Newbie here with a question

[QueenI3itch]

  I've been talked into trying a trying Nano Reef finally, and I have some Fuji and other rock given to me from a friend and has been sitting in my basement for about a year. They were in  a bag inside of a bucket. They have a few cobwebs on them, and small dead spiders. The rock was from a friends spare tank of live rock, and such. She has since moved, and we have lost touch.

  I have a question about a few things. How do I correctly clean and treat the rock so I can use some of the smaller pieces in the Nano.  I was always and still am afraid to try a reef. My tank is a 14 gal Oceanic Bio Cube. Not very big. Tobey just helped me find the perfect skimmer for it. Thanks Tobey. But other then that, nothing else special in the tank. Was just a Orange clownfish, till this afternoon. Not sure why, water seems fine.

I also would like a Refugium to help with the Nano as well, but have no experience on how to create or set these things up. Completely clueless on how to set up a small enough one, to help support my tank. Do you think I'm going overboard by wanting one with a 29 Nano?

My goal is to have an easy colorful small reef, but almost self sustaining.

  I am also OBSESSED with Nudi Branches. Their so beautiful, but can't keep them in my tank, they would get sucked into the filtration. So I would like some suggestions on how to block the vents for them, yet have enough waterflow so as not to mess with the actual filtration itself. Does that sound stupid? I would also like to have the correct colorful corals. I love the greens and blues and oranges of some of the reefs I have seen. I've seen some absolutely gorgeous black saddle clownfish, with no interupts in the stripes. VERY hard to find those. But my Nemo was a lonely fish. 2 yrs old I believe.

So basically a reef with possibly Nudi Branches and some Black Saddle Back clownfish. Too much to ask for?

  I know its going to be a work in progress, and I have a lot cut out for me. But here I am in the biggest Newbish form on the planet. But trying to be careful enough not to make any mistakes along the way.

  I will post recent pictures soon. I'm going to clean the tank up and start over from scratch.


OK so there u have it my first ever post.

How was it?

[michael]

 hi welcome to the site, my view is the rock thats been sitting in the basement is dead for sure, best to give it a scrub and drop it into a container with made up salt water to the right temperature and salinity with a shrimp a powerhead or 2 and let it cure, it may smell really bad in the house, once its cured, probably 6 weeks or so its live and ready to go,what size is the nano? in the mean time you can get the tank level and everything up together ready for the start up,when your cured, its time to set up the tank, basically id suggest filling the tank with ro-di water and add salt, let it mix with a powerhead or 2 for 24 hours and test salinity to confirm its at 35 parts, when it is then add an heater and when its up to temperature check the salinity again. the specific gravity should be about 1.025-1.026 at this point, if its higher, remove some salt water and add some fresh ro-di water, if its lower add a little more salt.

when the water is up to temperature then add the cured rock, make sure your totally happy with the final look and then add around 1" of sand around the rocks to cover the bare glass.

now you need to monitor ammonia nitrite and nitrate, its very likely doing it this way you wont get any die off as the rock is cured, but best to monitor any how for a few days, when your 100% sure all is well add 4-6 snails and your good to go.

as for the sump, well it is easier to add a sump and drill the tank before filling with water, however a lot of nanos dont have sumps and do fine, with your future intended stocking intentions, id class your tank as low bioload, so regular water changes would be fine, you could add a canister filter and run it empty to add to water volume and temperature stability if you have the room but not enough for a sump. if your definately going to add a sump then i think we need to approach this in a more thourough explanation.

otherwise, welcome to the site we have a great library full of articles, a chat room and lots of very friendly members, so please enjoy yourself and a warm welcome again

[QueenI3itch]

I meant to change the tank size to 14g, the one I'm using is 14, but have the 29 spare tank, with soon to be hood. So possibly trying the 29  instead of the 14. Just wanted to correct that issue. I appriciate the fast post and feedback. Much appriciated.. going to do my research completly on this, and I'll post my album soon.

Again thanks so much.

[michael]

your welcome, and id suggest the 29 over the 14 if you have a choice.

[Hosser]

+1 on everything Michael said, If you are close enough to me (Sarasota) or you can find a local reefer who would offer it I would after a few weeks and water changes on the rock water add a piece of live rock from an established tank. I have a few smaller pieces Id be willing to give you for this purpose to jumpstart the rock coming back to life. Or of course you can wait till the rock is thoroughly cleaned and get some when you set up the tank.
And yes Chat is a great place for questions even though Tobey is grounded from asking questions in it you are more than welcome to haha. Anything we can do to help just ask and if your local enough hit some of us for frags and equipment to get you started. Also our sponsors arent the type to charge outrageous money for in store support like water testing and helping you along as well.
Welcome to MRK glad your here

[tobey]

i dont want to be grounded and welcome to MRK (:

[Frogfish]

welcome to MRK!!!

I too would recommend the 29 if you can.  The reason is that the larger water volume will be more stable.  You could even add a 10 or 20 gallon sump/refugium under the 20 in your stand.

I would definitely decide on a sump before you set everything up.  You could have someone drill the 29 and install a small overflow box so you don't loose much room,  but also don't need a hang on the back overflow, which are prone to failure.

Michael is correct with the rock.  Put it in some SW and let it cure for a while. 

Do you know what type of corals you are interested in?  You didn't mention what type of lighting you are going to use.  That can impact the types of corals you can keep.

As for the nudis and pumps... get smarter nudis!!!    I had some lettuce leaf nudis did great until they got eaten!  They never had a problem with the pumps.  Not sure what can be done to protect them from the pumps other than an overflow box and no power heads in the tank.

[Stan]

Welcome to MRK, feel free to ask questions in forum or just hang out in chat.......Stan

[oldsaint]

Welcome to MRK!!! Looking forward to those pics. 

[gerryo]

Hi QueenI3itch, and  welcome to MRK.
This is a great place to be.  All moderators are very helpful, and all members help in any way they can.  Been very helpful to me.
Just a word of warning about the 14g tank. Everyone who starts a sw tank very soon wishes they had gone bigger !!!  This is a given. 

USE THE 29G.  It won't cost very much more to set up and you will be happier in the long run.  All equipment is practically the same and it is easier to add a sump with a small section for a fuge.  More water means more stability. 

Good luck, and again  welcome !!

[CoralConnection]

Hi,

Thought I would tackle the Nudibranch Question.   If you cut a aquarium filter sponge to fit in the first compartment of the nano cube, so that it fits snug against wall of the overflow yet still allows water to flow through.  Then the smaller cells of the sponge decrease the water flow through areas to a size that will keep the nudi's in the tank and out of the filtration.   You must periodically clean the sponge to keep the water flow  optimal.

James Coral Connection

Also,  for the health of the nudi's you must research the varieties you wish to keep and the foods that will keep each happy.  Their diets vary greatly.

[QueenI3itch]

  Well the 14 got cracked when a friend tried to drill it. Guess that's what I get for having an inexperienced person do it. I was worried about doing it anyway. 
  I set up the 29, ordering the hood for it next pay. Scrubbed the hell out of the rocks, and only found 1 small spider surprisingly, but a couple cobwebs. Other then that they look pretty good.
  I'm gonna use the 29 to cure the rocks. And once their set up, I'm gonna look into a complete set up 40-60 gal with stand. Gonna search through the Xmas season and watch for some deals. Gonna try and keep as close contact with you guys as possible. To ask questions like it its actually worth the price, cause again I'm absolutely clueless.
  Getting ready to upload some photos. Yea I know my picture taking skills suck. I have Pictures of the rocks after I scrubbed them and let them dry. Then the canister filter I had with an old tank, from years ago, loved that thing, worked better then my fluval I thought. And then Views of the tank with rocks in it.
  I still need to pick up new powerheads. Found some of my old ones that were great, but the  metal plug in things were covered in erosion from the saltwater and sitting the the rubbermaid container for years. So I'm Gonna look into some of the ones I see in the photos on this site. I like the ones that stick right to the glass inside. Thought I seen one that looked like it had a magnet on outside of tank holding it up.
  Gonna see if I can have someone look into a lighting fixture for it, but prob gonna order the hood just in case anyway. The lighting in it have odd sizes so they have to be special ordered or I have to drive into Pitt to see if Elmer's carries them still in there.  I want to order the norm full Hood for it again, but seen a few tanks on the site, that had top open and lighting hanging down for it. boy they look nice. I don't know anything about electronics, and my Fiance/Husband <together for 11 yrs> doesn't either. I don't know I'm so confused still, but  DETERMINED! OMG I feel like a little kid in a toy store, and having the choice of any toy in it, but wanting to pick the right TOY!

  OK now to figure out how to post the photos. God its so much fun being a newb. 
 

[michael]

firstly dont leave the site whilst waiting to get your new tank, keep involved and please ask as many questions as you like, you will always get a reply thats guarenteed,i applaud you for considering a 40-60 gallon, well done, i think you have made the right decision,theres litrally dozens of powerheads available, let me know your budget and i will give you my opinion on a type and size.

[QueenI3itch]

  Very Curious about the ones that look like their are magnets holding them on the side of the tank. One thing that drives me nuts is the plastic/rubber suction cups getting eaten up so fast in saltwater.
  I'm curious if it matters where they are? Meaning 3 on top in the back med on sides small middle? Or if I can even put some small ones behind the rocks so as to keep some sort of a water fow back there, so no food build up or dead spot. Gonna look into it some more.
  We have a tight budget. Mainly cause x-mas right around the corner, and we now have 20 ppl to buy for on both sides of the family. Lots and lots and lots of kids. Anyway, I want good quality equipment, but don't want to blow boatloads of money just to get what I could get with quality low priced stuff. My honey calls me his Bargain Babe.

[QueenI3itch]

Just read the reply for the Nudia Branch question, from CoralConnection. Thanks so much. I thought they would still crawl up over the sponges, like normal snails in a shell do.