Fishoholic's 2012 nano contest entry

[fishoholic]

So I was reading about the contest thinking about things and remembering Aysha saying this:

Originally Posted by Aysha

I'm not allowed anymore tanks I finally got this one running ship shape...hunnnyyyyyy we need to enter the nano contest.....

thinking Doug would kill me, cause I need another tank like I need a hole in the head, but then I started seeing how many others were getting involved and decided I wanted to be a part of it too

So after talking with Doug (my boyfriend aka fishytime for those who may not already know) and he mentioned the skimz ibox nano tank that he had, that he never did get around to setting up, and needless to say an went off in my head and I decided I'm in

So my entry is a Skimz ibox nano tank, it holds about 2.5g. I've heard the light it comes with isn't great so I'm looking into upgrading it with an eco pico LED light. It's going to sit on the edge of Doug's computer desk and I have most of the stuff I need to get it going:
live rock; going to steal some from my 230g
sand; have to rinse the sand I had in my 10g and use it
air pump and longer air hose (used to run the skimmer it came with); found them in Doug's extra tank supply area
saltwater; taking it from the water I already have mixed for my water change on my big tank.

Now all I need is a small heater which I'll look into getting tomorrow. Already started taking progress pic's (as I'm all about the pic's) and I will post them with explanations later, for now I'm off to rinse some old dirty sand

[fishoholic]

In the beginning.....there was a box (under a bar no less)......


and in that box.......was an ibox!


that came with little pieces that needed putting together.....and NO instructions (Oh and a few extra pieces, that Doug tossed into said ibox box, just to confuse me.....good times)


but through perseverance (and admittedly internet help) I figured out how to get the circulation pump working (forgot to take a pic of it put together oops!) and the darn confusing air stone skimmer that it came with. Took forever to figure it out and BTW I hate skimmers!


Also discovered the the air hose the skimmer came with was way to short and I needed to find a pump....so I went shopping under my bar again to where Doug's extra tank stuff is hiding and found this

[fishoholic]

Decided it would work well sitting on Doug's computer desk so here it sits

It was pretty dusty/dirty so I gave it a good rise before setting it in it's final resting spot, here's some empty tank shots

[nanoreefnewbie]

Never heard of these tanks..googled it and what a sweet tank should be a intreasting build also

[ensquire]

I picked one of these up when in town for Fragfest. I'm going to set mine up for my son. Can't wait to see where you go with this one.

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by ensquire

I picked one of these up when in town for Fragfest. I'm going to set mine up for my son. Can't wait to see where you go with this one.

Thanks I have a couple of different ideas:

1) pull all my maxi mini nems from my big tanks and stuff them in there with sexy shrimp, anemone shrimp and anemone crabs. Good plan in theory but it would be a PITA to try to get my maxi mini's out of the other tanks, and I'm not sure about wanting to try anemones in a new set up

or

2) set it up as a mini reef with a cool display fish. I'd love to get a flaming prawn goby but they are very difficult find and not easy to keep

or I might try a yasha goby/pistol shrimp (but I have a pistol in my 34g that's waiting for a yasha and I don't think I could get him out). So I might try to find some other unique type of tiny fish, maybe barnacle blennies (my fave) but they have a short life span so I don't know.

[BlueTang<3]

I have a carpet that would be perfect in there he's about 19 inches across would fold up perfect in there . You should go with a rose and green bubble tip anemone in there that would be pretty cool.

[Enigma]

This is going to be really cute. I'm following along.

[reefwars]

wow laurie great start indeed, i love the idea of a maxi tank, how about maybe a maxi ricordia tank??


will be following along for sure

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by nanoreefnewbie

Never heard of these tanks..googled it and what a sweet tank should be a intreasting build also

Thanks

I wanted to run carbon on this tank and remembered I had these laying around



So I decided to see if it would fit, and thankfully it fits into the camber no problem (it's hard to see in the pic but I circled it)