The long road...

Jaak

Jaak

Joined
2 Jun 2008
Posts
2,420
Reaction score
15
Location
Cape Town
Ahoy!!

Here goes. I set up my first marine tank yesterday morning (Sat 07 June 08) after many years of keeping tropicals. I purchased a Buyo TL550. With it i also bought a Buyo WM2 wave maker, Arogonite, Seachem Stability, etc...
Here's the pics of day one: I'm battling to upload pic's at the mo, i'll try again later.
 
good stuff man.looking forward to the pic
 
A very WARM welcome to MASA, Jaak! Thanks for finding and joining us on the forum - one of the VERY best things you could have done!

OK - if you don't mind supplying us with some more info?
1) please give a FULL list of what you were sold (I can only presume it was from a LFS somewhere in Cape Town)
2) I hope that you don't have life stock in yet - what else did you get/set-up already? sand/substrate? water? (did you use NSW (Natural Sea Water) or made-up water with RO and Synthetic salt?)
3) did you get live rock yet?
4) what are you planning to keep?
5) did you get a skimmer too? (nano-skimmer? / hang-on skimmer?)

Please have a read through Matt/Quinton's threads in the "Nano Setups" - you will get some great ideas and VERY useful tips on what you should be doing with your new Boyu Nano.....

Good luck!
 
jacquesb said:
A very WARM welcome to MASA, Jaak! Thanks for finding and joining us on the forum - one of the VERY best things you could have done!

OK - if you don't mind supplying us with some more info?
1) please give a FULL list of what you were sold (I can only presume it was from a LFS somewhere in Cape Town)
2) I hope that you don't have life stock in yet - what else did you get/set-up already? sand/substrate? water? (did you use NSW (Natural Sea Water) or made-up water with RO and Synthetic salt?)
3) did you get live rock yet?
4) what are you planning to keep?
5) did you get a skimmer too? (nano-skimmer? / hang-on skimmer?)

Please have a read through Matt/Quinton's threads in the "Nano Setups" - you will get some great ideas and VERY useful tips on what you should be doing with your new Boyu Nano.....

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the warm Welcome Jacques!!

I bought a Buyo TL550 tank with Skimmer, heater and pump included on it's matching stand. Then I also purchased a Buyo WM-2 Wave maker. For substrate I got a little bit of crushed coral and Meridian's oolitic aragonite on top. I used RO water with marine salt. This was all on Saturday. Then yesterday I purchased 2 pieces of "Kenyan" LR (Approx 5.5Kg) but everywhere I've been it looks more like Bali LR!!??
I would like to purchase more LR today and put it in. Is it too late? Will I cause another cycle? Any suggestions on where I can get LR in Cape Town? I can't get hold of the guys at aQuality.

I'm still thinking about what I would like to keep. I'll start with the basics like some clowns, cleaner shrimps, hermits, turbos. I'm still learning about what i can keep together and what not so I've not got any solid plans on livestock yet. I'm still enjoying the learning phase and irritating every LFS with my questions...

J.
 
Hi J - no problems. Seems that you have some nice stuff there. Just please take note that you should try and remove the sponges and the bio-balls/ceramic rings from the built-in filtration system. This will cause detritus to build-up in the long run, and cause high nitrate levels....

OK - while the tank is cycling (this can take anything up to 6 weeks - but with a nano I can only presume that the cycling time should be less....

Did you also get your testing kits? (ammonia/nitrites/nitrates)? If not - you would also need these, including a hydrometer (or refractometre), a pH test-kit and a digital thermometer.

Please remember that with a nano, you are required to be EXTREMELY diligent with your maintenance routine. That the smallest mistake could cause HUGE problems in a nano. You MUST be quite sure to do weekly water-changes......

As I have said - have a look at the other threads in the nano forum. You will see the questions asked about life-stock, and the answers given.

Good luck mate!
 
jacquesb said:
Hi J - no problems. Seems that you have some nice stuff there. Just please take note that you should try and remove the sponges and the bio-balls/ceramic rings from the built-in filtration system. This will cause detritus to build-up in the long run, and cause high nitrate levels....

OK - while the tank is cycling (this can take anything up to 6 weeks - but with a nano I can only presume that the cycling time should be less....

Did you also get your testing kits? (ammonia/nitrites/nitrates)? If not - you would also need these, including a hydrometer (or refractometre), a pH test-kit and a digital thermometer.

Please remember that with a nano, you are required to be EXTREMELY diligent with your maintenance routine. That the smallest mistake could cause HUGE problems in a nano. You MUST be quite sure to do weekly water-changes......

As I have said - have a look at the other threads in the nano forum. You will see the questions asked about life-stock, and the answers given.

Good luck mate!
Click to expand...

Hi Jacques,

Thanks, I forgot that I did get a Hydrometer but I'm also picking up the rest of the testing kits today. Can I still add more LR today or tomorrow without any issues?
Don't worry about the maintenance, I'm all over it.

J.
 
Coolio then!

YEs - just remember that you should either add most of the live rock in the beginning, or later on ensure that you add cured live rock (with no die off at all). Otherwise you will most likely have a mini-cycle going on.

Uncured live-rock = cycle
Cured live-rock = no cycle
 
Fot interest sake, how would I know if I've got a mini cycle going on? Excuse my ignorance: What is die off?
 
No problems Jaak - there is no such thing as a "dumb question".
OK - that's what you use your test-kits for. To test the ammonia/nitrites/nitrates levels in the water.

The cycle goes on until the ammonia becomes 0, the nitrites becomes 0, and the nitrates become as low as possible (as close to 0 as possible).

"Die off" means life on the live rock that is literally busy or HAS already died off.... (when something dies in a tank, it's bodies decompose. This decomposition releases ammonia/nitrites/nitrates, etc into the water, causing another nutrient spike to occur)....
 
Thanks Jacques,

I understand now what you mean. I'll upload some pics now..
 
Ok, so here it is finally. The long awaited pics of my nano. You'll obviously see the progression from day one to day three.

June 2008 001 (Medium).jpg


jsw_june_2008_003.jpg


jsw_june_2008_012.jpg


jsw_june_2008_013.jpg


jsw_june_2008_014.jpg
 
Cool man. Just some advice, try place the rock away from the sides of the tank else it'll be a nightmare to try keep it clean!

Also what base rock did you use? I apologize if this has been mentioned earlier, didn't pick up on that...
 
matt165 said:
Cool man. Just some advice, try place the rock away from the sides of the tank else it'll be a nightmare to try keep it clean!

Also what base rock did you use? I apologize if this has been mentioned earlier, didn't pick up on that...
Click to expand...

No Worries Matt. I'll start moving things around later after the cycle. I just wanted it in asap to get things going. I've got a piece of bio rock at the bottom and all Bali on top. I couldn't get hold of Obi-wan so i bought this from Aqua concepts here in CPT. What you think?
 
jacquesb said:
Jaak - it is starting to look really good man!
Click to expand...

Thanks Jacques!! I'm going to enjoy this taking it slow. I used to take forever to stock my freshwater tanks. I think I'll start with some hermits in turbos in about 6 - 8 weeks. Then maybe some shrimps a couple of weeks after that and then i'll just wait a long while before I put some fish in.

J.
 
Ahoy Guys,

I need some advice. Someone made a suggestion to me that I should "rake" my substrate. He said that with me having crushed coral underneath the finer aragonite it would be a good idea because dead matter could accumalate in between the crushed coral and cause some issues later on. This does make some sense to me. Any ideas on this?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom