My new 5.5gal nano

[NanoClown]

i went to the LFS just to see the new shipment. looked in the 200 bowfront and they added a picasso clown to the mix. so i counted the torch and it had 9 heads. so now there is a huge female onyx thats around 5-6 in long and a male picasso thats around 3-5 in long. if they mate and the hatch is a success thats gonna be some very expensive fry..

[Prowland]

So the water changes are going good and not too much has changed.

 

The candycane seemed mad at me for a bit along with the orange cup coral. But they are looking better every day.

 

Keeping the water level where I want it is a PIA since I do not have a hood on it anymore. Need to make one for sure sometime.

 

On another note... I went to petco to take a look at what all the stir was about the oceanic cubes going for $1.00/gal and found me a nice 40gal stretch hex. The guy brought out the little scan gun and scaned it and told me it was not on sale. Then when he was talking to me he accidently scaned it again and I looked this time at the scanner and sure enough it showed the pet pals price of $40.00! I told him it said it was $40 right there on the scanner.

 

He didnt know they were on sale and I am sure wanted to pick up the tank for himself.

 

Anyway, I got the tank, hood, and light all for $40.00. What a deal!!! The orig. price for it was $249.99

 

The GF didn't even get mad at me! I am pretty sure that it was directly related to the fact that she spent $50.00 on dog clothing for buddy while I was trying to get the tank. Either way I have a new huge tank for SW. I wont be setting it up till I get a new place though.

 

Back to the 5.5gal

 

I was wondering if anyone used an ATO on their picos and if so I would love some links. I will do some looking after bit but I need to go dream about what I am going to be able to keep in that 40gal.

[Prowland]

So it has been a while since I last posted on this tank...

 

I am just letting everything settle in and start to grow. I also picked up a single mushroom after watching that movie on fragging coral. Thought that I would give it a try when it gets used to its new home.

 

The mushroom is a teal and purple one. I will take a pic tomorrow.

 

My candycane coral has some of the heads splitting into 2. This is really neat to see. My LFS got in some new frogspawn and hammer coral that I might pick up and see if the clown will host.

 

On a sad note... I bought a pep. shrimp and he didnt even make the ride home. He was a cute little guy. I am going to wait until they get a fresh shipment and try and get another one.

 

Pics coming tomorrow!!

[Prowland]

I Picked up another pep. shrimp today. The one I got the other day didnt make the trip home. I think there must have been someting wrong to start because its only a 10min drive. He was dead by the time I got home. I tried putting him in the tank and as soon as I did he fell to the bottom and a bristle worm latched on to him.

 

I am charging the cam now while acclimating the shrimp so there should be some pics in the next 30mins!

[Prowland]

Sorry for the wait...

 

Here is the mushroom that I am going to try and frag and get it to split into 4 mushrooms:

 

 

I am going to use an exacto knife and see what happens!

 

Here are a few pics of my candycane coral w/and w/o flash and a top view:

 

 

 

Here are a few pics of the fish:

 

 

 

Now for a question... I got this little frag of zoos for free and was wondering what this is growing out of it. It is as thin as paper:

 

 

I am trying to take a good fts but I am going to have to make a makeshift tri-pod:

 

 

 

Also when I use the higher quality settings it saves the pics as a .tif file and I just downloaded the program to convert them but you have to buy it to not get that little tag on you pics... anyone know of a free program??

 

By the way the surface skimmer mod is working great still!!!

 

Any comments, suggestion, questions are welcome!

 

Thank you

[fewskillz]

Tank Looks good!

[Prowland]

Thanks fewskillz!

[Prowland]

I want to get some kind of coral that moves in the current... I am thinking about some xenia. I guy that I met the other day has some true blue xenia that he said I could get a start for $10. Is that a good deal??

 

What do you all think?

[irishtexan]

Yes! If it is true blue xenia go for it!

 

 

 

 

texx

[Prowland]

I am still trying to get ahold of the guy about the xenia... but I did find some neat looking orange gorgonia that I thought would bring some other color into the tank.

 

I will post a pic later as I am going to reaquascape again to cut back on some of the LR.

 

I am also going to try and frag that mushroom while its out of the tank.

 

I will take pics of that as well.

[Prowland]

Here is a pic of part of the orang gorgonia:

 

 

Here is the other part:

 

 

I just used an exacto knife to cut the gorgonia where it branched off of the large base. Hope this is the correct way!

 

Here is a pic of the mushroom after I cut it and put it in a different location:

 

 

Here is a pic of the new aquascaping:

 

 

 

Let me know what you think about the new addition!

[yankeereefer]

tank's looking good prowland

 

I'll be curious to see how your gorgonian works out - I've been wanting one for my 10g - I'm actually going to see a guy about one tonight along with some gsp for the pico.

 

BTW - awhile back you asked about w/c's - I do a gallon out of my 5.5g each week - I'm also topping off like crazy every day - I need to adjust the fan's timer - I think if I run it intermittently during light cycle, I'll evap less

 

Yankee

[Sea_Of_Treachery]

gorgs are difficult and need to be heavily feed, imo this is going to cause some problems in that small of a tank

[Prowland]

yankeereefer: I am doing the same with the w/c once a week I do them but I go for 1.5gal at in two steps. I take out 3/4 fill then take out the last and refill about an hour later.

 

clarkii: as far as feeding goes I feed the tank with Coralife Invertebrate Gourmet Gumbo 3x per week with an extra hevy dose the night before my water change. Do you think this is enough or any other ideas on how to feed?

 

I turn the HOB off when I feed and leave the PH on.

 

I also feed my the candycane mysis shrimp and feed the orange cup coral in a sep. tank because it is easier to get it all fed in an isolated tank.

 

Thanks for the replies!!!

[Poker_Fish777]

great aquascaping man

[Prowland]

poker fish777: Thanks a lot. The first time I did it i just dumped the rock in as it was all cloudy and now I had a chance to put stuff where I wanted it.

[Bluelegs]

Ah yes! You have learned well my pupil! Great job on your tank.

[irishtexan]

Nice rockwork! Great tank.

 

Did you have any luck with fragging the gorg.?

 

 

 

I just started a thread on my 2.5G pico so check it out!

texx

[Prowland]

I will be fraggin the gorgonia monday... If anyone else wants starts of it for a trade let me know!!!

 

I will take some pics of the process and then put up pics of the frags I have.

 

Thanks tex! I will check out your new thread asap!

 

ooops.. Thanks bluelegs great avatar btw