Illumin-8 Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 (edited) FTS - October 2019: Left-FTS - September 2019: April 2018: Setup date: 28-Oct-2017 (picture taken 13-Nov-2017 because, well.....cycle and stuff) Hi there Nano-Reef Been meaning to put together a tank build thread for a while now, but have been busy working (gasp!) while at work. Well that and staring into this little nugget of an office nightstand tank: ( for the workstation rules update) Almost a year ago, my group was moved to a new office area, and it's so quiet you can hear other people breathe. And no, no one is a particularly heinous mouth-breather either. In an effort to create a little background noise, I dusted this little beauty off after a 5-year storage stint in the ol' garage. A quick to trip to Scripps (yay ocean water), some left over live rock from the house tank, et voila! Background noise is now a go, and so is an excuse to stare off in space while pretending to solve all the manufacturing crises of the day. Here are the deets: Tank: Innovative Marine 8 gallon - a little sad they don't make these anymore, the curved corners are super nice (but also tedious to clean) Gadgets: Skimmer: Aqua Gadget SkimMate Return: Whatever pump came with the setup (I'm having a brain fart at the moment) Heater: Finnex 50W (caused the great Christmas cook-out of 2018) Extra flow: VorTech MP10 Top Off: Custom Controller: Apex Jr. since it's toasty 'round these parts and old heaters sometimes cook things Lighting: EcoTech Marine Radion XR15W G4 Pro The good stuff (aka livestock😞 Fish: PigFish - an oinker of a tiny smallish maroon clown Creep-o - the creepiest little Green Banded Goby (went keyboard surfing one weekend) Inverts: Blue Legged Hermits All the Stomatellas - Pig Fish got hongry Nassarius snail Every dumb Astrea snail I could find - Hermit houses Corals: Rainbow torch...............there's a story for another post........................ Rainbow Pocci-lypse (it's everywhere now, even in the back chambers) Pink Pocci Multicolor birdsnest ALL THE ZOAS Holy Scoly Moly The dendro sisters ('shroom food, thanks Hermit) Random platy, gonis, and a chalice (cooked Christmas 2018) Killer green 'shrooms Whew! Well, there it is. My office nightstand nugget. Comments and suggestions are definitely welcome, especially since this is my first tank. (There's one at home, but I'm not allowed to touch anything wet...just program pumps and wire thingies. Tech skillz, yo.) Looking very forward to nerding out with all of you and learning from all you Reef Masters. Edited October 23, 2019 by Illumin-8 Updates with current FTSs 5 1 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 Whoa, that is one seriously gorgeous nano reef @Illumin-8! Killer zoanthid collection! It has come a long ways since just November too. PigFish and Creep-o, hilarious fish names 😂. How has it been with maintenance at work, curious coworkers, etc.? Welcome to the community! Quote Link to comment
Cannedfish Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 That is one great looking tank! Quote Link to comment
Five.five-six Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 Like how you refer to the hardware as “gadgets” Photos are great, definitely not a mature cell phone pics, more like pro cellphone pics. How far are you from Scripps? Free water is great! Quote Link to comment
Illumin-8 Posted June 29, 2018 Author Share Posted June 29, 2018 21 hours ago, Christopher Marks said: Whoa, that is one seriously gorgeous nano reef @Illumin-8! Killer zoanthid collection! It has come a long ways since just November too. PigFish and Creep-o, hilarious fish names 😂. How has it been with maintenance at work, curious coworkers, etc.? Welcome to the community! Awww, shucks. Thank you @Christopher Marks You and this forum of yours have been an invaluable resource and inspiration in setting this tank up! Seriously, guys and gals like @Cannedfish (who OMG....LOOKED AT MY THREAD! Squeeee!) and @natalia_la_loca and @teenyreef with their drool-worthy tanks have set the bar pretty high for what's possible in tiny slices of ocean goodness. Tank maintenance is pretty easy: Feed Monday, Wednesday, and Friday - Monday and Fridays are mysis for the fish and dendros, and a mix of Reef Roids, Fauna Marine zoanthid food, and Gonipower for the zoas and SPS - Wednesdays are mysis for the fish, dendros, and scoly only - they eat from tweezers which is hilarious. Creep-o is a feisty little bit. 1 gallon water changes on Mondays and Thursdays/Fridays after 6PM so there are fewer co-workers around and the tank lights are out. Oh, and mostly so no one can see me turning red while I hold a gallon of saltwater above my head to refill the tank (gravity drop) while simultaneously trying not to douse all my electronics with highly conductive liquid! I use two old Coralife media jugs: one for dirty water and one for clean. The jugs are about a gallon each so one of them full of Scripps water comes with me to work, sloshing around in my bag. (Yay, waterproof laptop sleeves!) All the accoutrements (scapers, tubing, and forceps) live in my bottom desk drawer. So far no one has given me grief about dumping old water down the drain but I try to be super careful about not getting sand in a sink that I do not own. As for coworkers.....they are insane! There was lots of discussion about the type of fish planned (the original vote was for a mantis shrimp and jellyfish = nope/veto power), but mostly everyone is fascinated with it. The snails are especially popular. Like weirdly popular. And the spawning....I work with a bunch of 12 year olds going on 30 year olds, so stomatella spawning elicited a bunch of giggles and googly eyes. I'll take better notes of what actually goes on during a water change and try to post a write up here over the weekend. Maybe while it's still fresh from tomorrow's water change. 14 hours ago, Cannedfish said: That is one great looking tank! @Cannedfish right back atcha man. Maybe someday when I grow up this little IM-8 will be half as awesome as your Bon Tank Rouler (yep, I've been creepin' on your thread - like Lorp on pods) 13 hours ago, Five.five-six said: Like how you refer to the hardware as “gadgets” Photos are great, definitely not a mature cell phone pics, more like pro cellphone pics. How far are you from Scripps? Free water is great! Thank you @Five.five-six ! The photography compliment is especially appreciated. Although you may rescind said compliment when you see the weekend update....... Yay Scripps! It's a lunchtime trip from work, but a pretty great way to get offsite and get some sunshine. Are you in SD too? 2 1 Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 Yay! The little Nuvo 8 is pretty dear to my heart. So happy to see another one still around, especially one so incredibly beautifully scaped. following! 1 Quote Link to comment
Justind823 Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 Great looking tank! Looking forward to more pics this weekend 1 Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 Those names! Great little tank, tagging along. Quote Link to comment
Five.five-six Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 9 hours ago, Illumin-8 said: Thank you @Five.five-six ! The photography compliment is especially appreciated. Although you may rescind said compliment when you see the weekend update....... Yay Scripps! It's a lunchtime trip from work, but a pretty great way to get offsite and get some sunshine. Are you in SD too? I shoot with a D300 and a nikkor 105 f2.8 from a tripod. Your photos look great. I have been to San Diego. Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 Welcome to NR. That tank looks great. Glad you shared it with us. 1 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 11 hours ago, Illumin-8 said: As for coworkers.....they are insane! There was lots of discussion about the type of fish planned (the original vote was for a mantis shrimp and jellyfish = nope/veto power), but mostly everyone is fascinated with it. The snails are especially popular. Like weirdly popular. And the spawning....I work with a bunch of 12 year olds going on 30 year olds, so stomatella spawning elicited a bunch of giggles and googly eyes. 😂 How did they come to learn about mantis shrimp? Was it this comic? 1 Quote Link to comment
Five.five-six Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 21 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said: 😂 How did they come to learn about mantis shrimp? Was it this comic? I bet it was this mini documentary 1 Quote Link to comment
TatorTaco Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 @Christopher Marks, any idea why when I try to click on the FTS, I'm re-directed to a yahoo sign-in page? I wanna see piiiiiiiiics. :-) Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 29 minutes ago, TatorTaco said: @Christopher Marks, any idea why when I try to click on the FTS, I'm re-directed to a yahoo sign-in page? I wanna see piiiiiiiiics. 🙂 @Illumin-8 has embedded photos here from Flickr, however those photos on Flickr.com aren't set to be publicly viewable, so clicking their links will send you to a Flickr (Yahoo owned) login page to authorize. Maybe Illumin-8 can change those settings 🙂 A photo tip for you too Illumin-8, you can share Flickr photos here more easily by just copy/pasting the Flickr share link, rather than the embed code. Our editor will take care of the rest and embed the photo automatically 🤓 Quote Link to comment
TatorTaco Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 Thanks @Christopher Marks. I don't have yahoo, so hopefully @Illumin-8 likes your method better so I can zoom in like crazy on his little tank. Quote Link to comment
Illumin-8 Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 13 hours ago, debbeach13 said: Welcome to NR. That tank looks great. Glad you shared it with us. Thanks @debbeach13 ! 12 hours ago, Christopher Marks said: 😂 How did they come to learn about mantis shrimp? Was it this comic? OMG the Oatmeal! Yaaaaas! @Christopher Marks, how'd you know? And totally correct. Did I mention that I work with a bunch of 12 year olds. Had to pull the ol' Nope Ninja on them! one,two,three DEATH! I love this comic so much. 12 hours ago, Five.five-six said: I bet it was this mini documentary @Five.five-six, maybe I used the nope ninja card too early? PigFish better look out.....he's going to get replaced by a rainbow harbinger of death. (Kidding.....sort of........but no really kidding) 2 Quote Link to comment
Illumin-8 Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 9 hours ago, Christopher Marks said: @Illumin-8 has embedded photos here from Flickr, however those photos on Flickr.com aren't set to be publicly viewable, so clicking their links will send you to a Flickr (Yahoo owned) login page to authorize. Maybe Illumin-8 can change those settings 🙂 A photo tip for you too Illumin-8, you can share Flickr photos here more easily by just copy/pasting the Flickr share link, rather than the embed code. Our editor will take care of the rest and embed the photo automatically 🤓 I'm an idiot.....or maybe a yahoo of a different sort? Pics are now set to public! Thank you @Christopher Marks for the tips with the links instead of BBCode. I'll give that a shot on this weekend's update. (PigFish's belly simply must be public!) 8 hours ago, TatorTaco said: Thanks @Christopher Marks. I don't have yahoo, so hopefully @Illumin-8 likes your method better so I can zoom in like crazy on his little tank. Zoom away my friend! And sorry for the inadvertent Yahoo advert. (Yaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhooooooo-ooooo-oooooo!) 2 1 Quote Link to comment
Illumin-8 Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 Annnnnnd finally, a picture, because well: Looking > Reading (and this new fangled link-y thingy needed to be tried out, and holy wow, it's so much easier!!!) Now to photoshop one of those beer belly fanny packs on this little oinker and this thread will be complete. Kidding.....there's so much more fish belly where this came from. 1 2 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 Beautiful markings on that l'il piggie! I'm off to San Diego tomorrow, part of the Zonie beach invasion 😅 Do you ever worry about the tank over weekends or holidays? Quote Link to comment
Illumin-8 Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 1 minute ago, Christopher Marks said: Beautiful markings on that l'il piggie! I'm off to San Diego tomorrow, part of the Zonie beach invasion 😅 Have a safe drive out here! Zonies (who love reefs) are my favorite type of invaders. Invade away, and enjoy the (not) 1000 degree weather. 1 Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted July 1, 2018 Share Posted July 1, 2018 On 6/30/2018 at 12:17 AM, Christopher Marks said: I'm off to San Diego tomorrow, part of the Zonie beach invasion 😅 My brain definitely read that as "zombie." 2 Quote Link to comment
Illumin-8 Posted October 16, 2019 Author Share Posted October 16, 2019 2 weeks shy of 2 years! It's amazing how fast time flies. (Like 18 months between updates? whoops.......) 13 October, 2019: A few things have changed - but not the oinker of a fat red fish aka Pig Fish. He still rules his little fiefdom. (TBH the cell phone pics haven't changed much either: still shaky.) 2 2 Quote Link to comment
Illumin-8 Posted October 23, 2019 Author Share Posted October 23, 2019 Left side (definitely this tank's version of Blue Steel...nothing to do with the bad white balance ): What a looney tune (ba-dum-shish): Now where to put this bad boy? It's kinda a shame to have it shoved in the sand. Buuuut, the Glaxaea is already taking over the new rock shelf. Those sweepers are no joke and (totally a champagne problem) it already has a few new itty bitty baby heads. Really dumb placement of an aggressive coral: Hmmm, decisions decisions. 4 Quote Link to comment
DNR88 Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 That's looking very nice and colorfull! 😎 1 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 Congrats on TOTM! I was wondering how I missed following your thread, and then noticed you had kind of a (ahem) long gap between updates What a great example of how to do things right in 8 gallons. Now you need to post more often 3 Quote Link to comment
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