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Cultivated Reef

Mr Aqua 7.5 Gallon build


mrkotabear

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Hey guys I recently just started a new nano. It's got 10 pounds of live sand, 1 pound of live rock, 6 pounds of dry rock. I'm running a 50w heater, haven't put my powerhead in yet. Running a 13 w fluval light - recommended upgrades for the light? Par38 I'm thinking. Also running a filter with purigen and a filter cartridge. I'm cycling the tank with Ace Ammonia. Any suggestions on what to do next?

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Also with live stock. I'm thinking a fire shrimp, 1 firefish, a few snails and hermits. Going to try a pulsing xenia as well as some zoas when the tank matures and i get a better light.

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Tank is looking good. BTW, what ever came of your 10 gal tank with the Damsel fish?
I just returned him to the lfs. The 10 gallon had to be taken down because of a cyan outbreak - no RO/DI water.
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This is a good tank..Be careful and be patient and you will have a beautiful reef.

Also, the best light you could have for your size tank is what i just ordered.

A Nano Box Mini Tide with the Storm controller. Dave Fason at Nano Box is great to work with and all the lights are hand made in North Carolina. Best lights on the planet although pricey at 300.00.

 

If thats beyond your means, do what i did until i could afford one and use a "Coral Compulsion" par 38 for about 90.00 and get any standard desktop type light fixture.

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Spiderguardnano

No one ever just stays with 1 or 2 softies they always ended up wanting something else trust me and just get a good light and not have to upgrade. Looks for used kessil 150

 

2 of those IM lights are already 2 bills

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey guys my cycle finally finished on time! i'm loving it. I added a few more pieces of live rock! Just yesterday i added a Firefish! i'm loving him so far, i drip acclimated him, and hes doing wonderful!. Always swimming in the day, and goes into his little "cave" at night. He's so pretty and fun to watch. I also added my maxi jet 400, and also added a custom piece of acrylic on top so he doesn't jump. I'm going through the dreaded diatom outbreak and i'm thinking of adding a Diamond Goby next month? or would that be too big? even if i kept on the maintenance? Tomorrow i'll be adding part of my CUC. A Fire Shrimp, 1 turbo, 2 other snails, and a few hermit crabs. Any suggestions besides the lighting. Needing to get my nitrates down tonight when i go grab some more water. Here's my levels.

 

Ammonia: 0 ppm

Nitrite: 0 ppm

Nitrate: 40 ppm

Calicum: 440 i think?

Phosphates: 0 I think? Not sure i will re test.

No AK test

and finally Salinity at 1.025 ppm.



Also! The Firefish ate this morning! I've never had a fish eat the first day! I love it, he must be loving my water quality;) So glad i took the time and did it right this time! Thanks!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I've got a few new things in the tank :)

1 Blood Fireshrimp

1 Clown Goby

4 Red Legged Hermit Crabs

 

Everything is doing so good! I will be getting my new light on Monday and will be getting my first coral next week:)



The goby



Oh yeah and the coraline algae is starting to grow! it's now green and is getting purple in some spots! it's great!

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How long did it take for your coraline algae to start growing out for you?

Well there's been some already grown coraline on the live rock. But it's just starting to become alive on the dry rock. So Id say about 2-3 months.

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  • 2 weeks later...

New update! just got my par30 from Coral Compulsion i'm impressed with the colors. But i'm not sure if i'm getting a disco ball effect? it's about 11 inches off the tank and i'm getting what looks to be a lot of shimmer. Can anybody explain?

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I think it looks awesome.

 

Also, what are your stocking plans?

Thanks! i'm not sure yet, I think i'm going to start out with some mushrooms and a small birds nest sps frag that i can get for free. All my levels are good.

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I mean i know SPS's are hard to grow, but if i put this at the top of the tank and with the light and how small my tank is i think i can do it. If not i can give it back if i notice big changes.

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Very nice. Yeah, definitely need some stronger light for that, but that's generally pretty cheap (the bird's nest). If it doesn't work, no real loss!

 

Make sure you post pics!

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So i finally went ahead and just got the two! The frag was bigger than i expected, but free is free:) They acclimated for about a half hour and bag floated for about 15. So far they look good! any suggestions?



Very nice. Yeah, definitely need some stronger light for that, but that's generally pretty cheap (the bird's nest). If it doesn't work, no real loss!

 

Make sure you post pics!

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New update: sorry for the iPhone picture this is during feeding time but everyone is doing great! Colors are great the clown goby is now a hog! And the corals are opening and they are happy. So I'm happy :D

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New update! just got my par30 from Coral Compulsion i'm impressed with the colors. But i'm not sure if i'm getting a disco ball effect? it's about 11 inches off the tank and i'm getting what looks to be a lot of shimmer. Can anybody explain?

In regards to the disco ball effect. did you have lenses put on? 60?90?120? usually disco-balling comes from the lights being too concentrated in certain areas and not "blending" properly, giving you the crazy shimmer. overtime, as corals adjust, you can lower the light closer to the tank. I am planning on using a par30 18k from them on my 6 gallon build and putting it maybe 10" above the water? still playing around with that. I would play around with lowering it and seeing you can fix it. it doesn't look too bad though

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