Islandoftiki's 10 Gallon Custom Tank Build.

[Islandoftiki]

Darn, I wasn't watching! It must have worked because the water level went up a tiny bit to where it should be.

 

I'm dosing Salifert All-In-One with the ATO water. I went a little light on the dosing. The reservoir is a two gallon bucket. On average, the tank goes through about 3/4 of a gallon per week. I'll be testing and adjusting the dosage amount over the next couple weeks.

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Wow,

 

Your tank has some serious color in it, I'm a huge fan of rics and yumas....

[Islandoftiki]

Wow,

 

Your tank has some serious color in it, I'm a huge fan of rics and yumas....

 

Yeah, I kinda got thinking that I wanted to do a ricordea rock and that one had nothing on it until last week. I got a great deal on all of the ricordeas, so it's off to a good start. It's going to look even better as I find more that I like. There's been like a ricordea drought in the area recently and I was happy to get a good pile of them. I was super stoked when I brought that bright orange one home on Friday. It didn't look half as nice in the LFS's cheapo frag tank.

 

I recently replaced all of the bulbs in the Odyssea fixture, too, Mike. I went with (from back to front) ATI Blue +, ATI Blue +, Geissmann midday, ATI Purple +. It's really stunning now, as you can see by the colors. A local guy suggested switching out the Geissmann midday with something Pink (I forget the exact bulb). He said it would really make the reds pop. More than they are now? Wow.

[Islandoftiki]

Almost forgot the FTS!

 

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Almost forgot the FTS!

 

 

The colors you got in there are stunning, excellent job in the bulb exchanges!

 

Now take a look at your tank with the S.O.S system attached, your equipment vanishes, only leaving your absolute beauty in your tank!

 

[Islandoftiki]

Now take a look at your tank with the S.O.S system attached, your equipment vanishes, only leaving your absolute beauty in your tank!

 

Darn you Mike Guerrero! Stop making me want to spend more money!

 

But hey, that does look sharp! :-)

[Islandoftiki]

My Fiance just got back from Hawaii and look what she brought back for me!

 

[northeastern]

how you liking a six line in a ten? I've been toying with the idea of adding one to my ten gallon but have been somewhat hesitant. I know its been done before, even in a totm, and your seems to be another positive reason to do it.

 

 

Keep updating how you like that skimmer as well. very cool looking if anything haha.

 

 

awesome tank btw. hopefully I can get mine to have as much color

[Islandoftiki]

how you liking a six line in a ten? I've been toying with the idea of adding one to my ten gallon but have been somewhat hesitant. I know its been done before, even in a totm, and your seems to be another positive reason to do it.

 

 

Keep updating how you like that skimmer as well. very cool looking if anything haha.

 

 

awesome tank btw. hopefully I can get mine to have as much color

 

As far as sixlines go, if you set up your rockscape with lots of nooks and crannies to swim through, around, over and under, you should be good. I think the MP10 helps as well since she loves to swim into the current. One important thing here is that the tank is 2 feet long and not a cube. Sixlines spend their days searching for pods in the rockwork and eating them, so there is a lot of slow, tight maneuvering type swimming. I think this sixline does well in this tank. She seems very happy and relaxed. Your mileage may vary.

 

The skimmer is still working great. I'm very happy with it.

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Darn you Mike Guerrero! Stop making me want to spend more money!

 

But hey, that does look sharp! :-)

 

That's the Art of Persuasion:

 

1. an understanding of people. (I will help you accomplish whatever goal you want) people do what they want to do!

 

2. the effective use of words. (Use good vocab, be clear and eloquent, in difficult times)

 

3. the ability to manage conflict. (conflicts will arise and personalities are inevitable in dealing with people)

 

George Manning & Kent Curtis, "The Art of Leadership", 3rd edition.

 

1. Reefers want affordable, clean and manageable aquariums.

 

2. Micro-Reefs offers affordable solutions to evoke clean and efficient reef systems

 

3. We understand you are planing that trip to New York and cannot spend now, but did you consider the affordable office pico!

 

Okay, so I'm at my other job teaching and couldn't help it, these concepts are still in my class that I teach....

[rag1998]

WOW, beautiful setup, I can see this becoming my inspiration for a nano reef. LOVE LOVE the tank, looks very nicely made and stunning to look at with no edges..

 

Might have missed it, but what type of lighting?

[Islandoftiki]

WOW, beautiful setup, I can see this becoming my inspiration for a nano reef. LOVE LOVE the tank, looks very nicely made and stunning to look at with no edges..

 

Might have missed it, but what type of lighting?

 

The good new is you can get the same tank on Micro-Reefs.com. After I came up with the size measurements, Mike added it to their line-up. Although you really should look at their new rimless one. It is uber sexy.

 

The light is a 24" Odyssea T5 High Output 96 watt fixture (4x24wat). I recently changed out the bulbs for two ATI Blue+, one Geissmann midday, and one ATI purple +. The new fancy bulbs cost more than the whole fixture. lol. It's a decent fixture, should last at least a couple years. It has separate daylight and actinic as well as LED moonlights that work great.

[rag1998]

The good new is you can get the same tank on Micro-Reefs.com. After I came up with the size measurements, Mike added it to their line-up. Although you really should look at their new rimless one. It is uber sexy.

 

The light is a 24" Odyssea T5 High Output 96 watt fixture (4x24wat). I recently changed out the bulbs for two ATI Blue+, one Geissmann midday, and one ATI purple +. The new fancy bulbs cost more than the whole fixture. lol. It's a decent fixture, should last at least a couple years. It has separate daylight and actinic as well as LED moonlights that work great.

 

Thanks for the info, I have a standard 10 gallon with Marineland LED's for fresh water, thinking of starting low and converting the standard 10 gallon into salt water, major cost seems to be the lights since I can't use the Marineland LED's: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...subref=AA Will see if I can squeeze your tank into my budget!!

[Islandoftiki]

Thanks for the info, I have a standard 10 gallon with Marineland LED's for fresh water, thinking of starting low and converting the standard 10 gallon into salt water, major cost seems to be the lights since I can't use the Marineland LED's: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...subref=AA Will see if I can squeeze your tank into my budget!!

 

It depends on what you're going to keep in the tank as to how much light you need. The stock Odyssea bulbs should be fine for most corals, and it's a decent starter fixture that could potentially last for quite a while. Some day, I'll want an AI SOL or something insane like that that does thunderstorms and moon cycles.

 

If you're going to be keeping corals, make lighting one of the biggest priorities.

[northeastern]

As far as sixlines go, if you set up your rockscape with lots of nooks and crannies to swim through, around, over and under, you should be good. I think the MP10 helps as well since she loves to swim into the current. One important thing here is that the tank is 2 feet long and not a cube. Sixlines spend their days searching for pods in the rockwork and eating them, so there is a lot of slow, tight maneuvering type swimming. I think this sixline does well in this tank. She seems very happy and relaxed. Your mileage may vary.

 

The skimmer is still working great. I'm very happy with it.

 

 

that just helps reinforce everything I thought I knew about them. you can never do to much research before you buy!

 

And I'm thinking that skimmer will be the center of my new research. I've been looking for a hob one that wont ugly up the look of my tank even more than it already is.

[rag1998]

It depends on what you're going to keep in the tank as to how much light you need. The stock Odyssea bulbs should be fine for most corals, and it's a decent starter fixture that could potentially last for quite a while. Some day, I'll want an AI SOL or something insane like that that does thunderstorms and moon cycles.

 

If you're going to be keeping corals, make lighting one of the biggest priorities.

 

Mainly soft corals and fish, thinking of a 30 X 10 X 8 tank and will have to start looking at which readily available lights will work with it, else might have to look into custom/hang-on lighting..

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Mainly soft corals and fish, thinking of a 30 X 10 X 8 tank and will have to start looking at which readily available lights will work with it, else might have to look into custom/hang-on lighting..

 

For that size build 30 x 10 x 8 we carry the 24-36 Inch Marineland Reef LED Light Fixture which is a hefty $269.99 but it will deliver a powerful punch and give you all the rights to those corals you want!

[Islandoftiki]

The 10 gallon tank is still doing great. The last patches of algae are on their way out.

 

The new Aussie duncans are growing like mad. By the end of the month, it will have doubled the number of heads it has.

 

After about 3 weeks, the Gnome Glass skimmer was ready for a good cleaning. I soaked it in some vinegar and cleaned it out with a bottle brush. Scrubbed the algae off the wood airstone and popped it back into the tank. Looks like new again. Started producing skimmmate right away.

 

Dirty skimmer:

 

At the same time, I took the AC70 off of the tank and cleaned it thoroughly. The MP10 got it's every-other week cleaning in vinegar.

 

Everything else is looking good and growing well. Fish, shrimp and crabs are happy. Everyone is getting along great.

[ccapasso]

So since this tank is going so well, and your pest tank is going so well, I vote you package one of them up and send it to me

[Islandoftiki]

So since this tank is going so well, and your pest tank is going so well, I vote you package one of them up and send it to me

 

I'll send you some majanos for your mantis tank. ;-)

 

You know you want them!

[Islandoftiki]

I picked up this little gem from a local reefer the other day...

 

It's a Purple Martini Mini Carpet Anemone. Looks like it might be splitting already! I'll take that since it cost me $70.00. The most expensive tiny thing I've put in my tank to date... I figure that if I can propagate and sell off just one of them, then hey, free livestock.

 

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Very impressive! I like carpet's a ton! Just never been able to keep them in my past tank...

[Islandoftiki]

Very impressive! I like carpet's a ton! Just never been able to keep them in my past tank...

 

These have been making the rounds with the local reefers. They seem to be pretty hearty. We'll see how it goes. They're worth stupid amounts of money and usually sold out everywhere, so I kinda jumped at one for 70 bucks.

[Islandoftiki]

Here's a funny one. Noticed this when I was feeding this morning.

 

This tiny ricordea (about 10mm in diameter) managed to snag a couple legs of this asterina star. The star is trying to pull away and stretching the closed up ric out.

 

 

The asternia looked like it was just about to donate a leg to the ricordea.

[ccapasso]

I'm not sure which to feel bad for, the ric or the asterina.