Tank Pics

[BlueHorseshoe]

Finally got around to posting some pics of my first tank. I started this tank back in November.

 

The tank is a 7 gal cube with built in sump. Tank is lit with 27w of PC bulbs (18w of white, and a 9w actinic). The lights came with the tank and are built into the hood.

 

I've got a 50w heater in there (that needs to be upgraded to 75w as even in Southern California it cannot keep the tank at 80 at night) and a tiny 30gph pump that came with the tank.

 

At this stage, I had two turbo snails, two astrea snails, a scarlet hermit crab and a fire fish.

 

 

In this picture it has about 14 pounds of live rock, and 12 pounds of live sand.

 

 

(Edited by BlueHorseshoe at 12:47 pm on Feb. 19, 2002)

[beetlejuice]

There is no picture there.

[BlueHorseshoe]

In December I added my first corals. Some assorted mushrooms, green star polyps, a rock with some zooanthids and yellow polyps and a leather.

 

In the lower left corner you can also see one of the hitchhikers that came with the rock, a small feather duster.

 

I got rid of one of the astrea snails and one of the turbo snails as they had done a very thorough job of cleaning the hair that came on my live rock and I figured the two remaining snails would be sufficient to keep it from returning. (So far so good).

 

The firefish I had added after the tank cycled, died. He never really ate and after a couple of weeks just sort of gave up.

 

I added a peppermint shrimp that is doing fine.

 

After just a few weeks you can already see things growing on the back wall. Mostly little worms but a couple of spots of corraline algae as well.

 

[BlueHorseshoe]

Here is the tank as it looks today.

 

 

 

The livestock now includes a blushing damsel and a curious wormfish (which has fortunately dug itself a burrow in the front left corner of the tank). I've also added a candycane coral and an open brain.

 

The coralline growth is really taking off now. I have to work to keep it off the glass. Many of the yellow polyps seem to have been displaced by the zooanthids they shared the rock with but a few have survived. One migrated down to the sand bed at the opposite end of the tank where it has set up housekeeping on its own.

 

All the coral seems to be doing well with the possible exception of the open brain. He has had problems from day one. The tissue has receeded in places exposing the skeleton. I have moved him to a different part of the tank in the hope that it helps.

[SueAndLeo]

I have got to get a tank like that....

[jtown]

very nice .... I hope mine looks that good ... right now it looks like ...

 

 

(Edited by jtown at 7:17 pm on Feb. 19, 2002)

 

 

(Edited by jtown at 7:17 pm on Feb. 19, 2002)

[Christopher Marks]

Looks great BlueHorseShoe!  Thanks for sharing your tank with us.

[SueAndLeo]

I like jtown's.... Low upkeep....  

[jtown]

Quote: from SueAndLeo on 8:35 pm on Feb. 19, 2002[br]I like jtown's.... Low upkeep....  

 

[rickjg]

Good-looking tank. It is the same brand as mine.

Did yours come with two lights?

Mine has one 27W PC half & half 10K/Blue

The fan that came with the tank was noisy.

I replaced it with an old CPU fan that is much quieter.

Have you had water temp problems without a fan?

Mine has a tar type ballast that gets pretty hot.

The original pump was a Rio knock off that was also very noisy.

I replaced it with a real Rio the same size & watts.

The Rio pumps twice the water and is much quieter.

I also broke one of the small tabs that hold the hood on to the tank.

These are great little desk top tanks.

http://photos.yahoo.com/rick_j_g

[printerdown01]

Love the tank BlueHorseshoe!! Looks GREAT!

[BlueHorseshoe]

Rick,

 

I have the same light as you. A single pc fixture that has a blue tube and a white tube for a total of 27w.

 

The fan drove me crazy by the second day and I snipped the wires. I thought of replacing the fan with a cpu fan but after keeping an eye on the tank decided that temperature was not a problem. The hood gets warm to the touch but not dangerously so. For a week or so the heat was causing the plastic to give off a somewhat unpleasent smell. That went away pretty quickly.

 

I had bought a replacement pump as well. A microjet 400. That provided *too much* circulation so I put the original pump back in.

 

Funny thing about those tabs. I too broke off one while futzing around with the heater.

 

Thanks to all for the encouraging comments.

 

(Edited by BlueHorseshoe at 3:49 pm on Feb. 22, 2002)

[jtown]

if you guys want quiet computer fans, try the panaflo's.  They are by far the quietest and you can choose how fast you want them and different sizes.  They're a little pricey, but if you search hard, you can find them for $2.