JustFin's 10G Nano Journal

[JustFin]

[I've been keeping a little online journal for my new nano online, but figured I would post what I have so far here on RC to get some feedback. To view the journal in its original format, just click my little red house. :) ]


The 10 Gallon Nano Journal
"Official" start date
7-2-05
My tank has officially been running for about 2 1/2 weeks, but now it finally feels started because today I bought the last of my liverock. And I even have my first invertebrate sighting- a small feather duster worm. I know I know, they are so common and no big deal right. Well it was a big deal for me. I must truely be a nerd to get so excited over a worm of all things, but I'm sure many reef keepers can identify the feeling of spotting those first signs of life after starting their systems up.

http://www.bravehold.com/jrdusty.jpg

I'd like to say I have meticulously planned out my new 10G nano, but I would be lieing. I have been planning and doing my research... but the plan was for a much larger tank like a 50G or a 75G with a sump/refugium & a closed loop system. But NOT part of the plan was losing my job at Verizon (lousy bastards!!!) This of course took the wind out of my sails, because as much as I love my tanks, they are a luxury. So on the back burner went all my plans. I now have a new job, but my budget is much tighter. And every time I would try to put money aside for my reef tank, the money would end up being used for more pressing needs.

Finally the saltwater fever was so strong I couldn't take it any longer. I used $60 to buy a 10G glass tank, a bag of aragonite, 2 small packs of Oceanic salt, & 10 gallons of distilled water. I rinsed the sand, mixed the saltwater and started up an Aquaclear filter I already had for water movement. Later that afternoon, I bought 5lbs. of liverock rubble off of ebay for $20. I knew this wouldn't be enough liverock, but I didn't have any more $ to spare, and I wanted to get the cycle started in the tank as soon as possible.

The liverock rubble came 2 days later and went immediately into the tank. I didn't take pictures because there wasn't much to see being just rubble after all. But I was pretty pleased with the amount and color of the coraline algae on the rocks and there were a decent number of baseball-sized pieces.

Now 2 weeks later I just bought 5 larger rocks from my local fish store, bringing my total up to between 10-12lbs. This seems about right for now since I will be adding small pieces of liverock with coral frags. And aesthetically I don't like tanks packed with rock that seem to leave little room for the fish to swim around the tank. I also purchased 2 Microjet 404's for added water movement. I'm hoping this is enough since I don't plan to keep hard corals which need much more flow.

This weekend I will clean the rocks of any loose decaying matter again and try to come up with an aquascape that I feel I can live with for a little while. Wish me luck! :)

http://www.bravehold.com/jravsml.gif

[JustFin]

Aquascaping
7-4-05
Well here it is! If you don't like it, well.... TOUGH! :p I arranged and rearranged these rocks 4 times before I finally came up with something I liked. I first tried making two islands with the rock on either side with a valley in the middle in an attempt to hide the microjets. But you could still see them behind the rock. And the flow wasn't as efficient and I might end up trapping detritus in the back corners. With this current design I atleast hide the aquaclear intake tube somewhat. I wanted to avoid it looking like just a pile of rocks, so hopefully that shelf of rock just right of center breaks it up somewhat.

http://www.bravehold.com/jrfts704.jpg

Now I have to sit back and wait for the liverock to cycle. I'm doing 20% (2gal.) water changes every week to keep the ammonia/nitrite spikes from getting too severe so hopefully more life in the rock is saved. Also, after buying those small packs of Oceanic salt to get things going I have switched to Instant Ocean salt for the water changes because it is more convenient to find & because I have heard too many negative things about Oceanic salt on various reef message boards.

Now I'm off to barbecue and have a couple cold ones, so have a happy 4th of July!

http://www.bravehold.com/jravsml.gif

[JustFin]

Sightings
7-12-05
My first small creatures are showing up and I'm having fun looking through my magnifying glass and trying to figure out what each new little thing is. Copepods were easy enough to identify. I spotted some very very small "snowflake" creatures on the front glass. A quick search on the reef message boards identified them as hydroids, a stage in the developement of jellyfish. My camera couldn't get a clear shot of them so I borrowed some images I found in my searches.

http://www.bravehold.com/jrhydrd.jpg
Hydroids! Not pictures of mine, but this is what they look like.

I can also see what look like amphipods scurring around when the lights are off, but without a moonlight it is hard to see. And I saw a roundish flat creature only a couple millimeters across slowly moving across the LR. As yet I'm not sure if it was a flatworm or a chiton. The best investment we have bought for the tank so far has to be the magnifying glass. ;) It seems like everytime we look closely at the tank we see some new form of life.
http://www.bravehold.com/jravsml.gif

[coker98]

sounds great i remember when i set up my first 10 gallon and stuff start to show up on the glass and on the rock and i was even more excited when i found that i had brown zoos on my only piece of rock.

[JustFin]

Originally posted by coker98
i was even more excited when i found that i had brown zoos on my only piece of rock.

heh, yeah, amazing how much more interesting something can be when it is a surprise and free :)

I wouldn't give brown zoos a second glance in my LFS when there are green, oranges, etc. to buy. But if I had some come in on my LR I would automatically think they were so cool :)

[JustFin]

Let there be lights!
7-17-05
This weekend I ordered my lights! I had to go for power compact flourescent lighting. Everyone on the message boards recommend metal halides, but if I could afford a MH fixture then I could also afford a tank bigger than 10G. Besides, I have no urge to try the more light demanding corals at this time. The zoos, mushrooms, etc. that I have planned for will be just fine under PC's. I had a limit of $100 and right now I just don't have the time to go DIY. After much research I thought the best I could get would be the Coralife 96W Powerquad that was on sale at hellolights.com for $88. But, I did some last minute research before ordering and found out that the 20" Current USA Satellite was on sale at Big Al's for $89. This fixture has two 40W lamps, so it is less watts per gallon than the Coralife would have given me. But the Satellite unit can run each bulb independantly, so you can create dusk/dawn lighting by having the actinic bulb come on shortly before and turn off after the "daylight" bulb. And it also has a built in led "lunar" light, for nightime viewing. These added features made it an easy choice and I can't wait until it arrives. At the moment the tank is lit by an incandescent hood that came with the tank, but I'm using 2 screw-in flourescent light bulbs instead.

All of my "bugs" are multiplying and the 2 hydroids I spotted last week have increased to 60+ on the front glass. I've read that they aren't harmful unless you have baby fish or seahorses, so I'm letting them go for now. My sand and some of the lighter pieces of LR are looking slightly dirty. I'm not sure if this is just detritus build-up or the beginnings of the diatom bloom. I blew it clean as much as possible with a turkey baster so it could be filtered out by the Aquaclear foam pad. With todays water change I replaced the pad with a new one so it doesn't start
contributing to nitrate levels. I also replaced the carbon bag, and I will be trying to change both of these out every 2-3 weeks.
http://www.bravehold.com/jravsml.gif

[JustFin]

When its good to be a zero
7-23-05
I've tested for ammonia & nitrite and both are reading zero. Time for some corals! I'm picking up 2 frags from a local reefer tomorrow for just $5 each. I'm getting a green hairy mushroom which I've read can make good surrogate hosts for clownfish instead of a hard to keep anemone. Hopefully this will give it plenty of time to get adjusted and established before I add an ocellaris clown in 6 to 8 weeks. The other coral is a pink pulsing xenia. My wife likes xenia everytime we see it at the LFS, and I want her to feel involved in the tank. Plus the pink should add some nice color. I've heard xenia can get out of control, but it seems that is in the tanks of SPS keepers. I'm hoping it won't be able to dominate a tank full of other aggressive softies.

http://www.bravehold.com/jr2light.gif
FTS with the new Satellite fixture- both bulbs on & just actinics.

My lights arrived in the middle of the week. Very cool, especially the lunar light. I first set them up using the mounting arms that hold them about 3-4" above the rim of the aquarium. My wife didn't like the look of it, so we purchased a glass canopy and now the lights are sitting on the rim above the glass. This would be fine except the glass has a black rubber hinge that is right in the middle, and I wonder how much of my light it is blocking. I've tried centering the hinge so it is between the two bulbs, but it is still bugging me. I haven't run the lights all day yet, but I will be today to see how much the water temp rises after 8-10 hours of use.
http://www.bravehold.com/jravsml.gif

[JustFin]

Gettin acclimated
7-24-05
I've learned 2 things this morning.
#1- My wife enjoys saying "hairy mushroom" way too much.
#2- This hobby would be so much easier if I had a friend or family member to learn from. It is one thing to do your research by reading reefkeeping books, magazines, & message boards, but it is another thing entirely to do something in real life that you have only read about. This was my first time trying to acclimate corals, and the whole time I had a mantra in my head, "I hope I'm doing this right. I hope I'm doing this right."

http://www.bravehold.com/jrmushac.jpg
Green/brown mushroom- the green bubble isn't algae but some kind of marble the frag was attached to.

http://www.bravehold.com/jrxenacl.jpg
2 pink pom pom xenia looking rather brown & slimy in the bucket.

I used the technique I had seen of using airline tubing to siphon water into the bucket. The tubing had 2 knots tied in it to slow the flow to a trickle/drip. The problem was I didn't know how fast it should be dripping. I started slow, but then the water in the buckets seem to be getting too cold compared to the tank. So I increased the flow hoping that way the water in the bucket would be closer in temp to the main tank. Every now and then I would scoop out roughly 2 cups of water and discard it. When I estimated I had siphoned roughly a gallon into each bucket,
I decided to add the corals.
The whole process lasted about 2 hours.

[phenom5]

sounds good, i usually shoot for 1 or 2 drops per second with my acclimation...usually go around an 1 1/2 total...but you can never over acclimate.:D

hairy mushroom.:D

[JustFin]

Originally posted by phenom5

hairy mushroom.:D

very funny :)

my wife called up her sister this morning just to say that her husband has two worms and a hairy mushroom growing on his "rocks"

my sister-in-law recommended I see a doctor to get a shot of antibiotics as soon as possible

if only they were half as funny as they think they are :rolleyes:

[ItsDave]

hey im in the same boat as you are...i prob should of bought that satelight light fixture but i went with the 96w quad pc light from coralife. it was the only one the had around here locally....im wondering if i can return it....hmmmm. But yeah you should of seen me when i found a majano anemone growing on one of my pieces of live rock...ive had my tank running for about 2 weeks now...and its a 10 gallon too. so ill be reading up on your thread so keep me informed of anything that comes along.
Thanks
Dave

[JustFin]

Originally posted by ItsDave
i prob should of bought that satelight light fixture but i went with the 96w quad pc light from coralife.


The quad still has the advantage of 16 watts over the satellite, which could come in handy if you want more light demanding corals. Doing research I found plenty of reefers very pleased with their coralife quad, that's why I almost got one. But I do like being able to just run the actinics.

Feel free to check in on my thread anytime. I'm going to try to be reliable with the updates- good & bad.

[JustFin]

Need more!
7-26-05
Well, the pink xenia looked like it was in rough shape after 24 hours in the tank. But both frags are now pulsing away and are looking better each day.

http://www.bravehold.com/jrxen1.jpg
Pic taken by my wife of the larger of the 2 xenia frags.

The mushroom has also opened up and looks nice and cozy in its nook among the rocks.

http://www.bravehold.com/jrhs1.jpg
My not so good pic of the 'shroom. It has a little more of a light green base than this pic shows.

I didn't know this before going to pick it up, but the seller told me the mushroom had drifted from the main colony & was in a spot where it didn't get much light. It looked faded in their tank, and I almost changed my mind about buying it. But it looks much better now in my 10G where it has all the light to itself. The funny part is since the seller described it as a "large" mushroom I was really surprised when it was only about 2" in diameter. If a clown is going to use this 'shroom as an anemone substitute, either this little guy better start growing fast or start making lots of friends.

I was hoping that getting some corals in the tank would ease my impatience. But seeing them in there only makes me want more.
Luckily my wallet keeps me from filling up the tank too fast. ;)

http://www.bravehold.com/jravsml.gif

[Sugar Magnolia]

Originally posted by JustFin
Luckily my wallet keeps me from filling up the tank too fast. ;) :thumbsup: This is a good thing! The tank is coming along nicely. What I want to know is how did you make that one pic flash with the lighting? Way cool!

[JustFin]

Originally posted by Sugar Magnolia
What I want to know is how did you make that one pic flash with the lighting? Way cool!

Thanks! The flashing pic came about because of luck. I don't have a tripod for my digital camera. When I'm taking pictures I rest the camera on top of my box of Instant Ocean salt to help steady it. I took a pic with both lights on. Then I switched off the daylight bulb and took another shot with just actinics. When I downloaded the pics to the computer, I realized that the shots matched exactly. Who needs a tripod when you've got a box o' salt? :lol:

I used a program called Animation Shop that comes with the graphics program Paint Shop Pro to make an animated .gif file of the 2 shots shown in sequence. Because they matched up perfectly it looks like the daylight bulb is flashing on/off.

[JustFin]

Janitors needed! Love to eat algae a plus!
8-3-05
Been busy setting up a 75G RR Oceanic tank for my mother, so I'm a little late on my weekly update. My mom saw my tank & decided she wanted one of her own. She supplies the money & I supply the work. I'm sure I will be starting a thread for that tank too eventually. But back to my little nano for now.

First the good news is that both xenia and my shroom are still alive. In fact, when I took some fresh pictures and compared them with the old I could really see the difference just a week had made in their appearance.

http://www.bravehold.com/jrbefaft.jpg
Before & Now

Unfortunately, with the increased lighting schedule for the corals the nuisance algae has taken off as well. This wasn't helped by a dumb mistake I made. The sump/refugium that came with my mom's 75 had chaeto in it. It needed to be thinned out so I had the bright idea of putting a small clump in the corner of my nano. As soon as I added it, tons of detritus that I didn't realize was inside the clump was swept by the 2 powerheads all over the tank. The next few days I had a lovely bloom of red cyano on the sand & corners of my tank to show for my "bright idea". I removed as much as possible with a turkey baster and did a 3G water change to try to remove the extra nutrients. If I add chaeto again it will only be if I make a DIY 'fuge out of an Aquaclear.

I made a visit to the LFS today to get some help for the rest of the algae. I purchased 4 Astrea snails & 1 Turbo. Well, when I got home I noticed that one of my Astreas had legs!?

http://www.bravehold.com/jrkermit.jpg
Uh... my 4th astrea snail?

So I now have a hermit crab, but I have no idea what kind. From the picture above, its legs look violet with red bands. Anyone recognize it? After I finally got the snails pried off the walls of the styrofoam container (Geez those things can hold on tight!) I placed them on the largest spots of algae. The turbo is now known as The Turbonator because in no time it mowed through the algae on the right glass panel.

http://www.bravehold.com/jrclean.jpg
Turbonator & 2 astrea snails.

I still plan on adding some cerith snails for the sandbed. The LFS didn't have any, so that might be part of my first online livestock purchase. Patience always seems to be rewarded in this hobby. So with the algae outbreak, and the new addition of the clean-up crew, I think I will give the tank a few weeks to stabilize before adding anymore inverts or corals.
I recently got a used 29G. So my next step will be to set it up as a quarantine tank so that I can finally get my first fish. :D
http://www.bravehold.com/jravsml.gif

[JustFin]

What's new with zoo?
8-24-05
It has been 3 weeks since my last update. Working on the new 75G has taken up most of my hobby time. I was a few days late on my weekly water changes, and I have some lovely spots of cyano to show for my neglect. The Turbonator is also living up to its name, not just by mowing down algae, but also knocking over most of my smaller rocks & the shells my 2 xenia are attached to.

I've never liked the look of the shells the xenia frags came on. So, when I read that xenia tend to move uphill towards the light, I tried placing them next to the sides of larger rocks hoping they would abandon the shells in search of a better spot in the light. It actually seems to be working. Instead of moving just the base like I expected they are also letting their stalk merge into the side of the rock as they abandon the spot on the shell with the ring of superglue.

http://www.bravehold.com/jrmovx.jpg
Xenia "movin' on up"

The reason for this update though is because I picked up my first zoos yesterday! They were called "Deep Forest" zoos by the guy I purchased them from. Not the greatest picture of them below, but the colors are close- Green & brown skirt, blue/violet base, and a peach/pink mouth. I've read of zoo polyps taking quite a long time to open after being relocated, but mine opened fully after less than 24 hours which I'm taking as a really positive sign. There are 7 polyps in all. Hopefully they will be fruitful and multiply. ;)

http://www.bravehold.com/jrdfzoo2.jpg
Awww, aren't they cute!

The last development of significance is that coraline is finally starting to grow on the back glass and filter intake. I don't dose with any supplements and rely on my weekly water changes to keep calcium and trace elements available. So far that seems to be working as far as the coraline is concerned. With no plans to add any hard corals to the tank, I'm fine for now.

http://www.bravehold.com/jrcline.jpg
I've got purple spots.

Finally, some reference to past updates.
-My hermit is definately the "blue-legged" variety which I've only heard good things about. His legs looked violet when he first arrived but they darkened up to a rich blue and revealed his true identity.
-And remember that green thing in the mushroom picture above that I said wasn't algae and instead was a marble. Well, shows how much I know. 2 weeks ago the mushroom detached from the "green marble". I grabbed it out of the tank and realized that, although it was very firm, it had a little bit of give to it. It felt kind of like a gel capsule like you might take cold medicine as. I held it over the sink and squeezed harder. It popped and green liquid spilled out of it. So it must have been a form of bubble algae, which I have seen before in tank pictures, but never touched. It never occured to me that it would be so hard. Weird.
http://www.bravehold.com/jravsml.gif

[Cox]

JustFin, I'm a little late on this, but I just read through your post. Hope the 10 gal's coming along OK, I just started one myself about a month ago. I just wanted to comment on your glass cover that you mentioned and the black hinge blocking some of the light. I had the same issue and also didn't like the idea of this blocking the light. You can actually remove this hinge and you will end up with 2 separate pieces. I actually like it better this way anyway, it gives more flexibility compared to having the hinge and the shadow issue is gone. Hope this helps.

[JustFin]

Originally posted by Cox
You can actually remove this hinge and you will end up with 2 separate pieces. I actually like it better this way anyway, it gives more flexibility compared to having the hinge and the shadow issue is gone. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the tip! :D When I didn't like the shadow I stuck the glass cover in the closet and forgot about it. The light has been sitting over the open top ever since. Of course now the acrylic light cover has a coating of salt/minerals around the outflow of my Aquaclear filter and needs a vinegar soak bad. I just assumed the hinge was siliconed or glued on in someway and didn't even mess with it. I will give it a shot since cleaning glass is a lot easier than cleaning this acrylic cover.

What kind of light are you using over your 10?

[Cox]

I'm using the Current USA Orbit 2x40 PC fixture. I'm very happy with it.

[JustFin]

Impulse buys
9-24-05
Its looking like these updates are going to be a once a month event. The tank is constantly changing but there in never enough time to type updates.

The biggest changes were the new additions. Back on 9-15 I picked up 3 new zoos and a purple yuma. I purchased them from Chad at gatewayaquatics.com through some of his ebay auctions. This is also where I purchased my Deep Forest zoos from. Out of these 5 purchases the only problem I have had is with the Raging Fury zoos below. Their were around 9+ polyps on the frag when I got them, but most of them melted/disappeared. The remaining 4 took almost a week to open. But not every frag is going to take transport well, so I'm pleased that my losses haven't been greater. Just this week I spotted what looks like a new polyp forming on the edge of the Deep Forest colony. So my corals are not just surviving, but growing! Maybe I'm doing something right. ;)

http://www.bravehold.com/jr3zoos.jpg
From L to R: Golden Eyes, Green Envys, & Raging Fury zoos.

http://www.bravehold.com/jryuma.jpg
Purple Yuma

Another notable event- this past week we witnessed our first spawning event. I was watching the tank and noticed what
looked like smoke puffing out from a rock. On close inspection I could see it was coming from one of my stomatella snails. Then 2 other stomatellids raised up off their rocks, almost like they were standing up, and started spitting bubbles. Well then I put 2 & 2 together and realized the "smoke" must have been sperm and the "bubbles" were eggs.
So, as my wife so gracefully described it, we had just watched "snail porn". :rolleye1:

More LR was also added to the tank about 2 weeks ago. We finally aquascaped the 75G and had one piece of Tonga branch that didn't seem to look natural anywhere we could place it. I had room for it in my nano, so I placed it on the right side of the tank where it would fit without having to adjust everything else. Now my aquascape looks really unbalanced, but the 10G is getting moved to the bedroom in about a month & I will be reaquascaping then. It was already a mess from the Turbo knocking all the rubble around anyway.

Finally, I did a bad bad thing. I made an impulse purchase. And one thing I've learned through my research in all the reef books and message boards is don't buy anything without a plan. Ooops!
You see, Wednesday my wife had some errands to run and that took us by one of the local fish stores. So I decided to stop in "just for a look". Well, I spotted an absolutely beautiful bicolor angel. It was a small juvenile only a little over an inch long. It was alert, investigating all corners of the tank, picking at the decorations looking for food, had no signs of parasites or infections- every positive sign you'd like to see in a fish before you buy it. And it was only $14!

Now a bicolor angel is on my "must have" fish list, BUT for a future FOWLR tank I was planning for our living room. Buying one
now was NOT part of the plan. So guess what happened.....

http://www.bravehold.com/jrfts922.jpg
"Desmond" the bicolor angel showing you his best side in a full tank shot.

The advantage to having him in the 10G for now is that it makes it much easier to observe him and make sure he is eating.
The big disadvantage is that he could find out he likes the taste of zoos or xenia and start munching. But the 75G I've been working on for my mom is now cycled, so in an emergency, either the fish or the corals can be moved to the 75 or the 75's refugium. So far he hasn't bothered any of the corals when we are observing. And they are all open and happy so I'm pretty sure he isn't "tasting" them when we aren't around. And, for anyone curious about where we got the name, he is named "Desmond" because we brought him home the same night as the Lost season premiere. If you are a fan of the show then you know where the name comes from.

I realize this was a no-no, but I weighed that against whether I would ever see such a healthy specimen of one of my must-have fish at such a reasonable price.
I'm a weak weak man.

http://www.bravehold.com/jravsml.gif

[vanmo92]

fish and corals look great. you are doing an extrodinary job with that setup.

[nano_angel]

Nice Tank! I just got my first tank last night. My boyfriend got it for me for my birthday. It was a used tank, so it came set up with some liverock and a few corals but it's way cool so far... and I got two crabs and some snails and a flame scallop tonight. I am going to add slowly too... but sometimes those desmonds are just destiny huh?


Good Luck with your tank... hope that hermit stays happy with the shell he has!:eek1:

[K9]

Originally posted by JustFin
Buying one now was NOT part of the plan. So guess what happened..... We've all made mistakes (impulse purchases) in the beginning, but just be ready for flames from other users about that Bi-Color angelfish. Especially in a 10g tank. At least you're conscious that it was a mistake to buy it. Perhaps you should return it now that you're clearly aware that it was a wrong move.

IMO, it was unadviseable to buy it just because it was one of your "must-have" fish and it was only $14. Since you only have a 10g tank, you need to put some smaller, hardier species on your "must-have" list. A Bi-Color Angel doesn't belong on that list. I've said my peace. Best of luck with whatever you decide :D.

[JustFin]

Originally posted by K9
IMO, it was unadviseable to buy it just because it was one of your "must-have" fish and it was only $14. Since you only have a 10g tank, you need to put some smaller, hardier species on your "must-have" list.

K9- I've read many of your posts and your advice is always conservative and sound. But you incorrectly stated that I only have a 10g tank. As I mentioned in my post above, I also have a 75g tank with 80+lbs. of cycled liverock and a 20g fuge w/ chaeto and no fish. Granted this tank is in my mother's home & not my own, but moving the bicolor to her tank would be much less stressful to the fish than taking it back to the LFS where it was also in a 10G with no LR and sharing it with other fish. A 75G tank is a perfectly adequate home for a 6" fully grown bicolor. As I'm sure you know, bicolors can be picky eaters, so having it in the 10G makes it much easier to offer it foods and observe what it will eat. If I had it in that big 75G all to itself, it might never try the offerings because it would have a hard time finding them. This is the same reason when your are trying to observe and feed newly born fry you don't put them in a very large tank because it makes it much to hard to keep an eye on them and for them to find their food source.

Yes, I was chastising myself for buying the fish at a time that was less than convenient and not when I planned, but if I didn't think I had the time, space, or ability to give this fish a good chance of thriving I would not have purchased it at all.

If you are curious about my actual stocking plans for the 10G, I plan on choosing among tank-raised neon gobies or a tank-raised dottyback since its aggression wouldn't be a problem in a home to itself. Both are small, hardy, & no impact to the environment because they are tank-raised specimens.

[JustFin]

Originally posted by vanmo92
fish and corals look great. you are doing an extrodinary job with that setup.

Thanks!:) I don't know about "extraordinary" but I'm doing my best. My tank doesn't have the eye appeal as other nanos in this forum with more corals, but some of the best looking tanks I've seen weren't packed with lots of frags, but instead had a few types of coral that were allowed to grow in over time. That is what I'm shooting for- but with my color variety coming from different color variations of the zoos.

I appreciate the encouragement! ;)

[JustFin]

Originally posted by nano_angel
Nice Tank! I just got my first tank last night. My boyfriend got it for me for my birthday. It was a used tank, so it came set up with some liverock and a few corals but it's way cool so far... and I got two crabs and some snails and a flame scallop tonight. I am going to add slowly too... but sometimes those desmonds are just destiny huh?

Good Luck with your tank... hope that hermit stays happy with the shell he has!:eek1:

How big is your tank?

What are you doing to feed that flame scallop?
Here is a great link to learn a lot of information about them:
http://www.google.com/custom?q=flame+scallops&sitesearch=wetwebmedia.com

yes, sometimes those desmonds show up unexpectedly ;)

my hermit seems to have room to grow in his current shell, but once that is used up I wouldn't want to be one of the larger astrea snails in the tank :worried:

good luck with your tank, too ;)

[nano_angel]

My tank is a 12gal. JBJ dx 88w pc. I fed dts. The scallop is about the size of a quarter. When my bf and I first started dating over a year ago I surprised him with a scallop and it is now huge and looking beautiful a year later. We add dts to the tank twice a week... seems to keep him and the clams very happy and growing huge. We are going to rearrange my tank tonight or tomorrow eve... do you think the scallop would be happier in the big tank?

[K9]

Originally posted by JustFin
...you incorrectly stated that I only have a 10g tank. As I mentioned in my post above, I also have a 75g tank with 80+lbs. of cycled liverock and a 20g fuge w/ chaeto and no fish. Granted this tank is in my mother's home & not my own, but moving the bicolor to her tank would be much less stressful to the fish than taking it back to the LFS where it was also in a 10G with no LR and sharing it with other fish. Hey man, didn't mean any offense. So sorry. Guess I didn't read your post thoroughly enough. Glad to hear that you have a nice permanent home for that guy. I guess I only went overboard a bit because when I was in my rookie reefkeeping days, I put a Bi-Color angel in a 10g hex tank of all things! Then I wondered why it died a week later. I hope I didn't come across as too harsh. Best of luck with that beautiful guy and the rest of your setup! :thumbsup:

No hard feelings :D.

[JustFin]

Originally posted by K9

No hard feelings :D.

Ditto. :D Just wanted to clarify for anyone else that might read my thread and make the same mistake and hopefully avoid any flames. You are always welcome to post any advice on my thread you would like. One of the underated aspects of this hobby is all of the opportunities it provides for learning.

[JustFin]

Originally posted by nano_angel
... do you think the scallop would be happier in the big tank?

I would say that if your bf has kept one that long and it is still doing well then he is the best person to guide you. Just keep a close eye on the little guy. One of the best things we can do for our fish and corals is to watch them closely for 15-30min at least everyday. That's easy to do when everything is new and exciting, but kind of gets tough when life gets hectic. You can avoid lots of problems by making sure to keep an eye on things daily.

I spotted your thread earlier and hope you will post some pictures when you get your final aquascape put together.
Good luck! :rollface:

[nano_angel]

Thanks actually i don't have a digital cam so as soon as I can get the cd from walmart i am anxious to see how they do but i gotta fill my camera up so soon.... ANYWAY... thanks .... hey what kind of fish are you considering... I am kinda wanting a coral banded shrimp what do you think?

[clown fanatic]

i was reminded of this thread when the other day, at my 10g tank at school i saw some hydroids. it was so cool today because we actually managed to spot a tiny jelly fish and i captured it, along with a hydroid with an eye dropper and looked at them under an magnifying glass. very cool stuff! if you have an magnifyinf glass laying around i you should try it out.

[JustFin]

Originally posted by nano_angel
.... hey what kind of fish are you considering... I am kinda wanting a coral banded shrimp what do you think?

I'm leaning toward a Rainfords goby, blue neon goby, or an orchid dottyback

Like you I've also thought about just having a shrimp as my "feature" animal. Only thing is every time I see shrimp in tank pictures they are always hiding in a back corner or cave.
Of course, maybe they just don't like having their picture taken. ;)

[JustFin]

Originally posted by clown fanatic
very cool stuff! if you have an magnifying glass laying around you should try it out.

Ours is always within arms reach of our tank! :thumbsup:
Some of the most interesting things to watch can only be seen with a magnifying glass- like the other night I watched a clear flatworm eating copepods as it slid along the tank glass. Does your classroom have access to a microscope? I'm sure the detail you could see with one would be even cooler.

After setting up a 75G I now appreciate the more intimate views I get with my little nano. In a big tank you can keep larger corals, fish, etc. but you miss a lot of the interesting little stuff going on.

[clown fanatic]

yes i meant to say microscope haha. we also looked at a tiny copepod under the microscope and it was pretty cool i must say.

[Ronald]

Hey great tank! I look forward to more pictures. I recomend a microscope if you can get a good binocular scope mounted horizontal with a stand and camera port that is ideal. Don't waste money on too much magnification though, depth of field gets really limiting with too much mag. Check out some of my micrographs from my old 72 g bow front atthis site (http://homepage.mac.com/ronaldalberico) Keep us up to date with pics !

Ron

[JustFin]

Originally posted by Ronald
I recomend a microscope if you can get a good binocular scope mounted horizontal with a stand and camera port that is ideal. ....Check out some of my micrographs from my old 72 g bow front

Wow, nice pictures of an equally nice tank, Ron. ;) If I have the funds someday I will definately look into one of those scopes. I'm sure it would open up a whole new world.

[JustFin]

Just a brief update- one week after getting Desmond and he is still looking good. Hasn't seemed interested in the frozen brine shrimp or broccoli I offered him. (Yes, broccoli. I read in another thread that some bicolors love it and it helps their mainly herbivorous diet.) But he eating a frozen food called "Emerald Entree" made by San Francisco Bay Brands. It is a big relief to see him eating some food. I will continue offering him different choices so that hopefully I can get him used to a variety.

[Ronald]

Thanks for the positive feed back on my old setup. Unfortunately I had to break it down for the move. (I sold all critters back to the store) I look forward to starting a 10g nano.

I look forward to seeing more pictures of your nano.

Go Desmond!

Ron

[MalawianDude]

is it me or does that angel just look freakin tiny in that 10g tank?

very cool setup!

[JustFin]

Originally posted by MalawianDude
is it me or does that angel just look freakin tiny in that 10g tank?


Yeah, he's pretty small, otherwise there is no way I would have him in a 10G. Hopefully he keeps eating and I will be moving him to his larger home in a few weeks.

http://www.bravehold.com/jrdesi.jpg
here is a better picture of him... notice I said "better" not a good picture

I've taken probably 60+ pictures of him and only 3 were worth saving. I knew taking good clear pictures of fish would be tough, but not next to impossible. :(

[WarEagleNR88]

wow thats a colorful little fish you've got there. I bet he's gonna change colors when he gets older. they're cute when they're little babies like that little guy.

glad to hear you'll be upgrading his living quarters!

and yeah i have a hard time getting pics of fish too. good luck in the future!

[JustFin]

Originally posted by WarEagleNR88
yeah i have a hard time getting pics of fish too. good luck in the future!

Thanks!:thumbsup:

[JustFin]

Well, it has been 7 months since my last entry. I wanted to come back and post to let others know the fate of my tank. So many of these threads get started during the setup months, but there are so many that end without any follow up.

My 10G tank ends bittersweetly. I've learned that nanos require more daily care than I can give. The worst news was that Desmond was lost. He was in good health for a month and a half after I bought him and eating well, but then in a 24 hour span he took a turn for the worse. Losing him ate up most of my enthusiasm and the tank started to be neglected. My regular weekly water changes turned into biweekly and then monthly. Cyano got worse and seemed to hamper the growth of the zoos. Finally, I gave up in December and moved the zoos, xenia, and mushroom to my mother's 75G, put most of the liverock in the 75's sump/refugium, and broke down the 10G. Currently it is being used as a quarantine tank for new fish & corals for the 75G.

The good news is that all of the corals except for the green zoos are thriving in their new home. The mushroom was accidently torn during the move and each piece regenerated. And one of those has since split on its own, so now they are a small colony of 3. The xenia has been carefully place on a pinnacle of rock, so even though it has multiplied, it is is staying contained to one spot in the tank.

My conclusion is that when others tell you to go as big as you can when it comes to tank size, they are absolutely right. But when I started my 10G that was the best I could do, so I don't regret starting it. I gained lots of experience from its short existence and it inspired my mom's purchase of the 75G that I now maintain for her. I now have a basement and plan to setup a much larger tank when my funds allow.

Just thought I would share my conclusion in case anyone can learn from my experience. :)