24g Aquapod Build

Hey Guys,

Just bought a 24g aquapod and a 20g standard saltwater tank off of Craigslist. The guy sold me the whole set-up, including a ocellaris ,cleaner shrimp and a handful of hermit crabs.

I bought all new argonite live sand and took the live rock from the other tank. He had about 35lbs in his 20g, so I took a bunch of the rubble and put it in the back of my aquapod to help with filtration.

The beauty of it is that I haven't had any issues with water quality, since I transferred almost all of the contents to the new tank (knock on wood) and have actually added another tiny ocellaris to the mix.

I have heard a lot of stories about having clowns that fight to establish dominance, but I think that since the one is so much larger, they don't need to bother- it was predetermined for them ;D. Now they actually swim around together and will nestle up against the hair algae at night.

The tank also came with a dual 65W (one 10K bulb, one actinic) compact fluorescent light, which I have been thrilled with, since it has adjustable legs, I was able to fit it to the aquapod! I know it is a little big, but I don't mind that much.

I will be adding a few emerald crabs to help eliminate the hair algae, but I want to wait until I'm ready to add some soft corals, so that the tank doesn't look so plain.

Well, that pretty much sums up my first saltwater build. Spent about $200 on the entire thing and can now see that I will be upgrading before I know it.

 

Welcome to the Aqua pod group like myself and a few other's there are a few more on this cite.. Love the rock structure very neat.!! Now for a little help with the hair algae.. See just how old the bulbs are and if there old well time to replace.. you will get a cycle with the new sand if i remeber correct so watch for chem level's to go goofy.. and even a new algae bloom.. to help knock the algae down you can do a water change save the old water in a bucket and take the hair algae rocks out one at a time and scub the hair algae off in the old water bucket then return clean'd off rock back.. then of course top off tank with fresh salt water..

I am sure there will be many hands helping you on the thread these's are my silly $.02

All in all great start up and am looking forward to watching it grow..!!

Best of luck...

 

1 month update

Well, my 24g Aquapod has been up and running for about a month now (in my house) and all seems to be going pretty well.

I figured I should probably list what I currently have running in my set-up:

• 24g aquapod
• Stock return pump
• 100w Heater
• Current USA 24" Orbit Dual 65W
  • 65W Dual Actinic bulb
  • 65W 10K bulb
  • 2 white LED moonlights
• Filtration
  • 1st chamber- foam filter media
  • 2nd chamber- bio balls and 10lbs LR rubble
• MaxiJet 400 wavemaker (added 1 week ago)

I just cut down my main lights from 12 hours to 10. Currently running the 10K, Actinics, and wavemaker from 9am to 7pm

Livestock Additions since last post:

• Peppermint Shrimp
• 6 Blue Leg Hermits
• 3 Nassarius Snails
• 4 Nerite Snails
• 2 Astrea Snails
• Yellow Watchman Goby

Coral Additions since last post (shown in pic):

1. Blue Zoas
2. Yellow Finger Leather
3. Pulsing Xenia
4. Devil's Armor Zoas
5. Green Hairy Mushroom (seems to be splitting, but looks very strange- will post a separate thread with pics when I get home)

I am still battling the hair algae on an almost daily basis and have been killing aipstasias left and right, but I seem to be making progress. I took the rocks out about a two weeks ago and scrubbed them with a stiff brush. Phosphates are at .25/ Nitrates at 5-10. I will be doing another 5 gallon RO/DI water change tonight to continue removing the old tap water from the previous owner.

One thing I would like some help on is where to go next in terms of equipment. I just got a $100 Amazon gift card and am debating what else I should be running. I was thinking about a protein skimmer, but eventually I want to move to a 55g and am worried that a nano skimmer will go to waste when I upgrade. Thoughts?

 

I like it!