I thought that I would finally start a thread on my nano.
Current FTS:
June, 2012
Equipment:
Tank: Standand 29 gallon glass
Light: 150watt Phoenix 14K DE bulb, Lumen Max 3 pendant, Galaxay eBallast
Cooling: Air King clip-on fan
Heater: Aqueon 150watt (replaced due to internal condensation build-up)
Eheim Jager 100W
Circulation: 3X Koralia 425
ATO: JBJ
Filtration:
1. ~25lbs live rock
2. CPR BakPak2+ protein skimmer (Biobale removed)
3. AC50 with Chemipure Elite and biomax filter media (biomax removed) Modified with media basket from InTank in order to run polyfilter before Chemipure Elite
Stand: Solid Oak stand from Great Lakes Aquariums
Canopy: Home made open top oak canopy
Fish:
2X True Percula clownfish, tank bred
Sixline Wrasse
Corals:
Soft:
1X Ricordea yuma
Ultra Orange mushroom, Actinodiscus
Frilly/hairy mushroom, Rhodactis indosinensis
GSP, at least two varieties, Pachyclavularia
Zoanthus
Kenya tree, Capnella
LPS:
Blastomussa merleti
Duncan, two color variants, Duncanopsammi
Frogspawn, Euphyllia paradivisa
Caulastrea, three varieties
Chalice, Echinophyllia
Lobophyllia
SPS:
Montipora digitata (green, purple, red and unknown browned out frag)
Birdsnest, Seriatopora hystrix
Inverts:
Baby bubble tip anemone, Entacmaea quadricolor
2x scarlet red reef hermits
~4x red tip hermits
1x zebra turbo snail
2x cerith snail
other hitch-hiker snails
Background:
This is my second saltwater tank. The first I had in 2002 when in grad school, and this was a 20 gallon tall FOWLR, in which I kept a single oscellaris clownfish. My initial intentions for this current tank was to simply replicate the first tank, but slightly "upgrading" to a 29 gallon. This aquarium has now been up since May 2010. After about 6 months, I got the itch to try my hand at keeping a few easy, low light corals. These included the Kenya tree and button polyps which I still have. About the time I got the first corals I upgraded from 55watts of 50/50 PC lights to 110watts. I was never really happy with the color of these lights, not much blue tint (it seemed the 50/50 PC lights had better color on my first tank, and it is possible those were a different brand). Some corals did OK under these lights. I began to collect some LPS and I think the only way these were kept alive is through supplemental feeding. In September 2011 I had a major set back, which was a partial tank crash. I think what likely caused this was stirring up the substrate too much while trying to vacuum clean it. Interestingly the crash hit the mushrooms and button polyps hard, taking out most them. Of the LPS, only frogspawn looked sick, but it did not lose any heads. Two major upgrades were made in January 2012. One was the switch from PC lights to metal halide. The MH light has done wonders for all the corals. I would never recommend PC lights to any new reefer, although some people seem to have success with them. The second upgrade was from a iron stand to a furniture grade solid oak stand (more of a safety driven change). A third small upgrade was the addition of the AC50 with chemipure elite.
Full tank shot:
January, 2012
Image is a little more blue than the tank looks to eye...still need to work on camera settings
ETS:
Caulastrea and one of the Duncans:
I really like the blue Caulastrea (right)...especially under actinics it has a beautifal, streetlight-like glow to it...hopefully I get a picture of it sometime
Well, that is it for now. When I have more time there are other things I would like to talk about... equipment upgrades and corals and fish on the wishlist...Other challenges I have had with the tank thus far.... Looking forward to your input. Eventually I would also like to have the appropriate scientific name listed above for the tank inhabitants, and I will work on updating the tank profile with that over time.
Thanks,
BC United
PS. the tank name "Window Food" comes from my 2 year old son...I will have to explain later
Window Food
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