CadLights 39G Signature

Oscar · #1 05-12-2008, 11:45 AM

My last post in April was just after getting the cabinet constructed and the tank moved to its permanent position.

Next I had to wait for some replacement parts to get the lights up and running again. One of the actinics had blown over the Easter weekend and had burned out one of the sockets. It took a few weeks for the replacement parts to arrive.

Here is what the tank looked like with the lights installed and the actinics in place.

This first batch of rock is Cuban LR that I picked up from Interior Reef. Lots of great shapes, coraline algae, and as it turned out lots of interesting growth, expecially feather dusters.

A couple of weeks ago I went back to Interior Reef to get some additional LR and a couple of more hermits. After a serious rearrangment of the rock the tank now looks like this:

mseepman · #2 05-12-2008, 03:40 PM

Looks good. What are your plans for stocking? How do you find the flow in the tank with just the stock return pump?

Oscar · #3 05-12-2008, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mseepman

Looks good. What are your plans for stocking? How do you find the flow in the tank with just the stock return pump?

Actually if you squint and look real close you can see a Koralia 1 in the centre of the rock. The pump return also has a Hydor rotating water deflector (the poor man's wave maker).

Based on the waving motion of the feather algae that has popped up the tank circulation looks pretty good.

As far as stocking goes I keep changing my mind. So far I have 5 hermits, an urchin and Lester the Lobster. The urchin was embeded in the Selembu rock I purchased from Interior Reef. My wife is from Nova Scotia so picking up Lester was a must, although he is pretty darn shy.

I have a birthday coming up so I have suggested she make the first selection of fish/corals to add. She had a very long look at the Interior Reef tanks a few weeks ago and has some ideas.

But I am always open to suggestions?

mseepman · #4 05-12-2008, 05:15 PM

Well, I'm just putting together my first nano as well (about 16 gallons) but I plan it to be an SPS tank for a couple of reasons. One, in the small space you and I have, many softies or LPS corals sting each other if they get in close contact. I have that problem already in my 70G tank where I can't put anything near anything else without the tenticles coming out.
Two, the color combinations of SPS are crazy nice.

I would take a look at Snappy's online sale (Coral Master on here) and think about filling that beauty you have with SPS frags that will color up in every shade. His prices are reasonable and the 8 frags I got from him have all been doing well.

Just my thoughts though. I admit that SPS are tougher to keep in the long run but the rewards just seem that much bigger.

Oscar · #5 05-12-2008, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mseepman

I would take a look at Snappy's online sale (Coral Master on here) and think about filling that beauty you have with SPS frags that will color up in every shade. His prices are reasonable and the 8 frags I got from him have all been doing well.

Just my thoughts though. I admit that SPS are tougher to keep in the long run but the rewards just seem that much bigger.

My brain hurts. Yes stinging in a small tank is more of a concern but I did not want to get into SPS until I had more experience.

From your posting elsewhere did you just let Coral Master pick the 8 frags at random for you or did you search through his collection on-line or in person?

mseepman · #6 05-13-2008, 04:05 AM

I trusted Greg to pick frags for me after telling him that I was interested in certain colors or aspects of the corals.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oscar

My brain hurts. Yes stinging in a small tank is more of a concern but I did not want to get into SPS until I had more experience.

From your posting elsewhere did you just let Coral Master pick the 8 frags at random for you or did you search through his collection on-line or in person?

Oscar · #7 05-17-2008, 02:22 AM

Well my birthday was a couple of days ago and I have some birthday money to burn. The tank has very nicely stabilized, a bit of algae to deal with but the 1 urchin and 5 hermits should be able to deal with it.

The question is fish or corals, which to add first? From everything I have read I should be adding corals slowly before fish. But fish will help to add to the bio load and improve the filtration system.

The Cad 39G is a bit misleading, after discounting for the 4 sump chambers in the back the display section is actually only 27G.

It has been suggested that I might want to concentrate on SPS so I do not need to worry about sweeping tentacles.

Now my wife was quite taken by some hammer coral, which if I keep near the front of the tank would give some room for the sweepers to do their thing. (happy wife happly life)

Also the LFS has some blue green chromis. Could I add just 2 of them to start my fish stocking?

I still have lots of flexibility with this tank and am looking forward to your input.

Oscar · #8 05-13-2008, 01:56 AM

Well my wife is firmly convinced I am a nerd (she was pretty sure about that before) since I started grabbing a beer, pulling up my viewing chair and watching the paint peel, er I mean watching the algae grow.

All there is to see at this point are the hermits as they make the rounds but I am keeping my eye open for new critters including feather dusters as they pop up.

And a view from the viewing chair: