I had a nano 2 years ago then took it down because I moved. Well, I moved again and I'm not going without a nano any longer!

Right now:

Equipment:

5.5 gal Aqueon aquarium (I'm guessing they bought out AGA)
22.5" fluorescent fixture that was meant for a 20H
5 lbs live sand
9 lbs live rock
Koralia nano pump
Red Sea filter
$3.00 glass floating thermometer - (digital ones tend to lose accuracy after a while as I found out in the past)
50w Tetra heater
magfloat


Livestock:

4 blue leg hermits
1 Mexican cerith snail
1 small turbo snail

LR has cycled in a bucket with heater and pumps but now with sand I will give it another week before I test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates etc. The livestock was in bucket after the 4th week

On payday I will be upgrading the lighting to the Nova Extreme T5HOx2 18" as well, and the filter too.


FTS:

I had wanted to buy the rock online, but for this little bit it was easier to get it from an lfs.

glad to see your getting back in

Thank you! It's good to be back =)

Better FTS:

Changed the rock layout. Also note on the bottom the shy lil Yasha guy.

Yasha wanted to be an acrobat and got fuzzy carpet syndrome... I found him stiff on my floor a while ago. I now made a glass lid and got a lil yellow clown goby to enjoy while I just let the tank mature some more. The tank has gone through it's cycle, but I will be making an LED fixture and a HOB fuge in the near future.

Added a DIY HOB-style fuge yesterday.

24 hour lighting is provided by an Exo-Terra screw in bulb canopy. The bulb is a 9 watt (40 watt equivalent) 5500k compact fluorescent screw in bulb. I just want to improve the water quality naturally by having chaeto filter it

more pics of the HOB DIY build please

Don't mind the duct tape. It's temporary and filters the light so it doesn't go into the main display



Top VIew:

The container was the biggest "Click Clack" food storage container that the container store sells. I drilled 2 holes in it, one for a 1/2" bulkhead (intake) and 3/4" bulkhead (drain) on the back of the drain I put a strainer to keep the chaeto away from the hole.

FTS

thats a nifty lil set up, should toss some mangroves in there, thats what I did with mine, but I just modded out an aqua clear 70(i think it was a 70)

Did adding the mangroves help? How tall do they get as I don't have a whol lot of extra room in the fuge if the get real tall

well the mangrove roots are all wrapped up in the cheato and I like that and my mangroves are about 7 inches or so above my fuge right now. but they def help with lowering nitrates I got like 6 in my fuge and its a great lil breeding ground for all my snails and starfish

Total livestock -

- Staghorn Crab
- Pom Pom Crab
- Yellow Goby
- Firetail Blenny
- Yasha Goby and Pistol shrimp combo
- 2 Nass. Snails
- 4 Blueleg Hermits
- Margarita Snail

I waited for him to come out of his hole ni the rock, but he seems quite content being there.

Looks like a lot of livestock, but I made a bigger fuge, which holds over 4 gallons of water... so this 5.5 gallon display now has a lot more water running through it minus the displacement of the live rock and sand. I wont be adding any more livestock, unless I add a hermit or 2 to the fuge to help keep it clean. Now its time to focus on lighting, and then corals and maybe a mini nem . Before a nem though I will be doing a LOT of research.

Almost forgot the FTS

Yasha, Pistol, and the camera hogging Clown Goby.

I like the fact that the pistol and yasha picked the rockwork as their home instead of the sand

Rescued a flametail blenny, but he ripped the staghorn out of his shell (killed it) and nips at the snails so I may be bringing him to an lfs or trading to a local reefer.

FTS:



Livestock:

Pom Pom Crab
Yellow Clown Goby
Pygmy Cherub Angel
Various hermits and snails

Zoas, Suncoral, Duncans

Blenny was given back to LFS for being a jerk
Yasha's fav spot was in the back of the tank so he was given away

Look who's hungry!

This will be the last post... tank was converted into a 10 gal last night