New Member.....

[redsreef]

Hello,

 

    My name is Brian(A.K.A.) Redsreef.  Go to www.petsandshells.com/brianstank.html to see pics of nano.

    Hope you enjoy!

 

                               Later,

                                         Redsreef

 

(Edited by redsreef at 8:37 pm on Jan. 5, 2002)

[scubasteve]

Well you beat me, nice tank!!!

 

-Steve

 

ps- Welcome to Nano-reef.com!1

[gabe3eb]

That is realy awesome, let us know when you update your pics! If you don't mind I have a couple questions for you... Your tank is amazing first off, you have a lot invested in it. I have a 10 gallon, a couple gallons smaller than yours. It seems like you have a lot of fish in yours for only 13 gallons, what is the trick to pulling that off? Also, do you ever have any problems with your anenomes? Where they added first or last? Have you had any of them stinging the coral? You also have a HUGE clean-up crew, are the crabs, snails, stars etc. all helping the tank nicely? What about your cucumber? Is it the kind that doesn't release any toxins when it dies? Just curious, thanks a lot, sorry for the 20 questions.

gaber

 

(Edited by gabe3eb at 10:43 pm on Jan. 5, 2002)

[GasMunky]

I noticed your temperature fluctuations.  Do you have a heater?

[Lynn]

Wow! real nice! I just started my first 20 gal. Can you tell me more about your feeding program. Why you feed what you do and how did you decide to feed what you do and how often, etc.(corals)

thanks

[redsreef]

Hey Guys and Gals,

 

       Thanks for the replys. Makes me feel all warm inside.

 

 

        To start things off, I chose the gobies because they small. The worm goby does the sand sifting for me. The damsels are just for activity. I had a spotted mandiran goby but he got to be a bit large for a tank as small as mine. So, I took him to my store and put him in my 120 reef tank. He's much happier now. All in all that's my limit and I'm not pushing it.

 

          As far as my flower anem.  I added them some time during the tanks set-up.  I put them on the side so that they could have thier space. They haven't moved since I put them there.  They haven't stung anything. So far so good!  Plus, they give my sexy shrimp a honeycomb hideout.

 

       The clean-up crew does a wonderful job. Although, I had to remove a few turbo snails because they were bulldozing through my frags. My cucumbers are all very small(2-3inches). I don't think they would cause a problem if they were to die, means how they're small. Plus my sally lightfoot crab and camel shrimp and all the others do a good job taking care of lost souls.

 

       My heater happens to be a prism pendant. The fixture rests right on the tank so it keeps border line warm. A good friend of mine is making me a frame with a swing arm that adjusts up and down so I can retro my hood right to it. Then Let There Be Light! I plan on retroing a 175 MH (most likley a 10,000K) and turn 2 of my 28w daylights into actinics. But until then, If I don't want to cook the tank, I'm happy with what I have.

 

        I'm vert big on feeding a wide variety of food to all my inhabitants. Cause if you think about it, I don't think I would be a happy camper if I ate cheerios all day every day. It makes for very hardy and healthy animals. I pick Prime Reef and Mysis shrimp because everyone loves it and it's the most benefical. However, I do change up and buy different foods such as a good multi-pak food or meaty food such as mussels or clam when I run out the food I prevously bought. I like to feed my corals a variety of infert foods because of the different micron sizes. Not all my corals have the same size feeding tenticles or coralites. I try to feed my corals every other day to help keep the waste factor down.

 

            I've enjoyed answering your questions. If you have more please shoot. Look forward to talking to guys and gals later.

 

P.S.

 

   Thanks for the warm welcome.

 

 

                               Later Redsreef.

[djlanius]

Welcome! Wow, that's a beautiful tank, from all angles!

 

To follow up on the heater issue, I think what gabe was really asking is why don't you (or maybe you do) use a heater at night to keep the water temperature more constant. I've only got 7 months under my belt, but I've repeatedly heard that your temperature shouldn't fluctuate more than 2-3 degrees. That's why I have a noisy pesky fan on my lights to keep it down to 81 during the day (even in my 65 degree apartment), and a heater to keep it up to 79-80 at night.

Obviously, yours seems to be working so far. So how much temperature fluctuation do you generally have? Is it really 8 degrees different every day? How long have you had that much livestock in there?

 

I love the cat picture too! Does he pay attention to the fish? One of my biggest worries in setting up a tank was that my 2 cats would be playing in it. (I do have covered tanks but these cats know how to open cabinets & drawers & I wouldn't be surprised if they figured out how to lift the lid on the tank cover.) But fortunately they don't seem to get what's so cool about fish. One cat noticed the clownfish one day & perked up his ears & watched for about 30 seconds, but that's all.

[redsreef]

Hello djlanius,

 

    I don't have a heater in my tank. I don't have room for one, plus I don't want to see the heater on the glass with a full walk around.

 

 

    My temp. during the summer time, when the apt. stays around 70 degrees, my tank drops to about 73 or so. In the winter time, we put the heat on, so it drops to about 75 or so. All together top temp. stays around 80 or so degrees.

 

    So far, I haven't had any breakouts of ick (knock on wood).

 

     My cats don't seem to mind the tank any more. They like to sit and watch every now and then, but don't scare the fish anymore. They too can open doors, but they haven't tried to knock over the hood.

 

     I cycled the tank in a few days, By using water and sand out of my reef tank at the store. Then I pretty much stocked it with all 1-2 1b. pieces (total of 15 or so lbs.). After that, every week I added 3 or 4 corals. After the first 2 months I added all the clean-up crew at the same time. Believe it or not, It didn't hurt the tank or any of the new critters I added. The fish I added here and there. Lost a few here and there (not happy about that). Pretty much the tank has always been stock heavily.  

 

   I need to get back to work. Talk to you guys later.

 

                              Redsreef

[Mike]

Have you had any problems with your lights over nuking your coraline algae or the corals? I have 2 x 36 PC's ordered for my 10 gal and am having second thoughts on the (3-7) watts per gallon formula.... Then again this is my first nano reef so I am a true newbie to what to expect from the lights.