Those rocks have corals, they're cool in the 125. It's all the crappy rocks I'll be getting rid of. Stuff that belongs in a sump, not in a display.

off to acclimate the new additions

bow chica bow bow!

Haha, sounds good then

Change of light. I have this laying around and the 40w Satellite won't work that well because of the black hinge on the versa-top. Plus this one doesn't need new lamps... Similar price too!

Everything looks fantastic and is done acclimating! I put all of the corals in a soap dish since I need to turkey baste the rocks. Hopefully it will be settled enough tonight for pictures!

These 10G contest tanks are going to be fun to watch but everyone else has pics. Where are yours? Good luck in this contest.

I've been sick. This tank was empty until about midnight last night, it would still be empty if I hadn't ordered the livestock for a today delivery. I'll post pictures once the sand has settled, hopefully tonight.

Being sick sux! Especialy when it interferes with your hobby. Looking forward to pics .

Well, none of the coral is placed, it needs more sand and a little more rock still, but here is a picture to keep ya'll happy.



Everything seems to be settling in ok. The gorgonias got knocked over and the ricordeas and the zoas are in the soap dish until the rock work is final at which point I'll glue everything down. The heater still needs to go in the fuge, oh, and the fuge needs setup still! That's not even the AC110 yet, that's the AC70 because it was out and clean. The 110 is in a huge box with all of my other spare aquarium junk. Man there is still a lot to do. Oh, and I can't find the legs to the light fixture.

It's always something.

Hope ya'll like my work in progress.

Oooh! I see a jawfish!!! and nice blue reef chromis too

I like the blue chromis a lot, I've never seen one in person before. The jawfish pair is awesome, I have to get some more sand in there so they can make a burrow big enough for the two of them to share.

This is going to look great

If you have room in the budget, use the halide to really light up the blue background and give the tank some sparkle sparkle.

Can't use the halide, cheapest I can find it online is $169. I think it would look fantastic on there and will probably switch to it once the contest is over if I keep this tank running. The other thing with the clip-on is it won't work with either HOB filter, they're too wide.

Par 38 LED?

That would work nicely, but I'm trying to not spend any money. I have so much extra equipment laying around that I've setup this tank (with 7 or 8 possible light/filtration combos) in it's entirety for free.

Only thing I've bought is the livestock, and only reason I bought that was to get all Florida stuff. All of my spare money goes/is going towards the race car, the 125 gallon, and the new house. Priorities are no fun, but I'd be broke without them.

Gottcha. So I guess I may have jumped the gun. I saw travisurfers post about MH and thought you were looking for a light. Then reading back I see you already have a light setup. Sorry, thought you were looking for something new.

I already have 3 light setups!

No need to apologize, I don't read every post in every thread either.

$148.49

thats too much! Plus this one is much nicer.

$109.99

of course skillz doesnt need one but I figured I post anyways

Thanks! I'll see if I can't re-arrange the budget and the tank to make it work. It's going to take some creativity since I want to keep the HOB filter. I don't want any black powerheads or heaters showing against my blue background, just the clear AC intake.

edit: Looks like using the AC70 and the Viper would put me about $25 over budget. About the only thing expendable worth more than $25 are the jawfish pair. I could put them in the 125...something to consider I guess.

You could either setup a 2x4 behind the tank to clamp the light onto or you could run the light from the side of the tank. $150 is still a huge chunk of the "budget" but I think it would be worth it in the long run.

$36.95 for an Aquaclear 70 might help.

I was thinking the 2x4 thing. That would also help hide all that extra arm length. That helps a little, I could frag the zoas down to make up the rest, maybe get rid of the porcelain crab...

If you really want MH just go with the link I just posted. It would save you almost $40.

I have metal halide, a 70w Viper. That's why we keep talking about budget sacrifices.

The fishneedit lights are in high consideration to light the 125 though.

lmao well I guess I dont read every post either. me=idiot

but I am getting that one for my next tank

Probably not doing the fuge light, so that saves 16. That would still leave the shrimp I have to catch.

Getting rid of the fuge light would definitely help.

Now that I'm home it looks like someone has been giving the chromis a pretty hard time. My guess would be the jawfish. I'll try to observe them for as long as I can tonight before I fall asleep. If it's the jawfish harassing the chromis then they will go in the 125. I'm ok with the chromis as the lone fish in this tank and switching to metal halide, and keeping my shrimp.

After feeding this tank for the second night now, I've decided that all of the inverts are my favorite part. A single flake hits the water and they all come out of the wood work. It's pretty funny. I think I heard the emerald crab chant "kibbles and bits"...

I would keep the jawfish over the blue chromis

skillz - i've got a used 150w MH retro w/ pheonix bulb i'm trying to sell. pm me if you're interested - we can work something out. i can bring it with me next week and skip the shipping cost.

I think I'd rather have something swimming in the water column. Plus the jawfish will be fine in the 125, I don't know how a single chromis would fare against 4 anthias and an A-hole sixline wrassse.

Thanks for the offer D but I don't have any use for a single 150w.

For now I'm just sticking with the PC light. I've grown too attached to the shimmer on the 125. Maybe if I get permanent lights for the 125 before the equipment switch deadline in this contest.

I still may move the jawfish to the 125, just because I think they'd look really cool in there.

It would certainly make things easier in the 10. 3 fish is a bit much imo.

It's definitely a lot, but that is by design to help the softies fatten up. I'll try to decide tonight.

True. I guess you'll just have to figure that one out then For what it's worth, I believe there's some kind of rock anemones down by Fort Fisher that you could try keeping. They're sort of Caribbean

We've decided to move the jawfish.

Jawfish moved to 125. Royal Gramma added.

Woo! you will love the gramma! they are great fish with lots of spunk haha

Your gramma looks nice. I never see anything caribbean here local and I've never had one. This guy was priced awesome ($14.99) and was small, he's like 1.5", so I couldn't pass him up. Especially since I was moving the jawfish. I couldn't have a tank with just one fish in it, I need more movement than that. I'm a fish guy, the corals come secondary to me. Thats why there are so many inverts in this tank, I LOVE the movement.

Pics tonight! I'm leaving work now to go home and play with my glass boxes.

Grammas are awesome!
I have one in my 29. He has a tunnel in the rock he hides in when the male clown is mean to him. He can hold his own against just about anything (aka sixline or clown).

This is cool! Can't wait to see how this turns out.

So... Is there more than one kind of blue chromis?

Yep. There are blue chromis, and there are blue/green chromis. Blue's are caribbean, blue/green's are indo/pacific.

Blue:


Blue/Green:


The pictures I promised yesterday will have to wait until tonight or tomorrow. I didn't get home until late last night. So I didn't mess with the tanks.

Pics?

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=217175

do you have a pic or should I use your current FTS

for the aquascape shots if you did'nt like the one you had PM me a new one

I noticed that you had the Odyssea 24" powercompact set-up on your 10 gallon tank.
How well does it fit the 20" tank?
I want to buy them but I just dont want to get some lights that wont fit.
I hope to hear from you soon.

Need A FTS today after the 16th of this month you will be DQ if no FTS is Posted on the main Thread
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=214206

I'm out. Work is crazy and my other tanks require more attention than this one. I'm moving everything to a frag tank so it can just grow until work settles down in a month or three.

i love the idea!!!!
i gotta try that




well... i would go with it simplicity is the most beautiful!

I've moved everything to a 15 gallon for now. There's a pair of clowns in there I'm holding for a friend. The zoas, ricordea, shrimp and crabs are all doing fine. The gorgonias haven't been very happy though. I hope they make it.


Sooooo....Should I go with a rimless 5.5 gallon or a 3 gallon picotope? It'll be no fish, just the softies and the inverts. For now it'll be lit with the stock picotope light, but I'm probably going to build an LED or buy one of evil's PAR38s. I've also got a 70w Viper, but that would be a little overkill I'm sure.

So, rimless 5.5 or Picotope? Keep in mind that I have a lid for the picotope to cut down on evap.