While I'm waiting for pic's to upload I'd thought I'd share a pic of my skimmate :mrgreen: Not bad for a few days worth from a dinky airstone skimmer.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps48399519.jpg

So I jumped in full speed ahead (like always :redface:) and throughout the past 2 weeks I've added a few things. First I tired one of my maxi minis in the tank to see how it would do. I knew Steve from RCE was bringing more in and I wanted to make sure one did ok before adding more. Well it took forever to pry the darn thing off the rock (thought for I bit I might of killed it in my efforts to get it off) but finally it came off and I got it into the tank and it settled in just fine :biggrin: I also added a small clean up crew; 2 scarlet crabs and 3 nassarius snails.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0080.jpg

then a few days after that I added a super cool porcelain crab (unfortunately he hides a lot and I rarely see him, I'm hoping he'll eventually host in one of the maxi minis)

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0077.jpg

They're tough little buggers. I've done that a couple times and they always fully recover. Love minis :biggrin:

Nope, he'll probably never host Laurie, he's the wrong type of porcelain crab. The only ones that will host are the white porcelain anemone crabs.

Huh good to know and darn! :sad: Oh well he still looks cool, that is when I can see him and he's not hiding at the very back of the tank :lol:

What about a piece of black acrylic mounted above the overflow to block out the back of your tank and hide things? I just happen to know where you can get some :wink:

Hummmmm that's a good idea. I turned the skimmer around so the hose goes behind the tank now, and it looks way better then it did, but you can still see the skimmer. Not sure how I'd attach it but I could probably think of something....hummmmm........

I also added 2 sexy shrimp last Wed. and after months of it being missing I saw one of my maxi minis in my 230g fowlr tank. Basically 4-5 months ago my first and one of my nicer maxi minis split on it's own, and then it literally split! Both halves disappeared in the tank. I saw it once over a month ago and it was really bleached out and then after a few days it disappeared again :evil: So when I saw it this time I pried it off the rock and stuck it in my nano tank.

What it used to look like
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...0/DSC_0335.jpg

What it looks like now, the small one bottom right partly under the rock and on the sandbed with the sexy shrimp in front
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0083.jpg

Few updates, a little while ago I went to Steve's store Red Coral and 3 new maxi mini's followed me home :mrgreen:

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0091.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0097.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0094.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0090.jpg

They have moved around a bit since these pic's were taken so I'll try to get an updated pic later.

Last Sat. I finally got around to cleaning the glass for the first time with my acrylic safe small magfloat that I had hiding in a drawer. Ironically that same day Doug came home from work with a Nano mag cleaner for me :lol:

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0082.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0102.jpg

Can we get a FTS please !

I've been sick for the past few days but the plan today is to do a water change and clean my skimmer. I also go the 3 way splitter and dimmer for the extra strip of lights I want to add, now I'm just waiting for the lights to come in. My friend/co-worker (from AI, Sean) has a RBTA that he says he's had for awhile and it stays small and splits often. I'm going to hopefully buy one from him and hopefully it'll stay small in my tank. Was going to meet with him on Sat. but since I've been sick and was going to Cavalia (btw awesome show! didn't care I was sick, definitely wasn't going to miss it!) I didn't have a chance to meet with him. Also have to get the dwarf darwin clowns from Ken, but hoping to get the bta settled into the tank 1st.

I have my thanksgiving dinner today so I'm not sure I'll be able to post a pic before then. However I will try to get a fts when I lights come on and post it when I have time. I also want to move some of my other maxi mini's (2-3) from my other tank over but I'm not sure if I'll have enough room for them. For now I'm still debating it, I do want to move over my nice red one but unsure of the others. Might wait and see if my work can get any nice new ones in :mrgreen: I'm also running low on cash atm so I might just make do with the ones I've got.

FTS

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0153.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...DSC_0157-2.jpg

Changed out the heater I was using :evil: for awhile it was keeping the tank at 77-78. One morning a few days ago I checked the tank (it was colder outside that night) and the tank was at 74 :surprise: So I grabbed my 25watt marineland stealth heater and now the tank stays between 78-80. I'm hoping to replace with a better quality adjustable 25watt heater but I guess it'll do for now. I've had 2 stealth heaters fail on me, one sent electrical shocks into the water and the other exploded sending black stuff into the water. Needless to say I don't trust them anymore, unfortunately I have to wait until I get paid before I can replace it :sad: Hopefully for a few weeks I won't have any major issues with it :pray:
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0135.jpg

I added a new bubble tip anemone, hopefully I'll be getting the clowns soon, and if I'm lucky enough they'll host it :mrgreen: This bta was labeled as a rose but it looks more like a morph of some sort to me. It definitely doesn't look like the RBTA that's in my 230g tank. According to google pic's it's similar to a lemon drop or a rainbow. Not as yellow as some lemon drops look but not as pink as some rainbows look, mine is somewhat in the middle. It has a very bright green/white speckled base and a mostly orange with a slight pink hue tip.

This is the best closest to the actual colour pic I got
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...DSC_0180-2.jpg

Saw this guy on the glass the other day
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0175.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0174.jpg

Also noticed that one of the 2 sexy shrimp I had in my 34g cube was missing. Not sure why, I do have a small radiant wrasse and a gumdrop goby in there so one of them might of eaten him but I'm not 100% sure. To be on the safe side I manged to catch the remaining sexy shrimp out of the 34g cube and I added him to this tank, my 2.5g nano. He's twice the size of the other 2 sexy's in there but they seem ok with each other so far.

Nice! I think they look really cute. I'd like some, but after watching Denny's much on his zoas I'm not so sure about buying any. His stars were kind of brownish, though.

Astrina stars can be hit or miss. Basically 9 times out of 10 they leave things alone and don't do damage, however there are the odd ones that will eat coral. The ones I have are hitchhikers and I've never had any issues (that I'm aware of anyway) with them. I don't think you can buy them, as far as I know they hitchhike in off the rock. Here's a good article about them: http://www.reefkeeping.com/joomla/in...efkeeping-101-

So I'm still waiting to add a tiny clownfish, but in the meantime I thought adding a porcelain anemone crab would be a good idea. Thought it would host in one of the maxi minis but NOOOOO it went to the BTA and irritated the crap out of it :sad: So I ended up moving the crab into my 34g, were he oddly seems to enjoy hanging out on my favia coral.

Here's a pic of him when he was still in the 2.5g
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0194.jpg

pic of my scarlet crab
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0198.jpg

and I caught my nassarius snail trying to escape! A few hours after I first got them I found one of them on the computer desk, it had crawled out and was a little ways away from the tank :eek: I put him back right away and haven't had any escapees since but this looked close!
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0187.jpg

I also ended up moving my sexy shrimp from my 34g to this tank. I used to have 2 sexy shrimp in my 34g but one went MIA. I have a gumdrop goby in my 34g which could of eaten it however he's pretty small so I'm not sure if he would, but the 3 of them did hang out in the same coral together. I'm thinking it was more likely the radiant wrasse that's in the 34g, but I don't know for sure. Either way I wasn't going to take any chances with the remaining sexy shrimp so now he's safe in the 2.5g
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0204.jpg

New toys!!! Finally!!!!!!!!

So for awhile now I have been wanting to add onto my eco pico led lights. My work (AI) had the 3 way splitter that I needed and the dimmer I wanted but no extra white and blue led strips. I waited awhile for them to order some in but unfortunately they didn't have enough items to place an order with. Thankfully http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...rollsmiley.gif Grizz came to my rescue and worked it out with Martin from Modular LED and brought me the 2 extra light strips I wanted! YAY :cheer2:

New toys :mrgreen:
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0207.jpg

3 way splitter
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0213.jpg

dimmer
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0214.jpg

back of extra led strip with 2way sticky tape for easy attachment
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0210.jpg

before
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0211.jpg

after
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0212.jpg

let there be light :biggrin:
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0215.jpg

Laurie , What do you have for lighting in your fixture now. I have the same tank and was thinking of 2 blue and one white ? Did you just go with 3 mixed ??

What you see in the above pics is what I have. A total of 3 led mixed strips (white blue white) the original one it came with and the 2 I added. They are EcoPico LED Strip - 12,000K White & 453nm Blue. http://http://www.modularled.ca/ecopico-led-strip-12-000k-white-453nm-blue/

So after a month of trying to meet up with Ken for some tiny clownfish and the timing never working out I was beginning to think it was going to take forever to get a little clown for my tank. Thankfully while Doug was at work (RC) yesterday he mentioned they got tiny clownfish in :cheer2: so lucky for me he brought one home :mrgreen: thanks hunny :mrgreen: He's about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch in size, super tiny and super cute! He fits well in the tank for now (may have to re-home him later as he gets bigger) but for now I get to enjoy watching a fish in my tank. Hasn't shown interest in the bta yet but hopefully he will, althought atm the bta isn't happy (stupid crab ****ed it off) and is moving around trying to find a spot he'll be happy in. On the plus side my new clown eats .5mm pellets :biggrin:

Crappy iphone pic for now, will post better pic later after the lights are on and the glass is cleaned.
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...t/97155FDB.jpg

I forgot to mention earlier that when removing a porcelain crab from a tank full of maxi minis be careful your hand doesn't get to close! Needless to say it's been about a week and I still have a rash on my hand! Oddly enough when I put the maxi minis in that I bought from RC and when I removed the maxi minis from my 230g tank to put in this tank I never got stung.

The day after I got stung (iphone pic but you can see how red my knuckles are)
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...t/1B8E3EF2.jpg

Today (not as red but still a bumpy rash that is itchy and irritated)
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...t/EA351AC4.jpg

Ouch!! Hand looks sore, hope it's better soon! Love your little tank, looking great!

Ya it stung like an SOB for a few days, now it's just itchy and annoying. First time since I've been in this hobby that I got hurt by something in my tank.

I'm glad you like the little tank I have to say its my favourite tank to maintain :biggrin:

On a side note I was just looking at the tank and I noticed that the clownfish is just a tad bigger then my large sexy shrimp :lol:

Bit of a sad update, I checked on the tank just now and found my little clown dead :sad: He had some spots on him when I got him, so I'm not sure, but maybe that's what did him in :sad: He was eating well so I had hoped he'd pull through.

I did go into the room the tank is in earlier this morning and turned on the overhead room light. When I did that I thought I saw the clown dart to the back of the tank (thinking he's going to hide behind the rock) so at the time I just thought "oh shoot I spooked him" but now I can't help but wonder if I spooked him into one of the maxi mini's and the maxi mini stung him and killed him. My 2 scarlet crabs were eating him when I found him so it's hard to say what happened for sure.

I also noticed that even though the clownfish was very tiny the tank was a bit small for him. Not sure which direction I want to go with this tank now. Debating on selling all the nems (after a fishless QT period) and turning it into a reef tank. For now it will be fishless for awhile just in case it was a disease that did him in.

On the plus side I got a benadryl anti-itch cream for my hand and within a few days the rash the maxi mini stung gave me was gone.

sorry to hear Laurie :cry:

Thanks Kien

I think heaters hate me, woke up this morning and the tank was sitting at 73.4 :eek: Amazingly everything (maxi minis, sexy shrimp and crabs) seem fine. Turned the P.O.S. (marineland stealth) heater up higher and the temp is slowly going back up. Unfortunately the replacement heater I asked to be ordered in never came in yet so I will be making a trip to big als for a new heater today.

Two days ago I pulled the BTA out and put it in my 80g. It got fairly annoyed by the porcelain crab and wasn't recovering in this tank, with the sexy shrimp constantly irritating it, hence the move to the 80g.

I talked to Ken and he thinks he has some dwarf clowns so I might get one to add to this tank (in a few weeks) and a friend of mine owes me a RBTA so if I ever get it from him I might add those to the tank and hope it works out. I'm thinking a split from an anemone from a friends tank should do better then the other one I had in there, plus there is no longer a porcelain crab in there to anger it. Still leery of how the tiny clownfish will be with the maxi minis (not knowing if the maxi minis killed the last one or not) but since I don't know for sure I kinda want to try again. I'll just be extra careful not to turn on the overhead room light (when it's dark) so I won't have to worry about spooking a new clownfish.

Pics? :-). I like your stocking idea. Be careful of the clown/anemone PO-PO tho. They may object. :-) .. Trust me, I know :lol:

:lol: I would not keep a full grown normal size clownfish in a 2.5 gallon tank or a large bta. The RBTA my friend has (according to him) grows no larger then 3" and then splits (mostly only gets to 2" before splitting) so if it stays small in my tank it won't be an issue and if/when it splits I can sell/trade the splits. Or if for some odd reason it grows large I'll sell it or move it over to my bigger tank. The clownfish Ken has he breeds, he gets dwarf ones every now and then (kinda like the runt of the litter) which only grow to an inch in size. I figure a single 1" clownfish should be ok. Haven't got either yet though, so no pic's, and it'll probably be awhile before I can set up meeting times as both guys are busy and hard to find a time to meet with.

Yup, I agree and I wouldn't do that either! :-). Plus, in my experience I don't think clowns actually need that much swimming room, do they? Any clown that I've owned has always found a spot in the tank that they liked and stayed there, forever! My two clowns now certainly NEVER leave their 'nem. Even during feeding time they wait patiently for food to drift by. Anyway, mine aren't very active swimmers at all. I'm not sure if they would notice a 150g tank or a 10g tank.

Ya the two clowns in my 230g never leave the RBTA. I figured if I can get a dwarf clown hosting in a small bta it might work out in the small tank. Ken's clowns are hosting a bta in his tank so my odds are good, and if it doesn't work or I feel like the tanks to small I'll rehome them.

Found something bizarre in my tank, looked kinda like little white inch worms? :noidea: not sure what they were but I scooped them out just in case.

Tried to take a pic but they were really small so it's hard to see them, I circled them in red

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...D4129249-1.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...DSC_0253-1.jpg

So as I've mentioned I have bad luck with heaters, the POS one I'm using now (marine stealth) has to be turned up to 84 to keep the tank at 76 at night and down to 82 during the day to keep it around 78-79. Unfortunately one morning I forgot to turn it down and the tank was at 82 :surprise: Shortly after that I lost my nassarious snails and one of my scarlet hermit crabs. So I have the 3 sexy shrimp, and one hermit crab and 4 maxi minis. Might have a porcelain crab, but I'm not sure, I haven't seen him since the tank got to 82 but he hides in the very back of the tank were it's hard to see him in the first place. The glass (acrylic) needs a good cleaning as I've been somewhat forgetful in doing so :reface:

Still waiting on getting a new bta and dwarf clown.

Mentioned in a different thread that I tried to get a good ehiem heater for this tank but unfortunately petsmart replaced my order with dog vitamins! :surprise:

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...t/ACC8C47F.jpg

Laurie, 82F shouldn't hurt any of your inverts. My 90-gallon hits 85F everyday for the last almost 4 years. There are many inverts in there.

I was thinking that the swing in temp: 74 at night then 82 in the day, in such a small 2.5g tank, was what did the snails and crab in. However one crab and the sexy shrimp survived so who knows :noidea: I did get a new 25 watt hydro heater that I added earlier today (which so far has kept it at 78) so here's hoping it won't drop too much at night. I turn the furnace down at night, which is why it gets colder at night, but still I thought the heater would keep it between 76-78.

The new hydro heater seems better but it's been warmer so hard to say for sure but so far it seems to keep the tank between 75-79 mostly 76 at night and 78 during the day.

Was a bit neglectful over the month of Dec. and I finally got around to scrubbing the acrylic clean (took almost and hour which is ridiculous for such a small tank!) Note to self clean tank with NanoMag scrubber more often!

The tank hasn't changed much other then the maxi's have moved around a bit and unfortunately one of my sexy shrimp jumped overboard and was found dried up on the desk :sad:

New FTS (couldn't get the colour quite right but it's somewhere between these two pic's)

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...DSC_0026-1.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/DSC_0030.jpg

I also must admit I'm getting bored of the maxi mini's so I am thinking of selling them, and turning the tank into a mini reef instead. There is a super cute tiny tailspot blenny (that Doug mentioned would look cute in there) that has me thinking of going this route. Not 100% sure yet, but being a fishoholic a fishless tank isn't very appealing.
Help me decide by letting me know which way you would go :biggrin: