gupebreedr Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 IN THE BEGINNING ROB CREATED A ~~~~~ NANO ~~~~~ New Full Tank Shot 1-27-2012 A bit about me, the name is Rob and I live in the beautiful sunshine state of Florida. I've had a wee bit of experience with reefkeeping some 7 or 8 years ago, having a 10 gal Nano and a 56 gal reef. I lost both of those set-ups the year we had the 3 named hurricanes hitting our state. Being somewhat discouraged I gave up on saltwater and primarily kept my FW set-ups. Well, here it is a few years later and I've gotten the bug to start again with a bit of help and encouragement from a friend that has several reefs tanks. The new set-up. 10 gal AGA. . The tank was setup on 9/22/2011. I started with a 5lbs of live rock and a few small rubble pieces added to my modded AC70. No live sand at this point but was added a few days later. Adding sand sure created a milky situation!!!!! LOL In addition to the AC70 I have a AC mini running to aid with water circulation and mechanical filtration. No tests have been made as of yet as my test kit was rather old and I'm not sure if the chemicals were reliable. New test kits have been ordered and should be here in the next few days. Additional equipment to be added and ordered is a 50 watt heater and a LED fug light. Heater to be installed the fug. I am currently researching a new light fixture for this set up. I want to go with LED, any suggestions? Was thinking about two Par bulbs from BOOSTLED. Last night I added 5.5 lbs of live rock but have not taken pic's yet. Those will be forth coming in my next update. More sand is needed as well and I'll be getting that later today. Oh and lastly, my diatom bloom started this morning. Guess I'll have to get my CUC pretty soon but want to check my parameters before doing so. Stay tuned for more updates and pic's to follow soon. Rob 10G. 2 BoostLED PAR30 bulbs and fixtures. Aquaclear 70(300) Pimped out for a fuge, with a Dymax robot LED fixture. 16+ lbs LR 13 lbs LS Red Sea Coral Pro Salt ~~~ Inhabitants ~~~ 6 Florida Nassurias 4 Blue Leg Hermits CUC from Reef Cleaners Sm. Skunk Cleaner Shrimp ~~~ Fish ~~~ 2 Baby TR False Perculas Bert and Ernie (Ernistine) Bert 7/8' , Ernie 1" 1 Green Clown Goby 1 1/8" carpet surfer ~~~ Coral ~~~ Common green, pink and orange Zoa's Common purple Zoa's Candy Apple Red Zoa's Common Palys Yellow Colonial Polyps Frogspawn Trumpet Green Start Polyps Pulsing Xenia Duncan, Single head Hydnophora (rigida?) Hammer Toadstool Leather Sm Favia Papaya Clove Polyps Midnight Haunting Chalice Mystery Montipora Fuzzy Green Mushrooms Misc Ricordia Mushrooms Mics Disc Mushrooms (red and blue) 2 Ultra Color Maxi/Mini Nems. 1 orange and lime, 1 what I would call watermelon Kenya Tree Cinnamon Grandis Paly's (2 polyps) Link to comment
DIstudio Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 looks interesting! welcome to N-R. i'll tag along to see how things turn out Link to comment
mrscritz Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 I like your 1 big rock. It makes your tank seem much huge. Link to comment
JoelRHale Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Nice tank. If you want LEDs. The DIY aquastyle kit is nice. If you're not DIY handy, the lights I just got are pretty nice, but would be way overkill 2 Par38's should be just fine. What are you planning on putting in it? Link to comment
gupebreedr Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 Thanks for the comments. Okay, here's a current peek at my tank as it currently sits. This pic taken moments ago. It shows the additional live rock and sand. The first piece of live rock has some great ledges for attaching frags, although the pic does not really show it. My plans for this tank are to keep it simple and minimal. I'll add some shrooms and zoa's when it's ready. As far as fish are concerned, a Royal Gramma is a must have. Other then that I have no other plans at this moment, I want it to evolve slowly and most of all when the wallet is ready to open up a bit more. LOL As I mentioned in my first post, more sand will be added later today I think another two pounds should do it. I may try to locate another piece of rock for the left side to give it a bit more height. I am hoping to add my CUC later next week. Stay tuned for additional posts as things progress. Link to comment
nano noob Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Love the tank so far! Where did you get the cage that goes into the AC to make it a refugium? Link to comment
gupebreedr Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 Love the tank so far! Where did you get the cage that goes into the AC to make it a refugium? Thanks for the kind words. The "cage" is simply the stock filter basket that I cut up and attached to the filter. Super simple and only took a few minutes. I've seen a few other AC70 mods that peeps have done that are by far better then mine, but what the heck, this works for me. Just trying to keep things easy and minimal. Link to comment
nano noob Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Thanks for the kind words. The "cage" is simply the stock filter basket that I cut up and attached to the filter. Super simple and only took a few minutes. I've seen a few other AC70 mods that peeps have done that are by far better then mine, but what the heck, this works for me. Just trying to keep things easy and minimal. Cool! Good job on it though, I couldnt tell the difference I am guessing you used the bottom of the cage and glued it to the front/outlet of the filter and did the same for the side where the impeller is? Also what did you use to glue it? Superglue or aquarium sealant? Link to comment
gupebreedr Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 Cool! Good job on it though, I couldnt tell the difference I am guessing you used the bottom of the cage and glued it to the front/outlet of the filter and did the same for the side where the impeller is? Also what did you use to glue it? Superglue or aquarium sealant? Indeed, that's what I did. I used super glue, the saltwater version of duct tape. LOL :lol: I still have one side of the basket to use if I need to make another chamber. Link to comment
nano noob Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Indeed, that's what I did. I used super glue, the saltwater version of duct tape. LOL :lol: I still have one side of the basket to use if I need to make another chamber. lol nice! Thanks for the info! Will have to try this with my AC when I get a chance. Link to comment
JoelRHale Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Nano Noob, the AC mod is about the easiest DIY out there FYI. I am the absolute worse at that kind of stuff and mine turned out pretty good. Link to comment
Paigee Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Good to see the tank up and running!! I like your royal gramma idea, they are very beautiful! Can't wait to see the progress! Link to comment
gupebreedr Posted September 30, 2011 Author Share Posted September 30, 2011 Good to see the tank up and running!! I like your royal gramma idea, they are very beautiful! Can't wait to see the progress! Paigee, Thanks for stopping by my thread. Me really likes Royal Grammas, always have. Love their color scheme. Not much to report today, my diatom bloom is spreading but that's part of the cycle. Just check the status of my supply order including new test kits and they are scheduled to arrive on Monday. Doin' the happy dance. Imagine that, someone getting so excited over a bloody test kits. Hey at least with the new kits I'll feel like I'm actually doing something useful instead of staring into a tank with live rock. LOL Oh, I did find some life, a tiny starfish ( bout the size of a pencil eraser)on the back glass. Tried to get a picture of it but it didn't turn out due to the angle I had to use to shoot it. Hopefully he'll come out front and I can get a decent shot of him. That's about all for now, will post more as things progress. Off to read more threads. Link to comment
gupebreedr Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 Well here it is, day nine and here's a peek of my tank as it currently sits. The diatom bloom is spreading quickly. Hope it does not last too long. No new life has been spotted. My test kits should arrive on Monday, I'm curious to see what the parameters are. Was hoping to start my CUC later this week but will wait on see what my tests reveal. Link to comment
gupebreedr Posted October 3, 2011 Author Share Posted October 3, 2011 Just when things started to look good, test kits arrive today, diatom bloom subsiding, I come home from work only to discover my tank has a slow leak. Not a happy camper here. I've already cleaned up another 10 AGA and painted the back, hopefully it will be dry in a few hours and I can do a quick switcheroo. I cracked one 10 gal this morning while trying to clean it. Good thing I have 3 or 4 dozen extra tanks to replace the leaker. On a positive note, I guess it was good that this happened now before I started stocking, huh? I wonder how long this will delay my cycle or if it will have completely start all over again? Oh well, better days are coming. Link to comment
JoelRHale Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 That sucks, but at least you have some back up. When you make the transfers just make sure the rocks and sand are only out of water for seconds or not out of water at all, and your cycle should continue uninterrupted. I'm sure it can be out for longer but my point was to make it a quickly as possible. Link to comment
gupebreedr Posted October 3, 2011 Author Share Posted October 3, 2011 That sucks, but at least you have some back up. When you make the transfers just make sure the rocks and sand are only out of water for seconds or not out of water at all, and your cycle should continue uninterrupted. I'm sure it can be out for longer but my point was to make it a quickly as possible. Thanks Joel, I intend getting the transfer complete within a few minutes. I doubt that it would take much more then 10 minutes since it's such a small tank and I only have three major pieces of live rock. I have my saltwater only buckets to move the rock into during that transition. I think all should go well, at least I hope so. You know this really sux, was getting really to place an order for my CUC today I guess I should wait an extra few days to a week just to be on the safe side. I'm done with my rant now and off my soap box. Like I said in my last post, it could have been much worse. Thanks again Joel. Link to comment
JoelRHale Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 No problem. How old was the tank? I think I found a slow leak on my 20 which is like ~12 years old but the salt creep plugs it up because it gets plugged and I'm transferring in a week or two I'm not very concerned. Hope everything transfers well. On a side note, I always forget you have a 10. Because your name has breeder in it I keep thinking it's a 40 Link to comment
MitchReef Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Hey Joel, What part of Florida are you in? We have a pretty big and active reefing community in Orlando. Link to comment
JoelRHale Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 I'm in WV, Rob's the Floridian. I wish my community had a big active community. Link to comment
gupebreedr Posted October 3, 2011 Author Share Posted October 3, 2011 No problem. How old was the tank? I think I found a slow leak on my 20 which is like ~12 years old but the salt creep plugs it up because it gets plugged and I'm transferring in a week or two I'm not very concerned. Hope everything transfers well. On a side note, I always forget you have a 10. Because your name has breeder in it I keep thinking it's a 40 Back in the day, hahaha, I was quite active raising championship show guppies. for I.F.G.A. shows... That's why I have several dozen tanks, mostly 10's to choose from. The leaker is no more then 5 or 6 years old but hardly used. I painted another this morning and it's now set up to see if it's going to leak. Since the faulty tank has a slow leak I'm not in too much of a hurry to transfer everything to the newly painted tank. I'll most likely let it sit over night to if it leaks. Link to comment
gupebreedr Posted October 3, 2011 Author Share Posted October 3, 2011 Hey Joel, What part of Florida are you in? We have a pretty big and active reefing community in Orlando. Hey Mitch, I'm the Floridian. Tampa, a couple miles north of the Buc's stadium. I'm not sure what kind of reef community we hare here but I can tell you the selection of decent shops around here sux. One good one,Marine warehouse. And there's this OTHER place very close to me but I refuse to go there as the owner is con artist and a thief. Link to comment
Woogalie Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 This is gonna be great to watch grow! I like how your taking your time and that your informed on how to start a reef. An example to new people on Nano-Reef. Wooot Link to comment
castiel Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Bad luck with the leak but I can't imagine a transfer will extend your cycle too much. Link to comment
gupebreedr Posted October 4, 2011 Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 Well, the tank transition is complete. Took about an hour from start to finish. Not too bad huh? I have no clue as to where the first tank was leaking from but I do know it had to be from around the base somewhere. My supply package arrived yesterday containing my test kits, fuge light, heater and "My Two Little Fishes Nanomag". Dang that Nanomag is quite strong for such a little thing!!!!!! I would recommend it to anyone having a small tank or someone that has their landscape almost to the glass. Neat little gadget! I ran my first tests last night and found my parameters to be a bit high still so I suspect it won't be until next week sometime when I attempt to obtain my CUC. Oh, and I went to my LFS and picked up another piece of live rock. Kind of an interesting piece with lot'sa nooks and crannies. Had to break a bit of it off so I could get in in my tank and fit the new arrangement. I'll be posting some new pic's either later today or tomorrow once the dust storm settles. Link to comment
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