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Nano Sapiens 12g - Ye Olde Mixed Reef


Nano sapiens

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Nano sapiens
i recently inherited one of the cadlights 4x8w t5 lights and i cant find replacement lamps for them!

 

You can purchase new bulbs directly from CADLights. You might find alternative sources on the internet (search for 12" bulbs, not 11"s).

 

also was wondering how they would compare with 40w of pc light which is what I was considering swapping it out for. what do you think? its over a softiereef 5.5gal with 2 frogspawn frags and a cap coral frag less than an inch from surface when open.

 

I believe that the T5s have a higher PAR rating and they should hold their light output and spectrum for a longer time before replacement (should be replaced at least every 8 months) . They also produce less heat and more light output/watt, but I'm not sure how much more. For reference my T5 fixture sits about 6" from the water surface and my most light loving SPS corals sit 4-7" below the water surface. IMO you should have plenty of light for a 5.5g with soft corals as long as your fixture isn't sitting crazy high.

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Nano sapiens

A few random pics (finally figured out how to do macro shots on my old digital camera):

 

Leptastrea sp.:

Letastreasp092809.jpg~original

 

'Gold Pavona' (Pavona maldivensis):

GoldPavona092809.jpg~original

 

Florescent Orange Acan (Acanthastrea lordhowensis):

FlorescentOrangeAcan092809.jpg~original

 

Red on Baby Blue Acan (Acanthastrea lordhowensis):

 

RedonBabyBlueAcan092809.jpg~original

 

Bali Green Slimer (Acropora yongei):

BaliGreenSlimerTop092809.jpg~original

 

Sunset Monti (Montipora danae):

SunsetMontiTop092809.jpg~original

 

Tyree True Undata Monti (Montipora undata)

Undata092809-1.jpg~original

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Nano sapiens
the mod on your hydor is pretty slick.

 

Thanks. It hasn't eliminated all the sand displacement, but it has helped quite a bit.

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Nano sapiens
Nice pics! I love your slimer and you guys are going to make me go get an acan soon as good as those look lol.

 

I think Acans are awesome and, IMO, they are the near perfect coral for our nano tanks.

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Nano sapiens

UPDATE (08/03/09):

 

Started a detritus clean up campaign. Cleaning 1/3 of the gravel every 2 weeks. Also gradually removing all small gravel pieces from the sand bed. Monitoring nitrate to see if effort has any positive effect.

 

Removed the two remaining blue-legged hermit crabs and the only black-footed trochus snail. Colinista, Limpets, Columbelid snails and 'Pods doing cleanup duties.

 

Peculiar Problems:

 

Encountering Zoa & Paly problems. Some of the green PPE polyps are having all their tentacles munched by my large resident pods. They close up for a few days to a week and then open up again 'naked' (large old pods can be nasty!). I lost a whole colony of pink Prom-Queen palys and now the second colony is on its way out, too. Some other types of smaller Zoos are either closed or half-opening...others are perfectly fine.

 

Red Gomiopora will not extend polyps. Some tissue recession noted on outer edges. White fungal 'puffs' seen occassionally on outer connective tissue, so it has some type of infection most likely contracted after its fall from its perch.

 

Surprise Successes:

 

Gold Pavona frag is back to the original frag size. Growth can be measured daily. Feeds well on small, chopped Mysis pieces.

 

Green Bali Slimer has turned into a real 'encruster' covering the base and sides of its plug quickly. No vertical growth, unfortunately.

Edited by Nano sapiens
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Thats odd about the pods, mine dont ever bother anything except my pictures lol. Have you tried anything to get rid of them or reduce their numbers?

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Nano sapiens
opy01 said:
Thats odd about the pods, mine dont ever bother anything except my pictures lol. Have you tried anything to get rid of them or reduce their numbers?

 

This tank has always had high nitrate, so I am hesitant to add fish (more bioload) just to control the pods. On the plus side the pods keep nearly all algae in check (along with tiny snails), so I don't need clumsy bumblers like hermits, astrea and such. Only thing the pods won't touch is a really small type of fine-branching white 'algae'(?) that look like tiny trees:

 

WhiteAlgae080409.jpg~original

 

I suspect that the hermits ate this stuff since it has started to multiply only after I eliminated them.

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duckiesforever

haha i know this is kinda old news

but the salt water doesn't mix with the fresh

cuz its heavier... i think

they even have lakes where the surface water is fresh

and deeper is salt xD

... i know im a loser

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Nano sapiens
haha i know this is kinda old news

but the salt water doesn't mix with the fresh

cuz its heavier... i think

they even have lakes where the surface water is fresh

and deeper is salt xD

... i know im a loser

 

Actually, that's not a bad idea. I saw a documentary that showcased less dense water that formed 'lakes' in very deep water under the ocean. Very bizarre concept...a 'lake' directly surrounded by water.

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Actually, that's not a bad idea. I saw a documentary that showcased less dense water that formed 'lakes' in very deep water under the ocean. Very bizarre concept...a 'lake' directly surrounded by water.

 

I think I saw the same show. It was in the Gulf of Mexico somewhere and it looked like a giant lake surrounded by tube worms or something. It was crazy!

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  • 1 month later...

A few very recent additions:

 

FireworksOverCityAcan091609.jpg~original

 

FireworksOvertheCityActinic091609.jpg~or

ReefKoi LE Fireworks Over the City Acan

 

Superheromonti091609.jpg~original

ReefKoi LE Superhero Monti (still pissed from being shipped)

 

SunsetAcan091609.jpg~original

Sunset Acan from PurpleUp. Immediately to the left is a 1/2 Acan head I am rehabilitating. This was originally a 3/4 blood red head that has morphed into something with a kaleidoscope of colors. Will be interesting to see how it turns out when it it is fully healed.

 

Montisetosa091609.jpg~original

Montipora setosa from PurpleUp.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Nano sapiens

Finally found a 12" T5 called the 'Power-Glo' from Hagen. It is unavailable anywhere local, so I had to order it on-line ($9.99 from Big Al's). Spectral output shows major spikes in the blue, green and yellow.

 

HagenPower-GloSpectrum.jpg~original

 

Rated at 18K. Looks a bit 'pinkish', but, based on the spectrum, it should provide some good coral growth. Plan to replace one of my actinics with this 18K around December.

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Nano sapiens said:

Finally found a 12" T5 called the 'Power-Glo' from Hagen. It is unavailable anywhere local, so I had to order it on-line ($9.99 from Big Al's). Spectral output shows major spikes in the blue, green and yellow.

 

HagenPower-GloSpectrum.jpg~original

 

Rated at 18K. Looks a bit 'pinkish', but, based on the spectrum, it should provide some good coral growth. Plan to replace one of my actinics with this 18K around December.

 

Tank looks great. Quick question: I just ordered a 12g Cadlights as well. Based on your pictures it looks like you use the Oscillator that they offer. I was wondering what your thoughts on it were and what pump you use with it? Thanks.

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Nano sapiens
Tank looks great. Quick question: I just ordered a 12g Cadlights as well. Based on your pictures it looks like you use the Oscillator that they offer. I was wondering what your thoughts on it were and what pump you use with it? Thanks.

 

My goal with this tank was to use all the stock equipment to keep cost and energy requirements inline, so I use their newest version stock pump plus the Hydor oscillator unit that they sell online.

 

I personally like the Hydor units since they allow a single pump to send water to many areas of the tank that wouldn't receive adequate flow without it. Small snails can work their way in through the back and jam it, however, so I strongly recommend the simple critter shield modification you can see in my tank thread.

 

Keeping in mind that I have one of CADLights's earlier tanks, I feel that the pump return hole is a bit too low down. As a result, the Hydor unit with the stock pump will cause fine sand to flow out of the front left corner. I added some deflector fins to the Hydor, which helped, but it still occurs. I'm not sure if this is still an issue with the more recent tanks.

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One water bottle ATO is quite good, but two is even better. With my open top tank these two bottles provide top-up for nearly a week:

 

DoubleBarreledATO.jpg~original

 

I've started using Kalkwasser instead of individual supplements and adding it to my ATOs. After two weeks of testing calcium and alkalinity I've determined exactly how much clear, saturated Kalkwasser to add to the ATO bottles to maintain my target range concentrations (400-420 cal, 3.0 - 3.4 alk). For my tank this means around 1/8 Kalkwasser and the rest distilled or RO for the ATO. Since so little Kalkwasser is discharged into the tank at any one time the Ph has remained between 8.2 and 8.4. I've started adding Seachem Reef Advantage Magnesium (2/3 teaspoon, 2x/wk. mixed with about a cup of tank water) which is keeping Mg at around 1300 mg/l. Only trace element addition is one drop of Kent Concentrated Iodine between my 10%/wk water changes. Feeding of Mysis and coral foods is still done once a week.

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wow very cool how did you mount the pet bottles?

 

I cut out slots a bit wider than the bottles' stainless steel tubes. The bottles' caps simply sit on a 1/4" acrylic cover over the sump. A rubber band holds them against one another for more stability. Only a major earthquake or someone knocking them over should ever be a problem.

 

However, for virtually 100% stability I'm thinking about drilling a hole a bit larger than the bottle's cap diameter in a 3/4-1" piece of acrylic, cross drilling/taping 3 threads for plastic thumb screws and then gluing this onto the top of the acrylic cover. Basically, stabilizing the bottles by their caps.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A few new pics for November:

 

1. Sunset Monti (doubled in just a few months):

 

September 09

SunsetMontiTop092809.jpg~original

 

November 09

SunsetMonti110109.jpg~original

 

2. Large Florescent Orange Acan (2 large and 2 smaller heads):

OrangeAcan110109.jpg~original

 

3. LR pinacle: (Pavona maldivensis, Green Slimer Acro, Montipora undata, M. tuberculosa, M. spongoides, M. setosa, Acan lordhowensis, ATL Safecracker Zoas):

 

CoralGroup110109.jpg~original

 

4. Five inch, 10 year old blue-stripped 'Shroom (with clones):

 

BigBlueMush110109.jpg~original

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  • 4 weeks later...

Question: I've been reading through this thread, and was really intrigued by the test you performed on saltwater getting into the ATO... I wonder though, did you test the salinity of the water in the bottle after the week, or just visibly inspect for color? I have no idea how heavy a material the "dye" used was... but I wonder if perhaps some salt may have made its way into the bottle, without taking the "dye" with it. Perhaps its a stupid question, but I'm still curious. I am fairly confident in the findings you made, and intend to develop my own variant for my tank some time soon. Beautiful tank, btw. :)

Edited by Gatotsu77
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Question: I've been reading through this thread, and was really intrigued by the test you performed on saltwater getting into the ATO... I wonder though, did you test the salinity of the water in the bottle after the week, or just visibly inspect for color? I have no idea how heavy a material the "dye" used was... but I wonder if perhaps some salt may have made its way into the bottle, without taking the "dye" with it. Perhaps its a stupid question, but I'm still curious. I am fairly confident in the findings you made, and intend to develop my own variant for my tank some time soon. Beautiful tank, btw. :)

 

All questions welcome :) . I don't have the ability here at home to check below 1.017 SG. I had previously done this test without dye for around 4 days and I took a swig of that fresh water and it tasted as fresh as the fresh RO water I used.

 

The dye was completely soluble in water with no color gradients or residue, so being essentially a component of the salt water one would expect it to diffuse into the fresh water if diffusion did indeed occur.

 

I've been using the bottle ATO for well over a year and my salinity has remained very stable.

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Hello, I just finished reading through this enitre post. Great presentation, and awesome that you've sticked to stock parts. I was resaerching this tank earlier today as a good all in 1 nano, and hapt upon this post.

 

I am curious if you can keep two or three larger branchy LPS on some live rock, and maybe a clown fish to burrow in the tenticles, along with the cleaner crew. Would this be a nitrate overload for this tank?

 

I am limited to 10 gallons due to my aparment, will try to cheat it to maybe 15 gallons max, but I am looking to achieve the burrowing clown fish look in a nano setup. Is this possible? Thanks for your help, again your setup is awe inspiring. ;)

 

also, can you elaborate on how you feed them the mytosis shrimp?

 

 

 

also, can you elaborate on how you feed them the mytosis shrimp?

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  • Nano sapiens changed the title to Nano Sapiens 12g - Ye Olde Mixed Reef
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