[30c Mr. Aqua Rimless] Desktop Cube w/ PAR30 LED

[nerdyJON]

Hi everybody. Long time freshwater addict finally making the transfer to saltwater. Thanks to the help of ShoTank in northern Illinois and a few friends' advice; I have finally enough experience to post a thread about my tank build and struggles. This is my build for my converted Mr. Aqua 30c, 7 gallon, rimless tank. I love clean, minimalist tanks and hopefully accomplished it with my build.

 

I decided to set this tank up at my work since I spend most of my time in the office and with the approval from HR that the tank is okay as long as its away from the computer and doesn't interfere. It doesn't directly but I can't tell you how many times people stop by and say they love the tranquil feeling.

 

 

Tank:

30c, 7 gallon rimless by Mr. Aqua

 

Lighting:

Boost LED PAR30, (2 rb, 1b, 1 cw, 1 nw)

 

Flow:

Hydor Pico 180gph powerhead

AquaClear 70 w/ fuge mod

 

FIltration:

10lbs sandbed

10lbs live rock

Bag of chemipure

 

Dosing:

Currently none

 

Current Coral:

Torch Coral

Pink Zoas

Green Zoas

Light Blue Zoas

Candy Cane (Recovering)

Green Star Polyps

Red Mushroom

Assorted Other Mushrooms

 

Current Livestock:

1 False Percula Clownfish (1.75")

 

Skimmer:

TBD- need some help here

 

CUC:

1 Turbo Snail

1 Nassarius Snail

1 Margarita Snail

1 Other snail

 

 

So, I have had this tank for about 6 months now and decided I have gone through enough pitfalls and successes to finally post. I started with a small 3 gallon pico and decided that I wanted a little more room for some livestock. I added coral slowly every other week and have lost some along the way.

 

I pretty much started off with beginners luck and my tank was thriving, but that came with bitter defeat as I began rearranging the rock-work. Following this, I would change things here and there to re-mediate the situation but quickly learned I made it worse. I lost a lot of livestock along the way through most likely due to the many mini-cycles and stresses with the changes.

 

Lessons I have learned:

1) Don't move rock-work after the tank has cycled and is established, no matter what!

2) Don't move powerheads after tank has been doing well

3) If a coral doesn't work in your tank, give it to a friend to try in theirs

4) Turbo snails are a life saver in clean up crews

5) Change is bad!

 

Here are some pictures that I still have of the past and present. I will be posting better ones tomorrow.

 

06 March 2012

 

04 April 2012 (Redesign)

 

 

10 April 2012 (Added Marg, Other Snail, Nass Snail)

 

 

01 May 2012 (Loss of Cleaner Shrimp)

 

 

Post Move to a new office

 

15 May 2012 (Added Clown Fish, Turbo Snail)

[nerdyJON]

Will be posting better quality pictures tomorrow and not just camera phone shots.

 

Will try to get different angles of the tank and macros too.

[nerdyJON]

More pictures as promised.

 

Chester...

 

 

 

Top view

 

 

Some Macros... (colors got washed out by the LED light anyway to get a better picture??)

 

 

 

 

 

[buddythelion]

Everything's looking great and happy!

[nerdyJON]

Everything's looking great and happy!

 

Thank you. First time and learning a lot. What supplements do people recommend? I just want to bring out more color/growth.

 

Also suggestions are much appreciated!

[buddythelion]

A tank that small water changes are all you need!

[nerdyJON]

A tank that small water changes are all you need!

 

Ok currently I am doing about a half gallon water change twice weekly and top off with fresh.

 

Also love your tank... Nice color variaty.

[nerdyJON]

What would be the reason behind acans not being able to survive in my tank?

 

I have tried twice and passed the frags to my friend, which are no flourishing? We have the same water parameters and water source, the only big difference is he has T5.