Gusbus696 Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Today, December 12, 2014 marks the beginning of my year long dream of starting a nano reef in a Mr. Aqua 12 gallon aquarium. I know you're probably thinking "Just what this forum needed, another Mr. Aqua 12 gallon reef." Well, I spent a year dreaming about having this aquarium and now it has finally become a reality and I plan on sharing pretty much everything that goes on with it. I hope to gain some knowledge from the advanced reefers, beginners, and everyone in between so go ahead and follow this topic, everyone's input will be appreciated and I hope it will make this a better tank. Thank you for taking the time to read this and possibly following, it should be interesting and entertaining to see the feedback I receive from y'all judging by the many aquarium threads I've read. To start things off I'll post a few pictures of the aquascapes I experimented with and the final result. Scape 1 Scape 2 Scape 3 Scape 4: the final result I chose to start this tank dry so as not to introduce any unwanted pests. I hope my cycle doesn't take too long but I plan on being very patient with this tank to ensure that it will be done correctly. I chose BRS Reef Saver rock for this tank. When I ordered the rock I gave them the dimensions of the tank they were going in to and I couldn't be happier with the rocks I received. As for the sand, I went with dry Caribsea Fiji Pink reef sand. It's a beautiful sand and I couldn't be happier with it either. Here is a pic of the sand. For filtration I am using an Aqua Clear 50 HOB filter. Right now I just have the sponge filter, that biomaxx stuff it comes with, and a little piece of sponge filter from my established tank to get that good bacteria growing in here. I guess that's it for now. If there are any questions or comments, go ahead and post away. I plan on being active on this and updating it frequently. Thanks again! Current FTS 1/22/14: 4 Quote Link to comment
MrNanoReef Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Welcome to the hobby I have the same tank and loving it everyday. I'm following your progress. Is that sugar fine sand or larger? can't tell...If it's fine sand, you might want to switch out for special grade reef sand while you can, I had sugar fine sand and it was blowing all over the places and hard to vacuum sandbed without sucking them all out, then I had to replace it when I already have fish and corals in about 9 months later when i couldn't take it anymore, it was a PITA to do, thought I can save you the trouble. Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted December 12, 2014 Author Share Posted December 12, 2014 Thanks! Although I have been in the hobby for quite some time now. I guess you could say welcome to the Mr. Aqua 12 gallon club. On the bag it said Fiji pink special grade reef sand so I hope it doesn't blow around too much. That's what I was afraid of. I hope to cycle it for a while until I get a good biofilm to coat everything and keep it in place. 1 Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 So my Cobalt Neo-Therm was supposed to be delivered today. Tracking says that it arrived at the post office this morning but it's not out for delivery. I need to get the temperature in my tank up for the bacteria to grow faster. 1 Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted December 15, 2014 Author Share Posted December 15, 2014 Neo therm came in. Was working great today but when I got home I found that the temperature in the tank is almoalmost right back to where I started with. I'm not sure what's going on with it or why it did that. I hope I didn't receive a faulty unit. 1 Quote Link to comment
BattleAthletics Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Hows it going? Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 Great! My Jebao rw4 came in today. I really like it. Here is my neo therm keeping things toasty for the bacteria to flourish. 2 Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted December 29, 2014 Author Share Posted December 29, 2014 Just ran some tests today. Ammonia came out to zero, nitrites weren't too high anymore and hopefully nitrates go up soon so I can get the cycle over with. Went out and bought a little 2.5 gallon glass aquarium to serve as my quarantine tank today as well. Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 New shipment of corals came in today! Just waiting for everything to open up. Here's what came in plus a couple others: Pink Armor of God Type palythoasWhammin watermelonsLunar EclipseRadioactive dragon eyesRed people eatersFire And Icegreen people eaterspink rimmed people eatersgreen bay packers 1 Quote Link to comment
BattleAthletics Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 gus have you ordered from glenn(CGA) yet? Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 My next order will be from him. I just couldn't pass up the 11 paly and zoa pack for $99. I've been wanting to order from him and now that I saw the new year acan pack, I am definitely placing an order for one soon. Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 My new light just came in today!!! 3 Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 My cycle is over so I went out and bought a few snails and hermit crabs. I picked up a couple of nice cowrie snails. I've always liked their polished shells so I had to have some... anyway, here's a pic of one. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment
BattleAthletics Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 What kind of light is it? Quote Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Nice start! Following. What kind of light is it? +1 Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 What kind of light is it? "Programmable and dimmable full spectrum Cree LED bulb LED aquarium fixture 3Wx 18pcs" search for this on ebay. I asked the seller if he had any larger lights and he told me he did but didn't sell them on ebay because the shipping is too expensive or something like that. It is from China but the quality is great. I really like it. Nice start! Following. +1 Thanks! Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted January 17, 2015 Author Share Posted January 17, 2015 Well everyone, I made a rookie mistake. I trusted too much in my hydrometer... turns out it was .05 units off on the specific gravity so I was at 1.030 when I thought I was at 1.025. I ordered a refractometer last week just because I've never had one and everyone says it's good to have. It came in today and I tested my water and I am very glad that I did. So far I lost a pistol shrimp, a few zoas and a snail. My hi fin red banded goby is still alive. He started coming out as soon as I started replacing the saltwater with fresh RO water. If you haven't purchased a refractometer yet, I highly recommend it. Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted January 20, 2015 Author Share Posted January 20, 2015 I picked up a couple of corals today from a good lfs. I got a big frag of zoas. There are about 4 different morphs from what I can see so far. I also got a rainbow ricordea with 2 mouths. Here's a couple pics. The duncan is still adjusting to my mistake. And the torch did not survive. And so is my maze brain coral. It used to be a much brighter green. Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted January 22, 2015 Author Share Posted January 22, 2015 Great news everyone! My pistol shrimp is alive and well. He is living with the hi fin goby in their home under a rock. They are cool to watch but as soon as the goby finds out I'm watching he goes right back into the hole taking the shrimp with him. Last night I picked up a couple of corals and a blue green chromis. It's fun to watch the chromis swim back and forth in the tank. Here are a couple pics of the corals. Awesome purple plate with green tentacles. And an Aussie toxic green hammer. Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 So I decided to move my hammer coral closer to the front so I can have a better view of it. I can enjoy it more where it's at now. My goby and pistol shrimp have quite an intricate tunnel system set up now. They will come out of one hole on one side of the tank, then go back in and all of a sudden I see them way on the other side. It's pretty cool to see all the different locations they can come out from. 1 Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Here's a few of the different holes I see they have made. 1 Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 I bought a pink pocillopora today. Here's a pic. 1 Quote Link to comment
BattleAthletics Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Great looking corals! 1 Quote Link to comment
VW_TDI_02 Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Sub'd. Great looking tank so far! 1 Quote Link to comment
Gusbus696 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 Sub'd. Great looking tank so far! Great looking corals! Thanks guys! Any opinions on getting a dwarf pygmy angel? I do want a clam in this tank too. Quote Link to comment
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