Twan's NanoCustoms 3.24 12g

[keith1569]

hey man just wanted to say great thread..went through the pages reading everyting and i loved the whole thing.

[twan]

Thanks keith1569. I am replaced the last bulb in the display today and then the sole bulb in the chamber fuge next week.

[twan]

Well it looks like my Cleaner Shrimp is female. See clutch of eggs:

 

 

My GSP is on the move. I need to move the cap away soon before it gets too close. I figured in the meantime why not places some plugs in the way so I can make 2 gsp frags:

 

 

The two more colorful zoa’s I had were being outgrown and overtaken by my bland ones. What I did was hack up the garden and removed two types so I can grow them out all alone. They are also getting more of their color back as a result of being moved higher in the tank.

 

Garden after pruning:

 

Relocated watermelons:

 

Relocated Pinks:

 

FTS:

 

Actinic FTS:

[twan]

Hammer is really expanding a lot. GSP is creaping down to where my cap is. Going to have to move it soon!

[FishNemo1]

nice tank!

[twan]

Thanks. With the bulb change everything is coloring back up nicely.

The tank will stay as it is till when I move which should be sometime in April.

Just water changes for the next 6 months, thats it /sigh

[chris-is-awesome™]

beautiful tank mate, i was wondering, what would the gsp look like now if you'd placed it on the sandbed?....would it have created a "grass" sort of look?....love the zoa garden

[twan]

The rock that the GSP is on has now 85% taken over that whole rock which is the size of 2 fists ( large for a nano tank). I am in the process of moving all other rocks and corals away from this one to isolate it.

 

I wish I never added the GSP, maybe I can trade the whole rock with someone that has a large reef tank where they can isolate it and still enjoy the GSP.........and I can get a nice GSP free, same size piece.

[twan]

Update time. Nothing new just 2g a week water changes.

 

 

Frag that I cut out of my zoa garden. I am growing this out to sell (along with a tiny purple mushroom). 8 greens / 2 Pinks:

 

I had to relocate my torch cause of encroaching GSP. Here it is remounted and opening bigger then it used to:

 

Updated shot of my Green Palys. Went from 6 heads to approx 10:

 

Here are two new shots of my Orange Monti Cap. It’s doing really well. You can see the new layers growing out the back from the profile shot:

 

New Top Down:

 

New FTS:

 

Ohh yeah almost forgot. If the hammer looks 1/2 the size from my last update thats because I cut and sold half of it.

It was getting too big for the tank and shading other light deprived corals.

[twan]

This summer marks the 4 year anniversary of my 1st salt water reef tank. The low point of the tank came during my 2 week honeymoon in July of last year and the move into the new apartment came shortly after. It was around this time I started the battle with red turf algae that slowly took over 50% of my rock work. It was at this time I had to relocate all my corals to the sand bed in order to keep them away from the plague. Water changes, chemical filtration, lights out periods and cutting back on feeding all had little to no effect on it for the last 13 months.

 

 

 

I didnt lose my True Percula or my Sixline Wrasse but lost the Skunk Cleaner Shrimp a few weeks back and several nice corals over the months. The shrimp was replaced and is doing fine but I hesitated to add any new corals back. The red turf algae kept spreading! It was time to do something about it. I replaced all the live rock with new fully cured live rock from a local fish store last week. I threw it in a bucket with a power-head for two days to be sure I wasn't going to have any die off. All was clear after those two days so in went the rock and the glass/back wall both got good scrapings. I did a 3 gallon water change and everything looked good, except for the equipment. You see, the turf algae had also decided to grow on my pumps and overflow. Here is a list of what was replaced to take care of that:

 

 

• Hydor Koralia Pump
  
• Modular Surface Skimmer
  
• Hydor FLO Rotating Deflector
  
• Tunze Mini Pump 5024.04
  
• Seachem Purigen
  
• Nimble Nano Cleaner
  

 

 

After that was all said and done here are the new pictures. Let's hope this fresh start gives that tank many more prosperous years.

 

 

 

FTS

 

 

Right Side

 

 

Left side

 

 

In keeping with regular maintenance I ordered six new bulbs (enough for two changes) for the upcoming change on August 1st. Some only change their bulbs every six months but I see adverse effects after only four. The last purchase I made was a pre-order on the new Sapphire Nanoskimmer. I have never used a skimmer before so wish me luck. The redesigned version should be released this week:

 

 

 

 

Next on my list is saving up for a ReefKeeper Light

[twan]

skimmer came in today, lets see if i can do this alone!

[Rehype]

Cool interested to hear your opinion on how it performs.Keep us updated..Great tank btw

[twan]

Installed a skimmer, see here:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=210647

[twan]

After 5 years of running I went through 2 power outages in the last 2 months and the whole tank is now dead.

Not sure the next move, frustrated over the loss.

 

Might just tear down and clean fully..............get some new rock and sand then make an invert tank.

[twan]

So right now I have 3 choices.

 

Option 1

Mr.aqua 12g Long with stand shown here:

 

But with that I will have to run a sump and drill the back that I have never done like this:

 

 

Option 2

Ridge tank from Picoaquariums that is 14.5 gallon.  This has the AIO I like but is not really the look I am going for (shallow and long):

 

Option 3

Find someone local to do an AIO in the dimensions I want 35.4″ x 8.3″ x 9.4″ but in acrylic and AIO.

[twan]

Alright I took some measurements last night. Here is my newly 85% finished basement that I just finished working on.

• [li]Paint / Trim / Audio & Visual were done in August.
  Carpet and couches came last week.
  Fireplace mantle should be done in another week.[/li]
  [li][/li]
  

 

TV End of the room

 

Opp End of room

 

Wall measuring 48 wide where I want to put tank

 

Back of said wall that is a crawl space under the stairs with a concrete floor to maybe place sump

[twan]

It took a while but I have the new tank on order

 

• 36"x18"x18"
  
• 4 sided starfire glass
  
• clear silicone
  
• 1.5" durso drain
  
• 1" return
  
• right rear rectangle overflow 3" along back
  
• right rear rectangle overflow 5" along side
  
• return nozzle exits 12.5" inches high through overflow wall pointing from right to left along the back of the tank
  
• overflow made from black acrylic with teeth and cover
  
• outside of overflow blacked out to hide plumbing
  

 

 

I should take delivery of the tank in one months time (2-3 weeks to build few days to ship.) I will update this with a new thread link when it is setup.

[siwelk]