For February we're featuring PodRod and her 34 gallon nano reef!



Click the picture above to check out her reef profile! You can find PodRod's tank journal here in our Members Aquariums forum. Feel free to post any comments or questions you may have for PodRod, and she'll try her best to answer them.

OOO Very nice!

I want your maxima clam.

Great tank and Congratulations on TOTM.

it aint feb yet!!!!! nah jk! wow great tank! perfect totm!!! like cm said, great diversaty!! wow, what a sweet setup!!! congrats!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Congrats K, beautiful tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations Karen. I am so lucky to live so close to you and see your awesome reef in person.

Heck, I want all of her clams! Super looking tank! I'm very impressed with your equipment selection, you definately didn't go "cheap" on it!

OMG LOVE IT now all i gota do is make mine look like that

CONGRATULATIONS! 10/10

congrats!!!

congrats

Congratulations Pretty Tank

Congrats Karen, you really deserved totm!

I want your tank! But then it would become algae cube #3.

Thanks so much! I really had fun writing up the profile and I appreciate all the compliments. You're right Basser1, I didn't exactly go cheap but hey, I haven't bought new shoes in a LONG time. Good thing my husbands not in the hobby. Every time he walks buy it he asks how much I haved tied up in it. I always tell him a couple hundred...

Kick azz tank. Nice job!

Congrats, Karen!

great tank

Stunning. This is the type of tank that keeps me addicted to this hobby.

Congratulations!

niiiice!! couple of hundred *chortle*

really like the wall growth too! awesome!!

Very nice! Well Deserved! And Congrats!

Congrats! Awesome tank

Congrats!

I have a question on 2-part dosing with the litermeter. Do you dilute each part on different dosing containers? What's your setting on your litermeter. Thanks!

Congratulations - that is a beautiful job. This might just be my fav-o-rite TOTM!

Very nice solana.

Definitely inspires me.

How do you deal with 250 watts beating down on the mushrooms too. Are they scurrying under rocks?

very nice tank congrats

Great tank PodRod is been one of my fav for a long time , hey what are your feeding routines for your SPS corals and what brands are you using? Also what do you do to control your PO4 and NO3? Thanks.

Wow - thanks so much everyone

Kozo - I really don't feed my SPS. Maybe every once in awhile I treat them to some coral frenzy but that's about it. As for the PO4 and N03, I do a water change every week and also use chemipur and purigen. I removed the chemipur about a month ago to see what would happen and I can't tell any difference. Both parameters test zero

Rufousreefer - ha ha, I wish the red mushrooms would scurry away. Actually I only have a few left as I've been slowly removing them. I still have the two big fluorescent leather mushrooms on each side of the tank. They have doubled in size recently and are too big for my tank. I hate to frag them since they are really nice specimens. I'm hoping to relocate soon and if I do, then I plan on a bigger tank.

Reggie - I'm using the two part solutions from Bulk Reef supply and I don't have to dilute at all. The lowest setting on the Litermeter III is perfect for my tank and keeps the params stable and perfect for my tank. I don't think this would work for most nano tanks unless the solutions were diluted but I have a lot of sps and clams that require more than the norm...

Congrats on a well deserved honor! I really like how you got the clams to stay where they are. Very nice tank indeed!

Props on a beautiful tank.

What an amazing tank! The diversity of SPS and clams look absolutely stunning. Congratulations!

As a fellow Solana owner I am completely jealous and full of envy! Your tank is absolutely the best TOTM I have ever seen! I also have a 250W sunpod and don't get the same kind of intense color and polyp extension. The biggest thing is with two pink milli frags I bought which are now COMPLETELY green i don't mind the color change I guess it was from my more intense lighting, But they get very little polyp extension, while my monti digitata frags are really thriving. I would like to get more acropora but are cautious about this happening. Your superman monti is also really really incredible. The one thing I'm really happy about is that today I got a frag of pink birds nest out of the Atlantis Aquarium reef tank, its really cool.

Another Solana question. From your return pumps when its not sucking air (that's when is looks like a blizzard and is actually a dangerous condition) do you have micro bubbles? Mine always seems to have them. Maybe I need to change up the way the middle chamber is with the carbon?

Again CONGRATS!



Another thing I see you have the 9002 skimmer is it worth it? LOL I bought the steveT cup and never got around to buying the skimmer.

I'm not sure what bulb you are using but I have the 250w 14k Phoenix and I noticed an improvement in color, growth, and polyp extension when I switched bulbs. Also, the flow has a lot to do with it. As for micro bubbles, I don't have any and your return pump should not be sucking air at all. I would check the connections closely. I like the 9002 skimmer okay but it's not worthy of the hype it gets....

I also have the SteveT cup and it works great! I no longer use it because I moved my skimmer to the middle chamber so the original cup fits fine now. Good luck with your tank!

Congradulations. This tank is beautiful and that is a really nice write up. Thanks for sharing your reefing adventures with us.

Grats!!!

Awesome tank! Very deserving of TOTM. I was wondering i was looking at you progress pictures, a noticed you moved you clams around a little. I was wondering how you got your clams to stay where you placed them with out them falling over? I have sps tank and was wanting to add some clams. Thanks and great tank makes me want to move from a 150w to 250w.....

sick tank. great color variety! and btw wut r u dosing? jus curious

Thanks so much! I have moved the clams around but I've never had a problem with them staying. As long as they have a good surface with proper flow and light then they will attached themselves rather quickly. I have one now that I would like to move but he is tightly attached and unwilling to go anywhere. I just got lucky with the others and when I noticed them shifting around I quickly moved them before they reattached.

I noticed you're in KY - I may be relocating to the Northern KY/Cincinnati area soon with my job. I know nothing about the area so I would welcome opinions on areas to live and areas to stay away from.

Very nice indeed!

awesome tank!

Great job.

Comgrat on the recognition of TOTM!!! it is really impressive. I also got a Solana and hopefully it could be like yours someday. I love your clams. I have a Crocea and a Derasa and lost a Maxima a few weeks ago. I plan to get a few more added to my collection but running out of rooms:-( If you have time can you check out my thread (http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=182130&st=0&p=2062968&#entry2062968) and any advice is greatly apreciated. thanks pham




http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry2062968

Can you tell me how you have your chamber systems set up? Are you using #1 as a refugium and how are you lighting it? Do you use any chemical media?

Yes please! More information about how you've set up your back chambers and the ATO/dosing systems! We are just setting up a new solana, and I was looking for help on this and found your tank. What a great inspiration! If you have time, I'd really appreciate information on how the mechanics work!

Thanks so much!

Thanks so much for all the compliments! I apologize that I've not been available but I've been out of town and just got back home today. As for the rear chambers I have the heater and chaeto in the first chamber. I had a Picotope that was not being used so I simply used velcro to secure the Picotope light to the back of chamber one and set it up on the ACJR to run opposite of my MH light. It's working great and the chaeto is really starting to grow. I also have the Litermeter set up to feed the CA and ALK into chamber one as well.

In chamber two I have Purigen and ChemaPur at the bottom and the Tunze skimmer at the top. Chamber three contains the return pump, temp sensor, PH probe and the ATO sensor.

I removed the back wall of the stand to allow for air flow for the external ballast and the massive amounts of cords. The ACJR block is actually located in the drawer. The ballast, ATO water container, two power strips, ACJR display, ATO display and the Litermeter III are all located inside the cabinet. I removed the cabinet shelf to allow room for everything.

This is definitely not the preferred setup but I don't want any clutter outside my cabinet. I regret that I did not make a custom cabinet with more room internally and I would highly recommend that for anyone starting out. The cabinet is sturdy - just doesn't offer much in the way of storage space.

I'm playing catch-up since I've been out of town all week but I hope I addressed all the outstanding questions. I also returned a lot of PMs today as well. I appreciate all the compliments and interest in my tank. Part of the fun in this hobby is sharing experiences with others. I've received a lot of attention lately due to the TOTM feature and I'm really having a blast helping others and sharing my ups and downs. This has rejuvenated my interest in the hobby and now I want a bigger tank!

frakin awesome tank love that maxima and the original superman monti

Thanks imalan408 - the maxima was purchased from a local reefer for $20 - great deal huh! The superman monti is one of my favs and is even more colorful than the pics. The polyps are so full that you can't even see the blue underneath at times. I had a accident with it and burned the center but it's recovering nicely.