Phishcrazee's Nano Tank Build

[MizTanks]

Originally Posted by phishcrazee

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

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

[phishcrazee]

Originally Posted by MizTanks

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:







LTA and orange skunk clowns. The white stripe down the clown's backs really glows under the actinics:




The blue striped mushroom, actinic and daylight:



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.


The snails have apparently been *busy* 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:


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

[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!