Thought I'd formally introduce my newest creation. This 10 gallon tank was born on 1-14-09. This is my 9 year old's tank in his bedroom. I'm happy to instill the love of reefing in him as my father did for me. My dad always wanted a saltwater tank but just couldn't afford it till later in life, a few years before he died (a young 49). Reefing was a great bond for us and provided memories that will last a lifetime. I carry on in his memory

So, this is an acrylic 10g tank made by Clear for Life. I got a GREAT deal on it. I paid $50.00 total for it brand new at the LFS. Included the light...however, I'm not using it of course.

Equipment List:

10g acrylic CFL tank
Current USA 6x18W Nova Extreme Pro T5HO 3-10k/3-460nm Actinics
Stealth Heater 50W
Koralia nano
Koralia 1
AC 30

Livestock:

10lb live rock
15lb live aragonite black sand
1 Firefish
1 Fire shrimp
2 sexy shrimp
1 nassarius snail
several stomatella snails that continue to multiply (love these guys).

Livestock Coral:
assorted ricordeas
1 giant hairy mushroom
mix of mushrooms
mix of zoas and palys
green sinularia
green star polyps
blue clove polyps
1 mini anemone

So far things have run pretty smoothly. I did sadly lose a Yellow Clown Goby. He just wouldn't eat for me. Took little bites and continued to waste away...very sad. The green banded goby replaced him and is doing wonderfully.

I run Chemi-pure elite, pura-filtration pad, and filter floss in the HOB. I change out the filter floss and pura-filtration pad every week. I do a water change every Friday, replacing 20% with fresh D-D H20 salt. I don't add any suplements to the tank...just the weekly water change. My fish eat everyday. Now for some pictures, if they don't work, I'll be trying to figure out how to post these pictures!:

I ordered the 20" 108w Current Nova Extreme Pro Saltwater T-5 Fixture from Dr. Fosters and Smith. They have a pretty good sale going on right now on these. Looking forward to putting it on the tank! I also have some new zoas on the way...will post pics when the new stuff comes in!

i love your tank!!

srry about your dad, glad to see you carried on his dream,

Awesome 10g! your son is very lucky to have you teach him how to reef

I wantz that Speed Racer poster

thanks, and thanks I know he would be proud.


Thanks! I have a pretty big Speed Racer fan on my hands!

wow your 10 is awesome. love your zoas and rics. very jealous.

Very nice zoa collection! You're putting a nova extreme pro over this tank?! Seems like overkill, but overkill in an awesome way.

Thanks! I got almost all of those rics and zoas/palys from reefgardener.net. I LOVE her coral and she is very professional in all ways. I highly recommend her.


Thank you! Well, my son wants a clam so with this light we should be good to go, no? Plus I want to add some montis and who knows what other sps

Got some new things today Got the following new frags: Candy Apple Greens, AOG's, Tubbs Blues, and can't remember the name of the other....Only the CAG's are open pretty good so I'm including a photo of them (will get photos of the others probably tomorrow). All this came from NR'er NVTE. Great guy and great stuff Thanks NVTE!

acclimating:



candy apple greens:



and just a quick shot of my 35gallon reef

nice nano. from the looks of it your a zoa fan

You could say that Thanks!

huh....I just realized that this 10g was started on my 2 year anniversary of joining Nano-Reef...cool!

happy 2 yr anniversary,gena!and sweet new addition.

Thanks! I wonder if these means I'll be starting another tank in 2 years????? I could see myself doing that. Probably sooner actually...I have my eye on a 3g JBJ PicoTope Aquarium!

pico???do it,do it, and put some sexies,pompoms.

I've gotta nurture this 10g for awhile before I start up a new project
But it is definitely on my horizon....I LOVE those picos!

Wow, it looks great! Keep up the good work with it!

Sweet Tank - I wanna start some for my daughters now (ages 5 and 8). The 5 year-old loves my nano, she always has her face planted against it and is wanting to show me things about it.

Love all the corals, I don't have near that many in mine - I'm jealous!

You'll love the Extreme - you have already seen mine and posted to it on the gallery - what a difference from the stock PC's!

As Always,

I am Symbiotic

Thank you so much! I love the look of your 30g Finnex. I look forward to seeing your new FTS when it's back up and running, I'm sure it will be superb, no pressure

looks great!

nice zoas and rics

the 35 looks pretty good too

happy reefing!

Thank you Oh my gosh...kids are the perfect excuse for starting a new tank Lucky for my pocketbook I only have one! He's thoroughly enjoying it! And he loves seeing all the wonderful comments about his tank here!
I'm looking forward to getting the Extreme, yours looks GREAT! I have to go see when it's due to arrive

Thanks PoopCola! Your name cracks me up everytime...I love it Your tank looks great too! I have a yellow leather (looks just like yours) in my 35 that's in the exact same place as yours. My 35 has MH lighting...I'm not so sure I like it as much as T5. The color just looks washed out to me with the MH. The 35 needs to grow out. I've had that tank for 2 years now, but only had the MH on for about 7 months. Now things are starting to grow. I wasted many months with pc lighting.

Cool beans, did I see a mini?

yep, you sure did I love that little guy.
it's got a rock all to itself, so it can start multiplying any day now I was acutally surprised that it shys away from the light. I thought anemones were supposed to love light????? maybe it just takes time. I'm hoping it's offspring will come out in the open more.

Minis are pretty indifferent when it comes to lighting. They don't require very much, so they can adapt to low or high light. Just like any nems, it'll move around until it finds a spot it likes.

Your welcome, thanks thanks as well!! After going to MAX this past weekend (Marine Aquarium Expo here in So. Cali) I'm motivated to get my Finnex back up ASAP!!

I really wanted to go to MAX. From the pics and videos it looked awesome.

well...first of all I have to say I'm very excited to be up to 2 pages! (it's the little things in life )

Got my blue hornets in at noon today, from ekr! They are awesome! They just started to open up...check it out....

blue hornets:



fts 4/8/09:

i like your high fin fish! awesome tank!

That' a sweet ass tank

thanks for the compliments


the new light came in today....what a difference. we've got a lot more light now. 108 watts of it i have a layer of screen over it right now, so it will be even brighter. i don't want to shock anything. can't wait to see the effect this has on growth.

pics:





hopefully you can see the difference.

I love all your zoas!!

thanks PSYS! you have fab zoas too

so i was just looking at the tank as saw one of my stomatella snails releasing it's eggs or sperm or ?????? anyways, the firefish was going nuts over the stuff. must be good eating

Sweet Lights - Enjoy!

hey, thanks! we are definitely liking these

i have new zoas/paly frags on the way some will be for my 35 some for this 10. will post pics of them soon.

also, can someone tell me the code to link my signature photo to this thread? or if not that, just the code to link to this thread, doesn't have to be by clicking my signature photo. thanks for any help.

edit: figured out the link on my own.

love your tank and your corals.. make me wanna upgraded.. haha.. hows your light coming out?

Tank looks great, nice corals you have there..

Oh, I just noticed your in SoCal as well.. that makes the tank even better.

It was pretty cool! Not quite what it was last year, but still an awesome expo no-less! I just realized you're from So. Cali, lol! Check out SCNRS sometime, we're good fun group of local reefers whom all met/started here on Nano-Reef.

So the only thing holding my 30g Finnex back right now is 2 things... First I need to cross-brace the stand, where I live now is big-time quake area, or can be... I'd rather the tank just fall over than the stand collapse under it, though I'd rather the tank actually make it through with only some water lost. Also, I'm considering buying a Solana Disco-ball MH light from off a well known local reefer on here, so if I go that route (which I need to decide on ASAP) then I'll need to also fabricate up a board brace on the back of the stand to mount the arm of the light to. I'd definitely prefer to get that done before I setup and place the tank and stand where it's all gonna be, lol! But keep an eye on the tank thread for it, I should be progressing work very soon here!

Thanks The light is great! I did have to put a second layer of screen on though....it's just so dang bright I really ticked off some of the zoas, but they are mostly feeling better now...except for my new blue hornets...I think I might have done some damage...I'll have to wait and see.



Thanks so much! Yep...I have a soft spot for my fellow SoCal reefer's tanks


Hopefully I'll make it to at least one MAX in the future. I worry about my tanks with earthquakes. My friends tell me that when a big one hits...the tanks will be the last thing on my mind. Well, I DON'T think so! They are not reefers Yay....I'll be watching for your tank thread!

Having been through a couple with my tanks (the first being the Chino Hills quake last July) tank was only on my mind after being a pansy and diving under my desk at work, lol! Wife said the tanks only splashed some water around, but that was it, she was home when it happened and even our dresser fell over nearly 25 miles away in San Gabriel!! The other quake was the San Bernardino one I think back in January of this year, I was close to it as we now live in San Bernardino a mere few miles from the San Andreas. I was looking directly at my tank when it hit in the evening, so naturally the tank was on my mind during that one, lol! Shaking wasn't nearly enough to even sloch the water around... When I get my 30g tank back up, one of the things I'll be doing is anchoring the stand to the wall. As long as the stand stays put, then I'm not worried about the tank itself, it's weight will keep it well planted hopefully.

That all aside, we should be having a local meetup sometime in June. Keep an eye out for info on that.

Sweet tank, like all your zoas.

The Chino Hills quake...I was in my car so didn't feel it. Had a picture frame on the ground when I came home though. Barely felt the San Bernardino quake...I thought it was my dog shaking the couch I'm a midwestern girl born and raised so earthquakes are something very new to me. We've been here for 6 years so haven't felt a big one yet. I do have my 35g tank stand chained to the wall. Not sure what to do about the 10. I guess just anchor the bookshelf, that it sits on, to the wall.
I'll keep an eye out for the info. on the meeting. Thanks



Thank you very much

WOW that tank looks amazing, i love those rics and the firefish! im thinking about getting a purple firewish fro my 20L, as well as up grading my lights to one of those.

hey, thanks I'll have to check out your tank. These lights are bright...be careful! I didn't acclimate correctly and lost one frag of zoas Everything else is ok. I still have my screen on to very slowly acclimate them now.

It's been a crazy morning for me! I found a zoa eating nudi!!!!!! I'd hate to lose my zoas So far I've only seen one. I hope it's not like cockroaches...where there's one there's many more I smooshed the one I found so far.

Make sure you check all your zoas for eggs.. They will be laid in a line that looks like the letter c. If you don't get those out as well, you will have more. If you do see any, get a paper towel and pull the eggs off. They are slippery so don't try to use tweezers or anything because you won't get them.

I'd get some FlatWormExit, make up a batch of that with some SW (in it's own bucket) and then dip ALL of your zoas in it. FWE disinigrates zoa nudies in 90 seconds flat! That's what I'd do about them anyways. As said above, there could be eggs you're missing or can't see, better safe than sorry.

So if the zoas are growing on a big rock do you just take the whole rock out and dip it? The FWE won't kill anything else attached, like mushrooms? This is what I get for not dipping the moment I get them! When you get new frags of zoas do you dip in Lugol's? Does that take care of the nudis and the eggs? I've been dipping them after the fact and I see lots of tiny pods running around in the solution, but it doesn't seem to kill them. I've been doing 1 drop lugol's to 1 cup of sw. The other day I did 2 drops Lugol's to see if that made any difference, didn't seem like it. Maybe I was looking for dead bodies instantly and it takes 5+minutes. I put the frags in for about 5+minutes.

im read all the posts on this thread. i love your tank its beautiful. im sorry to hear about your dad. but you truely inspire me to have a tank like yours someday. i am starting up my first saltwater tank but being patient as possible im reading up and trying to get as much information as i can before i start it up. i love zoas to their awesome i was wondering what kind of corals are the ones in the banner you have in the middle picture they look amazing

Gena, yeah I dip ALL zoas I get, no matter who/where I get them from. I once got a couple flatworms hitchhike on a zoa frag I got and those few exploded into HUNDREDS in no time at all, this was from a very prominent place here which I won't say the name of. It was my mistake for not dipping that piece to begin with, the only one I hadn't dipped in a very long time. I use either Lugol's or Reef Dip when I do zoa dipping upon getting a new frag or colony of them. FWE shouldn't damage your livestock though. Just be sure you put the right amount in whatever you use to dip in and not a higher concentrated amount. Wouldn't hurt to dip in some Lugol's after the FWE, then I usually rinse of under tap water and then place in tank. A tap rinse won't hurt anything either. Lugol's won't kill like FWE does though, so they will fall off, but not die. You could always prep a mix of Lugol's in FW just to be sure. A few minutes in that mix won't hurt your zoas. Let me know if you have any questions about it.

Thank you so much! I'm so happy to hear that I actually inspired someone. I'm inspired everyday on this site...there are so many beautiful tanks. I truely thank you

I did so much reading before I got started on my own. There is so much wonderful information on this site. Things my dad and I did, 16 years ago, are so different than now. We didn't have the internet back then to help us out. My dad actually made his own skimmer...it was HUGE Just do lots of reading as you are.

Those are all mushrooms in that middle photo. The big pink is a hairy mushroom. The ones on the sand are ricordea mushrooms. Zoas are great too. I love them both Thanks for checking out my tank!!

Thanks for all the tips! From now on I will be dipping all that I get in. I had a flatworm infestation about 6 years ago...not fun!!!!