Aquaria's mixed reef nano
 

NEW TANK PICTURES!!!! 01/08/11
Well I have finally got the stuff needed to get a tank going so ill start with the equipment list and ill post pics tomorrow.
there are a couple things I need before I can fill, first off I'm having the tank resealed by the guys at O.C. Second I need a few plumbing pieces and caulking+paint
I'm sealing the canopy and stand and repainting with a waterproof paint as the last owner did not, and there's rust stains (from the screw)runing down into the tank.
Next ill be restaining the light wood trim a dark color to match my 90g FW tank, and I believe the color is called cappachino. Now for the equipment

20g+10g sump
stand+canopy
remora aqua c skimmer
rio+ 1700 pump 300gph @ 4ft
aquaticlife 4bulb T5HO with built in timer
diy autotop off
koralia 1 PH 400gph
bio reactor -phosban or somthing- coming at christmas
30ish lbs of dead rock

i have to make some slight mods to the canopy, to get my light fixture to fit snug. im still debating getting rid of the remora and getting somthing in-sump.
theres comp fans installed in the top for heat but they need to be wired and im no good with electriticty. the internal overflow is in the centre and it has a stockman stand pipe with return. im wondering about flow issues in the corners, how would someone deal with that? or is it even a problem? enough talk PICS
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=3869
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=3867
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=3866
as soon as i closed the lid he started making this face, he was super mad at me lol
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=3865

i may have to reseal as there was air bubbles in the silicone that i just couldent get out :( but practice makes perfect :(
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well i stained the wood, cut out a spot in the back for my skimmer, cleaned the rock and installed the plumbing whew. 3 days of work ill post pics of some of the work when im not feeling so lazy. the tank is running and nov 24 is the officail start of the cycle. the rocks and water were black when i opened the bucket and stinky but not as bad as i thought it was going to be. i was worried the rocks would stay black but the overnight soak turned em white again and the water is now cloudy looks like its time for a wc already lol will have to wait for the weekend as my ro/di membrane is broken and leaking and am getting very little good water (it also took 3 days to fill my 20g n 10g sump:( ) so i may be in the market for another if the replacments parts and shippin are to much. added a 4"sugar sand bed in the refugium and a Bunch of rubble and going to be adding more rubble throughout the sump areas. i need a bigger pump as my overflow can Handel at least 200 more gph and at 4ft im only getting to be safe around 300, pump says 350. im looking to cycle rocks for about 2 months possibly 3 months if im just not happy with prams and after a month ill trade 5-lbs of rock for well established rock and plus i want to start a reactor of some sort and get Cheeto and a light for my Refugio going first

well have been having problems with the tank growing bacteria only on the silicone so i drained the tank and and going to be resealing with aquarium grade silicone got rock from jlaquatics and a new aqua c urchin skimmer in a rubbermaid with the old rock looks like i might be selling some of it lol post pics of the recomplete after i get it resealed, sand in, and rock structures built. should be by jan 2-3

well i cracked the old tank so i scraped it got an overflow and installed my old tank. i had to make some modifications on the back of the stand so as to acommodate a 14" tank, old one was 12". its up and running now i added a shrimp 2 days ago and its already completly covered in fungus, so i removed it and ill be testing the prams once i get back with coffee lol. anyway heres a FTS and a pan out to show the stand.....enjoy and please comment on the aquascape



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http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...10104-1022.jpg

Looking good. Always tough to wait for a cycle but patience is the key!

what does Acetone do ?

Absolutly nothing lol I was advised to use it to clean the glass before a reseal
Because it evaporates quickly and leaves no residue but it was useless ended up just razorblading well and cleaning up with a vacuum and hotwater That was the tank that cracked

Ya waiting is hard lol first addition is going to be a pistol shrimp/goby pair after a small cuc anyway thinking a couple snails and a pom pom crab and a small urchin later on coral won't be going in for a while minus a softy thinking gsp I love the stuff but sps won't be goingin till I get my reactor and ato set up want the tank as stable as possible to maximize my chances of keeping them

When I said I added a shrimp I ment a cooking shrimp :p wanted to make sure my cycle started as the rocks were already cycled in a rubbermaid for weeks

Well perams went well amm-0.0 nitrite-0.1 and ph was low at 7.9 I figured it would be a quick cycle with rocks sand and half the water being cycled previously hope ph gets up soon I'll test again next week sometime before adding the cuc ( hopefully next weekend) will see how it goes

New and i think final aquascape

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...10108-2145.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...10108-2145.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...10108-2144.jpg

found a purple mat coral on some live rock cant tell if its GSP or cloves yet though and what looks like afeather duster mch bigger then any iv seen so mabey i got lucky and got a nice one :P

well im pretty sure they are clove polyps got about 13 polyps so far but there white still. tested water yesterday and everything is good so lastnight i went and picked up 4 snails 2 ceriths and 2 astreas but one astrea did not make it and one cerith shell was empty lol back to the lfs. i also got a pom pom crab a mccrosker wrasse both made the transition fine WOW such a nice fish i think he will love his new home. pics later when the lights come on

Looking good! Keep it up! What did you use for substrate in the tank? Is it a mix of crushed coral or crushed oyster shells and aquarium gravel?

Very cool wrasse to add! Make sure to keep an eye on your params before any new additions as this first addition of critters will be the first 'real' bioload the tank experiences!

Thanks for sharing :)

Chris

Nice Aquascape , what did you use to prop it ?

Tyvm it is a very nice fish can't wait till he gets older pictures iv seen show he gets alot more color as he's still a juvi. The sand is caribsea pacific black very nice stuff. And I will keep an eye on them but my pistol shrimp/goby won't be going in till late feb or early march so I got lots of time to make sure it's stable. and as for the aquascape so far nothing it's all very stable but I'll throw a couple pieces of epoxy on the top rock and a few on the left side to make sure the weight of the sps don't move the bridge as thats the only one that rocks slightly but I'm in no rush as coral won't be going in for a couple more months.( April to may as want to make sure I have my np pellet reactor online and an ato going)

any updates??

Lol where to start well it's not an sps nano ATM haven't been able to set up the auto top off because of limited space still waiting for pellets but I have the reactor. Been battling cyno and various other algea including bryopsis so pellets could not come sooner (2 more weeks i get pellets and new bulbs since there over a year old and there stock :( open to 4 bulb combos thinking a giesmann/ati combo)Mcoskers wrasse died after 1 week of ich so I waited 8 weeks then added a tiger pistol shrimp and a baby yellow prawn goby both paired within 24 hours and haven't left each others sides. Added a ponci, monti cap, and reg monti test pieces and cap and monti died after 6 weeks ponci still lives it's surviving deff not thriving so I didnt add more sps but I got a Duncan and a small super neon green gsp and my last addition about 4 months ago was a 6 line I'm getting rid of him when I move cuz I want 2 smaller fish I'm not going to post pics since it's ugly lol but after I move (1 month) and get these nutrients under control plus new lights it will look better. Sorry about grammar I'm on my iPod and the screen is broken oh ya I got hurt at work and have a baby on the way so progress will be slow prob super slow I'll update when I can :)

Added 3 new bulbs 2 aquablue plus and an actinic plus debating another blue or pink bulb next week and added vertex pellets and started dosing brightwells microbacter7

How are the SPS doing? any other livestock updates?

Ponci is looking great most polyp extension iv seen so must be lovin the new bulbs and I added a borneman anemone from Beeforchicken super nice and hardy little guy was fully open within a few hours of adding my mother in law got a sweet pic of my sixline which I'll add when she sends em to me I'll take a fts and others in 2 weeks when I get my camera back

Nice! I'm looking forward to the FTS

Well I finished my move and I can say I honestly don't want to move a tank again lol almost everything made it my YPG jumped to his death (7 months with a canopy and he jumps the first night with no lid WTF) and I lost two cerith snails and my duncan lost a head I'm guessing it got squished but rest looks like it may recover my nem lost all its green and now just looks brown the pistol shrimp went right to work and made a whole series of connecting tunnels under my rock I don't like my rockwork atm but I designed the whole thing with my shrimp and goby in mind I tried to make lots of caves and facilitate the tunnel building by placing the rocks the right way downside was it got really hard to place the top layer of rocks making it look fugly. I would post pictures but canreef hates blackberrys

i hope everything comes along. the borneman nem should be fine, they have survived all sorts of conditions in my tank, when the tank is happy he'll turn green again.

Ya I figured he would despite everything he has stayed open and looks happy hasn't even moved from where I put him. I found my pistol in my overflow today :( was still alive so I'm hoping he makes it he went right back to digging so I'm feeling positive about it