same time? How should I attach the shrooms to the LR? Epoxy? Superglue?

When should I get the LR? Right away, or in a few weeks after it's been running for a while?

Anything else that I'm missing?

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it

Liana, I added you to my MSN

*bump*

Do the auto top off, you'll love yourself for it. I cant deal without it on my 100 gallon system.

With such a small tank, salt brand might not manage so much, but I like Tropic Marin, and AquaMedic is just as good.

I'll comment more later.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Thanks Nate

I don't think I really need (or have room for) an auto topoff system in there...but thanks anyway

I use regular FW for topping off the tank, right, so ya don't increase salinity? Can I use stresscoat as a conditioner in there? That's the first thing I need to know so I can get the water in there and it getting up to a stable temp

What kind of salt should I use? Is there any difference in brands?

Roughly how much salt per gallon should I mix? I've got no idea how much salt it takes to get to that specific gravity.... about 1tsp or 1 cup or what? I figure I can measure it in to get most of the way there, and then add pinches from there to get it right?

Any suggestions on a definate stocking list? If I can fit a snail, shrooms, and a shrimp (or 2? and what species?) in there, I'd like to. And what should I put in first?

Should I get the LR and the critters at the same time, or get the LR and let it sit for a while and then add the critters?

How often should I do waterchanges, and how much should I change at a time? I'm assuming weekly 10-15% waterchanges (w/ SW ) should be good?

Where should I put the shrooms, and how should I put them there?

Am I missing anything else

Thanks again

EDIT - I've already got a good number of timers (2 spare, methinks )....I've got 'em on my planted tanks and whatnot

Last edited by PoisonWaffle at 16-Aug-2005 00:56

The light will be fine for shrooms...it will just be yellow when you look at it

A few questions -
What specific gravity should I keep it at, and what sort of salt and hydrometer should I use?
What temperature should I keep it at? 78-80?
What should I feed everybody?
How long should the light be on every day?
How far above the tank should the light be?
How should I cycle the tank?
Am I missing anything?

1)1.023.....I wouldnt go any higher than this in a small reef tank because of evaporation issues increasing salinity. You will most likely have to top of the tank atleast once, if not twice a day.

2) the temp would be best somewhere between 78-82....as long as it doesnt fluctuate much anywhere in that range will be fine

3) for feeding, just use a small pinch of regular fish food...the shrooms will feed off of light and organics inthe water. The shrimp and crab will feed off the food, and the snail will feed of algae.

4) the photoperiod for what you are wanting to keep can be kinda short.....8 hours a day will be fine. Keep the photoperiod the same every day by using a timer from home depot.

5)with that shallow of a tank, the light can be a couple inches above the tank and you will be fine....

6) you can cycle with the live rock....if the rock is already cured, there really wont be a cycle or a need for one considering no more stock than you will be able to have in the tank. The waste that they (inverts) produce will be minimal and the bacteria on the rock should be able to keep up with their waste if you stock it slowly.

7) I dont think so, other than how you are going to top off the tank to keep the salinity stable. Let me dig around for a link to a DIY auto top off for nano's made out of a aquafina bottle