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Coral Vue Hydros

My 12 gallon eclipse progress


chufa

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Today it has been 4 weeks since I set up my 12 gallon eclipse nano. I installed today my newest addition, a Supernoova 32 retro. All I can say is wow, what a difference! But the added actinic light does not mix well with my blue background. It is too blue, and my damsel is almost invisible. I am considering replacing the background with black paper. What do you think? Here's a pic:

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Here is another pic (close up)

 

Oh, and I forgot: current inhaitants are one yellow-tail damsel (Shaq), peppermint shrimp, 4 hermits (2 blues, 1 scarlet, 1 unidentified), 2 bumblebee snails, and various hitchikers (Barnacles, feather dusters, worms, amphipods, small snail, etc.). Aiptasia is history for now (Peppermint took care of it)

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I used to have a goldfish named shaq! That damsel looks ####ed off! lol they are so funny! :D

 

You should paint the back of your tank, it makes life a lot easier. I guess thats impossible now, though. I have seen large black sticker paper, maybe cut one the size of your tank and stick it on the back. Tank looks great, btw.

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Nice looking tank you've got so far. I used to have a yellow tailed damsel as well and my background was black.. very difficult to see the fish from a couple feet away... One way you could probably see the fish is to use a light colored background like light blue or something... but then it won't make the tank look as nice IMO.. I decided to just keep mine and one day the damsel just passes away so I got a nice colorful clownfish instead.

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Nice chufa...looks like the tank is coming along nicely.

 

Interesting effect, in the pics anyway of the background... that's paper then? Looks kinda cool if ya ask me. I love dark backgrounds, black or dark dark blue... what you have now looks great but if its just paper how hard is it to try the black?

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Thanks for your compliments and help. I plan to add one more fish and a couple of snails in the future weeks. In the next month or so I will add my first corals. Shrooms, polyps, and an Euphylla species (torch, frogspawn, etc.) added a few at a time with plenty of time in between. I'll post pics as new updates are made. Thanks again!

 

p.d: Fenner's Conscientious Marine Aquarist recommends black background. Maybe that's why I am inclined to think black may look better. I guess I will have to give it a try. That paper is just a couple $'s, anyway.

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Nice looking tank.

 

I've got a couple of Bumblebee snails in my tank - had them over a year now but they can be difficult to spot these days as they're covered in coralline :P

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Christopher Marks

I vote to make the back ground dark blue. It reflects light better than black, which makes your tank look brighter. But, if you have a blue fish in the tank...a black back ground will contrast much better.

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I still like the porno Idea. I mean if you got PC, MH, VHO, or NO and some SPS with LPS with a DSB made out of CC that you got from your LFS than IMHO you might as well have some T and A;)

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Today I added a clownfish. Now I am done adding fish! Now for the corals, as soon as I manage to keep my nitrates down.

 

So far, the yellow-tail damsel, who is much larger, has ignored the clownfish.

 

Here he is

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printerdown01 was telling me that some corals show exelerated growth under high nitrate conditions. Maybe you can find one that will thrive in a high nitrate situation. Maybe you could add some macro algae to consume the nitrates.

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In a couple of weeks go for some softies like shrooms or xenia... Something that won't be choked out by algae blooms... 6 weeks is a pretty safe period to assume that your cycle has broken... Love the rock you have, especially that red/orange sponge under the front rock! VERY NICE, I hope it continues to grow for you! It probably wouldn't hurt to add a few more lbs of rock (just do so VERY slowly).

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thx printerdown. I left some space since I plan to get some shrooms those come with a rock usually. My peppermint has munched on the sponge, but he has stopped ever since I have begun feeding him bits of pleco pellets. He feeds out of my hand now.

 

I was a little concerned about the lava rock on the left side, but I have no bad effects so far, no detectable copper, and plenty of coralline has begun to grow on them. My calcium levels seem to be high as coralline also grows like crazy on the glass, recently outcompeting diatoms.

 

About the Xenia, I have read some very mixed reviews. Some say hard to keep, some say very easy.

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I'm getting an alife instead of an eclipse. It seems like the biggest argument against them is they get scratched. so if you are carefull with your rock you should be fine. also most of the rock in in the back, and who cares if there is a scratch in the back?

The other argement I hear is that it has a sucky light. and that can also be retro fitted.

The third arguement is stupid. people think the biowheel competes with the live rock. this is true, because they are doing the same thing. if the bio wheel was made out of rock the haters would go out and buy two. [dr.king]"I have a dream that one day filter media will not be judged by the material it is made out of, but the content of it's bacteria culture."[/dr.king]

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well, week 5. I fell victim of impulse, and got a couple of corals (my first) a week earluer than I planned. Now I must stay away from LFS for a while! The corals are a frogspawn and GSP. I will relocate my GSP to another spot if the frog gets stingy with it. Here are the pics:

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There are no such thing as stupid questions; only stupid answers.

 

no, there is no such thing as stupid questions, just stupid people. I learned this from the tao of espi.

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Keep an eye on the frog spawn, it may sting the GSP since they are so close. It also may not be a problem, as the stinging will keep the GSP away from the stony, and force it to grow in the other direction. -just keep a watchful eye.

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