Journal of a 10g Nano-Reef started 5/27/04

[ChloroPhil]

Hi folks,

 

I'd like to start out with a thank you to all who have helped me thus far in my quest for the perfect nano-reef. That's probably every single one of you here, whether directly through questions answered, or indirectly through pictures of your aquariums and the threads discussing them.

 

A little about me before I get to the good stuff. I'm a Post-Bac student working towards a BS: Biology (Botany) in order to get into the MS program at the local university. I've been keeping aquaria seriously since '97 and have been a competitive aquascaper (mostly planted tanks) for the past three years. Aside from everything else I've got going on I do part time work as the pond and aquarium plant guy at an LFS that has a phenomenal SW section. Ever since my first day there I resisted the temptation to set up a small reef and I finally succumbed.

 

This setup started as an empty tank languishing in my fishroom just begging to be used. As they say "An idle tank is the Devil's playground" and this one is no exception. My intentions with this tank is to make it a rubble boundary zone aquascape with SPS and polyps.

 

Specs (currently, or will have)

 

10g AG

~19lbs LS

15lbs LR

2x13w PC (for LR now)

[will have 70w HQI and 2x36w PC 03 actinics]

AC 500 fuge w/surface skimmer

AC Super Skimmer in the 500

supplimental powerhead

 

Current inhabitants:

1 Astrea Snal

2 Margarita Turbo Snails

3 Cerrith Snails

3 Blue Leg Hermits

 

Desired inhabitants:

1 Royal Gramma

1 Cleaner Shrimp

1 High-Fin Banded Goby

1 Pistol Shrimp

1 Feather Duster

 

Various Montipora and Acropora spp stonies

Various Zooanthid spp

GSP

 

Ok, on to the pictures:

 

5/27

 

The tank is set up near my computer while I get all the parts together and the system settles down enough to move to its final destination, my bedroom. My wife's requirement is that the stand and canopy be attractive and not my usual DIY ghetto style stuff. That's going to take a while so it's living downstairs in my fishroom for now.

 

I ALWAYS lay down some sort of barrier between the glass and rock when using large and pointy pieces so as to not create pressure points and cracks in the bottom. The eggcrate is also useful for "grabbing" the foundation rock and keeping it from sliding around and collapsing.

 

 

I'm trying to create the feel of a small isolated island of rock and coral growing out away from the main reef. In order to accomplish that I chose a mound style placement and made sure to have a number of fingers coming out into the sand. The fingers help not only to create more depth of field in the tank, but will also be the foundation of a rubble zone for the goby and shrimp.

 

Here's the tank with the initial 10lbs LR:

 

 

Rock + Water:

 

 

5/29: Added another 5lbs LR to fill out the design.

 

 

 

The rock had been cured and had been sitting in the for sale tanks for at least a week and I could have added LS right away but I chose to wait. Instead I left it in the tank with two large powerheads blowing water all around in an attempt to knock off anything that would come off and pollute the tank.

 

6/3: Added the LS, did a 25% WC and added the clean up crew.

 

It turned out that 20 lbs was too much substrate for my tastes and I sucked out a couple pounds and waited for the water to clear up. Once I could see into the tank well enough I fanned the sand into place underneath and behind the rocks and added a few lbs behind the rock pile to shore everything up and give a good slope.

 

Before sand:

 

 

After sand:

 

 

 

Now all I have to do is let things sit and stabilize while I aquire the rest of the hardware and move the tank.

 

Best,

Phil

[Dr. Saltwater]

Looks good already!

 

Do you also have hardware pics?

[ChloroPhil]

You can see everything in that last picture. Right now it's just rock, sand, snails, and powerheads. I'll make sure to add pictures of the hardware as it's added.

 

Best,

Phil

[Max]

Looks cool. Whats that white grate stuff you put under your rock more inportantaly where did you get it? Seems like a good idea.

[Wolf]

It's acrylic that's used in the florescent light fixtures of drop-down ceilings that you usually find in office buildings. They're like $9 at Home Depot. It will assist in getting good circulation all over the rock while it's cycling.

[ChloroPhil]

What Wolf said.

[Kool-cat]

Rental tank? Your renting a fish tank?

[ChloroPhil]

No, I'm not renting it, I just haven't taken the sticker off it yet. I got it at a convention and haven't been able to find my razor blades to scrape it off yet.

 

Best,

Phil