DAHansen's 34G Solana

[DAHansen]

Ok, I just posted in the Meet N' Greet, but thought I would post all the spec's in a new Reef Chronicle thread.

I started in reefing about 2 years ago. Had some small failures - nothing too catastrophic - but I am AWESOME at growing algae. (singing: I am the algae king. It is, it is a glorious thing to be the algae king...) I started with a 26 Gallon Bow Front (never again) and now have a 34 gal Solana.

Hardware:
- 34 Gallon Solana 20" Cube Frameless Tank
- AquaC Remora HOB skimmer (yes, silly on a framless... but, you'll see)
- Hydor Koralia 1 and Maxi-Jet 600 for flow
- Return pump that came with tank for overflow return
- About 35 to 50lbs live rock
- 70 Watt HQI (Sunpod, which likes to turn itself off then on every few hours)

Software:
- Royal Gramma
- Black false perc. misbarred and misfinned clown
- Fairy Wrasse (not sure what kind)
- Pom Pom Crab
- Tiger Pistol Shrimp
- Various Snails and Scarlet Hermits
- Beige Colt Coral
- Small Green Tree Coral
- Blue/Green Ricordea
- Red Mushrooms
- Blue-ish Mushrooms
- Green Star Polyps
- Tuxedo Urchin
- Green open brain
- Small Green Montipora Digi (not in pic - had him 3 days and he looks happy)

Parameters:
Unknown exactly, but I top off with distilled water and supplement calc and buffer the distilled water. Water changes every 2 weeks to 1 month.


On success:
I haven't killed everything. Actually, other than a couple oddities everything has done pretty well. Before transferring the 26 to the 34, I had thought that my Pom Pom Crab and my Tiger Pistol Shrimp were dead. They were not. I found them in the 26 about 6 hours after removing all the rock and most of the water. They were trying to escape the 2-inches of filthy stirred up water - I was scooping out sand at the time. I'm surprised they made it, but even more surprised that they were alive. I hadn't seen them in months.

Right now, I'm trying to decide how much light I need. I want to have a few SPS - monti digi, monti cap, birds nest, and/or pocillopra. in the upper section of my tank, and I only have a 70 Watt metal halide right now. I have a 130watt PC I can supplement with in the mean time. However, I'm worried about burning out the shrooms and ricordea.

Recent pics to be added soon.

[vdituri]

Excellent start to your chronicle.

I bow to your highness the algal king!

It's amazing what reappears in our tanks after we have given up all hope.
I just spotted a nassarius snail in my mantis tank. I thought the mantis had taken all of them out long ago.

[DAHansen]

Inspired by the Florescence Thread... (I need some reds, blues, oranges, and yellows ) ... and an actual Macro Lens

[DAHansen]

Just found an old pic online of my kenya tree coral when I first got him/it/them.

The xenia has long since moved to a couple different rocks... to a different tank, then to an LFS as a trade-in.

The piece of dead SPS that it is attached to is now ALMOST completely covered by it's base.


And much more recently.

[DAHansen]

Newest Coral. A Hydnophora methinks.



A Pink Bird's Nest that is growing crazy fast. This photo is mostly to record growth against.



This is the glowing brain from a previous post, but under MH lights only.



AND the dirty dirty full tank shot as of today.


This is "pre-cleanup crew" which was ordered yesterday from reefcleaners.com/org/net (?) According to the package they recommend, my tank is under-staffed by about 80%. Hopefully I will have a new pic in a couple weeks that looks a lot better.

And here's a shot from early April when the tank was first set up.


Don't worry, the water/rock/sand all came from two tanks almost two years old at the time. All the SPS are pretty recent and have been doing OK under a 70W MH.

THIS week I upgrade to 150Watt DE MH and if they need a little more, I'll add back the 70Watt as well.

I still have to build the hood for my tank, but I can't decide between a suspended hood, a small hood, a tall hood, etc. Plus, I'm thinking of making a hood I can fit a 10 gal fuge in...

AAAAaaahhhh..... so much to do!


I'm looking forward to the ReefCleaners shipment this week - snails, limpets, and cleaners, Oh My!

[DAHansen]

Note to self: Open Brain trumps Kenya Tree. AND, Kenya Trees pout for a loooong time when a brain tries to eat them.

[DAHansen]

Geahry the Fairy
Wrasse in my Tank.
You tried to go walking,
Now swimming you ain't.

I'm sorry I let you,
down when I did.
At first under rocks,
I thought you had hid.

Seems I left the lid open,
a smidge, just a crack.
Yet I found you this morning,
there dead on your back.

The wood counter called you,
to your end I fear.
I'm sorry dear Geahry,
I'll mourn you all year.

I can only hope,
there's a heaven for fishes.
Where reefs span forever,
and you get all your wishes.

[AQTCJAK]

That sucks nice looking tank though

[blue_eyes53813]

Beautiful tank.. Im sorry about your wrasse. Welcome to RS

[DAHansen]

Yesterday I added: A boat load of snails, mostly tiny tiny ones and some bigger ones - there were ceriths and limpets, and nerites (oh, my!).

Today I added:

1. A second pistol shrimp. The big question - Will this one set up shop where I can see him? Answer: Almost. I did see his antenna.

2. A Yasa Hashe Goby and a Yellow Watchman.

Today's Yasa Hashe and Pistol Shrimp had already paired together. Unfortunately for the new pistol shrimp, the Yasa decided to bed down with my old pistol shrimp. So far the Yellow Watchman has not taken up residence with the new pistol shrimp.

The Yellow watchman has personality. The Yasa Hashe has hidden.

I also got a new SunPod 150W to replace/upgrade my 70W metal halide.

All is relatively well, but I still feel bad about my Fairy Wrasse.

[Frankie]

Nice looking tank! Bummer about Geahry the Fairy
Wrasse. This should prove the start to another great chronicle

[DAHansen]

Update on recent tank additions:

Snails (w/eggs): Seem to be doing well, they're all over the place, and my rock is starting to look very clean. The glass however is still looking crappy. I may actually have to scrape it again.

I'll try to get some pictures of the eggs. They are LARGE (for snail eggs) and in a row up the front left corner of my tank. There is about a dozen or so. They are singularly laid, and each is about the size of the "O" in "One Dime" on the back of a dime.



Pistol Shrimp and Shrimp Gobies:

The "old" pistol shrimp is paired with my new Yasa Hashe Goby, who (at the LFS) was paired with the new Pistol Shrimp. The new Pistol Shrimp is now paired with the new Yellow Watchman who was purchased specifically to pair with the old pistol shrimp.

I'm going to blame the Yasa Hashe for this little love quadrangle. Silly thing took about 2.8 seconds to find and bed down with the old pistol shrimp. It didn't even give me a chance to get his/her former buddy into the tank.

In other pistol/goby news: The new pistol decided to set up residence in the front left corner of my tank (very near the snail eggs, but below them). This happens to be about 5 - 8 inches away from the other pistol shrimp. I would bemoan my fate, but I'm just happy that I can actually see this one!

That is all for now, back to work.

[Gina]

Originally Posted by DAHansen

Pistol Shrimp and Shrimp Gobies:

The "old" pistol shrimp is paired with my new Yasa Hashe Goby, who (at the LFS) was paired with the new Pistol Shrimp. The new Pistol Shrimp is now paired with the new Yellow Watchman who was purchased specifically to pair with the old pistol shrimp.

What?! LOL!!

Tank looks great! Sorry to hear about your wrasse though.
Got any pics of the new additions?

[DAHansen]

Pics will be forthcoming soonish. I was going to buy a macro lens for my camera, but a cat I rescued a couple months ago needs his tail amputated - loooong story. So I may or may not be getting a lens for close ups.

You would not believe how much my vet charges to cut off a tail.

[Gina]

Hmm.....if you lived in Maryland I'd send you to the vet I worked for there. He charged $50.00. Anesthesia was about $25.00 and then the cost of the antibiotics. We've done a few of them. Some cats can't seem to keep their tails out of harms way!
Good for you though saving the cat.