New Mini Bow 7

[montevallofalcon11]

This is my first venture into the world of nano-reefing. The tank is a Mini-Bow 7. I have a 70W Sunpod on the way for light. I am not a big fan of power heads, especially in a tank this small, so I am using two powerfilters for current. Tank has about 7.5 lbs of live rock sitting on about 13 lbs of live sand.

 

Quite a few hitchikers with the rock. 4 Turbo Snails, 3 Blue Legged Hermit Crabs, and numerous bristle worms and stars.

 

Day 1 statistics:

 

Nitrates: 5.0

Nitrites: 0

pH: 8.4

Ammonia: .25

Specific Gravity: 1.023

 

A little confused on the test results, but this is my first cycle so I am open to all comments on how the tank is progressing in this early stage.

 

Here is a picture of my first attempt at aquascaping. You can see my herd of Turbo Snails roaming around the rock. Also the pic is not to great. The tank is much brighter with the stock light than it appears.

 

[pico1]

you probally want to try and scrape off those water stains, and if you can't it may be worth it to buy a new minibow7 and move all the equiptment over. If I were you I would also replace the sand with an aragonite based sand such as arag-alive. It will help buffer and will make the tank's appearance look better. Also you may want to look into getting an aquaclear filter that you can put your heater in along with some live rock rubble and mabey some cheato. Check the minibow fourm for some ideas for your tank. Post pics when the sunpod arrives.

[montevallofalcon11]

Not water stains, just a little build up stuff that easily scraped off so thats no biggie. The sand is actually arag-alive . I am planning to add some live rock rubble into the powerfilter basins once everything gets set up a little better. The sand also looks much better in person as it is a white and black combo that really helps set off the colors of the tank.

 

*Updated Day 3 Water Parameters*

Nitrates: 10

Nitrites: >.05

pH: 8.4

Ammonia: .50

Specific Gravity: 1.023

Alkalinity: Normal

Temp: 79F

[pico1]

We want updates! And pics with the sunpod over it!

[montevallofalcon11]

Well Pico1 ask and you shall receive!

 

As of now it appears the cycle is over. Ammonia is at 0, Nitrites are at 0, and Nitrates are hovering at 3-5. I have a friend with a 60 gallon reef who is kindly fragging me various corals to add to the tank. As of now I only have a small Xenia in the corner but it is doing well so far. Saturday I am picking up a few small mushrooms. I am going to see how these two corals do over a couple of weeks before adding anything else.

 

The new sunpod is amazing. I had no idea how well it would work over the tank.

 

Here are some pics with my ghetto Sony CyberShot 3.2 megapixel. I am going to "borrow" a friend of mines Nikon sometime soon.

 

You can't see the Xenia in this picture since it wasn't in yet! As well alot of nice coraline is growing which you can't see. I really need a new camera.

 

 

[pico1]

cool you added some to the gallery. Having a background on your tank makes halides look all that much better.

[montevallofalcon11]

I have a background sitting by the tank waiting to go up. Once I finish my May term classes this week I am going to get it up. I think the dark blue finish on it will really set the black and white sand off.

[pico1]

yeah you will see the MH shimmer everywhere once the background is on.

[montevallofalcon11]

First corals are in the tank now. Couldn't say no since they were a gift from a co-worker. A small colony of Xenia on their own "island" so they won't overrun the tank. And now a small colony of Zoa's. Not sure the type yet, will take pics when they fully open.

[Obsessed Reefer]

GO MINI BOW!!!! I wanted one but I just stuck with the nano cube.

[montevallofalcon11]

I love the mini-bow 7. I think the bow design is just very elegant. Plus its been fun to kind of start from scratch with just the tank.

[montevallofalcon11]

I know you can't see much due to the horrendous picture but here is the tank as she stands now.

 

 

The Xenia is in the back left, the zoas are up front, and the candy canes are pretty obvious.

[pico1]

Good thing the xenia is on an island. I made the mistake of putting mine on a main rock and it's growng like a weed!

[montevallofalcon11]

Yep, I wanted them but I read around here to keep them by themselves and isolated so they don't take over.

[ocellaris]

Do the legs slide or does the unit have to sit on top of the tank the way yours does?

[montevallofalcon11]

Do the legs slide or does the unit have to sit on top of the tank the way yours does?

 

The legs slide to any position you wish!

 

Thought I would do a new update.

 

Per Pico1's idea a new blue background was added to the tank. You were right it makes the light shimmer even more! Also makes the entire tank look much better.

 

Got the fish for the tank, a small false perc named Krusty. (Waits patiently for an email from Matt Groening informing me of the pending copyright infringement lawsuit)

 

Also we got a new candy cane coral.

 

Tank paramaters are all doing great!

 

Here is a pic of Krusty and a current FTS.

 

 

 

*edit*

We are most likely going to get another small coral tomorrow. We are thinking either a finger leather or a small brain. Any thoughts?

[pico1]

get the small brain, much better looking than the finger leather IMO! Also lets get some sps in this bad boy. Remember you've got 10 WPG of halide on this thing, you can put almost anything you want in here.

The background looks good!

[montevallofalcon11]

Alrighty my Zen Master Pico, what SPS would you recommend?

[pico1]

zen master? Whats that supposed to mean? My first sps were a monti cap and monti digi. Both are pretty easy to care for and have low demands. Give one of those a try and see how they do. Also the small brain would be a nice addition. Once you get a chance repace the 2 power filters with a larger aquaclear fuge mod and stick your heater in there. It probally won't need supplimental lighting with the sunpod if its raised high enough. That will give you some more space in the tank and it will look nicer too.

[montevallofalcon11]

No offense meant, just have no idea about SPS corals so looking for some guidance. Yeah I am planning on replacing the filters with an Aquaclear and mod it to become a fuge.

 

PS:

Sorry I have a quirky sense of humor.

[pico1]

no offence taken at all, I just didnt know what you meant. Just keep up with your weekly water changes and top offs and the sps will do great.

[montevallofalcon11]

I think it is high time for an update!

 

First off only one new picture because my camera has decided to stop working (thanks alot Sony). Since the last update I have added an open brain coral (Green center Red Rim). The tank is progressing well with coraline growing at a much faster rate now. No loss to be reported in coral, inverts, or my clownfish.

 

Tomorrow I will be purchasing an AquaClear 110 and performing a fuge mod per this design: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...threadid=679159 Although I have had no problems with parameters I know it can't hurt to add a HOB fuge to the system.

 

Also on a strange note I now own a 55 Gallon Aquarium with custom canopy set up for Halide Lighting. It is nice when a co-worker gets a new tank and needs to clear out their old setup! I doubt I will set it up anytime soon but I will most likely begin the process of slowly buying lighting and such for it.

 

Hopefully I can get pics soon so I can show the development of the system.

 

[montevallofalcon11]

This AC 110 Fuge Mod better help my tank because it has been hell to mod.

 

EDIT: (This is my first ever DIY Aquarium project)

[Mini_GBR]

That is a fairly detail oriented mod that seems like it would take some time and patience. Hope it all worked out well, it looks like a good one though.

[montevallofalcon11]

I have to sand down the bulkheads because they are to tall, but other than that it seems to have gone well.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I don't really need to. I just did a wet run test and the fuge seems to work great! Hooray me!