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We picked up a studio 12 to rehome the leather and have a nice, easy, lower flow tank. The current plans are to get the gfci, inkbird & heater, tank full of rodi water, make sure it doesn’t leak, add Red Sea blu bucket, then let it mix. Add the ocean direct and life rock, add some fresh and some seasoned biomedia (MP gems), add a teaspoon of Life Source mud, .5ml nopox, and let it cook a few days. Next will be pods, phytoplankton, a seachem ammonia badge, a bunch of softies from the SPS tank, and begin searching for inverts, fish, and coral. The light only go on with the addition of coral. We’ll update with photos as it proceeds. If you want to follow the details (including livestock) https://www.aquaticlog.com/aquariums/shieldspj/3/ Free plug for aquatic log. Easily the best tank journal. I’m super poor (government disability pension) and I gleefully get the pro. But everyone that logs anything (chemistry/biology/livestock) you can track whatever minutiae, or big picture it. I love it, and the free version does all the vital parts. But if you run an apex, and feel the built in trackin is lacking the upgrade may well be worth it. I like that it pulls my trident info. It lets me share the intimate details of my tank.
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~~FOR THE CURRENT BUILD SKIP TO PAGE 3~~ *Clears Throat* Hello. Never thought that I would be here with another build, but alas, here we are. Over the past few months I have all but gotten out of the hobby. Between renovating our living room, and then overhauling the yard I have had no time to take care of a tank, let alone think about them. I guess like a lot of things in life this hobby ebbs and flows for me and balancing reef tanks with a few other interests has proven difficult if not impossible recently. To add insult to injury I have had to sell off most of my hobby things to help fund the ever hungry academic adventure that I am apart of. With the end of summer on the horizon, though, things have started to slow down a little and it was my wife who mentioned that a particular bookshelf would look nice with a reef tank to fill the space. Haha I think she missed having a reef tank more than I did. Well, I have to admit I didn't sell ALL of my reefing stuff (come on now 😉), and I soon found myself pulling out a gently used Lifegard Aquatics 6 gallon bookshelf aquarium out of storage. It took some work with a razor to scrape off all of the old crusties from once upon a time when it was a planted aquarium, but it cleaned up pretty nice. In a perfect world I wouldn't mind hanging some high end lighting and really going to town on this little tank, wouldn't we all, but in the process of paying for school I had to sell my wallet as well, so I guess we're going for broke with this one. I did however have a few pieces here and there and a hardscape took shape. I usually use Aquamaxx's (RIP MarineDepot) reef welder to glue rocks together, but given the delicate nature of the scape I was trying to achieve it really looked tacky so I switched to just plain old superglue which worked well still. I decided to only add a minimal* layer of "standard grade" Caribsea sand (*all I had). I want to go pretty minimalistic on equipment as well as looks with this tank so between a light, a heater and small wavemaker that will be the only tech powering this tank. I placed an order for an inexpensive Nicrew LED. Since this tank is so shallow, I figured I can get away with a less powerful lighting setup (and save some coin too). Filtration will be taken care of by the rock and sand as well as water changes. I do expect some hiccups in trying to find a groove with this tank, given how low tech it will be, but it shouldn't be too hard to upkeep (<famous last words ha!). I have a few housekeeping things to do; wire management and hanging the light when it arrives. And as per tradition, a mixed reef seems proper here. We also had a friend open a new shop just a few blocks away so some perusing might occur soon. Thanks for stopping by and happy reefing! 😁 Equipment: Tank: Lifegard Aquatics 6 Gallon Long Lighting: Nicrew Marine LED Heater: Hitop 50w Wavemaker: Jebao SOW-3 Corals: Soft: Lilo & Stich Zoas Scrambled Egg Zoas Pink Zipper Zoas Deepwater Zoas Magician Palys GSP Golden Plume Gorgonian LPS: Duncan (×2) Rainbow Acan Misc. Orange Acan Watermelon Acan Purple Tipped Hammer Golden Hammer Green Purple Tentacle Fungia SPS: Purple Pocilloproa Neon Green Seriatopora Yellow Millepora Blue/Green Millepora Green/Pink Tenuis Purple/Yellow Tenuis Neon Green Tenuis Red Setosa Macro Algae: Codium Inverts: Blue Legged Hermit Crabs Fish: TBD FTS 8/07/2021: FTS 9/22/2021 FTS 10/21/2021 FTS 11/17/2021
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Good evening, I am new to the forum but not to reefing. I am a member of Reef Chicks on Facebook, and have family members in the hobby as well. I have more experience with freshwater (about 8 years), but a year of saltwater reef hands-on experience. I am here to ask you guys humbly for frag/coral donations. Or fish. I’m located in Wisconsin. Advice on local reef groups is also appreciated! I had to disassemble my tank (Waterbox 10 cube AIO with fluval external filtration and UV sterilization) due to moving. Previously, I was getting into the hobby and am particularly fascinated by wellsos/trachy. I am currently expecting a child, but wanted to restart my tank to assist with stress management. However, I unfortunately lost my other corals due to a pest that came in with a shipment I got off of either eBay or ORA (it looked to be some sort of eunicid worms, along with other coral-eating flatworm parasites). Parameters were perfect, lighting was good, and everything was thriving, but then one day something had taken a chunk out of my clownfish’s head (I had no CUC, and two clowns and two mandarin dragonets). It was pulled toward the sandbed. A week and a half goes by, and my other fish die in the same way Needless to say, it was a bit sad and disheartening l, especially since I invested so much (time, effort, and resources). I recently moved and now have the opportunity and space to start anew. The only issue is, I’m hesitant to buy online again because of what happened. I don’t know of any local groups, and my family member just started her tank so has no extra frags. I was hoping to ask for frags/coral and any live donations. I would really appreciate it and would donate frags I grow in the future to reciprocate the donations to grow the community. Please forgive me if this isn’t an appropriate post, but I saw others asking for donations and figured it would be pragmatic to do the same. Kind regards and thank you in advance! All types are welcome. I have a Nero that can be turned on for high flow for sticks as well. Any advice is appreciated pictures of my old set-ups provided for tax ❤️
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Journal Goals: Starting this journal now in the hopes of garnering advice/opinions prior to even setting up. Really want to do this in-depth for record keeping and hopefully help out other newbies! Tank/Equipment: -Red Sea Max Nano w/stand and all included equipment (skimmer, ATO, Sock, Carbon, Pump) -Helio dual 100w heaters (went with the dual for redundancy should one fail) -1 EcoTech MP10 (pricey I know but looking ahead equipment wise honesty and believe in cry over price over cry over failure) -CaribSea Arag-Alive Sand -CaribSea Life Rock -Red Sea Coral Pro Salt -Various Red Sea Test Kits Tank Overarching Goals: The overall goal for this tank is to become an LPS and Softy tank. Really want to establish a nice little Lords garden w/a small Zoa island. Also plan to have an Elegance once the tank is established. This will be my first reef tank so I really look at this as an opportunity to learn. Mistakes will be made and I truly hope this community of experienced reefers will call me out on bad decisions as I go! Specific Stocking Goals: Fish: Once Cycled; 2x Ocellaris Clownfish After 2 week steady parameters; 1x Six-Line Wrasse 1x Small sand sifting goby Inverts: 1x Peppermint or Fire Shrimp 1 or 2 Nasarius Snails Coral: Once fish and tank are established (gauging a month or so but will base on overall parameters); Various Lords Zoas on island Elegance Tentacled Toadstool Duncan Candy coral Maybe red Xenia (will decide this at later date due to their rapid growth status) Feel free to offer other suggestions! Cycle Plan: Once aquascaped and sand/water (using Red Sea salt) added I plan to follow the Dr. Tim’s fishless cycle. Dosing ammonia and then the One and Only. Test kits will all be in, and tank will be tested regularly until initial cycle completed. Once this is done the initial fish will be introduced gradually. I also plan to dose Brightwell Clean during this period to try and prevent/combat any algae blooms that may arise (though I understand this isn’t a guaranteed way to avoid them. I am prepared for any that may come. Mainly trying this based on BRS advice). After the tank has had time to settle in I will turn the lights on, look to start adding coral after a few weeks! Additional: Tank arrives next week. Starting the journal now to garner advice before I even begin the initial set-up process. Start looking for pics of the initial aquascape soon! Please feel free to ask questions, inquire about equipment/products I might be missing etc. I’ve lurked this forum for quite a while now and am really happy to finally be joining this community and look forward to talking with you all! 10/12/2021-Initial Setup
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Welcome to my tank journal! I've been out of the hobby for a few years, life got in the way with living overseas and moving around quite a lot. Now that i'm staying put I've really caught the bug again! The purpose of this tank is a low maintenance, easy to care for pico tank that isn't going to bust the budget. I work away from home so time enjoying the tank is of the upmost importance. Initial set-up 10/11/2020 Latest FTS 14/03/21 : Tank and current equipment: Display: Refurbished bowl from opshop Lighting: Unbranded 12 watt Par38 (e27 fitting Bulb) with cheap desktop stand - Purchased on Ebay or Similar available on Amazon Heater: Marina beta (preset heater) - Similar available on amazon Circulation: Tetra Whisper 60 Air pump - Purchased on Ebay Top Off: Gravity fed bottle ATO - Purchased on Amazon Lid: generic acrylic lid (needs to be modified) Controller: INK bird ITC-306T temperature controller - Purchased on Amazon Salt: Natural salt water collected locally from shoreline Build Cost: AU $118 - (US $87.12 as of 29/11/20) Parameters: Temp: 25-26°C (~77-78°F) Salinity: 1.025 Lighting cycle: 6.5 hours on (2:30pm ~ 9pm) - analogue timer Current Stock: Soft corals: LPS: Macro Algae: Inverts: FTS Library: Maintenance Routine: Bi-weekly: - Scrape glass with nano magnet glass cleaner - check/refill ATO with distilled water Weekly: - 70% water changes 1-2 times weekly with natural salt water collected locally from shoreline - Top up ATO if required - Rinse airstone, wipe airline with paper towel - Wipe top of bowl with paper towel (skimmer scum build-up) - Rinse off acrylic lid - wipe external glass of salt creep/scum with warm water/white vinegar (50/50 mix) Wish list/Future Upgrades: - Lighting - AI Prime 16HD, Dymax spaceX LED, Asta 20 - Chiller/better temperature control - In tank ATO - Bottle looks a bit messy (Maybe more lines will too :P) - Black air lines (Aesthetic) - Limewood airstone - finer bubbles = lesser splash?, better skimming effect? - Dosing - as coral load increases - Controller? - (Reef-pi maybe) - Better Camera..... - Bigger tank ;) Thanks for visiting!
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Hey all! I'd like to start a discussion with those of you who have had success or NO success using a freshwater set-up for a nano tank. This is a controversial topic, for sure, but I want to build a sparse, Japanese inspired tank that has no visible equipment with macros, gorgonians, a few softies, and maybe an LPS or two. I have a build thread on R2R which I will probably also transfer here since I think the audience is more appropriate: R2R build thread But, my plan is: UNS 90L 21 g ONF Flat One Blue/White 36" light UNS 90U wooden stand OASE Biomaster 600 or 850 Thermo canister (heater and prefilter integrated into the unit) (600 model = 350GPH max flow | 800 model = 400gph max flow) Algae reactor (if needed - plumbed inline after the canister) Dosing pump for ATO Lily pipes for inflow and outflow w/ surface skimmer Acrylic U-pipes for ATO I'd like to do this without a powerhead if possible Here's what I'm interested in discussing: 1. Your stories of success or failure 2. Pros and cons of the set up 3. Things I can do to optimize it. Specific canister size question: 1. I believe getting an oversized canister is the best bet, and I've been told I need to go with at least the Oase biomaster 600, but I'm wondering if going all the way up to the 850 would help with flow, filtration, and add 10% extra water? Since I want to do this without power heads if possible, would 400GPH from the 850 work with lily pipes? Would it be enough flow? It is not a DC pump so you add valves to adjust.
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Hello & welcome to my new reef journal! I’m a SoCal nano-reef enthusiast that’s been in the hobby 4 years, and I’m finally committing myself to starting this journal – mostly for my benefit, not yours😊 No seriously though, I need help holding my bad habits in check and hoping you will all help me achieve my goal. My goal is that 1 year from now my 40-gallon mixed-reef tank will be a living masterpiece, and so appealing to me that I will have no impulses to stick my hands in the water to move/add anything. That said, here’s some more background and visionary objectives: SETUP: Tank: 40-Gallon Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion (24” x 20” x 19”) Lighting: Radion XR15w Gen-4 Circulation: (1) IM stock return pump w/2 spin stream nozzles; and (2) Icecap 1k Gyre Heater: None (controlled room temp) Cooling: Desktop fan controlled by Inkbird thermostat/temp controller Mechanical Filtration: (1) Aquamaxx HOB 1.5 skimmer; (2) filter floss Bio Filtration: (1) RealReef dry rock; (2) Caribsea sand; (3) CerMedia Marinepure biofilter balls Chemi Filtration: RedSea carbon Top Off: Tunze Osmolator 3155 Dosing: manually, Brightwell Reef Code A + B & magnesium BACKGROUND: I’m a middle aged father whom loves to drink red wine while staring up-close at my fish tank excessively. I grew up by the ocean and first fell in love with tropical fish & corals when I got scuba certified in Indonesia circa 2000. Since then I’ve done many dives around the world and find myself more interested in biodiverse macro reef-scapes than shipwrecks and cageless bull shark feedings. Also, I’m a photo enthusiast and art aficionado, which I aim to incorporate into my reef keeping. My wife gifted me my first tank about 4 years ago (a 6-gallon JBJ AOI), and pretty sure it’s her biggest regret of our long-standing relationship. I'm now about 1 year into the current setup. VISION: If I were shrunk down to be a little 2 inch scuba diver and my wife threw me into my tank, I want to be surrounded by colors, contrasts, textures, movement, and dimension. I’ll want to swim down, up, around, through, under, and over copious amounts of corals, and be accompanied by a few fish friends that will join me without fearing they’ll bully or eat me. OBJECTIVES: Over the next 12 months, I’ll try to post progress updates every 1-2 weeks. Additionally, I’ll try to engage you all into helping me fill in the holes with new coral suggestions. Since I like to go to the local LFS’s frequently, maybe together we can make this an interactive team effort - although, let me try not to get ahead of myself here. So for now I’ll share some relevant pics and focus on following through with a 2nd post sometime soon. P.S. I have a lot of bad habits to work on... - hands in the tank frequently - impatiently making changes, expecting expedited results - providing poor instructions for friends to care for tank while on vacation - overfeeding and then underfeeding - vindictively taking vengeance on hungry hermits that snatch food from feeding acans
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Overview Tank: Waterbox 10g Equipment: Supplied pump AI Nero 3 AI Prime 16HD AquaEL Ultra 50W Heater Kamoer ATO SE Media: Poly-filter Supplied media (Activated carbon, sponges and plastic bio balls) Plans to change this to something like ceramic bio balls, but I believe most beneficial bacteria is on the rocks Plans to get rid of the carbon, due to polyfilter Rocks: Caribsea Dry Rock Arches Sand: Aqua Natural Course Aragonite Sand 9kg (not all used) Salt: Aquaforest Reef Salt Water: Tap water (TDS: 39) with dechlorinator Fish: Percula Picasso Clownfish Orange Ocellaris Clownfish Inverts (and Nems): Green Bubble Tip Anemone Rose/Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemone (unsure?) 3x Small hermit crabs 4x 3x Turbo Snails (I knocked a Turbo snail off the glass cleaner when using it, and by chance it fell into the mini maxi) 4x 2x Nassarius Snails (one hermit keeps eating them for their shells....) Blue/Yellow Mini Maxi Anemone Corals: Softies: Orange Bam Bam Zoas Alpha and Omega Zoas Eagle Eye Zoas? Unknown Green skirt, yellow centre Zoa Green Ricordea Mushroom LPS: Pink tipped green elegance Green alveopora White and blue alveopora White alveopora Green and brown hammer Blue hammer Purple hammer Purple and green hammer Purple acans Red acans Future Plans: Sexy Shrimp Redline Cleaner Shrimp Fire Goby Hi everyone, I've found that I loved looking at all the build threads on this site, and I thought I would share some of my build thread experiences. My tank has been already 'built', however I thought I would try to share photos of how it matures, even if it is only for my own entertainment. Having previously fallen in love with the freshwater hobby over a year ago, I'm not particularly experienced, however I like to think I've learnt a lot since starting. I was first attracted to the saltwater hobby over a year ago, when I discovered the first marine lfs where I live. I instantly fell in love with the 'more colourful' fish, and I thought that corals would certainly be far too hard! Fast forward to March this year, and being in Australia, I had been spending a lot of time at home. Eventually my girlfriend allowed me to get a second tank if that was what I kept to. I'm proud to say its stayed at two tanks for the time being! In April, I picked the Waterbox 10 at my local lfs because I liked the cube shape, and the AIO nature of it, and I thought it would be a reasonable place to start in the saltwater hobby. After consulting my lfs, I bought everything that was needed, setting it up with: - 5 kgs Caribsea Dry Rock Arches, - ~6 kgs Course Aragonite Sand, - AI Prime 16HD with Flex Arm Then what followed was an extremely frustrating process of waiting. I had prepared myself for approximately a month of cycling, and my ammonia was at 0 after approximately 3 weeks, but the Red Sea test kit showed nitrite at the maximal 1, with nitrates often being 5-10. This led me to believe I couldn't start until I had 0 nitrate due to my lfs and my experience in freshwater. I then was curious about what could possibly be causing this, and I discovered my rocks were leaching small amounts of ammonia, and reasonable amounts of nitrite, by way of an experiment. I did this by performing an experiment with a control, with the rocks separately in buckets of water, and with the sand again in separate water. The rocks had 0.25 ammonia each and 0.5 nitrite each after 2 days. I have no explanation for how this occurred. (I'm a science student, can you tell?) I eventually came upon information that nitrite is not toxic to marine life in low levels around July, after buying and using so much bottle bac! However being cautious I waited it out, hoping my nitrite would reduce. Finally I bit the bullet and bought a basic ocellaris clownfish. Thankfully, all was well for about a week, with no signs of stress, and so I wanted to get 'it' a friend. Whilst at the lfs I fell in love with a picasso percula clownfish, as well as a small green bta. I also grabbed a small clean up crew of turbos and hermits. Having researched the gbta previously, I know it was a dubious decision, however, is my tank mature after being dormant since April? Who knows? The gbta quite quickly settled in a location and to my surprise was extremely happy visually. A few days later the picasso percula then started hosting it! I then visited the lfs a couple weeks later, where my girlfriend had spotted a nem that she loved. So I figured when I returned I'd entertain her and see what nem it was. It was a 'rainbow' bubble tip, and when we returned to the lfs she pointed it out in their display. I asked about their availability, and they offered to sell that exact nem to me, as it had split! I had also hoped that given my clowns weren't paired they could have a nem each for the time being! Unfortunately the percula decided both nems were theirs, defending them both from the poor ocellaris. I'll leave the thread at that for now, I hope you enjoy it!
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Hello fine folks of the internet, My old thread was getting a bit too ridiculous having three builds all in one so I've decided to bring the 40 gallon peninsula to life in it's own thread. After I moved my 29g into my 65g and 15g. The 65g cracked and caused $8000 in damage and the 15g sprung a slow leak. I was close to calling it quits but decided to get a 40g breeder. It's a size of tank i've wanted for a very long time and just went for it. Saw a reeeeeeally cool soft coral reef peninsula on YouTube and decided that is exactly what I wanted. Mostly soft corals and gorgonians. Also, I wanted to incorporate some macro algae in the display. Oh and one leptastrea frag that I had leftover from my 65g so it's not completely a softie reef I suppose. Anyway here's a quick breakdown of the equipment i'm using as well as Livestock and Coral selection. Equipment Standard 40g Breeder Standard 20g long sump Eshopps Eclipse-S Overflow Tek 6 Bulb T5HO with ATI Bulbs Tunze Nanostream 6040 Koralia Nano Aqua Macro Flow Swing Arm (or something like that, it attaches to return line and moves the return flow side to side) Eheim Jager 200W Heater Tunze 9004 Skimmer Syncra Sicce 2.0 Return Pump Apex Jr. Other Stuff Chemi Pure Blue Filter Sock Filter Floss Aquavitro Fuel Livestock 4 Clowns 4 Blue Streak Cardinals 1 Longnose Hawk 1 Royal Gramma Cleaner Shrimp Peppermint Shrimp Emerald Crab Porcelain Crab Various Clean Up Crew Coral 6 Gorgonians (various) Fiji Yellow 2 x Toadstools Clove Polyps Alveopora 2 x Goniopora Too many Zoanthids to list Various leathers Superman Mushrooms Green Mushrooms Leptastrea Frag
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🚧RDA's DIY Build Thread🚧 (DECOMMISSIONED)
The Rainy Day Aquarium posted a topic in Pico Reef Journals
There comes a time where we all get a little bored of this hobby. Everything is running smoothly. You have all the gadgets and automation you could ever want. Your corals and fish are happy AND you finally got rid of that pesky emerald crab that was chowing down on your $150 zoas. You can't fit any more corals in your display and your frag racks have become part of the glass of your aquarium... I have not reached this point in my reefing career. Ironically, during this season of joy and happiness I have been a little down. It's been a bit of a hard time for me. So, against the advice of my therapist, I am drowning my angst in miscellaneous projects and doodads. You know the saying "if your life is busy make it busier." Wait no...hmm...how about "if you need to finish something, start something else." No that's not it...What I'm trying to say is... WELCOME TO MY SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT PICO REEF: UNDER 2.5 GALLON 6 GALLON EDITION A SMALL AMOUNT EDITION This is going to be my adventurous journal into the depths of diy, tiny reef tanks, and bad jokes. I won't be focusing on any tank in particular, but rather sharing my spiritual journey of cutting glass and gluing acrylic and maybe. MAYBE. if we're lucky, some sprinkles of 3D printing. I have to say this may be the first and last post of this here journal, but with any luck we'll be cooking with gas here in no time at all. So grab a gift bag on your way in, help yourself to the snacks there to your left and pull up a chair! -RDA -
#1 I have a cousin in the medical field and his work takes them from state to state and so he has a chance to go into different reef stores and buy them. Sends them to me I take care of them when he gets back home for vacation I ship them to him. Right now with the covid situation he's working long hours no vacation till it's over. We don't see these often, especially right now. Bummer
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Hey all,My name is John (Aka Slice of the Sea Reef) and this is going to be my build thread for my Innovative Marine 25 Gallon Lagoon Tank. I am going for a more natural reef under white lights, and am going to be adding macroalgae and some other soft corals overtime. Anyways here is the specs on the tank:Tank: IM 25 Gallon Lagoon no standLight: AI prime non hd black with mountSand: Carib Sea Aragonite Rock: Misc dry rockFiltration: -IM filter caddy with filter balls, gfo, and carbon.-Filter sock-Reef Matrix Media-JBJ Nano Glo 4-LED Refugium light(for chaeto) with christmas tree timer-100w main heater and 50w backup heater-Wavemaker return pump with duckbill nozzles-Hydor koralia powerhead 425gph-IM cleaning magnet-standard aquarium thermometerLivestock future plans:I was hoping to get a pair of clownfish and a goby and pistol shrimp. I also am looking at getting a few hermits and snails as well.I will likely try and update this minimum weekly with at least a FTS if nothing else. Stay tuned!Here is some of my inspiration for the tank:
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Hello all, Been a long time member of nano-reef. While my tank is no longer nano, I thought I'd post some pics of my current 220. It's about a year old.
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Happy and healthy. Carnation coral from Tonga. https://www.instagram.com/p/CLrdRxuD8g_/?igshid=1pedjjhsn1wl1
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I’m back! Did a move to SLC last November and pretty much started my whole life over and it’s going great. Finally got a tank going again too! So here’s the details: Hardware: IM Nuvo 14 AI prime Aquatop titanium heater IM Custom Caddy (Filterfloss, Chemipure Elite, Marinepure Gems) Fish: Helfrichi Firefish Rainford’s Goby Invertebrates: 1x Nassarius Snail 1x Red Leg Hermit 3x Trochus Snails 1x Conch Coral: Green Polyp Toadstool Red/Yellow Yuma Green Yuma Rainbow Favites Aussie Torch Sea Rod 12/15/20
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Hi everyone, I've decided to start a journal for my third tank - a tiny 2.6G picoreef with some vicious monsters from the deep! Background: This tank was originally set up to meet the O.S.P.R.C. organized last year by NR. However, I kept battling a persistent flatworm issue which resulted in a loss of livestock and motivation in general. It served as a betta tank for a short while, but now that I've moved my betta into a better/larger tank, I've decided to re-start this tiny aquarium as a picoreef. Most of the corals added to this tank was done via an emergency TTM, because I ran into some really nasty temp. issues with my nanoreef in the library (the water spiked up to 33'C ) and this was my last-ditch effort to save whatever I could. The pico is located in my bedroom, which is currently the coolest spot in the house, and the average temp. is between 26'C (night) and 29'C (very hot days). The TTM went over quite smoothly so far, but I didn't have any extra sand when the tank was re-set, so I went barebottom for the time being. Specifications: 2.6G tank 11.5" x 6.5" x 8" Rimless 6mm Crystal Glass Equipment: 500L/Hr Dophin HOB 1x Aquazonic LED (17W) 1x Chihiros A-Series LED (18W) 1x Thermometer Media: Activated Carbon Filter Floss Rocks: Established LR taken from my 60G's refugium Sand: 1.5kg Aragonite Live Sand Water: Tap Water + Dechlorinator (Nutrafin/Prime) Salt: Fritz RPM Fish: 1x Circus Barred Goby (Prowler) - 22/04/2019 1x Blue Devil Damselfish (Sapphire) - 05/10/2020 Inverts: (My monsters!) 1x Banded Serpent Starfish (Ophiolepsis superba) - Benny 1x Bubbletip Brittlestarfish (Ophiomastix annulosa) - Kraken 1x Turban snail 2x Stomatella snail 1x Porcelain Anemone Crab (Neopetrolisthes ohshimal) - Memphis - 05/10/2020 1x Saron Shrimp (Saron marmoratus) - Harvey - 09/06/2020 Hitchiker Collonista Snails Hitchiker Microbrittlestars Hitchiker Spaghetti Worms Corals: SPS: Red Pavona Orange Passion Acropora Tenuis Pink/Green Acropora Millepora Pink/Green Poccilopora Forest Fire Montipora Digitata Orange Montipora Setosa Chili Pepper Montipora Purple Rim Montipora Undata *Unknown Purple Montipora Radioactive Green Birdsnest Coral Bird of Paradise Birdsnest Coral Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseries LPS: Meteor Shower Cyphastrea Red/Green Leptastrea John Deere Leptastrea Green Leptastrea Orange Leptastrea Green Favites Green/Purple Acans Green Blastos Tricolored Blastos Orange/Green Blastos Purple/Green Blastos Red Blastos Blue/Gray Blastos Purple/Blue Blasto Merletti Malayan Rainbow Acans Green Candy Cane/Trumpet Red Fungia Red/Blue Lobo Brain Coral Rainbow Brain Coral Duncan Coral Soft Coral: Orange Clove Polyps Brown Toadstool Leather Coral Green Weeping Willow Toadstool Leather Coral Red Finger Leather Coral Japanese Neon Green Nephtea Metallic Green Star Polyp Neon Green Star Polyp Zoanthis & Palythoas: Purple Death Palys Nuclear Death Palys Rainbow Implosion Palys Metallic Green Palys Utter Chaos Palys Sunny Ds Palys Captain America Palys Fairy Dust Zoas Green Zoas Blue Hornet Zoas LA Lakers Zoas Rasta Zoas Mint Green Zoas Watermelon Zoas Radioactive Dragon Eyes Zoas Tubbs Blue Zoas Peacock Blue Zoas Armor of God Zoas Green Bay Packers Zoas Gorilla Nipple Zoas Sparkling Red Zoas *Unidentified Red/Beige Zoas *Unidentified Red/Green Zoas *Unidentified Blue/Green Zoas *Unidentified Orange Zoas *Unidentified Pink/Brown Zoas Sunflower Zoas Orange Bam Bam Zoas Red PE Zoas Mushrooms: Orange Rhodactis Mushroom Teal Green Discosoma Mushroom Bullseye Rhodactis Mushroom Red Devil Mushroom Leopard Discosoma Mushroom Teal Green/Orange Ricordia Yuma Mushroom Macroalgae: Fern Caulerpa *TBA: Livestock: Assorted Corals Assorted Macroalgae Pictures: Empty tank on 20/4/2020: First Invert addition on 21/4/2020: FTS on 22/4/2020: FTS on 26/4/2020: Regrowth of acans from almost-dead skeletons observed five days ago: Added more rock and rescaped. FTS on 29/4/2020: Red fungia regrowth noted yesterday: Addition of CUC today: Transfer of injured rainbow brain coral from 60G to pico today: FTS today on 2/5/2020. Under yellow filter lens, and without yellow filter lens. So far, 3x full WCs have been performed without any issues. FTS on 26/5/2020: Topview FTS on 28/6/2020: FTS on 23/7/20 : Topview FTS on 23/7/20 : FTS on 16/8/20: Topview FTS on 24/8/20: FTS on 25/9/20 : Topview FTS on 25/9/20 : FTS on 23/10/20: Topview FTS on 23/10/20:
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Hello, I’m looking at starting to stock my Fluval Evo 13.5 with corals. Will the standard light support LPS? Does anyone have any pictures of their stock light Evo with LPS and softies? Im new to marine tanks so any help will be great.. Thank you
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Build Thread! Start Date: 7/31/2019 Most Recent Pic: (12/14/19) Hardware: Tank: Innovative Marine Nuvo 20 AIO Filters: 1 Media caddy, 1 200 micron filter sock, 15 lbs dry rock, 18 lbs live sand Heating: 150 W heater Cooling: AC Infinity AXIAL 1225 Fan - Amazon Temp Controller: Inkbird controller ATO: Tunze Osmolator 3155 RODI Unit: Liquagen 4 stage (tds of city water is around 45 originally) Lighting: 1 Kessil a160 Blue with mounting arm Lighting Controller: Kessil A series spectral controller Return Pump: Stock ~250 gph Testing: API nitrite, API Ammonia and API Phospate, Refractometer, American Marine PH Monitor and probe, Inkbird Temperature probe, Hanna Checker Alk, Salifert Ca, Salifert Mg Possible additions: I want to add an MP10, but have been looking for a good deal on Craigslist. I may add an algae scrubber, they seem pretty hype. Dosing pumps may be needed once I dial in my corals needs. Livestock: Fish: 1 Clownfish, 1 Orchid Dottyback (deceased - jumped out of the tank the first day) Corals: Softies: 1 rhodactis mushroom, 1 neon green toadstool leather,1 ricordea florida mushroom (orange), Utter Chaos Zoa, LA Lakers Zoa LPS: 1 Aussie elegance coral, 1 Blastomussa Wellsi SPS: 1 red montipora cap Inverts: Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemone, Fire Shrimp, 1 astrea snail, 1 trochus snail, 1 narcissus snail Maintenance: -25% weekly water changeover -feed a variety of foods -Add a bit of phyto (not sure how helpful this actually is, probably will not purchase again) Diary: Update 1: Tank Startup - Used dry rock and live sand, in a previous tank I had gotten aptasia and it was a nightmare so I endeavored to keep this tank as pest free as possible. I have really liked the dry rock so far. I got dry rock with a nice purple finish and was able to cement it into a cool arch. I used the NYOS reef cement and it was a nightmare to mix though it did work in the end after much frustration. I originally wasn't planning on using a temperature controller but stumbled onto one for free and holy cow is this thing nice. 100% worth the 40 bucks it would have cost if I bought it. I used dr tim's one and only for cycling + ammonium chloride and was pleased. It wasn't instant, my tank still took about 20 days to cycle, but I could very clearly see the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates changing as I tested. Update 1: I added my first fish (clownfish) after a month and then added a piece of macro algae a week after. When I added the macro algae, it may have brought a pest because my fish started losing scales near his gills. I freshwater dipped him and treated the tank with prazi pro, thinking it could be flukes. He has been great ever since and the tank has been happy. Update 2: I went to a Coral Farmers Market recently and picked up a few goodies. I want to see how a variety of corals will do in my tank so I got a Blastomussa Wellsi as well as two different kinds of Zoas. I probably will not add anymore coral for a while. I recently purchased a Hanna Checker for Alk and will be using Salifert test kits for testing Ca and Mg. I want to dial in where I'm at and get a handle on how levels change over time before adding anything else. The tank had some diatoms form. The sand is a bit browner now and there is some on the rockwork as well. I reduced the amount of time the light was on each day. I was at 12 hours which was way too much. I may reduce a bit further from 9 hours down to 8. I have a gradual ramp up throughout the day currently and keep the spectrum mostly blue. The Salinity and temperature have been extremely stable and Nitrates are remaining low week over week. Everything in the tank looks like it is doing well so far, though. I added a Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemone! I absolutely love anemones and a friend gave me a good price on a 1 Inch diameter foot. It has been a bit brown the first few days, hoping it colors up nicely after it gets over the shock of moving. My clown has not hosted it yet. The zoas are just doing ok. Not sure where in the tank to put them. They are open, but don't look as vibrant as at the store. I added an orchid dottyback, but he jumped out of the tank the first night 😞. I will need to get a lid if I want to keep any fish that are in danger of jumping. I would love any feedback and suggestions. Picture Appendix First time adding water shot: 8/29
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- 20 gallon
- innovative marine
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8/2/19 7/16/19 6/12/19 5/8/19 Hello NR! I’m excited to be joining the old school pico reef contest. My plan for the tank is a ‘boneless’ setup… so all (or mostly) soft corals and nems. On top of this, the tank will be set up at my high school, Whitney Young, as a part of my club, Eco Club, which focuses on animal stewardship and environmental education. I will be the one managing all maintenance on the tank. My main goal for this project is to teach other students about coral reefs/marine habitats and for them to be able to become active in their protection and conservation. Since I’ll keep it at school I won’t be there to take care of it every day, so I’ll try to make it as bulletproof as possible (why it'll be boneless). Let’s get down to the setup list: The tank I’m using is a UNS 3N, very seamless, clean look. Aquaclear 50 power filter. I’ll get into the filtration below. Kessil A160, supplied by the club. Kessil Spectral Controller, supplied by the club. Aqueon 50W heater. ACKE horticulture/refugium light. JBJ ATO, cheap and ugly... I'd like a Smart ATO micro in the future because the JBJ is reeaally bulky. Now we’re getting into filtration: The filtration is going to be mostly biological. I converted the AC50 into a refugium by putting the light on the back and taping the sides to keep the light in. I’ll be putting chaeto in there along with 3 marine pure spheres- I considered caulerpa but the possibility of it going sexual and nuking the tank outweighs the pros. The other biological filtration will be from the sandbed and live rock. I have a small bag in with a tbsp of carbon and a few pinches of GFO as well. I have a strip of filter floss next to the intake in the filter for mechanical filtration. Jumping into the aquascape plan: I wanted to give this its own category since I planned so much about it. Just to give you an idea of how long I spent on it, it took me over 10 minutes to wash the epoxy and super glue off my hands after I finished it. I designed an arch to be able to let a few corals grow up the sides of it while leaving enough room on the sandbed for other corals. I’ll try to find some tall corals like leathers, kenya tree, xenia, or photosynthetic goniopora to put on the back of the arch to give it more depth. I’ll get cloves, GSP, zoas, mushrooms, and some other softies to grow over everything and make colorful. It's mostly zoas though. Then on the sandbed I’ll keep RFAs to put some more colors in there. Moving onto the stocking list: So the only real things that I will stock in the tank will be a clean up crew and a few crabs. Right now I have a purple porcelain crab, a halloween hermit, two trochus snails, and a few hitchhiker stomatellas. That about does it, I’ll try to pump out as many updates as I can for you all.
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- old school pico reef
- old school 2.5g contest
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Hi Nanoreef, this thread will be the history of my reef tank in my dorm. I purchased this biocube from a local reefer who sold me the entire setup. Equipment: -Biocube 14 -Custom Media Rack -Kessil A150W Sky Blue AI Prime HD -Maxijet 900 -Korelia Nano 240 -Chemipure Blue Current front tank shot:
