jewbilee Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 First and foremost I want to say thank you to the entire nano-reef community. You guys have really helped me greatly through all of my research on the site and I would not have been able to set up my tank without the answers to my MANY questions! Anyway, heres my setup.. 2.5G AGA Standard Deco Art HOB Nano Filter AquaClear Power Filter 20 Visi-Therm Stealth 25w Heater Current USA Satellite 18w Single 3lbs LR 2lbs LS I had to order my light from my LFS so that will be here Thursday which is when I will have them test my parameters as well. I'll keep you guys updated... For now, here's some pics of the aquascape. My camera is not doing my aquascape justice... The main rock on the left has a really nice area carved out in it that I can't really notice in the pictures. I'll try and get a better camera soon to take some better pictures. Link to comment
bluebastion Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 Nice start... and be patient. It will pay off in the long run. Link to comment
jewbilee Posted June 22, 2008 Author Share Posted June 22, 2008 Aquascaping is very nice. I spent a good 45 minutes at my LFS digging through the tank looking for decently shaped rocks small enough to fit into the tank... I like what I did but I'll have to see how it all plays out in terms of placement. And about the patience part. Yea... I go back and forth to the tank atleast 2 times every hour just to look at it and see if anything is happening hahaha. It will be fun watching the tank over the next few days. Link to comment
airangel Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 Nice! I'll be following along to see where this goes. What are your stocking plans down the road, fish? corals? Link to comment
jewbilee Posted June 22, 2008 Author Share Posted June 22, 2008 Stocking is going to be mostly coral. I really wanted a bigger tank with a clown or 2 but due to size restrictions by my apartment, I had to do this 2.5 pico so I can really only run gobys... unfortunately, I dont find gobys all that interesting so the goby would have to be gorgeous for me to get it. In terms of corals, my LFS has some great looking hammer im interested in. I was thinking of getting some GSP to cover that middle rock under the archway. Some mushrooms and zoas obviously. I'll really have to see what I can find. Link to comment
airangel Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 Ah yes....weren't you the goldfish bowl person? The yellow clown goby is sorta cute, very bright in color at any rate, and adorable how they host in shrooms and stuff. Neons are nice too. My plans are to move one of my yellow clowns to mine when its time (& if I can catch it) Corals sound good, about what I'm going after as well. Just using frogspawn vs hammer. Toadstool is interesting as is xenia, and both can give a bit of height to the flatter shrooms and zoas. Do love the way you have the rocks arranged, and I hear you about pictures not doing things any justice. Link to comment
jewbilee Posted June 22, 2008 Author Share Posted June 22, 2008 Yea, my apartment basically said "a bowl with less than a gallon." Pretty stupid if you ask me but whatever... atleast this way I can still have a reef. And yea, with the pictures, the no perception of depth. I'll see if I can borrow a better on tomorrow and get some better pics. The water has cleared up nicely though over the last 8 hours and everything seems to settling in. The only thing with the aquascape I'm worried about is that since the pieces were so small and didnt have much weight to them, they shift around easily. Should I be worried about my CUC knocking over the connection bridge piece? Should I somehow glue a few pieces together? Link to comment
airangel Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 Yep now I remember you. LOL Is that connection bridge one piece of rock or two? I've never epoxied or tied my rocks. Not sure how strong a hermit or snail is going to be to knock them over....is it that shakey? How many rocks in total make up the 3lbs? Also whats the GPH on your Deco Art? Am trying to figure out for my own little Pico Reef (in the works now) and how is the flow you get? Link to comment
jewbilee Posted June 22, 2008 Author Share Posted June 22, 2008 there are 5 rocks total making 3lbs. The two side ones are the biggest with a thin little flat piece connecting them at the middle at the top. The "bridge" has convenient "feet" to rest on the two big pieces but goes flat in the middle. What you're seeing is the widest part, a top down view would show its only about 1cm thick. Everything else is ok. The Deco Art is rated for a 3 gallon tank but does not mention any GPH. In terms of flow, there are little hairs on the larger pieces down at the bottom on the opposite side of the tank that moving pretty good so I would assume its pretty good flow. Then again, I am a noob Link to comment
jewbilee Posted June 22, 2008 Author Share Posted June 22, 2008 Oh yea, anyone have a suggestions for what heater I should get? Link to comment
airangel Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 I use 25w heaters in the small tanks, since usually lites are on long enough to warm things up. Try for one that has the indicator lite so you can see when it does go on. Make sure you look into how long they are, if you aren't planning on using it horizontally. Link to comment
jewbilee Posted June 22, 2008 Author Share Posted June 22, 2008 I just found (to my dissapointment) the filter only moves 15 gph... should I consider picking up a different filter or another powerhead? Link to comment
airangel Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 Hmm are you sure? 15 gph??? That sounds way too low. For sure I'd get something bigger. I just set up my 3.6g with an AquaClear 20 (used to be mini)....100gph Maximum Output: 378 L per hour - Maximum Output: 100 U.S. gal per hour - Full Flow Control: 124 L per hour - Full Flow Control: 33 U.S. gal per hour - Power Consumption: 6 W - Maximum Aquarium Capacity: 75 L - Maximum Aquarium Capacity: 20 U.S. gal - AquaClear is backed by a two year warranty - Flow Control: Simply shift the patented "Flow Adjustment Control" at the intake siphon. When the "Flow Adjustment Control" is at its greatest blockage, AquaClear's input and exhaust volumes are approximately a third of its maximum capacity. Link to comment
jewbilee Posted June 23, 2008 Author Share Posted June 23, 2008 Well, went to the LFS today and bought an AquaClear 20 Power Filter and a 25w stealth heater. Everythings coming together! Heater is working great at 80 degrees and the new filter is definitely moving a lot more water! Thanks for everyones help so far! Link to comment
airangel Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 Stealth is nice cuz its black but is there an indicator lite ? No heater in my pico (yet). Do you find you have to use the AC20 on the low end to prevent sand drifts ? I just moved mine to an AC200 but using the motor/impeller from the Mini....of course on low ..ive got major sand drifts right now from last nite Glad things are working out. Think you're just about set huh? PS...next tank, plan well ahead and go mail order...MUCH cheaper for supplies. Link to comment
jewbilee Posted June 23, 2008 Author Share Posted June 23, 2008 well, like you said, it's much cheaper to go online and order... I found the heater online for about $25 shipped as opposed to $38 which I paid so I went ahead and returned it and I'll order it online tomorrow. Just gotta find out about the reliability of these sites before I order. Every dollar counts to a poor college student Link to comment
airangel Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 Sent you PM with mail order places Link to comment
jewbilee Posted June 23, 2008 Author Share Posted June 23, 2008 Well, bought a new piece of LR today. Some of the other pieces just weren't working out for me so I replaced them with this one and I'm much happier. Heres the new aquascape! Link to comment
bluebastion Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 Looks great. Just remember, adding new live rock or moving around a new tank can reboot the cycle time. Link to comment
jewbilee Posted June 27, 2008 Author Share Posted June 27, 2008 Well, took a trip to my LFS to pick up my light they ordered and get my water tested and today turned out to be a great day for my tank! First, water params: pH: a little low at 8.0 ammonia: 0 nitrite: 0 nitrate: can't remember what he said but within a good range So now with my light on, I'm just waiting for an algae bloom before I put my CUC in. Anyway, heres some pics of the lighting! Link to comment
airangel Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Looking good!! I wish I could create a rockscape like yours in my pico. Link to comment
jewbilee Posted June 27, 2008 Author Share Posted June 27, 2008 little update: I remember talking to someone about cutting the intake tube of the AC20 to sit in the middle of the tank depth as opposed to on the bottom and I did that yesterday. I also remember someone saying their AC20 was kicking up sand and asking me if mine was doing that. Well, I can say that cutting the intake tube to raise the pipe increased flow so much that when I woke up this morning, a wall of sand had built up from where flow had increased. Just letting whoever asked me know that I know have that problem too. I put the flow adjuster at about half way and it seems to be a good compromise In other news, I found some more little critters last night. Couple tiny feather dusters on the rocks. Theres this thing in the sandbed with tiny red tentacles at one end that only extend out a little bit and its red, I'll see if I can take a picture. And, what I thought was like, a tiny zoa on one of my rocks actually ended up moving to a different spot later on last night so maybe its an anemone? Link to comment
Agean09 Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Wow I have that exact tank and that exact light. I like your aquascape- it's really cool looking. Your filter is different than mine, but I have one that Also extends all the way to the bottom. I was tinking about cutting it in half as well and then putting some mesh stuff of the inake. Could I possibly drill some holes in it like a "reverse spraybar" ? Or how would that effect the flow of my filter? Link to comment
jewbilee Posted June 28, 2008 Author Share Posted June 28, 2008 all i did with my AC20 to make the "filter" come to the middle of my tank was take the U-tube out and cut the side that goes to the actual tank a little bit with a razor... the bottom piece fits perfectly overtop and it worked great! Link to comment
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