evolsk8shop's 28g nano

[evolsk8shop]

I originally bought a Red Monti back in August 2009 and now it is starting to cover up too much of the center of my tank. Today I decided to frag it (as best I could). I used the frags to build a little Monti "tree" in the back of my tank.

 

Here are some pictures:

 

August 2009 - The original frag:

 

 

Today:

 

 

Today after Fragging:

 

 

New Mounting "Tree"

 

 

Some Full Tank Shots:

[evolsk8shop]

I'm bored at work on a Sunday so I am posting some pics. Check'm out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[evolsk8shop]

The best part of this hobby is watching the coral grow. I like to think that the growth (except Aiptasia) shows me that I'm doing something right. Here are some photos that show the growth of my corals over the past year or so:

 

FTS 17 Months:

 

 

Leather - 10 Months:

 

 

Red Zoas - 6 Months:

 

 

Kenya Tree - 10 Months:

 

 

Monti (Already Fragged Multiple Times) - 13 Months:

 

 

Green Slimer? - 6 Months:

 

 

Birdsnest - 6 Months:

 

[evolsk8shop]

Sooooo I went to my LFS this morning to check out the stock cause my sister wanted to buy me something for my tank for Christmas. When I got there I noticed the OPEN sign was off right away. I drove up to the door and there was a pink (government posted) sign on the door that said: "Public Notice: Pet Junction is forbidden from making retail sales as of November 5th, 2010."

 

That makes me pretty sad considering it was the best LFS within 100 miles of my house. It's tough to find a good salt water fish store in NE Ohio cause of the cold weather. It's pretty crazy that they closed. They had a lot of exotic animals in there including crocodiles, arowanas, goats and a huge selection of reptiles.

 

Welp, back to Petco I guess

[Squared]

Awsome pics. How big is your blenny? Is he aggressive at all? How long have you had it?

[evolsk8shop]

Awsome pics. How big is your blenny? Is he aggressive at all? How long have you had it?

 

He's pretty chill. He just sits on the magfloat up in the corner most of the time where he can overlook most of the tank. I got him about 6 months ago.

[Euphyllia]

Is that coral in your signature a monti cap? I think they're really pretty and wanna get one for my new tank. Are they easy to keep?

[evolsk8shop]

Is that coral in your signature a monti cap? I think they're really pretty and wanna get one for my new tank. Are they easy to keep?

 

Yes it is. It is actually my favorite coral. It has been very easy to keep and has grown a ton. I have fragged it many many times already in the last year and it is still huge. I dont really follow the rules on here and do a water change every week. It's more like every month or two for me and as soon as I do it I notice more growth in the monti right away every time.

[ctbehm]

Very nice tank!! Any updated pictures?

[evolsk8shop]

Updates:

 

My Midas Blenny wasn't eating for some reason so he died. I'm back to my original two fish, the clown and the six line. I've always had a huge problem with Aiptasia in my tank so I finally spent the $$ and got a Copper-banded Butterfly Fish yesterday. I've tried the Peppermint shrimp, Berghia nudis, aip x and everything else. The CBB seems to be doing pretty good after the first day. None of the fish are fighting (for now). I watched him most of the day yesterday and I didn't see him eat any of the Aips yet but hopefully he will.

 

I had to take my leather out of this tank because it was getting too big. I put it in my 10g tank at work. It is doing well in there.

 

Here are some updated pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the new addition:

 

[evolsk8shop]

Wow, I haven't updated in almost a year. I had 2 tanks going but I condensed them into one. The second tank was my 10 gallon at my skate shop. It had 1 clown fish in it and some coral. The shop closed in May so I brought the tank home and combined it with this 28 gallon. I was worried that the clown fish would fight and I thought the big one would kill the small one but they have been getting along fine for about 7 or 8 months.

 

So now my tank has 2 clowns and the sixline wrasse. The Copperband Butterfly lived in this tank for a year then I sold it to someone with a bigger tank. It cleaned out all the aiptasia in my tank within a few weeks. Unfortunately there was some growing in the back chamber so as soon as the fish was gone it started spreading in the main tank again. I also have some majanos I need to get rid of.

 

My coral growth has always been pretty good even though I only have the 105W PC lighting. My torch coral and birdsnest are both huge. The red monti has always grown incredibly fast even though I have fragged it 10's of times. I know lighting is important for coral growth but in my opinion everybody should have a protein skimmer. They are also extremely important.

 

I'm not sure why but most of the coraline in my tank has died. It was covering most of my live rock and the back wall but now it's pretty much all gone.

 

Bubble algae is getting pretty out of control but I will probably throw some emerald crabs in there this week and hopefully they will take care of that problem.

 

That's all I got, here are some photos, enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

(blue LED's at night)

 

 

 

 

 

[evolsk8shop]

Ok, haven't updated for awhile...

 

I recently moved to a new apartment downtown. I didn't want to move my tank right away because I new it would be a pain in the ass. I left it with my roommate for a couple months but last week I was ready to start moving it.

 

It has had problems with algae, majanos, aiptasia, etc in the past. I wanted to start pretty fresh this time so I broke the tank down completely to clean it out. I have an empty 50 gallon tank so I put all the coral, live rock and fish in there with 3 power heads for now. It doesn't have a filter but I keep putting fresh water in it every couple days so hopefully everything survives the chaos. The lid from the JBJ tank is sitting on top of the 50 gallon tank to provide light.

 

I cleaned out the JBJ completely. I took apart the rear power heads and cleaned them completely. Threw out the korolia, the magfloat, old tubing and the live sand. Everything else was cleaned completely. I took the tank to my new apartment and set it up there. I ran regular freshwater through it for a few days to make sure everything was dead and cleaned out. Then I emptied that water and filled it up with salt water. This time I used reef crystals to mix the water. I have never used it before so hopefully it helps the coral better than the standard Instant Ocean.

 

A couple days after that I dumped some fresh live sand into the tank. Just a 20lb bag for now. I also added two pieces of dried out live rock from a former tank. Hopefully the bacteria from the sand seeds in the dry rock.

 

Today I went back to my old place and broke off a piece of live rock from the old tank. I was very very very careful to find a piece with no aiptasia, majano, bubble algae or kenya trees on it. I scrubbed it a little with a toothbrush and rinsed it in the old salt water. I took that to the new apartment and added it to the tank. Once again, I hope the bacteria from that rock seeds into the dry rock I added a few days ago.

 

I also put a new bag of chemi-pure in the rear chamber. I also use filter floss and chaeto in the rear chamber.

 

I am going to let the tank cycle for a week probably and then I am going to add the fish and coral from the old tank. I know this is not a great plan but I am in a bit of a hurry to get the tank back together since the 50 gallon setup doesn't have a mechanical filter.

 

I want this tank to be a little different this time. I want it to have a cleaner look. Less live rock this time. I want to focus attention more on the actual coral than the live rock. The most important pieces I have are the red monti, green birdsnest and the torch coral. In the future I would like to get more species of montipora and more SPS.

 

That's it for now. Here are some pictures of the messy process:

 

The 50 Gallon with my stock in it. Three fish, live rock and coral.

 

Tank at the apartment on the floor with fresh water running through it

 

New sand, crappy stand.

 

 

 

 

Wish me luck!

[evolsk8shop]

Alrighty, got everything transferred and set-up at the new apartment. It took about 2 weeks to get everything moved.

 

I mixed new water - 24 gallons. This time I used Reef Crystals instead of the standard Instant Ocean salt. I did NOT use any water from the old tank.

 

I used 2 pieces of dried rock and 1 small (less than 5 lb) piece of rock from the old tank. I didn't want to bring any algae, aiptasia or majanos into the new setup. This is why I took the least amount of stuff as possible out of the old tank.

 

I bought new live sand for the tank. I used the standard white sand this time instead of the black/white mixed. The white makes the tank look much brighter when the light is on.

 

I salvaged whatever coral I could from the old tank. This included red montipora, green birdsnest, red zoas, torch coral, a leather and some green/blue mushrooms. I had to break of chunks of the monti and birdsnest that had majanos attached to them.

 

I also brought my 3 little fishies. The two clowns and the sixline wrasse. I was very surprised they made the 45 minute journey.

 

I moved the fish and coral last night. I stuck all the coral in the tank first. I glued some but most of it stuck right into my live rock.

 

Then I put the fish in with a net one at a time. I really can't emphasize enough that I didn't want to transfer any of the problems from the old tank into this fresh set-up.

 

The clown fish transferred fine like nothing happened. They were instantly swimming and exploring. The sixline didn't do as well in the introduction. He laid in the corner for the first 8 hours. When I got home from work he was back to normal though. He swam right up to my face as I put it up to the glass. They are all eating and seem to be doing well even though I didn't follow traditional protocol by using some of the previous water. I also didn't really let my live sand cure yet but I'm really hoping that doesn't give me any problems.

 

Here are some photos from today (first official day):

 

Front

 

Front

 

Left Side

 

Right Side

 

Red Zoas/Mushrooms

 

Torch Coral (closed up)

[JR!]

wow great job on this man. hope you get it all running well again

[evolsk8shop]

Took some more photos today of things opening up:

 

 

 

 

[evolsk8shop]

Comparison pictures: Torch Coral - July 2010 vs. June 2012