10G Nano garden

[danano]

Green-tip and pink-tip acropora with yellow sponge in between plus blue christmas tree worm on porite.

[palaegic]

I find it amazing that so many of the stunning setups that folks display here are smaller than most mini-reefers sumps.

 

Outstanding danano, hope your garden continues to grow and thrive.

[danano]

Thanks Palaegic! It's not simple though and requires as much, if not more attention (TLC) than a mini-reef (>20G). However, the principles are pretty much the same.

 

Picture: X'mas tree & porite, torch & clown, tridacna clam, alveopora

[jdsabin1]

Your tank is beautiful. Great choices as far as colors and textures go. I wish you could get some high res shots to post. I would love to see better pictures!

 

Anyway, yours was another inspiration for me!

[danano]

Thanks Jeff.

 

I plan to pick up a digital camera in a couple of weeks. Once that happens, I'll probably go crazy with the camera on the nano

 

In the meantime, here's my yellow cup coral under 'moonlight'. I'm using a 15W actinic in addition to the 55W 10K and 55W 17K PC. The 15W actinic gives the tank a nice moonlight glow for about an hour after the PC's are off.

[FamousGuy]

thanks for the porite pics, i've had a hard hitchhiker for about 8 months now, not knowing what it was and i think thats what it is..the thing in my tanks is brown, hard, and extents little white feathery polyp looking things

[danano]

I just dug out my old Kodak DC120 digital camera. It takes decent pictures. Here's a current pic of my nano.

 

New corals added on 12 April:

- Montipora Danae (purple with lime green polyps) - encrusting SPS.

- Acropora humilis (green), branching SPS.

 

PLUS... a few frags planted on 19 April:

- clove polyps (x2), bright green polyps (x15, multiple frags), candy cane (x1) and alveopora (1").

 

Also picked up LR with Blue Mushrooms (x15). Took out the hammer and chisel - and I now have 4 small pieces with Blue's. They're starting to colour up nicely.

 

I also moved my 2 small pieces of fox coral back to the front. The fox provides a nice contrast.

 

Dan

[danano]

... plus 2 Tridacna Crocea clams

[deacon hemp]

Dood with all those sps and clams how do you manage keeping up the cal/alk do you have a ca reactor?

 

Btw it looks sweet ,looks bigger than it acually is

[jdsabin1]

This is one of my favorite tanks here at nano-reef. More pictures Dan!

[danano]

Thanks for the kind words Jeff, Deacon... it probably looks bigger 'coz of the aquascape. I went for a reef slope look with 2 pinnacles/mounds, one big and one small. The slope gives it depth and big/small contrast. Also, if it weren't for the alveopora in the middle, there would be a visible "trench" (i.e. Marianas) separating the two mounds. The slope down the trench also adds to the depth.

 

Deacon... maintaining Ca/alk levels is a challenge but most certainly doable. I dose 10 drops of Calcium (Coralife - kalk w/ bioactive calcium) daily, in addition to strontium, iodine and Sea Elements (Julian Sprung). Also, daily Coral Accel (Kent). I've increased my daily Ca dosage from 6 to 8 and then to 10 drops with addition of sps and clams. So far, I'm maintaining a Salifert Ca reading of 400ppm. Alk dropped to 7dkh after I added the monti danae and acro humilis. I've since doubled my weekly dosage of Seachem Reef Builder - alk now back at 9-10dkh. So for now, the CA reactor is just me .

 

Any ideas on a compact CA reactor which won't make a too large a hole in the wallet?

 

Dan

[danano]

My 3 clams...

[jdsabin1]

Dan,

 

What brand and model of protein skimmer are you using if you don't mind me asking.

 

Thanks!

[danano]

Jeff, I'm using a basic air-driven skimmer that sits in the hang-on sump. It's a Sanders Piccolo. It's compact and does the job. I have a small snail in the sump that regularly cleans the skimmer and air stone .

 

Because of the bio-load in my 10g, I use Rowaphos and Seachem Sea Gel as well to maintain 'optimum' water quality. 10% water change every two weeks with Tropic Marin.

[danano]

The water flow rate in my 10g tank is 1800 Liters per Hour (470 gph)... the SPS love it. The pic shows the locations of all the powerheads and hang-on filter/overflows. The powerhead (above the false percula clown) on the far left is set on timer (off for an hr every 3hrs).

[jdsabin1]

How easy is the organ pipe coral to keep Dan? I love the look of those things but didn't know how easy or hard they were to maintain?

 

I look at your tank and still shake my head in disbelief that I am looking at a 10 gallon. Very nice.

 

-Jeff

[danano]

I've had the pipe coral for about 4 months, as long as the torch and hammer. All are doing well. I haven't had any pipe polyps die on me... in fact, it started to show visible calcification/growth after 2 months and with new 'baby' pipes in the 3rd month. I'm hoping it'll secure itself onto the LR in the next few months. I would say the pipe coral is not difficult to maintain. In my tank it's getting moderate lighting, medium current and surrounded by non-aggressive corals... plus all the supplements.

 

The pipe coral gives the reef a nice 'current flow' appearance... it's continually in motion.

 

Thanks again for the support Jeff.

[DAP]

Never mind, I found the pic in your RC thread.