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I was hoping a new saltwater megathread would pop up. My 6.6 gallon is coming along nicely, I'm almost at the 3 week mark, waiting for my levels to go down. I'm having brown algae and some purple growth on my liverock that's very pretty. No pictures, though. 
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Jun 6, 2008 19:47
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 18:25 |
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^^ I agree that metal halides are the best lighting out there, but for most beginners I would suggest Power Compacts, simply for the cost factor. I'm doing well with my 6.6 gallon nano tank so far. At just over 3 weeks, my ammonia is finally at 0ppm, just waiting for everything else to follow. Lots of brown algae growth. Here's my equipment: 6.6 Gallon Acrylic "Bookshelf" aquarium - from PetCo  Taam Rio Nano Protein Skimmer - 110 gph Hydor Koralia Nano Powerhead Mini - 240 gph Coralife 20" Single PC fixture with 28w 50/50 - 4.2w per gallon Coralife Aqualight 3/4w Lunar LED - Planning to upgrade later. My tank contains: 10 pounds of assorted live rock 20 pounds of live sand 100 pounds of BROWN ALGAE  I don't think my LFS has live pods or such for Mandarins, is there a place to get them online? I'm really interested in keeping one, but so far everything I've read about them terrifies me. Aphelion Necrology fucked around with this message at 18:58 on Jun 16, 2008 |
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Jun 9, 2008 17:24
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Supernaturalist posted:right now she's hanging out in her rock pile in the Eclipse 12. I'm hoping soon I can get the hitchiker pistol shrimp out of my main display tank (Nano-Cube DX 12) so that she can go live in there. Any name suggestions? Pearl.
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Jun 10, 2008 00:18
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That's what I get for believing the guy at my LFS when he said Mandarins would be fine in anything 5 gallons or bigger.
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Jun 10, 2008 22:01
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SERPUS posted:Morally speaking, fish don't belong in anything below 20 gallons. I think most nano enthusiasts would disagree with you. Aphelion Necrology fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Jun 12, 2008 |
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Jun 12, 2008 16:27
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Finally got some crappy pictures, but I'm very happy to say that after almost 4 weeks of cycling, all my levels are finally good to go! Next week I will be ordering my FREE clean-up-crew of hermits and snails from aquaticisland.com Hard to tell, but this is my proud display of 0ppm tests:  Here is my glorious, though blurry, 6.6 gallon nano tank: 
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Jun 13, 2008 03:58
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fanaglethebagle posted:Maybe you know this and are just using them for the cycling, but those test kits you have right now are not very good quality (especially the stick on inside one). You may want to invest in some better brands. Other than that, the rockwork looks great. What do you have for flow in there? They're Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Master Salt and Reef kits. I was told they were good ones. What else would you recommend?The stick-on-the-side ammonia meter was just for a general idea of how my levels were lowering during cycling, and the little quicky test strip is what I usually tested with daily, using the actual liquid tests every week. I have a Taam Rio Nano Skimmer and a Koralia Nano Mini powerhead. 
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Jun 13, 2008 04:49
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fanaglethebagle posted:For breeding fish and non-reef systems they are fine, but they do not measure small levels as well. Not to mention that those can sometimes randomly expire and give you 0 instead of what you actually have. I recommend salifert or elos test kits especially wen it comes to Alkalinity and calcium. For the cycling, the stick on is great, but I just want to make sure you weren't planning on using it for a reliable source when it is set up. Yeah the stick-on was just for cycling, mostly because this tank is at my office at work and I was tired of all my coworkers asking me daily why I didn't have fish in there yet! Explaining cycling didn't seem to help, so I stuck it on there and said, "I can't even THINK of adding anything alive until that circle turns yellow!" They were all very excited and eagerly kept me updated on my colored circle. fanaglethebagle posted:How is the Koralia nano? I have heard good things but I have never actually seen one used yet. So far I really like it, very powerful for being so small, and I like being able to control flow direction. The only problem I had with it is that while cycling, it tends to get clogged up with residue and other junk. I emailed their customer service about it and they got back to me instantly and told me how to take it apart and clean it out, and now it's fine again. I'd recommend Koralia simply for their customer service. In the picture I have it in the far right corner. Kela posted:I really like your rock-scape Hood! Looks good =) Thank you! It was a tedious time getting everything balanced right so that it was both pretty AND stable. Some pieces came with what I assume were coral growths, but they've since turned white and had algae grow over so I think they're dead. However, when I first got them they were very alive and happily stung the poo poo out of me as I moved them around.
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Jun 13, 2008 15:53
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Desert Bus posted:I recognize that tank, and I must say I love it. That 6.6 gallon bowfront acrylic is a lot of fun to aquascape. I've only used it for FW planted, but my roommate and I have had it up and running for over four years now. Thanks to the low height, it's really easy to grow plants that need high light, and thanks to the small overall size, you can really juggle around small (and cheap) chunks of rock and driftwood. They make great Betta, Dwarf Puffer, or shrimp tanks. Ours currently has Galaxy Rasboras, Malaysian Trumpet Snails, and Ramshorn Snails in it. I really like it as well, when I used it for FW I had Oto Cats and Dwarf Frogs in it. I love how low it is as well, very easy to get in there and mess around, and so far everyone who has seen it thinks it's a much bigger tank. Still not sure what fish will end up in here, though. Unfortunately I've already scratched up the front by letting some sand get under my MagFloat. Supernaturalist posted:I would just buy marine salt because it includes the type of supplements needed to re-create seawater. Water softening salt is cheap and sold bulk, so I see why you'd be interested, especially if you are interested in a large tank, but I think finding and implementing all the supplements you would need would end up being just as expensive as marine salt, plus you don't want to risk crashing your whole tank because you tried to cut corners by loving around with its chemistry. I agree with this, the bolded part in particular. I've discovered that you just can't skimp on anything with SW tanks, especially during set-up.
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Jun 14, 2008 14:30
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FixxxeR posted:Looking around I saw this tank which looks really nice: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75821 but I actually feel sorry for those clowns, they just seem too big to be in that tank. True and False Percula Clowns do fine in anything over 7 gallons, with a pair needing at least 10. As Supernaturalist pointed out earlier, in the wild they have very tiny territories, which is why they're such a popular nano fish. Here's a handy guide for nano fish: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74703
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Jun 17, 2008 01:41
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Supernaturalist posted:For anyone looking for live rock, I HIGHLY recommend http://sealifeinc.net. Ken runs a really wonderful operation out of the Florida Keys. Most LR is pulled right off the reef in the Pacific islands, however all of Ken's liverock is aquacultured, meaning he buys high quality rocks, and puts them in his little area of the ocean for a few years. When he pulls them out again to sell, they are covered in life and really beautiful. He's extremely environmentally conscious, he's involved in a coral re-propagation program where he's taking rare corals that have been growing on his rocks and moving them back to the reef. He's actually working with a team right now to study how successful coral re-propagation is. His livestock is also top quality, and available at great prices since he collects them himself. I didn't get any rock, but I did just buy my clean-up crew and some ric/zoa/shrooms from this guy. Can't wait to see it!
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Jun 17, 2008 23:42
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Well, my Clean Up Crew is in the mail, should be here Wednesday. Expecting: Blue Leg Hermits Orange Claw Hermits Astrea & Cerith Snails Dwarf Sand Shifting Sea Cucumber Yellow-Eyed Zoanthid Red Mushroom Oddball Ricordea (Can't wait to see what color I get!) Until then, here is a better picture. You can see my algae collection. 
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Jun 24, 2008 02:29
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Finally got my wonderful order from https://www.sealifeinc.net Ken included a free second oddball ricordea and some extra snails/hermits. His animals and corals are very healthy and colorful, and I recommend them highly! Yellow-Eyed Zoanthid, hopefully it'll open soon.  Blue Ricordea  Pretty Green-Blue-Purple Ricordea  Sea Cucumber, he's the size of a fat cashew.  Full tank shot  I'm happy. Edit: Whoops, forgot picture of Red Mushroom. It's very pretty, but hard to get a picture of because it's in a shady area. I'll try tomorrow.
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Jun 26, 2008 03:59
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Psimitry posted:The yellow-eyed zoos, while cool, are pretty common. The blue rics are not. Well actually, they are common, but pricey. Nice going. They look awesome and if you decide to get rid of them at some point, you could probably get 15 or so per polyp. Yeah I paid $11 for one ric, and he sent me two, one of which already has two mouths on it. They're much prettier in person, very rich blues and purples, but in the pictures they seem more green than they really are. I'm very, very happy with what I bought from him. I'm already picking out more of his high-color rics to add, and maybe another zoo. Oh, and a featherduster.
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Jun 26, 2008 17:13
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I'm glad someone woke this thread, I have more pictures that'll be up here soon. I got more Rics, plus next week I'm getting some sponges and fans and a feather duster.
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Jul 15, 2008 03:18
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New pictures of old and new critters, I'm out of town until Sunday and my co-workers have been schooled in the care of my tank. Then I'm getting my next shipment! Some of these haven't colored up yet, but I'm still calling them their advertised names.  Click here for the full 1272x1272 image. Green Mushroom  Click here for the full 1026x1026 image. Oddball Ricordea  Click here for the full 1302x1302 image. Large Oddball Ricordea  Click here for the full 1560x1560 image. Orange Ricordea  Click here for the full 1410x1410 image. Yellow-Eyed Zoanthids (Though they're completely blue, which is fine too.)  Click here for the full 1824x1824 image. Peppermint Shrimp  Click here for the full 2000x693 image. Full-tank shot, about 9 weeks old.
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Jul 16, 2008 16:12
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Haha, I've got about 2.5 inches of sand.
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Jul 21, 2008 14:18
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Well today my tank is starting to look like I'd planned originally, with the arrival of my featherduster, sea plume, sea whip, and tree sponge. Hopefully will have pictures up soon! Edit: I also discovered a load of copepods crawling around!
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Jul 22, 2008 20:30
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I WILL NOT LET THIS DIE RAAARGHHH! The thread, that is. Hello my nano tank, you are 10 weeks old.  Click here for the full 1077x616 image. What's this? It's getting crowded in there!  Click here for the full 918x689 image. Mr. Featherduster worm is adding to his tube. (I like this photo a lot.)  Click here for the full 816x612 image. Yellow Sea Whip  Click here for the full 536x612 image. Purple Sea Plume  My Peppermint Shrimp has an interesting view of the world.  Click here for the full 642x642 image. One of three Sexy Shrimp. Dance!  Click here for the full 615x615 image. Orange Hermit looks like he's gazing out a window on a rainy day.  Click here for the full 705x705 image. Pom-Pom Crab vanished as soon as he was in the tank. Yes, I realize he has no pom-poms, and LiveAquaria has recieved my irritated email about it.  Click here for the full 740x740 image. The newest jewel of the tank, a Royal Gramma. Poor thing hid up under some rockwork as soon as I put him in. You can see a bit of my Red Tree Sponge in the back. Before anyone says anything, I had several experienced nano-reefers tell me he'd be just fine in my tank. I want more pictures from everyone! Grr!
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Jul 26, 2008 00:05
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Just take pictures at your LFS and say they're yours. Yeah I'm nuts.
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Jul 26, 2008 00:35
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tgijsola posted:I'm pretty sure this isn't all that uncommon (both the vanishing and the lack of anemones). I had one who only had one anemone, and my friend had one like yours without any at all. They both did just fine. I have a very small moonlight that I plan to upgrade, and the tank is actually in my office at work so I'm not there so often at night. I do like the little fella even without his anemones, but LiveAquaria did give me a full credit for him which I will gladly use on another purchase, probably more coral frags.
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Jul 26, 2008 04:48
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Psimitry posted:Assorted images from my aquariums over time: I love whatever coral that is! And firefish are awesome.
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Jul 26, 2008 14:13
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I've been having a slighty frustrating week or two. My royal gramma has been missing since the day after I got him, and after doing a cleaning yesterday, I'm pretty sure he jumped the shark and had his little remains munched by hermits. I looked around the tank to see if he somehow jumped even with a lid on, but nothing came up. He did manage to eat my pom-pom crab and one of my dancing shrimp before he kicked it, though. All parameters are fine, I really think it was a fluke. I've replaced him with a much friendlier, happier firefish. He's been doing really well. I also had issues with zoanthids and ricordeas ungluing themselves and falling into the hidden crevices of my rockwork, so I went coral fishing and planted them again. I ordered another shipment of assorted corals and inverts for next week, and then I'll give my wallet a break for a while and just watch things grow. Aphelion Necrology fucked around with this message at 14:38 on Aug 8, 2008 |
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Aug 8, 2008 14:35
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Psimitry posted:With crabs in the tank? No offense, but enjoy it while you have it. It WILL go missing. It's one of the things they don't really tell you about firefish - they are really vulnerable to crabs of all types for some reason. Probably because they sleep in rockwork but don't build a den like jawfishes or slime themselves in like wrasses. Fishy, nooo!  I only have little teeny hermits, mostly blue-legs, so I don't know exactly how worried I should be but I'll keep my fingers crossed.
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Aug 8, 2008 22:23
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I like the rocks spread out, kinda like mine are, but if it were my tank I'd add a lot more rock period.
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Aug 9, 2008 05:31
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Random picture day! This week has been...interesting to say the least. I'd ordered more inverts and corals from a few different people, and every time I was sent different things or freebies. I don't complain, but now I have many mystery corals and some weird inverts. I also have a few very cute baby inverts that will not be able to live in my tank when grown (urchin, serpent star) but I'll let them stay with me awhile. I'm just playing it by ear at the moment. On a side note, lettuce sea slugs are the hands-down cutest saltwater creature. Now, pictures! Full tank shot as of 8.14.1008  Click here for the full 1077x382 image. Blurry firefish  Blue hermit and Scarlet hermit have a stare-down  Baby pincushion urchin  Urchin carrying some rock, I imagine him using it to club hermits.  Baby serpent star, whose movement kind of freaks me out.  Anemone shrimp, who is made of nothingness  Hopefully better picture of anemone shrimp  Bubble-tipped Mushroom  More mushrooms  Some really weird zoas, dunno what they are...  Mystery Coral #1  Mystery Coral #2  Alien-eye Favia, with neat glowing green centers!  Sea slug riding a snail  Click here for the full 816x612 image. Spider slug, spider slug, does whatever a spider slug does  Click here for the full 816x612 image. Sea slug is so  I have a few questions regarding my slugs. First off, I was told they only eat macro-algae, so I will have to go down to my LFS and buy a bag. Is this true, or will they eat other algae? Also right after the spider-slug picture, he fell down and was almost sucked into my powerhead is there something I can do to prevent this? Is there a net or something I can put over my powerhead?
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Aug 15, 2008 16:46
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tgijsola posted:Mystery coral #1 looks like a group of zoas, can't tell what #2 is. Maybe some sort of weird encrusting zoanthid or monti frag? Got a better picture? I'll try to get a better picture soon, but I guess I dropped it in a spot where it's hard to get a good photo. It is hard and looks just like the skin of a strawberry, kinda weird but neat. I emailed the guy asking what he actually sent me and so far he's just told me "some extra frags". Thanks, man. Also, forgot Mystery Coral #3 
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Aug 15, 2008 17:15
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Psimitry posted:Mystery picture #1 is definitely palythoas (very similar to zoanthids, except bigger, taller stalks, etc). Mystery #2 is a form of encrusting monti called "Superman Monti." It's a nice (and pretty valuable) coral, I just hope you have the lighting for it. For the Monti, does it need extreme lighting, do I need to place it higher up in the tank?
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Aug 15, 2008 18:04
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Psimitry posted:Depends on the type of lighting you have. If you have power compact lighting, you need to get it as close to the light and in the center of the tank as possible (but not under any brace or shade). I have PC's, I'll put him up higher as soon as I can. They can still be superglued, right? Otherwise my urchin will probably be wearing a Monti hat.
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Aug 15, 2008 18:46
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Psimitry posted:Oh god yes they can be superglued. Make sure you use a gel glue (obviously), but yeah. They can be. I'll look into it, but right now I really can't drop money on halides, though I really want to. I didn't plan on getting this Monti, really, it was pretty drat random. The seller confirmed that he just "grabbed a random frag" and that he has no idea what he sent me. 
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Aug 15, 2008 21:48
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Psimitry posted:Halides aren't necessarily what you need (especially if you have a low canopy because they have to be placed 8" or higher off the water's surface. In addition, you're going to ideally want a 150W setup, and those are hard to come by in the cheap-o brands. I'm not very familiar with T5's at all. Right now I have a Coralife 20" PC fixture. Would I need a new fixture or can I adapt my current one? Do you have an good brand recommendations?
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Aug 15, 2008 21:59
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Life in the tank is interesting today. My sea cucumber dug up my blue zoas and is now hiding under them, so it looks like he's made of zoas. It's pretty wierd but neat at the same time. My mystery palys opened up and they are very pretty shades of purple and pink. Mystery Coral #3 has "bloomed" and now has a stalk and a plume, I think it might be a Duncan Coral. My anemone shrimp is hosting it. I covered my powehead in netting to keep sea slugs from being sucked up. I glued down my "Monti" frag, which now has teeny polyps emerging.
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Aug 19, 2008 17:53
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New randomness. Sexy shrimp pair, hosting my red mushroom  My "Monti" frag, with little dark purple and sky blue polyps  Purple mushroom and upside-down urchin, still carrying his rock-club  Sea cucumber wearing my yellow-eyed zoas  Mystery zoas/palys, fully open  Mystery palys, mostly open  My purple/green mushrooms  Mystery Coral #3, opened, hosted by anemone shrimp 
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Aug 21, 2008 00:01
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Psimitry posted:Mystery no more! Now that I've seen them open, I can definitely identify them. Those are called Armor of God palythoas. I have them and they're pretty cool. Just be advised: they grow SLOOOOOOOOWLLLY. My initial frag of them was 5 polyps. I placed them in the tank appropriately and they seem very happy. Only whereas my other zoo colonies have probably doubled in size (or more), I've only gained 2 polyps in 6 months. Thanks for the info! I like being able to name my corals instead of just shrugging at them. I think Mystery #3 is a Duncan Coral, but we'll see as it grows.
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Aug 22, 2008 02:00
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bobbert posted:The mouth in the center says lps to me, it looks like a duncan without the long tentacles could be stressed or not grown out, does it have a stony skeleton at all? maybe a little big, but could be a single polyp from a turbinaria species but that would be pretty weird. Yeah when it was closed up, it just looked and felt like a piece of bone, actually.
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Aug 22, 2008 23:23
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Great, now I have to worry about my Duncan teabagging my shrimp.
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Aug 23, 2008 17:45
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Psimitry posted:Firefish ALWAYS disappear with crabs in the tank (and usually even without them). Well, you were right about this. My firefish died over the weekend, but not from crabs. He found the tiny hole in the lid for the cord to my powerhead and managed to jump out of it, leaving me a crispy firefish on my desk this morning. God dammit, stupid fish. He was a cool little guy.
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Aug 25, 2008 18:10
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I have a bit of an advanced question for you guys. I have two lettuce sea slugs in my nanotank, and I've recently learned that they only seem to eat Bryopsis algae. I don't have any in my tank, and since it's considered a pest algae, I doubt I'll find it for sale at a LFS. Long story short, does anyone have Bryopsis growing in their tank that they would be willing to ship to me? I know my slugs can live a good while without food, but I really don't want the little guys to slowly starve!
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Aug 28, 2008 18:08
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Psimitry posted:Even if I could find some bryopsis in my tank, I doubt it would last shipping it to you. You may be better off just giving the snails back to the store if you're that worried. I bought them from Ken at sealifeinc.net, and I emailed him asking about Bryopsis and he is going to search his tanks for me. His customer service is pretty much unbeatable. My LFS doesn't have any bryopsis, and besides that, I'm always wary of what they tell me. I went in there today and they had beautiful sea slugs that I know for a fact only eat certain species of sponges, but according to the LFS they eat algae. Those poor things are going to starve to death.Thankfully my lettuce sea slugs are also photosynthetic, so they can go for quite a few months without food by living off the chloroplasts in their body. So at least I know I have plenty of time to look for bryopsis.
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Aug 29, 2008 18:44
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 18:25 |
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Supernaturalist posted:Ken is freaking awesome, I love his stuff so much my new 37 will be a Keys/Caribbean biotope made up of mostly his stuff.Living in Tampa means shipping big stuff like LR costs so much less! Pretty much every invert and coral in my tank is from him. A few exceptions from LiveAquaria and Mr. Coral.
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Aug 30, 2008 15:25
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