Your welcome! My flatworms finally died off on their own, but it took many months to do so. Now I take no chances when i get new stuff.

Well...I've been having some heat issues. Last week's heat wave brought my tank temp up to around 85 degrees...which wasn't a problem at all. Now this past weekend it was 66 degrees in the house and the tank dropped to about 76. I had only one unhappy frag of palys. I think there was just too much swing in such a short time. I have noticed that the tank does better with the temps in the 80s. Things open bigger.

So I discovered my heater was rated for only up to 8g and just couldn't keep up. It was a heater I already had. Needless to say I purchased a 50w heater this weekend. Now things are stable!

When I upgraded to a Vortech MP20 powerhead for my 35g...the chiller no longer kicked on! I had this chiller sitting around doing nothing so I threw it on this 10g. I'm hoping when the mp10 comes out I won't need this chiller anymore period. But for now it's keeping things very stable. My temps are ranging from 79.0 to 80.1 throughout the day. That's assuming that my thermometers are accurate...but at least I know I have a very small swing.

Got some new zoas a couple of weeks ago. My favorites are these purple with bright green rings...there are also some green palys and a Superman zoa frag, and a pink, red and blue zoa (don't know the name). You can also see my little frag of blue cloves that I got from el fab! Also a new FTS from today:



fts 04/27/09

Great new pics, Gena.

Yeah, my 10g tank was peaking at 86 4 days straight last week, even WITH a fan blowing on it 24/7... Well by night I'd get down to about 83.5 which is fine because at least the swing was in check. Then a couple nights ago after the wave was over with, I left the fan on during the night and the tank dropped to 73F! All was well though thank goodness!! I was thinking about putting my chiller on this tank as well as I don't believe I'll be needing it on my larger tank which is downstairs and not dealing with as much heat as my 10g upstairs. I hope this won't be a bad summer...

In any event I too notice my corals open bigger with higher temps, 80-82 seems to be good for them. I laugh at people that freak out at anything over 79F!

hey, thanks Ideally I would like to get the tank at a constant 81. It's such a pain for me to synchronize the chiller and the heater though. I don't want the chiller making the heater turn on and I don't want the heater making the chiller go. I've managed to get them both just right at this 79-80 mark (the chiller won't kick on until it reaches 81 in there, that's the max). When it comes to temperature...I see now how a larger tank is easier to keep! These little tanks can heat up so quickly!

I'm glad your tank survived the 73 temp!!!!! That would have freaked me out!!!!

yea temps are hard... but im soo jealous of your zoas care to spread the love my way haha just kiddin

They've got lots of growing to do first

That one I saw after the fact... But 88F freaked me out a couple weeks ago even more because I caught it in action! Everything survived that though too! On my big tank with the chiller, I guess I have that happy medium for temp easy since it's all plugged into an ACjr controller. Heater will never come on unless the controller senses a temp below a certain set level. And even then I keep the ehater cranked to max to be sure it'll turn on when the heater channel kicks on. So Chiller would come on at 81.7, I had a fan come on at 81.3 and then chiller off at 80.5 and fan off at 80.0. Heater would kick on from 78.5 and off at 80.0. In your case, just keep the heater a temp or two lower than the chiller shut off point. That way the swing will be minimal, but each won't affect the other. And it's best to keep the heater away from the chiller return too.

I'm going to have to look into that ACjr contrller! I haven't watched at what temp. the chiller kicks on. I'll have to sit and watch it on a hot day. I've got the heater set at about 79 and the chiller kicks in around 81(according to the dial) so I think I'm set for now. I've still got that one frag of palys that's threatening to melt away.....I hope it pulls through! I gave it a lugol's dip yesterday. I'm not sure if that was a good thing to do or not. Might have stressed it more. Time will tell....

The Lugol's can help or hurt. But give it time, put it where there's minimal flow though. Yeah, I love my ACjr. Definitely the best purchase I've made in the hobby next to my chiller of course, lol!

I just moved them to low flow. I don't know why I didn't think of that myself! Thanks for the suggestion...you probably saved them

Kids are gread excuses to start a tank Grand kids are good also. I'm following your tread think about starting a 10 for my grand daughter. Good Looking Tank

Your or your sons 10 gallon is pretty sweeeeet! I was researching 10 gallon nano tanks around here like crazy for the past few months & I remember coming across yours maybe one or two weeks ago. Tanks like yours & a few others inspired me to see the potential of what a little tank could do!

& thanks for the kind words on my thread. Hope my 10 gallon blossoms into something beautiful like yours in time.

ooooh...that's right, grandkids you have to set one up for her, she would LOVE it There's not a kid that comes into my house that isn't fascinated by the tanks!!!!!

ha....well, it's in his room...but I'm doing all the work his only job right now is to observe it and help me pick out livestock for it! I'm sure he'll want to get more hands on, or hands in, as he gets older. When he takes this one over I'll have to start another...darn (lol).

Thank you so much! And, you are very welcome! I will certainly be watching your tanks undoubtedly wonderful progression.

You're welcome! It's just from experiance.

hey there gena,

im a sucker for a 10 gal, so i checked out your thread and i gotta say its a sweet little tank. quite lovely.

Hi, squirrelieygrrrl!!!
Thanks for the kind words, my fellow 10g'er
I just ooo'd and aaaa'd over your tank. Super nice! I'll be watching yours too

Hi Gena
Just had to check out your tank after your kind words about my humble start. I can see I have a long way to go, your tank is just beautiful.
Didn't you also mention that you have a larger tank and have you started a thread for that one?

Thank you so very much! I do have another tank, it's a 35g. I never started a thread for that one. It's 2 years old now...I should have done that 2 years ago Perhaps eventually I will do one for it. Right now it's really frustrating me! I didn't realize my ro water was registering high TDS...over 200! This from a local business where I was paying for "quality" water...ugh! I've since found a new place. The hair algae is starting to turn brown so that's good news. I also have dino's and I'm not sure what to do about that. I need to do some research.

So far this 10g has been an angel...no algae outbreaks (knocks on wood).

Thanks so much for checking out my tank!!!!!

There's a thread about dinos and a drastic way to get rid of it. I fought that battle before and it's a long tough one! I'll see if I can find you that thread though...

Ok, here you go Gena.
The whole thread in general is a good read, but that post from EZcompany is really the meat of the solution. As with myself, some of the suggestions I couldn't do mainly the kalk reactor part. But don't feed for a few days along with the lights out, and shings should definitely get better, as well as say a 50% W/C. Good luck!!

I just can't thank you enough for all the help you've given me! I read over that thread...lots of good info. I already have the chiller off of the tank and that hadn't been cleaned in a long while. I just spent the last hour +++ cleaning the chiller out with vinegar and lots of water. There was a lot of gunk in there! I'll have to try the other suggestions. I notice when the pH is up (at the end of the day) that the dinos are not as bad. I'm going to go back and read some more on that thread. Thanks again!!!!!!!! BTW...is it Mark? I thought I read that was your name...somewhere????? If it is, can I call you Mark? If it isn't...sorry

hehe close, it's Matt. And you're welcome! I'm just glad I remember where to find this stuff at, lol! Dosing alk (if your's is low for any reason) will also boost up your pH. That's been my experience anyways. I wish that thread was around back when I had dinos...

sorry, Matt at least I was close

I tested my alk the other day.....but it's an older test kit. I might go get a new one today. It showed on the low end.

No worries!

Yeah, I'd get a new kit just to be on the safe side. You want an alk of 9.0 dKH and up... Back when I was having pH problems a half year ago, I discovered my alk at 4.8!!

awwwwuh! thanks.

cant wait for some new shots of yer tank.

Matt is a wealth of knowledge, hes helped me out a few times too.

tc hun.

I suck at updates though!

Aw, your poor 35g! Hope the new place you're buying water at will be quality water. You should definitely start a thread on that tank. Let me know if you do it's probably just as sweet as your 10g!

I posted up a new FTS.

If I do start a thread for the 35g...I'll let you know

Today was my fish tank cleaning day. I do a water change every Friday on both tanks. They always look so nice and clean on Friday. I wish it would stay that way all week long! I may try to post new pics. tomorrow.

do you have a glass lid on top of the tank?

The tank came with an acrylic piece but I don't use it cuz it gets too warm in there with it on. I actually cut egg crate to fit the opening. This keeps the firefish in...but also allows for air circulation.

I snapped a few photos today. You can see our fire shrimp for once, in the FTS. My son named him Blaze. He's a PIG! And he's getting pretty big. We him! I'll be sooo happy when we get our new camera. Hopefully I'll be able to then take clearer photos. Until then.....


FTS 05/02/09



A couple of new frags...green zoas, palys (in front)

Looks nice.

Looking awesome! <3 those rics you've got. Do the bottom of your lights get bad salt creep from just having egg crate as a lid?

loverly gena. new stuff looks great!

thanks. im setting up a 10 gallon soon for my firefish and was wondering about that.

Thanks everyone

I do get the salt creep on the light shield. It doesn't bother me though since the light is so dang bright for the tank anyways. I just clean it every Friday as part of my weekly maintenance.

Whoa, awesome new pics Gena!!

Looking good Gena. Im lovin those shrooms, I need to find a place who carries them. Well, who carries colorful ones.

Thanks Matt


Thanks

I can never find reasonably priced rics locally. I bought all of those online. Check out reefgardener.net. Morgan has awesome corals! I think they are even more colorful in person than in the photos. What you see is really what you get! Even with shipping, the price comes out the same as if I were to buy them at a LFS.

Got your new camera yet? If not, what are you thinking of getting?

Tank is now complete...

no...not yet. My husband is going to buy the new Canon EOS REBEL T1i 18-55mm IS ...don't know what the heck all that means . He's the camera expert. I'm going to learn from him I've always had an interest in photography...but never explored it. Hopefully soon!


tank looks GREAT

Thanks!

sad update ..... I just found Scooter (green banded goby) in the arms of the fire shrimp, and he wasn't being cleaned. It's not going to be a fun day today, after school, when I tell my son. He was eating great, no signs of illness whatsoever. The only thing I can think of is he had a run in with the mini nem????? I've seen him getting awful close to it.

RIP Scooter

On a side note....I actually had a productive day today. I finally got to dremelling my frag plugs so I can stick them to the rock! Not sure when I'll actually stick them on....maybe on Friday.

sorry for the loss

If it's a mini nem, that probably wasn't it... If it was a maxi mini, then perhaps... I had an open brain literally start to eat a naked clown I had, alive!

amazing tank!

im thinking of starting up a 10 gallon soon (my excuse to my gf is that it's a QT tank...i wonder when she will notice that it definitely is NOT). i assume you used the AC30 (i think it was 30) for a HOB fuge? if so, could you possibly snap a picture of it for me? i just wanted to see how you have it set up. I've seen the big AC DIY fuges, but wanted to see if it was best to modify any of the plans for the smaller filter.

thanks


it's a mini nem. I worry about my giant hairy mushroom too!! I think the replacement fish will be a swimmer. Maybe a black&white clownfish or two. Not sure, any suggestions????


thank you I do have the ac 30 but I didn't mod it to a fuge. It's just holding filter floss, pura filtration pad, and chemi-pure elite....I switch out the floss and pad weekly.

I would think the mushroom before the nem... Just speaking from experience of having mini nems.

Eitherway, I'm sorry about your loss of the fish, Gena...