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Reboot: 15 years since school


H2oΔ

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Really was an impulse. Was at a clients' house when I noticed a 28g Nano and liked the size and design and DFS was having a 20 off sale so...

I had a 42g bow front in college which was as much for the girls as anything but I'd had some success until a big, purple cucumber croaked and crashed the whole thing. By success I should say, luck. But now that I'm older and more stable I figured I would do a better job taking care of a glass box of critters. Beside, now I have the internet. That's all i need right? And some luck.

Well I'm moving ahead cautiously. The tank arrived early November and I got it wet Jan 1. Up to this point I read a lot, built a sump, plumbed it all, leak tested it, moved it into our living room, filled it, didn't like the location, moved it, tossed in a piece of shrimp, waited, tested H2o, tossed in a piece of Talapia, waited, tested H2o, waited till green hairys started growing, dropped in 2 blue legs, waited a week, dropped in a Firefish which literaly dissapeared overnight, then dropped in 2 Firefish (only 1 survived) and a Bi-Color Blenny, waited a week and placed in an Emerald Crab (dead in a few days), a Hammer, a green Ric, and some orange center Zoas. ^run on sentence folks^

Pretty much brings us up to date. Oh, ordered a Large Retro Plus from Dave, want more spectrum and er, it uses a cool app.

 

FTS 2/8/16

 

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FTS 3/12/16

 

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Equipment:

 

JBJ 28g Cube T5

Custom acrylic sump~10g, 2 chamber adjustable bubble trap overflow

Eheim compact 2000

Bubble Magus C3.5

Osmolator

Floss filter ala Lawn (I think, if not I'll gladly change the attribution)

Hydor rotators, thanks Nano Sapiens

Finnex digital heat control and 50w heater

Nano Box Retro Large Plus (on the way)

 

Enviro

 

LFS H2o

Reef Cleaners

Aragonite

 

Critters

 

Firefish

Bi Color Blenny

Blue Legged Hermits

Nassarius Snails

Hammer Coral

Ricordea

Zoa

 

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Thanks to all you Nano Reefers for building a site that is I feel I can trust as a refrence resource. As you all know there is a lot of crap on the net, the folks on this site stand high above that low standard and I appreciate you.

 

Now, how the hell do you turn on the spell checker!

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I don't know what Im doing. Now that's out of the way, my LFS says Firefish are like flipping a coin but I've lost 2 already and I aint never seen a 3 sided coin so...I attribute the 2nd loss to stress but the first was fine until it was simply gone. I know they are jumpers but with the hood this tank has I don't see it getting out.

 

The Emerald dying I attribute either to some bad H2o peram I don't know about or maybe I was ham fisted while cleaning or moving stuff around and didn't notice I'd hurt him. Any way I figure I'll wait till the tank matures before i try another. My wife loved it.

 

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^irrelevant

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Have you finish your cycle?

If there is any ammonia in the water it could be killing the firefish.

What are your water parameters?

If you haven't been testing, get a test kit.

How are ou acclimating the fish?

 

Btw, I'm not trying to be rude or criticize, I'm just asking these questions so that we can better help you.

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No worries.

 

Yea NH3 has never been above 0 to.5 (API) and NO3 4ppm (Red Sea Pro) KH is 8 PH a little low but to be expected 7.5-8 (Salifert)

 

Acclimation is exchanging a cup of H2o every5 to 10 minutes several times then scooping the critters out then into the tank and tossing the bag H2o.

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Welcome to N-R and back to the hobby! I have found fish to be the most vulnerable the first 2 weeks. If you can get them past that, then with a consistent water change schedule you can enjoy them for years!

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Picked up some new critters @ the LFS yesterday. Really starting with easy animals that I actually like. Nano Sapiens inspired the Ric garden and the Gorgonian fit the bill giving the reef some needed height.

 

I also added Dave's Nano Box retro and love it. Took about an hour to swap into my hood and of course the Bluefish APP is very fun and I woke up to a lightning show from Fiji this morning.

 

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Firefish doesn't like it at all and disappeared for 36 hours and I thought it was a goner and started getting discouraged. Yesterday morning it AND the Emerald were back tho and I was stoked. Newbie mistake thinking the Emerald died, it molted! I had just not thought it likely having not been in the tank long at all.

 

I really have a lot to learn about shooting pics under this light too. I'm not a fan of the blue as the real colors are washed out but here's some anyway.

 

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Welcome to N-R and back to the hobby! I have found fish to be the most vulnerable the first 2 weeks. If you can get them past that, then with a consistent water change schedule you can enjoy them for years!

Thank you for the encouragement. Your tanks look good BTW and congrats on TOTM

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Thank you for the discouragement. Your tanks look good BTW and congrats on TOTM

O dear, I did not mean to be discouraging! I wanted you to know that it probably was not your fault. Sorry, I was well meaning even if it did not come across that way.

O and thanks for the congrats and kind words about my tank.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I took a drive to the LFS in NW AR a few weeks ago and picked up some new corals and just been enjoying them since and not really made any more changes. We have a vacation coming up (SCUBA in Roatan) so no plans to change anything till we get back.

 

I updated the FTS in the original post and here are a few more that I took this morning and am playing with in the Picasa Editor. Let me know what you think and if you have any tips, likes or dislikes.

 

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I nearly killed the green Ric as one morning I noticed something foreign stuck in it and knocked it off the rock as I was trying to help it. Doh! Well I nearly crushed with my big stupid man fingers and thought it was surely dead but its a tough little shroom.

 

The 2 little orange Rics on the left are really not doing that well. They filled up a couple of times and I thought they would be OK but no. Any thoughs? What is different about them and what are they not getting that they need? I've tried a 2liter top over the whole rock for direct feeding. I'm dosing FUEL every other day as directed. Thoughts? Calling Nano Sapiens and all the other shroom gurus!!

 

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Ok so I lied about not adding anything till after vacay. While dropping into the LFS today I couldn't resist a really cute Yellow Prawn Goby! omgomgomg

 

Bad trouble tho, my Blenny nearly killed it!!!!!! He very quickly started to give bomb the Goby so as I was trying to fend him off he dove in and they went into a flailing fish fighting frenzy ball and I watched as the Blenny spat out a yellow Goby fin! :eek::scarry::owned:

 

The Goby still would not hide tho so I dropped in a PVC tube and herded him in so for now he is safe.

 

Will it get better or do I need to return the Goby? Will it regrow the fin?

 

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