Revision17's 10 Gallon Nano Journal

[nanocubeking]

Sounds pretty good so far. Give us some more pics.

 

[Revision17]

Oops, I meant to post a picture in my post above. Here ya go:

 

[@ombomb]

Personally I'd move the rock away from the glass, at least far enough to get something in there to clean the glass.

Also, having the cheato in the main tank is a bit risky as that stuff grows very quickly and can easily take over, a sump / HOB fuge is a better idea IMO.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Personally I'd move the rock away from the glass, at least far enough to get something in there to clean the glass.

Also, having the cheato in the main tank is a bit risky as that stuff grows very quickly and can easily take over, a sump / HOB fuge is a better idea IMO.

Both very good points You really need enough room between any bits of glass you want to see through and the rocks to fit a mag float through. When I set my tank up I had the rocks at the front and the viewable side of the tank right near the glass and it didnt take long before the algae was so thick in them spots you couldnt see through. I have moved all the rock back now but still have a few spots of green algae which just dont want to come off

Probably a HOB filter for the cheato would be the best option in your case but I have seen people that keep it in their display tank (but you do have to keep on top of it to stop it taking over).

I really like the layout of the rocks, looking really good

 

[nanocubeking]

Yeah that tank is looking really good like the rock work too.

 

[Revision17]

Do you guys think the chaeto would get enough light from the main lights if I put it in an HOB filter (I do just so happen to have a spare one)?

I do have a random clip on light (I think it's cold cathode based, doesn't say what it is explicitly though).. but it's for reading, and not plants.

 

[Revision17]

*sigh*

I just bought the nano polyp and mushroom packs from liveaquaria. They're much cheaper than coral from stores (and even lots of person to person trades.. for the variety).

Can't believe I spent $154 on corals on a single blow.

Oh well.. my tank should be fully stocked after this and I can stop spending money then... or something

 

[Revision17]

@#(*$&#@($*&@#

I came back this weekend and most of the new corals are dead or dying

Time to check nitrogen stuff

EDIT: Nitrate is about 5PPM, the others are 0. Guess I'll check on the "Arrive Alive" guarantee thing

EDIT2: Nope, ammonia now reads .25PPM lame.

All the non riccordia mushrooms are melting. 2 of 8 zoo colonies are alive

 

[nanocubeking]

Sorry to hear that... That is the reason I don't enjoi buying "live stuff" online.

 

[Revision17]

Yea.. the prices were just so much better than the LFS though....

I called them up and they credited my credit card $60 some for the coral that died. 5 of 7 mushroom died, so I got 5/7 * $60 back for them. Which seems fair. Same formula for the polyps.

I'm sad my coral died, and I'd rather it have lived. But I'm glad I talked to a nice very nice customer service rep on the phone, and got my money refunded. I'd say it was some of the best customer service I'd ever had.

Just waiting for the RO filter to push out water so I can do a few water changes to oust the nitrogen waste

EDIT:

I don't think I'm going to buy coral online for awhile after this experience. I'm just going to see how far I can get with letting what I have spread and eventually make some more frags like I did for my first coral colony.

 

[nanocubeking]

I'd try saltwaterfish.com. If you ever get in the mood to try online again.

 

[Revision17]

Alright, things have settled down after the great internet order coral die off. Out of 11 coral colonies I got 4 have survived in some way. Both riccordia colonies have survived, 1 yellow zoa colony has survived with a dozen or so polyps, and a really nice red colony has only 1 polyp left.

I had about 5 aiptasia hanging out in the tank. Then I bought a peppermint shrimp on monday. Now I can't find a single aiptasia . Good riddance (except with a smilie face).

I also got some pretty caulerpa. I'm thinking this is gonna turn into a mixed macro/softie (shroom and zoa) tank. I love freshwater planted tanks, and enjoy doing a bit of weekly pruning. I'll see how it works out.

 

[Revision17]

Scape as of today:

I'm tearing down the tank and moving soon, so I figured I'd post a new picture and update the journal, since I haven't in awhile.

I've upgraded lighting to a 250 watt 20K metal halide suspended 6" above the water. I have problems with heat obviously, so I use a desk fan to keep it cool, which works quite well (just have to keep up with the evaporation). I'm finally starting to actually see decent coral growth under the halide, which is nice. Zoanthids are also showing some very nice color, presumably due to the halide as well.

Bits of caulerpa are all over the place since I did a total rock rearrangement looking for a now MIA (presumed dead) firefish. Probably shouldn't have gotten it anyway, considering the size of the tank. I'm thinking it died Friday when I accidentally left the fan on the floor and the tank hit 90F

Other than the death of the firefish, I think that adding the halide is the best thing I've done to the tank. I definitely shouldn't have skimped on lighting when I started.

I don't really like having the large mass of chaeto, but it keeps the algae away like a champ . After I move I'm going to use this tank to seed dead rock for a larger saltwater system, so I'm not going to bother with setting up a fuge

Other than wanting more coral growth (which seems to be happening with the halide), I'm pretty happy with the tank now.

 

[nanocubeking]

Good to here it's going well for you. If you get a wild hair maybe you could get some Acro's or Montiporas.

 

[CageUK]

Good to here it's going well for you. If you get a wild hair maybe you could get some Acro's or Montiporas.

A little late I know but maybe your losses were more due to adding too much at one time rather than because they were internet purchases?

I added stuff to my tank at a rate of one new coral/fish per 2-3 weeks to let everything settle down between. I've had a couple of small losses (2 hairy mushrooms from my mushroom rock and some xenia which didn't like being next to my yellow polyps) but on the whole I have got away quite lightly to date.

Just a thought!

Cheers