Lizzie1324 Posted January 20, 2016 Author Share Posted January 20, 2016 Yall are awesome!! Lol so much to think about and look forward too! Yay..so happy to see another 20 Long . I'm really enjoying mine. I think it's the perfect size..until the corals outgrow the tank LOL. But that will happen in any tank .Another fantastic 20L is Mom2many's tank. Hers is a true mixed reef which I think you would be interested in reading about.http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/361042-my-20-long-journey/Looking forward to following along with your build! I had already followed her tank!!! I stalked it about a week ago when I got mine lol. You are right it's awesome! Now to go stalk yours thank you!! Any easy method of auto feeding? Maybe set up a temp tank next to the DSH tank when you go away. Fill the temp tank with brine. Have an aqualifter on a time set to "feed" 3 times a day. In full disclosure I have not really thought this out fully, just an idea. Let the brainstorming commence.... Yall are filling my head with all sorts of wonderful ideas! I have definitely thought about the start up of a smaller tank after this one gets running. I'm interested in the auto-feed thought as well!! It actually popped into my head as soon as I read that comment...but similarly I have no idea if anyone has done it! I'll have to research it. I mean I don't know if you could set up auto feed for long periods of time bc I would worry about excess food....but I won't if you kind of adjusted while you were there to watch if you could get it right. That would be a fantastic project. Now I'm definitely going to have to look into it. 3x's a day is a lot for anyone who works!!! But I'm very intrigued. Link to comment
vlangel Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 Any easy method of auto feeding? Maybe set up a temp tank next to the DSH tank when you go away. Fill the temp tank with brine. Have an aqualifter on a time set to "feed" 3 times a day. In full disclosure I have not really thought this out fully, just an idea. Let the brainstorming commence....That is a very good thought but the biggest problem is that the newly hatched bbs need to be newly hatched as in less than 24 hours old. They use up their egg sac by then and no longer have nutritional value after that unless they are enriched. The enriching process takes 12-24 hours and the bbs need to be washed and water changed. Also the DSH need to have excellant water quality which usually means water changes multiple Xs a week. Some new ideas are starting to be considered now. Polarcollision here on N-R has designed an in tank hatchery and is about to try it out. You might want to watch her thread. Another idea I am reading on threads from seahorse.org talk about using a bigger tank than is conventionally thought of for dwarf seahorses. If I recall correctly the thread is titled 'large dwarf seahorse tank' and a 40g breeder tank is used. In that tank are also pods and mysis shrimp breeding to produce shrimp larvae to supplement the enriched bbs so the DSH are eating multiple foods. If a reef tank had a fuge that was producing pods at a good rate and the the mysis in the DSH tank were productive then perhaps the little seahorses could get away with less meals of newly hatched bbs, especially for a short time like for a vacation. Both of these ideas are in the experimental stages and have not proven out to be sustainable for the long haul yet. One or both of them may prove revolutionary in dwarf seahorse keeping. Conventional wisdom has been use a small tank, snow it with lots of newly hatched or enriched bbs 3-4 Xs a day and do lots of water changes to keep up water quality. Link to comment
Felicia Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 Dawn, you are so on it! I was about to link her to polar's thread for the automated hatchery. http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/337141-polarcollisions-nuvo-24/?p=5115549 Link to comment
Lizzie1324 Posted January 20, 2016 Author Share Posted January 20, 2016 Dawn, you are so on it! I was about to link her to polar's thread for the automated hatchery. http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/337141-polarcollisions-nuvo-24/?p=5115549 Checked it out! And its awesome! I can't wait to see the new thread if she decides to make a new one! Link to comment
Lizzie1324 Posted January 21, 2016 Author Share Posted January 21, 2016 Got the boyfriend ( I guess I could start calling him by his name.....Matt!!! lol) to send me a pic today of the tank with the light on! I had to go out of town so I hadn't been able to see it yet! Holy cow it looks so bright! I'm down in Mobile working a Horticulture Expo for my assistantship, and 1--I'm wishing I had time to go look at some local fish stores, and 2--DYING to get back home to "watch my rocks" as Matt says. He also added the Koralia pump in there post-picture. Link to comment
gena Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Got the boyfriend ( I guess I could start calling him by his name.....Matt!!! lol) to send me a pic today of the tank with the light on! I had to go out of town so I hadn't been able to see it yet! Holy cow it looks so bright! I'm down in Mobile working a Horticulture Expo for my assistantship, and 1--I'm wishing I had time to go look at some local fish stores, and 2--DYING to get back home to "watch my rocks" as Matt says. He also added the Koralia pump in there post-picture. Looks great! I love that it's visible from both sides! Link to comment
vlangel Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Dawn, you are so on it! I was about to link her to polar's thread for the automated hatchery. http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/337141-polarcollisions-nuvo-24/?p=5115549 Yes, but I don't know how to post links so thanks for doing that. Now You, Lizzie and I will all be following Polar's progress. Link to comment
Lizzie1324 Posted January 21, 2016 Author Share Posted January 21, 2016 Looks great! I love that it's visible from both sides! Thank you! When Matt said he liked the way the 20L looked I was like.....Ohmygosh I can put it on the kitchen bar and have double the landscape for coral viewing!!! Eeek! Link to comment
Felicia Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 I love the scape and everyone is right, you'll love being able to see it from both sides. I had a freshwater tank on my bar/passthrough thing when I was in undergrad and it was so nice to be able to enjoy it from both the kitchen while I was cooking and the living room. Link to comment
D Z Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Dawn, you are so on it! I was about to link her to polar's thread for the automated hatchery. http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/337141-polarcollisions-nuvo-24/?p=5115549 This is interesting too... http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/369632-new-seahorse-feeding-station/#entry5240971 Link to comment
vlangel Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 This is interesting too... http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/369632-new-seahorse-feeding-station/#entry5240971 I have seen those before and I considered getting one for my seahorses. Those feeding stations are for frozen mysis which is what my seahorses eat most of the time. In the end I just put a jelly jar in the bottom of the tank and use an acrylic tube to send the mysis to the jelly jar where the ponies feed. Link to comment
Lizzie1324 Posted January 27, 2016 Author Share Posted January 27, 2016 We have algae y'all! Tested all my levels and we are good to go! So I'm gonna do a wc and hopefully sometime this week I'll have time to grab some cleanup crew. Is there a way to search NR by location? I've only been living in Alabama for 9 months and the only LFS (other than Petco) I know of is about an hour away. I'm looking for some Auburn/Opelika peeps! lol...doing this in Houston was much easier! Link to comment
gena Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 We have algae y'all! Tested all my levels and we are good to go! So I'm gonna do a wc and hopefully sometime this week I'll have time to grab some cleanup crew. Is there a way to search NR by location? I've only been living in Alabama for 9 months and the only LFS (other than Petco) I know of is about an hour away. I'm looking for some Auburn/Opelika peeps! lol...doing this in Houston was much easier! hooray!!!! Not sure on searching people by location on NR but maybe there is a local reef forum in your city or nearby? You could do a google search perhaps? Link to comment
Lizzie1324 Posted January 27, 2016 Author Share Posted January 27, 2016 Yeah! I should probably just keep digging. I keep getting excited thinking I have found more options, but then I get to the website and find they shut down I know there are several in Montgomery and Atlanta...I just live directly between them in Valley, AL right on the GA border, so it's an hour and a half each way! #thestruggle. But I guess that's the price I pay for living in the middle of nowhere Link to comment
D Z Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 You could try asking here:http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=167 I dont link to RC much, ut they do have a good collection of local reef clubs. Im sure if you make a thread in there someone local to you will chime in to help out....that is if there is actually something near you lol Link to comment
Felicia Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 You could always just start a separate thread here on NR asking if anyone is in your area. I bet its rough being in a less urban area in this hobby. Link to comment
gulfsurfer101 Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 True that! I'm 45 minutes away from town so I don't have much of a locals club as I did when I was living in the city, however I'm lucky enough to have one of the best coral providers that lives in town that I can always rely on. Link to comment
Lizzie1324 Posted January 27, 2016 Author Share Posted January 27, 2016 You could always just start a separate thread here on NR asking if anyone is in your area. I bet its rough being in a less urban area in this hobby. Yes! lol. This was much easier when I lived right outside of Houston True that! I'm 45 minutes away from town so I don't have much of a locals club as I did when I was living in the city, however I'm lucky enough to have one of the best coral providers that lives in town that I can always rely on. Right?! I'm hoping to find a not so local fish store that I can start building a relationship with...I like that so much more than buying stuff online! Link to comment
gulfsurfer101 Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 I got my buddy Glenn the owner of coral gardens aquaculture in town so needless to say my tank is all cga'd out! Message him. I think overnight shipping in Texas is dirt cheap. Link to comment
D Z Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 Another thing you can do is keep an eye on craigslist ads for people selling frags in your area. You may not find a store or dealer, but you may find someone with a large collection/tank that sells frags from time to time when they have them. Link to comment
Mom2many Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 Yeah! I should probably just keep digging. I keep getting excited thinking I have found more options, but then I get to the website and find they shut down I know there are several in Montgomery and Atlanta...I just live directly between them in Valley, AL right on the GA border, so it's an hour and a half each way! #thestruggle. But I guess that's the price I pay for living in the middle of nowhere I live smack inbetween Chattanooga and Atlanta. I have an hour drive to any good salt water fish store. I have a lot of children and very little time for running out of town to the fish store. (Probably a good thing. ) I get excited if we have an appointment in one of the big cities as then I can stop by a fish store on the way home if I have time. We have a Petco about a half hour away that carries some salt water critters and items but their stuff is always sickly and covered in aptasias and algea. Not worth the risk, to add to my tank. I have a friend that I got interested in reefing and now we go in together on orders on line or have each other pick up things for the other if we are going to one of the cities around us that have good stores. Looking great by the way! Link to comment
Lizzie1324 Posted January 30, 2016 Author Share Posted January 30, 2016 I didn't even think about craigslist! Great idea. The guy at petco that I've been talking to most said that the Auburn/Opelika area had a lot of reefers, so hopefully there'll be someone who is looking to make a little cash with frags! Our petco gets some good stuff in, and the corals are kept in surprising shape for a petco. But I'd always rather buy from a fellow reefer! Link to comment
Felicia Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Yeah Craigslist is really a great place to look. When I first started, I bought all of my first corals from two local reefers with big tanks who constantly sold frags. They put together really nice beginner frag packs for me with a bunch of different mushrooms, zoanthids, and other softies. Actually, my current green slimer colony is grown from a frag from one of those guys as well as my xenia, frogspawn, green fuzzy mushrooms, and some of my zoanthids. Definitely a great resource! Link to comment
Lizzie1324 Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 Hey y'all! So I am definitely due for an update. I was unhappy with water claroty from the AC 30 so went ahead and bumped up to the 70! It's great. got my other Koralia in as well. The tank got nice and cycled after about a week and a half....I think the rock I got from the not-so-lfs had been in there a long time! Then I wen't down to ye old petco and grabbed some clean up crew. Let them party for a couple weeks and then added a couple zoa frags! I think I'm going to have this flat rock serve as zoa island. Nothing super special, just some RDE's, whammin' watermelons, and some unidentified. Then, this weekend my tank was turning one month old, so I bought MOAR CORALZ. lol. Picked up a pretty little acan from the petco for $30. and two different xenias. One from LFS and one from petco. Which I know gets a lot of hate, and rightly so for the most part, but I think I have been able to sort through and find some winners. I also grabbed a skunk cleaner shrimp and two of the tiniest snowflake clownfish I have ever seen and promptly named them Ron and Tammy. I know the pics are crappy but all I have at my disposal is an iphone. Tonight, however, tragedy struck. Tammy the clownfish died . From the time I bought her she was swimming sideways and vertically a lot. I got her Thursday, and was hoping it was just stress. Then tonight my boyfriend checked the tank and she was barely alive stuck to the filter. I cried a little. He thinks I'm a tad crazy . So, he scooped her up and we put her in a little baggy for her last few gulps? Breaths? Anyway. I'm not sure on the stores livestock guarantee, but everything else is fabulous, so I'm hoping they will be reasonable. Also, I LOVE my acan. I have never had one before and fed it mysis last night. Super cool! Will update after I go to the store tomorrow. Also, what is yall's experience with nems in a similar tank size to mine? I know I need to let the tank mature some more, but just wanted some input. Last thing I promise...All my corals except my zoas are purple/pink. So I am trying to convince the man to let me go with a pastel theme except on zpa island. if you have any sweet coral pics in the blue/purple/pink range, send them my way! Link to comment
gulfsurfer101 Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 Looking good! That rock will fill out nicely covered in zoas! Link to comment
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