William Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 With social distancing having no foreseeable end in sight, my significant other gave me the green light on a pico/Nano bookshelf build. My Waterbox 70:2 will also appreciate this as I have been messing with it too much as of late. The tank will go where my pico contest tank Was previously. I will also use most of the equipment I used on my pico contest tank. I have decided on the Lifeguard Aquatics Crystal 7.3 gallon peninsula. Tank: Lifeguard Aquatics Crystal 7.4 gal peninsula. Light: Nanobox Tide Return: Sicce Micra Skimmer: Reef glass Skimmer Heater: 50w neotherm Flow: Hygger Eco-slim ATO: XP Aqua Heater: Viaqua 50w, Inkbird controller Filter Media: 250ml seachem matrix Sand: 5lbs live sand Rock: KP Aquatics live rock Dosing: DIY Kalk reactor powered by Kamoer x1 doser Livestock: mantis shrimp (Neogonodactylus curacaoensis) Blue Eyed Cardinalfish Coral/inverts: SPS: Red planet, Infected green Stag, Red monti cap, green monti cap... LPS: candycane, orange lepto Softies: ricordia Yuma, ricordia Florida, red mushroom, orange jawbreaker mushroom, forest fire rhodactis Anemone: “Black widow” bubble tip anemone, Red mini carpet anemone 11 Quote Link to comment
billygoat Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 Sweet. I might do the same thing. Still have that 4 gallon Waterbox cube sitting around with no water in it... Any particular plans for livestock? 3 Quote Link to comment
Gravity Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 Nice, welcome to the Lifegard club! 1 Quote Link to comment
chickpea Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 good call in a social distancing tank, mines been innumerably useful for my entertainment during lockdown. looking forward to this tank 2 Quote Link to comment
William Posted April 2, 2020 Author Share Posted April 2, 2020 4 hours ago, billygoat said: Sweet. I might do the same thing. Still have that 4 gallon Waterbox cube sitting around with no water in it... Any particular plans for livestock? Right now I’m planning on doing a species tank. I am thinking about a wartskin angler species tank, or a pearly jawfish, or a mantis shrimp 6 Quote Link to comment
William Posted April 2, 2020 Author Share Posted April 2, 2020 33 minutes ago, chickpea said: good call in a social distancing tank, mines been innumerably useful for my entertainment during lockdown. looking forward to this tank I have my Waterbox 70:2, but I’m worried I’m tinkering with it now out of boredom and need something Else to occupy my time. I have all of the equipment I need besides the tank, so the overall cost outlay won’t be that high (hopefully) 1 Quote Link to comment
William Posted April 2, 2020 Author Share Posted April 2, 2020 I am leaning toward a small order of KPA live rock. I will see if they will ship me 5lbs (hopefully submerged in water) for the price of their 10lb shipment. 2 Quote Link to comment
William Posted April 3, 2020 Author Share Posted April 3, 2020 So I’m really looking into the possibility of keeping a mantis shrimp in this tank. In the 20 years I have been in this hobby, they are one of the few animals I have never kept. To be honest, this is party due to the fact that they scare the Sh*t out of me. Right now I’m looking at obtaining one of the following species Neogonodactylus wennerae Pseudosquilla ciliata Gonodactylaceus chiragra Gonodactylus smithii 5 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 A mantis tank would be really cool! Do you have any leads on a supplier? 1 Quote Link to comment
William Posted April 3, 2020 Author Share Posted April 3, 2020 3 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said: A mantis tank would be really cool! Do you have any leads on a supplier? I know KP Aquatics and Tampa Bay saltwater carry P. ciliata and N. wennerae. I would ideally like to get N. smithii, but being sourced from the indopacific, I’m not sure how viable of an option that would be right now. the tank and dry goods have shipped and should hopefully be here soon. I really want to order true live rock for this tank, so I’ll probably pre cycle the tank with sand, Dr. Tims, and ammonium chloride before the rock comes. 2 Quote Link to comment
William Posted April 4, 2020 Author Share Posted April 4, 2020 I went ahead and ordered the ReefGlass skimmer. I have also been chatting with Phillip at KP Aquatics about shipping the live rock in water. Do you guys think it will be worth the extra cost? I only need about 5-7 lbs. I would like to put a piece or two in my Waterbox 70:2 (mainly to increase biodiversity) so having it shipped in water may be the better option. 1 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted April 6, 2020 Share Posted April 6, 2020 It's incredible what can survive in live rock, particularly all the bacteria, even a couple days out of water. If the extra cost isn't too bad to ship it submerged though, I say go for it. You'd maximize the surviving hitchhikers and minimize any die off. 2 Quote Link to comment
William Posted April 7, 2020 Author Share Posted April 7, 2020 21 hours ago, Christopher Marks said: It's incredible what can survive in live rock, particularly all the bacteria, even a couple days out of water. If the extra cost isn't too bad to ship it submerged though, I say go for it. You'd maximize the surviving hitchhikers and minimize any die off. I think I will probably ship it wet as I plan to have the mantis shipped at the same time (I plan to pre-cycle the tank with sand and seachem matrix + MB7 + ammonium chloride) 2 Quote Link to comment
Tigahboy Posted April 7, 2020 Share Posted April 7, 2020 Looking forward to this one, @William! Given that I'm stuck at home for the foreseeable future as well, I've had all kinds of crazy thoughts about new tanks/projects. Could end up with a lot of tanks myself. Quote Link to comment
William Posted April 7, 2020 Author Share Posted April 7, 2020 6 minutes ago, Tigahboy said: Looking forward to this one, @William! Given that I'm stuck at home for the foreseeable future as well, I've had all kinds of crazy thoughts about new tanks/projects. Could end up with a lot of tanks myself. Yea, I have had way to much time on my hands. Though my aquarium has never looked better. My Nano should be arriving tomorrow and the remainder of the supplies Thursday. I will hopefully be able to have KPA send out the rock next week. Quote Link to comment
NoOneLikesADryTang Posted April 7, 2020 Share Posted April 7, 2020 I've been looking for a G Smithii for over a year - to no avail. By a stroke of luck, about a month ago my LFS got in a mantis. It wasn't a Smithii, but it was G Ternatensis. They are such cool little creatures. Definitely want to follow this thread! 1 Quote Link to comment
William Posted April 8, 2020 Author Share Posted April 8, 2020 Well the tank and other supplies are supposed to arrive today per UPS, but based on tracking, they are still in Atlanta .... 1 Quote Link to comment
William Posted April 9, 2020 Author Share Posted April 9, 2020 Most of the supplies arrived. I am a little unimpressed with the build quality. Maybe I have been spoiled with Waterbox, Red Sea, and Ultum Nature Systems but I could tell that this aquarium was of cheaper stock. While the glass is high clarity, it is not as high quality as my other tanks. I ordered a Sicce 0.5 pump from marine depot (it was listed as fitting in this tank), but it does not fit. So I will use the stock pump for now. does anyone happen to know a good return pump that will fit in this tank? @Marine Depot? I glued the paper thin (maybe not even 1/16”) foam mat to the bottom of the tank and applied a frosted background. Quote Link to comment
William Posted April 9, 2020 Author Share Posted April 9, 2020 I went ahead and ordered a Sicce Micra plus (158 gph), hopefully it will fit and work better than the stock pump. I completed a leak test and now have the tank cycling with microbaxter 7 and 4 drops of ammonium chloride. I have 250ml of seachem matrix in the back filter compartment. The sand was supposed to arrive today but USPS seems to have lost it. I will go to my LFS tomorrow and buy some if it isn’t delivered. My reefglass skimmer is also stuck in transit. I am unsure if I will use it from the start or hold off. 1 Quote Link to comment
William Posted April 9, 2020 Author Share Posted April 9, 2020 Last post of the day: I went ahead and placed my KP Aquatics order. 1 Quote Link to comment
NoOneLikesADryTang Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 Can’t wait to see pictures of your mantis. Did they agree to ship the rock in water for you? Quote Link to comment
William Posted April 10, 2020 Author Share Posted April 10, 2020 1 hour ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said: Can’t wait to see pictures of your mantis. Did they agree to ship the rock in water for you? I have not heard back from them yet Quote Link to comment
NoOneLikesADryTang Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 That’s why I ordered from TBS. I really wanted to minimize die off, so ordered from them and they air freighted it in water to me. Quote Link to comment
William Posted April 10, 2020 Author Share Posted April 10, 2020 14 minutes ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said: That’s why I ordered from TBS. I really wanted to minimize die off, so ordered from them and they air freighted it in water to me. I have ordered from TBS before but I like the rock structure from KPA better.L (I have found TBS rock to be more boulder like). Also with TBS based in Tampa and KPA based on the keys, there is a difference in marine life on the rocks. I emailed TBS and they are Not shipping right now. Quote Link to comment
William Posted April 10, 2020 Author Share Posted April 10, 2020 I added about 10lbs of live sand today. 1 Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.