Simone's Mandarin Manor (Fusion 20) - Moving Madness

[Simone]

Beautiful tank! One of the best looking nuvo set-ups I've seen so far. Do you have the ghost skimmer in one of the back chambers? I didn't know they'd fit...

 

Thank you. Yes it just barely fits in the third chamber.

 

I've got to say i wouldn't recommend it to anyone else with a Nuvo 8 for several reasons. One, the fit is so tight that there is no room to put in an upgraded return pump or ATO float switch; I used to have a nicer pump in there but had to go back to the stock pump which is not great. The second reason is that the water level in the third chamber fluctuates with evaporation and if it's not just right it doesn't skim well and as I said before, there isn't room for an ATO to solve this problem.

 

Also, the skimmer itself is pretty loud; if it's like a ghost, it would be one of the haunting variety, not the silent ones lol.

 

Hopefully I will like the skimmer better once I upgrade and can put it in a sump.

[Hexadron]

Wow, everything looks so amazing. You've done a lovely job.

 

/following

[Simone]

Wow, everything looks so amazing. You've done a lovely job.

 

/following

 

Thanks JDH!

 

Here's a small update:

 

Everything survived in my boyfriend's care just fine for a week while I visited a friend in Nashville. The mandarins continue to get along extremely well. The male is gaining weight and I have named him Donovan at the suggestion of a friend. A psychedelic folk singer name for my psychedelic mandarin in case any of you missed the reference lol.

And here are a few new corals that I managed to find space for; the tank is really stuffed now!

 

a pink micro goni:

 

http://s732.photobucket.com/user/Betaya/media/Mandarin%20Motel/IMG_0597.jpg.html'>

 

a yellow lace coral:

 

http://s732.photobucket.com/user/Betaya/media/Mandarin%20Motel/IMG_0593.jpg.html'>

 

I also have another pico tank project under way but want to keep it under wraps for now

[Lynaea]

Wow, that lace coral is awesome! Where'd you get it?

[metrokat]

Nice lace coral. No stings I hope?

[Snow_Phoenix]

Lace coral = now on my wishlist.

[jbb]

How have I missed this tank.

 

The before and after pics are amazing, great job.

[owenj]

Gotta agree with the above comments--that lace coral is awesome. Glad everything did well while you were away. I'm already dreading what to do about tank-sitting when we go away for more than a couple days

[Simone]

Wow, that lace coral is awesome! Where'd you get it?

 

Yeah I love it, got it off Diver's Den, I've been waiting for one for awhile. They actually have a larger purple one still in stock in the NPS section if any of you guys are interested.

 

Hopefully I will be able to keep it alive. Apparently sometimes it's difficult to even tell if these corals are alive or not due to the lack of visible polyps and the fact that they retain their color even when they are dead.

 

I am hoping the over feeding of the mandarins will help and I'm going to get some golden pearls and maybe some other foods. Any suggestions on feeding NPS corals in a nano would be appreciated.

 

Here is a cool video of a lace coral feeding in an awesome NPS tank:

 

Nice lace coral. No stings I hope?

 

No no stings, it is a Distichopora which from what i've read do not sting even though they appear very similar to corals that do

 

Gotta agree with the above comments--that lace coral is awesome. Glad everything did well while you were away. I'm already dreading what to do about tank-sitting when we go away for more than a couple days

 

Yes I'm dreading my next trip, both my boyfriend and I are going away this time so I'm actually going to move my little tank to a friend's house a few blocks away. She doesn't have salt water experience but is a crazy meticulous ED nurse so I think she can handle it.

[justinmb]

Fantastic tank! Curious, what are your Tide settings? I'm getting a maxima soon and I see you have one on the sandbed. Wasn't sure how it will do under the led's. Thanks.

[Simone]

Fantastic tank! Curious, what are your Tide settings? I'm getting a maxima soon and I see you have one on the sandbed. Wasn't sure how it will do under the led's. Thanks.

 

Thank you!

 

Channel 1 is set to 140 and channel 2 to 180. I honestly haven't played around with it that much but you should have no problem supporting a maxima under a Tide.

 

Unfortunately, that clam of mine is no more; it was doing great for like 8 months, then I got another one from a different LFS which I believe brought pinched mantle into the tank and neither of them made it. I was so upset by loosing them that now I'm afraid to get another clam.

[owenj]

Thank you!

 

Channel 1 is set to 140 and channel 2 to 180. I honestly haven't played around with it that much but you should have no problem supporting a maxima under a Tide.

 

Unfortunately, that clam of mine is no more; it was doing great for like 8 months, then I got another one from a different LFS which I believe brought pinched mantle into the tank and neither of them made it. I was so upset by loosing them that now I'm afraid to get another clam.

Aww, dislike so sorry about your clam.

[metrokat]

Sorry about the clams.

[Simone]

So I just can't resist sharing a video of my new baby, a little bluestripe pipefish. She is living in an ADA pico I started a few months ago but have not made a tank journal for yet. She is quite outgoing and active, not shying away from me or the camera. The other tank inhabitants are several eviota gobies, they were afraid of her at first but now they follow her around at feeding time for some reason.

 

I am currently feeding her live BBS mixed with Ocean Nutrition Instant BBS. She is also accepting small quantities of cyclopeeze and Ova but not enough to sustain her. I've only had her a couple of days but it looks like she will be more of a challenge to train than the mandarins. Hatching the BBS is not as much of a hassle as I thought though.

 

Hope she will do well!

 

[owenj]

So I just can't resist sharing a video of my new baby, a little bluestripe pipefish. She is living in an ADA pico I started a few months ago but have not made a tank journal for yet. She is quite outgoing and active, not shying away from me or the camera. The other tank inhabitants are several eviota gobies, they were afraid of her at first but now they follow her around at feeding time for some reason.

 

I am currently feeding her live BBS mixed with Ocean Nutrition Instant BBS. She is also accepting small quantities of cyclopeeze and Ova but not enough to sustain her. I've only had her a couple of days but it looks like she will be more of a challenge to train than the mandarins. Hatching the BBS is not as much of a hassle as I thought though.

 

Hope she will do well!

 

Whoa, that pipefish is awesome! I love her giant paddle at the end of her tail . Is she one of the captive bred ones you mentioned earlier? Great that she's taking at least some prepared foods, hopefully she'll make the full transition for you. I always found live foods to be too much hassle

[Simone]

Whoa, that pipefish is awesome! I love her giant paddle at the end of her tail . Is she one of the captive bred ones you mentioned earlier? Great that she's taking at least some prepared foods, hopefully she'll make the full transition for you. I always found live foods to be too much hassle

 

No, she isn't captive bred, got her from Live Aquaria. Those captive bred ones are banded pipefish and get too large for the 4.6 gallon ADA whereas the bluestripes stay small. My little girl (not even sure that she actually is a girl lol) is only 2 inches. She will probably eventually go in the 25-30 gallon tank I am planning with the mandarins and I may get a pair of the banded pipefish for that tank.

 

The lure of pipefish was so strong I couldn't wait until then lol. For some reason all the fish I love are copepod eaters; dragonets, pipefish, and seahorses. I am thinking of turning the pico tank into a live food culture tank when I upgrade. I'm actually scared to feed the mandarins too much live food however because I'm afraid they will get spoiled and stop eating frozen. Not sure if that is totally irrational or not, should probably ask the mandarin experts.

[vlangel]

I love your pipefish video! I just set up a dedicated 30g seahorse tank that I plan to keep a pipefish in also. I will order CB in both the seahorses and pipefish from Ocean Rider the middle of September. They come eating frozen mysis but I have been seeding the tank with pods since May or June hoping to establish them among the rubble rock and macros before the livestock come. Good luck with your pipefish, it sure is cute!

[Simone]

I love your pipefish video! I just set up a dedicated 30g seahorse tank that I plan to keep a pipefish in also. I will order CB in both the seahorses and pipefish from Ocean Rider the middle of September. They come eating frozen mysis but I have been seeding the tank with pods since May or June hoping to establish them among the rubble rock and macros before the livestock come. Good luck with your pipefish, it sure is cute!

 

Thank you! I just took a quick look at the beginning of your thread and I will be sure to follow your tank. It's great that you are really planning ahead in terms of seeding the tank and getting frozen trained livestock.

 

I have had good luck so far with training my mandarins but would always prefer to buy captive bred pre trained fish if possible. Ocean Rider is where I am planning to buy banded pipefish from too when I upgrade my tank.

[vlangel]

Thank you! I just took a quick look at the beginning of your thread and I will be sure to follow your tank. It's great that you are really planning ahead in terms of seeding the tank and getting frozen trained livestock.

 

I have had good luck so far with training my mandarins but would always prefer to buy captive bred pre trained fish if possible. Ocean Rider is where I am planning to buy banded pipefish from too when I upgrade my tank.

 

If you ever do seahorses OR offers a free online seahorse training course that is excellent and very informative.

I will be following and watching for your upgrade! :-)

[Rehype]

Love this tank...awesome job.

[TJ_Burton]

Love this tank...awesome job.

 

I second that, fantastic looking tank!

[Tamberav]

Cool pipefish! I thought they liked being in pairs?

[Simone]

Love this tank...awesome job.

 

Wow, thank you Hype; that means so much coming from you

 

I second that, fantastic looking tank!

 

Thank you!

 

Cool pipefish! I thought they liked being in pairs?

 

Thanks Tambarev, yes they do live in pairs and I wanted to get a pair but couldn't find one. Live Aquaria would not guarantee the sex and they are apparently very aggressive if mis-paired. So I thought maybe it might be prudent to get one at first anyway to make sure I could support it successfully and then look for a mate. Apparently they are easier to sex than most pipefish based on bumps on the "snout" of the male.

 

I am pretty confident that mine is female and if she does well I will search out a male. When I fed her today she accepted the Ova/cyclopeeze more enthusiastically than before so I am hopeful. She already comes up to the glass when I walk up to the tank.

[Simone]

So I am seeking some advice on upgrading my tank; all input would be appreciated, especially those who have mandarins. So here's my story, sorry for the encyclopedic length:

 

I am really trying to hold off on upgrading as I just graduated from nursing school and am looking for jobs all over the country and have no idea where or when I will be moving; it could take only a few more months to find a job or much longer as the job market sucks right now for new graduate nurses. My plan is to try to bring all my livestock with me wherever I move. It seemed like it would make sense to order the new tank to where ever I move and ship or drive the livestock to the new tank.

 

The tank I ultimately want would be 25-30 gallons, the ideal dimensions I was thinking if I went for a custom tank would be 32 x 15 x 13-15 inches. The concept for the tank is just a larger version of my mandarin tank with my spotted mandarin pair, tailspot blenny, pipefish or two, and maybe a ruby red dragonet with lots of gorgonians and mostly LPS and soft corals. I'm not sure if I should go with an all in one like the Fusion 30 or a tank with a sump/refugium. At first I thought oh I need the refugium to supplement the diet of all the copepod eaters but they seem to be doing so well on frozen and I was thinking if I got another all in one I could turn my pico tank into a live food culture tank and just do the "shake the chaeto in the display tank" thing to add pods, etc. to the display. I know having a sump has many advantages I guess I just wonder if it is necessary for my purposes.

 

So that was my plan but ... I just noticed the Nuvo Fusion 20 is in stock at Marine Depot! I am so tempted as it is only $200. (It strikes me as kinda crazy that the 20 gallon is $200 and the 30 gallon is $500.) The Fusion 20 would probably be a stepping stone to a final bigger upgrade as described above. I wouldn't get much new livestock right away, there would just be more room for the fish and corals I already have. Also I wouldn't have to buy much new equipment as everything I have for the Nuvo 8 could be used in the 20. The exception would be getting a larger light but I could get one that I could use on the 20 and later on a larger tank. Getting a stand would also not be a problem as my boyfriend can build an awesome one for me.

 

So, my questions are:

 

1. Should I get the Fusion 20 or hold off and get a larger tank when I move?

 

2. Should the larger tank be an all in one or a custom tank with sump?

 

3. Have any advice on moving aquariums in general?

 

Thank you!!!!

 

 

[Simone]

Bump. Surprised no one has an opinion, usually there are at least two opinions for every reefer.