Alchemic Reef

[Alchemic]

Hi everyone. I had started a thread in the New To Reefkeeping section called Starting Soon. I'm starting this new thread since I have now started, getting water tests and hopefully a cuc soon. To update anyone that hasn't followed along thus far here is a list of what I have livestock and equipment:


Equipment

• 12 gallon CAD Lights tank
• 2 LED light fixtures at 6.2W each (145 PAR at 4", 72 PAR at middle, and 50 PAR at bottom of the tank)
• R2 Solutions Extreme LED Moonlight
• 250GPH Return pump (came with tank)
• Eheim Jager TruTemp 75W Heater
• Ecotech MP10 Powerhead (cost more than the tank and lights combined )

Livestock

All of these came with the live rock that I bought from IPisces (thank you again)
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• ~A dozen mini brittle stars
• A couple bristle worms
• 2 small Blue Xenia

Planned Livestock
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• Various softies and lps corals
• Flower Anemone
• Sexy Shrimp or Anemone Crab
• Harlequin Shrimp
• Boxer/Pom Pom Crab
• One or two fish (Undecided atm but will want something uncommon for sure)

I currently have brown diatom spreading throughout the tank. Took some water to BRA to see if I could get a cuc yet but looks like I need to wait at least another week.

First water test results

• PH - 8.1
• Ammonia - 0
• Nitrate - 1
• Nitrite - .5
• Phosphate 0
• Salinity 1.025

That's about it so far. Will take the water in to get tested again next weekend and hope to be able to get some various hermit crabs and snails.




Pics so far (before diatom)

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[senji]

u need to get ur own test kits. and u are neering the end of the cycle. what are ur plans for nitrate removal?

 

[Alchemic]

I will get my own kits eventually but its $128 for the Elos test kits just for what they tested. So I plan to wait a little bit on them.

As for the nitrate, I was under the impression that 1 and below was fine so haven't researched ways to reduce it yet.

 

[senji]

u still have nitrite which is converted to nitrate and when u add livestock the waste is turned into nitrate by the bacteria ur establishing right now. some people do water changes which i belive is just diluteing the problem. and gets costly on salt. i only dose and add ato water and blow off rocks 1ce a week to get detrius into the sump which is filtered skimmeds and used by algea in the refugium then is further scrubbed by bio pellots to remove the rest of the nitrates then put throgh the uv sterilzer then back to return to tank. i also have a reena filstar 4 stage canister filter which all particles are removed and pollished with carbon.

 

[Alchemic]

I dont have a sump and will be doing water changes. I have room for a refugium in one of the back chambers which I will put some cheato into.

 

[senji]

be careful with cheato if it dont recieve enough light it will break up and cause quite the mess thats why i use flame algea and sea lettuce

 

[Alchemic]

I was planning on getting a dedicated light such as the JBJ Refugium Light but if it would be better to go with flame algea and sea lettuce I will strongly consider those.

 

[senji]

i dont know which algea is best but flame is cool lookin and even keep some in the display. my fish love nipping at it and adds a brilliant red to the tank.

 

[pandora32]

Cheato works real good. But just make sure it gets some light. I wouldnt say you need the jbj unit, a clip on light from the hardware store and a regular house bulb would work just as good.

 

[Alchemic]

Cheato works real good. But just make sure it gets some light. I wouldnt say you need the jbj unit, a clip on light from the hardware store and a regular house bulb would work just as good.

Yeah, that is what I will be going with in my fuge. Aesthetics means a lot to me so it will be the jbj one for me. =)


Got my water tested again...

• PH - 8.2
• Ammonia - 0
• Nitrate - 0
• Nitrite - 0
• Phosphate 0
• Salinity 1.025

Added some cuc - 2 scarlet/2blue legged hermits, 3 trochus/2astraea snails. Thinking about getting a couple bumble bee snails for the sand since none of my snails or hermits are cleaning it.

 

[Alchemic]

Hmm, I have found a couple of dead scarlet hermits without their shells but all of mine are still accounted for...seems odd since I have no idea where they would have come from.

 

[Alchemic]

Disregard that last post. They molted...yes I feel silly, lol.

 

[IPisces]

They do that to all of us at one time or another! LOL!

 

[Alchemic]

ID help please - Woke up to find this guy on my glass, "he" isnt moving and as far as I can tell there aren't any others. Also sorry I can't get a clear pic with my phone...it only wants to focus the background.

 

[IPisces]

Take it out and set it on the counter and get a pic of it. It wont hurt it to be out of water for a little while.
does it have a shell?

 

[Alchemic]

Had to run an errand and it was gone when I came back. It didn't have a shell...was oval and somewhat transparent.

Next time I'll take it out and take a better pic.

 

[Alchemic]

As an update everything seems to be going very well and even got a pair of Pom Pom Crabs...they are so cute. They are shy since they are new to the tank but hope they become comfortable to come out more often. Funny, I didn't realize how many hiding places are in my tank until I try to look for them, lol.

The female has eggs attached but doubt any will survive. Got to see her defend some food by giving a hermit a little beat down -- was quite entertaining!

 

[Alchemic]

When I order my tank I had also paid for a skimmer that Cadlights was selling. To my surprise it wasn't included in the box with the tank and after a call and few emails they informed me they were on backorder. After more than a month they have finally shipped it as of yesterday.

So my questions is this...I was hoping to do a refugium in the center chamber but where would I place the skimmer? First chamber (right side) is mechanical filters, center is empty and left has the return pump and heater.

In the first chamber there is a small piece of acrylic that juts out a little to support what I assume is egg crate to keep my PURA filtration pad. Below that is a bag of Chemi Pure Elite. Due to the acrylic to support the crate I can't foresee the skimmer fitting there.

The center chamber is obviously designed for a refugium with it not having any covering to allow for light. Can I place both a refugium and skimmer in there? I think not...

Just as an fyi my 2 lights clip on the back which won't allow a hob refugium.

So to sum up my questions is can I have both a skimmer and refugium in this tank, where should they be placed and if I can't have both then which is better? Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.



Generic picture of the back of my tank (not really mine but same design)


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[Alchemic]

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[IPisces]

Well I am running a 3 gal without a skimmer. I have cheato in one of the compartments in back. I was doing weekly 30% water changes. I have some hair algae growing recently so I have started doing it twice a week.
So it could be done without a skimmer. Your bioload will determin how often you will need to do a water change and how much water you will need to change out.
I think you could do it without a refugium too. I think you could get by with smaller water changed on a weekly basis if you were running a skimmer. You can get macro such as mangroves that will help with nitrates. You can put them in the back section in the first compartment and the skimmer in the second, if thats where it will fit.

Just some thoughts