USFnano Posted March 16, 2004 Author Share Posted March 16, 2004 I bought the ballast from someone here on nano-reef who had an extra for $40, the bulb was from a group buy on here for $55, and the reflector is from a regent fixture which was $10 at Home Depot. Link to comment
USFnano Posted March 18, 2004 Author Share Posted March 18, 2004 I was just looking at my tank and saw a little movement on one of the rocks... it's a tiny ~1/2" mantis. I just got back from wal-mart with a little 3qt tub. I put his rock and a little bit of sand in it as a temporary home. I think I'll put him in the 5.5g once the move is done. He's so cute, the opening to the hole he lives in is only about 1/8" around. I'll try to get a better picture of it later when I get home. The little caption says "Little 1/2" mantis peeking his head out of his tiny hole" I couldn't get the picture small enough to post, and still be able to read it... Link to comment
USFnano Posted March 19, 2004 Author Share Posted March 19, 2004 And here's a full pic of his temporary home Link to comment
birdman204 Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 tough to see in the pic. Link to comment
USFnano Posted March 19, 2004 Author Share Posted March 19, 2004 I know, my parents camera can't take a clear picture close up, and the tub being plastic doesn't help at all. I should be getting a new camera for my birthday(today!), so I'll get better pics up as soon as I can. Link to comment
USFnano Posted March 23, 2004 Author Share Posted March 23, 2004 Here's a couple pics of the fuge with the light on it(13w PC) and the heater. The GSP is only in there temporarily until I figure out what I'm going to do with it Link to comment
USFnano Posted March 23, 2004 Author Share Posted March 23, 2004 I got a better picture of the little mantis peeking his head out of his hole. Link to comment
john76 Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 Wow, a nano reef and a mantis fuge. Have you seen him come all the way out of the rock yet? Link to comment
USFnano Posted March 23, 2004 Author Share Posted March 23, 2004 The mantis isn't in the fuge, I put his rock in a little 3qt rubbermaid tub with an airstone running in it for now. Still not sure what I'm going to do with it. I've seen him out completely once, when I first noticed him while the rock was still in the tank. Full tank pics will come once I trade a couple pieces of rock with Xenia on them to a local reefer. Link to comment
USFnano Posted March 23, 2004 Author Share Posted March 23, 2004 Just messing with my new camera. Here's a couple pics of my yellow polyps under actinic, with and without the flash. Link to comment
USFnano Posted March 24, 2004 Author Share Posted March 24, 2004 Here's a full tank pic with the lights on. The two big rocks with Xenia on them are going to be traded on saturday. Link to comment
USFnano Posted March 24, 2004 Author Share Posted March 24, 2004 Here's a picture of my pistol shrimp during the move from the 5.5g to the 10g. Link to comment
Spencerx Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 wow cool. Have you been to that store call fish and itchy things or something? i saw some pics of their tanks and they had some niiiiice stuff. I like the fuge, why not put the mantis in there? Link to comment
USFnano Posted March 25, 2004 Author Share Posted March 25, 2004 Yeah, I've been to John's store a couple times, very nice place. I can't wait until the tank's ready for some sps so I can go shopping I don't know about putting the manits in the fuge... it's probably going to be lit 24/7, mainly because I don't have room for another bulky timer so I don't know if it would like the constant light. Link to comment
USFnano Posted March 28, 2004 Author Share Posted March 28, 2004 Here's a new pic of my tank, traded away most of the xenia this morning. Link to comment
Sting Posted March 28, 2004 Share Posted March 28, 2004 Hey- I like your tank. I live in Tampa also. Did you get your rock from the TBS store on Hilsborough? If so, what type of rock did you get? Just the Base Rock, or what? I originally bought all Premium Corals on Rock, but now I don't have much space to add corals, so I'm redoing my rockwork next week and I'm going to just buy the standard Base Rock. It's really cheap from the store location too! 1.50$ a pound! You gotta love that as a college student huh? But really, you don't seem to be doing too bad- you must have enough money if you can afford a nice tank like that! Link to comment
USFnano Posted March 29, 2004 Author Share Posted March 29, 2004 Most of it is TBS base rock, a couple pieces are from a local reefer that I traded my xenia for. This tank had been in the works for probably 4 months before it was finished. It really wasn't all that expensive, around $250 plus the rock and sand, but it's left me very low on spending money the last couple months(basically food and gas). I just really wanted to do it the way I wanted the first time, and not be wishing down the road that I had done it differently. Link to comment
huari Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 and what a great job! very clean and well thought out. Did you do all the drilling for the bulkheads on that stock 10G? I can't wait to see what you'll do for autotopoff. Link to comment
USFnano Posted March 31, 2004 Author Share Posted March 31, 2004 I was going to do the drilling myself, but I couldn't find the drill bit anywhere locally(back home all we have is a home depot, and they didn't have it), so I took it to a glass shop. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about auto-topoff yet, I really don't like the idea of having a float switch sitting in the main tank. Link to comment
USFnano Posted April 1, 2004 Author Share Posted April 1, 2004 Fuge with some macro algae now! Link to comment
Mai Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 What size holes did you have drilled for the intake and returns for your SCWD? I am thinking about doing this to my 10gal,. Link to comment
DSparks Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Beeeee-autiful! I like the setup USF. I'm running a SCWD closed loop system as well, although not as fancy as your setup with a fuge plumbed in. A couple comments from experience: *I'm not sure what the flow is on the Mag you are using, but be careful as it might create too much current. I have 3/4" bulkheads installed. At first I was reducing those to 1/2" nozzles, but that was too way much. So then I went to the 3/4" nozzles. It still seemed like a lot of flow in the tank (my clown had a really hard time), so I just removed the nozzles completely. Everything settled down and looks to be running fairly smooth right now. BTW, I'm using an Ehiem that runs at about 300 gph. *Make sure that you are completely filtering all of the MH light with the filtering glass. I had just a tiny bit creeping out around my setup, and it was starting to melt my xenia. I had to go back and change the setup so that the fixture is completely enclosed. Link to comment
USFnano Posted April 4, 2004 Author Share Posted April 4, 2004 The Intake is 1" and all the others are 1/2" The pump is a Mag 5, but the flow seems fine so far with part of it T'd off to the fuge and the flow loss from the SCWD. I used some 1/2"x3/4" trim in the hood that sits on the lip of the tank to hold it up, the glass is sitting on top of that and covers the entire tank. So far the Xenia and Yellow polyps love the light. I want to get into SPS, hence the flow and MH, and hopefully I'll be getting my first frag in a week or so. Link to comment
DSparks Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Sounds like you've got it all covered! Keep us updated on your progress. I like it! Link to comment
Mai Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Thnks for the info USFnano Now I need to get the holes drilled Link to comment
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