albert_dao's 2012 Nano Contest Entry

[albert_dao]

First update - Livestock

Here are some pics of the Cerianthids I have been collecting over the past few months:









(Thanks to Rick for this last one!!!!)

I also have a pair of club-tipped anemones (Telmatactis americana). I've had these guys for nearly four years now. I'll see if I can fit them into this tank or not. Fingers crossed - they're one of the coolest hitchhikers you'll find anywhere:

[Wheelman76]

Cool idea!!

[nanoreefnewbie]

Very cool ideas ill be checking on this one from time too time for sure keep with the updates this is a cool tank set up

[fishoholic]

Interesting.....I wonder how the lava rock will work out long term as a biological bacterial filtration over live (reef) rock. It will be cool to see as this tank progresses.

[Boxboy]

Very nice looking tanks you built there! I will be following your contest build
Have fun and best of luck to you

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by fishoholic

Interesting.....I wonder how the lava rock will work out long term as a biological bacterial filtration over live (reef) rock. It will be cool to see as this tank progresses.

I wonder the same. The lava rock is porus and most island are volcanic masses

[albert_dao]

I'm actually not too concerned with the state of the rock since I use porous ceramic media in the filter.

[nanoreefnewbie]

I think that lava rock will do great...

[albert_dao]

Whooo! Yesterday, NH4 readings were off the charts (<8 mg/L). Today, they're down in the ~0.5 mg/L range. I'm also getting a cloudy bacterial bloom in the water. I'll wait until the bloom clears then throw in a bunch of micro brittle stars and bristleworms.

For those of you who haven't seen a bacterial bloom, here's what it looks like:



This is a good thing during cycling; the bacteria scavenge all of the available nutrients and out-compete any nuisance algaes, so you get to skip the entire three "weeks of ugly tank" phase so common to new set ups.

Just some changes to my original plan:

1. I've also decided that the tank looks a little dim, so I'll add another Illumilux and see how that looks (I have one lying around, just missing the legs).

2. With the increased light, I'll be able to plant a nice little colony of Grube's Gorgonian at little spire of rocks in the center. I was originally going to throw feather dusters there, but the gorgonian is much more forgiving if the tank isn't able to produce enough bacterial and algal fauna.