Another Nano Reef

[brownd1]

Hello Nano reefers

 

After finding this site this isummer & reading all I could

 

I've taken the plunge

 

My first salt water tank,

 

after twenty years with fresh water tanks it was time for a new

 

challange

 

Spec's

 

Eclipse System 6

2 x 13 W PC-

80 gph power head

50 w heater

10lbs LR - 10 lbs LS

 

Setup on Sept.13/02

 

attached pic taken two days later

 

yes another pci of a pile of rocks

 

Thanks for a great site

[Korbin]

Looks good. Did you paint the blue background? If so, what did you use?

 

It looks like there could be more room for coral growth. Corals on the top rock might get too tall and stick out of the water, and corals underneath might be in its shadow.

[tinyreef]

good start! sweet looking rock, fiji? did the macros come with it or did you add them?

 

welcome! free drinks in the lounge!

[brownd1]

Ya the rocks may have to be rearranged.

 

Thanks for the gentle suggestion

 

So much to learn

 

The background was painted with an acrylic paint

 

First we brushed it on lightly then used a sponge to try to get a

 

blend of light & dark .

 

Looked ok when it dried - but once the light s went on in the

 

tank it looked solid - Oh well

 

better not get a blue fish

 

Yes the rock is fiji & the macros came with it

 

had to trim them already - God the produce alot of bubbles?!

 

 

Have added the clean up crew since

 

4 hermits, 2 astrea snails and one (fire / blood) shrimp

[Rocket_155]

hi and welcome

nice tank and the rock is good to, but if i where you i would keep an eye on the bottom left LR piece the one on top might slip : .

 

i also have to agree with korbin on the height of corals on the top rock.

All that aside nice rock work. What do you plan on keeping in there?

 

rocket

[brownd1]

What do you plan on keeping in there?

 

don't have "got to have list "

 

will start out with easiest to keep i.e. mushrooms -polyps

 

then go from there - would love to have a brain coral

 

have lfs that is great (but not used to nano customers)

 

I will take there advice & any given here

 

I understand what your saying about the rocks though

[Rocket_155]

yep it's the best way to start out (with the hardy stuff).

Once you get you mushrooms established i'm sure that you would be able to have a nice brain coral.

 

I would just watch it with your lfs as sometimes they are how should i put this wrong. :

 

I would ask on here first to see what others think and if need be you can change what you had origonaly thought of.

 

Hope this helps

 

rocket

[brownd1]

Thanks

 

I've got two lfs close by

 

one is a chain

 

Really hard to find any one in the shop that can even identify the stock ?!?!

 

And after a couple weeks of arriving the stock is looking less healthy

 

The second lfs is ran by two guys

 

Who are always there & know there stock That always looks healthy

 

But I will always check here for species info

[Sahin]

Very nice clean startup. Nice live rock too. You might find it a little difficult placing the corals though. Unless of course you use aquarium putty to hold things in place. Great looking setup otherwise.

[brownd1]

I'm open to suggestions on how rearrange the rocks

 

Should I throw out the bottom two?

[Rocket_155]

what you could do is remove the bottom right rock and place the left one where the right one was. So that the top rock is slanted to te left (*/*).

 

what do you think?

 

rocket

[chufa]

Nice tank! If you want to rearrange rour rocks, don't throw any away! You can rotate the top rock 180 degrees along the X axis to make it flatter and enable you to place some corals. The bottom left rock can be rotated a little bit (45 degrees across the Z axix) also so the upper rock fits better.

 

I have a blue background too, and a blue yellow tail damsel. He looks fine, but when he's out of the rocks all I can see is a yellow tail swimming around

[brownd1]

rocket_155

 

- interesting suggestion - will consider - Thanks

 

chufa

 

interesting ---but you confuse old guy (LOL)

 

it has been a long time since I thought about x y z axis

[tgrupert]

how much did the eclipse cost? I've seen prices going down on all the eclipse and biowheel stuff. I saw it for 44 dollars plus shipping (15 dollars where I live)

[brownd1]

bought mine used

 

If I where to do it again or buy another small tank

 

I would buy the AGA all glass 7 gal bow front

[scotto6700]

I was wondering if you could post a pick of the inside of your hood? I was given a brand new eclipse six and decided to start a desktop nano, but I'm not sure how to mount the pc's? Any pictures, tricks, tips, advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Metznreef]

i like your rockwork now! don't change it! nice tank.

[brownd1]

scotto6700

 

I will borrow my friends digital camera and get some pics

 

but in the mean time check this article at

 

ahsupply.com

 

http://www.turetsky.org/nanoreef/index.html

 

Note - I did not attach my ballasts to the back of the hood. I used a separate box for them & switches.I placed the box behind the tank. alot neater I think. Good luck iwth your new tank.

 

Metznreef

 

Thanks

 

I haven't made any changes yet

 

shrimp has molted & pciked up a couple of small corals last night - musrooms - xenia - buttons

[scotto6700]

Thanks for posting the link, it was exactly the type of info I was looking for

[brownd1]

great Glad it Helped

 

Think you can tidy up the wiring though.

 

I used some wire clips & glue to run the wires aroundn theinside of hte hood.

 

I used two small plastic blocks to raise the lights up (down) away from the hood ( for air movement).

 

And I covered the inside to the hood with reflective tape to get more light into the tank.

 

Because I mounted the ballasts in a separte box behind the tanks I created a quick wire disconnect so I can removed the hood without dragging the box containing the ballast from behind the tanks. I used a a computer connector left over from the cpu fan I use for cooling .

 

Hope this helps

 

Good Luck