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A UK nano is born!


Goby Dick

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Hi folks, new to the forum (except for lurking) and new to nano reefs though I did have a larger reef tank once upon a time. Thought I'd show you all the story so far and invite comments/advice.

 

I mooched around Focus DIY / Maplins etc. picking up pieces as well as of course my LFS. On Saturday 19th I put the hood together including the fan assembly and the next day I fitted the lights. On Monday I filled her up and did a 24h wet-run. On Tuesday I added the live rock and now of course I'm playing the patience game.

 

If a pictures worth a 1000 words then you should be able to follow all of the above in the attachments.

 

18"x10"x10" (30 litres)

25W heater

2 HOB's (total 500l/h)

5kg Indonesian LR

Shallow sandbed

2x36W daylight/blue PC's

2x12V 80mm fans (currently running on 6V)

 

spg 1.025 (IO)/ temp 75f - test kits ready to follow cycling but not used yet.

 

Spotted so far:

bristleworms

spaghetti worms

micro brittlestar

featherdusters/fanworms

tiny snails

many pods

various algaes

IBTWP hard coral

tiny aiptasia (?)... milliput death awaits!

+ stuff where I haven't a clue...

 

Plan to keep:

Yellow goby

A "shrimp"

2 Red leg hermits

2 Astrea

2 Cerith

Mushrooms/zoas

Whatever I can scrape of the sides/bottom of LFS display tanks or scrounge.

 

Enough for now! Hope the attachments have worked. What info. do people normally provide that I've forgotten? What don't I know that I should?

 

Must sort out a sig.! Bye!

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Tim: I'm not looking for a shrimp/goby pair up, no...

 

Can anyone tell me could my tank have cycled in just three days? LR went in Tuesday, its now Friday. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 12.5.

 

The LR had been at the LFS for over 4 weeks and was pretty clean / fresh smelling.

 

Cheers, Ade.

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addam4208283

i guess anything is pos. but i would start buying anything to put in there just in case. i would wait a month or so and if the params are still down then consider starting with stocking very slowly.

thats how i started out with mine, or at least planned it that way, but after the month i was in no rush anymore. i figured that i waited that long whats a little while longer. i think all in all i waited something like three months before adding anything.

hope ths helps.

ADAM

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Very Nice,

 

If you don't mind me asking how much did all of this cost, as I'm in the UK and have no idea on the price of these things - currently a F/W guy. Also where did you find the HOB filters.. can't find them anywhere in the UK, if you have any good mail order links for UK for the equipment etc. please can you let me know.

 

 

Thanks,

Shaun

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Adam: Three months is not happening... I'll happily wait that long for my goby and the corals but I want the cleaners in ASAP. Always loved hermits...

 

Shaun: This has been expensive. I've flogged loads of wargames stuff on ebay to pay for it in full however.

 

Off the top of my head:

 

Tank £16 (lfs)

Hood £25 (focus)

Fan assembly including supply £25 (maplins)

2 Hobs £28 (ebay)

Heater £11 (lfs)

Lighting inc. tubes £60 (net + lfs)

Rock/sand/salt/water £70 (lfs + shirley aquatics)

Small stuff that soon adds up eg. test kits £Millions

 

By the time I could sit back and wait for cycling I think we're looking at nearly £300

 

The price of living in a country where luxury goods cost twice what they do any where else and all corals are brown (at least anywhere within 50 miles of me!)

 

Cheers, Ade.

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An update.

 

It's nearly a fortnight since the live rock went in and readings are still zero for ammonia and nitrite with nitrate 0-12.5. I really think I might have missed the first cycle by not bothering to test in the early days, thinking it was too soon.

 

Coralline is 'purpling up' nicely in a way that took three months in my last tank. Pods are everywhere and I've spotted a few more hitchhikers as well as a luminous blob of eggs...

 

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Some porites (?) that survived transit has already spread a few mm in each direction and I can now see that even the area I thought was bare white skeleton has 'picked up' and now has tiny colourless polyps in each 'hole'. The original polyps are a yellow-brown.

 

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I was starting to get an algal bloom and some tough turf like growth on top so I've brought the cleaners in:

 

3 scarlet hermits

2 tiny blue leg hermits

2 small astrea

2 ceriths

 

They have done a marvellous job but so far don't seem too interested in the gravel, only the rocks. They don't seem to have caused a mini cycle. Both ceriths have fantastic growths on their shells which unfortunately bleached at the LFS, can't wait for them to turn purple!

 

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With 72W and twin fans I'm getting a lot of evaporation so I'm starting work an a DIY top-off using a 12V supply, 2 float switches and a small pump.

 

Further bulletins as events warrant.

 

Bye, Adrian.

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Huzzah! Corals are on the way (postal strikes permitting...) - three months be damned! This might look like a lot of bioload for one early addition but if I tell you that the mixed colony rock is only 4" long.

 

Orange Zoas

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Orange Ricordia

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Mixed polyps with some GSP

Apparently the rock is thin and it should be easy to separate the colonies to spread them around.

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I'm getting 'a mushroom' freebie too which should go nicely with some I've spotted loose in the bottom of a LFS tank.

 

I'll let these settle in, watch for any cycle to pass and then that just leaves the Yellow Clown Goby and chaeto to aquire.

 

Cheers, Ade.

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Adam: Saw you were the last person to post and thought, "Oh no! He's going to want to know what happened to 'three months'" :) Luckily you are much too polite to mention it!

 

I am looking foward to being able to take a fts that looks different from the one the day the LR went in...

 

Love the ric. too. Might want a couple more eventually.

 

See ya, Ade.

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I've had to delay the corals till Saturday for fear of localised postal strikes. :angry:

 

New critters spotted while waiting include vermetid snails and quite a few worms where I haven't a clue.

 

The 'luminous eggs' aren't eggs. The transparent bluish blob of jelly can expel water and shrink to a fraction of its size. No visible mouth, no tentacles; once more haven't a clue! The whole thing is about 6mm across.

 

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I've posted this in the ID forum too. Any ideas?

 

Thanks, Ade.

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Looking very nice, I'm in the UK too so feel your pain on the prices! Loving the DIY hood & lack of equipment, was thinking of doing something similar myself at one stage but my diy skills suck and I know it. I do think a small matching trim around the bottom of the tank would finish it off nicely though.

 

You've got a perfect amount of rock, it's looking a little empty at the mo but once you've filled it with corals it'll be choca!

 

Will be following the thread with interest.

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You've got a perfect amount of rock, it's looking a little empty at the mo but once you've filled it with corals it'll be choca!

 

You would not believe how much rock I put back in the tank at the LFS after weighing and realising the cost. I was so relieved that I had returned it though when I got home and realised I couldn't have fit it all in!

 

And yeah, I've considered a matching trim for the bottom to hide the polystyrene, still not sure.

 

Thanks for the comments, Ade.

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All my corals arrived safely and I am well pleased, :D , the photos below show the corals three hours after they went in; spending their day on the sand.

 

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Finally a photo of what I believe is a baby sebae anemone I bought for £3...

I know I shouldn't but I was told this hitchhiker anemone had been in a low light fish only tank for months, never fed and was half the size it used to be. I figured things can only get better for the poor thing... and brought it on home.

 

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Next post should show the corals in situ and hopefully it might finally be worth a FTS.

 

Cheers, Ade.

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The corals are in situ at last! Not where I wanted them but close enough. 'Holdfast' sucks (and then sucks some more...).

 

We have my new Ricordia Florida with zoos

 

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And my GSP and freebie mushrooms

 

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Various zoos and my sebae

 

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And finally... the ubiquitous (Que?) tank shot!

 

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Hope y'all like, Ade.

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The corals are in situ at last! Not where I wanted them but close enough. 'Holdfast' sucks (and then sucks some more...).

 

We have my new Ricordia Florida with zoos

 

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And my GSP and freebie mushrooms

 

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Various zoos and my sebae

 

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And finally... the ubiquitous (Que?) tank shot!

 

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Hope y'all like, Ade.

 

 

Looking good Ade. Nice to see a Nano in the UK. Where abouts are you?

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Jemram: Stoke

 

Adam:Maybe more zoos. Definitely more ricordia. And... I dunno! I need something for a centre piece. Candies/trumpets maybe? I'm not hoping for the sebae to perform a miracle...

 

Also some chaeto, a shrimp (or sexies) and a fish. The Yellow Clown Goby is still a poss. Blue damsel and single clown are still options too.

 

What do you think? Ade.

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Got up this morning to find this...

 

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Little fella was almost out of his shell for pulling and couldn't budge because the anemone was stuck to the rocks either side of him too. A gentle tickle of the anemone and the rescue was complete.

 

(Yes, I have posted this elsewhere...)

 

Ade.

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It'll be a week tomorrow since the corals went in. I did a 20% change the next day and I've been running carbon for the week due to the stress the zoo's suffered during their separation and installation. One colony was producing a thick, brown liquid by the bucket... :o

 

Anyway, a week later and I thought it was time to check the parameters again

to see if there was any sort of cycle still going on and I'm finally at 0,0,0... my nitrate has gone, making me very happy! :D

 

Used superglue to stick drifting zoo's in for the first time. Did the whole thing underwater in situ and it worked a treat! :happy:

 

My tank is currently hosting Podfest 2006... Amphipods are rampant but Copepods are supreme! My glass is Pod City... they're everywhere, dragging their little egg cases with them, promising more to come.

 

I think I need a FISH! ;)

 

Further bulletins as events warrant, Ade.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok, an update!

 

I bought a nice candycane and a couple of YCG's as planned. :)

 

Candycane:

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Gobies

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I really regretted buying the gobies at first... :(

 

Week 1:

Fight! Fight! Fight! Torn fins and 'sticking' in opposite corners staring at each other. :o

 

Week 2:

Relations still cool. Start to move around and irritate all my corals by sitting on them. All zoos closed for the duration... :angry:

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No, not a reflection... gobies showing disdain for one another!

 

Week 3:

A new accord is reached. Gobies now live at same end of tank. Gobies learn to perch on the new dead coral heads that I have placed around the tank.

Hurray the day is saved! :D

 

Loving my gobies now, character is really showing through. Most of the corals have recovered and things are looking rosy.

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Have chaeto at the back now, ready for a trim. There appears to be a hermit stuck in it...

 

Shrimp next? Then it'll be time for the next FTS.

 

See ya, Ade.

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