10g low-budget diy nano reef

[Nevin]

I haven't posted pictures mostly because there hasn't been much to see. Now that there's some life in the tank that's big enough to photograph, here they are! The lighting is still 6700k, so it's very yellow. I went with J & L's package no. 1 for the cleanup crew, plus I have a few small zoas and mushrooms. My wife bought a moon coral, which seems happy after a few days (at least it looks the same as it did in the store) and seems to be finding some food. I'll probably get a little mysis to make sure it's well-fed.

I felt a little bad about turning on the lights at night to take pictures--pods were running for cover and a hermit was so surprised it fell off a rock!

Full tank:


Top view:


Moon coral:


Zoas:


I bought a mini coralife fixture to put on the AC70 refugium so I can put the chaeto inside--just need to find the best way to secure it.

The Rio is generating some "green tea" skimmate--adequate for my purposes and good for the price. It loses its syphon once in a while--I think it's because the tank is on a shaky table and the water sloshes around when people walk by.

I'm very happy with my progress on the stands for this and my freshwater planted tank. I'm ready to stain and varnish the pedestals and hope to post finished pictures soon.

Regards,
Nevin

[hillbillyreefer]

Looks good Nevin. That 6700k bulb would drive me nuts though, it may also contribute to an algae problem.

[Nevin]

I don't like the 6700k light either, but have chosen to spend my money on other things so far. I had planned on just getting a 50/50 bulb, but I'm a little worried that the corals will have less usable light. My understanding is that the actinic light is not very useful to corals and is mainly just for viewing, no? Perhaps just a 10000k without actinic would be better?

Regards,
Nevin

[Nevin]

I picked up some more zoas and mushrooms, as well as some digitata, from Seahorse Fanatic (Thanks!), so time to update photos.

I'm not too happy with the overall look of things. At this point it's more of a frag tank than a display. But it's a good learning experience and I think it could look quite nice once I grow out the frags and get a few nicer pieces of rock.

Everything seems to be doing well. The digitata are a little pale, probably from moving to a new home with less light, but getting some color back at the tips.

Full tank:



New zoas (I like these a lot!):



Mushroom collection:



That's all for now. Any advice welcome as always...

Regards,
Nevin

[Nevin]

Added 5 more blue legged hermits today as the first five have been earning their keep so far. I also bought a couple pounds of nice Tonga rock so I can hide some of the uglier pieces I'm using now. The rock is smelly enough that I thought I'd best cure--at least for a week or two--even for this small quantity. I thought some here might get a kick out of my large-scale, high-tech rock curing operation:



My moon coral and zoas got some minced scallop today, which they seemed to like. I bought some frozen brine shrimp to feed them once in a while--they need to beef up considerably to fill this tank.

Regards,
Nevin

[Nevin]

A couple more pics of progress on the stand.

The base and doors (second door is for another stand) after staining:



The top after gluing:



The top is built like a tray to hide the base of the aquarium and catch small spills. I'll silicone the inside of the tray and of the base, in case it has a sump in it someday.

Perhaps it doesn't make sense to build custom stands for my small, cheap tanks. There is room for expansion, though. The two stands could easily be two pedestals to support a 48" 50G tank, with a small sump in one and electrical in the other.

Everything is oak. I'll note here for my own future reference that I'm finishing with Minwax "red oak" and Circa 1850 antique paste varnish.

Regards,
Nevin

[tang daddy]

Nevin looks good so far!

Fish wise go with a few gobies you could put a bangai but long term they do get big, on the other hand gobies stay relatively small varying on species. I especially like the shrimp gobies they hide in a hole in the sand and you can get a pistol shrimp for a partner. They go hand in hand and have a good partnership, the shrimp relies on the fish to keep a lookout it does this by using it's antenae and rests it on the fish like the blind use a stick to feel. If the fish senses danger it whips it's tail and dorsal fin the shrimp retreats into the hole. The shrimp in turn is the builder it digs tunnels in the rock and sand. Currently I have 8 different gobies in my tank, as you can see I'm a big fan of them and have three pistol shrimp 1 of them has paired up together the other two are still looking for their mate as my tank is big it may take awhile for them to find eachother. They prefer to have sand but with alot of flow in my tank barebottom is the way to go. This is no problem for the pair the shrimp has made a tunnel in one of the rock structure and is quite the busybody as it collects pieces of rock shells and other bits and pieces to place at the door step so no one can go in. When it decides to take a break from it's daily mining th shrimp simply moves some of the rubble and chills with the orange striped goby. I can't wait for the red wheeler goby to pair up with a new blue pistol I picked up a few weeks ago.

Anyhow I won't bore you with the love fiasco happening in my tank just thought I would share a little of my happiness.

I didn't know you were somewhat of a carpenter kudos on the tank stand maybe we could do a trade you help me ramp up my stand and make it more eye freindly and I could help you out with some livestock ie corals good tips and whatever else let me know cheers Chris.