Reefs.org Forums

by **Len** » February 22nd, 2005, 1:25 pm

knowse's official thread:
Use this thread to document updates to your Nano Reef Buildoff project.
Please note: this thread is reserved for the entitled registered member only. Open discussion about ideas or specific entries should be posted in the Nano Reefs forum or the General Reef Discussion forum.

by **knowse** » February 24th, 2005, 12:48 pm

Compared to some of the other contestants, I plan on going with a fairly simple set up with the exception of lighting.

The plan is a stock 10 gal available here in town, most around here carry All Glass. Spray painted black on the back.
I'll be using a bakpak 2R skimmer with the airstone mod.
20 lbs or so of live sand.
Around 10 lbs of rock out of my 29's sump.
I plan on either using a sea swirl with mj1200 for circulation or the mj1200 with a Hydro Flo.
The lighting is the only thing that could be considered overkill.
Oddysea 175w mh 20k bulb, with 2x18w actinic pc's.
I may or may not use an Aquafuge as a refugium. Just not sure how much room I'll have to play with.

I'll try to keep a running total of expenditures, and where said items were purchased, even for the items I already have on hand.

NOTE: I decided that I didn't want to go with such a deep sand bed and choose to go with much less sand.

10 gal Perfecto 11.61 including tax: Dreams of Key West lfs.
4x2.2g Nutri SeaWater 36.04 including tax:Dreams of Key West lfs.
11 1/2 lbs rock (going rate here is 5.99lb.)73.01 including tax.
4 lbs live sand (going rate here is 30.00 for 20lb. bag) 6.36 including tax
Oddysea light 188. & change including the shipping cost: AquaTraders.com
Bak Pak 2R 139.58 including shipping: Champion Lighting
SeaSwirl 137.79. including tax: Fishey Business, Bowling Green lfs.
Maxi Jet 1200 16.95 including tax: Rare Aquatics lfs.
Hydor Heater 15.89 including tax: Fishey Business, Bowling Green lfs.
Maxijet 600 21.20 including tax: Dreams of Key West lfs.
Saltydawg float switch 30+shipping
Total $676.43 & change

by **knowse** » March 3rd, 2005, 2:38 pm

On Mar 01 the tank was painted with Krylon Fushion and allowed to set for 2 days.

Mar 03
Used 4 lbs of old sand from a 29 that I had broke down. The sand has been setting in the old tank since the first of Feb.
11 1/2 lbs of mixed rock from the sump of my new 29.
Handful of cheato ended up coming along for the ride.
4x2.2 gal Nutri SeaWater
Water that was used to keep rock wet during travel.

I'll get another picture after everything settles down.

by **knowse** » March 3rd, 2005, 2:47 pm

Full tank shot after adding rock and sand and shot of the light fixture that will be used.

by **knowse** » March 4th, 2005, 12:22 pm

This was taken at 7 pm on Mar 03. Tank is still cloudy and most of the detritus from the old sand is now a fine layer on top of the sand.

by **knowse** » March 8th, 2005, 3:18 pm

Mar. 07. The sand has really settled down and I've emptied the skimmer cup twice.

by **knowse** » March 8th, 2005, 3:19 pm

Live stock added....
Mar. 11
2 brown hermits 4.53 including tax (taken from sump)
7 asterinia starfish from sump free
Mar. 14
2 narrisius snails 6.01 including tax: Dreams of Key West lfs
Mar. 18
1 Astraea Snail 1.99 &
3 Sexy Shrimp 30.70 including tax: Dreams of Key West lfs.
Mar. 24
Cup sponge 23.26 including tax: Dreams of Key West lfs

Total: 64.50

by **knowse** » April 4th, 2005, 10:54 am

March 12.
New shelf was built over the weekend to house the tank.
March 16
Lighting was hung and tested. Discovered that either the ballast was not functioning correctly or there was a short in the wires. Started contacting the distirutor. Also found out that there is no such thing as a 175 w de light bulb.
March 21
Finally got a return autherazation number and shipped the ballast back.
March 25
Ballast arrived at the distirbutor.
March 28
Tank was moved to it's new location and got a 2 gal water change.
April 04
Still waiting for the new ballast to arrive.

by **knowse** » April 4th, 2005, 1:58 pm

April 04
Placed a box fan behind the tank

And just for fun we started a mini pico in the PLB fashion.

by **knowse** » April 28th, 2005, 11:13 am

After moving the tank to it's new home, the sponge started dieing and I didn't realize that the skimmer wasn't working correctly! I lost some snails, 2 of the 3 sexy shrimp and of course the sponge.

Sometime, after the crash, I added 3 more snails, 2 astrea snails and 1 cat's eye snail.
April 20
Got the new ballast, but still having lighting problems. Ordered a new lamp (from a different company).
April 26
Got the new lamp and I finally have light!!!!
April 27
Added a colony of pink frilly mushrooms, a small gsp and a 3 loose zoa poylps.

by **knowse** » May 6th, 2005, 2:45 pm

April 28
Added a 1" gold maxima clam
April 30
Drove to Bowling Green to see Dizzy at Fishey Business and picked up the sea swirl, a hydor heater and a small black ocellarius. He's too cute.
May 5
Hooked up the sea swirl and played with the rocks for a while. I had given a few pieces away and stole a couple out of some display tanks. Both pieces I got were were Porties with Christmas Tree worms on them. On one, the Porties is completely gone, on the other there is a small bit still alive. Let's see what happens. I DO NOT like my rock scape, will need to work on that some more.

by **knowse** » May 6th, 2005, 5:49 pm

S'more pictures.

by **knowse** » May 6th, 2005, 6:11 pm

A couple of the mini and a look at my rock scaping, which stinks.

by **knowse** » May 10th, 2005, 2:41 pm

May 6
Added a couple new corals. Both were mis-identified, which I'm working on. [edit] Both are now identified[/edit]And I did some work on the rock work.

by **knowse** » May 10th, 2005, 2:49 pm

May 10
Took a couple o picts today.

by **knowse** » May 13th, 2005, 1:59 pm

May 11
Added a Formia sp. starfish

May 13
Added a very small bta of unknown color (I think it's a green one but we'll all find out together.)

BACK GROUND on the bta. It was given to me by a friend that had been keeping it under pc lighting. It was solid white, it had no tenticles and was nothing more than a foot with a mouth on top. It was placed in a fish breeder with window screen material to keep it from attaching in the 29 under 250w de mh and 130w pc lighting. I got it on March 31. It's starting to get some color back and now has enough small tenticles that it ate for the first time on the 11th.

Now your all probably wondering why it's in a flower pot? Since bta's like to have their foot in the branches of corals, I thought I'd experiment and see if a small flower pot would work. I was going to use a terra cotta pot, but since I already had the bonsai pot, well......you get the idea. Any way here are the photos.

by **knowse** » May 13th, 2005, 2:07 pm

Just more photos.

by **knowse** » May 16th, 2005, 1:40 pm

Well, the experiment failed, Mr. Bleachy didn't like the bonsai pot and decided to take a stroll. I found him on the back underside of a large piece of rock. Sooooo.....I turned it around and gave hime a bite to eat.