BuddhaReef Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Hey everybody! This tank was originally the Voodoo Pico 5g: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/369929-the-voodoo-pico-5g-picture-dump/ After running out of space and wanting more options, I decided to jump up to a 10G! Tank: AGA 10g Lights: 30w LED striplight, 2 x 3W actinic and 2 x 3W 10000K LED's, 15w T5 actinic supplemental lights Filtration: AC 30 running floss, purigen, phosguard, and carbon. 15 lbs live rock Flow: Aqueon 500gph trimmed, powerhead from an Aqueon internal filter about 240gph. Fuge: None for now, but after a HOB overflow, I plan on adding a 5g display fuge below! Tank is bare bottom! CUC: -2 Nassarius -2 Astrea -2 Turbo -2 Nerite -3 Dwarf Ceriths -2 Dwarf Blue Leg hermits -2 Electric Blue hermits -2 Red Tip hermits -Mithrax/Emerald crab -Porcelain crab -2 Peppermint shrimp -Micro brittles and bristleworms Livestock: -Scissortail Damsel/Neopomacentrus Bankieri -Firefish -Scissortail Goby -Skunk cleaner shrimp -Ultra Green RFA Coral(and closely related): -Blue polyp monti cap -Neon green monti cap -Red monti cap -Pink Birdsnest -monti setosa -Acropora -Favia -War Coral -Yellow Finger Gorgonian -Black Sun Coral -Acan Lords, assorted -Goniopora -Candy Cane coral -Hammer corals -Duncans -GSP -Zoas -Palys -Mushrooms -Ricordeas All of the above came out of a 5g tank, and during the transfer I employed brandons (I keep finding his strategies useful) technique of rinsing out the live rock in a spare bucket to increase lifespan, by vigorously swishing it around. Let's just say that what was in the bucket after was nasty! Seeing all the crud coming out of a month and a half old or so tank made me really, really appreciate regular maintenance, as well as really understand early life tank crashes and old tank symdrome. I like having diversity in my tank, as you can tell, but this diversity can lead to trouble. The gorgonian and black sun require lots of food, meaning lots of excess in the tank. To counter that, a large clean up crew, meaning extra detritus (detritus eaters don't tend to eat detritus eaters detritus, haha) leading to extra nitrogenous compounds which hinders my mixed mixed reef goal. Doubling my water capacity, allowing coral growth space, as well as eliminating a sand bed were my main reasons for upgrading. Now I have more room to work with to create my mixed reef in more stable water. Pictures will be up after lights on tomorrow! PS: This upgrade was a spur of the momemt thing, and before this I had been certain I'd only ever have a 5g with space for one fish. Now I have double the space and no idea (well, quite a few actually) what else to add. Thinking a cherub or helfrichi... amy thoughts? 1 Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 6, 2016 Author Share Posted March 6, 2016 Pictures! Got a firefish! My UV LED makes its face floresce! My larger duncan decided to grow 6 heads at once! And a messy FTS! 3 Quote Link to comment
aviator300 Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 Looks great. You have tons of room for coral on your rockscape. What strip lighting did you use? Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 6, 2016 Author Share Posted March 6, 2016 Looks great. You have tons of room for coral on your rockscape. What strip lighting did you use? Thanks! And yes I am really excited for all the opportunity! It was marked as a Reef Magic LED strip at a LFS, couldn't find too much info online, but there are 10 Luxeon's powered by a 5 amp supply. 18000K, 10000K, 460nm, 420nm, UV. Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 It's nighttime so the black suns are out, possibly my favorite coral! Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 A better FTS: 1 Quote Link to comment
Sharbuckle Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 Love it. Gonna look badass when it grows out Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 Love it. Gonna look badass when it grows out Thanks! And yeah, it is looking a little sparse compared to the 5g Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 So it seems I have 'trained' the black suns to come out for food! They open from 2 to 3 around my every other day feeding regimen! Excited because they are black and mysterious and beautiful! Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 Ha ha, you tricked me! So you have upgraded...way to go! Enjoy filling up that extra space. Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 8, 2016 Author Share Posted March 8, 2016 How's that? And thanks, it's going to be a fun and expensive journey! I know I am going to get hell for this, but I picked up/rescued a scissortail goby from Petco. In a smaller tank than mine with two orchid dottybacks. Fins nipped and hungry looking I had to take it home. Right now it is just a tad larger than the firefish, and after introduction there were no territorial disputes. I plan to keep him in my tank until the four inch mark when I will either make it a dedicated 12 long or a 20L or donate him to a new reefer. Other than that I'm pleased that all my params have stayed in line during and after the transfer. The bare bottom definitely helps ME keep my nitrates away, and since moving up they have been undetectable. I can see why for some people the bare bottom doesnt work, if left alone too long detritus can collect on the bottom where live sand used to directly aid in removing wastes, and toxify the water. My way to combat this is a quick daily siphon, getting most of the gunk out. Another way would be to have flow across the bottom of the tank suspending and capturing all particles that could have otherwise dirtied the water. I dose every other day with Kent Nano A&B (I know it is not the best out there) in a much smaller than recommended amount, a measly 2 drops of each, as well as weekly with two drops of Kent Iodine. (Both really for my peace of mind, and the miniscule amounts I add could hardly be harmful, barely even helpful) Ca stays at 440, dropping to 430 on WC day, and my Mg stays at 1280 give or take. Ph is a steady 8.2 and the alkalinity is usually in between 8 and 9 dKh. Salinity has been harder for me to control, with so much light up top, I usually manually top off twice a day, once about 10 and once around 6. So far my salinity has stayed anywhere from a specific gravity of 1.025 to occasionally reaching 1.026 if I delay a top off too long. Thinking about a Micro ATO.... Really excited everything is going well! (For now) Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 8, 2016 Author Share Posted March 8, 2016 Today I am hoping to get a little DIY action. Hoping to build a cheap simple skimmer. So far I have the top of a gravel vac attached to the top of a zephyrhills water bottle. I will be cutting a tiny hole in the side for an airline and a small portion of the bottom as an intake as well as a place to put in a mag cleaner. The mag cleaner will serve as an adjuster, allowing me to control the water level. The stone 'should' create bubbles, do its black magic, push bubbles up the bottle, through the gravel vac valve, through tube, and into collection out of sight. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 8, 2016 Author Share Posted March 8, 2016 Alright, went ahead with the skimmer and got it finished! Instead of a round bottle, I used a squarish tea bottle so the magnets have an easier connection, and I cut the whole bottom off the bottle. Used a tetra whisper 10-30g pump and the results are sweet! Nice bubbles and the magnet allows easy adjustments. Definitely not pretty, but this is going in the display fuge when I start it up, so I needed the concept down and a working prototype. As you can see I am still adjusting the stone to the optimal height where no bubbles exit the bottom but more water contact time, should just be a second or two adjustment. Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 8, 2016 Author Share Posted March 8, 2016 InB4 "Does it actually skim anything?" 30 minutes up. Quote Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Nice! Try moving it higher so that there is more dwell time and darker skimate? Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 8, 2016 Author Share Posted March 8, 2016 Thanks! And yeah, it's been fennagled with and I may have it good now. If it's higher will the bubbles eventually get pushed up? Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 9, 2016 Author Share Posted March 9, 2016 Woo! Got paid and got coral, as it always will be. Picked up an Acro, a Setosa, a Favia, and some more palys for the bottom! Pics soon. Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 Favia was hungry! And the black suns were out, always a treat. Quote Link to comment
Sharbuckle Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Impressed by that diy skimmer, kinda neat. I'm not much of a DIY guy. Hoping to add a sump/skimmer to buy system soon. Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 Impressed by that diy skimmer, kinda neat. I'm not much of a DIY guy. Hoping to add a sump/skimmer to buy system soon. Thanks, yeah it isn't too bad for the $2 in airstones if you have a pump. And you can hide it in a sump to get ride of the MacGyver look, haha! Going to do an overflow or drilling a tank? I'm in that process too. Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 Another trip to a LFS and I came home with a cleaner shrimp and another ricordea! Started a little ricordea garden on the rocks and hopimg to start a little shroom garden as well. Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 A quick FTS featuring a few new inhabitants and a mad goniopora. Quote Link to comment
Sharbuckle Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Cool. I think i might pick up my first riccordea tomorrow. How fast do they grow? Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 They, well mine, seem to be growing a tiny tiny bit faster than birdsnest but slower than most LPS or softies. Quote Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted April 3, 2016 Author Share Posted April 3, 2016 It has been a long time since I have had a chance to update this due to my new job! Thankfully my tank has been more stable and self sustaining than ever. Rasta zoas have doubled! The new heads on the duncan have filled in nicely! Picked up an awesome neon green birdsnest! The montis have grown quite a bit! And a happy goni! Quote Link to comment
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