Jimbo's 6gal Nano Diary

[Jimbo327]

Well, I'm going to chronicle the setup of my 6gal nano reef tank.

I purchased the tank setup from a local reefer named Steve G. aka dragon79. It is a modded JBJ 6 gallon nano tank that is probably 1 - 2 years old. It has three 18watt PC lights in the hood with 2 somewhat loud cooling fans.

Currently the tank has a deep sand bed, a large piece of live rock, a couple cleaning crew, and a frag of frogspawn with misc. zoos. It is pretty much empty.

My goal for this tank is simplicity. I want to have only ricordias and select zoos in this tank, along with a few shrimps. I will be removing most of the sand bed over time, I just don't like having the detritus in the sand.

I will post pictures when I get home.

My upgrade priority list is:

1) Auto topoff
2) Get good surge protector
3) Hide all the wires
4) Sand Removal / Filter Sock Installation
5) Silence the fans
6) Chiller

[Jimbo327]

Got home yesterday and the tank looked fine.

I want to explain why I got the modded 6 gal JBJ NanoCube from another local reefer (getting out of the hobby) instead of buying a new one. First of all, I got a great deal from the seller because it included the JBJ stand and misc. equipment like window scraper and 50w heater. But the main reason is that I'm too lazy to do all the techy modifications to the tank, which I feel will cost me much more money because I'll probably screw it up and wind up destroying the tank. So I left it to the professionals, and the seller told me it was modded at nanocustoms. Cool. Less work for me. So we drained 1/2 the tank water, and I drove the tank home. Easy and very portable, which is great if I need to move it.

All I did so far is fill the tank back up with Instant Ocean saltwater. The only thing that concerns me right now is that a few spots of purple corraline algae have turned white. I'm going to throw away my old bucket of IO salt, and go buy a fresh bag of IO salt and do a water change tonight. I'm going to increase the salinity in the tank higher as well.

I'm also getting a zoo frag from a local reefer tonight.

The one thing that jumps out at me so far is that it is quite difficult to keep the 6gal tank in balance with such a small tank and no auto top-off. I'm looking at the RC's For Sale section for good deals on an auto top-off.

[Jimbo327]

Here are the initial tank photos. Your not going to see much, took these pictures right after I moved the tank home and re-filled the tank back up.

Tank after setup and filling back up.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2093.JPG

Tank on the JBJ Stand.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2100.JPG

Modded Hood with 3 PC Lights and some fans. 2 white light and 1 actinic. I haven't put them on a timer yet.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2094.JPG

3 Different Chambers in the Back of BioCube Tank.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2095.JPG

Removed Sand from the Tank.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2099.JPG

[Jimbo327]

I got some pictures of the living inhabitants in my tank.

Here is a Hermit Crab picking at the Rocks.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2104.JPG

A snail cruising the sand bed.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2101.JPG

A head of Frogspawn. I kept it on the sand, but it looks like it wants more light.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2102.JPG

Some Red Macro. Not sure what it is, but I like it.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2103.JPG

That's about it for now.

[Dr.FuManchu]

Nice tank, looks like you are off to a great start. One suggestion though. Put that heater in a back compartment, it is very distracting in the main display area.

[Jimbo327]

Haha, don't worry, the heater will go in Chamber 3 when I get my auto top off installed in chamber 3 as well. I'm waiting for Marine Depot to get the Tunze in stock. I haven't started cleaning up the tank wire yet, so everything will be in the back compartments.

I want to get the tank parameter's stable before I start putting in more corals and shrimps. I bought a frag of Zoo yesterday from a local reefer that I plan on growing it on the back of my tank. The Zoos opened up 5 minutes after I put it into the nano. Most of the rocks will be reserved for ricordias.

Now I need to find some blue ricordias to fill this tank.

[ALIFER]

Good luck with your NC6.
I’ve had one for 1-1/2 years & I’ve been very happy with it.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a350/rick92008/DSCN8683.jpg

-Rick

[drummereef]

Looks great!

[Jimbo327]

Picked up a brand new Tunze Osmolator this afternoon, so I don't have to worry about auto top-off anymore. The unit cost me $185 after tax. It is a lot pricier than most top offs, but I think some equipment (for a nano) needs to be top of the line, and this is one of them.

At a local fish store, I picked up a tiny blue Florida ricordia, a pink zoo frag (~10 polyps), and a yellow coco worm. I know I overpaid for some of the items, so I won't be doing any more business with this LFS unless I have to. There are better deals out there to be had, I was just impatient and bought it all in 1 place when I was actually just trying to buy a bag of salt. Haha.

I picked up a bluish zoo frag (2-3 polyps) from a local reefer.

Will be transferring a couple ricordias from my other tank (which I'm taking down).

COST SO FAR:

Used tank & stand w/ misc equip: $100
Tunze Osmolator: $185
Livestock(LFS): $54
Livestock(Reefers): $15
Bag of Instant Ocean Salt: $12

Total: $366

Dang this is adding up pretty fast. :mad2:

[psidriven]

Hey, since you're local, I have some corals if you want to swap.

[Jimbo327]

OK, I got home and set up the Tunze auto top-off in chamber 3. It took a bit of work to fit everything in there, I dropped a screw into the chamber and almost got my hand stuck in the chamber trying to fish it out. But after a bit, the Tunze was installed.

Tunze Osmolator in Chamber 3 of the nano. There are actually 2 sensors installed. One is a optical eye sensor to see if the water level gets too low, then it will start the pump to refill and keep the water level constant. The 2nd sensor is a safety float type for the high level, it will shut off the pump if the water level goes too high in case the optical eye sensor malfunctions.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2113.JPG

Pink Zoos. Hot.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2114.JPG

Here is another shot of the frogspawn at night, not as inflated and the purple tips come out more.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2115.JPG

Blue Florida Ricordia. Pricey and Tiny. It is probably half the size of a dime.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2116.JPG

Yellow Coco Worm. Not sure why I got it since I have to feed it. Just got caught up in the shopping spree moment.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2117.JPG

Mixed Zoos.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2118.JPG

At the moment, I'm not going to trade any frags because it is still too small and I want my nano to develop. And I don't want too many types of frags in my tank, I hate the look of tiny little frags scatter around the tank, I'm going to let mine grow and fill out a bit before I start trading. I'm just going to keep it simple and open.

I will not be adding anything to this tank until next year, then I will be on the lookout for sexy shrimps. And I'm trying to keep an eye out on an used 1/15 hp chiller, if anyone knows where to get one cheap or know someone getting rid of theirs, hit me up. And I'm also trying to assemble the parts needed for a DIY project to keep my tank stable. More details as it unfolds. :D

[REDDAWG43]

nice work.... Keeps us posted.

[edwing206]

nice tank. got anymore pics?

[Jimbo327]

Right now, I'm just posting shots of the initial tank setup and keeping a log to document the steps. I'll be using this log in the future to remind myself for the PC bulb changes and maintanence. I'm notoriously bad at remembering dates and times.

When the tank is finally stable and all the frags are in the right places, I will probably just do a weekly whole tank photo.

But as of right now, the Tunze osmolator is working great. I checked the water level this morning and it is spot on. One less thing for this lazy bum to do. Sweet.

[ALIFER]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8793457#post8793457 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jimbo327
I'll be using this log in the future to remind myself for the PC bulb changes and maintanence. I'm notoriously bad at remembering dates and times.
NanoPlanner is a new widget for Macs and PC's & is FREE!
http://www.current-usa.com/nanoplanner.html

[Jimbo327]

ALIFER,

That's a pretty sweet website. Thanks!

[Jimbo327]

Just got back from my week long vacation, and the tank looks just fine when I got home. The glass was a bit dirty from some algae growing on it. I'm seeing a haze develop on the back of the tank, so I'm hoping it is coraline algae developing.

The frogspawn has really stretched itself out and getting bigger by the day, and it is trying to attack the pink zoo's...so I had to move both. I will need to start aquascaping the rockwork soon.

I really want to install a chiller for this tank so I don't have to worry about the summer and the crazy Southern California electricity bills. I'm not sure if I should get a 1/15 or 1/20 hp chiller. My room can probably get up to 100 degrees F in the summer so the drawdown has to be pretty efficient because I don't want the chiller to be constantly running.

And I also bought a dosing pump for $32 shipped from Ebay to play with. I want to automate even more stuff, so I don't have to do it.

[Jimbo327]

I think the coralline algae is really taking off in my tank. Most of the tank's back wall is starting to look greenish, and I can see signs of red/purple/pink coralline algae growing on the back of my tank.

And here is the secret to get good coralline growth: Stability!

Since I don't have fish, SPS/LPS, clams or other calcium sucking inhabitants...it is easy to keep the calcium and alkalinity stable. So all I have to do is worry about salinity and temperature and trace elements. I plan on doing a small water change to try to keep the trace elements in balance in the tank and export nasties nutrients (bad algae can quickly smother the growth of coralline algae), and continue to foster coralline growth until I can get a solid layer growing.

[ALIFER]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8878665#post8878665 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jimbo327
I really want to install a chiller for this tank so I don't have to worry about the summer and the crazy Southern California electricity bills. I'm not sure if I should get a 1/15 or 1/20 hp chiller. My room can probably get up to 100 degrees F in the summer so the drawdown has to be pretty efficient because I don't want the chiller to be constantly running. Here you go
JBJ Nano-Arctica Chiller Group Buy (http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=106921&hl=)

It's funny, because I try hard not to have coralline algae grow in my NC6. I like the clean looks of the black background, it gives the illusion of depth (that goes away when the background is covered with coralline)

[Jimbo327]

I know what you mean, the black background gives it a deeper look. I like the coralline algae because i know my tank is healthy just by looking at it, and I plan on growing corals on my background...so it doesn't really matter.

A lot of people like to lean their rockwork on the background because it gives them more space to grow their corals, but I like the open feel so I will only have an island rockwork.

[shag26272]

Nice work. Heres a pic of my NC6. I dont know what I would do without my Auto topoff either, its the best thing ive ever bought

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b350/tereebarkburner/000_0026.jpg

[ALIFER]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8906295#post8906295 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shag26272
Nice work. Heres a pic of my NC6. I dont know what I would do without my Auto topoff either, its the best thing ive ever bought

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b350/tereebarkburner/000_0026.jpg
Hey shag26272
I'm guessing you don't just have stock lighting, your tank looks really bright & you have a clam.

[shag26272]

70w MH its been set up a year so far

[Jimbo327]

Shag,

Nice tank. Need a chiller with that MH on that baby?

Makes my PC lighting very inadequate. Haha. I've learned to work with less, and just stick with the PC lighting as I don't plan on owning clams and SPS.

[shag26272]

No chiller, it stays at 78 Degrees theres a UV glass on the reflector and then there is a space and another large piece of glass with a fan in the space, the MH didnt cost much more then PC's and you dont have to change the bulb as much

[Jimbo327]

Well, I'm going to post a couple more pics of my tank. It's been a few weeks, and some bad algae is just starting to grow. I'm going to do a small water change later.

Here is the full tank shot. You can see the algae growing on my magnet cleaner on the right side of the tank. The Macro is really growing well, and the frogspawn is beginning to dominate my tank...I might have to trim that back.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2305.JPG

Here is a shot of the frogspawn. I moved it higher in the tank, but as you can see, it is starting to attack the zoo's on the left of it.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2307.JPG

Here is the Red Bubble Macro. Grows like weed. You can see the growth with the previous picture I've posted.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2306.JPG

Here is the picture of the back of my tank. It is getting some Coralline algae starting to grow, but I think some nuisance algae is competing with it.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2308.JPG

Without a skimmer, the only way to export nutrient is to either grow macros in the back chamber with an additional light or water change.

[Jimbo327]

It's been kinda hot lately. And one of the biggest reasons I downgraded to a 6 gallon nano was due to the outrageous electricity costs (heat and cool) in Southern California.

Yesterday, I purchased a 1/15 hp JBJ mini chiller at a LFS. And an additional Mini-jet 606 pump with extra bulkhead & fittings. I will need to buy some 1/2 inch tubings for the connections and order a couple new PC bulbs online as well. I do not plan on running my home central A/C while I'm at work, so I decided to oversize the chiller because my place can get up to 90 to 100+ in the summer.

The tank is pretty much the same. Have been busy at work and have spent zero time with the tank. To be honest, I'm surprised nothing died with my lack of attention to the tank. Aiptasia was spreading a bit, and I've spent the past week nuking them with Joe's Juice. Hehe. I still have a dosing pump in the closet for about 4 months now that I'm thinking of putting it to use.

Here is an update on the running total of the tank.

COST SO FAR:

Used tank & stand w/ misc equip: $100
Tunze Osmolator: $185
Livestock(LFS): $54
Livestock(Reefers): $15
Bag of Instant Ocean Salt: $12
Dosing Pump: $30
1/15hp JBJ mini chiller: $325
Mini-Jet 606: $20
Tubing & Bulkhead: $15
New PC bulbs: $50

Total: $806 :eek2:

The chiller was a big ticket item, but like I said before, some things you can't skimp on if you live in these hot conditions. I'm guessing most people have more than a couple hundred in their tanks just in corals. And most reefers don't know how much $$$ they have spent in their tanks, and it really surprises you when you keep track of it like I did.

And I just glued my zoo frag to the background of my tank. It looks retarded right now.

[Jimbo327]

Hehe, after looking at my tank again, it is pretty empty looking from the front. I basically just threw what was left of my 55 gallon tank into the nano, and forgot about it for 4 months. I'm hoping to buy some Ricordia Floridas from local reefers next week, and make my tank have a bit more color and presentable. I guess a bit more aquascaping and cleaning up will help too. That is the goal for this weekend then.

[Jimbo327]

I decided to install the JBJ 1/15 hp chiller tonight. Here are some pictures. It involved drilling my tank with a dremel.

OK, let's get started. I started by draining about 3/4 of my nano's volume.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2387.JPG

I wanted the chiller return directly to the tank instead of the back compartments to increase flow. So I decided to attach an elbow barb to the 1/2" bulkhead.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685ChillerInstall2.jpg

I took the gasket from the bulkhead and placed it on the area I want to install it.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685ChillerInstall3.jpg

Then I took a nail and traced the inner circle of the gasket. That is the size of hole I need to make.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685ChillerInstall4.jpg

[Jimbo327]

I used a drill bit on the dremel.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685ChillerInstall5.jpg

Then I drilled a starter hole.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685ChillerInstall6.jpg

I change the drill bit to a diamond grinding bit.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685ChillerInstall7.jpg

After some shaky grinding, I made a crude looking hole that I had marked.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685ChillerInstall8.jpg

[Jimbo327]

Inserted the bulkhead through the hole from the back of the compartment.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685ChillerInstall9.jpg

Attached the other end to a MiniJet 606, and placed it in compartment 1.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685ChillerInstall10.jpg

Connected everything to the chiller, and it was ready to go.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685ChillerInstall11.jpg

Voila!

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685ChillerInstall12.jpg

[Ki4msb]

Sorry, excuse my noobishness, but do you have to change your water when you have an auto topper?



CAUTION: IM STILL LEARNING

[sperry]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9927362#post9927362 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ki4msb
Sorry, excuse my noobishness, but do you have to change your water when you have an auto topper?


Yes. The ATO replaces the water that evaporates keeping water level and salinity constant. When water evaporates only the water leaves, all the nasty stuff stays in the tank. Water changes remove the nasty stuff.

[amiricle]

very nice!

[Jimbo327]

Like Sperry said, you still need to do water changes if you have an ATO because only the water itself evaporate. The organics and nutrients are still in the tank, so the way to remove them is by a water change.

The ATO refills the water for you so your salinity in the tank is stable. When you don't top off, you salt concentration in the tank goes higher and higher because the water leaves and the salt remains in the tank.

In a nano, get a good ATO because it will save you the headache of topping off daily and keep you tank stable automatically.

[Jimbo327]

Crap. I woke up this morning, and my salinity was at 1.019 and my tank temperature was at 77F. The Tunze osmolator was pumping cool fresh water into my nano. I shut the ATO down until I can figure it out, and I'm glad I checked the tank this morning or my tank could have wiped. The Tunze has a backup shutoff.

I'm glad this is probably the last equipment I'm going to add to this nano. Going to get some corals and livestock, and just let the tank do its thing for awhile. I don't think I wanna spend too much more money on this nano as I already have. :lol:

[Ki4msb]

Thanks. To my suprise, I think I am learning more on these forums then books, although, I have not read many, just the ones that cover the basics.

[sperry]

Why did you install the bulkhead backwards?

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685ChillerInstall9.jpg

Doesn't this tube get pinched with the hood is closed? What are the sponges for?

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685ChillerInstall11.jpg

[Jimbo327]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9933037#post9933037 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sperry
Why did you install the bulkhead backwards?

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685ChillerInstall9.jpg

Doesn't this tube get pinched with the hood is closed? What are the sponges for?

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685ChillerInstall11.jpg

I decided to install the bulkhead backwards because it takes up less room in the back chamber. Remember this is a 6 gallon, and I have my heater/ATO sensor/Overfill sensor in the same chamber, so it's very tight back there. Also the stock pump tubing is also in the way. I can always install it the other way if I wanted to in the future, but I figure the coraline algae is going to cover everything anyways. This gives me a better directional flow the way I wanted it too. I wanted a circular laminar clockwise flow within the tank, I don't want random flow.

And yes, the tubing does get pinched a little bit. I had to cut a hole in the back of the hood to fit the tubing. I'm thinking of a better way.

The sponges are to prevent any fish or snails to jump into the back compartments.

[Jimbo327]

I was going to pick up some new ricordea floridas this week from a local reefer, but he was sick so I'm gonna have to wait.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2387.JPG

Hehe, in this image, you can see the white spot in the middle of my black background. That is actually from superglue. I took my zoo frag and glued it onto the background. But it fell off because I made the mistake of using the regular superglue and not the gel version. The gel version is so so so so much easier to use and sticky underwater.

I did some rock aquascaping last night and reattached the zoo frag onto my background. Haha. I'll post a picture when I get the ricordeas from the local reefer, probably next week. I know some people don't even like coraline algae on their background, and here I am superglueing corals to my background. Crazy!!! Haha. :lol:

[Jadams]

you should superglue some to the front glass too....LOL :beer:

[Jimbo327]

In a 6 gallon, there is only so much real estate. The background gets tons of light and good flow. People think I'm coo coo, but if I can I would love to glue some ricordeas to the background as well or put a sunken ship/statue in my nano. Hehe.

I think people are going to catch on, and it'll be a trend. ;) :bum:

I might do it to the side glass though...hehe. I kinda wanna see what the other side of the coral is doing anyways. It would be way cool to see. :D

I think I'm moving to a point where I've pretty much set up the tank with equipment (idiot proof it with automation). Now is the fun part of adding livestock and glueing stuff to the background. :lol:

[Jimbo327]

Just changed out my carbon and phosphate remover in a bag (chamber 1), hopefully, that will clear up the water a bit.

I'm still perplexed as why my coralline algae has not covered much of the rocks and background. :mad: I'm going to have to track my calcium/alk levels better. And I think I need to start changing out the lights, I've set aside a budget of $50 to replace all three 18w PC bulbs. I'm thinking of going with:

10k, actinics, 50/50.

A LFS is running a buy 2 get 1 free this week, so I'm hoping they have 18w PC bulbs in stock.

Zapped 4 more aiptasias in my tank today, god dang those suckers grow so fast.

[Jimbo327]

Well, no pictures yet.

I haven't gotten the Ricordea Floridas from the local reefer because I can't get in touch with him. And my order of sexy shrimps are delayed as well because the LFS cannot locate any from his supplier. The 18w PC bulbs are not here either, so basically nothing came in.

While searching for the 18w PC bulbs in the LFS, I saw a goby pair in their display tank. Very cool, so now I'm thinking of getting me a pair.

On top of all that, my heater doesn't seem to be keeping up at night. Every morning, I check my tank's temperature and it is too low by 1-2 degrees. This is something new and unexpected since it is a 50w heater. I may need to move my heater from chamber 3 into chamber 1 because the chiller pump in chamber 1 is basically bypassing chamber 3 through my newly installed bulkhead, and not allowing the heater to do its job.

[Jimbo327]

I bought a couple new ricordea yumas from a LFS this weekend, it was an impulse buy because I won't be getting any new ricordea floridas from the local reefers until another 3 weeks. No shrimps or anything else in sight, so I caved in and bought some really pricey, but nice yumas at the LFS.

COST SO FAR:

Used tank & stand w/ misc equip: $100
Tunze Osmolator: $185
Livestock(LFS): $54
Livestock(Reefers): $15
Bag of Instant Ocean Salt: $12
Dosing Pump: $30
1/15hp JBJ mini chiller: $325
Mini-Jet 606: $20
Tubing & Bulkhead: $15
New PC bulbs: $50
Ricordeas (LFS): $115
Berghia Nudibranch (Reefers): $15

Total: $936

And I'm hoping to get 3 sexy shrimps when they show up for ~$30 on a previous deal. And 7+ ricordea floridas for ~$105+. These are the expenses I think I will pay in the near future. If these 2 orders come in, then I will be at $1071 total. I'm more interested in seeing my upcoming electricity bill in the summer. Hopefully, it will be low.

My aiptasia population has exploded in my tank. I can't zap it fast enough, and I think they are dropping babies to counter my zapping. I really need a aiptasia eating nudibranch or peppermint shrimp. And I added a bunch of loose crushed shells to my sandbed.

[Jimbo327]

Changed out 2 of the bulbs (10k and actinic) yesterday from the hood. Waiting for the 3rd bulb to come into the LFS so I can pick it up.

Did a small water change today as well, nothing really to mention, less than 0.5 gallon. Scrapped the glass, and my snails loves it. They just pop out of the sand and start roaming, same thing happens when I feed the tank. I took an inventory of what is in my tank and got the scientific name for them.

My current living inhabitants are:

1 Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crab (Clibanarius tricolor)
1 Electric Orange Hermit Crab (Calcinus elegans)
1 Nassarius snail (Nassarius sp.)
2 Super Tongan Nassarius Snail (Nassarius distortus)

I'm still looking for some sexy shrimps and pom pom crabs. I don't think I want a pistol shrimp any more.

[psidriven]

Try Tong's and Pacific Reef in Fountain valley. I know it's a drive, but thats' where I got my pom and sexy.

[Jimbo327]

Hey psidriven, good to see you drop by, thanks for the heads up.

I checked out a few LFS today: Tong's, Pacific Reef, and OC Aquatic to look for some Pom Pom crabs and sexy shrimps.

Tong's had 5 sexy shrimps in there, but I already told Frank @ CFC that I will order 3 from him, so I'm going to keep my word. Hopefully, he gets them in shortly.

Then I got 1 pom pom crab from Tong's, but the crab was missing his pom pom anemones. :mad: So I drove to OC Aquatic, and got another pom pom crab with his pom poms (which they also lowered their prices to price match), so since he was so cool, I decided to get a rainfordi goby at his store.

Here are a few photos of them. I doubt I will get better pictures when I put them in my tank.

Pom Pom Crab #1 {No pom poms} (Lybia tesselata)

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2425small.jpg

Pom Pom Crab #2 {With pom poms :D } (Lybia tesselata)

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2424small.jpg

Rainfordi Goby (Amblygobius rainfordi)

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2427small.jpg

I sure hope the goby will eat flakes.

[Jimbo327]

COST SO FAR:

Used tank & stand w/ misc equip: $100
Tunze Osmolator: $185
Livestock(LFS): $54
Livestock(Reefers): $15
Bag of Instant Ocean Salt: $12
Dosing Pump: $30
1/15hp JBJ mini chiller: $325
Mini-Jet 606: $20
Tubing & Bulkhead: $15
New PC bulbs: $50
Ricordeas (LFS): $115
Berghia Nudibranch (Reefers): $15
2 Pom Pom Crabs (LFS): $20
Rainfordi Goby (LFS): $18

Total: $974

[Jimbo327]

This morning, I dropped some flakes and pellets into the tank. The Rainfordi goby started backing up and was afraid of the flake drifting down into the tank. :lol: It didn't eat anything I fed....dang it. These gobies are notorious for being picky eaters, kinda like angels. Most of the Rainfordi gobies just slowly starve to death.

I can see a pinch in the stomach, so I know it is probably hungry. Not sure what would draw a feeding response from this fish. I have a plenty of pods on the glass and background, so we'll see how it goes.

[Spartan081]

Jimbo, try frozen mysis or brine.

[Jimbo327]

Spartan,

Yeah, I'll give those a try.

BTW, I just fed some crushed flakes and pellets to the tank. I think the goby just ate some of it. I can't be 100% sure, but I swore he swallowed a few suspended flakes/pellets. I'm going to observe for a few more days before I claim success. Hopefully, it didn't just breathe and sucked in a few flakes. Hehe.

:bigeyes:

I might get frozen mysis for all the corals and other inhabitants in the tank.

And I read online today that the red grape macroalgae that is in my tank is actually rare and hard to find. I've been just chucking these things in the trash when I do a pruning. Haha. :lol:

[Jimbo327]

Hmmm....

I definitely need more Ricordea Floridas to make my tank look decent, but it will probably be another 2 weeks before I get some from a local reefer with the connections. :D I really do hope that deal comes through because my tank is pretty bare right now.

I went to the LFS around the corner to pick up some fish food, and they had a new shipment of fish in. I didn't pay any attention to the floating bags because I just wanted to pick up some fish food. And then I overhear a lady ask what the shrimp and goby is doing in the same bag. There were 2 other pairs there.

So guess what I brought home, and it wasn't fish food...

I just got myself a pair of yashia goby and randall pistol shrimp (I hope my wife won't be ****ed off when she finds out I spent more money again on the tank):

:worried:

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12685IMG_2429Small.jpg

COST SO FAR:

Used tank & stand w/ misc equip: $100
Tunze Osmolator: $185
Livestock(LFS): $54
Livestock(Reefers): $15
Bag of Instant Ocean Salt: $12
Dosing Pump: $30
1/15hp JBJ mini chiller: $325
Mini-Jet 606: $20
Tubing & Bulkhead: $15
New PC bulbs: $50
Ricordeas (LFS): $115
Berghia Nudibranch (Reefers): $15
2 Pom Pom Crabs (LFS): $20
Rainfordi Goby (LFS): $18
Tubing (Ebay): $10
Yashia Goby w/ Shrimp: $50

Total: $1034 :worried2:

[Jimbo327]

I dropped both the Yashia Goby (Stonogobiops yasha) and snapping shrimp (Alpheus randalli) into the tank late last night after the lights went out. This morning, I checked the whole tank, the new yashia goby found a hole in the rock and all I see is his head. The new snapping shrimp is missing in action, I don't know where he is...and I'm kinda bummed. I'll give it a couple more days to see if the shrimp is just shy.

As for the Rainfordi goby, my god, he is a pod eating machine. He is gobbling up the copepods at an alarming rate. My whole background used to be packed full with pods, today, I can't even find one pod. He better get to eating prepared food if he wants to survive. I'm looking for some mysis and cyclopeese for food, but not too many people carry it locally.

The 2 pom pom crabs both have 2 pom poms now. :D I guess they split it amongst themselves, and they are so fun to watch. I even named them. Hanz and Franz. :beer:

[Jimbo327]

My new Yashia goby and pistol shrimp are MIA (Missing). It has been 2 full days, but they are nowhere to be found. :( I hope they are just hiding, but I don't even see the goby head sticking out of any burrows or holes. Others have said they have similar pairs that go a week before showing up. Hopefully, this is the case for me, and I didn't just waste a bunch of cash for nothing.

I just ordered some new test kits for alkalinity and nitrates. I have a feeling that my nitrates are high because I can see a thin film of red algae developing. This is probably due to the daily feedings I do. Also, I ordered some Seachem purigen as well to try to help. Mysis and Cyclop-eeze are on their way as well.

I need to do a decent water change fairly soon.

I'm going to try to find some macroalgaes that I can put into the tank to slow down the nitrates. But most stores do not carry them like corals.

[Jimbo327]

I went to a LFS named Coral & Fish Center after work to check out what they had, and I was surprised to find the 3 sexy shrimps I had ordered was waiting for me. I ordered these shrimps when the store had a buy 2 get 1 free sale. And the sexy shrimps are tiny. Thanks Frank!

Then I headed over to a local reefer's home to buy 2 exotic zoo frags, and I was basically broke after that. He threw in a free frag of green ricordia yuma which softened the blow. It is the size of a small pencil eraser, but I like it very much.

I acclimated everything in 2-3 hours, and introduced them into my tank just now. Hopefully, I'll see them tomorrow.

And the goby and snapping shrimp finally showed up 2 days ago after they finished building their burrow. They are fun to watch. And the large snails are ****ing them off because they like to bury themselves right in front of their burrow hole. I've seen the shrimp pinch the snail a couple times when he got too close to the hole.

So I need to get a couple of replacement bulbs, I'm thinking of buying online from nanotuners because all of the LFS around here do not carry them. Bummer.

UPDATED COST SO FAR:

Used tank & stand w/ misc equip (Reefer): $100
Tunze Osmolator (LFS): $185
Yellow Cocoworm, Blue R. Florida, Pink zoos (LFS): $54
Blue Zoos (Reefer): $15
Bag of Instant Ocean Salt (LFS): $12
Dosing Pump (Ebay): $30
1/15hp JBJ mini chiller (LFS): $325
Mini-Jet 606 (LFS): $20
Tubing & Bulkhead (LFS): $15
New PC bulbs (LFS): $32
2 Orange and 1 Grayish R. Yumas (LFS): $115
Berghia Nudibranch (Reefer): $15
2 Pom Pom Crabs (LFS): $20
Rainfordi Goby (LFS): $18
Tubing (Ebay): $10
Yashia Goby w/ Shrimp (LFS): $50
3 Sexy Shrimps (LFS): $27
2 Red Zoo, 2 Purple Zoo, 1 Green R. Yuma (Reefer): $70
Test Kits, Purigen, Prime (Online): $62
Extra PC bulbs (Online): $62

Total: $1237 :eek1:

I think I'm very close to finish stocking my tank, the only outstanding item left is the Ricordea Floridas deal that a local reefer is setting up. That should run another $100-$150. After that, the only money I will spend is for the sustaining of the tank unless something gorgeous comes up at a good price. Besides, the wife is near shutting down my access to the bank account, and I can't really blame her. It is adding up way too fast.

[Jimbo327]

1 Berghia Nudibranch was successfully launched at 3:02 PM PST. Aiptasia targets beware. :lol:

[Eklikewhoa]

Any updated pictures?

[Jimbo327]

I'll try to get an updated pic. The nano is pretty empty right now because I'm waiting for some Ricordea Floridas from a local reefer. So I've saved up all the prime locations on the rocks for these ricordeas, but the ricordea shipment is being delayed from his source...so I got a bare rock in my tank. :lol: That's the problem with nanos, gotta use the available real estate wisely.

And the photo gallery space limit for Reefcentral is very small, and I'm close to filling it up. So I have to look for another website to host the pictures. Any recommendations would be welcome or another reef website would be considered.

[Slakker]

www.imageshack.us is where I upload all my pictures.

I'm thinking about the costs of my tank...and I'm certainly not brave enough to add up the total costs.

I look forward to new pictures!

[Jimbo327]

Thanks for the heads up on imageshack. Any expiration on the image?

Yeah, it's frigthening how much these little things cost.

[Slakker]

You know...I'm not sure if the images expire or not. None of mine seem to have, but it's highly possible.

[Jimbo327]

So yesterday, my red yuma looked really bad, he was pushing out brown "stuff" from his mouth. I decided to go ahead and do a ~1 gallon water change and change out the carbon and phosphate remover from chamber 1. Then I swapped out the final PC 18w light with a new bulb.

The water looked really yellow, I think I have been overfeeding the tank.

So here is a FTS before the water change and maintenance. As you can tell, not much artistic talent. The hair algae is growing very well...hehe. And the zoo frag I superglued to the background is amazingly still there. The big empty rock to the right is reserved for some Ricordea Floridas. Praying for local reefer's GB shipment to arrive soon

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1275/548479589_a390ce4d69_o.jpg

[Jimbo327]

BTW, I'm hosting these photos on Flickr. So far so good. Unfortunately, my work blocks the imageshack site for some reason.

10k question. Can you grow and keep zoo's under PC? Let's find out. Here's what they look like when I got them. Hopefully, it'll grow for me and keep their color.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1307/548479601_ae91dff0b0.jpg

[Jimbo327]

SEXY. Better known as Larry, Moe, and Curly.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1173/548479639_630c69f483_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1006/548479621_7dbd4ddf66_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1387/548479607_5c0491df70_o.jpg

[Jimbo327]

Yashia and Pistol. You don't know how hard it is to get a decent picture of them. These still came out pretty poorly. They move so much, it's hard to get a clear photo. Here is the best I can do.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1108/548427806_e21321d121.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1403/548479649_a1846ec95b_o.jpg

[flyelephants]

ur tank is amazing. i friggin love it!

[Jimbo327]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10151936#post10151936 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by flyelephants
ur tank is amazing. i friggin love it!

Wow. Thanks for the compliments. Really appreciate it! :D

My red yuma is really going through different phases this week, it started contorting and now it is more pink. This red yuma used to be hot pink, but then turned red. Now it's going back pink. Weird.

[Jimbo327]

Grrr....

The dosing pump I bought from Ebay was not functioning properly. I took it apart, and the gears are not aligned correctly. Well, that's $35 in the pump and another $10 in tubing...down the drain. No wonder it was so cheap.

I'll try to go to Home Depot and get some tools to try to fix this pump. I'm going to have to use my dremel to cut new slots and tap new threads into the metal holder to get it aligned correctly.

Why can't things just work right when you get them??? sigh.

The tank goes nuts every time I feed them mysis and some plankton. My red/pink yuma is still acting very strange, it has shrunk down to half its original size and contort itself throughout the day. :confused:

[JOSE CASAS]

:) :) :)

[Jimbo327]

I think my red yuma is melting. :(

Everyday, it is getting smaller and I see a clear slime near its foot. This has been going on several days and the mouth is gaping. I'm not exactly sure what happened to caused it.

[Jimbo327]

My first death of the tank. 1 of 3 sexy shrimp has gone missing for a week, and I don't think it is molting anymore. So I'm going to declare him as dead. I'm bummed.

On top of that, my red yuma is on its way out as well, I can't stop the dying process on this coral. It really sucks because I haven't changed anything, it's in my nano since day 1 and in my previous tank for 3+ years. It was 5 inches across and just decided to shrivel up, and slowly die. It's really hard for me to watch it get worse and worse. :(

Perhaps, I should get some zoos instead of ricordeas.

[Tyler.L]

i had a yuma melt and i can tell you i am more on a budget than you are. i'm on disability, and my girlfriend left me and is pregnant..i have a 12g with 2 clowns and doing the pistol/goby combo after i got rid of my evil royal dottyback. get some green star polyp definatly quick way to get some color in the tank also with zoo's. take like $100 every month and save it and upgrade or save X number of dollars a month just for coral fund..but keep it quiet from the wife then when you go to buy something show her the money then run out and get stuff with smile on your face works well!

keep up good work man!

[Jimbo327]

It's a good thing my wife doesn't read this thread. Haha. She has no idea how much I have already spent on this tank (hell, I don't even feel it and would have no way of knowing if I hadn't keep track of it here), and I'm sneaking in corals a bit at a time as to not trigger any alarms, and go into total lockdown mode. If you were to ask me how much I had spent on the tank off the top of my head, I probably thought $600 max. :rolleyes:

So I know exactly what you are saying.

I don't really like GSP and xenias, they tend to take over the tank over time. Maybe I'll get some cloves if I can find some. I'm going to get a couple good zoo's and just let it grow into colonies.

The goby w/ shrimp is a cool pair, but you will hardly see them. Most of the time, the goby will be out and the shrimp will make a cameo if the burrow gets blocked.

[kh6sat]

Beautiful tank. You guys are getting to think about getting a nano.

[Jimbo327]

Man, you live in Hawaii, I would definitely own a tank in Hawaii. No shipping necessary.

BTW, I bought some new zoos from a local reefer that might be getting out of the hobby. He had a gorgeous 20g tank. And I got some good looking zoos like AoG, Goochsters, Watermelon, and Pink zoos.

And seems like there is an influx of hot looking yumas to the LFS, so I snatched up 2 orange ones. There are pink ones as well, but I don't want to deal with them for now, too risky in my tank.

Then finally I got my package of test kits and cyclopeeze from an online store after a long delay. On top of that, they forgot to include one of the cyclopeeze container...doh! Now I gotta go back and email them about it. Let's hope they ship it out quick.

I tried to fix my dosing pump, but instead broke a thread tap in the hole I was trying to drill out. Anyways, I ghetto rigged it. These dosing pump needs to be soldered to override some of the safety features for medical use. Will have to do that later.

And all my aiptasia seem to be GONE. That little nudibranch may be doing its work covertly because I have never even seen the nudibranch after I put it into my tank. I want to catch it and pass it along. But I can definitely say, they work, and work very well.
:cool:

UPDATED COST SO FAR:

Used tank & stand w/ misc equip (Reefer): $100
Tunze Osmolator (LFS): $185
Yellow Cocoworm, Blue R. Florida, Pink zoos (LFS): $54
Blue Zoos (Reefer): $15
Bag of Instant Ocean Salt (LFS): $12
Dosing Pump (Ebay): $30
1/15hp JBJ mini chiller (LFS): $325
Mini-Jet 606 (LFS): $20
Tubing & Bulkhead (LFS): $15
New PC bulbs (LFS): $32
2 Orange and 1 Grayish R. Yumas (LFS): $115
Berghia Nudibranch (Reefer): $15
2 Pom Pom Crabs (LFS): $20
Rainfordi Goby (LFS): $18
Tubing (Ebay): $10
Yashia Goby w/ Shrimp (LFS): $50
3 Sexy Shrimps (LFS): $27
2 Red Zoo, 2 Purple Zoo, 1 Green R. Yuma (Reefer): $70
Test Kits, Purigen, Prime (Online): $62
Extra PC bulbs (Online): $62
2 Red, 2 Pink, 1 Watermelon Zoo Frag (Reefer): $43
2 Orange Yuma (LFS): $75

Total: $1355

[Jimbo327]

Forgot to add that I put about 125ml of Purigen in Chamber 1 yesterday as well.

[Jimbo327]

It's Friday, and I'm bored at work.

So here's the projects I'm planning on doing to the tank when I get the chance.

1) I'm going to mod the dosing pump by soldering the wires to bypass the no flow error. Then install the dosing pump to drip limewater into the tank.

2) I'm going to scrape the back wall of the tank, and installing a LED bar as a Chaeto refugium in the second chamber. So this would require that I remove the rubble LR...which I will probably throw it into the tank. I would also have to buy the LED bar and some sort of housing, and the chaeto.

I feed too much into the tank, and desperately need more nutrient export. Also, the Rainfordi goby really likes to eat live pods, he has single handedly decimated the pod population in my tank, so hopefully, the pods have more room to hide in the refugium with the chaeto.

[neverwouldof]

nice setup!

[Jimbo327]

Thanks Keith.

I tried modding the dosing pump over the weekend, and it took me 4 hrs, and I still cannot get it to work properly. I did the "no flow" mod on the pump, and got that to work. But the peristaltic head on the pump is very poorly designed, it doesn't hold the pressure for the liquid to move through the tube.

Oh well, I think that is all I can do. I don't know what else I can do besides getting a new pump. I can try modding the pump head, but that is a long shot.

So no limewater dripping for me then. :mad2:

[Jimbo327]

I went to the LFS and saw the new JBJ 28g with HQI, it was a pretty sweet setup. A little big for my taste, but it was pretty nice except the skimmer. The skimmer looked really flimsy and going to fall apart any time.

And I also did some water testing 2 days ago.

Alk was at around 10 dkh, and the nitrate was at less than 1. That's pretty good, I thought I had high nitrate because of my constant feeding the fish and shrimps. Hehe. They are pigs.

So maybe I don't need a refugium, but I already bought the LED light bar. It was super bright, I'm very pleased with it. And I think it will grow macro very well. However, I need to change where I mount my tunze osmolator sensors and other wirings. I can imagine harvesting chaeto will be a pain if I don't move things out of the way from chamber 2. I will need some filter floss to block the chaeto from moving into the other chambers, and I plan to raise the water level in the back a little bit.

Oh, and I need to figure out how to mount this light. Hmm...

[Jimbo327]

My giant red ricordea yuma has completely melted away. :( I'm not exactly sure why, but once it started, I had no chance. And that yuma has been in my keeping for over 3 years. I'm heartbroken.

I did a pint of water change this morning because the yuma death caused some cyano and HA to grow even more.

I used some lemon juice to shoot some aiptasia that has popped up. Works great.

And I have given up that I will ever get the Ricordea Floridas from the local reefer. Haven't heard anything for the longest time.

[Jimbo327]

RIP Red Yuma. :(

Here is the last FTS when it was still alive. But it is no more.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1347/713847290_c795fb9b2d_o.jpg

[Jimbo327]

Here's the goby and shrimp again. They seem to be moving to different burrows every night.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1227/713847304_bbb6bbd703_o.jpg

[Jimbo327]

Got the LED light bar last week. Went to Home Depot today and found some galvanized steel shingle, then I folded it in half and made a reflector type of housing for the light bar. I used some velcro to hold it in place.

The LED light is mighty bright. I think chaeto will grow back there.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1258/713847368_ee27304c26_o.jpg

Then I used a razor and ruler to score the back of the tank. The vinyl was peeled off to expose the glass of Chamber 2.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1431/713847398_f047bdda52_o.jpg

So far so good. Afterwards, I used some electrical tape to mount the shingle mount onto the back of the tank.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1124/713847406_0cbc482d9e_o.jpg

Voila. Done. Here is what it looks like from the top of Chamber 2.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1400/713847424_61ba244ef4_o.jpg

All I need to do now is get some chaeto, and decide if I should light it 24/7 or do a reverse daylight schedule. Not sure...hmmm.

The light cost me $30 with shipping and the shingle reflector cost me a whopping $0.44. I got the tape from my toolbox.

:rollface: :rollface: :rollface:

UPDATED COST SO FAR:

Used tank & stand w/ misc equip (Reefer): $100
Tunze Osmolator (LFS): $185
Yellow Cocoworm, Blue R. Florida, Pink zoos (LFS): $54
Blue Zoos (Reefer): $15
Bag of Instant Ocean Salt (LFS): $12
Dosing Pump (Ebay): $30
1/15hp JBJ mini chiller (LFS): $325
Mini-Jet 606 (LFS): $20
Tubing & Bulkhead (LFS): $15
New PC bulbs (LFS): $32
2 Orange and 1 Grayish R. Yumas (LFS): $115
Berghia Nudibranch (Reefer): $15
2 Pom Pom Crabs (LFS): $20
Rainfordi Goby (LFS): $18
Tubing (Ebay): $10
Yashia Goby w/ Shrimp (LFS): $50
3 Sexy Shrimps (LFS): $27
2 Red Zoo, 2 Purple Zoo, 1 Green R. Yuma (Reefer): $70
Test Kits, Purigen, Prime (Online): $62
Extra PC bulbs (Online): $62
2 Red, 2 Pink, 1 Watermelon Zoo Frag (Reefer): $43
2 Orange Yuma (LFS): $75
LED Refugium light (Ebay): $30

Total: $1385

[Jimbo327]

Since my dosing pump has failed me, I will need to add limewater through the top off. This is not my preferred method, but it is better than nothing. The only problem is if somehow the tank is very low on water and too much limewater is added, this would create a disasterous pH swing. (I need to make sure I shut off the ATO during water changes, or it is going to be a big problem)

So since I have the Tunze Osmolator as my ATO, I might as well DIY the limewater container. No need to pay Tunze the big bucks for something I can do myself.

Just ordered a 48 oz. Nalgene sealable large mouth container from Nalgene for $11. Hope to add it online when I get it in the mail.

And I will be dropping by a local reefer's house after work today, and trading some of my red grape macroalgae for some chaetomorpha for my new refugium in chamber 2. Looking forward to it. And I'm planning to do a much needed water change with glass scraping and tank maintenance. May need to modify my Tunze Osmolator ATO sensors holders to get it out of the way of the refugium as well. It's going to be a long night, and I didn't even get any sleep last night. :hmm1:

I'm battling a little bit of the cyano and hair algae. Hopefully, some of the things I'm incorporating will help this out.

[Jimbo327]

Chaeto is finally in.

Scraped the glass, and tons of cyano came off the glass. I syphoned as much out as possible. Finished a good water change. I may do a smaller one tomorrow because the cyano is really bothering me, I don't like it one bit. A skimmer would be great, but there is no room for one.

The refugium is alive, and hopefully the chaeto will grow and take out the microalgaes.

So the majority of the rubble rock came out of chamber 2, and I tried to add it into the main display. It was all white rock, and dead looking because of being the darkness for so long. I decided to re-aquascape, I did the best I could in the dark as it is already 1 AM in the morning.

And while I was at it, I glued 3 more frags of the zoos onto my background and nozzle. It looks ridiculous right now. :rollface: I guess I'll see what it looks like when the lights come on tomorrow.

[Jimbo327]

Whoa. One of my pom pom crab duo (Hanz and Franz) is carry eggs. I see an bright orange sack under the belly. Or he's just stocking a lot of the cyclopeeze I've been feeding the tank. :lol:

I noticed it last night right before lights went out, I will try to get a pix.

I'm very very happy right now.

:dance: :beer: :celeb3: :celeb1: :celeb2: :beer: :thumbsup:

[Jimbo327]

It is weird. My water became milky, cloudy, hazy for the past 2 days. I did a large water change, and it helped a little bit. Not sure what the cause is.

The hair algae seem to be dying back as well. And I cleaned out the return pump, it had a lot of blockage from tbe shavings from my hole drilling previously. Now I am getting a ton of flow from my minijet 606.

[Jimbo327]

Oh well, last night, I was tweaking with my tank yesterday, and spilled about a quart of tank water on my rug. :mad: So needless to say, I did a small water change to fill the tank back up. Also I scraped the whole background of the tank and re-glued the zoo frags on the background for a better hold. I'm using a new method of glueing. The ROAB method.

--> Frag / Glue / Aquamend Epoxy / Glue / Wall

It works really really well, so I even re-aquascaped the rockwork and used aquamend epoxy with super glue gel to stick the loose rocks together. I need to pick up more super glue gel. My old method of using superglue gel only underwater failed miserably, I keep knocking my glued frags over when I'm sticking my hand in the tank.

While I was at it, I changed out the carbon and phosphate removers in chamber 1.

And this morning, with only the actinics on, the pom pom crab that is carrying the eggs are around and about, so I took some pictures. I'll upload them as soon as I get a chance. I wonder how long they carry the eggs? :D

[Jimbo327]

Well, here is the Pom Pom crab carrying eggs. See the huge orange mass under its belly? I wonder how long it takes them to release the egg. This crab is larger in size than the other Pom Pom crab.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1048/843918974_b6a6662a80_o.jpg

Here is a side profile of the proud mommy! :D

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1196/843918994_edf5e03129_o.jpg

:beer: :dance: :beer: :bigeyes:

[cherubfish pair]

Jimbo, I'm thinking of getting a 6NC. Do you think an IceProbe would be enough to cool it?

[Jimbo327]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10362819#post10362819 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by the cattleman
Jimbo, I'm thinking of getting a 6NC. Do you think an IceProbe would be enough to cool it?

Hi Cattleman,

I have never used an iceprobe, so I don't have any experience with it. Sorry. But I did take a look at it before I got my chiller. First, it doesn't fit in the NC6, so drilling will be required. And it will need to stick out of the tank.

But from my research, I think an iceprobe is probably good for at least a good 5F cooldown. So if your ambient temp. is going to max around 87-88F and low humidity. I think it will work. But this can be said about fans blowing across the water as well. This is all my opinion since I have not used the product.

Jim

[Jimbo327]

I'm planning on hooking up a limewater dispenser with the Tunze Osmolator, but on my 6 gallon nano, I'm worried it might increase the pH too quickly. So I'm trying to think of ways to slow down the pump. So I decided to ask the Tunze folks directly at their subforum.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=10366769#post10366769

Let's see what my options are when they respond.

[Jimbo327]

Very cool. Got a response to my Tunze Osmolator question already. I can't say it enough, Tunze has great customer service and their response time is fantastic. I can't say enough good things about the Tunze osmolator either.

So I will be hunting for a small gate/ball valve to slow down the tunze osmolator pump output.

I will DIY a limewater dispenser, but it will definitely be not as good as the Tunze one. And if I don't like how mine performs, I will have no hesitation to buy the Tunze kalk dispenser.

[Jimbo327]

Simple DIY Limewater container.

OK, so here's all the parts you need. The main part is the $10 Nalgene big mouth container.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1162/882546357_e0e8b29400_o.jpg

Then I took the 2 nipple fittings from extra maxijet accessories. And used a Tetra air check valve.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1256/882546377_04a5c4912d_o.jpg

Drill the bottom hole with the same size as the nipple fitting.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1380/882546523_579f265961_o.jpg

Insert nipple fitting. Perfit fit. :D

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1198/882546543_63d1f4288b_o.jpg

Drill the top hole like this, and insert nipple fitting as well. Then use super glue or epoxy to seal both of the nipple fittings to the container.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1334/882546563_20854a0cfe_o.jpg

Then I found this maxijet holder, I used a couple zip ties and secured it onto the maxijet holder.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1217/882546587_8275863337_o.jpg

Add the check valve to the bottom fitting via tubing, make sure the flow is going to the right direction into the container.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1265/883403324_0a31376d19_o.jpg

Voila. Done.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1220/883403416_630f262c65_o.jpg

I added a ball valve to slow down the flow before it went into the container. I have a 6 gallon nano, and didn't want the flow to go too fast. Add lime and it is ready to go. So far, it is working pretty good. I'll see how it performs in a month before I decide to keep it or go with the Tunze version.

Hope yall enjoyed this episode of DIY. :lol:

[Jimbo327]

UPDATED COST SO FAR:

Used tank & stand w/ misc equip (Reefer): $100
Tunze Osmolator (LFS): $185
Yellow Cocoworm, Blue R. Florida, Pink zoos (LFS): $54
Blue Zoos (Reefer): $15
Bag of Instant Ocean Salt (LFS): $12
Dosing Pump (Ebay): $30
1/15hp JBJ mini chiller (LFS): $325
Mini-Jet 606 (LFS): $20
Tubing & Bulkhead (LFS): $15
New PC bulbs (LFS): $32
2 Orange and 1 Grayish R. Yumas (LFS): $115
Berghia Nudibranch (Reefer): $15
2 Pom Pom Crabs (LFS): $20
Rainfordi Goby (LFS): $18
Tubing (Ebay): $10
Yashia Goby w/ Shrimp (LFS): $50
3 Sexy Shrimps (LFS): $27
2 Red Zoo, 2 Purple Zoo, 1 Green R. Yuma (Reefer): $70
Test Kits, Purigen, Prime (Online): $62
Extra PC bulbs (Online): $62
2 Red, 2 Pink, 1 Watermelon Zoo Frag (Reefer): $43
2 Orange Yuma (LFS): $75
LED Refugium light (Ebay): $30
Nalgene container & parts: $15
Zoo Frag pack (reefer): $170

Total: $1570

[ezcompany]

so you put the kalk powder in the nalgene? pump basically pushes water from the bottom of the bottle, through the nalgene, and out the top? how much kalk is placed in the bottle?

[Jimbo327]

Hi EZ,

You can put quite a bit of kalk into the nalgene container. I say at least 10 tablespoon or more. And you need at least 2 tablespoon of kalk per gallon of freshwater to allow for full saturation. So that should be good for at least 5 gallon of topoff, which is like weeks for me. After the 5 gallon, just refill the nalgene with fresh kalk for another 5 gallon.

Yes, the water is pumped into the nalgene from the bottom and the saturated limewater/kalk is pushed out the top of the nalgene to your tank. This is possible because the nalgene is sealable from the top, and therefore is pressurized when more liquid is pumped in. It works because I already tried it. The wide mouth allows easy input of kalk powder when you need to refill. There is no need to put the bottom fitting too low because you don't need excess mixing, the undissolved kalk will dissolve when new freshwater is pumped in because it wants to react saturation. It's a balance thing.

This is a much better solution than putting the pump in a bucket full of kalkwater because the pump doesn't get messed up from the solid and the corrosive nature of the limewater. And you can use the freshwater whenever you want. If you are using on a nano, I would think about putting a small tube ball valve before the check valve to slow down the top off. My flowrate is slow.

Pump --> ball valve --> check valve --> kalk dispenser

Let me know if you have any other questions about this mod or any mods.

[Jimbo327]

Just bought a new coco worm from a local LFS called OC Aquatics. The store had it on fire sale for $40, so I had to snatch it up. Acclimated it and put it into my tank. It opened up immediately, but I will wait until tomorrow to take some pix. :D

[oh monti !!!!!]

Man my friend is starting up a 12g and we ran across your thread and we both agreed that your tank looked great but man your cost is scary!!!:eek: Man i know i have seen some of that stuff alot cheaper do you have no control? $1600 in a 6g lol looks good but dang slow down!! the longer i waited the better deals i have found on everything i have wanted are you just rich? if so will you just send me some frags if i have to I guess i will even pay for shipping :) great ideas you have though and great colors:eek1: congrats

[Jimbo327]

Yeah Monti,

You are definitely right, I'm getting a little out of control in my spending. I will make an effort in slowing down but it is difficult to pass up on sweet deals. And I'm just working a job with decent pay like everyone else, so I put a lot of my earned pay into the tank. And I know in the very near future, my tank will be full, and I will not be upgrading. So I will be very limited.

And if you look at the expenses, the chiller and top-off is like $500 (1/3) of the whole expense so far. That is a huge chunk right there, and I'm not sure how much you can save on JBJ chiller and Tunze top-off, I've looked on the classifieds for a few months, but nobody wanted to sell theirs, and these 2 equipment are really critical to the upkeep of the tank. I'm trying to run this tank for years and years, so that is why I bought the top of the line chiller and ATO. If you don't believe me, try putting a WTB ad for the chiller and Tunze ATO, and you won't get a response for months. I would have loved to have saved some money buying used equipment.

I bought the used tank, modded hood and stand for $100...which is a bargain. All of the premium livestock are basically bought on sale, but if I had bought them at retail, my expense would be over $2000 easily as I do shop around.

But the truth is that most nano's have at least $1000 into them, they just don't keep track of it because they are scared of what it will really look like. Most people buy a new nano, and it'll run them $300. Stand $50. Pump mod $25. Modded Lighting $150. ATO $100. Food and Test Kits $75. Live Rock and Sand $50. Corals $200. Fish $75. Salt and additives $100. Light Bulbs $50. Timers/Heater/Refracto/Misc $75.

So how much does that add up? $1250 without chiller and other mods. :eek1:

But I promise you, there will be a huge drop off in spending in the very near future. (Unless a ricordia sale comes along or my wife puts the clamps down. :lol: )

[oh monti !!!!!]

I've spent about $500 on my 24g including livestock. I bought the tank setup and going for $200 with just a little live stock and have bargain shoped everything else. Well i did start fragging a little and traded some with local reefers! I as well built a hood and installed a 70w mh with act blues. Even though i'm blowing u crap lol i just spent $65 on the biggest open brain i ever seen and three orange rics and one maroon mushroom. What im saying is i dont even have room for anything and im still spending money! All of those ended up in my friends tank. I love my nano but im setting up a 72g bow and im not sure if im going to keep the nano going. Like you said it would be nice if it was all self contained, and i wasn't going to dump my money into nano to do that because i just want more and more livestock lol. And i just feel sorry for everything because its just way to packed. Are you having any luck with your rics splitting? And your yuma are they growing well? The light on the back of your sump is it maintaining your cheato? :mixed:

[oh monti !!!!!]

goto my thread "let me know what you think" and check out start to finish. I did add a priszm skimmer i got for $25 from local reefer and it works really good but it sometimes it doesnt let me know if you see anything u might want to trade for in the future i have plenty to frag!

[Jimbo327]

Haha. Oh Monti. Do you have a running list of your expense written down? Because off the top of my head, I only have like $750 into my tank. :lol: You don't know how fast it adds up when you are buying the little things.

And this is not my first tank, so I know the pitfalls of not having a chiller and really good ATO. I've had my previous tank crash because of trying to skimp and save, used fans to cool and a cheap ATO. I just didn't like losing all of my corals and time in an instant.

I checked out your thread, it is very nice. I really don't have much input for it because looks like you fully stocked it and now will be transferring to you new 72 gal. I suggest you put an running expense list on your new tank, you'll be surprised.

And in my experience in trading frags with locals or anyone, it's hard to trade for stuff when you don't have nice stuff to trade. No one will trade with me if I offered some regular zoos for any of the good looking zoos. No one is going to trade me bright orange rics for some regular zoos. I've tried and those threads are like empty with no response. Sure, I can go to the LFS and spend $100 to completely fill my tank, but then I would be stuck with those corals for a long time. So the lesson is that if I want the good stuff, I gotta spend some money upfront on some good stuff, then I can have something nice in my tank and have something worthwhile to trade in the future. And I figured with my 6 gallon, I can splurge a little because it is going to fill so quick...at least I thought. :lol:

[oh monti !!!!!]

id trade with you once your rics split or some other stuff splits let me know ! i want to get ATO for my new tank what kind did you not like? I get tired of messing everything up everytime I put my hand in the tank thats y I'm goin with the biger tank! New 72g with stand and 29g sump both drilled I picked up for $100 plus about $50 worth of gas picking it up but dont care it was a great deal!!!! i'm goin to start a new post eventually and I will try to list every expense. Dont get to goto the ocean much so i'll just bring it home :) One vacation to Florida, hotel= 3nights $500, gas or plane flight= $150, food and beer= $200, fishing trip=$100, my tank= $600 and I get to see it everynight!!!! I think I'll go with the tank lol

[Jimbo327]

I look forward to the new tank, Monti. I chose the Tunze ATO because I thought it had the most safety features and the most sensitive to level changes. But it does cost like over 2 times the competition. I added a limewater dispenser in line with it, and it is wonderful and I don't have to worry about it...that's worth the price to me.

[Jimbo327]

I just received my large frag pack from a reefer in Florida. Needless to say, it was an adventure.

I went to the post office yesterday at 8 am to try to pick up the package before they put it in their trucks. But they told me it hasn't arrived in their facility yet. So I left and went to work, and planned to come back later to the post office. I left a message at my mailbox to drop off the package at my front door and asked the lady at the post office to hold it. While I was at work, I checked the tracking, and saw that it was delivered. I thought Great! I'll go home, and get the package acclimated. So I got home, and there was nothing, and I found the little orange "pick up" note stuck on my door. So I rushed to the post office before they closed and they couldn't find the package, so I had to leave because they were closing. These government workers close shop on the dot.

So I went back to the post office this morning at 8 am, and demanded to know where my package was. I was kinda ****ed because I really wanted the frags and it cost $$$. They went back there, and still couldn't find the package. After 10 minutes of searching, they came back with the package and said it was in the truck. I made a b-line to the door and straight home. The package was very very well packaged and the zoas look ok. Some of the other frags look kinda translucent. But I think most of the zoas look ok. I acclimated as fast as possible and dropped it into the tank.

One of the reasons I worry every time I receive something in the mail.

But at least I got the package, and hope every thing turn out ok. I'll update in a few days.

[oh monti !!!!!]

lets see what you got!!! :eek1:

[oh monti !!!!!]

man im telling you i will make you a good deal on some of my zoas the red and blues you see. have a nice piece with about 30 to 50 behind the big ones i need money for rock and lights for new tank and i will come off some the greensish yellow ones with bright centers let me know :eek1:

[Jimbo327]

I haven't even seen the new zoas open yet. I don't think it would be very interesting to see pictures of stressed closed polyps. If it wasn't for the awesome packaging by the reefer, I would have a bunch of slime in the bags and a huge hole in my wallet. The guy just did a incredible job of bagging and packaging. The zoas sat in the bag for 40+ hrs and the weather was over 100 degrees where I lived!!! :eek1: He threw in some freebies too, which I'm very excited to see what mystery frags I got. I think this is the best part about getting frag packs...the anticipation of the mystery freebies. I just hope everything survived.

As for trading, I'm looking for different ricordea morphs myself. I really can't handle any more zoas after this frag pack purchase, no room. I may even need to sell off some of the frags to make some room. :lol: Besides shipping is so expensive, this is probably my first coral purchase online for this nano. In my experience, it is probably better to trade locally or buy the frag from a LFS. It only makes sense to ship when you are getting a large package or getting something nice that nobody near you has or willing to trade you. Even then, I tried to split shipping with locals who are also interested.

[oh monti !!!!!]

you are so right I love the freebees I know my tank is absolutely packed but yesterday went to LRS and found another trumpet coral with about 8 heads for $10 it was a great deal that i couldnt pass up!!! so i bought that:lol: then my friend bought some very nice dark green striped mushrooms and I was giving him some frags and he decided to give me one of those also:eek1: My trumpet opened right away last night and started feeding, I put him right next to my other one with some epoxy I think they look good next to each other:eek2: Once i do my water change and throw in some carbon I'm going to get a bunch of new pics "cant wait" and ill throw my new open brain on here even though its not in my tank right now, i really dont even think that with most of my rock out of my tank he would fit in there hes freakin huge "$50" another good deal i couldnt pass on lol lucky i dont have a girlfriend or you know i would be cut off by now lol

[Jimbo327]

Water changed.

My frogspawn is getting bigger. The 3 original heads have all split, so I have 6 heads now.

And it looks like my microalgae is winning the war against the macroalgae. A skimmer would be nice, but there is absolutely zero space in back for it and I don't want an external sump. It must be my daily feedings and snacks that raise the nutrients too high in this little volume. Oh well, I like my fish fed and fat.

[Jimbo327]

UPDATED COST SO FAR:

Used tank & stand w/ misc equip (Reefer): $100
Tunze Osmolator (LFS): $185
Yellow Cocoworm, Blue R. Florida, Pink zoos (LFS): $54
Blue Zoos (Reefer): $15
Bag of Instant Ocean Salt (LFS): $12
Dosing Pump (Ebay): $30
1/15hp JBJ mini chiller (LFS): $325
Mini-Jet 606 (LFS): $20
Tubing & Bulkhead (LFS): $15
New PC bulbs (LFS): $32
2 Orange and 1 Grayish R. Yumas (LFS): $115
Berghia Nudibranch (Reefer): $15
2 Pom Pom Crabs (LFS): $20
Rainfordi Goby (LFS): $18
Tubing (Ebay): $10
Yashia Goby w/ Shrimp (LFS): $50
3 Sexy Shrimps (LFS): $27
2 Red Zoo, 2 Purple Zoo, 1 Green R. Yuma (Reefer): $70
Test Kits, Purigen, Prime (Online): $62
Extra PC bulbs (Online): $62
2 Red, 2 Pink, 1 Watermelon Zoo Frag (Reefer): $43
2 Orange Yuma (LFS): $75
LED Refugium light (Ebay): $30
Nalgene container & parts: $15
Zoo Frag pack (reefer): $170
Cocoworm (LFS): $40
Phosphate Remover & Micron Bag (LFS): $40

Total: $1650

[Jimbo327]

Yesterday. Water change.

And introduced a small bag of PhoSar into the back chamber.

Being fighting this hair algae in my tank. I may even cut back on my lighting duration this week. And I noticed that the LED light bar is not doing a good job of growing the chaeto as I would like, perhaps it is not in a good spectrum. I may just change into a cheapo yellow light instead for the fuge from Walmart.

And I think I found a new way of sucking out the detritus in my back chambers. Every water change, I'm going to use a filter sock on my return pump outlets and just pour the water change into the back chamber. This will stir up the detritus in the back, and into the sock as it is being pumped out. :D

[Jimbo327]

I went to the doctors today for an allegic reaction. I'm not sure if it is from the tank, I hope not. I will be washing my hands more carefully now after I get it wet, just in case.

Yesterday, in an effort to fight back the hair algae, I cut my photoperiod to only 8 hrs from 12 hrs. I kept the actinics at 12+ hrs like before. Hopefully this will still keep my corals happy, and kill some of the hair algae. And I plan on doing another water change soon.

My orange ric released from the rock it was on, and so I rubberbanded it to another rubble. Usually, ric releasing is a sign of stress. It did leave behind a part of its foot.

[Jimbo327]

After watching the Nass. snails for a good couple months, I've concluded they are horrible glass cleaners. They are very good sand surfers, and go after uneaten food on the sandbed like a cruise missle. Every time I drop a pellet into the tank, the place comes alive. I got Nass. snails popping out of the sand, the hermit crab are making a dash, the pistol shrimp is making a cameo with the yashia, the pompoms are running into position, and the sexys are shaking their butts...it's like when a director yells ACTION. But all that algae on the glass, and they don't even touch it. Perhaps, I'm feeding them too well that they don't see the need to clean my glass. :o :lol:

Next time I go to the LFS, I'm going to pick up some small turbos and astrea snails to do the job properly on the glass/back wall.

The water has been crystal clear lately. I turned up my minijet 606 to the max flow (previously set to low flow), and it is blasting my little nano. I'm loving it, no more slow flow for me.

[Shortie]

Nass. snails don't eat algea. They are carnivorous. I put 4 of them in my 30gal and ended up trading 2 of them for corals. They do help eat up leftover food though. I've found that cerith snails work really well for algea. They spend most of the day buried in the sand but all of them come out at night and cruise the glass.

[Jimbo327]

Thanks for the info.

I'm really hoping my next snail won't be buried in the sand. I already got 2 super Nass snails, and my goby/shrimp pair in the sand. I don't see them all day.

My next snails will be putting in some work during the day, and then I feel like they earn their keep. And I think it would be better to just get a snail known to be grazing all day long. I remember having turbos and astreas in the past, and they like to cruise the glass. I especially like watching the trail they leave behind, it has some amazing patterns.

[InLimbo87]

Great tank so far. Althought the price breakout has left me thinking how much I've spent on my 12g. You need to stop that before we all get depressed. :p

[Jimbo327]

Due to unpopular demand, I will be stopping the reef cost tally. Haha. :lol:

I guess it is time to go buy a couple new ricordeas then. And come to think of it, maybe a tang will take care of that hair algae problem I've been having. ;)

[InLimbo87]

I heard naso's do that quite well :p

[Jimbo327]

Hmmm..Imma git me a pair of them Naso's then. :)

Well, I got 1 astrea and 1 margarita snail yesterday, while I was at the store, I saw a tiny stick of small sun polyps in the $5 bin, so I got that as well. My wife likes Sun polyps, but doesn't do anything to feed them. But for $5, I threw it in the tank. I'm not going to target feed it. It'll just have to catch food from the water like the rest of the corals.

This morning, I caught my blue legged hermit trying to eat the astrea snail (he was really digging into the shell), and I didn't see the margarita snail. Stupid hermits. I seperated them. I didn't buy the snails for him to snack on, and I don't really need hermits. So if I catch him trying to eat them again, he's outta here.

[Shortie]

I feel the same way about the hermits in my 30. I'll prolly trade em eventually and replace with more snails.

[Jimbo327]

Hi Shortie,

I think smaller hermits are fine. And I think this hermit is too large, and he wanted the snail's shell, that is why he kept going back to the same snail. You should be fine with the scarlet hermits.

Now back to some updates:

This week, I sold a frag of my frogspawn and pink zoas for dirt cheap ($13 total), and gave away some red grape macroalgae & the large halloween crab as a freebie. :D

And the 2 new snails are doing a wonderful job of cleaning my glass, and definitely earning their stay in the tank. I see them 24/7 on the glass nowadays.

In the past few days, I also bought some ricordea floridas from a local reefer and LFS around me. The greens were a little cheaper than the orange ones. Overall, I'm happy with what I got.

And I've been fragging the corals from their plugs, and glueing them everywhere in my tank...background, surface skimmer, rocks, coco worm tubes, etc. I have used 4 tubes to superglue gel because it is so hard to keep it sticking to where I want it to. The ricordias absolutely just slime up immediately when you take them out of the water.

I sliced one of the orange ricordea floridas in half because it had 2 mouths, but I missed the cut it between the mouths. Oh well. Hope it heals back. And I've been toying with a new way to frag ricordea yumas, but it will take a long time. And the annual reef club event, RAP, is this weekend at Orange County. Both my wife and I are heading there and looking to find some corals/fish. It is going to be fun.

[Jimbo327]

Changed out carbon last night.

Also found a tiny little sundial snail in the tank. These eat zoas, so I immediately took it out of the tank. Hopefully, it didn't lay any eggs or it is just a shell.

Knocked over a bunch of glued frags when I stuck my hand in the tank. Use a couple small plastic containers to put the frags in. Trying to make it not so noticeable by glueing some crush corals to the side of the containers....haha...I ran out of superglue during the project. Will need to get more, and continue with project.

My ricordea prop experiment has started. The Floridas was cut in half a few days ago, and it is looking fine, it hasn't melted or anything. The Yumas are another story, so far it's not looking so great. The Yumas started to slime and melt, so I stopped for the moment, didn't want to take a chance with my $$$ yuma. And to think of it, why the hell did I start experiment with my high $$$ yuma in the first place. :mad2:

[Jimbo327]

Here's some photos, I had time on the weekend to crop these and update.

This is a FTS in July before my frag mounting fest. Most of my frags were just sitting on the sand before this.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1003/1176034596_0c1fb691ba_o.jpg

Here is the newest FTS this month after my glue fest. As you can see, the tank is pretty packed now. And I still have a ton of stuff sitting on my sand. And you can SEE the snails are doing a great job of cleaning up my background. BRAVO!
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1383/1175176519_e974fa13cc_o.jpg

And I took the glass cleaner out of the tank. I'm thinking to myself...ummm, why am I leaving this hunk of plastic in my nano when I'm not using it...dummy.

[Jimbo327]

Here is some new yumas I picked up at the annual Southern California reef convention yesterday called Reef-A-Palooza 2007.

Reefapalooza 2007 (http://www.reefapalooza.org/)

Here is a baby yuma I got for $5 from a reefer selling at the convention. It is a nice green with purple edge/base.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1226/1176035464_4b554c2631_o.jpg

Here is a salvage yuma I got for $10 from LFS Reefermadness at the show. It is completely ripped in half by the vendor who was selling it. So he sold it to me to try to raise it back to health, that's why it was cheap. Gorgeous mint green with purple base and tips. This one is very exotic looking. I hope it survives though.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1268/1175177127_6a53210864_o.jpg

Finally, caved in and got a light pink one as well. I walked the whole show, and most vendors were selling them for $100+. I paid $75 for this one from LFS Oscar's Exotic Fish at the show.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1256/1175177373_e2a2530eac_o.jpg

And with that, I'm done with buying corals. It is time to move into the next phase of the tank. Just sitting back and watching it grow, perhaps do a little pruning of frags if it grows too quickly.

[Jimbo327]

Updated cost so far:

Used tank & stand w/ misc equip (Reefer): $100
Tunze Osmolator (LFS): $185
Yellow Cocoworm, Blue R. Florida, Pink zoos (LFS): $54
Blue Zoos (Reefer): $15
Bag of Instant Ocean Salt (LFS): $12
Dosing Pump (Ebay): $30
1/15hp JBJ mini chiller (LFS): $325
Mini-Jet 606 (LFS): $20
Tubing & Bulkhead (LFS): $15
New PC bulbs (LFS): $32
2 Orange and 1 Grayish R. Yumas (LFS): $115
Berghia Nudibranch (Reefer): $15
2 Pom Pom Crabs (LFS): $20
Rainfordi Goby (LFS): $18
Tubing (Ebay): $10
Yashia Goby w/ Shrimp (LFS): $50
3 Sexy Shrimps (LFS): $27
2 Red Zoo, 2 Purple Zoo, 1 Green R. Yuma (Reefer): $70
Test Kits, Purigen, Prime (Online): $62
Extra PC bulbs (Online): $62
2 Red, 2 Pink, 1 Watermelon Zoo Frag (Reefer): $43
2 Orange Yuma (LFS): $75
LED Refugium light (Ebay): $30
Nalgene container & parts: $15
Zoo Frag pack (reefer): $170
Cocoworm (LFS): $40
Phosphate Remover & Micron Bag (LFS): $40
5 green/blue R. Floridas (LFS): $65
Reef Crystal Salt, Sun polyp, 2 snails (LFS): $28
2 Orange R. Florida (LFS): $38
1 Orange R. Florida (Reefer): $15
Pink R. Yuma, Mint Green Yuma, Purple Yuma, Bone Cutter (Show): $108

Total Cost: $1889

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Items sold:

4 heads of frogspawn, pink zoas: $13

Total Return: $13

:lol:

[reefer1024]

Keep it up you will make back your money in no time.

[Jimbo327]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10589490#post10589490 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefer1024
Keep it up you will make back your money in no time.

Hehe. I highly doubt that. I'll be happy just to sell a few frags for the maintenance fee like bulb changes and additives.

Anyways, I'm thinking of switching salts very soon. Going to change to Reef Crystals, which is just Instant Ocean with more calcium. I may just toss out my half bag of remaining Instant Ocean salt, it's too much hassle trying to bring the calcium up to my desired levels. :mad:

[gemini aquarius(t)]

nice tank, love all the rics

[Jimbo327]

Thanks! Mr. Mantis! I'm pretty much set up only for softies with my PC lights, so my choices are pretty limited to shrooms and buttons.

And I suck at taking pictures. I can never capture the true colors of my tank. I'm using a Canon G2, which is really old but takes decent pictures of outdoors. I just use the automatic setting on the camera. Anyone got any tips on taking good photos with this camera? With actinics on, my tank glows when looking at it in person, but when I take a picture...it is just all washed out in purple.

[gemini aquarius(t)]

ya actinic pictures are hard for just about everyone. i say stick to the regular light pics, and make sure the lens is up against the glass, the glass is clean inside and out(that why all my pics suck:)) and make sure to hold it REALLY steady foccus and shoot:)

hth

[Jimbo327]

Oh well, I will try to play with the camera a bit more.

This morning, my return pump was pumping very slow. Usually, the surface of my tank is ripping because I'm blasting a minijet 606 up via the nozzle. So I had to rip everything apart and saw a bunch of short loose chaeto plugging the intake of the pump. Took it out, and the surface immediately was rippling.

So now, I placed a small piece of filter floss in the small opening between the 2nd and 3rd chamber of the Nanocube. Seems to be working, and this will need to be cleaned every week.

And did a 2 gallon water change last night with the new Reef Crystal salt mix. All of the corals looked fine in the morning since I did it when the lights were out. I placed a small bag of rice into the bucket to help control moisture. So far so good. I plan to do more water changes in the next few days to get the new mix in. Normally, I don't suggest changing salts, I've done it in the past with IO --> Crystal Marine, and that was a disaster...I lost almost all of my SPS in my previous tank.

[Jimbo327]

Did another 2 gallon water change again with the new Reef Crystals salt.

And had to take out the filter floss because it was clogging badly. Need to figure out another way to stop the loose chaeto from going into the return pump. My idea is to wrap the whole minijet pump inside a screen door material to try to maximize the surface so the intake will not clog.

[Jimbo327]

I have been exchanging a cup of new Reef Crystal saltwater every day for the past week. Also, the salinity is slowly being raised to 1.0265 from the previous 1.024-1.025. Hopefully, this will boost a little bit more calcium into the system.

I'm confident that my ATO will maintain the salinity at this level because I've been keeping track of the eye sensor of the Tunze osmolator in action. It is very sensitive. And my modification with the ball valve had really slowed the ATO pump output to a drip.

In the past week, I'm seeing spots of coralline starting to deposit on my background and surface skimmer mod. The spots are still in its initial green phase, but eventually it will turn purple. And this is definitely coralline algae because it is circular shaped. Previously, I thought I had a lot of coralline on my background when I first set up the tank, but I've come to realize that was just nuisance algae because it developed in sheets.

[Jimbo327]

I'm seeing nuisance macroalgae and bubble algae on some of my rocks. I also saw like 5 aiptasia. It is really getting on my nerves.

I may dedicate this weekend to fight back these unwanted algae.

My plan:

1) Tweezer by hand as many bubble algae as I can get to.
2) Remove small rock with feather caluerpa looking algae, let it dry, scrub, vinegar, and boil it.
3) Kalk paste as many aiptasia as I can. Repeat next day.
4) Clean glass and hair algae growing on nozzles
5) Use bone cutter to remove rock area with weird stiff hair algae. Need a nice clean cut.
6) New Phosphate removing media.
7) Large water change.

I need to nip all of these problems in the bud before they get out of control.

[Jimbo327]

I came home to find one of my new purple yuma is melting. The mouth was completely open (not good) and it was starting to slime away. You can see the guts oozing from the body. I took the razor out and cut it. The chances are slim any will survive.

What a bummer. Because this one was sweet, but I knew it was not as healthy because the LFS I bought it from had really poor husbandry. He would take corals from tank to another tank without acclimation, and these tanks are not plumbed together. And dead fish everywhere. This is the last time I buy from that store. Just aggravates me.

While in my bad mood, I cut up another ricordia green/orange Florida in half because it was getting too big and fighting for light with my yuma.

I bonecut the zoa rock with the stiff hair algae. It is all clean now.

[Jimbo327]

Quick update.

Purple Yuma is completely melted. There goes my money down the drain, and a beautiful specimen dead.

I made up a big bucket of saltwater, getting ready for a good water change. Might even get a chance to zap a couple aiptasia in my tank. Microalgae is starting to take over the tank again, that probably means I need to change out my carbon and phosphate remover this week.

After reading a couple research papers on asexual reproduction of sea anemone, and also how their cells change during reproduction. These studies were fairly recent, the ones I read are from 2000 and 2005. It gives me an insight on how the different types of corals reproduce, and how one may not just use a razor to cut and expect results for all. Very interesting, and correlates well with what we know from just observing in our tanks. Now armed with this information, I can try other things that I've been thinking of doing.

[Jimbo327]

Tonight:

20-30% water change.

Shot 2 of the aiptasia with some kalk paste.

New PhoSar Media.

New Carbon.

Trimmed red macroalgae way back. Pulled hair algae manually. Cut coco-worm tube shorter, and moved coco-worm to left back corner of tank. Glued Rics Floridas to the main rocks. Glued some loose zoa frags to the main rocks and the surface skimmer.

[Jimbo327]

2 new yumas I picked up from a local LFS. Pricey, but worth it.

I also made a DIY refugium light following another reefer's design in this thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1215893

It turned out really well and easy. I just need to trim off that back piece on the socket there.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1343/1455355483_1ca2625f64_o.jpg

[Jimbo327]

Here's a couple shots of my zoas.

I know it has a lot of glare, but hey, I admit I'm a terrible photographer.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1351/1456221294_e71b2e75df_o.jpg

And I glue stuff all over the place.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1028/1455355237_c989e849b8_o.jpg

:lol:

[Jimbo327]

I traded some of the zoas in the previous post's picture for some blue zoas (tubs and spiderman) with a local reefer.

And he recommended a coral food called "coral frenzy". I've never heard of it, but I'm willing to try it if I can find it at the LFS.

[Jimbo327]

I checked my water yesterday.

Calcium at 380 ppm
Alk at 8.6
pH at 8.4

Not too happy about that, I really want to get the calcium above 400.

I pulled out a bunch of the chaeto macroalgae from the back chambers, it was packed. The new refugium light is really helping.

My stupid pistol shrimp kept pulling rocks (with zoa frags on them) to make his burrow entrance....hey buddy....this ain't the Taj Mahal! He is a great builder though, I gotta give him credit for his effort. Everything looked fine and thriving, I wish my coralline would grow faster.

And the temperature of my tank was 76.4F this morning, I was not too happy about that. Seems like my 50w heater's thermostat is not working properly. I cranked the heater setting higher.

I added 3 new yumas from a LFS near my work, they were in the frag tank, so I scooped them up for like $10 a piece. Amazing. I plan to go back and see what else they got in the frag bin. I like to browse through and try to find some gems in the frag bin.

[Jimbo327]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10904011#post10904011 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jimbo327
And the temperature of my tank was 76.4F this morning, I was not too happy about that. Seems like my 50w heater's thermostat is not working properly. I cranked the heater setting higher.

OK, recently, as the ambient temperature has been dropping, my tank has been dropping below 76F in the morning. I thought, it was because I'm losing too much heat from the chiller tubing. So I went to Home Depot, bought some pipe insulator and put it around the tubing.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2132/1583565172_fdfd41339d_o.jpg

Fine. Then I pulled out the heater and touched it...stone cold. It was dead. Cheap junk!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2037/1582679171_c52ec8b11e_o.jpg

So I put my 250w heater in my tank right now until I can find a good replacement. Haha, I can't even fit this thing in the back chamber.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2355/1582679473_c69a461692_o.jpg

It's good I checked the temperature every morning. At least I found the malfunction before anything died.

And did a large water change yesterday.

[spleify]

Tank looks awesome!!! Very nice job.

[Jimbo327]

Thanks, Spleify. I like your in-wall tank too. You're lucky to have a bigger tank.

Most reefers, myself included, are always being urged to upgrade, but I find the beauty in having a mature tank that has been up years. So I'm determined to keep my little nano up for as long as possible.

To me, longetivity is more impressive than eye candy. I mean, it doesn't hurt to have a lot of eye candy, but to keep a small nano going for a long time (years) takes a lot of dedication and knowledge. I only wish my corals would grow faster to overcrowd my tank, I would be very happy if that was true. I'm quickly approaching (December) having this tank under my care for 1 year...this tank would have been more mature if I have not neglected it for the first 4 months.

[bad santa]

Have you found a good heater to put in your nano?

[Jimbo327]

I think I'm just going to drive down to Petsmart, and get myself a 50w Visi-therm stealth heater. It doesn't have the temperature display, but I have a seperate coralife digital thermometer anyways.

It's like $17 plus tax.

I don't want another crappy heater like my last one. I have to go check it out, and see if it will fit in my chamber 3 though.

[Jimbo327]

BTW, if buying from Petsmart in store, go to their online website, print out their online price and bring it in store to price match. The price was almost double in the store.

My heater was marked $30 in store, and is only $17 online. I didn't bring my printout, and tomorrow, I have to go back into the store to get some money back.

[bad santa]

what pump are you running for a return, a maxi-jet 600?

[Jimbo327]

I'm running a mini-jet 600, not a maxi-jet, for my return. It should have stated that somewhere at the beginning of my thread.

[Jimbo327]

And yesterday, I was looking at my tank, and I see something small moving. I had a closer look.

RED FLATWORM!

****! DIE!!!!

I used a tweezer to pull it out of the tank. And where there is smoke, there is fire. I proceeded to get my Salifert Flatworm Exit, read the instructions. "One drop per gallon" So I squeezed off 5 drops because there is probably less than 5 gallon of water volume in my tank.

Then I saw flatworms start floating in the water. COOL! It works. So I syphon out a few of the floaters and put it in a cup to study. I wait 45 minutes, and the flatworms in the cup still didn't explode. So I decided to just add a drop into the cup, which theoretically should nuke them, but it didn't kill them like I thought. So I added 10 more drops into the tank to see what happens. Waited a total of 90 minutes...then added carbon.

Nothing died in the cup. ***!!!! This stuff doesn't even work, it just stuns them. Now I'm ****ed.

I woke up this morning, saw the snail on its back. So I did a minor water change and added fresh carbon again. Then went to work.

Hmm...perhaps I need to break out the big boys of Red Flatworm eradication. This medication I know works, but I think it may also kill inverts in the process...which is like most of my tank's inhabitants. I'm reluctant to use it. Sigh.

I may try Flatworm Exit again just in case.

When I put the Flatworm Exit into the water, all of my yumas contorted. Weird. And I know who gave me the flatworms, it was the shop where I bought 3 of my new yumas. I saw some of them the last time I went there, and had chills down my spine because I didn't dip my yumas before putting into my tank. Big Mistake. :(

[MDP]

Hi Jimbo.

Great thread. I'm in the process of setting up a 6g myself. Still at the mod stage.

On the flatworm problem, stick with the flatworm exit. Never had a problem with it. You might need a second dose. I used it to clear flatworms form my 24" cube with great success.

Matt

[Jimbo327]

MDP,

I want to kill the flatworms, once and for all. FWE does a great job of keep them in check. But I will wait a week before I decide what course to take. Most likely I will dose FWE again, and if I see more FW's, then I might step up to stronger alternate medication.

Anyways, I pulled 90% of the chaeto from my chamber 2 refugium. Does anyone ever smell their chaeto? I don't like the smell of it. It was so packed, the chaeto acted like a mechanical filter. I do not run any type of mechanical filter on my nano, there is no room. I may mod my nano to start running a pad, I feed too much and the detritus is accumulating under the macro chamber.

I'm also thinking of adding an air tube into the tank, just worried about the bubble affecting my Tunze osmolator sensor.

[Jimbo327]

I turned/twisted the standard return nozzle on my NC6, so the flat output is running vertical instead of horizontal. I think it is helping out with the overall circulation of the tank because the flow really curves around the tank front corner. If you look from top down, the overall flow pattern is a clockwise flow. I did not want a random turbulent flow, so all of the nozzles are pointed in the same direction. I believe this reinforces the circular flow pattern and makes the flow to every part of the tank stronger.

[Jimbo327]

I just had an idea to get some kind of mechanical filtration.

It will be a manual process. I turn off the return pump. I keep the chiller pump going. I take the output tubing of the chiller and feed it into a micron pouch. I start turkey bastering the tank and the back compartments and everything will be collected in the micron filter bag.

After I'm done, I'll reconnect the chiller output tubing back onto the nozzle. Or I can just use a 3 way valve on the chiller output tube.

I think I'm on to something here. It is not a permanent mechanical filtration, but it should work fairly well without another piece of equipment like a canister filter.

[bad santa]

Jimbo...Im thinking of setting up the same fuge set up you have. Are the 13 watt bulbs putting out 6500 Lumens? Does the light assembly get hot?

[Jimbo327]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11123641#post11123641 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bad santa
Jimbo...Im thinking of setting up the same fuge set up you have. Are the 13 watt bulbs putting out 6500 Lumens? Does the light assembly get hot?

I'm not sure how many lumen it is putting out, but it was very bright. The light assembly does get warm (but not hot) and will heat your water up a little bit. I have an oversized chiller, so it's not a problem for me. And it is getting to winter, so it is actually helping me maintaining heat in my tank.

[bad santa]

Thanks Jimbo. I finally firured it out and the light is pretty bright. Kind of blinding after tinkering with it for awhile. I add a 50mm fan inside the fixture to blow the hot air out. It seems to keep the temp in the fixture around 87 deg., without it, the tank would get a little hot in the evening. How much did your cheato grow with this set up?

[Jimbo327]

I have been very busy at work and at home, so I have neglected my tank again. My last water change was about a month ago. And I have not done any maintenance even longer. I really need to change out my carbon, phosphate remover, and purigen. Need to trim back the chaeto as well. Basically, nothing has been done on the tank in the past month. The ATO is just keeping the tank filled. Nothing has really changed in my tank, it still looks the same. I've been feeding every morning before I leave for work, that's about it. All of the inhabitants are alive and getting fatter.

I really need to get do a quick maintenance on the tank. Maybe this weekend. :mixed:

[Jimbo327]

Ed,

The chaeto is growing like crazy, my chamber 2 is packed every couple weeks. I had a small clump about a month ago, now it is completely packed again. I have a 16 hour light cycle for the fuge light, most of it at night. I do feed a lot, so it's not a big surprise that the chaeto grows well with all that nutrient.

[bad santa]

Thanks jumbo. I only hope that my tank will resemble yours one day.

[Jimbo327]

I changed about 2 gallons yesterday.

I changed out the actinic bulb, carbon, and phosphate remover as well.

My first pink zoas that I glued onto the background has some kind of disease, I think. Most of the polyps are closed and the stems are shriveling up. It is definitely dying, and I have no idea why. Not happy about that since they were the first zoas I put into this tank almost a year ago.

I added a couple more yumas from the $5-$10 frag bins at my LFS. Nothing spectacular, I like the variety.

I also bought a gongorian with white polyps for like $12 because it is a small branch. This is my first gongorian, and I hope it thrives in my tank. I do feed heavily so it should be happy.

I will test my water and try to get my calcium/alk in balance soon, maybe this is causing my zoas to close up. I don't know. I read a lot of the forum, seems like it is a big mystery.

[zma21]

any update pics?

[cherubfish pair]

Jimbo327,

I'll eventually read all of this thread, but I just got a NC6 and I was wondering what mods you have done to yours.

[bad santa]

Jimbo do you have any pics of the chiller return hose in the third compartment and how the hood looks in the closed position. Im thinking of adding a chiller and i need ideas on how i should route my hoses through the hood.

[Toygrr]

not bad, lookin very good.

[Toygrr]

what exactly is the medication you dip them in?

[racksteris]

kool Tank..

[bad santa]

I just cleaned out my return pump and it was glogged with cheato. Did you ever figure out a way to keep the cheato from going into the 3rd chamber? Eventually my tank might be like yours one day.

[cherubfish pair]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11004892#post11004892 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jimbo327
BTW, if buying from Petsmart in store, go to their online website, print out their online price and bring it in store to price match. The price was almost double in the store.

My heater was marked $30 in store, and is only $17 online. I didn't bring my printout, and tomorrow, I have to go back into the store to get some money back. I wonder if that would work at Petco?

How's your diy kalk dispenser?

[jdpierce21]

I love your tank! Nice job.

[Jimbo327]

I've been slacking.

I haven't changed my water since my last post, and basically, I just feed my tank a little of food for the fish and shrimps. It's been a good 5 months of neglect.

I'm sure a lot of things have died since the last time. I really need to get back to doing water changes.

:(

[bad santa]

nice to see you back Jumbo. You tank thread has helped me out tremednously. Thank You.

[Fazulka]

Good thread Jimbo it was nice to read how you progressed. Hopefully most of the stuff survives, it was good reading to learn from how you did your tank. Thank you! Also not sure how it relates to SW tanks, but did you see that nalgene stopped production? Seems that they plastic they used containded a chemical that leaches out and causes cancer!

[Jimbo327]

Wow, I didn't know about the Nalgene, but that's good to know.
I may remove the nalgene container for the sake of my fishes.

And knowing my sporadic nature with water changes, I need to think of something to stabilize my water change schedule. I will take a look around the internet, I have an idea.

There are definitely a couple casualties, the coco-worm didn't make it because I saw it coming out of its tube. And I haven't seen the rainfordi goby either although I feed the tank quite often. A lot of my zoos died, I assume it is my imbalance of calcium and alkalinity.

I did a 1 gallon water change last night. Slowly getting back into the fold, and cleaning my tank up. I also took out a bunch of chaetomorpha algae from the back chamber.

[Jimbo327]

Just checked my tank, and I see the red flatworms have thrived in my absence. And my previous treatment of Flatworm Exit is a joke. I'm going to be bringing out the big boys, and using the Quinsulex pills to nuke them dead. If I nuke my tank, then I'll be out of the hobby for good.

[Jimbo327]

Made a batch of 2 gallon saltwater last night. Letting it air out, and pH to stabilize.

I think my plan of attack on these red flatworms will be 2 phase.

First phase would be to use FWE stun the red flatworms, and suck out as many of them as possible because I know they will be floating. Then do a quick water change and run carbon afterwards.

Second phase would follow a few days later with Quinsulex. These will make the red flatworms explode, and possibly the shrimps and snails. I'm hoping that will not be the case, but I really need to get rid of the red flatworms because I feel their toxins killed many things in my tank already. And they don't go away by themselves as evident with them thriving in my tank for 5 months already.

[Jimbo327]

Man, what the hell is it about LFS that it makes you spend money.

I went in to get some carbon in preparation of the flatworm destruction, and came out with 2 zoa frags and a bag of salt. Jebus, good thing I only looked in the $5 frag bin. Got some Watermelon Zoas, and another very nice looking paly/zoa with pinkish rims.

Anyways, mixed another 2 gallon of saltwater. Which reminds me I need to change most of my bulbs...looks like another purchase is in my future.

Now I remember why I had money when I wasn't taking care of the tank.

Oh, I have my eyes set on a piece of equipment on Ebay that will make my life a lot easier. Trying to score on it for cheap.

[jadette]

What LFS do you go to?

[Jimbo327]

I hit up Coral Oasis in Irvine since I work like 5 minutes from there and there's lots of stuff I can get in their frag bins, got my 2 frags for $5 each and bought a bag of carbon, plus the owner is a cool guy, then I drove down to Fullerton to take a look at the new place everyone is raving about (I think it ends with Outlet). He had a ton of clams, like a couple hundred of them, but my tank can't sustain them, so I picked up a bag of Seachem Reef Salt for $15. Good deal.

Then I wen to Aquariums in Motion in Fullerton since he has some killer stuff, but unfortunately he was closed. My and 2 other reefers were banging on their door for a little bit before I decided to leave to watch the Laker game. AIM in Fullerton has a killer setup and good prices.

[jlone101]

looking good :)

[Jimbo327]

This is what 5 months of neglect and no water changes look like.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2268/2442013879_d9c137237f_o.jpg

[Jimbo327]

Operation Destroy Red Flatworms:

Tonight, at 7 PM, it started.

I started sucking out as many of the red flatworms I can see with a turkey baster. They were all over the rocks and glass. These guys give me the creeps. I hate them with a passion. DIE MF DIE!!!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2054/2442842876_b188532526_o.jpg

As you can see, it's quite a bit.

I replace the water back to the regular level. Took out the carbon.

Then I added 10 drops of Flatworm Exit, and started sucking on the floating Red Flatworms in the tank, got a couple more of them. My ricordias started to close up, and the zoas started to close up as well.

Then I added 1 capsule of Quinsulex into the water at around 7:30 PM, it said this amount is to treat about 10 gallons of water. Oh well, I wanted to be sure, they get nuked for good.

At around 10:30 PM, the snails have all fell over, and the shrimps look frozen. All my corals looked ****ed as hell. And the Red Flatworms are all dead in my cup. So I proceeded to run carbon and changed out about 2 gallons of water.

About an hour later, I added another bag of carbon, and changed out another half gallon of water. The corals looked shriveled, and the snails are all fallen over still, shrimps are still frozen in its place.

I'm going to see what happens tomorrow morning, and probably change out another gallon of water to try to get out as much of the chemical as possible. I hope everything survives....(except the FW's)

[Jimbo327]

BTW, I spent about $80 on a 2-channel pump and tubing on ebay, that I plan on using for a water change system. Hopefully, it's functioning, and should be here next week. If this system works, I will be a very very happy reefer because it will make my life very easy.

I also spent some money on getting new bulbs. I looked around the net. There are a couple brands that offer 18w straight pins Compact Fluorescents, coralife, jbj, oceanic, realux, etc etc. I'm not really sure which one is actually good and which one is just marketing BS.

I just went with nanotuners generic brand because they are cheap and Chris at nanotuners seem like a standup guy, and hopefully, I don't get suckered into getting crap bulb replacements. My tank runs two 10ks and one actinic. I will be writing the date I replace them directly on the bulb plastic, so I know when to replace them next time.

[Jimbo327]

Hmmm...I've had some of my zoas close and shrivel into nothing before. So I started reading, and there is this thread about adding Vitamin C into the water. ***??? Dude. Have I been so far out of the reefing loop? Vitamin C in a reef? I don't know. I'm still a skeptic right now because we don't have Vitamin C in the ocean, and the zoas seem pretty happy.

[Jimbo327]

Just went to Tongs in Fountain Valley, CA. They have beautiful reef tanks. I was going to buy a baby blue zoo and a nice green yuma. But when they bagged the corals, I saw a bunch of red flatworm on the green yuma rock. I promptly refused to buy the green yuma. I did buy the zoo because it didn't come attached to any rocks, and I'm going to FWE it before I introduce it into my tank.

$15 for the zoo frag, it is a really nice baby blue. I'll post some pictures when I get it mounted and acclimated.

So far, all the corals came out fine after my red flatworm dosing. And I haven't see a single bugger back. SWEET.

[Jimbo327]

Bought a Tunze Mini 4025 powerhead yesterday. It is rated for 90 gph, which is perfect for my 6 gallon since I didn't need high flow. The Tunze Mini is the size of a little thicker tic tac box, so I tried to hide it behind my now dead cocoworm tube. And I stuck my frogspawn into the hole of the cocoworm tube opening. LOL.

Of course, I knocked over a bunch of rocks when I stuck my clumsy hands in my tank. So I decided to redo the rockwork, and try to superglue some rocks together. It is really difficult. And in the morning, a few of the rocks already fell apart. I did achieve a new rockwork look though.

By the time I was done, it was already lights out, and only the actinic was on. I took a picture, and headed to bed. I'll post it when I get home tonight.

I looked up some of the zoa's I got last week in the frag bins. I think they are eagle eyes, tubs blues, and pink elephants.

[Jimbo327]

Updated FTS.

After much elbow grease to get coralline algae off the front glass, and rearranging of rockwork. The rockwork is a house of cards right now.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2406/2455677757_6fb15885a0_o.jpg

It's a pretty poor picture because it doesn't show how the rocks are just sitting in the middle of the tank, and can you see the Tunze Mini in the left corner of the tank? I tried to hide it best I can.

And the best part? I'm red flatworm free. :D

[Jimbo327]

Ok, I did a recount of the living inhabitants.

2 sexy shrimp
1 pom pom crab, without his pom poms
1 pistol shrimp & 1 yashia goby
2 nass snail
1 astrea snail

I think I want another fish, but I can't decide what to get that will fit in my 6 gallon and actually does some swimming instead of burrowing. My last rainfordi goby didn't survive.

That's about it. And I should be getting my 2 channel pump tomorrow to tinker with.

[Jimbo327]

TGIF.

Got my pump and silicone tubing in. Just need a cheapie timer from the good ole Harbor Freight store. And a couple containers for fresh saltwater and waste saltwater, and I'm good for the mechanical water changer to be built and installed.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2257/2460023561_2f8df5b077_o.jpg

[Jimbo327]

Yashia Goby (aka "Foreman") and Shrimp (ala "Tonka") Pair Update.

They built there their burrow opening right in front of the tank, so it's really easy to see them. I put in a red arrow to show the burrow opening in the picture below.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2330/2460023653_b3db069b5b_o.jpg

Foreman stands watch as Mr. Tonka starts moving things with his pinchers and kicks sand out of the burrow.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3265/2460023707_2d4d3ff5fd_o.jpg

And next time, I'll take a picture of the burrow inside. The shrimp built a tunnel system all the way to the corner of the tank, so you can see the whole thing like an ant farm. It's actually really cool.

[Jimbo327]

Sexy Shrimp Update.

I have 2 Sexy Shrimp left. (aka Tango and Cash)

The sexy shrimps loves stealing the brown stuff coming out of my ricordias. Then would go from ricordia to ricordia, hopping around, and making the rounds.

This guy is just feasting on the brown stuff from this particular shroom.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2035/2460861416_2734402bee_o.jpg

[bad santa]

Looking good Jimbo. I've been thinking of adding 3 sexys to my tank but the ones i have all seen seem so tiny.

[Jimbo327]

They are tiny. Mine did get bigger in the year I've kept them. But they add so much fun into your tank. Lots of personality too when you have them in a nano.

I've been thinking of adding another goby type fish to my tank.

[Jimbo327]

Crap, I cracked my light shield when I changed all 3 of my bulbs out tonight. Damn it.

I may bump up my light cycle duration slowly.

[Daffydanny]

Very nice corals!

[Daffydanny]

Very nice corals!

[bad santa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12461025#post12461025 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jimbo327
Crap, I cracked my light shield when I changed all 3 of my bulbs out tonight. Damn it.

I may bump up my light cycle duration slowly.

I have an extra one. Shoot me an im.

[cherubfish pair]

Is there really a 'mechanical water changer'? Tell us more.

[Jimbo327]

Yeah, I just finish installing my mechanical water changer today. It does about 1L per hr water change. I'm going to get a timer, and just automate it to come on for an hour per day.

It is just a basic 2 channel pump, one goes into the tank with fresh saltwater, and the other goes out with the tank saltwater. Since they are on the same rate, there is a net water drop. Only maintenance on it is to change out the tubing every couple months and replenish the fresh saltwater. I ran the tank saltwater directly to my toilet.

I'm going to run it for a month to see if it works consistently.

I may still do bulk water changes once in awhile to make sure the salinity is where I want it. But I expect my pump to be dead on since it is the same kind of pump I'm using at work. These are industrial pumps for lab work, so they are very accurate.

[Jimbo327]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12465647#post12465647 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bad santa
I have an extra one. Shoot me an im.

I'm going to give this cracked one a try. If it doesn't work out, I'll PM you to see if yours is still available.

[Jimbo327]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12465962#post12465962 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cherubfish pair
Is there really a 'mechanical water changer'? Tell us more.

I just tested the mechanical water changer, and it almost killed my tank. I wasn't paying attention, I just started it and went to grab some dinner. By the time I remember to check like an hour later, the salinity was at 1.019. :eek1:

I may need to do some refinement and bug check on this design. Not sure exactly what went wrong, I know it must have been the fresh saltwater not getting into the tank while the waste tankwater was being pumped out. Then my ATO kicked in to top it off, just doing its job.

So either the incoming and outgoing rates are different (which it shouldn't be, this is laboratory equipment). Or my hunch is that I must have pinched the incoming tube with my hood, or I need a check valve, or I need even smaller tubing.

I did a quick check with a graduated cylinder with both the outgoing and incoming tube in there. After 5 minutes, I didn't really see any significant drop or increase. So I think the pump is working as it should.

[Jimbo327]

I currently don't have any problems with my tank, but I've lost some prized zoas in the past. So I'm going to jump on the VC bandwagon, and start dosing when I get it.

Also, because of my lighting, I think some of my zoas don't really shine like when I first got them. My pink elephant looking zoas were gorgeous pink rim, intense green when I first got them, now it looks just average with washed out color. It lost that glow, and I'll see if my dosing can try to get some color back.

[Jimbo327]

My tank is now running at 1.023 according to my swingarm hydrometer. I think this is very close to 1.026 in actual salinity if I had used a refractometer. I think a refractometer is on my list.

Anyways, this morning, I looked at the hood and the tank. I really don't like the position of the lights within the hood. Even though my rockwork is in the dead center of my tank (with at least an 1" gap all around the rockwork). The lights are actually aligned further back because the hood has to accomodate the front lip flap. So the middle light is actually lighting the back of my tank, and the front light is directed in the middle of my tank.

There isn't much I could do with that, so it looks like the front of my tank doesn't really get that much light. I think my plan is to get as much reflective tape into the hood to help spread the wasted light. And also to move my whole rockwork backwards, and leave like a couple centimeter of gap between the false wall and the rock. I don't really like to pile the rock onto the false wall because my whole circulation is based on a clockwise flow pattern around the center rock.

It's going to be a real PITA to move the whole rockwork back, since nothing is really stable in the first place, and I really like my rockscape right now. Oh well. Nothing chanced, nothing learned.

[Red_Six]

Perhaps you just had the line from the toilet and the line from the tank reversed :)

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12482170#post12482170 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jimbo327
I just tested the mechanical water changer, and it almost killed my tank. I wasn't paying attention, I just started it and went to grab some dinner. By the time I remember to check like an hour later, the salinity was at 1.019. :eek1:

I may need to do some refinement and bug check on this design. Not sure exactly what went wrong, I know it must have been the fresh saltwater not getting into the tank while the waste tankwater was being pumped out. Then my ATO kicked in to top it off, just doing its job.

So either the incoming and outgoing rates are different (which it shouldn't be, this is laboratory equipment). Or my hunch is that I must have pinched the incoming tube with my hood, or I need a check valve, or I need even smaller tubing.

I did a quick check with a graduated cylinder with both the outgoing and incoming tube in there. After 5 minutes, I didn't really see any significant drop or increase. So I think the pump is working as it should.

[Jimbo327]

LOL. Trust me. That was my first thought.

The line to the toilet actually goes to the uptube in the toilet tank.

The funny thing is that without this little problem, I would have never checked my true salinity of my swing-arm hydrometer, and find out that I was way high in my salinity in the past. I took my swing-arm hydrometer to the LFS, and tested and compared values with their refractometer. What mine reads at 1.023, is actually 1.026. Ugh.

[chibopelu13]

looks good

[Jimbo327]

I just bought a refractometer off of ebay for $20. Not bad.

I've had salinity problems recently (and it really took a beating to the zoos on the back wall). A lot of it had died, so that's not good news. The salinity problem came from the clogged return pump. The water level in the main display dropped lower while the back chambers level went up as the pump becomes more clogged, and this caused the salinity to go up because the ATO didn't need to fill the back chambers.

It's these problems on little tanks that really cause big headaches. I have to watch my return pump more carefully since I'm growing chaeto in the previous chamber to the return pump.

I even started a seperate thread to ask for suggestions to stop the clogs.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1409107

So 5 days ago, I took off the whole intake grate for the pump. It hasn't been clogged...yet. We'll see how long this can go. And last week, my house AC died, I'm glad I have the chiller hooked up because if it hadn't, my tank would have crashed in the summer heat.

[Carriegiesler]

I spent the last two hours reading all of the threads, wow I never thought I could learn so much is a two hour period. And now I know who to ask if I run in to any issues with my 9 gallon I am getting ready to setup hopefully I won't be sinking as much money into it......however I don't want to think about all the money I have sunk into my 30 gallon.

Love your tank it is a piece of heaven.

[Jimbo327]

^ Hey Thanks Carrie.

Yeah, just ask me whatever on this thread. I don't mind answering questions.

I think another person asked me about my kalk dispenser, yes, it still works fine. I took it offline though because I plan on using my water change pump instead.

[zack1a]

Watching your running total makes me want to vomit! I am very thankful I didn't keep a tab on my 120g!

[Jimbo327]

^ Haha, yeah, it's pretty sickening. The good news is that I have really stopped spending literally lately. I haven't bought a single living creature for at least 6 months. There is still the maintenance cost though like bulb replacements and salt/water.

Update on the return pump without the intake cover: STILL GOING STRONG. Yay!

The chiller has been working quite a bit lately, I don't think my tank would have survive the recent humid heatwave we had in Los Angeles. It was like 107 and muggy where I was living, and my home AC had died. My tank...rock solid at 80. It's a good thing I oversized my chiller, probably saved my tank from crashing last week.

[lisajulia]

OMGOSH! Add me to the list of sitting here for 2hrs reading till my eyes hurt....you've done such a great job documenting everything.
I am more of a hands off kind of reefer...i have a NC6...it's been up for about 3+ years....i've done no mods...very simple set up and it seems to run on its own these days. Thanks so much for starting this thread!

[Jimbo327]

Wow, I should be impressed with you lisajulia. 3+ years on a NC6 is excellent. Mine is only 1.5 years so far. And my tank currently is hands off as well because all of the automation. I do a water change every once in awhile, and just feed the tank. My sexy shrimps have disappeared on me though, they may have come to the end of their lifetime. So I only see the goby and the pistol shrimp nowadays.

[lisajulia]

Oh..sorry to hear about the possible demise of the sexy shrimp =( I only have a false percula clown in there as far as fish and will probably get a shrimp at some point...i want to clarify by 'hands off' i mean i don't really stick my hands in there too much...other than feeding, water changes and adding the appropriate nutrients and testing parameters, i don't rearrange or do much fiddling lol!
I will try and post some pics but don't want to hijack your thread lol!

[Jimbo327]

I've pretty much neglected my tank. It looked really bad last week, so I finally changed out my PC bulbs with new ones, and did a water change. My Osmolator pump also died, I think because I installed a needle valve on the kalk dispenser. So that added pressure killed my pump, so I bought a replacement pump. That also messed up my salinity and I had some die off from that as well, my frogspawn totally melted and wreaked havoc on my tiny tank.

Lots of algae growth that I plucked off by hand.

That's pretty much it. A lot of my zoas had died off.

My goby and shrimp is still alive. And I think I saw my pom pom crab last month.

It's pretty crazy, this tank has been up for over 2 years, and I bought it used from someone who also had it for 1-2 years.