10g nano (new pics 8/23)

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Give him time to start moving it may take a bit of time ... . I have seen my snails sit there after flipping for up to a day !:)
 
Sadielynn said:
Give him time to start moving it may take a bit of time ... . I have seen my snails sit there after flipping for up to a day !:)

sweet. 8)

Here is yesterday, day 15:

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And now, today, Day 16, after the addition of 3 lbs live rock, extra penguin ph, visi-therm stealthn heater, and clean up crew:

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Here's the shrimp, on his cleaning station underneath the rock w/the big margarita

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Don Vito (come on, brother!!!!!! you can make it!!!!!)

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Astreas:

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Turbo:

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8)

(Sorry, emerald crab isn't feeling social enough yet to come out and play.)
 
i want to do this soo freakin bad. how often do u have to do water changes? is that a penguin filter u have on there? how much sand did u use? and this isnt directed right at u but with freshwater i know that acetinic(i cant spell lol) doesnt count toward usable light but will it promote algea also? 80 watts over a 10 gal is pretty high and just seems like u would gte an instant coat of algea. i am totally a noob when it comes to salt so forgive the question lol. i want to do corals aswell but was thinking more like 30 watts.
 
Actinic lights are used by corals, so it is usable. 8 wpg isn't too much if you want to keep higher light corals. With 3 wpg you can keep low to medium light corals like zoos and mushrooms. Algae will always be an issue, especially in new tanks, but with a good clean up crew it's held under control.

HTH
 
mr funktastic said:
i want to do this soo freakin bad. how often do u have to do water changes? is that a penguin filter u have on there? how much sand did u use? and this isnt directed right at u but with freshwater i know that acetinic(i cant spell lol) doesnt count toward usable light but will it promote algea also? 80 watts over a 10 gal is pretty high and just seems like u would gte an instant coat of algea. i am totally a noob when it comes to salt so forgive the question lol. i want to do corals aswell but was thinking more like 30 watts.

Okay.

At this time, I'm doing a PWC of about 2 gallons once a week. I do currently have some hair algae issues, bought a clean up crew but they are not that interested in the algae. I had one Margarita snail that ate a trail through the algae and then died at the end of it. (RIP, Don Vito). I think he may have eaten himself to death. I had another Margarita but he's missing in action. In a 10 gallon tank. He's gotta be chillin' in the rockwork - no empty shell, and he's fairly big. I can't see the back face of the rock so he's probably hanging out somewhere back there.

I do, however, expect to have to do PWCs more often as the corals and bio-load increases.

I've got a penguin powerhead, an AquaClear powerhead, and a HOB whisper filter that I have modified to be a bit of a refugium-ish device. I plan to modify it further and add a DIY nano-skimmer and some baffles to it.

I have about 20 lbs of sand in the tank.
 
Attention:

I FLIPPING LOVE THIS TANK.

Still only my clean-up crew in it so far, but I did a 20% water change with distilled water on monday, and I've been using distilled for FW top-offs as well. I've kept the lights off for now - the shop lights are more than enough for the cleaner shrimp, snails and emerald crab at the moment.

Algae's getting VERY under control. I expect it all to be gone by the end of the week. The Emerald Crab is certainly holding up his end of the bargain. Every day, a new patch of sand is clear of algae. The rocks, for the most part, are impeccable, except for the coralline which is spreading at a nice rate and popping up all over.

The HOB fuge is jammed. I assume it's sand in the impeller, but I can't get it cleaned out while it's on the back of the tank. I'm gonna have to yank it out of there and really mod it for it to be worthwhile. I'll probably get a little PC fixture at Ikea or something for it, add some baffles, and mod it to add the skimmer contraption. Load it with pods and a little macro and it'll be great for the tank. Hope it won't be noisy.

As I was trying to fix the HOB fuge, I knocked over a good bit of rockwork. I reached my hand in the tank and the cleaner simply jumped into my hand and started cleaning it. He's my little buddy - what an awesome creature.

This is so much more fun than freshwater, and I haven't even added a fish yet. For those of you on the fence about a Nano reef, you really should do it.
 
New pics from Day 23:

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A little blurry emerald crab
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A better pic of the cleaner shrimp:
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And now I actually have a piece of coral in the tank - was told this was an actino-mushroom, but I have not found anything about it online. Can anyone help identify this - it's fascinating:
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schulze said:
clearerphish said:
Sadielynn said:

Is that actually a turbo snail? My pet store had those labeled as margarita snails... they also had your don vito lable astrea (which i found to be turbo, i think) and your astreas as turbos. LOL. I think my LFS is out of thier minds.

Heh. Yeah, I think the tanks are mislabeled - the black ones are called "black margaritas", or so the LFS . Still having massive hair algae issues, cutting the lights back by two hours a day to see if that helps - there's no PO4 showing when I test for it....

......also, looks like the mushroom is in the process of splitting into two. Its come off the little rock the LFS supplied with it and I've tried to position it on a rock with crags it can sink its foot into....hope that works. :?
 
I couldn't take it anymore, the algae and the shaky rockwork were too much for me to bear. While the Kip tech was performing a PM on my main printer, I pulled almost all the LR out, yanked a ton of algae, re-aquascaped the tank and secured the coral to the new rockwork - hope it likes it there and stays - wasn't cool watching my mushroom floating free in the current 8O . I feel much better about everything now, and feel that I'm going to be spending a lot less time with my hands in the tank. :)

Here's some new pics - Day 28:


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Happy campers:

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That wall of rockwork is hollow in the back - fish and inverts can travel the entire length of the structure without being seen. 8)
 
Co-worker gave me three damsels for the office tank as a holiday present. I was overwhelmed at how sweet it was, but they don't seem happy at the moment - they were added yesterday. Then again, I have no experience with damsels. I do know they're aggressive, but she didn't. Is 3 in this 10 g nano reef way too much if they're the only fish? I'll be doing a 75g reef at home within the next 2-3 months, so I could move one or two into that.

One is the blue damsel with the yellow tail, one's the three spot domino, and the other is a four-line. They're not what I'd have picked based on their reputation, but they are undeniably cool fish, and I'd hate to have to take them back - it would make it seem like I didn't like her gift, and I really did.
 
They all might turn nasty. My blue devil is mean. THe yellow tails seem realtively passive and my 3 stripes are about in the middle. Actually, it's funny, the yellow tails own the left side the 3 stripes own the middle and the blue devil owns the right side, all by himself.
I don't think all of them will get along in that small of a tank.
 
I stopped by the officew this morning on my way out to check on the damsels and feed them - they seem to have made a peace with one another, and were not nearly as aggressive towards each other as when I added them. I believe since I added them all at once, that may have helped with their territoriality. I do believe that the 10g is going to be too small for all three of them, but I like them all. I may take one back if its obvious that they're stressed, but right now they seem to be doing fine. All ate well, and there are many crevices in the rockwork for them to hide to avoid aggression.

Got my fingers crossed! :)
 
Checked on everything at the ofice today - params spot on, three (seemingly) happy damsels, etc etc etc. Bought a frogspawn coral and a nice size colony of star polyps. Also two nice big Turbo snails to replace Don Vito.

It's a coral reef again. w00t. :)

ediy - I said hammer coral when I meant frogspawn.
 
10g nano

Nice, I would still check your damsels for nipped fins, my 5 will still do it in my 55g....

PS, let your co worker read this thread....he/she might find an interest...
 
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