Sandcruiser's 3G Eclipse

[sandcruiser]

Edit 20 Oct 10 Current FTS (also see last page for larger pic):

 

Current Setup 3 Nov 10 is:

 

Tank: Eclipse 3gallon, drilled in top right corner

LR: about 7lbs

Sand: about 7-8 lbs of live aragonite, with some oolitic sand added, more to come.

 

Aquaclear mini (slightly modded) w/ a bit of carbon and a 2"x1" poly filter

 

Light:

 

• Stock 6w t5 w/ Corallife 10,000K tube. timer: 9am-9:30pm.
  
• 18w nano-customs 50/50 actinic/10,000K bulb run by a 20w DIY ballast. timer: 10am-8pm
  
• Tanks gets some indirect sunlight throughout the day, more in summer.
  

 

Sump: 5 gallon plain old bucket w/ about 3-4gal of water

Return Pump: Petco Power Head "King-160" that moves "160gph (1000lph)" but obviously moves less than that at a 3ft head. I'm guessing.... 100gph. Roughly.

LS: about a pound, in a submerged 'fuge (glass box), also a little oolitic sand

LR: about 2lbs, maybe 3. Also some chunks of dead coral in the sand.

'Fuge light: Ikea 3w LED. Very yellow-- 3,000K? Jansjo Light It is on from about 5pm-10am (reverse photoperiod)

Heater: Ebo Jager heater 50w

 

Critters:

• 1 Antenna Prawn Goby (Stonogopiops nematodes) "Fred" [missing in action as of 19 October, presumed dead]
  
• 1 Candy Cane Pistol Shrimp (Alpheus randalii) "Ginger" [missing in action as of 19 October, almost certainly dead or jumped]
  
• 1 blue leg hermit
  
• 1 purple-striped Astrea snail
  
• 1 white-shelled Astrea snail
  
• 1 "trochus" that has spots- it only really cruises at night
  
• 1 "nassarius" snails that is probably not really nassarius (1 died)
  
• 1 not-really-sure snail that was sold as a nassarius, but isn't. (died in the sump addition)
  
• some little stars--Asterids-- several. Population seems to rise and fall.
  
• some micro brittle stars (at least two that are getting fairly large and another two or three that are very small
  
• some rust-colored flatworms that I am trying to siphon out when I see them
  
• several (5?) spaghetti worms in the display. I keep trying to get some into the 'fuge
  
• several small feather dusters hitched in on the rocks
  
• various pods and microfauna
  

 

Corals:

• 1 pulsing purple xenia frag(died when I added the sump and had a serious pH drop)
  
• 2 knobby brown/green mushroom frags
  
• 1 less knobby redder mushroom (now with 2 offspring)
  
• 1 blue spongy (tunicate?) hithhiker
  
• 1 Favia(?) that probably has a wicked-cool name, it's turquoise and orange(orange seems to be faded to purply)
  
• 1 neon green tipped toadstool leather. Green has faded a little.
  
• 1 hitchhiker anemone that looks like trouble. boiled off with hot water
  
• 1 aptasia - annihilated it by breaking off the rock to which it was attached.
  
• 1 frogspawn. about 4 heads. added 17 sept.
  
• Green striped 'shroom added 26th Sept
  
• tiny plug with 7 or 8 zoanthids added 26 Sept--- now various bits around the tank
  
• even tinier rock to which I glued 2 zoanthids that fell off in transit on the 26th Sept
  
• Blue clove polyp added late October
  
• "Eagle Eye" zooanthid frag (~10 polyps) added late October
  
• Green Star Polyp frag added late October
  

 

Macro Algae

• Green brushy stuff. could be Cladophora prolifera or maybe a type of Chaeto, according to macro ID thread
  
• Some cool looking red macro that hitched in on the LR and seems to be growing vertically- pics to come
  
• Small red macro that hitched in (see pics on page 3)
  

 

 

 

I haven't had a tank set up in about 10 years. My last was a nice little 20g with a 3g refugium and about 5g sump... prior to that I had several different aquariums at various times-- my largest was 85g, the smallest was probably 5.5. My favorite was the 20g that I had in college with a HUGE atlantic anemone and a clown that didn't seem to care that clowns "don't like" atlantic anemones.

 

So after my 10 year hiatus, I just bumped into an eclipse 3g at a thrift store. With the EboJager 50w heater and a thermometer, as well as the stock filter/light it was only $10 so I thought: "what the heck, I'll get a couple of guppies and maybe a frog or some plants. Easy."

 

That lasted.... an hour?

 

Fast forward just a little and I obtained an aquaclear mini for almost free, along with some other junk that I don't really need, but will probably find a use for.

 

With the (slightly) better filter, I decided to go ahead and set up a small salt tank. Bought some water @ the LFS and figured I'd be happy with a yellow tail and a cleaner shrimp, maybe some rocks.

 

To cycle the tank, I picked up a blue-leg hermit. They're nearly bullet-proof, and for $2.... why not?

 

Then I saw a posting on craigslist for some $2.50 live rock from someone's tank that was getting broken down, and $1 live sand. Ok... I can throw another $25 at it. It'll cycle faster. Better for the hermit.

 

While getting the rocks /sand, I just couldn't say no to the $10 frag that had a single green/orange bumpy mushroom and a little bit of purple Xenia. So.... I guess I'm going to have to perk up the lighting

 

And so here I am with a 3g tank that now only holds 2g of water, a power filter that I think might not be enough for the tank, some rock that may or may not be fully cured (it looks awfully clean to have come out of someone's aquarium...) a single little hermit that may or may not find enough grub in such an otherwise empty tank, and the most pitiful little bit of xenia/mushroom that I've seen in a very long time.

 

All in all, a terrifically poorly planned re-entry into reefkeeping.

 

Perfect.

 

here's an fts:

 

 

and a shot of the crab

and the shroom and xenia

[sandcruiser]

... I predict that I'll re-arrange the LR at least once this week

... and hopefully rig up the little 3 blue LED that I've got floating around

... and with some luck I *won't* buy anything more over the next month or so while it cycles. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

 

ps: no media in the aquaclear, just a little sand as I have more than I want to put in the display

 

 

in the works:

1) some blue LED lights to help perk things up (already have the light, need to just wire it up)

2) I may add in a 5gallon bucket as sump/fuge, but it depends upon buying a cheap powerhead

this was supposed to be a $50-total-budget affair. I'm already at $80 and *need* to buy a hydrometer.

[Solarflare8806]

Welcome back to the hobby, hope everything goes well for ya. I just got back into it myself lol.

[bhskicker18]

haha, funny story lol. But thats a nice frag for $10!

[Mr. Microscope]

Welcome back to reefing, and welcome to Nano-reef! Good luck with your new pico. What kind of LEDs do are you going to use?

[sandcruiser]

I've got some 12v LED's from some failed automotive projects, I think that one of them is a 3led "lamp" that is royal blue. Darn ugly in my vehicle, I had ordered white... but should look great on the pico. Won't provide much useful light, I think each LED is not very bright, but it should add some blue and some sparkle

 

I've also got a 1w LED that is mounted in a different form factor. I don't recall if it is 'cool white' or 'warm white' so I'll be curious to check it out

 

depending on how those go, I may also buy some additional LEDs

I'm working on a minimal budget for this build, so I'll be piecing it together as I can.

 

 

 

Welcome back to reefing, and welcome to Nano-reef! Good luck with your new pico. What kind of LEDs do are you going to use?

[sandcruiser]

new fts

changed the 'scape

 

planning a fuge, maybe tomorrow?

will move some LR out of the main tank into the fuge

 

also will move the heater

my goal is to add some water volume and also to make it easier to build an ATO.

 

the fuge/sump is a glass 'tank' that is probably about 1.5 gallons. nothing fancy.

I'll build a simple little overflow off of the main tank by drilling some holes along the top of the back corner and gluing a trough of sorts onto the back panel

 

the fuge/sump will sit against the back, and water will flow from the display into one end of the sump

 

there will be sand and some rock in there, and I'll try to use the stock eclipse pump (anemic little thing) to return water to the display.

 

eventually I may put in some dividers and such, time will tell

 

mostly I just want to get the heater out of the display, and keep the display water level constant, and have somewhere to add top-off water without it hitting inhabitants in the display. Some small additional water flow in the display is a benefit as well, but it won't be much water flow unless I upgrade to a powerhead to return the water to the main.

[sandcruiser]

Tank is coming along. I had vowed to myself that I would wait at least a month before adding more critters.

 

Can I see a show of hands for the reefers who have enough self control to ignore a tank for 30 days? No? Nobody? Oh, thank goodness.

 

I made it 22 days. Not bad.

 

We seem to have skipped over the normal diatom bloom (no objections) and moved straight into a little bit of corraline algae and some hair algae. I'm a little disappointed in the LR that supposedly came "from an established tank". I think that's not an entirely true statement. But the rock did cycle very gently. It's just that it hasn't got much in the way of algae nor hitchhikers. So be it.

 

I do have at least one nice little sand worm (see pic) which gives me hope that there are various others. I say "hope" because the new inhabitants are going to hammer whatever sand worm population that I might have and I'd like it better if the worms had a chance. Time will tell.

 

The hermit clearly grazes, but I felt like he needed some help so I've added a snail that was billed as a nassarius. I'm no expert, but that's no nassarius. More of a turban looking thing. Trocus? In any event it seems to be eating algae. (see pic)

 

While buying the snail, I got to checking out the cool-looking pistol shrimp in the display that had slaughtered various snails (or at least collected their shells) and made it's burrow right against the glass in the display.

 

There was another shrimp (smaller) in another tank, but this time with a great-looking goby. I vacillated for a solid half-hour. Tried to keep to my 30 day rule. And caved.

 

So to my little tank I welcome Fred and Ginger. Fred the prawn goby (S. nematodes) and Ginger the Pistol Shrimp (A. randalii). True to what I've read about them, I've seen precious little of them since introducing them last night, or I would take a picture, I swear. Fred did sleep against the tank wall last night, but when I fed some brine shrimp today, he ate several and swam about, eventually finding Ginger's burrow into which he immediately (happily?) dove and wriggled. Haven't seen him since. But I'm okay with that.

 

I've attached an FTS and another pic or two. The photo quality is lousy. I know. I'm using a crap P&S and don't want to take the time to fiddle with settings. When the tank starts looking a little better I promise to break out the slr and macro lens.... eventually.

 

oops, forgot the snail picture

 

in the previous post, I did get a nice "hermit crab adopting a new shell pic" which is fun.

[sandcruiser]

here's another pic, of the xenia and shroom

 

they are both giving me good extension, but not so much color. I suspect that I need better lighting, and more of it. Maybe adding some more LED's or perhaps a PC bulb.

 

I am also thinking to pull the shroom off and put it on another rock, up closer to the light. Leaving the xenia stranded on it's little island.

 

I also bought some plexi to build a refugium.

I'm going for about 2 gallons of capacity. Which nearly doubles my water volume!

 

I'll move some LR over to the 'fuge and add some macro to it with a reverse lighting schedule. My goal is to lower nitrates, increase water volume, and grow out edible fauna for the goby so that I don't have to feed him as much.

 

I'll also get the heater out of the display.

 

Hopefully the extra water and 'pods will enable me to add another shrimp or fish. I'd like to have 2 or 3 sexy shrimp, but wonder if the pistol will kill them.

 

maybe just a neon goby or something that swims, but is very small.

[sandcruiser]

Fred the Goby

 

Seems to be settling in. Came out today to eat brine. Ginger (the shrimp) came out some also, but when I stood up to get the camera she bailed and didn't come out again until after I had given up. Patience, grasshopper.

 

Fred really seems to enjoy brine shrimp. I need to get some healthier food, but doubt he is ready for any prepared food as he (so far) seems to only want the shrimp that are vigorous. The limpid ones he just watches them go by.

 

The hermit goes ape when I add brineshrimp. Poor thing doesn't seem capable of catching them, but sure does sense that there is food to be had.

[sandcruiser]

It appears that $10 is my kryptonite

 

I was at Aquatic Central in SF for the first time today. And had some good chats with Chris (the owner?) and another guy who was really helpful but whose name I have forgotten.

 

In any event, Chris was sorting frags and moved one particular Acan over from the $25 rack to the $10 rack.

 

Sold!

 

I had planned on maybe a snail. So I got that too.

 

I almost grabbed some zooanthid frags, but trying to go slow slow slow... besides, I enjoy new stuff more when it is the only new stuff that I get.

 

FWIW, I like that store. They have quality and reasonable quality. They have a LOT of frags that I assume that they have made or bought locally (?) which leads me to think that they are tending more towards tank raised than some other stores.

 

So now I've got a nice looking turquoise/orange Acan. We discussed potential names for it, something involving dragons and eyes and flames... but in the end it doesn't matter much to me what it is called. Just hope that I manage to keep in in conditions that help it grow.

 

Also got some Prime Reef food. Not so stoked on it so far-- though I'm happy to see the goby eat it, it looks like it makes a pretty big mess. I guess I just need more filter feeders to absorb it all.

 

(also attached a blurry goby shot w/ the shrimp)

[sandcruiser]

now that (s)he has been in the tank for a five days, Fred spends a lot more time hanging out in view.

 

I fed frozen last night (prime reef) and the goby ate pretty well, but the food size is small and I was concerned that maybe I should feed some more (I don't think that I've got much in the way of 'pods in the tank yet) so today I tried some flake as I had some tetraMin sitting around.

 

Ate it with enthusiasm.

 

I guess I'll buy some pellets or marine-flake sometime. Nice to know I have that option to help keep the Goby fat n healthy.

[sandcruiser]

added a sump!

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=247477

[sandcruiser]

New FTS. Redid some 'scaping.

 

Feeling a need to get some background going-- maybe even just a simple white paper or something.

[sandcruiser]

I'm happy to hear thoughts/criticisms if you have 'em.... I know that this is no great shakes, but... Anyone?

[sandcruiser]

Added a cool neon green leather to replace the dead xenia. Did some re-'scaping. Photos to come.

 

bringing the water level up in the sump--- trying to have at least 5 gallons of total water volume but don't want to add too much water at once after last week's pH funkiness.

[.Newman.]

wow i don't get why your great tank is getting ignored but, here's what I think:

 

Its a great start, and its cool to see that you're taking things relatively slow. I really like your current scape. I am sure that you can build a nice trench-looking scape with different kinds of coral. that space on the bottom left though looks odd to me. I would cover it up with rock rubble so that there isn't a hole there, but two big piles of rock. for the background I would do some thing that has a darker color toward the bottom and a slightly lighter (but not too light ) color toward the top....idk maybe you could paint your own background. I like your livestock choice. the goby should work for a long while until he grows up to be around 2 years old...maybe then he'll outgrow the tank but i am not sure of their max size.

 

anyway keep working at it

[yoshii]

Woot woot for 3g Eclipses!

 

It's kinda weird your tank isn't getting that many comments Maybe because people are too lazy to read longer posts? haha

 

Anyways, looking good so far! But you keep changing the scape a lot, picky?

I would go with a black background

[sandcruiser]

thanks for the comments, folks. I felt a little like I was just mumbling to myself....

 

I like the notion of a lighter/darker background. Never seen one done well- if you have links I'd love to see 'em.

 

the leather is in the front left now--- I'm planning to put something "special" there eventually. But still seeking more stability before I add special stuff.

 

Yoshii-- I've enjoyed several of your threads, I'm glad to see you dropping by this one. I'm super-picky. 'Scaping is my Waterloo. Adding the goby/shrimp has been great for me in that I'm reluctant to touch the one big rock under which they are living. Otherwise I'd move stuff around every day and the tank would never get settled.

 

i think I've found a good pattern for now, but the huge plug on which the leather is glued is screwing with my layout. Once the leather stops being grumpy I plan to make some changes.

[yoshii]

thanks for the comments, folks. I felt a little like I was just mumbling to myself....

 

I like the notion of a lighter/darker background. Never seen one done well- if you have links I'd love to see 'em.

 

the leather is in the front left now--- I'm planning to put something "special" there eventually. But still seeking more stability before I add special stuff.

 

Yoshii-- I've enjoyed several of your threads, I'm glad to see you dropping by this one. I'm super-picky. 'Scaping is my Waterloo. Adding the goby/shrimp has been great for me in that I'm reluctant to touch the one big rock under which they are living. Otherwise I'd move stuff around every day and the tank would never get settled.

 

i think I've found a good pattern for now, but the huge plug on which the leather is glued is screwing with my layout. Once the leather stops being grumpy I plan to make some changes.

Like one that has a dark blue at the bottom and fades to lighter blue at the top?

 

Lol I'm pretty picky about my scapes too, I haven't been happy with my 3gal lately, the only thing that stops me is that some of the rocks (and there's not many in there) have corals glued to them and stuff

 

Why not take it off the plug, rubber band it to a rock or something

[Mitch619]

This is awesome. I couldn't wait a month to add livestock. I cycled my tank with a blue-legged hermit crab and two snails. It took two weeks. I finally added a clown fish, and a cleaner shrimp to my tank. I feel like my tank is over-stocked or (very) close to overstocked. I like how you got all your equipment on an awesome budget. I've spent about 300 dollars on my tank, I didn't have ANY aquarium equipment. So I had to buy test kits, sand, rock, and so forth. I'm hoping to keep this tank running till christmas. By then I want to order a 29g biocube. Anyways, that's a really nice project you're doing. You should check out my tank. It's not as far along as yours in terms of corals, but Hopefully it will soon.

[sandcruiser]

do you have a thread for you tank? add a link?

 

the tight-budget thing isn't voluntary. Just moved to California and still looking for a job, so I've got more time than money.

 

the patience part is easier. I worked in an LFS as a kid and saw toooo many setups advance too quickly, crash, then have the owner say something like "this hobby sux!" when in reality it was just a matter of having unrealistic expectations. "The only things that happen fast in keeping fish are bad things" Good thing to remember.

 

This is awesome. I couldn't wait a month to add livestock. I cycled my tank with a blue-legged hermit crab and two snails. It took two weeks. I finally added a clown fish, and a cleaner shrimp to my tank. I feel like my tank is over-stocked or (very) close to overstocked. I like how you got all your equipment on an awesome budget. I've spent about 300 dollars on my tank, I didn't have ANY aquarium equipment. So I had to buy test kits, sand, rock, and so forth. I'm hoping to keep this tank running till christmas. By then I want to order a 29g biocube. Anyways, that's a really nice project you're doing. You should check out my tank. It's not as far along as yours in terms of corals, but Hopefully it will soon.

[sandcruiser]

I think my 'shroom is splitting. Cool.

[sandcruiser]

Moved some stuff around this week when I noticed some valonia on the leather's plug.

 

Took the leather off and got it stuck into a chunk of LR. It is still grumpy, but I'm hoping that it is just a question of time. Hopefully.

 

Also picked up some macro algae from the LFS. It came with some cool inverts-- mini brittle stars (at least 3 that I have seen) and some 'pods. I've also recently seen what looks like... a gammarus shrimp? Not sure. Will try to get pics if the Goby doesn't get it first.

 

On the down side, it also came with some orange flatworms. I've siphoned most of them out a few times, still working on it. My approach has been to put a brineshrimp net into my sump and siphon w/ airline tubing to get the flatworms out. Gives me lots of time to find them and remove them, without changing more water than I want to change.

 

I've also side-graded my lighting.

I got an 18w PC bulb from nano-customs. 50/50 actinic and 10,000K.

While putting it in, I pulled my LEDs out (to build a new array) and also fiddled with my stock 6w 10,000k t5 bulb. Apparently I broke the little starter. So now I've got an 18w PC instead of 2w of LED and 6w of t5. I It looks brighter and a whole lot bluer. But I miss the LED sparkle.

 

My Acan looks fantastic. Eating well and puffy and pretty. My 'shrooms also look great.

My macros appears healthy after about a week.

 

My snails are active.

 

The goby seems frightened by the new light and is hiding more than before.

the Leather looks lousy.

My corraline seems slightly bleached, I can't really tell if it is just the new light or something else.

 

I've got 'pods all over the place! and almost no hair algae, and very green algae anywhere.

 

Oh, I also got some little stars, Asterinas, I think. They hitched in with the leather.

 

FTS to follow

[sandcruiser]

here's the flatworm (with new macro behind it)

 

 

and the sad leather

 

the acan and my goby

 

 

 

FTS 16 september