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Nano's are harder than I thought

ThatGuy

ThatGuy

So I've had this nano running for alittle over 2 weeks now and I'm already starting to pull my hair out. I started with just 2 rocks and it was suggested that I should get more for the bacteria to grow on and I was like "Na, I got this". Needless to say I should have added more rock. Water kept clouding up and I kept having ammonia show up. So about 4 days ago I put some more rock in(Fill the back wall). Now my parameters are good but the water keeps clouding up and I cant keep any snails alive at all. I tried the first 3 out of my display and they died almost imediatly, so I chocked that up to the ammonia. Now that my parameters are stable I added 4 more nassarius snails and they only lasted 2 days before they died.(Now I'm Pissed) So today I go and look at Alivia's tank and there is 2 dead sexy shrimp. :mad: Not eaten or anything just dead in laying in the sand. The only things I have kept alive in this tank is 3 fish, and one of them refuses to eat(yellow clown goby), 1 sexy shrimp thats left, and a tuxedo urchin. I just can't figure it out. So what I've done is the past 2 days. I've taken about 4 gallons out and replaced them with water from my display. As of now everything is still alive but I feel like one day I'm going to go look at the tank and its going to just be full of death. Any suggestions or idea's would be great.

On a side note when adding the new rock I seen bristle worms come out of the rocks and just ball up befor dieing. Craziest thing I've ever seen.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Nanos are harder to keep then larger tanks because your margin for error is razor thin. Any ammonia, I mean any at all is going to be deadly in that small a tank. You added more liverock which is good but your tank continues to cycle because you have to give it time or add an insta cycle product but that may not be enough at this point. Good news with a nano is that large water changes are easy and quick to do so you can start there. Inverts are especially sensitive to ammonia hence the dead shrimp. Slow down, pull all the live stock and start over with your cycle. Let the tank fully cycle and settle before you add more. The problem is cycles cause cycles because the high ammonia is going to kill things which adds more ammonia and boom another cycle which kills more things.
 
ThatGuy

ThatGuy

mnat said:
Nanos are harder to keep then larger tanks because your margin for error is razor thin. Any ammonia, I mean any at all is going to be deadly in that small a tank. You added more liverock which is good but your tank continues to cycle because you have to give it time or add an insta cycle product but that may not be enough at this point. Good news with a nano is that large water changes are easy and quick to do so you can start there. Inverts are especially sensitive to ammonia hence the dead shrimp. Slow down, pull all the live stock and start over with your cycle. Let the tank fully cycle and settle before you add more. The problem is cycles cause cycles because the high ammonia is going to kill things which adds more ammonia and boom another cycle which kills more things.
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So whats the good news LOL...So if I pull everything and just give it a month or so I can start again?
 
A

albie611

^ +1...... you have to go very,very,very slow with the nanos.....do 2 or 3 ...50% Water changes a few days apart and then let the tank cycle with just the rock until Amonia ,nitrate , nitrite are all zero then add your CUC...


good luck.........al
 
ThatGuy

ThatGuy

So I pulled everything except the Emerald Crab I forgot about, because its been in there since the word go and my daughter caught me pulling everything out of her tank and started to get teary eyed so I told her I'd leave her the crab. Also to calm her down even more I grabbed about 10 astrea stars out of my display and put them in there for her as well. LOL. Never seen anyone get so excited over astrea stars. But I guess to a 3yr old its a bunch of baby starfish.
 
jimroth

jimroth

I love my pistol shrimp-and-gobies nano but I was alarmed at how carefully I need to feed it. A few days of careless feeding brings on the red cyano. My method now is to try to feed the animals almost individually with a plastic tube or small turkey-baster type device, with the circulation pump turned off. Nassarius snails are a good fit for my tank because they hunt down uneaten food pellets. I think I'm lucky that the critters I chose for the tank are pretty tough. I'm a little surprised the pom-pom crab is still making it, but it's doing great.
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

That clouding over in the water column is also probably a result of a cycle that keeps getting interrupted. The clouding is most likely a bacterial bloom as a result of the nitrogen cycle.

I'd definitely pull the livestock, do a few good sized water changes, and then just wait it out. When the "cloud" comes, let it settle on its own. Unfortunately, there really isn't a specific time frame you can give it, like any tank, you just need to monitor your parameters. Once ammonia and nitrite are gone, and only nitrate remains, start with regular water changes. Like 10% weekly.

And in a 10 gallon, I would definitely keep the bio load very very low. That volume of water can't handle the normal percentage of bioload to water that we would normally add in say, 90 gallons.
 
ThatGuy

ThatGuy

mfisher2112 said:
That clouding over in the water column is also probably a result of a cycle that keeps getting interrupted. The clouding is most likely a bacterial bloom as a result of the nitrogen cycle.

I'd definitely pull the livestock, do a few good sized water changes, and then just wait it out. When the "cloud" comes, let it settle on its own. Unfortunately, there really isn't a specific time frame you can give it, like any tank, you just need to monitor your parameters. Once ammonia and nitrite are gone, and only nitrate remains, start with regular water changes. Like 10% weekly.

And in a 10 gallon, I would definitely keep the bio load very very low. That volume of water can't handle the normal percentage of bioload to water that we would normally add in say, 90 gallons.
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Whats weird is the nitrites have been 0 since I started it with pretty much used everything. Water out of the display rocks out of the display, only new thing was 1/2 the rock way base rock and the sand was new. The only thing I see is ammonia.

So I should pretty much just leave it alone. Just let it run. Should I continue with small water changes or just leave it until it levels out?
 
NikkiT

NikkiT

The nitrites are 0 because your cycle has not reached that point yet. The ammonia has to be broken down before you can have nitrites. Get yourself a cheap ammonia badge, and pop it in the tank.
New tank + insufficient live rock + no skimmer to pull the poop out of the water= not enough bacteria to break down the ammonia. You need to give the bacteria time to colonize the rock and sand if you want this nano to work. I don't mean to be harsh, but nano reefing is a whole different ball game.

I actually wouldn't do the big water change, at the moment, all that nasty ammonia is providing a food source for your bacteria. I would do 10% a week for three weeks or so, then start slowly adding livestock. You have unintentionally done an old school 1980s cycle, you might as well let it run it's course IMHO. It will work, it is just slow and messy.

When you jump back in, add one animal at a time. Start with a hermit or two, if that goes ok, add a fish. If that goes ok, add some snails. Add animals at least a week apart.
 
ThatGuy

ThatGuy

NikkiT said:
The nitrites are 0 because your cycle has not reached that point yet. The ammonia has to be broken down before you can have nitrites. Get yourself a cheap ammonia badge, and pop it in the tank.
New tank + insufficient live rock + no skimmer to pull the poop out of the water= not enough bacteria to break down the ammonia. You need to give the bacteria time to colonize the rock and sand if you want this nano to work. I don't mean to be harsh, but nano reefing is a whole different ball game.

I actually wouldn't do the big water change, at the moment, all that nasty ammonia is providing a food source for your bacteria. I would do 10% a week for three weeks or so, then start slowly adding livestock. You have unintentionally done an old school 1980s cycle, you might as well let it run it's course IMHO. It will work, it is just slow and messy.

When you jump back in, add one animal at a time. Start with a hermit or two, if that goes ok, add a fish. If that goes ok, add some snails. Add animals at least a week apart.
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I figured since it was mainly LR and LR rubble in the filter it would be good enough ontop of 50% of the water being strait out of the DT. Hopefully its not a long cycle as Alivia is not to thrilled about having a desilate tank.
 
T

Tri0 #3

In my daughters tank I let it cycle for about a month and a half before I added anything in. I have about 10 lbs of good porous rock in a 6 gal tank.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

go slow...no need to rush. I ran a nano for a good month empty before putting anything in. Your best friend is the $5 or so cheapo ammonia badge. Get it, stick it on and watch that thing.

Nothing good in this hobby happens fast....someone has that on their signature i forget who.
 
Coolaid

Coolaid

Been at my nano for about 6 months or so now, and I spend more time on that tank then I EVER had with any other tank.. Constantly fussing with it, cleaning, checking levels, inspecting for pests, checking fish for any illness that may spread like wildfire through the tank.. I keep trying to tell my wife that the 90 gallon tank while bigger would be much less "work" but she doesn't seem to grasp the bigger is "easier" rule. I do enjoy the nano though, and I don't mind the work that is included. I think it will make me a much better hobbiest when I finally get the 90 out of the garage.
 
ThatGuy

ThatGuy

Coolaid said:
Been at my nano for about 6 months or so now, and I spend more time on that tank then I EVER had with any other tank.. Constantly fussing with it, cleaning, checking levels, inspecting for pests, checking fish for any illness that may spread like wildfire through the tank.. I keep trying to tell my wife that the 90 gallon tank while bigger would be much less "work" but she doesn't seem to grasp the bigger is "easier" rule. I do enjoy the nano though, and I don't mind the work that is included. I think it will make me a much better hobbiest when I finally get the 90 out of the garage.
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I know all to well. I miss my 135 gal. :(
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

How you making out Josh?

Whenever ur ready, I'll make sure your little one gets some more "nano frags" for her tank!

Sent from my BlackBerry 8530 using Tapatalk
 
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