isakshu Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 In accordance with our rules, will start this with the obligatory pictures: Shirt in the tank pic - 10/5/09 FTS - 10/19/09 FTS - Halloween!!! 10/31/09 FTS - 11/16/09 FTS - 11/30/09 FTS 12/14/09 FTS 12/28/09 FTS 1/11/09 FTS Current livestock: Ugly zoas (no, not really colorful) - roughly 20 polys - $6 (added 10/5) Orange/green zoas (common) - roughly 15 polyps - $15 (added 10/5) Blue zoa's - 10 polys - $10 (added 10/15) Purple/green skirt zoa's - 15 polyps - $15 (added10/15) Gorrilla nipples - 20 polys - $20 (added 10/15) Orange Monsters - 3 polyps - $15 (added 11/13) Yellowish zoas - 30 polyps - $30 (added 11/13) Devils armor - 4 polyps - $20 (added 11/17) Purple/pink zoas - 20 polys - $20 (added 11/17) Peppermint shrimp - $5 (added 10/17) Red neon Eviota gobies (2) - $19.99 each - $40 (added 10/13) Orange yuma - $5 (added 10/5) LR - 2 pieces - roughly 5 lbs each Total cost - $201 Background- Since the tank was received over the weekend, I figured it best that I start the thread to track my progress. Overall, the contest seemed like a great idea and a fun chance to get back into the nano world of reefing. As a brief history - I started out with a 30 gal cube about 5 years ago. Was a nice little reef tank with HOB fuge and skimmer and I really enjoyed the experience. A couple years ago I fell into a great deal on a 125g AGA tank with a nice stand and canopy, so of course it was upgrade time. The cube and accessories were sold to fund additional equipment and I have spent the last year just maintaining the 125g. Now for a number of reasons, I am going to start downsizing - with the contest tank being my first project. Here are my original thoughts as to what the plan is for this puppy: Equipment: Tank: Sweet 12" AIO cube Stand/canopy: Old "Victorian" table. Canopy will be fabricated to hopefully look like it belongs with the table. Lighting: LED's. This will be interesting. I had a couple powerbrite strips (details) already and thought to myself, hey, maybe these will work. And for good measure, I ordered a 3rd link. So the plan is now to use 2 10k strips and 1 460nm strip and see how that goes. Will obviously re-assess as needed. UPDATED As of 10/22 I put on a 12" Coralife PC - replacing the LEDs. Refer to later post for additional details. Skimmer: Sapphire Skimmer (maybe). Still need to determine if I have the space... Other media: Once I figure out the skimmer spacing, I'm going to see what/if there is anything I can do about adding another baffle and including a nice little cheato area. This is obviously still up in the air. ATO: Maybe - we shall see how this goes. Livestock: Fish: Currently looking at either a pair of neon gobies or potentially a few Trimma's. Coral: Focus here will be on polyps. Will bring in an assortment of small zoa/paly frags from the main tank (nothing outrageous) - but will hopefully add a good amount of color varieties. Also will likely have some ric's and if I can get my hands on a not-too-expensive yuma, that will be there as well. May also be a few mushrooms here and there. Will obviously be watching the estimated cost figure and will ensure I do not exceed my budget. May throw in an LPS/SPS as well at some point just to test the lighting - but that's not a definite at this point... CUC: Vergin nerites, maybe some ceriths and some scarlett hermits. No big crabs in this tank (my halloween, blue knuckle and big ugly red guy were not invited to this party). Other: Sand will be new - have a couple bags of unused sand that I will pick from. Rock will be live- primarily out of my sump in the big tank. So that's the plan. Now to start the execution... Link to comment
spanko Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 Sounds like a fun project, gonna tag along if you don't mind. Link to comment
nosser Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 Awesome I'll be following along Link to comment
isakshu Posted September 15, 2009 Author Share Posted September 15, 2009 First, you have to pardon my lack of experience with the photo's thru NR. For some reason thought I had to put them in the gallery to attach (in case anyone was wondering why I would want any of these in my gallery ) The tank actually came in on Saturday morning where it sat in the box for a couple days due to other time commitments - couple charity events and I had some good time taking care of the baby (we had a daughter back in April ) Here's the first thing I saw - Great packaging, everything looked good (and smelled good too apparently). Nicely wrapped - still smelled pretty good it seems... And then I had it out and put it up for the first test - leaks. Not a drop was noticed over 12 hours. Also took the time to clean of the residue from the acrylic paper and am happy to say I didn't see a crack. Next step - getting the equipment together and making myself a canopy for the lights... Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 Many of us use Photobucket to host/upload our pics to and just copy and paste the 3rd IMG link under the pic on Photobucket. Photobucket accts are free unless you wanna get all fancy-shmancy. Link to comment
isakshu Posted September 15, 2009 Author Share Posted September 15, 2009 Many of us use Photobucket to host/upload our pics to and just copy and paste the 3rd IMG link under the pic on Photobucket. Photobucket accts are free unless you wanna get all fancy-shmancy. Much better. Thanks boss - Link to comment
Sushi Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 looks awesome! gona be cool to see a nice collection of colorful zoos in this little tank Link to comment
got2envy Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 bump! post pic of T-shirt in tank to get started Link to comment
MGDMIRAGE Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 Looks great even the water test photo looks fantastic Link to comment
asting Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 I love how the dog helped unbox. Link to comment
isakshu Posted September 25, 2009 Author Share Posted September 25, 2009 bump! post pic of T-shirt in tank to get started Photo is hopefully going to be taken tonight. Let's just say we've had camera difficulties over the weekend... Also a bit delayed due to my stained canopy taken forever to dry. Will be up and running within a day or two... Link to comment
isakshu Posted September 28, 2009 Author Share Posted September 28, 2009 Alright - this weekend I finally got the camera working again and moved along the requirements for the contest. First things first, have to show my shirt in the tank shot - Now that was taken on Friday night - on Saturday I finally finished up putting my extra baffle in the back, making a "fuge" space and got water in by Sunday night. The canopy is still in a state of drying (obviously the wood isn't exactly soaking in the stain) and I am hoping that by Wed/Thu this week I can have the finished product on the tank. Tonight I am planning on applying a nice coat of poly and hopefully we'll be good to go once that is dry. But in the meantime, I figured I might as well put a couple teaser pics in. You'll have to ignore the dirty water - I started with a 1200 pump in there and lets just say it caused a mess. The old 900 I have in appears to be just right. And no, that is not the heater that will stay in the tank (all i had in the basement though). Next step for the tank is, clear water when I get home (hopefully) - run to Petco to grab a smaller heater, give the paramaters a couple tests and potentially drop in the first rock to see what happens... Hopefully, any cycling from the new sand will be done by the end of the week and my livestock order can be placed for next week (gotta get some CUC for this tank and my 125g as well as a couple gobies for this set-up). Rock and Roll!! Link to comment
bluefunelement Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 You'll have to ignore the dirty water - Dude - I can see the future in your crystal ball... um I meant Pico Seriously I like your stand and light though - clean 360ish view yeah? Link to comment
isakshu Posted October 5, 2009 Author Share Posted October 5, 2009 Alright - time for the 10/5 update. At least I think this is an update I need to post... At any rate, I finally got my canopy to dry. Once dry, applied a couple coats of poly to seal and protect and now we are ready to roll. First picture is going to be a full tank shot - closer - under my hood - fuge area- Some ugly zoa's - Better zoa's - Sick ric- So thats where I stand for the moment. Nothing too glamorous, but moving along.... Link to comment
scooternerd Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 lookin good! i dig those "ugly zoa's" Link to comment
MGDMIRAGE Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Looks good, looks like the powerbrites are doing a great job on coverage Link to comment
jaygalindo Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 looks good but I believe all your equipment has to be stored in the back compartment. Love the canopy. Link to comment
isakshu Posted October 6, 2009 Author Share Posted October 6, 2009 What do you mean with all equipment in the back canopy? I think I got everything back there - the only thing sticking out is the top of the skimmer. Would really appreciate if you could clarify what you mean - I want to make sure i am not breaking any rules... looks good but I believe all your equipment has to be stored in the back compartment. Love the canopy. Outside of the fact I misjudged the width of the strips with the electrical connections, I am pretty happy with them. Had the zoa's in there for a couple days as a test (that's why my "ugly" zoas are in there) and have seen pretty decent extension on the skirts. Colors also seem to be consistent under these as they were under my T5's. At some point this week I am going to drop some red's and blue's in and we'll see if the powerbrite's can continue to maintain. Looks good, looks like the powerbrites are doing a great job on coverage Link to comment
bob21115 Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 What do you mean with all equipment in the back canopy? I think I got everything back there - the only thing sticking out is the top of the skimmer. Would really appreciate if you could clarify what you mean - I want to make sure i am not breaking any rules... Outside of the fact I misjudged the width of the strips with the electrical connections, I am pretty happy with them. Had the zoa's in there for a couple days as a test (that's why my "ugly" zoas are in there) and have seen pretty decent extension on the skirts. Colors also seem to be consistent under these as they were under my T5's. At some point this week I am going to drop some red's and blue's in and we'll see if the powerbrite's can continue to maintain. Your heater is in the front, but that shouldn't be a problem. Other than an eye sore. You can't have any equipment on the outside of the tank that adds water to the tank. I dont see anything like that on your tank. I Link to comment
isakshu Posted October 6, 2009 Author Share Posted October 6, 2009 Your heater is in the front, but that shouldn't be a problem. Other than an eye sore. You can't have any equipment on the outside of the tank that adds water to the tank. I dont see anything like that on your tank. I Agree with the eye-sore. I put a 50w heater in there but for some reason the warmest it got the tank was 74`. Figured that was broken, so I returned it for another that heated my tank to 74`. So, for my sanity sake I left the big 100w in there and figure I can just deal with the ugliness until I find a decent 50w heater that may actually function as a heater.... Link to comment
bob21115 Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Agree with the eye-sore. I put a 50w heater in there but for some reason the warmest it got the tank was 74`. Figured that was broken, so I returned it for another that heated my tank to 74`. So, for my sanity sake I left the big 100w in there and figure I can just deal with the ugliness until I find a decent 50w heater that may actually function as a heater.... I'm using a 15 Watt Hydor Mini Aquarium Heater. My house is set at 71 and this heater keeps my tank at 78. Its connected to my reef Keeper which shuts it off at 78. Be carful you can’t set this heater to a specific temp because it has no controls on it. The box says it will raise the temp of a 5 gallon tank 5 degrees above the temp of the room. Link to comment
nosser Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 It's looking pretty good. I thought about the powerbrites as well but I'm not skilled enough with woodworking to make a hood. I'm using a Hydor Theo 50w and it's very small and keeps my tank at 79. Link to comment
harthag12 Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 I'm having the same problems w/ my 50w and 100w heaters not being able to keep the tank above 76 at the warmest. Link to comment
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