10g Nano - My first SW tank - Page 2

fidojoe · 10-29-2006, 01:31 PM

It looks great! It looks like you have the algae under control now too!

mtfish · 10-29-2006, 02:10 PM

Thanks. I forgot to mention that after alot of bi-weekly and now weekly water changes and agressive vaccuming of some low flow areas, along with continuous plucking of algae I am winning the battle. It's still there but not nearly as bad. Seeing as I just got a job again I can get a light for the AC and put some calpuera (sp?) in there.

lcstorc · 10-30-2006, 08:16 AM

How in the world did I miss this thread before?
First nice job on the tank. Looks like everything is progressing nicely.
Second thing great chronicle. It was fun to read from the beginning to the end and see everything happen in frint of your eyes.
Glad you are getting the algae under control. As you know patience is the key.

Thanks so much for sharing.

32Bit_Fish · 12-24-2006, 09:41 PM

Wow, a beautiful mini reef tank. Hopefully I can set up one like this one.

BTW, where is your heater? I didnt find it in the pics.

mtfish · 01-05-2007, 09:00 AM

Thanks

The heater is in the AC70 hanging on the back of the tank.

mtfish · 01-20-2007, 10:17 PM

Quick update, I added a cleaner shrimp last week and a trumpet coral today... I'll get pictures when I find that dang camera

PhilOlsen · 01-21-2007, 11:24 AM

That a great looking tank, and you attention to detail is awesome in order to keep a tank that small. I would recommend adding a refugium to add some volume and help with the parameters and adding a skimmer to remove organic waste and help fighting the algae as well.

mtfish · 01-21-2007, 11:27 PM

Thanks. I keep planning on adding a small light over the AC and putting some macro in there and using it as a refugium, but time and money have prevented that from happening. Again same for the nano skimmers. But thanks for the input.

(Hopefully pictures tommorow)

32Bit_Fish · 01-25-2007, 10:36 PM

Mt,

Nice job on the tank. I am just curious.. How many days have you waited before adding the live stock in your tank? about 1.5 weeks, right?

The reason I'm asking this is because the reef experts always advice new comers to be patient and wait at least a couple of months before adding any live stocks.

It seems that you've added live stock to your tank pretty quickly and I didn't see any live stock death at this point. So I'm kinda confused about why people advice us to have a such prolong waiting period.

mtfish · 01-26-2007, 11:48 PM

First, Thanks. It's always nice to get some feedback.

Second, Patience is the key to success. You do need to take i tslow and realize there are limits. In my case yes I did get some snails and inverts after about 1.5 weeks, which was alot sooner than I had planned. The reason for that was that because of the small amount of live rock the cycle was pretty quick and it stablized pretty quick. I wouldn't suggest adding as much as I did right away. I did stager it by a few days from the snails to the shrimp and crab but it all was still pretty quick. My biggest suggestion is don't push the number of fish you have. Personally I prefer fewer fish anyway.

The biggest factor in my success up to this point has got to be the frequent water changes. For the most part I do them weekly, but every now and then it slips to 1.5-2 weeks but never longer.

I should also point out that I have had some deaths but I feel that all but 1 seem to be from factors other than poisioning from nitrates. I lost 1 firefish due to the fact fish need water ( he jumped out of the tank). I lost the emerald crab to starvation. I lost 1 blue legged hermit to the other blue legged hermit and also one cerith snail to the same blue legged hermit. (see a pattern there? I'd avoid the blue legged hermits it I could do it again, scarlets are much safer IMO) I lost the peppermint shrimp for a unknown reason which I can only speculate was nitrate posioning, or starvation. But I haven't lost any corals other than a mushroom that wouldn't attach and blew away never to be seen again...

Well I can't remember if I answered your question or not, so let me know if you need anything clarified

Oh, and here are the pictures I promised last week...

The latest coral addition Trumpet Coral Caulastrea curvata...

New Skunk Cleaner Shrimp Lysmata amboinensis...

Unknown Hitchhiker Snail (Whelk?) (middle of picture, salt & pepper shell looking thing)

Full Tank Shot

Cup Close Up

Green Polyps Close Up

lcstorc · 01-28-2007, 12:21 PM

Nice pics. Thanks for sharing.
Everything is looking good.

JFK_Jr · 01-28-2007, 12:29 PM

Beautiful pictures... I wish mine came out with that kind of detail. What kind of camera are you using?

32Bit_Fish · 01-28-2007, 10:14 PM

MTFISH,

I appreciate the clarification and such beautiful pics of the corals.

BTW, how much w/c do you do each?

Plz allow me to ask you an off topic question. How would you pick a healthy clown fish from a LFS tank? The ones in my LFS were all ill looking and they have white spots on their bodies.

I am planning to have a pair of true or false percular clown fish in my 20g and wonder if I will be able to distinguish the healthy n the sick ones.

I know quarantee newly purchased live stocks specially fish is mandatory. But I do not have an extra tank for quarantee. So I would have to try to pick the right one and keep my fingers acrossed hoping the fish is disease free.

mtfish · 01-29-2007, 09:02 AM

Thanks everyone, I'm finally figuring out how to take some decent pics

First JFK_Jr : The camera is a simple Kodak Easyshare LS743. It's actually a pretty basic camera. I use a tripod and it also has a 'macro' mode for close shot then I clean the glass inside and out then start taking picutres. I do fool with the cameras exposure compensation a bit but other than that I don't do much.

32Bit_Fish: When I do a water change it is 30-40% I use RO water and Oceanic or Reef Crystals salt.

As far as picking out live stock I have two suggestions, 1) Patience: wait to buy healthy livestock don't buy marginal looking live stock. 2) Ask the LFS to hold them for you for a few days to make sure they are healthy, a good LFS would be willing to do that for you, they should be holding them fora few days anyway to make sure they are healthy.

As far as telling what is a good fish, I'd just watch the fish in the tank for a while. If anyone seems to be acting odd then there may be trouble. If they is a dead fish in the tank, then in my opinion, NO NO NO NO buying any of those fish! Who knows why that fish has died.

Anyway again patience is the key. You will be 100 times happier if you wait and buy healthy fish than if you buy unhealthy fish now.

Well I have to get to work so I better be off, feel free to ask any other questions.

mtfish · 02-03-2007, 08:38 PM

Quick update. I got some more button polyps yesterday and had to move alot of stuff around. We'll see how this setup works out. Not the best pictures, but I was in a hurry.

10-29-2006, 01:31 PM	#16 (permalink)
fidojoe Fish Addict Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Gilbert, AZ Posts: 1,581 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: 10g Nano - My first SW tank It looks great! It looks like you have the algae under control now too! __________________ *Member "Crabs Are Evil" Society* My Tank: 90g AGA, 18g tall sump, CSS 220 w/ meshmod impeller, 4x54w Tek T5 retro w/ IC reflectors, Kalk reactor w/ aquamedic niveaumat system, a few SPS, LPS, zoos, and a few softies, 2 Ocellaris Clowns (hosted by both a RBTA and GBTA), Yellow Watchman, Potter's angel, Yellow Tang, Foxface, Midas Blenny, Purple Pseudo, huge brittle star, 2 tigertail cukes, fire shrimp, snails, and unfortunately two emerald crabs (the bubble algae got out of control).

10-29-2006, 02:10 PM	#17 (permalink)
mtfish Fire Coral Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Montana Posts: 66 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: 10g Nano - My first SW tank Thanks. I forgot to mention that after alot of bi-weekly and now weekly water changes and agressive vaccuming of some low flow areas, along with continuous plucking of algae I am winning the battle. It's still there but not nearly as bad. Seeing as I just got a job again I can get a light for the AC and put some calpuera (sp?) in there.

10-30-2006, 08:16 AM	#18 (permalink)
lcstorc Sunshine Reefer Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Cocoa Fl Posts: 16,423 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 10g Nano - My first SW tank How in the world did I miss this thread before? First nice job on the tank. Looks like everything is progressing nicely. Second thing great chronicle. It was fun to read from the beginning to the end and see everything happen in frint of your eyes. Glad you are getting the algae under control. As you know patience is the key. Thanks so much for sharing. __________________ Peace LYNN You can't change the past but you can change how you view it. A reef tank is like a racecar. The faster you go the harder you crash. Lynn and Franks saltwater adventure Lynn's 20g clown tank Lynn's 90g Jawfish enjoyment ASM answer girl. Every 60 seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

12-24-2006, 09:41 PM	#19 (permalink)
32Bit_Fish Sea Pen Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: New York City Posts: 345 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: 10g Nano - My first SW tank Wow, a beautiful mini reef tank. Hopefully I can set up one like this one. BTW, where is your heater? I didnt find it in the pics.

01-05-2007, 09:00 AM	#20 (permalink)
mtfish Fire Coral Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Montana Posts: 66 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: 10g Nano - My first SW tank Thanks The heater is in the AC70 hanging on the back of the tank.

01-20-2007, 10:17 PM	#21 (permalink)
mtfish Fire Coral Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Montana Posts: 66 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: 10g Nano - My first SW tank Quick update, I added a cleaner shrimp last week and a trumpet coral today... I'll get pictures when I find that dang camera

01-21-2007, 11:24 AM	#22 (permalink)
PhilOlsen Has been struck by the ban stick Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Glendale Hts. Illinois (Chicago transplant to humor my wife) Posts: 646 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: 10g Nano - My first SW tank That a great looking tank, and you attention to detail is awesome in order to keep a tank that small. I would recommend adding a refugium to add some volume and help with the parameters and adding a skimmer to remove organic waste and help fighting the algae as well.

01-21-2007, 11:27 PM	#23 (permalink)
mtfish Fire Coral Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Montana Posts: 66 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: 10g Nano - My first SW tank Thanks. I keep planning on adding a small light over the AC and putting some macro in there and using it as a refugium, but time and money have prevented that from happening. Again same for the nano skimmers. But thanks for the input. (Hopefully pictures tommorow)

01-25-2007, 10:36 PM	#24 (permalink)
32Bit_Fish Sea Pen Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: New York City Posts: 345 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: 10g Nano - My first SW tank Mt, Nice job on the tank. I am just curious.. How many days have you waited before adding the live stock in your tank? about 1.5 weeks, right? The reason I'm asking this is because the reef experts always advice new comers to be patient and wait at least a couple of months before adding any live stocks. It seems that you've added live stock to your tank pretty quickly and I didn't see any live stock death at this point. So I'm kinda confused about why people advice us to have a such prolong waiting period.

01-26-2007, 11:48 PM	#25 (permalink)
mtfish Fire Coral Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Montana Posts: 66 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: 10g Nano - My first SW tank First, Thanks. It's always nice to get some feedback. Second, Patience is the key to success. You do need to take i tslow and realize there are limits. In my case yes I did get some snails and inverts after about 1.5 weeks, which was alot sooner than I had planned. The reason for that was that because of the small amount of live rock the cycle was pretty quick and it stablized pretty quick. I wouldn't suggest adding as much as I did right away. I did stager it by a few days from the snails to the shrimp and crab but it all was still pretty quick. My biggest suggestion is don't push the number of fish you have. Personally I prefer fewer fish anyway. The biggest factor in my success up to this point has got to be the frequent water changes. For the most part I do them weekly, but every now and then it slips to 1.5-2 weeks but never longer. I should also point out that I have had some deaths but I feel that all but 1 seem to be from factors other than poisioning from nitrates. I lost 1 firefish due to the fact fish need water ( he jumped out of the tank). I lost the emerald crab to starvation. I lost 1 blue legged hermit to the other blue legged hermit and also one cerith snail to the same blue legged hermit. (see a pattern there? I'd avoid the blue legged hermits it I could do it again, scarlets are much safer IMO) I lost the peppermint shrimp for a unknown reason which I can only speculate was nitrate posioning, or starvation. But I haven't lost any corals other than a mushroom that wouldn't attach and blew away never to be seen again... Well I can't remember if I answered your question or not, so let me know if you need anything clarified Oh, and here are the pictures I promised last week... The latest coral addition Trumpet Coral Caulastrea curvata... New Skunk Cleaner Shrimp Lysmata amboinensis... Unknown Hitchhiker Snail (Whelk?) (middle of picture, salt & pepper shell looking thing) Full Tank Shot Cup Close Up Green Polyps Close Up

01-28-2007, 12:21 PM	#26 (permalink)
lcstorc Sunshine Reefer Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Cocoa Fl Posts: 16,423 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 10g Nano - My first SW tank Nice pics. Thanks for sharing. Everything is looking good. __________________ Peace LYNN You can't change the past but you can change how you view it. A reef tank is like a racecar. The faster you go the harder you crash. Lynn and Franks saltwater adventure Lynn's 20g clown tank Lynn's 90g Jawfish enjoyment ASM answer girl. Every 60 seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

01-28-2007, 12:29 PM	#27 (permalink)
JFK_Jr Golden Moray Join Date: May 2006 Location: Hallandale Beach FL Posts: 2,108 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 10g Nano - My first SW tank Beautiful pictures... I wish mine came out with that kind of detail. What kind of camera are you using? __________________ *JFK_Jr's 150 Gallon Starphire*

01-28-2007, 10:14 PM	#28 (permalink)
32Bit_Fish Sea Pen Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: New York City Posts: 345 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: 10g Nano - My first SW tank MTFISH, I appreciate the clarification and such beautiful pics of the corals. BTW, how much w/c do you do each? Plz allow me to ask you an off topic question. How would you pick a healthy clown fish from a LFS tank? The ones in my LFS were all ill looking and they have white spots on their bodies. I am planning to have a pair of true or false percular clown fish in my 20g and wonder if I will be able to distinguish the healthy n the sick ones. I know quarantee newly purchased live stocks specially fish is mandatory. But I do not have an extra tank for quarantee. So I would have to try to pick the right one and keep my fingers acrossed hoping the fish is disease free.

01-29-2007, 09:02 AM	#29 (permalink)
mtfish Fire Coral Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Montana Posts: 66 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: 10g Nano - My first SW tank Thanks everyone, I'm finally figuring out how to take some decent pics First JFK_Jr : The camera is a simple Kodak Easyshare LS743. It's actually a pretty basic camera. I use a tripod and it also has a 'macro' mode for close shot then I clean the glass inside and out then start taking picutres. I do fool with the cameras exposure compensation a bit but other than that I don't do much. 32Bit_Fish: When I do a water change it is 30-40% I use RO water and Oceanic or Reef Crystals salt. As far as picking out live stock I have two suggestions, 1) Patience: wait to buy healthy livestock don't buy marginal looking live stock. 2) Ask the LFS to hold them for you for a few days to make sure they are healthy, a good LFS would be willing to do that for you, they should be holding them fora few days anyway to make sure they are healthy. As far as telling what is a good fish, I'd just watch the fish in the tank for a while. If anyone seems to be acting odd then there may be trouble. If they is a dead fish in the tank, then in my opinion, NO NO NO NO buying any of those fish! Who knows why that fish has died. Anyway again patience is the key. You will be 100 times happier if you wait and buy healthy fish than if you buy unhealthy fish now. Well I have to get to work so I better be off, feel free to ask any other questions.

02-03-2007, 08:38 PM	#30 (permalink)
mtfish Fire Coral Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Montana Posts: 66 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: 10g Nano - My first SW tank Quick update. I got some more button polyps yesterday and had to move alot of stuff around. We'll see how this setup works out. Not the best pictures, but I was in a hurry.

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