Sanbed's Custom Nano

[SandBed]

Thank you. Just trying to get into a regular maintenance schedule, and figure out dosing and feeding to keep everything stable.

[Hexadron]

Updates?

[SandBed]

Sorry it has been a little while since I did an update. The tank is in that awkward moment where lots of algae is blooming, and I am trying to get a dosing regiment in place (Calcium and carbonate). Will be doing some additional testing today. My Mandarin golby is still alive and eating the mysis shrimp eagerly when fed. The only issue is it looks like she has some fin rot.... other fish are fine. However she is active around the tank, so if there are any suggestions on that I would be happy to hear them. The other sad news is that my clown jumped out today. Came home from school and found him dried up on the floor..... He was a very active fish to watch so it is pretty unfortunate. Possibly look into getting a screen top for the tank.

 

 

My other issue was overfeeding as I was trying to ensure that there was extra mysis shrimp for the mandarin to find and eat. I am feeding less now that the mandarin is actively eating right away.

[SandBed]

Updates?

Here are a couple pictures in better light of the tank. Only change from this is a few more frags I bought today as well as changing in a black PVC pipe for the drain that I painted black a week ago and let cure for 7 days.

 

 

[SandBed]

So in Canada it is not our Thanksgiving weekend, however Black Friday sales have worked their way north of the border in a milder form. A local frag dealer was selling Zoas on BOGO so I ended up buy 11 zoa frags as well as a Kenya Tree frag. I really like the colors I was able to get and am looking forward to them growing out more. Also in the pictures you get to see my Mandarin golby. She is happily eating frozen mysis shrimp and doing well. Her fin has also improved since my earlier post.

 

 

 

 

 

[SandBed]

Good luck with the mandarin

So The mandarin is doing really well. She had some fin rot initially, but it has improved and is almost gone. I think it may have helped that my clown jumped out of the tank as it decreased the number of inhabitants. It is also feeding well, just need to figure out whats going to happen when I go on vacation at Christmas time. I am thinking I might try to train it to eat pellets, so that I can set up and use an automated feeder. Otherwise the mandarin is very curious and always inspects new additions to the tanks. She is fun to watch and has a pleasant personality.

 

Awesome setup and great equipment!

Thanks. I am happy with everything, except maybe the light. I ended up going the China route to try to save a bit, but think I might invest in a Radion if the new generation comes out soon. Would have more and better control over the spectrum. I also like that it tells you when you are in the 20000K or 15000K range etc.

[SandBed]

Very cute

Very cute

Thanks ?

[SandBed]

So I am currently trying to train my mandarin to accept pellets. I am submerging a small glass jar int the tank with pellets in it, and my mandarin nibbled one so I figure that's good sign. Maybe she is eating when I am not looking. My six line wrasse is amusing though, he slowly makes his way in out one taking one pellet with him each time then promptly spitting out out into the main tank.

[SandBed]

Just got my new Kessil A160 (x2) lights with the new spectral controller. The light they are putting off looks great so far. If anyone has suggestions for a lighting schedule etc. please post them here. Pictures to come soon.

[GHill762]

sharp looking tank SandBed!

[SandBed]

sharp looking tank SandBed!

Thank you! It's a work in progress, but I am enjoying this tank a lot.

[hey]

Tanks looking good, sounds like things are a little more stable now too heh. Looking forward to pics of the dual a160's. I had an a150 on a 22 I really liked.

[SandBed]

Tanks looking good, sounds like things are a little more stable now too heh. Looking forward to pics of the dual a160's. I had an a150 on a 22 I really liked.

lol thanks, it is definitely more stable now and appears to be doing well. The corals are generally doing well, though the SPS are still not great, hoping that the new lights will help out with that. I have a chalice as well that I thought was dead but it has bright green spots that have come back recently.

 

 

Here is a quick pic I grabbed on my phone. I need to clean up cords and all that but they look good.

 

Not sure if I mentioned this, but I recently decided to remove my hermit crabs from the tank, this will remove the need to have extra shells laying around the tanks, as well as the possibility of them attacking any of my snails.

 

I also added some turbo snails to the tank to tackle my algae growth. They are working wonders so far. Once the algae is stable i will probably remove them one at a time until I reach a balance for long term maintenance.

[hey]

I dig the look of 2 small pendants over a tank. I do miss my old 150 but didn't really have a use for it anymore. Good luck with the sps, I am not commited enough to keep it imo lol.

[jabeuy]

Nice tank! And I really like the light hanging bar. The kessils look sweet hanging like that haha.

 

I was pretty close to buying the Lumini fixture you had on there, what made you switch? Was it just the lack of controllability?

[SandBed]

Nice tank! And I really like the light hanging bar. The kessils look sweet hanging like that haha.

 

I was pretty close to buying the Lumini fixture you had on there, what made you switch? Was it just the lack of controllability?

The Lumini arguably has more controllability with four channels. However wether you can get the look you want really depends on the LED configuration that the light has, and the controller takes quite a bit of time to use. At the end of the day I wanted to know that the light I am using is high quality. The Lumini was hard to know for sure what you were actually shining into the tank. So with my goal of keeping some SPS corals and possibly a clam in the future I wanted higher quality. The Lumini gave me a more purple look, I am happy with the more blue look that I am getting with the Kessils.

[SandBed]

 

[Hexadron]

 

 

[SandBed]

So I just got back from a vacation and the tanks is still in pretty good shape. My friend took care of it while I was gone, and my mandarin is still alive and well! There was quite a bit of algae growth while I was gone, probably due from over feeding pellets from the automatic feeder. Got that mostly cleaned up now, and happy to say a few eps are looking better under the new kessil A160 lights I put up before I left. More pictures and info to come, but the one sad thing is that a few of my zoos got eaten, by my turbo snails I think..... I am thinking I am going to remove them from the tank as they have done their job eating the algae. Anyone know if they have a habit of eating zoas? They got my good ones...

[deathbyart]

Do you feel you could have gone with just one A160 with a 24" tank? Curious as my new tank I am getting equipment for, is 24" (IM Fusion).

[SandBed]

Do you feel you could have gone with just one A160 with a 24" tank? Curious as my new tank I am getting equipment for, is 24" (IM Fusion).

I am happy I went with two. I think you could go with one if your aquascape tapered off from the centre to both sides. Mine does not so I feel that I get better coverage at the ends of the rock work with this setup.

[SandBed]

So two reasons I have not been on here is awhile.

1. I am pretty busy with school and so there are times where I just have not had the time.

2. Shortly after getting back from vacation I made the fatal mistake of regenerating my perigean with bleach, and subsequently not rinsing it well enough. Sadly all my livestock died from the error, however I was able to act quickly and save all of my corals. Needless to say I felt like quite the rookie. On the positive I was not happy with my sixtine wrasse or my peppermint shrimp, and it has allowed me to re-approach stocking my tank.

 

So the update on what I have:

- 1 Black and white clownfish (face is a little orange)

- Pink bar golby

- Randal pistol shrimp (I got him prior to the golby, but I have not seen him in awhile, if I don't see him in another couple of weeks I will get another one)

- 2 Sexy shrimp, I also purchased a rose bubble tip anemone, which one of the shrimp has hosted in.

- 2 bumble bee shrimp, they harass my nassarius snails occasionally and it is amusing to watch

- 2 harlequin shrimp, currently happily eating a leg from a chocolate starfish which now lives in my sump (minus one leg)

 

I have also added some additional SPS, zoas, and rics. I feel that I am now at a place to sit back and watch things grow out for awhile.

I did just change my A160's down to 70% intensity, I did have them at 100 during the day, but what to see how the corals react. I plan to tweet this ever couple weeks or so to try to find the soft spot.

 

I am also going through what seems another algae bloom, I have a few ideas of why this might be, but my next goal is to do some work on my sump and ride out this bloom.

 

Any comments or suggestions are great, I will through up a picture next time I clean the glass.

[SandBed]

So I picked up a second black clownfish today. I took some time to make sure I got a smaller clown that was being kept with other larger ones. I dropped him in the tank after acclimating and dripping him and my current clown with is a bit larger started showing some signs of aggression, but within 3 minutes they were happy as ever and look like they are paired up.

 

I currently have some wire mesh sitting on the top of the tank as a lid. Works really well, I just need to figure out edging for it so that it lays flat.

All my shrimp are also seem happy, and I added an anemone shrimp today. It is pretty sick and has hosted in my second anemone that I picked up on the weekend, pictures to come of that too.

 

I am also wiring on finishing my sump off and ordered a couple things today, once they are in and set up I will also post and update on that. I think the plans will really help to strengthen my system.

 

Comments on my setup are always welcome

[myarmolich]

So I picked up a second black clownfish today. I took some time to make sure I got a smaller clown that was being kept with other larger ones. I dropped him in the tank after acclimating and dripping him and my current clown with is a bit larger started showing some signs of aggression, but within 3 minutes they were happy as ever and look like they are paired up.

 

I currently have some wire mesh sitting on the top of the tank as a lid. Works really well, I just need to figure out edging for it so that it lays flat.

All my shrimp are also seem happy, and I added an anemone shrimp today. It is pretty sick and has hosted in my second anemone that I picked up on the weekend, pictures to come of that too.

 

I am also wiring on finishing my sump off and ordered a couple things today, once they are in and set up I will also post and update on that. I think the plans will really help to strengthen my system.

 

Comments on my setup are always welcome

 

 

are those torch corals on the right side of the tank? love the rockwork btw

[SandBed]

 

 

are those torch corals on the right side of the tank? love the rockwork btw

Those are torches! My favourite coral is probably my gold torch. There is also a small gold torch in the centre back on the edge of a rock that is hard to see. It broke off during one of my coral moving days but it seems to be doing well on its own.