Bowsers First 8g

[Bowser]

Hi, my name is Jack, Im currently a freshman in college and because of college i was forced to shut down my very first tank, which was a 10 gallon standard with a false wall and a HOB ref.

 

10g- 70 watt Metal Halide from fishneedit.com it was stocked with a Royal Gramma cleaner shrimp and a pistol shrimp along with a YWG. The tank started going downhill slowly with the invasion of a certain Macro Algae (name unknown) it over ran my tank and i decided if i was going to restart a tank i was going to start completely fresh.

 

5g bathroom pico- During the prime of the 10g i decided i would start a small AIO bathroom pico, it had a custom false wall with 3 chambers, also the false wall had a built in rock wall. It was stocked with a blue damsel and 2 sexy shrimp that soon disappeared. Also had a few corals, a few mushrooms and GSP.

 

Also during my senior year i was enrolled in Aquatic Science which was the easiest class seeing that i knew more about aquatic life than my teacher did. Anyways, in this class each table was assigned a 20g high that we would stock with life from a field trip to Galveston. I decided to wait and refused to put any of those ugly bland fish in my tank. I later decided with my group that it would be either an eel or a Mantis Shrimp. We later decided it would be a bad idea to get the shrimp because it could shatter the glass in a single punch, especially since the tank is our in the open we figured a lot of people would be messing with it and didnt want it to split someones finger nail. We got a baby Snowflake Eel. I then showed up with some Zoa's and a Coralife PC and acclimated them. I later was told that we could not add coral because my teacher found out that they can kill a man in an hour. At the end of the year i took Enis the Eel to my cousins, and he is now living in the Sump of his 90g.

 

Thats enough of my back story.

 

Months passed and the bug bit me again. I went out and bought an Aqueon eVolve 8 last night.

I decided its unfair for Enis to be living in the sump and decided to build the tank for him.

 

I used roughly 6 pounds of supposed "Live Sand" however i don't trust that the bacteria is still alive

I will also be using old rock from the 10g but im worried if i use it that the old algae will find its way into my tank... How can i be sure that it wont? The rocks are completely dead so im not worried about losing the bacteria on them.

[Bowser]

Don't worry I will not continue to post my pictures in this format, its just convenient for these not-so-important photos.

[mcluett]

Maybe I am incorrect but don't snowflake eels get up to 2'? Do you plan on upgrading your tank very soon?

[Bowser]

Maybe I am incorrect but don't snowflake eels get up to 2'? Do you plan on upgrading your tank very soon?

 

Yes, they do get very large but for them to get to that size itll take him around 2 years i believe (i read it somewhere) so when that time comes he will either be given away or put into the 90g display, we only had him in the sump because i was planning on quitting the hobby and was gonna give him away and its easier to move 15 pounds of rocks than an entire display, but i decided to keep him so when he gets about 1 foot long and gets pretty fat he will go into a hex tank that my cousin had set up for him prior to me buying mine

[Bowser]

OKAY, got my scape set up how i THINK i want it, i have 4 pics that i will upload probably tomorrow, i might add a little more rock but i'm not sure..

 

Anyone else have these tanks? so far i'm extremely happy with it, the lights are pretty bright (first LED tank) and i now understand why everyone loves LED's.

 

However this tank seems to have some flaws. I wish the water level was higher to the top, also it seems to always have micro bubbles, no idea why.. any guesses?

[steelcube]

I wish the water level was higher to the top, also it seems to always have micro bubbles, no idea why.. any guesses?

 

If you want to increase water level add more water. If you want to increase level in front while keeping back the same then cover up the bottom portion of the water skimmer, I believe that should do it. I was hoping to do this modification eventually on my 4g. Only thing that might be an issue is that the false wall may leak enough to raise the back a little bit.

 

I assume the micro bubbles are coming from the pump/nozzle, Maybe mess with the nozzle a bit. When I do a wc I run the pump and add water to the back chamber and once the nozzle is submerged bubbles stop.

[Bowser]

If you want to increase water level add more water. If you want to increase level in front while keeping back the same then cover up the bottom portion of the water skimmer, I believe that should do it. I was hoping to do this modification eventually on my 4g. Only thing that might be an issue is that the false wall may leak enough to raise the back a little bit.

 

I assume the micro bubbles are coming from the pump/nozzle, Maybe mess with the nozzle a bit. When I do a wc I run the pump and add water to the back chamber and once the nozzle is submerged bubbles stop.

 

 

It very well could be the water level, i noticed that when i unpacked it that it was a tad loose so ill have to mess with it, Also don't know if i mentioned, the tank is only holding 5g right now.. I dont believe it is a 8g tank... I call FALSE ADVERTISEMENT:P lol im happy with the tank overall though, pretty excited to stock it with some LPS, I already have a bit of coral waiting from my old tank

 

Also, do i need to buy a piece of Live Rock to seed the rest? or should the supposed "live sand" suffice for this purpose.. also im thinking about running whites/blues in day and the 5 blues at night. this would mean the lights are on 24/7 but im thinking 5 blues wont be to much for night time? Input?

[Bowser]

Vote on your favorite scape:) I might add some more rock the back, i feel like its a little bare

 

**vote 1 or 2 **

[steelcube]

Wow only 5 gallons. I never really checked my 4g when I was adding water.

 

Live sand should be fine because it has the bacteria, maybe someone else can add input.

 

Both set ups look good, I kind of like 2 because you could probably add a plate or something in the middle later if you wanted to. If you add hard coral though I believe you'd have to upgrade lighting. At least my lfs said I'd have to, stock would only support softies.

[Bowser]

Wow only 5 gallons. I never really checked my 4g when I was adding water.

 

Live sand should be fine because it has the bacteria, maybe someone else can add input.

 

Both set ups look good, I kind of like 2 because you could probably add a plate or something in the middle later if you wanted to. If you add hard coral though I believe you'd have to upgrade lighting. At least my lfs said I'd have to, stock would only support softies.

 

 

Ive never ventured into SPS, and to be honest I've never really seen what people are obsessed about.. yes they're beautiful but to me all the hard work and potential things that could go wrong makes it not worth it to me (at least with a nano) especially since I'm gone every weekend and it would make it hard to watch the parameters and do top offs.

 

Also my coral plans so far are frogspawn, one or two variants of hammer coral along with a ricordea garden, im also thinking maybe some sort of small brain in the middle? or maybe a carpet anemone hoping it doesnt move. I'm going to the LFS today after work to figure out exactly what my plans for the tank are. I really want Sexy Shrimp but i know the eel would make a meal out of them:/ i also want a Mantis but i would never put my hand in the tank again..

 

And yeah i think i like the second one better, I've always been a huge fan of the two separated island look, such as Hypes Archipelago. and as small as this tank is a "C" figure is as close as i can get:D

 

I plan on getting 1 or 2 blue legs tomorrow and maybe a piece of live rock hoping for hitchhikers but i dont want to get something bad instead of cool:/ It's always a gamble with buying Live Rock

 

Do you have any links or pictures to your 4g? I'm really interested in seeing some other Evolves:)

[steelcube]

There are a couple other people with evolve's that have threads here

mine is

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=311562

 

and here's another one I've been watching

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=313065

[Bowser]

There are a couple other people with evolve's that have threads here

mine is

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=311562

 

and here's another one I've been watching

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=313065

Thanks a lot man, your light has definitely inspired me to look into PAR bulbs! it makes the tank look amazing!

 

On a second note, I went to one of the LFS just to check out some of the coral they had and they had a few really nice cheap $5 frags that i think i might collect a bunch of Zoa's from and create a diverse colony, thought?

 

Also while i was there i remembered i had a brain coral at my cousins house from when i tore down my 10g and decided that would be the center piece, also decided i might try to get a ricordea garden if i can find them cheaper somewhere ($17 a pop isn't bad but there are definitely cheaper prices)

[steelcube]

The only downside I've seen with my par38 bulb is that I can't turn on just blue leds, so I've mounted the stock light on the right side of the tank and swing it over the tank at night and it looks great.

 

As long as the zoas aren't completely covering most of the rock work it sounds like a cool idea. I've read somewhere that zoas can grow on acrylic too, like gsp. It'd be sweet if you could do 4-5 different types and just place them on the back wall and let them grow toward each other.

 

I think ricordea are cool, they are extremely fluorescent too.

[Bowser]

The only downside I've seen with my par38 bulb is that I can't turn on just blue leds, so I've mounted the stock light on the right side of the tank and swing it over the tank at night and it looks great.

 

As long as the zoas aren't completely covering most of the rock work it sounds like a cool idea. I've read somewhere that zoas can grow on acrylic too, like gsp. It'd be sweet if you could do 4-5 different types and just place them on the back wall and let them grow toward each other.

 

I think ricordea are cool, they are extremely fluorescent too.

 

Yeah there is a LFS here in Houston that sells the best looking ricordea i have ever seen, theyre so bright i sometimes wonder if theyre dyed lol he wants i believe 20 or 25 but they're multiple colors and look worth it, How fast do ricordea's spread or split?