Jerry's Journal

[Jerry'sMoose]

Month's of research and planning lands me here... I have always wanted a saltwater tank, especially after having to give up my 30 gallon freshwater that I kept for a few years. But not having a lot of space in my new home led me down this nano reef path. 

 

Tank Specs:

Display:  IM Fusion Nano 10

Return:  Stock return pump

Wavemaker:  Hydor Koralia Nano 240

Heater:  Eheim Jager TruTemp 75 Watt

Lighting:  Kessil A80 w/Spectral Controller

ATO:  Manual/None (considering the Tunze Nano 3152...)

Filtration:  Media basket with filter floss and activated carbon

Insurance/Paranoia:  Penn Plax Silent Air B11 (had 2 power outages last summer)

 

Livestock:

2 Ocellaris Clownfish

1 Rose Bubble Tip Anemone 

2 Acan corals

1 Hammer coral

2 Turbo Snails

4 Astrea Snails

4 Hermit Crabs

 

Little over 6 weeks in now, not too many rough patches so far...but definitely learning as I go still. One major mistake at the start was using SeaCarib's Bahamas Oolite sand. This very fine sand caused a lot of bare spots in corners of the tank and sand to collect on the live rock. About 2 weeks in I changed over to Special Grade Reef which worked out much better.

 

Shortly after the substrate change I added Instant Ocean BIO-Spira to speed up the cycling process and continued to monitor parameters. I struggle a lot with the testing kits and color coding the values...after trying to decipher these kits I think I may be slightly color blind, lol. I find that taking pictures of each test helps a lot and makes it easier to compare to previous tests. I also keep an Excel sheet to track day-by-day.

 

About 2 weeks after adding the BIO-Spira I stocked the tank with the clownfish and then slowly added the 3 corals and BTA from my LFS.

 

Still planning future coral additions and considering placement before attaching anything to the live rock... I want to keep the tank primarily LPS.

 

 

Strange, short, journey so far with the BTA. Looked gorgeous at the LFS (I wish I took a picture then)...but once I placed him in the tank he made his way in a deep crack under a rock. I figured this was normal, but after 2 days I ended up turning the rock over so that he would be exposed to the lighting. Now, he goes through varying stages of being healthy looking and then very shriveled up.

 

Day 1, before attaching under the rock:

 

Day 3:

 

2 hours later:

 

Will have to just wait this guy out and hope he acclimates well in the tank...Meanwhile, the clowns are hosting the airline hose in the back of the tank 😅

 

Big shout out to this site and community for providing great content. I especially like the monthly featured aquariums.