Seano Hermano Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 This is my 29 gallon aquarium...it's been running for 7 months (as of this Thursday). I have no livestock due to the fact that I was going to set up a 75g...this tank sat waiting. Well the 75g shattered because I was drilling it and hadn't realised it was tempered. It's current habitants are 2 dwarf hermit crabs (blue legs) and a bristle worm, which I just found last week. It's been surprisingly clean considering I have not done a water change in several months. I've been topping off and I run a Coralife 125 SS (originally meant or my 75g) which is currently HOB. I don't have a refugium, but I do plan to buy a reactor and will be running WM ecoBAK biopellets. This will be a mixed reef. I just ordered my cuc from Reef Cleaners a few hours ago. it should be here within the next few days. Anyway, here are some pictures of the tank. Enjoy! I had a Marineland Stealth pro heater, but I pulled it out for the summer because ti gets so hot here. I replaced it with a Fluval titanium heater. Here is a FTS in the room. Then I took over the lower half of the cabinet to use for supplies. I took this shot the other day of one of my hermits. I wish I could have gotten closer. I use a Nikon P90; can't afford an SLR right now. Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 I am working on a 10g sump. I just need to buy a return pump and silicone the baffle...and plumb my return line of course. Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 Below, is my planned stocking list... fish: mated pair of pink skunk clownfish - 4" ea. helfrichi fireifsh - 2.5" yellow stripe clingfish (one or two of these?) - 2" ea. inverts: 2 pacific cleaner shrimp 2 pederson shrimp 3 or 5 sexy shrimp squamosa clam maxima clam coco worm bubble tip anemone Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 What do people think of my setup? Not much there..I know. I haven't gotten livestock yet. What about my aquascape? Link to comment
JoelRHale Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 I like the lack of structure with your scape, it looks a lot different from most on here. As for livestock, I've had a clingfish before but it really didn't do much for me. I would caution you if this is your first tank from buying a $100 dollar fish as one of your firsts. Also, I don't know much about shrimp but it seems like an awful lot, maybe someone else who knows more will pipe in. Don't expect a lot of attention, you will get more as your tank progresses and it starts taking shape. Post on other threads and comment on other tanks, most people return the favor. Good luck! What kind of lighting are you going to use? Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 I like the lack of structure with your scape, it looks a lot different from most on here. As for livestock, I've had a clingfish before but it really didn't do much for me. I would caution you if this is your first tank from buying a $100 dollar fish as one of your firsts. Also, I don't know much about shrimp but it seems like an awful lot, maybe someone else who knows more will pipe in. Don't expect a lot of attention, you will get more as your tank progresses and it starts taking shape. Post on other threads and comment on other tanks, most people return the favor. Good luck! What kind of lighting are you going to use? Thanks. It took a while to come up with the current 'scape I have. I have about 5-10 pounds of extra rock and am looking to start another tank with that - maybe a nano/pico tank. Not sure on exact volume yet. I had one fish before..that was last summer. I had it for about 6 months and while I was in the middle of the move to the house I am at now, the Coral beauty Angel died, due to stress. I think the pink skunk clowns will be my first pick for new fish. But I may get the helfrichi later on down the road. I've seen it before and I really like the colors - quite active within the tank as well. Lighting will be BoostLED par30s. I will be using 3 - each with a brushed nickel pendant light and white glass shade. the The middle light will be 40* optics and the two ends will each have 60* optics. All bulbs will be the 4B/1W combo. Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted August 5, 2011 Author Share Posted August 5, 2011 My cuc arrived in the mail today. Here's lots of pictures. Foggy bag. lol. Big snails ...and lot's o' itty bitty tiny snails. Snails... Snails... more snails... even more snails... and even more snails! Finally making the march up the wall! Time for a close-up. Snail orgy. Link to comment
junginit Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 Looking forward to see how this tank turns out! Link to comment
Mecal Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 holy heck you put a lot of snails in! what kind are they? and why so many? I took this shot the other day of one of my hermits. I wish I could have gotten closer. I use a Nikon P90; can't afford an SLR right now. a DSLR will not help with macro photos, unless you buy a lens that has a close focusing distance. The P90 looks like its an "advanced point and shoot" or "superzoom" as I've seem them called. You should be able to turn on the macro feature and get a close up shot. Just make sure there's enough light (your pic looked kind of dark). edit: I just noticed the size of the crab compared to your hand!! it looks like you got quite close as it is. but still, a DSLR with a kit lens could have no have done much better. Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted August 6, 2011 Author Share Posted August 6, 2011 Looking forward to see how this tank turns out! Thanks! holy heck you put a lot of snails in! what kind are they? and why so many? a DSLR will not help with macro photos, unless you buy a lens that has a close focusing distance. The P90 looks like its an "advanced point and shoot" or "superzoom" as I've seem them called. You should be able to turn on the macro feature and get a close up shot. Just make sure there's enough light (your pic looked kind of dark). edit: I just noticed the size of the crab compared to your hand!! it looks like you got quite close as it is. but still, a DSLR with a kit lens could have no have done much better. haha. I ordered the "29 Gallon Quick Crew" from Reef Cleaners. The order called for 26 Dwarf Ceriths, 12 Nassarius snails, 11 Florida ceriths, and 6 large and 5 small-medium Nerite sails; although it's obvious I got way more. John (the owner of the company) always gives you way more than what the order calls for. It cost me $27.40 and all quick crews get free shipping. I got the P90 in February of 2010. I am quite pleased with it, for being a fixed lens camera. Yes, they call them "super-zoom" cameras. The P90 is 12mp, 24x optical zoom with a wide angle lens. It's basically an intermediate camera b/w digital point- and-shoots and the DSLRs. I always use manual focus when I shoot, though I'm sure I could have gotten a clearer shot of those snails, had I used a tripod. I find it cumbersome unfold the tripod in the house whenever I want to take a photo. So normally I just shoot with a steady hand. the camera takes great macros, as you noticed with the hermit crab in my hand, but it's not so good with fish shots and moving objects, like my dog when it runs. I'm looking at the Nikon D5100 or 7000 with an 18-55mm lens (for macros) and a Tamron AF SP 70-300mm telephoto, but I don't have the change for that now...maybe I'll get it layer on down the road. I really like macro photography, and also telephoto shots - really close and really far away. I took this shot yesterday. It's rather yellow because I forgot to adjust the white balance. But you can see all he snails along the bottom of the glass. Link to comment
Mecal Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 oh wow ok. I didn't think that many snails would be necessarily for a 29g. Sounds like a plan, I hear good things about the 5100. I just had to many sure you knew what you were doing, lol. Too many people think DSLR = great pics, without understanding why (or how to use it to its full extent) Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted August 6, 2011 Author Share Posted August 6, 2011 I first started in the hobby about 3 years ago, with this tank, actually. I first had it set up as a FOWLR. I had crushed coral substrate, no protein skimmer; it didn't have powerheads at all until about a year ago. Filtration was a HOB filter (like people use of FW tanks). For a while I had a "Filter Skilter" - it was supposed to be a "filter" and a skimmer in one. lol. I got it because it was inexpensive, at just $60, and as most of us know, that is not the way to go in this hobby. I had 1 coral beauty angel fish. I think it did pretty well for what I put it through. :-/ There were two times I had tried to set up a 75g reef. the first time I didn't have the money and didn't get to even buying the glass tank. The second time (Feb. of this year) I was low on money, but I at least had the tank, stand, and protein skimmer. that build stopped when I drilled a tank which I did not know was tempered...happened late June. So now I am back to my original tank - a tank this is of size to make it easy to care for and also within my budget. In the almost 3 years I have been in the hobby, I have had a single fish and no coral. But that will change eventually. In the time I haven't had much going on, I have been doing lots and lots of research. I actually wrote a paper about coral and light wavelengths. It is title "The Effects of LEDs on SPS corals" - but didn't get to the LED side of things. It was for a chemistry project for school, but my background for it was 8 pages. I think it makes pretty good read on its own. oh wow ok. I didn't think that many snails would be necessarily for a 29g. Sounds like a plan, I hear good things about the 5100. I just had to many sure you knew what you were doing, lol. Too many people think DSLR = great pics, without understanding why (or how to use it to its full extent) I had no clue how many I needed. It seemed like I never really had a proper clean up crew for my aquarium - even with only having one fish. John sells just clean up crews and macro algae - all the 'nutrient export' type of stuff for our tanks. I figured he would know how many I need. Photography is a big passion of mine - I just never got all that into it on the equipment side because - well like most hobbies - it can get expensive, quick. Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 A good friend of mine gave me some of his old equipment he had leftover form other tanks. I now have the mag 7 return pump, which is what I wanted. He also gave me a Reef Fanatics Wave Creator powerhead controller. I fiddled with it a bit, and I think I have it on this pattern: A, AB, BC, C, all off, AC, AB, A. The pulse seems to be about 20 seconds each. I want to get the return pump running right now, but I need to build the cabinet first as my plumbing will change a bit for the new cabinet. I'll upload some photos in a bit. Sorry for the horrible reflection on this last one... Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted September 5, 2011 Author Share Posted September 5, 2011 I siliconed the sump on Thurdsay night...not much to it really, just one glass panel. I am re-plumbing a new overflow line today and I will plumb the return line tomorrow. I'll be leak testing the sump tonight. Here is the new overflow line. So my Coralife skimmer appeared to be leaking onto my wood floor. When I took the skimmer off about a week and a half ago, the floor has been dry since. I just ordered the Hydor Slim Skim Nano protein skimmer to replace the Coralife. It should arrive in a few days. The coralife was too big for my tank anyway. The slim skim nano is rated for up to 35 gallons. http://www.marinedepot.com/Hydor_Koralia_N...IPSISNW-vi.html I siliconed the sump last night...not much to it really, just one glass panel. I am re-plumbing a new overflow line today and I will plumb the return line tomorrow. I'll be leak testing the sump tonight. I also moved my wavemaker controller to the wall. It was getting too cluttered around the tank. Here's what the new cabinet should look like. Link to comment
Squared Posted September 5, 2011 Share Posted September 5, 2011 this tank has potential what light are you going to use? Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted September 5, 2011 Author Share Posted September 5, 2011 this tank has potential what light are you going to use? Thanks! - Going with 3 BoostLED par30s. Two 60* optics and one 40* in the middle. Nickel silver pendants with white glass shades. Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted September 13, 2011 Author Share Posted September 13, 2011 OK, plumbing is pretty much done. I just need to get a bulkhead fitting for the 1" overflow. I'll need to order that online. Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted September 28, 2011 Author Share Posted September 28, 2011 OK, I have the bulkhead for my GH overflow. I've got the box installed on the tank. Mixing 3.5 gallons of salt now to fill the DT the rest of the way. I'll glue the final plumbing while I wait for this to mix. Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 All glued up. Somewhere in all the fuss, I lost the coupling to this union? Don't ask how. I don't know. lol. Filling the tank the rest of the way... Mixing three more gallons. I tossed the pump to my coralife skimmer in the bucket. That worked much better than the pump I was using previously. I filled up the sump the rest of the way and now have the return pump running. Here it is now. FTS...harsh lighting = over-saturated photo. Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 I got two cleaner shrimp today. They appear now to have a growth on their carapace(s?) hopefully it will not reappear after they molt. Was going to get this gorgonia. I'll wait on that. This sounds like a dumb question, but do non-photosynthetic corals need any light at all? Link to comment
Squared Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 i dunno the answer to your gorg question-but your snail has vampire teeth is the sump up and running? Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted October 11, 2011 Author Share Posted October 11, 2011 I like that shot of the snail. Yup, been running for a few weeks. Oh yeah...the tank turned 9 months old on the 4th. Guess what else? The skunk clowns I special ordered over a week ago? I called on Friday (October 7th) to pick them up. The store never ordered them. Link to comment
Squared Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 silly LFS peoples you get no micro bubbles? Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted October 11, 2011 Author Share Posted October 11, 2011 Both my shrimp were bough with parasitic isopods( actually called bopryds) attached to their carapaces (carapi? lol). Long story short - the two shrimp cannot mate as it prohibits the ability to become female. It does also make them more seceptable to salinity swings. Though, it does not harm them long term aside form these two factors. I did not bother to call the store because it is 30 minutes away and they probably weren't going to do much aside from a refund anyway... I could remove the bopryds by reaching through the gill cavity with a pair of fine tweezers. it's quite a bit of work. The bopryds could just go away after a few molts, but it could come back, as well. silly LFS peoples you get no micro bubbles? None what so ever. Link to comment
Seano Hermano Posted October 15, 2011 Author Share Posted October 15, 2011 If I can actually get the shrimp out of the tank...I'll be trying this. No success catching them yet. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2026645 Link to comment
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