# 34 gallon saltwater



## O.C.D Fishies Bank (Jun 28, 2010)

Hey Everybody!

Thanks to certain individuals that pushed me to get one (cough cough Seahorse_Fanatic and O.C.D Fishies!!!!!), I have decided to start a saltwater. It has a Current USA 150 Watt metal halide, Euro-Reef Nano Solana, and a Hydor Koralia 2. Slowly but surely, the system will get set up. I will try and take photos and make updates throughout the process.

I would like to say many thanks to Seahorse_Fanatic for all the helpful information, time, and of course all the stuff to get me started!!!

This is going to be quite a journey.

George.


----------



## O.C.D Fishies (Apr 21, 2010)

Looks awesome especially in my house. lol By the way I see Mr. Nico Pico trying to sleep through that bright light.


----------



## rescuepenguin (Apr 21, 2010)

Looks like you are starting off on the right foot, Welcome to BCAquaria.
LOL I figured that was O.C.D.'s Ferret

Steve


----------



## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

O.C.D Fishies said:


> Looks awesome especially in my house. lol By the way I see Mr. Nico Pico trying to sleep through that bright light.


And i think i c babys butt on the couch lol Finally the tank is home wooohhhoooo for Jorge lol


----------



## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

You're welcome (cough, cough).

If you remember correctly, she contacted me about going salty first I just happened to have a system that I picked up for my friend who then changed his mind. 

With this system, you should be able to get your feet "wet" on the dark side of the addiction. Just remember, set aside a monthly budget and try to stick with it. I've never been able to, but I know you can

Anthony


----------



## O.C.D Fishies (Apr 21, 2010)

Hey guys thought I would up-date this thread. Tank is finished cycling, just trying to decide on what to put in it first. I want Corals but George wants a creature of some sort. Maybe we better just get 2 Nemos first lol. Have a few algae issues right now the one on the sand and some green bubble algae, anyone know what works to get rid of this stuff? Here is the tank


----------



## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

A small clean up crew will do the job. 

A couple of different types of snails, couple of blue legged or red legged hermits will help, maybe a conch for the sandbed.


----------



## O.C.D Fishies (Apr 21, 2010)

GRRRRRRRRRR This skimmer drives us crazy getting it to the right hight, but then with 2 or 3 liters evaporation a day it is messed again. Almost flooded the dining area today. Will an auto top off help with keeping the water level and keep the skimmer going good, so it doesn't need to be adjusted every few hours?


----------



## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Yes, an auto-topoff would. I'm surprised you have this much evaporation with a full glass lid on. My wife's cube evaporates very, very little.


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

That's a pretty cool little tank. Maybe some day I can turn my 100 gallon cube into a mini-reef.


----------



## O.C.D Fishies (Apr 21, 2010)

Well thanks to the guys at J & L we have put in a clean up crew. 3 blue legged hermits, they are so teny tiny. 2 margarita snails, they do an awesome job on the glass. 2 Cerith Snail, they seem to hang on the rocks. George also bough a new light bulb, hopefully this is going to help with the algae problem. Still having troubles with the stupid skimmer. I may throw the stupid thing out the window but we will see. Sorry guys no pics as they are eny tiny and my camera sucks.


----------



## O.C.D Fishies (Apr 21, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> That's a pretty cool little tank. Maybe some day I can turn my 100 gallon cube into a mini-reef.


Ummmm Gary I am not so sure that 100 gallons is considered a mini reef. lol. It has been fun and nothing like seeing all the creatures come out of the live rock, as well as all the million bristle worms we have lol.


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

It is compared to Anthony's 210.


----------



## Timbits (Nov 15, 2010)

lookin' good so far! keep us updated


----------



## O.C.D Fishies (Apr 21, 2010)

Well thought it is about time for an update since it has been over a year. Just pics for now though as I am lazy ;P


----------



## Tazzy_toon (Jul 25, 2011)

Looking good.


----------



## O.C.D Fishies (Apr 21, 2010)

Since I have not been on here for a long time, I thought I would update this thread 
The salty has been giving us a lot of grief for about 6 months. Since then we have lost 
all the bristle worms, brittle stars, hermit crabs, snails, blue clove corals, waving hand 
corals, and other soft corals. The phosphates are on the high side and the tank is covered 
in algae. Tried weekly water changes, nothing. Then tried phosphate remover, nothing. Bought 
a new light bulb (Giesman cause Stu swears by them), then a new light, nothing. Got 2 new 
power-heads to have on each side of the tank, still nothing. About 2 weeks ago we manually removed most of the green algae and now its back. Just about ready 
to get rid of it. Here are some pics.


----------



## mcc21 (Oct 24, 2011)

wow! sorry to hear that !!

how are your parameters? Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Have you tested your water for phosphate as well? the problem with nano tanks are that a lot of people don't keep up with their water changes and over feeding leading to lots of waste in the tank and phosphates. Also because nano tanks are too small for algae eating fishes such as angels or tangs.

as for your green hair algae. I would make sure you water paramaters are all 0. Then buy a bunch of hermits and snails. Turn off the lights for a few weeks, keep on running phosphate reactor/remover. Let the clean up crew do its job, and absolute zero lights to starve the algae. Even put a blanket/cloak over the tank from any unwanted light.

It looks like you got a bad case of Cyano as well. Try using this Boyd Chemi-Clean - 2 Gram (Treats 300 Gallons) my friend used it with great results. Its reef safe.

I know your mushrooms might die through out this process, maybe re locate them to a LFS or a friend's tank.

Good luck!


----------



## JTang (Apr 21, 2010)

Sorry to hear about the bad news! That sucks!

I love nano tanks but after 6 years of fish keeping, I still don't have the guts to set up one (FW or SW). Due to the small volumn of water, even little changes can make a big impact on water parameters. It's extremely challenging n should only be attempted by experienced hobbyists... so you shouldn't feel so bad about it. 

You have done well keeping it alive for so long!


----------



## O.C.D Fishies (Apr 21, 2010)

So I am thinking we might just have to splurge and get an RO/DI unit as we have had high phosphates for the entirety of the tank. They maybe in the tap water, even though Dave says no. This would explain why when we were doing weekly water changes for 2 months it did nothing to correct the problem. I am hesitant to add a clean up crew as they just seem to die on me and I'm not a fan of killing them even if it is only a crab or snail. 
How often do you guys/gals feed your fish? All we have is 2 clowns in there right now. I have read that feeding frozen food is less likely to cause phosphates and nitrates in the tank as well. 
I didn't realize that the red stuff is actually cyano, we have had that the whole time we've had the tank. I forgot the name of the stuff we are using to get rid of the phosphates but it is a red grainy stuff that dies the water. 
The quest for a beautiful tank continues, to bad I love Marley and Skittles to much to give up on it. 
Thanks for your guys help.


----------



## AdobeOtoCat (Dec 10, 2011)

Nanos w.o rodi is pretty scary my friend. Some pellet foods are usually loaded with phosphates. Shouldnt be too detrimental to your tank though. Feed as much as they can eat within a time period. Not just chucking food in. Sometimes my fish dont feel like eating a lot and just chill. Watch their behaviour when youre feeding because a healthy fish is a pig.
I think you should take out your fish and give your tank a good cleaning. Let it cycle alone on the nitrates and phosphates.
Since you have two fish. They can easily be qted in a ten gal. Theyre easy to get and at a good price too. With the tank fallow you will be controlling how much goes in and out. Without the unknown factor of fish contributions and the food. 
Clean up your sand bed. If your crews are dying on the spot then they mustve left some bad stuff behind that will screw up your tank paras. 
Cyano in a salt is scary. I had the same but they starved out when i added bio pellets. I knew i had a huge bioload coming from my dying ccrews. They got murdered by reef dip...thats another story haha.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE


----------



## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

J has it right there for sure Nano tanks are waaaaaay harder to keep. I assume your runnung GFO(granular ferric oxide) for phosphate remover? how much did you use and what did you run it in? In a tank your size you should be doing a minimum 10% water change EVERY week all filters and reactors need to be cleaned regularly aswell and gravel vaccumed. Try doing everything I mentioned aswell as running gfo and carbon and I guarantee your algae will clear up within 2 weeks aswell as your cyano.You can also try feeding your fish every other day...they should be kept hungry so they feed more efficiently when you do feed.

P.S I doubt tap water is the problem but using rodi will help



JTang said:


> Sorry to hear about the bad news! That sucks!
> 
> I love nano tanks but after 6 years of fish keeping, I still don't have the guts to set up one (FW or SW). Due to the small volumn of water, even little changes can make a big impact on water parameters. It's extremely challenging n should only be attempted by experienced hobbyists... so you shouldn't feel so bad about it.
> 
> You have done well keeping it alive for so long!


----------

