16G Bow

I moved from a Nano Cube to this 16G bow about 2 months ago (transplant, so most things in there are 8-9 months old).

It wasn't clear in the first picture, but there's a tube anemone in the front left...

I searched forever for something blue to go in my tank, and finally stumbled onto a blue sponge. It's been in my tank 2 days...

The fishes are a tomato clown and a Helfrich ...

I also have a Yasha Haze in the back somewhere, but I see him maybe 1 minute a day if I'm lucky (waste of bio-load )

Also got a skunk cleaner, 2 peps, 3 sexies and a coralline-eating emerald .

But, I'm just not happy with the current setup. The 16 bow is too tall, and I can't figure out how to build upwards. The top half looks so bare to me . Any advice?

Just out of curiosity, what is the avg. temp in your tank? I've been looking into Helfrichi Firefish (incredible but expensive) and I've read they are a deeper water species that like cooler temperatures than normal. Please share your experience, how long you've had it, ease of care, feeding, etc... Thanks!

Happy Reefing,

~BH20

P.S. I wouldn't worry too much about the tank being bare, buy a little more rock, or purchase some larger frags...I've seen some pretty nice 16G tanks on this site with excellent aquascaping. Look around a bit, I'm sure you'll figure a good way to make it work.

Temp stays around 80 (I have toddlers in the house, so the house temperature is pretty tightly controlled). It used to be ~78 until I installed the skimmer. That Maxi sure heats up the tank!

I've had the Helfrich for about 3 weeks now. First day, he hid under a rock (burrowed himself in the sand). But he's been in the open since then. Certain braver than the original firefish I had (after a few days of hiding that guy went carpet surfing ).

He's pretty easy to take care of: he eats everything I throw in there (flake, brine, mysis, cyclopeeze), doesn't bother anything and most importantly doesn't get bothered by my tomato clown (he ignored my tomato who was darting at him in the first week or so).

Now, my Yasha's hiding is really bugging me. Can anyone can tell me how to get him to appear more often?

Art,

Your helfrichi is gorgeous - I'd love to get one but my wife would kill me...

Your 16G might do well with some "base rock" pieces - I've got mine set up with large chunks of base rock supporting a "cave" formation, no pics sorry (digicam needs an upgrade) but I'm not that happy with it, I think I'm going to go the "valley" route after my move...

At first glance, the height of the 16bf can be a pain, but you can use it to your advantage, either the cave (overhang) or valley scaping will work well in a high tank, but both will most likely require more 'baserock' pieces...

good luck! and your fish look happy, that's what counts!

B

yeah, find a few pieces with a really good base, and build upwards from there. you can also use the glass in the back to help support, but when you put the live rock in make sure it makes a tight fit, kind of like a jigsaw puzzle. good aquascaping can be accomplished in tall tanks, i've grown to love them! the 16 bow my g/f and i have is the shortest tank i have, lol. here's a pic. also, if you can't seem to build it up high enough, gorgonians can go a LONG way for taking up vertical space

maybe not totally offtopic - but i've noticed the "high" rock-scaping requires some thought about flow, my current setup (AC500 and maxijet400 p/h) still leaves something to be desired with water flow, so you'll have to mess around a bit artamon,

B

Thanks for the advice everyone.

It's clear that I need to invest in more rocks!

Onto a different topic...

My lighting system is a Current Orbit 24" 2x65W PC.

You'll notice that I've got a glass top (last thing I need is the Helfrichi becoming a $200 beef jerky).

Anyway, I want a MH setup, but don't want a pendant (wife doesn't want something hanging from the ceilling). Here's the catch... because I need a glass top, I'm worried that a MH setup will melt the plastic "hinge" of the glass top. Or perhaps even shatter the glass top (don't recall it being tempered glass when I bought it). I think my solultion is a MH hood with legs? Any recommendations on a MH setup?

Mod the existing hood and put a 70 watt DE MH in there...

Thank You Uncle Kracker...

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=24893

I have the exact same tank (still dry..everythings in my 10) I have the 20" version of the same hood..I am going with a 70W DE MH and you can get a 20 k now..sweet....did your scl come with those legs or did you buy them seperately? if so tell me where..PLEASE!!!....I want the new legs...

That is one sweet mod.

I wouldn't mind ripping my light apart for the MH retro, but I'm afraid that I buy the wrong parts and then can't get my PC lights back together again (and so I will have no light for my tank).

Minireef75: if you do the mod, please take pictures and post!!

BTW, my light is the Current Orbit 24". Mine came with the legs.

I wished I got the new Orbits because the original legs takes up too much real estate

I'd be willing to bet that we could order some of the new legs from Current. I haven't done the mod yet. I have all the info/sites on where to get the goods. There are much better ballasts than the one he used...mounting the ballast externally is the way to go..it is small and doesn't heat the tank up as much that way. I noticed after I posted that yuors was an orbit..mine is a csl but it is basically the same exact fixture. I am planning on doing my fans tonight. I still need to get some $ together for the MH. Let me know if you want some info on sources.

putting a MH that close to the tank with a lid on it wouldn't fry the tank? i would think it would generate a TON of heat.

P.S. where on earth did you find that glass lid?

Jason

heat shouldn't be a problem since the MH is retro'd into that fixture, the space will allow heat to desipate into the ambient air. you may only have the use of one of those 65 watt pc v. , the use of both PC's plus MH. Depends how much space you got- good luck and post pictures

For the glass top, look at http://www.all-glass.com/products/aquarium...ms/geneva.shtml

Item # 29601 is the Versa Top (glass hinged top) for the 16 Bow. Any LFS should abe able to order it for you.

sweet, thanks.

Gorgs Are great... i did the taller than average tank aswell it has proven to be even more appealing than a shallow tank IMO...

ful tnk

Your tank looks good, dude! That fish is incredible. It was the first fish I wanted when I got into the hobby. Unfortuantly my 20L is uncovered, and I don't want to even take a chance w/ a fish that costly. Maybe someday.....

Thanks

This is an old thread, but what I did was get egg crate and Dremel'd it to create a covered but open top.

I noticed it was old... Had to say something, though, and didn't want to further divert the original thread. I've thought about doing egg crate, but I run a 250watt MH above my tank... :