jT's 12G Long Nano Journey

[jT415Gz]

How many lbs of sand are in your tank and how many lbs in the sump? Nice choice on the sand and the salt

Happy 4th Lawnman! Thanks for the visit.

 

My guesstimate (eyeballing) would be 50/50.

10lbs. in display and 10lbs. in refugium = Total 20lbs.

I was forced to buy the "live" reef flakes in the 20lb. bags due to the fact that premium aquatics were waiting for their shipment of Tropic Eden which was backed up by a couple months, which EVERYONE was anticipating to receive as they already pre-ordered theirs (dry sand). So, I jumped off the off the 'dry sand wagon' and opted for the "live" stuff that was in-stock, plus I don't really need 30lbs.

 

I can't wait to use the new salt and am debating whether or not it be wise for me to do a large water change since I'm around the third week of my cycle. My parameters are shown ^above^. What do you think?

 

You used Salinity for 2 years, woah, I didn't even hear about it until a few months ago. Are the trace elements pretty consistent from your experience...and pros and cons about this salt, if you don't mind?

 

[Deleted User 4]

Nice rock scape.

[jT415Gz]

Thanks IIX!

I feel like it is missing something. Like a mancave or a simple arch, somewhere, anywhere..............

Starting to see diatom blooms on the rock. Hated it at first, but now kinda entertaining at the same time. *sigh* The Nitrogen Cycle.

[Deleted User 4]

Yup, it's fine the way it is. Keep it like that.

 

Actually there is something you can do to sparkle it up...this applies to the cardboard in the back of the tank. Maybe you can shorten the height of it to match the tank's height?

[jT415Gz]

Yup, it's fine the way it is. Keep it like that.

 

Actually there is something you can do to sparkle it up...this applies to the cardboard in the back of the tank. Maybe you can shorten the height of it to match the tank's height?

That's kind of funny you mentioned that because when I first had it setup, the plastic carboard was as tall as the fixture to give it that clean false wall look to hide the window blinds and other odd things behind the tank for a more pleasant viewing perspective. That didn't look as great as I imagined it. So I chopped it off to the current height just enough so that you could not see where the blinds meet the window sill and block out natural sunlight from behind. The back of the tank actually has 3" of open space from the wall to give it the illusion of a deeper tank. Not sure how well that played out but I'm not disgusted by it yet. I could chop it down to match the tanks height, but then you would see the unsightly window sill and window blind. I'll certainly take your suggestion into consideration. I'll play with the idea in the future probably after I finish working on the inside decor of the tank after the cycle. I may paint the other side of the plastic carboard black to have an alternate background color.

 

BTW, I like your Sig.

Can't wait to get something moving in the tank besides the water. lol

[Deleted User 4]

Ahh I see. It's just a suggestion. Do what you feel best. ahah. I see lots of potential in this tank already based on coral placements, etc with the scapes you have. Keep it up.

[jT415Gz]

Thanks that makes me feel better about the scape, but I keep thinking it *needs something* lol *shrugs*.

I setup a quarantine tank out of a CADLight 8 that I picked up on the cheap. When I got it came as a bunch of parts and modified into a sump by the previous owner. So I took it upon myself to restore it to its original spec. the best I could. It has the original light fixture a return pump rigged to a 90 elbow as a nozzle, 75w ebo jager heater, filter floss and threw in my koralia nano 425. It's now just gotten wet with some salt.

 

Anyone have some good tips on how to maintain a quarantine tank in the most simple way?

I've never kept a QT before.

 

Here's how it looked when I purchased it. It also had the removable overflow and everything else just not pictured.

[Deleted User 4]

Smart move on getting a quarantine tank...Really beneficial down the road when you plan to add some expensive looking fishes aahha.

[MeepNand]

In the vid, there is some disco ball effect. Is it there in person?

Very nice tank and rockwork. Lots of room for fish.

[jT415Gz]

In the vid, there is some disco ball effect. Is it there in person?

Very nice tank and rockwork. Lots of room for fish.

Thanks my Bay Area resident! Good observation and yeah there is minor discoing coming from the whites and blues even with the diffuser I've recently added. This is mainly due to the permanent spacing of the LED's. However, the rest of the colors seem to blend nicely into a white color. My options are 1) get a 24" MakersLED Heatsink and lay the LED's out into 3 or 4 tight groups 2) use my current heatsink, use adhesive thermal paste (no screws) and put them into groups. 3) Experiment by simply raising the fixture higher above the water line to see if that helps anything.

 

My main focus and what I find myself spending the most time on these days regarding my tank; is the near end of my cycle and checking water parameters and the setup of the QT.

My lighting isn't as high on the priority list as of right now (thank goodness, these things aren't cheap, ) and I think the most expensive piece of equipment in the entire build. Cost, time, patience and lots of reading.

 

Feel free to make any suggestions/recommendations in regards to my entire build.

I still have a long journey on the "learning path" in this hobby and constructive criticism would only benefit me.

Also, post pics of your tanks (FTS, Close-Ups), equipment, live stock as I would love to see creative ideas behind all of them.

 

 

Here a pics of the latest light revision:

[jT415Gz]

Diatoms are coming, diatoms are coming!

 

"The Praying Chaeto & Pukani Gods"

 

Phosphates @ 0?

 

[MeepNand]

Actually, I think putting it higher will make disco worse.

I made a mistake spacing the leds on my 12 led setup evenly, and the disco was really bad. Now it is sitting on my friend's 5.5 gallon cube almost flush with the water level, and the disco is pretty much gone.

See if you can work the leds into a canopy or something.

[jT415Gz]

Actually, I think putting it higher will make disco worse.

I made a mistake spacing the leds on my 12 led setup evenly, and the disco was really bad. Now it is sitting on my friend's 5.5 gallon cube almost flush with the water level, and the disco is pretty much gone.

See if you can work the leds into a canopy or something.

I need it to be high to keep adequate spread over the tank 24" heatsink vs 36" tank.

I will play with the height and see how it plays out. Appreciate the advice.

 

Pic updates:

Quarantine Tank

1 liter of Seachem Bio-Matrix (fuge sand replacement) great deal on eBay (Authorized Dealer)

 

Also, really close to obtaining a Yasha Goby and Red Banded Pistol Shrimp.

[jT415Gz]

Update

DIY Acrylic Skimmer Stand 6x6x2" - 1/4" thick (water level 7.5")

Removed sand and added Seachem Matrix Bio-Media inside fuge

 

DIY Clear 1/4" Mesh Screen Top (pressure fitted)

 

Livestock

Yasha Haze Goby (1.5")

Red Banded Pistol Shrimp (1")

 

 

I might pickup a pair of clowns tomorrow...? Hmmm still thinking thinking

[Deleted User 4]

Dude! Nice yasha man. Good thing you have a lid installed....

[Scorched]

I agree. The inspiration for this tank came from all of the members here on N-R and R.C. that do have this particular tank with very nice setups. I said to myself " I must have this tank ".

Well, it is partially wet with salt but only up to where it meets the overflow due to waiting on the sump to arrive and so I'll get it fully wet then. I did add the reef flakes to the tank. Pics of that soon.

 

 

Yeah no kidding, I've seen numerous mini-reefs, freshwater and planted only setups that utilize the space that these tanks provide. Lots of options to play with, which I love to have in any equipment I may own.

 

 

lol Jedi Mind Tricks of the infamous "12G Water Box"

 

I hope I was a little inspiration for this tank. I wrote up a long post about using an XAqua on each end of my tank and ended up using something else. How is it treating you?

 

And I agree 100% about the size of this tank. Almost every single person that comes into my office or people that I show pictures of the tank to think it is easily 30 gallons in size.

[jT415Gz]

Dude! Nice yasha man. Good thing you have a lid installed....

Thanks man, but the Yasha is pretty damn shy though and likes to hang out in the pukani crevices a lot with the pistol. How do they fit? Beats the hell out of me! Concerned that I haven't seen them eat yet. Freeze dried Mysis and New Life Spectrum Thera +A Sinking Pellets.

Yep, the lid is a must.

 

I hope I was a little inspiration for this tank. I wrote up a long post about using an XAqua on each end of my tank and ended up using something else. How is it treating you?

 

And I agree 100% about the size of this tank. Almost every single person that comes into my office or people that I show pictures of the tank to think it is easily 30 gallons in size.

Yep, I read your entire build thread and was one of the inspirations I needed to pull through! Really digged your scape and flow design. Too bad it didn't turn out the way you hoped it would. Did you happen to get her solved? Hope so.

 

The Xaqua is pretty cool. It does as advertised, minus the water trickling sound that it makes going through the overflow. I can't seem to figure it out and haven't spent the time trying to do much to solve it. Not sure if they were advertised to be silent. However, I wish I drilled the return nozzle a little lower so that way I could have it pointing completely horizontal, I have it slightly angled down to keep it below the water line and still create some wave action.

 

Came home early from work UPDATE.

Arrived home and the lights were off and found the two reunited (after I shook them both out of the pukani last night lol). They were playing follow the leader (pistol seemed to be the leader where yasha followed along)

 

 

Yasho closeups with lights on

 

 

Caught the pistol playing hangman on the MP10 and it sucked his gun into the impellar, which in turn flew off around 25 yards (aquatic metric system) in the opposite direction! I was about 1 second too late when I lunged for the OFF button the MP10. It was just too late. The pistol recooperated in the corner for a few short minutes and began to dig out the sand under him with the little super soaker 50 he had remaining.

I've read that if a pistol loses the big claw then it will into "reverse claw" mode. Where the little claw will grow and become the pistol claw and regenerate another super soaker 50 claw. Is this correct or am I reading B.S.?

 

Needless, to say that these pistol shrimps are tough little dudes man. I thought he was done for, but he kept doing his thang. Dig.

 

Notice in the pic of the pistol shrimp and his .44 magnum a few feet (aquatic measurement system) away from where he is digging. I was hoping he would pick it up and reattach it to his body and go about his regular busy day. lol

 

Note: I'm starting to see some kind of trend here between the two partners. If the pistol stays inside the rock so does the yasha. And if the pistol leaves the rock and moves around, so does the yasha (which is rare for me to see so far). Pretty irritating that they like to hide so much, but when they do come out it's very interesting to see.

[patback]

I enjoyed that last post

 

Fwiw my pistol lost his claw. Tbh, I'm not sure which one grew back, but it was a week later and BOOM, new claw. Atleast yours stay on the rocks. My pistol is in the den except feeding time, grabs as much food as he can in 10 seconds then scurrys back in. My goby is always out though. I know te pistol is out and about when noone is home though, there is a bread trail of frags almost daily leading to his trap door sea shell he made.

[Scorched]

Yep, I read your entire build thread and was one of the inspirations I needed to pull through! Really digged your scape and flow design. Too bad it didn't turn out the way you hoped it would. Did you happen to get her solved? Hope so.

 

The Xaqua is pretty cool. It does as advertised, minus the water trickling sound that it makes going through the overflow. I can't seem to figure it out and haven't spent the time trying to do much to solve it. Not sure if they were advertised to be silent. However, I wish I drilled the return nozzle a little lower so that way I could have it pointing completely horizontal, I have it slightly angled down to keep it below the water line and still create some wave action.

 

I ended up just accepting it after about a week. Now that I've had the tank set up since March everything has slowly matured and I'm in love with the design.

 

There maybe isnt a lot of "wave" action but there is plenty of flow to get food flowing around and to get the polyps to sway in the current.

 

 

I too had one minor thing with my hole placement. If I had them separated about 1/2" more apart I could put a cleaning magnet between both bulkheads but alas I will have to make due with cleaning that tiny section with a toothbrush. The goby/shrimp pair looks really good.

[jT415Gz]

San Francisco Giants Clowns (jerseys included)

SA Fancy Snows Video

 

Hello Kitty & Vietnam



 

Hello Kitty w/o bow and nose



 

I purchased these from Ed in S.F. who is/was one of the distributors for Sustainable Aquatics.

"Hello Kitty" had already been named by Ed as to be a gift for his Granddaughter.

She had seen the fish and decided it didn't have the nose and bow that Hello Kitty generally has from the well known Japanese company named Sanrio. She didn't want it anymore (picky child - knows what she wants) lol. Ed was cool enough to sell it to me.

I will name her (most likely will become dominant female as its 1.5x larger) "Kitty" short for Hello Kitty.

 

Vietnam, has a similar pattern on its body which resembles the perimeter of the country.

I will name this guy (most likely will become a male as its smaller) Vietnam.

 

I realized that they both sport the exact colors of the San Francisco Giants jerseys.

So, I will coin the pair to be known as San Francisco Clowns!

 

These will be my very first time owning Clowns EVER and finding myself watching them for hours on end.

What I've read about them is coming to truth. They have A LOT of energy, very active and can be up to funny antics. I actually laughed out loud at times. Little Vietnam likes to swim against the currents and shakes his body when around Kitty, like its trying hard to prove something. Kitty is super hyper active literally swimming laps around the 36" long tank while maneuvering through the gladiator mazed rock work.

Kitty was bullying Vietnam quite a bit the first 24-48 hours or so, but Vietnam knew how to defend and counter-strike within good time. Lots of bickering between the two but both seem to have to come to some type of agreement and are now co-existing with one another gradually as they both get comfy in their new home.

 

BTW these guys are less than a year old and Ed has been sitting them for a little over a month in his tanks.

He mentioned these guys have been healthy ever since without issues. However, Kitty was added to a tank of True Percs and killed one and threatened many of the others in that tank. So what I took from what he said to me, is that these "Fancier" clowns don't get along with True Percs? These "Fancier" clowns are much more aggressive than True Percs?

[Deleted User 4]

Love the new snowflakes you added!

[MeepNand]

Black clowns might be better. They would contrast nicely with the rock and sand.

[jT415Gz]

I enjoyed that last post

 

Fwiw my pistol lost his claw. Tbh, I'm not sure which one grew back, but it was a week later and BOOM, new claw. Atleast yours stay on the rocks. My pistol is in the den except feeding time, grabs as much food as he can in 10 seconds then scurrys back in. My goby is always out though. I know te pistol is out and about when noone is home though, there is a bread trail of frags almost daily leading to his trap door sea shell he made.

So far my pistol and yasha like to stay in the rock work together. They were only out in the open after I shook them from their home. lol I did it again too and they are both in separate rocks, I think due to the fact the pistol lost his .44 magnum and can't *click* to the yasha as a GPS tracking locator?

 

Yasha is eating whenever food flights by the area its dwelling in.

Pistol should be self sustaining from what I've read?

 

Cool story about the trap door your pistol made!

 

I ended up just accepting it after about a week. Now that I've had the tank set up since March everything has slowly matured and I'm in love with the design.

 

There maybe isnt a lot of "wave" action but there is plenty of flow to get food flowing around and to get the polyps to sway in the current.

 

 

I too had one minor thing with my hole placement. If I had them separated about 1/2" more apart I could put a cleaning magnet between both bulkheads but alas I will have to make due with cleaning that tiny section with a toothbrush. The goby/shrimp pair looks really good.

Thanks! They just hide too much! I get very tempted to shake them out of the rock work!

I'm hoping the yasha will get comfortable in time and start showing itself out in the open later on.

It will leave only a few inches from his home to snatch food floating by and retreat.

Yeah, If I could do things differently I would definitely fix some of the overlooked minor details in my build.

 

San Francisco Giants Clowns (jerseys included)

SA Fancy Snows Video

 

Hello Kitty & Vietnam



 

Hello Kitty w/o bow and nose



 

I purchased these from Ed in S.F. who is/was one of the distributors for Sustainable Aquatics.

"Hello Kitty" had already been named by Ed as to be a gift for his Granddaughter.

She had seen the fish and decided it didn't have the nose and bow that Hello Kitty generally has from the well known Japanese company named Sanrio. She didn't want it anymore (picky child - knows what she wants) lol. Ed was cool enough to sell it to me.

I will name her (most likely will become dominant female as its 1.5x larger) "Kitty" short for Hello Kitty.

 

Vietnam, has a similar pattern on its body which resembles the perimeter of the country.

I will name this guy (most likely will become a male as its smaller) Vietnam.

 

I realized that they both sport the exact colors of the San Francisco Giants jerseys.

So, I will coin the pair to be known as San Francisco Clowns!

 

These will be my very first time owning Clowns EVER and finding myself watching them for hours on end.

What I've read about them is coming to truth. They have A LOT of energy, very active and can be up to funny antics. I actually laughed out loud at times. Little Vietnam likes to swim against the currents and shakes his body when around Kitty, like its trying hard to prove something. Kitty is super hyper active literally swimming laps around the 36" long tank while maneuvering through the gladiator mazed rock work.

Kitty was bullying Vietnam quite a bit the first 24-48 hours or so, but Vietnam knew how to defend and counter-strike within good time. Lots of bickering between the two but both seem to have to come to some type of agreement and are now co-existing with one another gradually as they both get comfy in their new home.

 

BTW these guys are less than a year old and Ed has been sitting them for a little over a month in his tanks.

He mentioned these guys have been healthy ever since without issues. However, Kitty was added to a tank of True Percs and killed one and threatened many of the others in that tank. So what I took from what he said to me, is that these "Fancier" clowns don't get along with True Percs? These "Fancier" clowns are much more aggressive than True Percs?

 

 

Black clowns might be better. They would contrast nicely with the rock and sand.

You have a good point about the contrasting aspect. Good observation there.

Eventually, the rock and probably sand bed will get covered in coraline algae, if I'm lucky. :lol"

I found the black clowns on the market not as appealing to me as much as the brighter colored clowns.

For the livestock I wanted to have and having a very limited amount I could keep, I certainly wanted brightly colored and unique type of fish and inverts.

[jT415Gz]

Becoming pretty addicted UPDATE

I was on my way home from work and wanted to checkout some new livestock from one of my sources that has good stuff at great prices. Currently in acclimation process so real pics after the break.

 

Picked up:

Porcelain Anemone Crab

Halloween Hermit Crab (red & purple coraline on shell)

Banded Coral Shrimp (blue)

 

Placed an order from ReefCleaners:

10 Dwarf Ceriths

3 Nassarius

4 Florida Ceriths

3 Small to Medium Nerites

5-8" Mangroves

.01$ Macro-algae (random pick)

 

[Deleted User 4]

Bad move on the coral banded shrimp!! That thing is a fish killer. I used to have one.