Phishcrazee's Nano Tank Build

[phishcrazee]

So I saw this contest on CR's Facebook page and I just went to take a peek, wasn't thinking about entering.........but then I thought if I did enter, it *might* help keep me accountable on moving forward with setting up my new 24g Cardiff tank, sooooo throwing my hat in the ring, here we go :roll_eyes:

The plan is to tear down my 75g reef tank and move most of its contents between a 29g frag tank in the basement and this 24g tank, which is in the dining room. This tank will have a sandbed, long tentacled anemone + orange skunk clown pair, some rockwork and mainly softies, a few lps and zoas. Thinking I might add a clam into the mix at some point, we'll see. Lighting will be LED. I have some ideas for other equipment, but not 100% sure, still thinking.........

The empty tank pic:

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/tankcontest002.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/tankcontest001.jpg

[thepanfish]

Cool tank!

[AJ :)]

Very nice looking tank.
I'll be tagging along.

Good luck!

[jimsflies]

Glad you're giving it a try. Welcome to CR! I love those solana tanks.

[phishcrazee]

Thanks, they are beautiful tanks :)

So did a few things with the tank in the last couple days. Since it was shipped, wanted to make sure it was still watertight, and that no seams had been torqued etc. during packaging and shipment. Better to be safe than sorry; nothing worse than getting a tank set up and then finding a leak! So I filled it with freshwater and let it sit overnight just to make sure everything was ok.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/tankcontest2001.jpghttp://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/tankcontest2002.jpg

Everything checked out fine, so I drained it, and figured out exactly where I wanted the tank. Since the front of the stand does not open, I have to make sure its positioned just right to reach any equipment I may have below. Annoying design flaw, who thought a non-opening front on a tank stand would be a good idea?! :doh: I did a quick check with my level all around the tank to make sure its basically level. That checked out fine as well.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/tankcontest2003.jpg

Since this is going to have a sandy bottom, I started to add the sand. This was sand from a fellow reefer's tank tear down. It was rinsed, but has been "dead/dry" for a long time, sitting in my garage. I expect it to have a fair amount of nitrates etc in it, but nothing that some good skimming and happy bacteria won't be able to handle, I hope :thumbsup:

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/tankcontest2004.jpghttp://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/tankcontest2005.jpg

I wanted the sandbed at least a couple inches deep, as this is what the long tentacled anemone that will be living here, prefers.

Going to start the rockwork landscaping next..........

[rcombs]

this tank is very sweet, where did you get it if you dont mind me askin :)

[phishcrazee]

this tank is very sweet, where did you get it if you dont mind me askin :)

Yeah, LOVE them, looked a long time and kept coming back to this one.........got mine at Premuim Aquatics, although Marine Depot sells them too and a few others, but those two places had the best prices. Bought it on a Black Friday sale, everything was 11% off, so made this a good deal :big_grin:

[phishcrazee]

double post

[Tcox807]

Where did you get that tank

[MizTanks]

Welcome to CR! Very sweet tank for sure :)

[phishcrazee]

So, I've made some good progress on the tank in the last couple weeks and need to update here.

I decided what type rocks I would add, arranged them and epoxied some of the more unsteady pieces. The rock was from a tank I bought a couple years ago, just been sitting in a bucket in the garage since then, so happy I can finally put it to use. I decided to not add a ton of rock, as I wanted plenty of swimming room for fish and plenty of room for coral to grow out. I didn't have a beer bottle for scale so I used a ketchup bottle, hope that's ok :tongue_out:

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/24gtank1-30-12001.jpg

I liked this rock, has a cool little cave inside :thumbsup:
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/24gtank1-30-12002.jpg

Here's the rock in the tank the way I like it. A few pieces have epoxy helping to hold them in their spot. Wow, epoxy is sooo much easier to use on DRY rock! :doh: I'll be adding a few more small pieces of live rock and a little sand from 75g tank to help the tank cycle/seed the dead rock.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/24gtank1-30-12003.jpg

Happy day, filled the tank with saltwater :big_grin: Also rigged up the Marineland LED strip light I got at the MACNA dinner this past fall (was "free"). They're not currently available for sale, I guess these were prototype lights that they gave away. Had to drill into the plastic and also drill into the clips that came with it in order to mount it in the tank. I'll use these as actinics-daybreak-sunset type lights. They're submersible and I do have them under water, was a little scared at first, but they seem fine so far :snorkel:
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/24gtank1-30-12009.jpg

The powerhead in there is a Tunze Nanostream Turbelle 6055. Not sure I like the placement, as the front curved glass seems to magnify it, but this spot does seem to provide the best water circulation vs. a side-mounted spot. I'm going to try it on the left-hand side and see how it does there. Its ramped down to 12v right now, although 15v was fine too. Any higher than that and sand started to kick up.

[phishcrazee]

Here's a shot of the LED's mounted in the tank with zip ties :redneck: I didn't even have black zip ties, I actually colored the tops of these with a sharpie, lol :embarrassed: Works for me :) I figure its barely visible........
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/24gtank1-30-12012.jpg

Here they are out of the box; just a strip of 36 sets/72 LED lights. Not sure what the specs are, it didn't come with any of that, just very basic directions.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/24gtank1-30-12.jpg

Started cycling the tank. I expected to get some ammonia from the dead rock and sand, inevitable, even though it was rinsed well with clean saltwater before going dry. Sure enough, first reading of ammonia was at .75ppm. That's fine, saves me from adding any ammonia :) To cycle the tank, I'm using a combo of DrTim's One and Only nitrifying bacteria, and a small amount of live sand and live rock from my established tank. I included the ammonia chloride they sell in the picture as well, even though I didn't need to use it, just so people can see that you don't need to use dead shrimp or live fish to cycle your tank, you can buy pure ammonia for ~$3.xx a bottle and its more humane and more precise that the aforementioned methods :thumbsup:
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/24gtank1-30-12010.jpg

Here's all the live rock that I could cram into the small space provided in the back compartment. Also added a couple pieces to the display. They include several small bags of bioballs, which I have in there for now. You'll hear that bioballs are a "nitrate factory", but I think its one of those catch phrases that gets passed around a lot in reefing that's not *necessarily* true. I think they can be, if not maintained. They can hold a lot of detritus, but they can also function like live rock, being a home for beneficial bacteria. I think they just need to be rinsed out occasionally with clean sw; not sure if I want to do that or not on a regular basis, so they're in there for now.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/24gtank1-30-12013.jpg

Another ghetto fix, this one for a noisy skimmer intake, and I'll have to modify it again, because right now, it looks like an antenna on the tank :-| It's simply a pill bottle drilled at each end with some cotton in the middle to muffle the air intake tube to the skimmer. The pump to the skimmer was a little loud too, together with the intake sucking air noise was driving me a little batty :stupidme: so I just added the silencer on the existing tubing. Will have to lengthen the tubing so I can hide it though.......the pump has quieted too, must have just needed some breaking in.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/24gtank1-30-12011.jpg

Now just waiting for the tank to finish cycling, started it on 1/22/12. I *think* the ammonia peaked at 1ppm and may be on the down slide now, need to test again today and see where things are at...........

[phishcrazee]

Decided on the lighting, a Kessil A150w LED fixture in 10k, upon a recommendation from a friend who has a friend who has them, lol :roll_eyes: I liked the look of the fixture, sort of matched the shaped on the tank. Its also pretty small, so less distraction from the clean look of the tank. HERE's (http://www.marinedepot.com/Kessil_A150W_Special_Blend_LED_Aquarium_Light_Aqua rium_LED_Pendant_Lights-Kessil-YH1111-FILTFILDLP-vi.html) the link if anyone is interested.

[AJ :)]

Nice update. Very interesting light. I haven't heard of that brand before. Hope to get more insight from your experience.

[phishcrazee]

Tank finished cycling yesterday, woohoo! :big_grin: 16 days from start to finish, not too bad........so now the fun begins! Going to do a water change this morning, as the nitrates are ~10ppm from the cycle, then will try and catch my orange skunk clowns from my 75g and add them in. Hopefully, their LTA will follow, lol, wish me luck prying up his foot!

Light came last week, just waiting for some coral in the tank to set it up. Love that the shape looks like a small version of the tank :)
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-8-12003.jpg

Decided I wanted to add some macro algae to the display. They're just as colorful as many coral and *may* help with some nutrient uptake if I'm lucky. They won't be shipped until next week though, as it's a little cold here this week, but the seller let me post his pictures here so you can see what I'll be getting :)

Red grape (Botryocladia) (tall stuff in the middle)
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/macroredgrape.jpg

Dragon Breath
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/macrodragonbreath.jpg

Blue Ochtode
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/macroblueochtode.jpg

Violet Dream
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/macrovioletdream.jpg

Codium (http://marineplantbook.com/marinebookcodium.htm) (just a stock photo)

Also moved the powerhead to the lefthand side of the tank, mainly for aesthetics. The front curved glass magnified it, and although coral or macros may eventually hide it somewhat, it was just bugging me now. Monkeyed with the loc-line and the end came off one end :doh: Can't get it back on either, grrrr
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-8-12001.jpg

Next update should have some LIVING things to see in the tank :thumbsup:

[phishcrazee]

So got the light up and running, I LIKE IT! :) The directions say to mount it 1-2' above the area to be illuminated, but since I have a glass cover on the tank right now, I thought it should be closer, so I have it just 4-5" above the water. I wrote to Kessil asking about placement with the glass cover in place and their reply was that as long as the glass isn't getting hot to just make sure there was some space in between the glass and light fixture. The glass is barely warm where it is now, so cool (literally!), as I'm used to how hot halides run.

I took a little video clip so you can see the light "in action". The LTA and clownfish pair are in the tank now and settled in, as you'll see. The lights are very shimmery and remind me a lot of natural sunlight and very similar to halides as far as brightness. In the clip, it looks a bit more spotlighty than it does in real life, anyways, here it is.......

2-14-12006.mp4 video by faw61372 - Photobucket@@AMEPARAM@@http://vid145.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-14-12006.mp4@@AMEPARAM@@vid145@@AMEPARAM@@145@@AMEPAR AM@@r228/faw61372/2-14-12006@@AMEPARAM@@mp4 (http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/?action=view&current=2-14-12006.mp4)

Here are the orange skunk clowns and their anemone
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-14-12001.jpg

Also bought a pair of antenna gobies, thinking I would get a pistol shrimp for them; seemed like it would be cool to have a bunch of symbiotic relationships going on in the tank. However, I didn't see the gobies for 2 days after adding them, then found one laying on a filter pad in the back compartment (was still alive). I threw him back in, he seemed ok, but I'm kicking myself for not taking his picture, as he hasn't been spotted since I rescued him :confused: Not sure what happened to them, so bummed about it. They were/are very tiny, ~ an inch or so big, so they can hide pretty well, but I thought I would see them when I fed the tank, so I'm assuming they somehow met their end :/
I'm afraid this is the only picture you'll ever see of them, its just the head/face of one hiding under a rock after I first added them.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-14-12007.jpg

Also added a molly a bit before the gobies for algae control. They have a tank of them acclimated to SW at one of my LFS, so I decided to get one, as they're very mellow. Just before going to bed, I saw one of our cats playing with something on the floor near the fishtank :eek:, yep, molly had somehow jumped through the narrow crack between the glass lid and the tank :doh: I gave the cat the boot and snatched up the fish and threw her back in; she seemed ok, only a few torn fins :fish2:
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-14-12004.jpghttp://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-14-12003.jpg

Added 6 small margharita snails and they've done a fine job helping with the diatom bloom I've had. Nothing too exciting happening with them thankfully :thumbsup:

[phishcrazee]

My macro algae came in the mail yesterday and I got them into the tank. They're all small now, but hopefully they'll grow and thrive in the next couple months. They seemed to ship ok, although the dragon's breath is fluorescent orange right now and the blue ochtode is a mauve/purple color. The person I bought them from tells me this is normal and they should change back to their original colors at some point :) I have them wedged in with frag plugs or glued to one as they hopefully take hold of the rock........

red grape
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/macros2-17-12011.jpg

dragon breath (frag 1)
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/macros2-17-12006.jpg

dragon breath (frag 2)
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/macros2-17-12007.jpg

violet dream
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/macros2-17-12008.jpg

codium
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/macros2-17-12010.jpg

blue ochtode
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/macros2-17-12009.jpg

[phishcrazee]

Not a ton of exciting things to post about, but thought I'd update. Mainly doing a lot of little things that need to be done and doing things to make tank operation more automated.........


lengthened the tubing for the skimmer's airline so you can't see the silencer bottle.

Re-clamped and re-postioned the light fixture's gooseneck, so the lid fits on the tank better.

One bigger project has been trying to tame all the wires and organize all the equipment so I know what's what. Bought a Reefkeeper Lite to help things run with less fluctuation.

Also have an auto-top-off that needs to be added into things


I will post "after" pictures of my cord and equipment organization later, but here is some of the mess :blackeye: It looks a little worse than it is because I have been moving things around.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-26-12008-1.jpg

The top-off water tub........it will be hidden behind the tank after I install a shelf.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-26-12007-1.jpg

Since the antenna gobies went MIA, I decided on a pair of bangaii cardinals. After a quarantine, they were added into the tank and are doing fine. I think the current might be a little more than they like, as they hang out in the low-flow areas until I turn off the powerhead. May have to adjust that so they're out in the open more.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-26-12010-1.jpg

The photogenic orange skunk clowns :) Female is the one on top, male below.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-26-12011.jpg

A few shots of the coral. Will frag up the large green toadstool, as it would take up more of my livestock budget than I want :roll: Not the best pictures, but you get the idea.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-26-12003-1.jpg

Some neon green sinularia, the violet dream macro algae frag.....
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-26-12002-1.jpg

A full tank shot. I still have some more coral to add that I fragged and is attaching to rubble in the 75g tank.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-26-12004-1.jpg

Two of the 5 macros I added didn't survive priority shipping, of course they were the prettiest ones, the dragons breath and the blue ochtode :/ The codium, violet dream and red grape seem to be doing fine though. The seller is going to replace the ones that died with something else, we'll see what I get and what I want to add to this tank.

[cbau45]

Good idea with the macro algae. I think this is really going to make your tank stand out. Nice variety too! Keep the updates coming!

[phishcrazee]

Good idea with the macro algae. I think this is really going to make your tank stand out. Nice variety too! Keep the updates coming!

Thanks! I really like the look of macros in the display tank :) Hopefully the next shipment will fair a little better and I'll start to see some nice growth.

[AJ :)]

That light seems to be working real nice on your setup. I was wondering if it was going to be too small.

Awesome pics too! What camera do you use?

[phishcrazee]

That light seems to be working real nice on your setup. I was wondering if it was going to be too small.

Awesome pics too! What camera do you use?

Yeah, powerful little light, happy with it so far, will be interesting to see what sort of growth I get with it.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-14-12002.jpg
Thanks! The camera is a point and shoot, a Canon Powershot SD 1200; I use it all the time :)

[phishcrazee]

Time for another update!

The heater on the tank went kaput, no idea why and not sure what damage it caused. The actual temp. never went down lower than 75.3-4 degrees, but the dial unit had a weird electrical burn sort of smell to it and the actual heater (titanium) had an iridescent burn on the end, not good :/ The company is resending another and I have used their heaters an my 75g for almost 2 years without incident, so I have to think this was just a bad unit(?). After the heater went, the sinularia and the neon toadstool looked wilted and closed up, respectively. Also, one of the cardinal's died :( So it makes me think something toxic may have been released into the water. I ran some carbon and made up some water for a water change. After a couple hours running carbon, the affected coral looked much better.

On the upside, I did get some of the equipment organized better and things better automated. Figured out the Reefkeeper Lite (wow, their manual is of little to no help, btw), mainly from their online forum. I didn't even have any complicated programming either........I have a pH probe I still need to calibrate and install. Here's what I did with the control units. Mounted most things on a piece of wood, then mounted that to the wall. HATE having things laying all over the ground; makes me worried that they'll 1. Get wet, and 2. I'll get confused on what's what in an emergency. So it's looking better, still a work in progress. :)

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12013.jpg

The tiny macro algae frags have been doing well, for the most part. I did get some more to replace some of the ones I lost. Unfortunately, the blue ochtode, which had survived shipping this time around, was somehow blown away last night and of course, I think it was my favorite one. I tried in a last ditch attempt to keep it in one place by gluing it to a frag, but the part that touched the glue died, probably helping the rest of it blow away :cryin: Going to order it one more time, hopefully the third time will be a charm. Going to try something different this time to hold it down while it attaches to the rock, wish me luck, I apparently will need it, lol!

Blue ochtode, note the pink where it was glued; that part is dead. Love the blue color though.....
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12009.jpg

Green gracilaria
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12008.jpg

Violet Dream
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12007.jpg

Red grape bot. Love that all the little "grapes" have grown back and this one apparently doesn't mind being glued down.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12006.jpg

Codium. This is really taking off! Many new knobs and branches forming, love it :thumbsup:
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12014.jpg

Violet dream and gracilaria together
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12016.jpg

[phishcrazee]

Update on the corals of the tank........

FINALLY got around to fragging the rather large Tyree neon green toadstool. Did it yesterday while the kids napped and it took a good hour and half, phew! Tedious work, sewed 19 frags onto plugs, then glued the nylon threads down to the plugs :blackeye: So they're all over the tank right now, obviously going to have to remove most of them at some point, just plan on keeping the biggest frag in the tank and selling the rest.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12020.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12019.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12021.jpg

And the original toadstool, before fragging. Not the best picture to see the size, but it was ~6-7" across.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/2-26-12003-1.jpg

The neon green sinularia. It has a light green neon color to it, but I can't seem to capture this with my camera.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12010.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12018.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12015.jpg

Paly's
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12017.jpg

A little feather duster worm
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12011.jpg

Peekaboo!
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/3-12-12012-1.jpg

[phishcrazee]

Excited that with the warmer weather comes more macro algaes in stock at the few places that really sell them :thumbsup: I placed an order at Gulf Coast Ecosystems (http://live-plants.com/) last week that will come sometime this week, can't wait :big_grin: They finally had some c. barbata in, love the look of that one.

Here's what I have coming:


c. barbata
sargassum
red gracilaria
yellow finger gorgonian
purple sea rod gorgonian


Was looking for something with some height and I'm hoping the gorgonian's will fit that bill. The gracilaria will hopefully find a spot somewhere in this tank, otherwise it will go into a 5g bucket for the time being with a light, heater and a powerhead until I get my other refugium going. I'll be sure to update with pictures once I get things acclimated and placed into the tank............

[phishcrazee]

So the macros and gorgonians came in from Gulf Coast Ecosystems this past Thursday. Shipped on Monday and took 3 days to come from Florida. Everything looked good, temps for shipping were wonderful, with the exception of the snail bag which somehow got punctured in transit and the water drained out :-| Surprisingly, the 13 cerith snails pulled through it all, although they were pretty sluggish for about a day or so. It was quite a lot of work unpacking everything and getting things mounted, took me a couple of hours between all that and watching my two kids :stupidme: Also had to move and acclimate all the little toadstool frags into my bigger tank, as there just wasn't room in this one with all the new plants!

Here are the gorgonians in their shipping bags:
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12005.jpghttp://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12004.jpg

Here are the plugs I use to mount some of the macros......I put a bit of reef glue inside, add the frag, then add a little epoxy to keep them in. Has worked pretty good for most of them.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12008.jpg

The sargassum after I rinsed it off:
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12009.jpg

The red gracilaria
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12010.jpg

C. barbata
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12011.jpg

It took awhile to find the right spot for things and also balance their different needs for light and flow etc. Its still a work in progress, but I'm liking it pretty well right now :thumbsup: Love the fact that I sort of filled up my tank for like $60 shipped :big_grin: I think a pint of the red gracilaria was $8......will have to come up with a final price list here pretty soon, as I don't have much more to add.

Left side of tank
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12021.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12020.jpg

Right side of the tank
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12022.jpg

Some of the c. barbata and the violet dream. They sent a TON of the barbata, so I have it all over the place at the moment
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12019.jpg

The codium and a frag of the barbata that came attached to a small rock. Barbata is not where a had it.......like the look of the two greens together though. The codium is really growing well
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12018.jpg

The purple sea rod. Its currently sloughing tissue, not sure if its supposed to slough as much as it is or if its not happy. The do slough tissue, but I was thinking it was more of a superficial sloughing. I email GCE to ask them about it, we'll see I guess.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12017.jpg

The yellow finger gorgonian; I LOVE this thing :love3: It is cool on so many levels. It has these white flower-like polyps that are out 90% of the time filter feeding, then retract for a bit, then come back out. The base is a bright orange; just colorful and interesting, and inexpensive as well. Hoping I can keep it happy and thriving!
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12016.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12012.jpg

The sargassum. Love the little air bladders all over it that keep it upright. Yes, its BROWN, but I think it has an interesting look :)
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12013.jpg

And a full tank shot. Since adding all these macros, my nitrates went from ~ 5ppm to 0ppm! Normally, I would be thrilled, but in a tank full of macro algaes, ummm, now I'm worried about how I can get my numbers back up, lol :roll: Looking into dosing now and reading up on iron and nitrates etc. I want to see growth continue, but don't want to overdo it. Also added an adorable little cleaner shrimp the same day as all the macros, not sure what in the world I was thinking, adding yet another thing to the tank that day, but he's found his little niche in the tank and is a feisty little fellow. The kids really enjoy watching him :)
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/fish%20and%20coral/3-23-12015.jpg

[carlitofish]

nice looking tank!

[Captain]

Wow that is a great looking tank!

[phishcrazee]

nice looking tank!


Wow that is a great looking tank!

Thank you! Let's hope I can keep it looking that way and hopefully make it all grow :embarrassed:

[Captain]

TRoo DaT!!

[AJ :)]

Loving your tank in so many ways.

[phishcrazee]

Loving your tank is so many ways.

Aww, thanks! :)

[Badfish]

I really like all the different macro,usually I think too much takes away from a tank and makes it look uncared for. But not yours, great job aquascaping all of it.

[phishcrazee]

I really like all the different macro,usually I think too much takes away from a tank and makes it look uncared for. But not yours, great job aquascaping all of it.

Yes! I know what you mean, and I don't think having a bunch of plants in your tank is a reason it should be messy looking :roll: It is getting a bit challenging with some things growing faster than others, some not liking where I put them etc.; very much a work in progress. Need to totally remove the nepthea, as the gracilaria is taking it over from one side and the anemone is annoying it from the other :doh:

[phishcrazee]

Time for an update!

Got a little skunk cleaner shrimp for the tank. The kids (and I) like watching him, and I like having them around for the fish if they should need him. He's only about 2", but has already moulted once.......

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12004.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12018.jpg

Not sure what's up with the anemone, but I have to think it's not happy or was not happy, as it has moved 2x in the last month, each time a little further away from the brighter light. At first I thought it was a flow issue and maybe that was part of it. It was hitting the flow square on after the first move, so I thought it liked that better. It's now off to the left side of where it was, next to the glass and between a rock. I moved the LED pendant up further too, as I had it closer when I had the lid on more, so, so far so good. The anemone has been in its spot for ~ a week now, REALLY hoping it stays put this time! :doh: Each time it's moved, I've had to re-arrange things so it was either not touching it or so a plant could get light etc. That's really getting old though :blackeye: I did decide to remove the nepthea, as it just seemed PO'd with the anemone's antics, so that is gone now and back into my 75g. The LED's are a new thing for me and even the manufacturer was unsure where exactly the LED should be for a LTA, so will just have to keep playing with it until the anemone settles down and seems "happy" again.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12020.jpg

First move. The second move will put it on the other side of the rock to its left. Excuse the microbubbles, another issue I'm working on :-|
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12010.jpg

The macros seem to be doing well, growing, some slowly, other more quickly, some seem to be just maintaining.

Red gracilaria and c. barbata
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12019.jpg

Codium. Love the fuzzy soft outer hairs on this. The snails also seem to love it, as you can see this one grazing on some.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12017.jpg

Botrocladia (red grapes) and codium. Have also had some clumping valonia at the base of the bot., not sure why, but I did remove them.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12015.jpg

The violet dream is looking really nice, wish it was a fast grower, but I'll take what I can get!
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12003.jpg

More in next post...........

[phishcrazee]

The purple sea rod did not ship well, at least that's what we (GCE and I) thought the issue with it was. A day or so after adding it to the tank, some of its tissue started sloughing off. All in all, it lost approximately 40% of its tissue. It was a 3 day ship from Florida to Iowa and they just do not do well with high nitrates for any length of time, so I'm thinking that was it, as I can barely maintain enough nitrate in this tank to keep the macros growing :) Luckily, it seems to be making a good come back. I can see tissue re-growing daily from what was left intact, extending over the bare rods that have lost tissue. This is a photosynthetic gorgonian; it does seem to be doing well under the LEDs and liking the current too.

See where the tissue has been lost, bare "rods". Where the tissue survived, growth is occurring, yay!
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12002.jpg

The Neon toadstool is making a nice recovery after its major fragging. New polyps are starting to come out now along the edge where I trimmed and it seems to be extending its polyps more as time goes on.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12001.jpg

The yellow finger gorgonian is maybe my favorite non-plant thing in the tank :love3: I think its growing too, so that makes me really happy. I've been adding 1/4 tsp of Reef Nutrition's Phyto Feast 2x a day and it really seems to be thriving on it. This one is a non-photosynthetic gorgonian, so it needs to be fed on a regular basis. I placed a small piece of live rock under it so it could be seen more, as it really is a focal point when you look at the tank.

Here it is with polyps out under actinic type lighting
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12026.jpg

Here it is with polyps in, reminds me of a giraffe's neck :) I added a couple frags of some sort of meh zoas, not sure I will keep them in there, but wanted to see how they looked on the plateau there. Looks like some hair algae (which I think grew on the rock before it went "dry") is starting to annoy me, so we'll see.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12007.jpg

Thought I would include this, as I know everyone likes a "Please ID this creature" picture :big_grin:

First saw just one of these on one of the snails shell. Then there were 2, now the snails shell is basically covered! At first I was worried it was some sort of snail parasite, but the snail seems oblivious and in good health, despite the shell hitchhikers, in fact I see shell growth......I have a couple ideas of what they are, but anyone want to ID these for me?!

The base looks sponge-like with a small circle of white iridescent hairs at the top of the spongy ball, aligned in a small circle, with a small hole inside the hair circle going into the spongey material.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12011.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12013.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12012.jpg

Finally, a full tank shot of what the tank looks like right now. You can see where the anemone is now too. Added a blue mushroom to the tree-like rock.

I've been having issues with microbubbles from time to time. It seems to be worst right after a water change or when I change the carbon......REALLY hate them! Right now they seem to be at a minimum.......any suggestions are appreciated! Everything I've found about them online really doesn't point to any one thing and there doesn't seem to be any surefire solutions.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-13-12030.jpg

[redemer123]

your tank is awesome, and if im not mistaken that is a type of sponge on the snails shell. pretty funny :)

[thefishgirl]

Your tank is looking fantastic!! I love it!!!

[phishcrazee]

your tank is awesome, and if im not mistaken that is a type of sponge on the snails shell. pretty funny :)


Your tank is looking fantastic!! I love it!!!

THANK YOU! I'm loving it more and more as it matures :roll: I have some blue ochtode and dragon' s tongue (macros) coming this week that I hope will add some more color, excited!

[phishcrazee]

Trying to upload a few pictures to Photobucket this morning, but Photobucket is not cooperating :doh: Have been working on finalizing the tank stock list, organizing a bit, but I'll have to wait to post pictures of much of it until Photobucket decides I can upload something :shrug:

Our local reef club recently purchased PAR meters for all the regions and I was able to borrow my local regions meter to see what sort of PAR I'm getting in the 29g tank. I had uploaded this previously, so I can share the results here. For reference, the 150w LED fixture is ~3" from the waters surface and the tank in approximately 20" from top to bottom. The readings were a little less than what I was hoping for, but not awful either. I may have to save up my $ for an upgrade soon :big_grin: The numbers have a range because I measured with the powerhead operating, so each ripple of water changes the way the light penetrates the water column.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/ftsparlevels24g4-16-12.jpg

[MizTanks]

FYI~Most beautiful tank!! What a wonderful eye for color you have, I'm totally impressed :hypnotized: Also that's a Pineapple sponge growing on your snail :) kind a funny as it's usually found in the darker areas of our tanks.

[phishcrazee]

FYI~Most beautiful tank!! What a wonderful eye for color you have, I'm totally impressed :hypnotized: Also that's a Pineapple sponge growing on your snail :) kind a funny as it's usually found in the darker areas of our tanks.

Aww thank you, I'm blushing :embarrassed:

[phishcrazee]

Since today is the last day to add livestock to the tank, I took out a few things and switched them so I could add a few others things last night. Added a small zoa colony to the other zoas and paly's on the flat rock in the middle. Also removed the larger neon toadstool for a smaller frag of the same thing. Obtained some blue anthelia and pink encrusting gorgonian over the weekend, both small frags, for $10 each. Will have the final list and prices up here by tomorrow, with pictures too hopefully.

[phishcrazee]

Table not posting quite right, grrrr :mad:

[phishcrazee]

I have the tank stock list with prices........will have some updated pictures very soon :)

Tank Display Item Origin Price
Tyree neon green toadstool, 1” Fragged from my 75g 15.00
Long Tentacled Anemone, lg Moved from my 75g 100.00
Armor of God Palys, 5 polyps Moved from my 75g 25.00
Blue striped mushroom, 1 Fragged from my 75g 10.00
Un-named zoa, orange skirt, green center, 15 polyps Fragged from my 75g 30.00
Un-named zoa, purple skirt w/ blue mouth, 20 polyps Fragged from my 75g 40.00
Emerald green palys, 20 polyps Fragged from my 75g 40.00
Un-named zoas, green mouth, purple & green skirt, 20 polyps Fragged from my 75g 40.00
Un-named zoas, orange mouth, blue body, brown skirt, 7 polyps Fragged from my 75g 14.00
Anthelia, 1” Bought from fellow reefer 10.00
Violet Dream macro algae, 2” Bought from fellow reefer 10.00
Codium macro algae, 2” Bought from fellow reefer 10.00
Red Grape Botryocladia, 2” Bought from fellow reefer 10.00
Red graciliaria, 1 pint Bought from Gulf Coast Ecosystems 8.00

Yellow Finger gorgonian 6” Bought from Gulf Coast Ecosystems 16.00
Purple sea rod gorgonian 4” Bought from Gulf Coast Ecosystems 12.00
C. Barbata Macro algae, 4” Bought from Gulf Coast Ecosystems 10.00
Total 400

[phishcrazee]

Here's a list of the equipment I'm running on the tank......nothing too crazy, but it keeps everything nice and steady. I think I'm going to need a little clip-on fan for the summer months, as the heat has been creeping up a little higher than I want on warmer days, even with the A/C and ceiling fan on.


24g Cardiff Aquarium with stand and standard issue skimmer, return & skimmer pump
Kessil 150w LED light fixture with goose neck mount
Tunze Turbelle Nanostream 6045 Pump
Ecoplus Aquaheat 200w heater
Tsunami Auto top-off
Digital Aquatics Reefkeeper Lite w/ pH & temp probes


There's ~ 10# of live rock in there, as well as the bioballs that came with the tank for biological filtration. The macro algae does an excellent job of removing nitrates and phosphates :) In fact, I just ordered some potassium nitrate today to start dosing the tank, as I can hardly keep enough nitrates to see much growth in some of the macros.

And besides the coral and macros, here's what's living in the tank.


Pair of mated orange skunk clown fish
1 skunk cleaner shrimp
12 cerith snails (they have laid eggs, so maybe more?)
6 turbo snails
Bicolor dwarf angel

[jimsflies]

Looking great! Good job figuring out how to post your budget table too. :)

[phishcrazee]

A few updated pictures........

An almost FTS :)
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-7-12tank001.jpg

Fts.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-7-12tank004.jpg

Some of the macros. Top to bottom, violet dream, botryocladia, codium and purple sea rod (gorgonian). The c. barbata is behind the sea rod. The red gracilaria is not pictured here, but sits on either side of the tank near the back.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-7-12tank003.jpg

Decided to get a little more organized behind the scenes one day. Labeled everything that plugs in......
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/4-27-12nanoupdate002.jpg

Rigged up a little "anchor" with some fishing line and frag plugs to hold down the codium, which would float away from where I had it about once a day :doh: I positioned the codium, then looped the line over the algae and buried the plugs in the sand. So far, so good :thumbsup: You can see the line here, but is barely noticeable unless you look at it up close. I think I'll try and hide it a bit more though, but just wanted it anchored for now.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-7-12pelladubuquetank165.jpghttp://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-7-12pelladubuquetank172.jpg

Anthelia and an unhappy frag of neon toadstool (just moved it around).
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-7-12pelladubuquetank169.jpg

The zoas, paly's and the lone mushroom.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-7-12pelladubuquetank175.jpg

The bicolor angel. I really like this fish :love3: He's friendly. Great appetite! He's always tooling around, not a fish you have to go searching for. And of course, it's got gorgeous coloration. The only drawback so far has been that he ate the little "puffs" that grow on the ends of the c. barbata :-| Otherwise, a great fish thus far. Hard to get a great shot of an active fish, but you can at least see the coloration.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-7-12tank007.jpghttp://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-7-12tank006.jpghttp://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-7-12tank005.jpg

That's it for now, have some actinic shots I'll try and upload tomorrow. Thanks for looking :)

[Tom@HaslettMI]

The tank is looking great! I really like all of the macroalgae you're growing.

Tom

[phishcrazee]

The tank is looking great! I really like all of the macroalgae you're growing.

Tom

Thanks Tom! Its been kind of fun trying to keep the nitrates and phosphates up for a change :roll_eyes:

[MizTanks]

Thanks Tom! Its been kind of fun trying to keep the nitrates and phosphates up for a change :roll_eyes:

Totally agree with Tom, love the macro's :) Tank looks awesome! That angle gots da colors going on!! Lol

[phishcrazee]

Totally agree with Tom, love the macro's :) Tank looks awesome! That angle gots da colors going on!! Lol

Thanks Jamie! It's right in our dining room, so I wanted to make sure it had lots of color, different textures and some movement to draw the eye over to it. It's been tricky trying to get decent pictures of it because the bent glass adds some distortion. Plus there are big windows opposite the tank that reflect light off the glass........I'll get some better ones yet though!

[phishcrazee]

Busy time of the year with gardening, school programs, dance recitals, family visiting, etc, etc, but thought I would add some actinic shots, because some of the colors of the coral in the tank really pop under the blue lighting.

Zoas and palys, actinic vs. daylight:
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-7-12pelladubuquetank084.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-9-12tankmieka020.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-9-12tankmieka009.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-9-12tankmieka016.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-9-12tankmieka008.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-9-12tankmieka021.jpg

LTA and orange skunk clowns. The white stripe down the clown's backs really glows under the actinics:
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-7-12pelladubuquetank085.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-9-12tankmieka017.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-9-12tankmieka014.jpg

The blue striped mushroom, actinic and daylight:
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-9-12tankmieka018.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-9-12tankmieka007.jpg

A front view of the tank with actinic lighting. Love how the little white polyps "glow" under the blue lights, a much prettier I think, or at least a very different look than in the daytime.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-9-12tankmieka005.jpg

The snails have apparently been *busy* :love3: in the tank. I've been finding eggs from both the ceriths and the nano conch's and have noticed a few baby nano conch's, which my daughter thinks are the CUTEST things ever, lol :)

The cerith's eggs:
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/5-28-12miekasgradtheabels001.jpg

I've been experimenting a bit with adding iron and leaving the skimmer off overnight/during feeding time. The yellow finger gorgonian does seem happier, if having its polyps out more means its happy. On the flip side, I see a bit of hair algae around the zoas trying hard to get a foot hold in the tank. I think what I'll do is try spot treating the zoa frags with a 50/50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and saltwater, something I've done in the past successfully (at least with zoas) by removing items with a nuisance algae growing on it and dipping it.

Peroxide as an algae treatment (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2082359)

[phishcrazee]

Hard to believe it's already June, but fun to see how the tank has matured and changed since winter. So glad I joined in on the contest! It has really kept me accountable for doing everything with this tank in a timely manner instead of procrastinating! The result is something I'm proud of and something my family and I really enjoy looking at. It has been a little strange to try and keep a low level of nitrates in the tank so that the macro algae can continue to grow, but in a way, it's a nice change. I had to remove the purple sea rod a couple weeks ago, as it apparently just can't tolerate even low levels (5ppm and below) of nitrate. I moved it to my other tank and it has really taken off, doing much better. Otherwise, everything else in the tank seems to be doing well. Macro's are growing, zoas and palys are adding polyps and the other softies have great coloration. Everything is pretty much automated at this point; so nice to not have to worry too much about it. Tank parameters are very stable, temperature may climb a degree or two on very warm days, but nothing drastic. Will probably add a fan to the top before it gets really hot. A few last pictures......please use the last picture to represent my nano, TY!

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/6-4-1224greeffinalcontestpics047.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/faw61372/6-4-12finalcontestpicture.jpg