okNano Cube 24G #2
THe Nano Cube has been sitting and cycling for some time. I have added some livestock into it already and have been petrified that I will kill everything in there with my over enthusiasm. I have about four Rocket Snails and a couple of “Nemo’s”. The snails are nice because they keep the algae to a minimum and the fish are scredy cats, but are slowly starting to eat.
To recap, I have been cycling the Nano cube for about three weeks now, I have about 8 pounds of live rock, about an inch and a half of crushed coral substrate, and the water parameters are holding up nicely (too nicely in my opinion). I check the water once a week when I do a small partial water change and Nitrate and Nitrite seem to be close to or at 0 ppm. Ammonia rises and falls, but stays within the lowest place in the chart. I did follow the advice of a commenter and start using RO water exclusively for my water changes and have been happy with the results.
The more time I spend with the Nano Cube, the more I dislike the design. The filters are placed in the back which makes filter cleaning quite a chore and I end up putting a lot of the detritus from the sponges back into the water. I have to be really careful to remove the filter and put it back. On one such water change, I stirred up so much stuff that I thought I was going to stifle the poor Clown fish. I wish the nano had better access to the filter compartment and had more places to put inlet tubes and wires into it.
I will let it cycle for another week before adding anymore livestock, but the next order of purchase will be a shrimp of some kind. I am worried that crustaceans are really susceptible to water parameter changes, but the uneaten food in the tank is a problem. The clowns are very young and they only will eat frozen food. In addition, they are very very jumpy and scared and the food ends up everywhere. I even cut the smallest frozen food cubes into six or seven smaller peices to keep uneaten food to a minimum. I just think a nice hermit crab or peppermint shrimp would love the stuff floating around.
I would like to see some corraline algea before I buy any corals or such but I see a couple of very young feather dusters beginning to take shape. I hope there are many more to come. The harder I work on keeping this Nano Cube reef, the more excited I get about it and the more fun it becomes!
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I need to order a new ballast for my tank. How can I go about doing so
Comment by Francesca Riccardi 3/5/2005 @ 6:14 pmwell…u better go here http://reefcentral.com/forums/index.php?s=601c0ecf58ba3c03bb31426e8f5962ed and look for the nano forum and start reading. in my opinion only 3 weeks is not enough and u should have at least 24g of live rock. it’s best to go with sand not crushed coral…. but keep reading on the forum and you’ll see by urself
I hope your fish won’t die…. maybe u can find a local fish sore that can hold it for ya till ur cycle completes ..
best to ya man
Comment by cokevanila 3/8/2005 @ 5:48 pmHow is it going owith your tank…saw this thread and am looking at buying a 24G Nano Cube…Are you happy with it?
Comment by Mark Stander 3/31/2005 @ 8:10 pmMany Thanks!
Mark
ok
Comment by Mark 4/1/2005 @ 10:34 amRead the new post for details.
My husband got me a Nano Cube as a present.We are having problems on our filtration system.I’ve had it for about 4 wks. The tank is full of algae.The algae is mixed with the water and just goes around in circles in the tank. It doesn’t seem like it’s filtering at all.We’ve tried cleaning the tank partially,we’ve used algae tablets and nothing seems to help.Do you have any ideas what we may be doing wrong? Or where I may go to for help.Any help would be appreciated.Thank You!
Comment by Bernice Poncheri 6/23/2006 @ 9:06 amBernice. Try turning your lights off if you don’t have anything growing…
Comment by Scott 8/19/2006 @ 6:11 amIf you’re trying to boost your coralline algae growth, here’s a tip: 1st make sure your calcium, magnesium, carbonate hardness, pH and salinity are all at good levels. Then, if you know anyone with an established reef tank, ask them if you can have some coralline from their tank (most people will be more than willing to give you some). Just make sure you keep it in some water from their tank as you bring it home. Turn off all the pumps in your tank temporarily, especially any filters or skimmers. If the coralline you got is in big pieces (over 1/4” across) break them up a bit carefully so the pieces are less than 1/4”, but not powder either. Then sprinkle the coralline pieces all over the live rock in your tank, wherever you’re trying to get it to grow. Leave the pumps off for a half an hour or so, then if you can, redirect the pumps towards the surface, so they don’t blast all the coralline pieces off the rocks. Keep your filters and skimmer off still, so they don’t suck it all up either. If you have a kalkwasser drip setup, start it now to provide plenty of calcium for the coralline to grow.
Comment by Chris 7/18/2008 @ 6:28 pm