Postcard to FW from SW

[steelhealr]

Hi...my 46G FW bowfront is doing fine and I'm still quite fond of my FW critters, but, I'll tell ya, marine is fascinating. For anyone who hasn't seen my 24G NC post, I'd like to share some pix from my nano tank. Thanks to all my FW mods who helped me get tank keeping skills down (Inchworm, Navarre, even CFC). Give it a try..

Yellow Clingfish on a Yellow Fiji Leather Coral

Zoanthids

Spaghetti Finger Coral

Green Fluorescent Mushrooms

Organ Pipe and Trumpet Corals

Nemo (ocellaris) and Common Firefish

Skunk cleaner shrimp

SH

 

[-*-MicHAeL-*-]

looks good any full tank shots?

 

[Jen]

Those are fabulous pictures! I would love to start up a sw tank... I just don't know if I could keep it up.

 

[steelhealr]

Sure you could Canoechiq. Having started with everyone else here, and then, uh, well, 'jumping ship', I can tell you that it's do-able (still have my two FW tanks). The comment that 'it's a lot more work' is true to some degree. There's always five minutes of work that can be done to it. One thing is for darn sure...a lot more expensive than FW. ..here is a frontal shot...and..it has a LONG way to go. SH

 

[zig]

Excellent pictures.

Im tempted......im tempted.

 

[steelhealr]

Awww...go for it. LOL SH

 

[abstract]

Awww...go for it. LOL SH

send me some personal funding and i'll be right over SH

 

[nmarc3627]

steelhealr... How do you keep your algae down. No matter what I do my tank is swamped in algae within a week of cleaning it. Any ideas?

 

[Bloo]

Those pictures are absolutely stunning - in my novice SW opinion.

And I'm sorely tempted but it will have to wait until I move house in a year (or so) - in the mean time I'll just lurk in the SW section

 

[Ethos]

Facinating. I always love seeing corals and live rock. It makes me tempted and go spend $500 that i dont have.......

Edit: Did I say $500? I ment $5,000.....

 

[Jessica13]

steelhealr... How do you keep your algae down. No matter what I do my tank is swamped in algae within a week of cleaning it. Any ideas?

Im definately not a SW expert, having only just started my6 first tank! But i had a bit of an algae problem with some new live rock and corals that i got and i stuck a load of snails (turbo?? ) in there and within a few days it was all gone!! I've also just got a little urchin which supposedly is good at keeping the algae under control

 

[dirtydogg]

got my tank, just need the money to set it up. takin it one step at a time. BTW lovely tank <digging into pocket for change> can't wait till mine is running!

 

[steelhealr]

To Nmarc....there are several ways to keep the algae down in a small SW tank like this (there will always be small deposits of diatoms):

1) Same as FW, don't overfeed..keep nutrients down
2) Use RO/DI water, avoids additions of phosphates and nitrates
3) Use a phosphate binder (I use Purigen and SeaGel)
4) A cleanup crew (snails, shrimp, crabs) (in FW we use oto's, plecos and algae eaters)
5) 'Nutrient export), or a way to get excess nutrients out of the tank....water changes, a refugium ( a small protected area in the back with SW plants that use nitrates to grow, same as plants do in FW)
6) Regular lighting intervals (same as FW)
7) scraping the glass with a MagFloat, magnetic scraper (same as FW)

SH

 

[steelhealr]

dirtydogg..what kind of tank are you getting? SH

 

[steelhealr]

Can I entice anyone else to join 'the dark side of the force'?

Orange cup coral, tubastrea aurea

Purple gorgonian

SH