October 2010 nTOTM - JacobNano's 24g Aquapod

[JacobNano]

October 2010 Nano Tank of the Month - 24g Aquapod

http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/zz195/Jacobnano/FinalFTS.jpg

Introduction:

Thank you all for voting for my aquarium! I really appreciate the support! It has been a lot of work but now the tank finally has that "matured look". The fact that reefing websites in general are available saved my aquarium, all of the reading that one can do is incredible!

How I started:

It seems like there has always been a freshwater aquarium in my life, but never a saltwater. I had been looking into saltwater somewhat, the fish that were available seemed incredible compared to the freshwater fish. I had no idea about coral! Starting out with a regular stock 24g aquapod, I have been upgrading it since.

My Equipment:

Aquapod 24g 19.75" x 17" x 20"
-Current USA 150w Sunpod, with a 14k Phoenix Bulb
-Warner Marine H1 Hang-On-Back Skimmer
-EcoTech Vortech MP10, stock return pump
- inTank Mediabasket, chemi-pure elite


Water Parameters:

Specific gravity: 1.026
pH: 8.0 - 8.4
Calcium: 450 ppm
Alkalinity: 9 dKH
Magnesium: 1400 ppm
Temp: 77-78 F

I cannot stress how important water changes are. They are the most beneficial thing you can do for your tank. Keeping up with them keeps everything happy, and I notice a slowdown in coral growth if I have not done a water change recently.

Maintenance:

I keep a pretty simple maintenance schedule. A 4g water change once a week along with some glass cleaning usually takes care of it. I do have a skimmer, I empty the cup every time I perform a water change. Feeding is done every 2-3 days. At that time everything, I mean everything gets fed. I use twice as much food for my corals compared to my fish.

Corals:

I have been trying to not use the common names for my corals, I want to memorize these version, even if I am pronouncing them incorrectly :D

Zoanthus spp
• Duncanopsammia axifuga
• Fungia tenuis
• Ricordea florida
• Euphyllia paradivisa
• Caulastrea furcata
• Euphyllia paranchora
• Acanthastrea lordhowensis
• Acropora microphthalma
• Acropora tenuis
• Montipora danae
• Montipora Capricornis
• Acropora millepora
• Seriatopora hystrix
• Stylophora
• Montipora digitata
• Montipora tuberculosa
• Pocillopora
• Trachyphyllia geoffroyi
• Euphyllia glabrescens
• Favites pentagona
• Hydnophora
• Blastomussa wellsi
• Echinophyllia
• Dendrophyllia

I would like to note that all of my coral started out with less than 3 polyps, and they were less than 1.5 inches tall/wide. This enabled me to start out with relatively cheap coral. I acquired the coral from many places many of the SPS locally, regardless it was nice starting out with frags compared to colonies.

Fish/Invertebrates:

• Stichodactyla tapetum
• Galathea inflate
• Tridacna maxima
• Tridacna crocea
• Ecsenius midas
• Paracheilinus mccoskeri
• Stonogobiops yasha (I have two)

Now time for more eye candy!

http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/zz195/Jacobnano/SPScoral.jpg
http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/zz195/Jacobnano/Ricordea.jpg
http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/zz195/Jacobnano/PlateCoral.jpg
http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/zz195/Jacobnano/MoreAcans.jpg
http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/zz195/Jacobnano/CrinoidSquatLobster.jpg
http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/zz195/Jacobnano/BrainCoral.jpg
http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/zz195/Jacobnano/Acanthastrea.jpg
http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/zz195/Jacobnano/SIDEFTS.jpg
Let me know if you have any questions, I would love to help. Thanks again nominating my aquarium!

[tom obrecht]

Beautiful tank...nicely done!

[Michael B]

That is just inspirational - WOW WOW & WOW

[Agu]

Beautiful tank, Congrats ....

[Jadams]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[christinaa]

Simply beautiful :)

[JacobNano]

Beautiful tank...nicely done!

Thank you!

That is just inspirational - WOW WOW & WOW

:D Thanks so much!

Beautiful tank, Congrats ....

Thanks! Oh and thanks for giving it the sticky :D

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

:D

Simply beautiful :)

Hola! And, thanks!

[lilopop11]

Woowww...Here n There Jacob ?Well Done...:)

[got2envy]

Your on a role!! :D

Congrats jacob ;)

[philipchan]

nice tank !! love it

[NUBIANTANGLOVER]

You've done an Awesome job with your tank. Sweet Work! Congrats on Winning NTOTM!

[M88A2]

when u say you feed your coral do u mean u feed your sps too? if so, would you mind sharing what u feed them. ty

[Johnny C]

Congrats on the win! Gotta keep the tradition going and start up a poll for November! :)

[paulo rocha]

congratulations for your tank, is an inspiration to the tank that I'm riding.
Greetings
Paulo Rocha

[JacobNano]

Woowww...Here n There Jacob ?Well Done...:)

Haha thank you!

Your on a role!! :D

Congrats jacob ;)

Thank you!!!!!

nice tank !! love it

Thanks :)!

You've done an Awesome job with your tank. Sweet Work! Congrats on Winning NTOTM!

Thank you :D!

when u say you feed your coral do u mean u feed your sps too? if so, would you mind sharing what u feed them. ty

Nope, only my LPS, sorry I should have specified haha.

Congrats on the win! Gotta keep the tradition going and start up a poll for November! :)

Thanks! Yea sorry gotta get on that, I haven't really had time sorry!

congratulations for your tank, is an inspiration to the tank that I'm riding.
Greetings
Paulo Rocha

Thanks you so much!

[M88A2]

ah ok, well everything looks amazing. grats

[JacobNano]

Thanks! I have been thinking about doing that, but I was worried about raising my nitrates. Which would make my SPS look worse haha. I figured it might not pay off haha.

[reefcat]

Very, Very nice sir......congrats!!!!

[saltygeek]

Congrats:thumbsup:
Im not really familiar with the biocube. Does it have a surface skimmer? The second pic shows a surface slick which I would think would cut back alot of light. Obviously not impeding the tank any:lol2: just wondering

[pirataj]

Beautiful tank

[JacobNano]

Very, Very nice sir......congrats!!!!

Thank you!!!

Congrats:thumbsup:
Im not really familiar with the biocube. Does it have a surface skimmer? The second pic shows a surface slick which I would think would cut back alot of light. Obviously not impeding the tank any:lol2: just wondering

Thanks! It is actually an aquapod :) It does, but I have my leveling weird, and I haven't upgraded the pump to get rid of the slick lol. I should really do that.....


Beautiful tank

Thank you! :)

[SeaninMesa]

Jacob - Awesome tank! What is the bright orange in the bottom right corner of your tank?

[JacobNano]

Thank you! It is an orange plate coral :)

[saigon1]

Wowwwwwww

[JacobNano]

Thank you!

[fragtrader]

can you kindly share with us what you are feeding to your zoos? i assume you are shutting down the skimmer for a half hour or so for your feeding days?

[Pumped]

Sweet tank!

[cherubfish pair]

JacobNano, are you using GAC? And I love the super orange plate coral!

[JacobNano]

can you kindly share with us what you are feeding to your zoos? i assume you are shutting down the skimmer for a half hour or so for your feeding days?

Nope, not feeding them :)

Sweet tank!

Thanks!

JacobNano, are you using GAC? And I love the super orange plate coral!

Nope :) And thanks me too!

[cherubfish pair]

How long has it tanken to get this to nTOTM?

[newbie916]

Nice Jacob!!! Congrats!!! You've done an excellent job. Can't wait until my 24 gallon AP's corals grow in.

[cherubfish pair]

Does the midas blenny pick on the other fish?

[macclellan]

Your on a role!! :D


Yes, you're on a roll! :D

[Ninjapotamus]

very nice tank, looks like maybe a pyramid snail on this snail? might want to check your clams.
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/7443/pyramidsnail.jpg

[JacobNano]

How long has it tanken to get this to nTOTM?

Umm this is a little over a year old :)

Nice Jacob!!! Congrats!!! You've done an excellent job. Can't wait until my 24 gallon AP's corals grow in.

Thank you! It just takes patience :)

Does the midas blenny pick on the other fish?

Nope :)

very nice tank, looks like maybe a pyramid snail on this snail? might want to check your clams.
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/7443/pyramidsnail.jpg

Actually, that is a very small cerith, just at a weird angle :)

[E.intheC]

Tank looks great :thumbsup: I'm especially impressed with your colors in such a small tank volume.

[JacobNano]

Thank you!

Everyone should really check out my thread, it looks even better now haha!

[cherubfish pair]

Thank you!

Everyone should really check out my thread, it looks even better now haha!
Do you have a link to it?

[JacobNano]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1796631&page=4

:)