Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board - New 30 Gallon Nano Tank Journal

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New 30 Gallon Nano Tank Journal

Well, had success with my 10 gallon nano, now getting the itch for and upgrade....

http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x...newtank007.jpg

This is a picture of my current 10 gallon tank with the new t5 light setup I bought for the new tank, once it is setup. FYI LOVE the T5 compaired to the compact fluorencents.....

So I went on Kijiji, and found myself one hell of a deal, a 30 Gallon Hex front tank with stand for $35, how could I pass this up? lol

I went and picked it up on Friday afternoon and brought it back to my office, after my boss gave me a look like oh gawd another fish tank....*Evil Grin*

http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x...newtank001.jpg

This is a picture of it brought into my office, dirty girl eh? As you can see it came with a T12 light, Thus why I went out on bought the new T5 setup....

I got to work cleaning it....man what a chore!

http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x...newtank004.jpg

Much better now....*whipes sweat of brow*

http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x...newtank006.jpg

This is a picture after I put in all the water and live sand....Cloudy with a chance of meatballs???? nah just cloudy....See what it will look like on monday morning.

I put in the following hardware for temporary, until the tank cycles:
Hydor Koralia Nano Powerhead (240 GPH)
Aquaclear Powerhead 802 (400 GPH)
Aquaclear 70 Filter System

This is it for now, will update when tank cycles.....

5/31/2010- Update

So finally had the time to do some upgrades to my tank, and having it fully cycled now...yahhhh... So I moved everything over from my 10G over.
So the first thing that I did was to pickup a Coral Life Super Skimmer (65g). I was very nervous at first, trying to find the sweet spot, so it wouldn't overflow the collection cup, which it did the first night...grrrr... One of the biggest flaws in this, was you have to shut off the pump in order to take out the collection cup in order to empty it. I thought this was retarded, so being a DIY guy, I thought I would improve on the design....*evil grin* So I went to Home Depot and picked up of all things, was a pvc 90 degree threaded electrical conduite. They didn't have anything similar under the plumbing section, don't ask..... So I broke out my handy drill and drilled me a hole, 3/4 " thru the plastic, and attached rubber gaskets on either side. And Viola, an emergency overflow that drains into a bucket hidden by the stand.... Never have to worry about the collection cup or finding the sweet spot again.

http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x...20Nano/004.jpg

So here are some pictures of all the lifestock transfered over with the new T5 light:

http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x...20Nano/001.jpg
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x...20Nano/003.jpg
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x...20Nano/002.jpg

very nice so far. it looks like you will have a great tank soon :)

Update- 6/4/2010

Looking good...just make sure you don't rush it too quickly...slow and steady builds the most beautiful tanks.

Update 6-16-2010

Tank Update 7/6/2010

Tank Update 7/6/2010

Picked up a new light, as I found the dual T5 weren't cutting it. Is it just me, or do you spend alot of this hobby, searching for better equipment?? lol So the new light, I don't know who manufactures it, or if it was somebodies DIY project... But it is a 14k 150 watt MH with dual T8, so much better than just the T5. The clam is doing very well, had to move him down after I installed this light.... Re-arranged the rocks...never ending aqua scapping....lol

Here is a pic of the new light...
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x...6-2010/001.jpg

Picked up some new frags as well
1 small colony rock with the golden eye, green, and some green button paly's and Green Star Polyps.

Here are some new pics of the frags:
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x...6-2010/007.jpg
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x...6-2010/006.jpg
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x...6-2010/004.jpg
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x...6-2010/003.jpg
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x...6-2010/002.jpg

It looks like your clam needs to be higher up and closer to the lights. You said it's a dual T5HO fixture? What bulbs are you running? If it's one daylight and one actinic, you need to pull the actinic out and get a bulb with better PAR rating. If you want to replace with a bluer bulb, I'd suggest either a UVL Super Actinic, or an Aquascience 22K bulb (or similar). Up a few posts back the clam was about the middle of the tank with its mantle open but was looking a little brown. I'm thinking that your lights are powerful enough pending that the clam is higher still in the tank.