Tim's 15 Gallon College Swag Tank

[timothymarsh]

Nice tank man! I almost went to ucf for college but opted out to stay at FIU lol. Keep it up brah.

 

Thanks man. I need to work on my coral placement, because right now everything is just thrown in there. Having a tank in college really helps with the stress. I can't wait to see what the tank is going to look like in two weeks with no sand and a new stand. Big things are coming soon hopefully lol

[timothymarsh]

So here's some good shots

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[timothymarsh]

So I went to CoralCon 13' yesterday and I have to say it was a really great event. Albert Thiel gave a nice presentation on the proper way to keep a nano reef, and I picked up three frags: a small maxima clam, a cool frag of Magician zoas, and a small neon green milli. Everybody is in the tank and looking great, and I'm going to let the clam attach to a small flat rock so I can easily move him once the tank goes bare bottom. Will be performing some filter maintenance today, along with a small water change. I will soon be purchasing a testing kit so I can monitor Ca levels for the clam, and more than likely I will have to begin dosing. Any advice that people can provide on keeping maxima clams would be greatly appreciated, but I will be doing tons of research on them today anyways. The new stand is about a week and a half away from coming up!

[timothymarsh]

Hey just wondering if someone with some clam experience could throw in their two cents: I have the new maxima located on the sandbed (on top of a flat rock) in an area where it's getting some moderate flow. It looks to me like it has lost a bit of the blue color over the past two days, which is understandable due to the stress of moving from a coral convention and into a new system. However just as a precaution I have kept him shaded so that he will not be shocked by the new lights. Will I need to keep him in lower lighting until he gets bigger, or can he take the full effect of three PAR38 lamps? Any general comments on my system and the health of the maxima would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[buddythelion]

Looking great man! Go college reefers, woot woot!

[timothymarsh]

Less than one week until the new stand is here and the tank goes barebottom! I'm gonna try a new scape as well so needless to say I'm going to be a happy man next weekend. Traded in my cool red legged hermit crab yesterday for another peppermint shrimp because I was afraid of the crab eating the clam. I think the peppermints are slowly doing their job of eating the aptasia.

[timothymarsh]

The peppermint shrimp are actually knocking out this aptasia problem very quickly, I've seen a large drop in the population size and the shrimp are always hanging out around other anemones. The maxima clam is looking pretty good, although I think he might benefit from being closer to the lights. Couple more days and then the new stand comes up!

[timothymarsh]

New stand gets here TOMORROW!!! Couldn't be any more excited. Big changes coming to this little reef in the next few hours

[ArabTanker]

New stand gets here TOMORROW!!! Couldn't be any more excited. Big changes coming to this little reef in the next few hours

 

You're bringing the stand you build to your dorm? Or did you opt to buy a stand and its arriving tomorrow? Im sorry. I may have missed it in the pervious posts.

 

I too am a college reefer.

[timothymarsh]

My parents are bringing the stand up from Miami, I built it there over spring break

[timothymarsh]

Loving the look of the tank with the new stand and no sand on the bottom. Had a slight bacterial bloom occur yesterday but it's pretty much gone since the excess nutrients in the tank are effectively zero now. Photo dump:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[timothymarsh]

The tank is almost back to 100% after the changes that I made. The clam is looking really healthy and the SPS is going absolutely nuts, with tons of polyp extension. I only see two aptasia left in the tank so the peppermints should finish them off soon (thank God). Probably gonna do a small water change tonight just to make sure all nutrient levels are in line. I'll snap some livestock shots and general stand shots later this week.

[timothymarsh]

Pictures are a few days late but nonetheless here we go:

 

 

 

[timothymarsh]

Here's a more dynamic view of the tank:

[timothymarsh]

So I just bought a GoPro and I can't wait to get some underwater shots when I go back home on the 24th. I'll also try to put together a better tank highlight film with the new camera. Most importantly I'm just glad this godforsaken semester is over.

[overhead]

So where did you get an extremely illegal western Atlantic/Caribbean stony coral? Or did you snatch it off a nearshore reef?

[timothymarsh]

Quick photo update, did an extensive attack on my hair algae problem yesterday. I need to get a couple of peppermint shrimp so they can finish off the aptasia issue that I'm having again. Overall the tank is hurting and still recovering from my month down in Miami, I had someone come over just to add fresh water. My 12 gallon rimless build has reminded me of the work that I need to be constantly putting into this hobby, and I am hoping to get this system back to it's former glory. I need to get rid of my tan toadstool coral and work on keeping my parameters as stable as possible. Some quick shots:

 

 

 

 

 

[timothymarsh]

Big changes coming to this tank in the next week or two:

Putting sand back in the system

Just ordered the Ocean Revive U120 LED light (should be awesome)

Moving towards brighter corals

Fish? Possibly.

 

Basically my new rimless tank is making this system look like a piece of junk so I want to get it back in fighting shape. Sleek design with colorful corals is the name of the game in this hobby, and I want this system to scream that in every way possible. Let's consider this the rebirth of.......

 

Tim's 15 Gallon College Swag Tank

 

You have been warned.

[keydiver]

College Reefers for the win. Things are looking good man! I'm at UF currently

[GHill762]

cool clam! is that a white band on the mantle? if so it looks similar to my new one..

[timothymarsh]

@ keydiver: Thank you for the support. I really wish more college kids were in this hobby, I think it would make things more interesting. As it is though I'm starting to notice a good amount of people our age on these forums and at LFS's. Hope your heater was working these past few days, looks like you guys almost got some snow up there.

 

@GHill762: The white band on the mantle is more of an optical illusion than an actually stripe. It's not a clearly defined white area, but at times when the light catches it correctly (like in the picture) it does look like a stripe. I think both of these clams are going to like the new LED's. I have the PAR38 bulb on their side of the tank like an inch off the waterline in order to get as much PAR to them as possible. The smaller dark blue clam has white dots of color loss which I believe is indicative of not receiving enough light.

[timothymarsh]

The Ocean Revive U120 just got here and this thing is amazing! The LED's on 100% blend together beautifully with no "disco" effect. I went to Home Depot and bought an 84" wrought iron plant hanger to hang the lights over the tank. Two hose clamps later and we're good to go. The new setup looks super sleek and I'm already in love with the full coverage rather than the spotlight effect from the PAR38's. I'll try to get some quick iPod pictures up so everyone can get an actual idea of what I'm talking about.

[timothymarsh]

Here we go, blurry iPod pics FTW:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[timothymarsh]

Here's a video review of the new lights:

 

[timothymarsh]