Tim's 15 Gallon College Swag Tank

[timothymarsh]

Picked up two new corals a few days ago. Got an acan frag and cool paly for $25, not bad. The tank is going to my girlfriends house in three days because I have to move out of my dorm. And then two weeks after that it's going to where I staying for summer term. During that time the pygmy angel is going to a new home in miami ( my dad's 30 gal), and I want to set up a totally new scape. The clowns are going to be very happy having the whole tank to themselves, should also reduce the bioload on the system. Also, I'll be upgrading to LEDTRiC PAR38 tri-color bulbs, just waiting on boostled to get the darn clamps back in stock. I'll try to get some pics of the frags soon. Already hooked on acans!!!!

[Tinola]

Picked up two new corals a few days ago. Got an acan frag and cool paly for $25, not bad. The tank is going to my girlfriends house in three days because I have to move out of my dorm. And then two weeks after that it's going to where I staying for summer term. During that time the pygmy angel is going to a new home in miami ( my dad's 30 gal), and I want to set up a totally new scape. The clowns are going to be very happy having the whole tank to themselves, should also reduce the bioload on the system. Also, I'll be upgrading to LEDTRiC PAR38 tri-color bulbs, just waiting on boostled to get the darn clamps back in stock. I'll try to get some pics of the frags soon. Already hooked on acans!!!!

 

 

Be careful with the clamp as it's not designed for Par38's. Rather, it was designed for the Par30's. I would just be cautious since the Par38's are heavier.

[timothymarsh]

Thanks for the concern but I've talked to several people using a Boost clamp/par38 combo and they all say that it works fine. LEDTRiC is also coming out with a clamp of their own so I'll look into that as well since it will be designed for the par38 bulb that I'm using.

[timothymarsh]

As promised, a bunch of pictures. Super bored between final exams so all this came out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[timothymarsh]

So after a week long trip to the Big Apple, my tank is still alive and doing well. The pygmy angel is loving his new 30 gallon home and the clowns are very happy having the tank to themselves. In two weeks I have to move the tank again to my summer dorm, so we'll see how that goes. The girlfriend is watching it right now as I'm down in Miami with my family. Here's some pics I got this morning before I left.

 

 

 

 

[timothymarsh]

I picked up four SPS frags from a friend, but they have to survive a week in this setup before I can get them back to the tank in Orlando. LEDTRIC bulb + air pump + bucket= interesting experiment. Hopefully all goes well as this is my first foray into the SPS department.

 

 

 

 

[timothymarsh]

So the tank is finally moved into it's new home, and the new LEDTRiC lights look amazing. I also put in the inTank media basket for the AC70 and that seems to be working well. Overall the coral is a bit pissed off today but it should be looking good tomorrow. I like that the tank is now more open, it looks so sleek. It's also very easy to work with now that the wood cover is gone. Might add a koralia nano so that the new SPS frags have enough flow. Enough talking, pics to prove it!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[timothymarsh]

So the new dorm room that I have gets down to 71 at night so it looks like I need to get a heater I really want to keep this tank as simple as possible so this is bothering me a lot, but the corals need it so I'll probably buy one today when I pick up more salt. The new lights are so freakin awesome, and I was glad to see good polyp extension on the new frags when I put them in yesterday. I'll try to snap a few shots later today.

[miniwhinny]

I really like your rockwork and I love how you attached your lights. Looking good

[timothymarsh]

Thanks. I really don't like the design of the clamps when they are put on the side of a rimmed tank. The power cord is about two inches under water, and the white bolts are really an eye sore in the tank. My girlfriend actually came up with the idea of hanging the lights from the rack above, and it is working out great. So much better than that wooden fortress I had over the tank a week ago. lol

[timothymarsh]

So a couple of days ago I traded in my dad's Lionfish and my GPS frag for a nice size acan coral. It's a dull green color with light blue random patches and orange rings around the mouth. The tank is looking pretty good right now except for an algae outbreak that I'm trying to get under control. I added a Hydor Pico pump to give the SPS frags a little bit more flow, and they seem to be loving it so far. I'll post some pictures later today once I get back from class.

[timothymarsh]

Hey guys I'm in the LEDTRiC monthly contest, if you could please vote for my tank by liking the picture, that would be amazing. It only takes two seconds, help a fellow nano-reefer out.

 

Click here and like the picture please!!

[21093r53]

Hey guys I'm in the LEDTRiC monthly contest, if you could please vote for my tank by liking the picture, that would be amazing. It only takes two seconds, help a fellow nano-reefer out.

 

Click here and like the picture please!!

 

 

lolz

[timothymarsh]

^ lol what's so funny?

 

So here are the pictures that I promised. Just some general shots to show how bad my camera is and how much editing I have to do to these shots lol. As a note, I added the Hydor Pico 180 for a little bit more flow and i have to say that it really is a good pump. It has the ability to control the amount of flow, and is small enough to fit in almost any corner of a tank. Really a good product if you want a smaller pump than the koralia nano.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[timothymarsh]

So I just ordered a LEDTRiC 20k light to add some more pop to the corals that I have. They are having a nice 4th of July sale right now so if you're looking for new lights now is a good time to buy. I also took out some rocks yesterday as I'm looking to create a more open feel in the tank. I'll snap a few pics tomorrow once I clean the glass and get some new frags situated in their new home.

[Lee Van Reef]

Keep those updates rolling son!

[timothymarsh]

So here we go with the Swag tank version 2.0, it's more open, and is going to be centered around creating groupings of similar coral. Initial pics with some room for improvement over the next few weeks. I would like to pick up a hammer or torch, a few more echinata's to complete that "garden", and a few ricordeas and zoas to round out the collection. Here we go:

 

New FTS:

 

Beginning of Acan garden, and partial view of Zoa island:

 

Big brother watching over the young gun:

 

Central piece in tank, Neon green tipped frogspawn:

 

Closer shot showing new scape and rough layout of coral areas:

 

Thank you for taking a look, feel free to drop off any suggestions for coral aquisitons (no SPS please), and have a great day.

[timothymarsh]

So as the third place winner of LEDTRiC's facebook contest I won a free reef clamp, so I decided to add a 20k bulb to the setup. I thought it was going to add a bit more of the royal blue color to the tank but over it still gives good "pop" to the coral. I traded in two of my SPS frags for a nice new orange acan. Overall the tank is doing well, I just need to stay on top of keeping my HOB filters clean, they have a bad habit of getting really trashy. PICS!!

 

FTS:

 

The trio:

 

New orange acan:

 

Random bad photography skills:

 

The ugly side:

 

Birds eye view:

[Lee Van Reef]

swag

[timothymarsh]

Thank you Lee.

 

I picked up a nice yellow tipped torch the other day and I moved some of the pieces around the tank. Little by little I'm getting to where I want to be as far as coral placement. The tank is getting moved in about three weeks anyways, so I can't worry too much about what it looks like. Pictures:

 

Actinct Frogspawn

 

Bad looking FTS

 

More of the same

 

New torch and mounted zoa/paly in the background

 

Echinata and zoa islands

 

Cool acan

 

Actinct Acropora

[timothymarsh]

No pics today (although I did move some stuff around), just a quick update on how I'm gonna deal with moving the tank at the end of summer semester. I talked with the LFS and they said they could keep it for the two weeks before I move into my new apartment. (Thank god.) I thought for sure they were going to turn me away because of the extra stress that it puts on them, but they're pretty cool so it all worked out well. The same LFS is also looking for some part-time help so I dropped off a resume, hopefully I'll hear back soon about that. Tank is looking good, so I'm a happy camper.

[timothymarsh]

So I'm looking to add a more dynamic filtration setup to my system, and I think I might have found an economical answer in one of these:

Finnex HOB Refugium

I am going to get the version with the FugeRay light and the water pump instead of the air pump. I haven't decided if this will be a bare bottom fuge or a full on setup, either way I want it to look good enough to complement the main system. It's about 10 inches long so I'm gonna have it on the left side of the tank (allowing me to somewhat hide the intake). A few pictures of what I'm shooting for:

 

 

 

 

Baffles are not shown in this picture but I would use them

 

Any comments or feedback are welcome.

[milk]

Nice tank, but college "swag tank"? Cmon, whatr you, at college in miami or something

[timothymarsh]

Haha I'm originally from Miami but going to school in Orlando right now. I think the title fits the tank rather well, I wanted to give the thread a little bit more life than just "15 gallon college tank."

[littlelactose]

I'm with milk on this one, the title makes me hate your tank before even looking at it. But what do I know, anyways?