15g Nano

[slicktoppomp]

After almost 6 months I'm about to have salty fingers again. After seeing some of the nano's on here and other places I couldn't resist any longer to have a tank again. I had old sand and rock laying around so I figured I was halfway there already. It's an Aqueon 15 gallon column tank. They had a sale at petsmart on these so I sold some stuff of mine and ran in and picked it up today. Good thing too cause the sale ended today.

Here are the specs:

15 Gallon roughly 13x13x25
20g hang on back filter
Single 12 inch T-5 light
Around 20lbs dead rock and 15-20lbs dead sand
Have a maxi-jet 900 strapped to a rock and hidden.

Plans for it:

Mainly zoas and maybe a few lps
Add an led strip or 2 to the canopy and swap out the current bulb
Upgrade to Aqua Clear and do a fuge mod.
Build a small stand for it.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/04/umy5ajut.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/04/zesyny9u.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/04/gajage8y.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/04/du8e9y4a.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/04/a3uzujup.jpg

[XO PRESENTS]

Nice.. can't wait to see tenants in the nano .. especially with your taste....

[slicktoppomp]

Thanks Ron. Let the cycle begin!
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/04/he4e3ydu.jpg

[leonel619]

nice start raul..

[unbereefable]

That will be just enough rock to seed your big tank. When you're ready that is :)

[slicktoppomp]

Thanks Armando! When you gonna setup another tank again?

@unbereefable
Well I don't know about that. Maybe one day way way down the line. :D

[nanoreef1]

Thats going to be a sweet tank!

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

[slicktoppomp]

Thanks man! So i was wondering is anyone could answer this question for me. How long should i expect it to take my tank to cycle? I've never started a tank with dead sand and dead rock. I've always started and tank with at least 1 of the 2 live. My ammonia has already started climbing within the last 2 days. Still haven't seen the nitrites start climbing yet.

[nanoreef1]

Thanks man! So i was wondering is anyone could answer this question for me. How long should i expect it to take my tank to cycle? I've never started a tank with dead sand and dead rock. I've always started and tank with at least 1 of the 2 live. My ammonia has already started climbing within the last 2 days. Still haven't seen the nitrites start climbing yet.

One month thats how long it took for me.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

[slicktoppomp]

One month thats how long it took for me.

Thanks for the quick reply Hector. Damn a month is way longer thank i wanted to wait. I remember a while back for one of my other tanks i added some of that "bacteria" in a bottle junk and believe it or not it actually sped up my cycle. Maybe i'll try that again. I've already waited 6 months for another tank and i don't wanna have to wait 1 more month haha. Thanks

[nanoreef1]

Thanks for the quick reply Hector. Damn a month is way longer thank i wanted to wait. I remember a while back for one of my other tanks i added some of that "bacteria" in a bottle junk and believe it or not it actually sped up my cycle. Maybe i'll try that again. I've already waited 6 months for another tank and i don't wanna have to wait 1 more month haha. Thanks

Yeah that Cycle stuff does work I used it in the past added fish right away and they did fine.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

[slicktoppomp]

So here are my current parameters for the tank. Just around 2.0-3.0 for ammonia. I'm considering just letting it do it's thing. Even if it takes a whole month to cycle I figure that will give me time to save and buy my LEDs.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/07/segaqepy.jpg

[slicktoppomp]

So I changed up my scape today. Wanted to have a little more height and a little more floor space. Pulled the powerhead off the rock cause it started sucking sand and blowing it everywhere. So I repositioned it and added a Hydor flow deflector. Still considering another powerhead. Added a heater bought from a local reefer. That's all that's new. Tank is still cycling.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/10/erajamer.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/10/9e4ameqa.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/10/susa8ehe.jpg

[fresh2120]

What r u going to pack into this thing. I might have a frag or two for u.

[jason142]

Add some Microbacter 7, I would use that vs the cycle.

[slicktoppomp]

What r u going to pack into this thing. I might have a frag or two for u.

Still saving on a light fixture for it. I just decided to go with another led panel instead of the strips I was looking at. I'll definitely be hitting you up this time for a frag or two. Planing on just sticking mainly to zoas and Palys. Maybe an lps or two.

[slicktoppomp]

Add some Microbacter 7, I would use that vs the cycle.

I actually just went out and got some of this stuff the other day. I've been following the dosing recommendation for a few days now and I'm just barely starting to see a change in my nitrites. Hopefully this is the stuff doing it. If not it sure does a great job of giving me crystal clear water.

[slicktoppomp]

Finally seeing some progress in my cycle. Hopefully it won't be to much longer. Picked up a little Aquaclear filter and I'm gonna work on the fuge mod once I figure out where or how I'm going to put light for the fuge.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/18/u3a4asyh.jpg

[slicktoppomp]

So I picked up a truelumen pro led strip and koralia nano from Esco Reef and added those to the tank. So that bumps my total turnover up to around 600gph total. I think that's good enough for my tank. Just found a way to set my led strip in my stock canopy today cause I didn't want to go topless on this tank. Went to Lowes and got a single pane of glass cut to fit inside the trim of the tank. That way I can set the strip on there with room for another and not have to worry about moisture hitting the LED. The cycle is nearing it's end. I'm hoping 1 more week and it should be done. Planning on 1 more truelumen pro led to add. New pics.

Glass panel.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/26/ahaby4a4.jpg

LED and stock white T-5 on
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/26/a2yhegyq.jpg

Just LED
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/26/ena4y5e4.jpg

[Esco reef]

Those led's are pretty sweet right !! Looking good bro

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2

[slicktoppomp]

Those led's are pretty sweet right !! Looking good bro

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2

Ya man this thing is crazy bright! Can't wait to see it make some colors pop! Thanks again for the light and powerhead.

[jschnepf]

Looks good, Raul. Missed the build till now. Let me know when you are ready to start adding some corals, I'm sure I can find something around here.

[slicktoppomp]

Looks good, Raul. Missed the build till now. Let me know when you are ready to start adding some corals, I'm sure I can find something around here.

Thanks John. I'll be hitting you up.

[fresh2120]

On snaps its coming along nicely

[slicktoppomp]

Thanks Adrian. One more LED strip and this sucker will be good to go.

[AFUreef]

Lookig good Raul. Almost there bro. Lmk when your cycles I'm sure I can hook u up w a few things

[slicktoppomp]

Thanks Victor! I'll be hitting you up for sure. Looking forward to seeing your system again.

[AFUreef]

Thanks Victor! I'll be hitting you up for sure. Looking forward to seeing your system again.
When your ready ill cut that rasta you didn't get before your last break down when you had that weird zoa problem. If your in my hood hit me up and cruise by to see the tank.

[slicktoppomp]

Nice dude. Your the man!

[slicktoppomp]

TANK IS FINALLY DONE CYCLING!!! Can't wait to have fish again!!

[leonel619]

TANK IS FINALLY DONE CYCLING!!! Can't wait to have fish again!!

Awesome! now lets see some coral!

[slicktoppomp]

Awesome! now lets see some coral!

Will do man. I'll try and snap some pics of the few corals I have tossed in already.

[fresh2120]

I can believe how quite ur tank is. My place is so load bc of my 90.
I have seen this tank in person very nice clean little set up.

[slicktoppomp]

Thanks man. I have to do is some water changes to get my nitrates back down to normal and toss in a bag of Purigen and I'll be good to go.

[slicktoppomp]

Corals! Crappy phone pics can't capture the real colors.
Acan. Really nice purple and pink colors
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/16/ejyvany8.jpg
Zoas
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/16/yzyqutet.jpg
FTS
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/16/9e3y3eju.jpg

[slicktoppomp]

Repositioned some stuff. Picked up a sand sifting star and a psychedelic goby. Hard to snap a pic of him though.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/27/yba3ajag.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/27/u8uhu4y5.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/27/ypazuvyn.jpg
The polyps on the right are Reverse Space Monsters. I really need a good camera to snap pics with. It looks like I only have blues on when in reality I also have my whites on.

[slicktoppomp]

Got a few new things. Tank is doing well. Everything is staying stable. Have my heater completely shut off right now cause of the heat. Tank is staying solid at around 76-78 and that's with my window open and my ceiling fan on. I'm doing pretty well with keeping a regular schedule on water changes. 2 gallons a week and everything is happy. Still need to buy a proper CUC.

Pink Zipper & Frogspawn
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/05/13/tu6eduqy.jpg
Random frag I think Fire & Ice maybe?
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/05/13/ava3adat.jpg
FTS
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/05/13/zabe9utu.jpg

[Robinsito]

With such a small footprint why does this tank scream reef? I saw one on a freshwater forum that someone had turned into a nano reef and decided I really liked the look and wanted to do it myself. Now being new here on SDR I see another one. Looking nice and simple! Wgat kind of lights are you running and how did you install them?

[slicktoppomp]

This tank has been taken down. At the time I was running trulummen led strips. I had gone to lowes and had them cut a glass insert for the inner rim of the tank that the strips sat on. It was a cool little tank. My issue was always flow. Either too much or too little. I couldn't ever find a medium. Plus heat kinda sucked too. I saw your starting out with the same tank. If I were you I would invest in a hang on tank refugium. GL with your tank.