Well it looks like I'm back to talking to myself. haha.

Anyways here's whats new:

Going out of town for the weekend.
Then on Monday I'll hopefully be picking up a frag of pulsing xenia and some chaeto. I also bought a soap dish today to make an "in tank" fuge. Hopefully that will help my cyano issues. Which have receeded somewhat by making more flow across the sand bed.

Couple of new things this week.

New coral from Strictly Fish in Lakewood.
Zoas

Bubble Coral

Candy Cane


New coral from Djpaul81
Xenia


and he was nice enough to give me some chaeto as well.



RTS

FTS

LTS


*Notice the new soapdish fuge, hopefully it helps.

That soap dish looks pretty cool as well as your tank. Gl with everything.

Looks great! I feel the same way in my thread sometimes too so you're not alone!

I also had a problem with the red cyano for a long time. I got some various macro include dragons breath and sargassum, as well as some kind of green fern stuff. This really helped to get rid of it. Be sure to siphon it out when you do your water changes and that will speed up the process for sure.

Check out my 10G thread!
-texx

haha. I'm still just surprised someone actually responded to it.

Hopefully the combination of siphoning some of it out, chaeto, and added flow will get rid of the cyano I have. Thanks for all your advice, and most of all response. haha.

The tank is still going good. Not really much new with it.

Just a little story, Today I was doing a waterchange and siphoning out the top layer of sand because I'm battling cyano and somehow I managed to get one of my nassarius snails buried in the sand. I didnt notice him until I almost dumped him into the toilet. Put him back in the tank and he seems fine. Haha.

Moral of the story, make sure you look in the sand you've siphoned for anything moving.

Well, my clownfish decided to jump into the back chamber either last night or today and was killed by the pump. I didn't see him when I went to feed my other fish and thought it was realy odd that he didnt come out for food, because normally he's really agressive and even bites me. Then I noticed that the pump wasn't doing so great and that's when I found him back there. Really disappointed by it.

And there's no comfort in the fact that he died a horribly painful death.

I've seen these going around the tank the last week (possibly more) or so, and finally decided to take a picture. Baby snails. There's probably 6-8. Maybe more not to sure.

Picked up a new six line wrasse (named him Achilles) from Strictly Fish today. They're having an end of summer sale with some decent prices. I think I paid like $13 or $14 for him. Not to bad. I"ll get a picture (if I can of him after he settles down). Hopefully he will get along with the gramma and cleaner shrimp.

Well that six line died yesterday sometime. I found the clean up crew taking care of him when I got home last night. Luckily Strcitly Fish let met take him back and they gave me a new one. So hopefully this guy will make it.

New pictures as promised. Though I'm not sure anyone's following along. haha.

Nice tank - where did you get the soapdish from?

Thanks.


I got it from Target and I took a drill and added the holes on the side and made the holes that came in it bigger as well, so it could get better flow. I think it was like $5 maybe.

Six line wrasse died.


Well the first one died after being in the tank for less than 24 hours and I took him back and the lfs gave me a new one for free. He lasted a few days and died as well. Not sure what's going on with them, but I dont think I'll be getting any more six line's anytime soon.

that sucks that 2 died Are all your parameters in check???

I've been following your thread, I just haven't posted because I didn't think I would have any good info to tell you. I'm jealous that you get to have a tank, I'm in the Air Force and living on base and we can't have any pets. It's beautiful, and I'm sorry you've lost your fishes. Hopefully your luck will change, and maybe by the time I get my own place you can help me troubleshoot problems with what ever tank I get.

Good Luck
Amn Tam

Yeah, it was pretty disappointing. But yeah, everything else is doing great, coral/fish/inverts everything else is fine. I did buy the fish on a sale day so maybe they were just stressed. Who knows.


Well I'm glad to hear someones actually following it, haha. It's to bad they won't let you have any pets on base, but thank you for defending our country...


Anyways, I'll be glad to spread any knowledge that I have but I'm not even going to try and pretend I know as much as a lot of people on here. But your definately starting out the right way, hang out around here and read alot. It's the best advice I can give to you right now. But if you do have any questions I'll do my best to try and answer them.

i'm following it too

Hey i'm following as well im ordering my tank next monday an will be completely new to the saltwater hobby myself. Oh yeah and i'll have tons of questions.... lol

I have a 24DX too and recommend you check into the Sapphire Skimmer. They are fantastic and pull out all sorts of junk. If you are religious about changing the floss a couple of times a week you can continue with that or just dispense with it completely and only run the skimmer. Nanotuners sells them.

srry i havnet read your whole thread but i was wondering if your powerhead (i have the same one) is becoming somewhat of a big pain in the butt? the stupid thing always clogs up and falls off in my tank because the suction cups always fall off of it.

Thanks for following it. I was starting to think I was on my own. Haha.


Good luck with your tank. I'm completely new to saltwater too. Just read alot and hope for some good luck. I'll help you with any question I might actually know the answer to. Haha.


Yeah, I've looked at the Sapphire Skimmer and heard that they work well but I'm trying to decide whether or not I'll actually need it. I'm usually pretty good of changing floss and keeping on top of my water changes. So maybe down the line when I dont have enough time that might be a good investment.


If your talking about the Koralia nano's, which I assume you are, I really havent had any problems with the suction cups. Just make sure you press the pump really far into it until it almost "clicks" otherwise it might fall off. Also, make sure your using the other magnetic side on the outside of the glass, that helps it stay on as well.

Thats why I joined the coast guard, I get to keep my fish tank. U protect us in the air I got you on the land and sea my friend.

CPT.Alexander.

That's awesome they let you keep your fish tank.

Yup,But living here is very expensive for frags, im looking for duncan corals and small frags,over $55 for a duncan head,and $45 for one frogspawn head.

Oh wow. That's ridiculous. I'm sure you can find some local reefer willing to ship it for cheaper. Have you tried looking for a reef club or even craigslist?

Are you running the tank with the stock lighting?

Yea I do my aunts shop, but she gets the same old zoa's and mushrooms,and she always forget to send me some new stuff

Yep. Just the stock lighting for me. Maybe somewhere on down the line when I decide to upgrade to a bigger tank I'll get better lighting. But for now the stock lighting does just fine for the things I want to keep.


Oh thats to bad. You'll have to give her a list or something of the things you want.

Well for those faithful few I haven't updated in awhile because I've been in Australia for 3 weeks (awesome by the way). I"ll post up pictures form the barrier reef when I get them developed from the underwater cameras. Anywho, I picked up a new percula clownfish yesterday and the gramma has been picking on him the whole time, so I'll have to keep and eye on that. The gramma is pretty mean though, he picked on the six line wrasse when he was in the tank as well. So hopefully he'll stop picking on the clownfish otherwise I'll either have to change some rockwork (which I really don't want to do) or take him back to the fish store.

It's been awhile since I updated this. Good thing I've only been neglecting my thread rather than my tank. haha. Anyways I picked up a couple of frags from a local reefer on friday. Let me know what you think.

Acan



Chalice


Also got a frag of a bright pink/orange zoo that I can't seem to get a decent picture of, so as soon as I get that I'll post it up.

FTS


LTS


RTS

Good shots I really like the acan and I used to have that same chalice in my 20

Thanks. I love the color of the acans, it's a really nice purple color. Hopefully I can get some good growth out of everything. Also contemplating the addition of a protein skimmer, still have to read up on the benefits/drawbacks.

I'm surprised someone not only actually read this, but responded that quick so thanks for that too.

Great pictures and I love your setup.

Thanks, that means alot. I always look at other peoples set ups on here and wish I had theres. haha. But for being my first sw tank, I dont think its to bad.

I used chemiclean today. Really hated to resort to this but, I can't stand the cyano thats in my tank right now. So we'll see how it works. Hopefully everything will be just fine.

Doesn't look like chemiclean worked. Then again I only used about half the recommended dose. I used just over 1 scoop, and it calls for 1 scoop for every 10 gallons. I have to do a water change today and I'll siphon out what I can and hopefully it won't come back, but if it does I'll add 2 scoops next week.

Well, so far so good. I siphoned the cyano out on tuesday and it hasn't come back in 2 days (knock on wood). But there is still some cyano that's on the rock my zoas on that doesnt seem to want to come off. I can't siphon it off or blast it off with a turkey baster or anything, not sure what to do.

So, today at school while I waste 2 hours of my life because my class got cancelled and its not worth the drive home to come back for my next one, I decided that I need the Current Nova Extreme Pro fixture in my life. Only problem is, I just bought a tv, so that purchase will have to wait awhile. Haha. Definately like the t5 lighting though, and I'm sure my tank will love it too.

I thought this was fairly interesting. Pictures of my xenia growth. It's definately grown the most out of any of the other corals I have.

9/16/08


2/16/09





I think I'll sell off the original frags, it's spread to everything else so it's not like I need it anymore. Haha.

Keep up the good work and thanks for taking the time to share.

Thanks for the encouragement. I was starting to think I was talking to myself. Haha.




Here's a few new pictures.
Finnley the clownfish




DIY Magfloat Frag Rack




haven't put it in my tank yet, but it feels sturdy enough.

cant wait to see the rack in place!! im gonna follow ur thread now, i like ur tank

Haha. Well thanks. It was really easy to make. Found a thread on here where they made the same rack and thats where I got the idea from. I haven't fragged anything before, so I'll probably start with some xenia. Just because I don't really care if it makes it or not, I have plenty of it. Haha.

New little present for myself should be coming in tomorrow. I can't wait. I'll have pictures of it up tomorrow, if I can.

Great looking tank. I'm in the process of setting up a 12gal and hope to get the results you have. I will be using some of your and ideas and asking for some advice. I have a question about you current lighting, can you give me the specs. You have had great results with it. I will continue to tag along.

Thanks

Congrats on setting up your 12 gallon. Is it a nanocube as well or something else? Which ideas were you thinking about using?...just in case I would have done something different. Any advice you need I'll be happy to help with the best of my knowledge. My current lighting is just the stock 24 gallon nano cube hood which comes is just 2 36W Combo (10,000°K/Blue).


But.....here is my newest update and something I'm really excited for.

20" Nova Extreme Pro T5HO. It comes with 3-18 watt 10,000°K and 3-18 watt 460 nm actinic.



Picked it up off of fellow NR member Whitetigerfish. I'll update with comparisson pictures when I fully acclimate my tank to the new lighting.

It is a Nanocube. It was given to me with only the tank and lid, I had to do some rebuilding. I was considering using your soapdish idea, but mainly I really like the coral selection that you went with. I will be using 2x24w 50/50's due to bulb size limitation with the hood. I plan on adding the water tomorrow, then the sand the next day as well as the live rock. Do you have any recommendations on the order? Thanks again and look to seeing your tank with the new light setup.

I don't know about you, but when I finally got to add water, sand, and live rock I was excited that there was finally something in it. Haha. All of the coral I've gone with so far has done pretty well, except for the leather. I don't know if it was just a bad piece or I did something wrong but that's the only thing I've gone with. Sand, I had ocean direct carribean live sand. I'm not a huge fan of it. It's got a bunch of shells and pieces of rock in it. But I guess you could argue that it gives it a more realistic look, but I dont really like it. As far as rocks go you could either have some kind of idea of how you want the aquascaping to look, otherwise break up the rocks until you get them how you want them.

Setting up the new lights tomorrow. But, I'll be using the window screen method to acclimate everything so it will be a few weeks before my tank gets the full intensity of the light.

I put the lights on yesterday so here's a few shot's of how it looks so far today. Right now there's 3 pretty dark layers of window screen to try and cut down the light intensity. But it already looks as bright, if not brighter, than the stock hood.










Here's my acan with a few baby heads poking out underneath.









I can't wait until a few weeks go by and a I can take all the screen off. Can't wait to see what the full intensity of this light looks like.