jdsabin1 Posted April 21, 2003 Share Posted April 21, 2003 Thank God for this site. I lurked on it for quite some time and still read every single post I find to gleen as much helpful information as I can get into my head. We live in Iowa so to say we are land-locked would be a dramatic understatement. I have always loved the ocean and this is a really neat way to have some of the ocean right here in my study! Thanks to everyone that has helped me along the way (even though you may not have realized it)! I have had this tank setup since January. It is my first foray into the world of Nano-Reefs. In fact, it is my first foray into the world of aquariums period. In retrospect I would have went with something other than the Eclipse for reasons stated on this forum, but I already purchased the Eclipse so that's what I'm using. Currently I have a false perc clownfish, a royal gramma basslet, a lawnmower blenny (who is leaving soon as he has already outgrown the tank much to the dismay of the family who loves this guy because he resembles a muppet), a peppermint shrimp, a blue-legged hermit, an emerald crab and an astrea(sp) snail (along with other creepy crawlies including tons of feather dusters and some brittle starfish that are growing fast). All the corals are growing like weeds, except for the candy cane coral, which has suffered. He has lost 4 heads and it appears he may lose some more. I dipped him with Lugol's but I don't know how much longer I will leave him in the tank if he isn't healthy. The Fox coral has really come into it's own and is now three times as large as when I took him home. I didn't have high hopes for him either (shows you what I know). The zoos are doing okay, even though my blenny mowed down on some and now it looks almost like corn on the cob after you've eaten some (does that make sense? See picture to see what I'm talking about). I also fragged some of my red mushrooms and moved them to a few places in my tank a week ago or so and they have really grown. I have a gorgeous purple mushroom in my zoos on top that I plan to remove and place him elsewhere. My lfs also has two ricordea coming and that will do me for a while. You can also see my green star polyps are sprouting babies all over, and I am hoping my daisy polyps will start spreading. My favorite coral is the blasto. I love the way it fills out and the light red color is really pleasing to the eye. Of course what would a nano be without some zenia and frogspawn and both of those are doing really well. So far the clowfish hasn't hosted with anything, but perhaps someday he'll take to the frogspawn(?). I have a green/aqua favia on the round rock in front and I am hoping it will encrust some over the rock. I have used Chemi-clean to control some cyano I had, and I am currently using SeaChem's Reef Calcium in place of the B-Ionic to get my calcium up over 400. Ph……………...…8.2 Nitrite…………...undetectable Ammonia……….undetectable Nitrate……….....undetectable Salinity…….......1.022 - 1.024 Calcium………...350ppm (SeaChem) Temperature….78 low 83 high Alkalinity…..…..3.5meg/l - 19 pounds of Fiji / Florida Aquacultured Live Rock - 20 pounds Aragonite Live Sand (should have got a finer grain but too late now) - Eclipse 12 Gallon - No Bio-Wheel, using Eclipse Filter and changing it every 3 weeks or so - Rowaphos (sits in 'sump') to minimize phosphates and undesirable elements - 2 Mini-Jet 404 power heads to increase turbulance; flow from Eclipse 'sump' also adds to water movement - Lighting CustomSeaLife 2X32 Retrofit SuperNova w/ 11 hour photoperiod (using digital timers) - 4 Bright Blue LEDs and made a custom Moonlight - Ebo-Jager 100 Watt Heater - Lifegard Big Digital Temp Thermometer Daily supplements: - B-Ionic Food: - Marine fish food/pellets, 1x/day 2.5 gallon water change every 5-6 days using Instant Ocean salt. RO/DI water top-off (manually) daily. Thanks for taking a look! Link to comment
Kalanianaole Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 Stellar tank, sir. Some of your specimines are just fantastic. You're from the land of Slipknot, Des Moines, right? What store do you go to? I'm from KC and our stores here (I've been to them all I think) are staffed by largely uneducated and uninspired fellows that don't take good care of the stock they get. Anyway, I've family in DM and am up there from time to time. Gimme a list of some good LFSs there so I can save myself from having to visit the state fairgrounds yet again. Link to comment
BigReefer Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 Wow!!!! Great Nano JD!!!!!!! Definatly my favorite eclipse setup on nano-reef! Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted April 22, 2003 Author Share Posted April 22, 2003 Thanks for the compliments guys . Kal, When in the Des Moines area, the best places to check out are: Iowa Pet Foods & Aquatics 1420 22nd Street (Strip Mall behind Hooters) * - Hit or miss. They usually get their stuff on Tuesdays so that's the best time to check. I've found their staff is as attentive as a bag of cement however. Check out their stingray tank though ... pretty neat. Adam's Aquatics 857 42nd Street (get off on ther 42nd street exit going north, small strip center on right hand side of the road) * - Very clean and well organized. Normally a great selection of livestock and corals, albeit slightly overpriced. Some of the staff are knowledgable. The Reef Connection 8th Street (past Adventureland and the casino) Altoona, Iowa (10 mins east of Des Moines) * - Janna, who is a regular @ Reef Central owns this store. She has a very impressive coral selection, and not too bad on livestock. Her hours are not the best (M-F Noon to 6:00, Sat 10-6, closed Sundays) since they are so new but she said they are working on that one I believe. If Janna is there, and she usually is, her working knowledge of this hobby is unsurpassed. I can't say enough good things about selection and expertise (and be sure and say hello to Larry, the yellow frogfish). Again, prices everywhere around Des Moines are slightly above average but that's to be expected I suppose. I have received price breaks from all three places by asking and spending the $$$. I hope that helps you! -Jeff Link to comment
Rick125 Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 I want to say, I like your tank a lot. I too have an Eclipse 12 and was curious of how you fit in your lighting. Could you please post some pictures of your hood set up so I could maybe follow your steps. Thank you. Link to comment
chufa Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 Beautiful tank, JDsabin, love it. I like your frogspawn, same color as my late one was, I miss it! :*( . Nice also to see a fellow nano-eclipser from around town. Kalanianaole, I concur on JDsabin's recommendations. I mostly shop Adam's because of the business hours and because of proximity. But I know Janna and I am lookking forward to see her store some day. One thing with Adam, he's expensive, but if you sign up with him you will receive frequent discounts offers. Recently, I bought a nice Torch coral at a 20% discount. Iowa Pet Foods and aquatics I would not recommend. I went there a few times, and their staff was as good as petco's. Their SW fish tanks looked terrible: cloudy water, dead fish, etc. Somebody seems to be taking good care of their shark and corals tank, though I would like to know who that is. Link to comment
Mnesarchus Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 Amazing tank! All the specimens looks great, and I absolutley love the aquascaping. Brilliant. Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted April 22, 2003 Author Share Posted April 22, 2003 Thanks again . I am really enjoying this hobby. Has anyone turned a flashlight on at night to see the creepy crawlies? Whoa... Anyway, Rick125, check this thread where pics of my hood are included. You want the CSL Retrofit 2X32 Supernova. Takes a whole 5 minutes to swap out. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=11269 HTH! Link to comment
BigReefer Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 Jeff, could you post some pics of your 2 x 32 watt super novas in the hood??? I would like to add a second and am just curious as to how well they fit! Thanks man! Link to comment
chvynva916 Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 That's probably the cleanest looking tank I've ever seen. Link to comment
Acoustic Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 I am impressed by your choice of corals. Good Job! Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted April 23, 2003 Author Share Posted April 23, 2003 Thanks everyone! : ) BR, my mistake for making it sound like I have two lights under my Eclipse hood. What I actually have is the same thing that you do - one Supernova retrofit. The bulb actually has two tubes so I think that's where I made the mistake of saying I have two. If you do happen to get that figured out, I would love to see a picture also . Link to comment
BigReefer Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 Jeff: LOL actually this is better news for me! Now i know I can keep all of those corals under this lighting!! Great nano man If i ever do try to install a second and it is successfull i will definatly send the pics your way! Link to comment
tycam Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 Your tank is awesome! Gives me hope that someday mine will look as good! Link to comment
Brooklyn Johnny Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 Who you calling Rookie!? Great job... Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted April 24, 2003 Author Share Posted April 24, 2003 Thanks guys! Johnny - if you got a nickel every time I've shown friends your tank, you'd be a rich man by now! You've given me plenty of inspiration. A friend who has a bigger tank went halves with me on the 9/$99 special at IPSF. We got wondermud, live sand activator, coral heaven food, Strombus Grazers, Nerite Grazers, MicroHermits, baby Hawaiian Turbo Grazers, some N-Reducer, and some Anthelia Polyps. I'm really excited because right now I only have one snail in the tank so adding a few more should help me with algae control. I found a little cyano in the tank today so trying to siphon that out and stay on top of it without using Chemi-clean again for a while. I am fairly confident a few more snails won't hurt anything! I will let everyone know how the package looks/works when we get it. Who would have ever thought I would be excited about adding snails to an aquarium. Have I gone mad? Anyone have any experience with the microhermits? I have a blue legged normal size and an emerald crab so didn't know if I should add any of the munchkin hermits or not. -Jeff Link to comment
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