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  • tashayar

    Christopher Marks

    Congratulations to Tashayar for being selected for our May Reef Profile! Now over 6 years old, her 10 gallon nano reef aquarium is a great example of a simplified and mature nano reef. Below she has written a profile of her nano reef's progress over the years, and shares her experiences in the hobby. Check it out and share your comments or questions in Tashayar's featured reef profile thread.

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    I am honored to be chosen as tank of the month! I hope I can inspire others and show how easy, simple, and enjoyable the hobby can be, even for a busy person!

    Tank Hardware

    10 Gallon AGA
    Current USA 80 watt Dual Satellite Compact Fluorescent on a 13 hour photoperiod
    Regent Powerhead
    Aquatech 10-20 HOB filter (currently running empty, surface agitation only)

    Rock & Substrate

    20 lbs Live Rock
    2" coffee ground sized aragonite bed

    Livestock

    Pair of tank-raised false-percula clowfish (my kids named them "Nana" and "Swimmy", from the Leo Leonni book)
    1 Sixline wrasse ("Stripe")
    1 Skunk cleaner shrimp
    Several scarlet hermits, 1 zebra hermit
    1 Hitchhiker pistol shrimp
    1 Hawaiian feather duster worm
    1 Emerald crab ("Oz")

    Corals

    1 Neon toadstool leather
    Various zoanthids
    Green button polyps
    Small sun coral
    1 Frogspawn
    Purple mushrooms
    Green striped mushrooms
    Brown capnella
    Anthelia
    Green star polyps
    Unidentified finger-type leather

    Maintenance

    1 gallon water change once a week, feeding, and occasional glass scraping!

    Where It All Began

    Sometime around 2000, a friend went on a business trip to Florida and returned with some seashells for us. One of the shells contained a thin-striped hermit, clibanarius vittatus. I couldn't bring myself to let it die, so we bought some Instant Ocean, some aragonite, and a cheap 2 gallon all-in-one tank. I mixed the salt per box directions (no hydrometer/refractometer!), put a cheap aquarium ornament in for "Crabby" to climb on, fed him algae wafers, and hoped he'd live.

     

    "Crabby" got bigger and bigger, going from a shell about the size of my fist to a shell about 8 inches wide. I wanted to set up a real saltwater tank for him. After some searches, I found this site, and Chris Marks gave me simple directions on how to get started. I thought I'd be happy with just some live rock, some clownfish, and the big hermit.

    As the clowns and the crab thrived, my confidence grew and I wanted corals. I am reluctant to try to raise creatures that I might kill or at least cause the demise of, so I stuck to easy soft corals. Also, I needed an easy to maintain tank because I had two small children. We like to go on vacation several times a year, so it had to be set up in an easy way, so that a neighbor could come in and maintain it while we're gone.

     

    I am suspicious of additives and chemicals when I don't understand exactly how they work, so I don't add anything to the tank - it gets what it needs from water changes. I also keep the equipment as basic as possible, I don't even use a heater. Since I've read that softies like "dirty" water I don't use a skimmer, as that takes out nutrients that they need. I try to think about what the animals would have if they lived in the ocean - light, water, and water movement - and replicate that, trusting that nature will do its job and keep everything in "balance."

    For about 3 years my clown pair did nothing but chase and twitch at each other. Finally, with the arrival and spread of some anthelia, they began using the anthelia as an alternate host, and the relationship restored peace to my tank! This is my female clown grasping the anthelia with her mouth so she doesn't get blown away in the flow!

    My clowns are the original pair, now 6 years old. About year four I added my third fish, a royal gramma. Unfortunately when we moved this summer, the royal gramma jumped, so since then I've added a sixline wrasse. The sixline is always on the move, hunting for pods and things to eat!

     

    Little by little, the mushrooms, anthelia, green button polyps, and zoanthids spread and "filled in" the tank. Now that my kids are bigger and I have a little more time I'm working on my second tank, a 30 gallon Caribbean biotope that I hope to have a tank thread for soon!

    Filtration

    My filtration is completely biological, just lots of flow for oxygen exchange and 20+ lbs of live rock, plus the clean-up crew, and of course water changes.

    Thoughts On Clean-Up Crews

    After 6 years of observation, I don't really think hermit crabs do a whole lot except provide some movement and a little detritus cleanup. My emerald crab does an excellent job of cleaning the algae, and I rely on some little snails that I know of only as "strombus grazers" (sold by IPSF) for my glass cleanup. I like these snails because they continually lay eggs and self-propogate. They also provide a source of food for inverts in my tank.

    Setbacks

    I've had two discouraging times, the first was about year 2 when I had a green hair algae outbreak. After about 2 months of water changes and continually ripping out the algae, I finally beat it. The second disaster was last September, with an outbreak of zoanthid eating nudibranchs. I dipped all my zoanthids in fresh water and saw no more of them.

    Advice, Tips, and Tricks

    • I can't stress enough the importance of patience - nothing except disaster happens quickly in this hobby! Learn to enjoy and appreciate the process.
    • Don't skimp on live rock to save money! It's the most important source of filtration and stability for your tank.
    • Share and trade with fellow reefers! Nearly all of my coral came from fellow nano-reefers. I've noticed that tank raised coral grows better than wild harvested. I also get a huge kick out of seeing my corals in other people's tanks. Don't be afraid to frag! It's easier than it looks, and corals are usually pretty tough.
    • Set up a tank for a child, or with the child's input. Nothing will give you more gratification than seeing your tank through a child's eyes. They learn so much about fish, invertebrates, and why we need to conserve our oceans by watching, maintaining, and interacting with a reef tank.

    Special Thanks To...

    My husband for supporting me, helping me "fix" or setup equipment when I need him to, and explaining a lot of the scientific aspects of this hobby to me, my fellow N-Rers for many moments of levity and encouragement, and Christopher Marks for everything this site gives us all.

     

    @tashayar

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    Tasha,

     

    I've always loved your tank, but even more so having read your write-up! Nicely done! It was such fun to actually see a pic of the "crab-that-started-it-all"--that is such a great story in and of itself. All the pics are lovely--esp. nice to see the "thru-the-years" fts's.

     

    I identified so much with your approach. I, too, toughed out a GHA outbreak...a time when some throw in the towel and tear down their tanks...

     

    Your tank will always be an inspiration, and I can't wait to see the new one!

     

    --Diane

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    Thank you everyone! You are all so great and it means a lot to me!

     

    I still look in the tank and see new things every day, even 6 years later.

     

    I just love the 'grown in' look of your nano. Have you harvested/'fragged' your mushrooms at all? How fast have they reproduced?

     

    I don't try to "frag" them, they just grow like mad on their own. I'm not really sure how it happens, but I find tiny ones about the size of a pencil tip all the time in my substrate. I can also run my hand along the rock and a few will fall into my hand. I usually give them away, there are many, many people on this site who have "babies" from my tank (I am presently not giving any away right now though and my PM box is full, so no PMs pleez!).

     

    Diane, my new 30 will be a Carib-species only tank, my LR and sand all came from Sea Life. I'll try to get a tank thread for that going soon. :)

     

     

     

     

    Thanks again for all the nice compliments.

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    That is a beautiful tank! I am new to the hobby and your tank gives me hope that I can be sucessful raising a reef. Again thanks for the pics and congrats!! :)

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