FillyGT Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 Your thread is a beautiful read and the pictures amazing. Makes me want to start a pico for some sexy shrimp. I feel they would just get lost in the tank I'm working on. Ah well...maybe down the road when I have some more experience. BTW - Happy Birthday! Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted March 27, 2008 Author Share Posted March 27, 2008 Thank you! How big is your tank now? There's plenty of room in the Sexy Club so if you ever feel the urge... LOL! BTW - Happy Birthday! Awww... you're sweet. Thank you! Link to comment
FillyGT Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 It's a much hated JBJ...the Nano-Cube 28g. It's only been up two weeks and the only for sure plans I have for it is a pair of Australian black and white clownfish. A pico next to my bed with some sexies would be very fitting. I just want to get the hang of water chemistry first with a larger tank before I try my hand at a pico. Your pictures make me want to get a new camera. My camera (Sony Cybershot DSC-T10 7.2MP) is great for normal use but since I've tried taking some close up shots of my tank I find it kinda depressing. Oh well. Link to comment
irishtexan Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 I love this thread! Where did you get the light kit? Did it come pre-wired? What are the future coral plans? Also, I wonder if it would be possible to do some T5's on a tank like this Im seriously thinking about getting one of these tanks cause im falling in love with it. Its perfect for what I want, im just not sure about the acrylic scratching and what not. What do ya'll use to clean it?? Thanks! -texx ps-Happy SEXY BE-LATED B-DAY!!! Link to comment
usssturgeon187 Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Fab Happy B-day !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yay . Like my pm said we want more ( pics & discriptions of the progress) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted March 29, 2008 Author Share Posted March 29, 2008 Thanks guys! The tank is almost done cycling so I can finally start having fun! Technically the tank isn't mine so stocking it will take some compromise for the most part. The preliminary plan is to have patches of zoas on the sand, palys, mushrooms and ricordeas in the middle areas and a nice torch or frogspawn coral on the top. It might also be cool to have some Xenias crawling up the back wall. As for inverts, I'm thinking a couple of emerald crabs could add some interest. I really want to keep a pistol shrimp-goby pair but my friend isn't warming up to the idea. I'm not big on a acrylic tanks myself but so far there's no scratches. I'll be ordering a Nimble Nano soon to replace the weak Mag-Float. The fixture came pre-wired with the canopy and is decent for what I plan to keep in this tank. Retrofitting the canopy with T5 wouldn't be hard at all so that's another plus. The LED moonlight isn't great, it's small and off towards the back that it looks like a small pin-light at night instead of filling the whole tank but this is just an aesthetic issue so no big deal. Link to comment
irishtexan Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 Oh so it comes with those lights?? Ok I'll shut up! Link to comment
Redhawk_44 Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 This tank looks great!!! I am thinking about getting one myself for my desk. Just a couple questions for ya. 1) Have you converted the drip trays to a fuge yet, if so how are you lighting it? 2) Are you having any heat issues? 3) How hard do you think it would be to replace the PCs with T5s later on? 4) Would you have rather upgraded the return, or do you like the Koralia Nano. Seems like a perfect desk top tank, got my finger on the Left-click button, ready to buy this thing, lol. Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 Sorry for the delay, work has been getting in the way of N-R today! Grrr!! To answer your questions: 1. The tank just finished cycling so I'll be completing the fuge conversion this weekend. I'm lighting it with a Galaxy Lamp from Drs. Foster & Smith (Link). I'll be sure to take photos of the process. 2. No heat issues at all. The light comes with a fan which does a good job of cooling the canopy. Other than that there are no heat issues with the pump. 3. I really think it would be easy to retrofit the canopy on this tank. Just a few simple screws and the whole thing can be taken out completely. 4. The return pump is fairly decent for the size of the tank so I have no issues with it. The Koralia Nano is awesome, I highly recommend it! All in all it's a good tank. It has nice curves and an overall sexy appearance! The stock light is pretty good but can be easily upgraded to something better. The only real challenge is converting the drip trays into a fuge but other than that the tank is great I doubt you'll be disappointed. Link to comment
irishtexan Posted April 3, 2008 Share Posted April 3, 2008 Hey do you think that one Koralia Nano is enough for your tank? Do you think that 2 would be overkill for a 10G? Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 1 Koralia nano + a HOB filter should be enough for a 10g. Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted April 4, 2008 Author Share Posted April 4, 2008 One Month Update The tank is completely filthy! I've employed the help of four snails (1 astrea, 2 ceriths and 1 nassarius) and a big blue-legged hermit crab from my pico. The snails are having a tough time tackling the hair algae that's growing everywhere so more hermits will be recruited. Caulerpa has overgrown the tank and had to be pruned. Lately it seems like I've been harvesting a lot of macroalgae. More mystery creatures... Can you see it? Looks to me like some kind of tunicate with its siphon wide open. The brain coral seems to be doing okay with more macroalgae encroaching around it. Also got some mushrooms to start with. All in all the tank is still looking good. All parameters have been stable the last two weeks so I'm convinced that tank has fully cycled. I'll be installing the light this weekend and putting chaeto in the back chamber thus completing the fuge conversion. I'll be sure to take pics to post on here. Stay tuned! Link to comment
FillyGT Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 Great pictures! I've been thinking about adding an emerald crab to my tank as well, so looking forward to the pictures if you do get one. I've seen them eat grape caulpera. Wonder if they will take care of your fan caulpera too? Can't wait to see what you do with that back compartment. This tank looks like it has so much potential. Its too bad that the price was raised on it. But then again I don't have to explain to the hubby why there would be another tank in our house! Link to comment
irishtexan Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 How's the tank doing? Any updates? Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted April 14, 2008 Author Share Posted April 14, 2008 At the moment it's completely plagued with hair algae! I had to recruit more hermits and an emerald crab to help clean the mess. The emerald crab feasted nonstop for a whole day and then hid to molt. I finally put in some chaeto in the fuge last night, I'll make sure to put up pics later when I get home. Link to comment
irishtexan Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 OK sweet! I love the look of this tank and I'm curious to see as to how it does. Any new info. on stocking plans?? -texx Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted April 14, 2008 Author Share Posted April 14, 2008 I envision a black occelaris hosting a nice frogspawn. I still think a goby/pistol shrimp duo would be nice in this tank. Still trying to convince my friend. Link to comment
opaquelace Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 I love the M-9 tanks! I want to make one with just rics and a mated pair of harlequin shrimp, hopefully the pink and white ones. I want black sand too. How exciting. I will be tagging along. Your algae is extremely colorful too el. Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted April 14, 2008 Author Share Posted April 14, 2008 Black sound would totally look amazing in this tank! I kinda wish I had put black sand in this tank especially now that I'm thinking about keeping a black occelaris. Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted April 18, 2008 Author Share Posted April 18, 2008 Week 6 I finally got some chaeto in the fuge last weekend. With chaeto growing out the wazoo in my pico's fuge, it was easy for me to weed out a decent clump for this tank. I know I've been slacking on this thread so I made sure to take lots of pics. There's not a lot of room in the back chamber so I'll have to make sure to harvest out the chaeto once it takes off. The Galaxy lamp propped up over the back chamber. This was a hard pic to take but here's the back chamber when lit. The light bleeds a little into the tank. Hopefully this won't cause too many problems. I decided to run a reverse photo period on this tank just as I do on my pico. And now with the lights on... HAIR ALGAE!!! And tons of macroalgae as well. So I ended up getting more hermits, snails and an emerald crab to help trim things down. At the time I took these photos, the emerald crab had gone into hiding to molt. He feasted for two days straight and stuffed himself so much he had to molt to make room. The mushrooms are doing fine. Note the grape caulerpa growing at the bottom of the rock. The hitchhiker brain coral overrun by macroalgae The mystery bivalve (still don't know what it is!) is becoming less shy. So far the crabs have done a tremendous job at trimming things down. Hopefully they'll be completely caught up by this weekend on time for me to take better pics of this tank. Link to comment
c est ma Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 So nice to get all those pics--they really tell the story! I like the way you show it like it is, pest algae & all--actually, it's pretty interesting to see the tank all overgrown like that. There are certainly plenty of cool things going on amidst the algae. What an incredible variety of macros. Glad the CUC is doing so well for you. The pics with the fuge light bleeding over are quite striking! --Diane Link to comment
Lalani Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 Those are some nice macro aglaes, especially the red one. Great pics, Aaron, that feather caulpera really stands out. Link to comment
Sexy Shrimp Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 I cannot believe that yo have got a brain as a hitchhiker! That has got to be the best freebie ever!! Link to comment
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