It's funny, I've been researching this salt water thing for about a year (Notice my join date is July 2006) and I felt very confident that I knew exactly what to do, but yet when I'm actually setting up a tank, I still feel a lot of uncertainty.
Well, there is definately hair algae in my tank. I think there are diatoms also, judging by the brown dusty gunk on my rocks and sand. Is it possible that it only took a week to cycle my tank? (I did use pre-cured live rock and live sand)
I have 7 gallons of water made and ready to go for a 50% water change.
Recent H2O Param's:
NH4 0.2 NO2 0 NO3 10 PO4 4 (No results yet from the phosban)
Interesting that there is still detectable Ammonia, but no Nitrites.
I'm hoping to do my first H2O change this weekend, then will get a clean-up crew sometime next week. (assuming NH4 & NO2 are 0)
Does 10 snails and 5 crabs sound about right for my 14 gallon tank?
not so sure on tha BA carmie. the dome tops just dont look normal for bubbles. i expanded the pic, there is one black dome, however unless they are newly formed it looks more like a squirt collony
First off, Veriann...I think you're right about the Green bubbly thing being a sea squirt colony. I'll watch and post pictures if anything changes.
I've just been letting my new gastropod and crustacean pets tool around thier new home while everything stabilizes further.
Water parameters are about the same. NH3 & NO2 are zero, NO3 is 10. PO4 unfortunately is still high. It went down to 2 after the first water change, then right back up to 4. My LFS guy is trying to reassure me that all is well. Despite this, I bought a Salifert PO4 test kit to re-check.
Tap 4
R.O. 0 RO/DI 0
14g Biocube 4
30 g Cichlid tank 4 (Just started using RO/DI for watyer changes a few weeks ago)
Just for good measure, I put another bag of phosban in the back area of my cube.
Also, I realized that I need more flow in my tank to keeep corals. After posting and reading replies, I ultimately ended up replacing the stock pump in the return area (137 GPH) with a Maxi-Jet 1200 (295 GPH).
The flow is up, but unfortunatly, so is my temp (82 --> 84!). I may replace the Maxijet 1200 w/ a 900.
No fish or corals yet. Waiting patiently until I get this all straightened out.
The whole increased flow thing is a bust for now. The temp almost hit 85 w/ the MaxiJet 1200...So I replaced it with the stock pump. Already down to 82 in just 3 hours.
Also, My aquascaping was very unstable, and needed re-doing. So i actually took all the rocks out and started from scratch. After laying them all neatly on a towel, I was horrified to see my little peppermint shrimp flopping around on the floor. I scooped him up quickly and plopped him right back into the tank. No harm, no foul (I hope)
As you can imagine, this process kicked up all kinds of crap into the water column. I took this oppurtunity to do an extra water change.
I'm happier with the new aquascape. It's more stable, and has lots of places to put all kinds of cool stuff. Here's a quick pic: 0611072234.jpg
"Human subtelty will never devise an invention more beautiful,
more simple or more direct than does nature"
- Leonardo Da Vinci
"I am made of the dust of the stars, and the oceans flow in my veins"
-Neil Peart
"The strenuous and dogmatic are the moral enemy of the good. They demand that we believe the impossible and practice the unfeasible" - Christopher Hitchens
James, I am not a nano person but I know that heat is one of the problems with the all-in-ones. Is there a way you can open the canopy to allow better airflow?
The new aquascape looks nice. And, your shrimp will probably be just fine.
I think you can do some things to increase ventilation..but I've also seen some successful tanks on nano-reef.com just using the stock pump. I'm not brave enough at this point to drill holes in my tank...
I posted a question about getting a true vs. a false perc here if anyone has an opinion.
Also, same ? on reef central...(for my own reference, and anyone else who's interested...here
"Human subtelty will never devise an invention more beautiful,
more simple or more direct than does nature"
- Leonardo Da Vinci
"I am made of the dust of the stars, and the oceans flow in my veins"
-Neil Peart
"The strenuous and dogmatic are the moral enemy of the good. They demand that we believe the impossible and practice the unfeasible" - Christopher Hitchens
bannanajam, leaps & bounds my friend....i can almost feel your excitement from down here!
if you find you need more flow still, think about a small closed system of pvc thats surrounds your tank parimeter @ the top. Even a powerhead can feed to sucker.
"Human subtelty will never devise an invention more beautiful,
more simple or more direct than does nature"
- Leonardo Da Vinci
"I am made of the dust of the stars, and the oceans flow in my veins"
-Neil Peart
"The strenuous and dogmatic are the moral enemy of the good. They demand that we believe the impossible and practice the unfeasible" - Christopher Hitchens
Nice tank, i really like the blue lighting. I think i am gonna get some of the moonlight lighting lights maby for my tank. Grats on gettin a fan worm already, let me know if you get too many, and if any are on a piece of rock or in the sand that could be picked up and shipped..i'd buy =p
icon under their name to add to their reputation. 
V-series Productions 
to see my little peppermint shrimp flopping around on the floor. I scooped him up quickly and plopped him right back into the tank. No harm, no foul (I hope)
Myself, I have a maroon clown which would be too big for your nano.
