Any of you keep tanks in the office?

[Vilas]

and if so, how do you deal with the logistics? I'd love to keep a nano on my desk, but I'd feel silly in some ways..keeping fish food in the freezer, mixing salt water for changes, doing changes, the list goes on. Do you bring salt water in for changes? Feed dry food? How do you deal with weekends? vacations? Do you catch flak for it?

[snafuforyou]

I've had a 5 gallon on my desk for over a year and now it's a 10 gal. I do weekly water changes. I use NSW that I buy either locallyby work or near home and bring into my job. A 2-3 gal change every week and I do the cleaning at the same time. I usually take about 20-25 mins. I'll come in early that day or I may stay late whichever is more convenient that week.

The frozen food(prime reef) and DT's is kept in the employee refrig. I keep it well wrapped and no ones has said a word. I also feed dry food.

Most of the workers actually enjoy the tank themselves. Everyone that has been in my office seems to be in awe of my tiny piece of the ocean. They ask questions and spend more time than necessary in my office just to look at the fish. MY boss has mentioned he's going to get one for his office.

I do have my own office so as not to have to do maintenance in the open. However, im here either early or late so no one is here during water changes anyway. Putting one in the middle of an open area could cause probs. with most companies cause evryone would want something similar on their desk. Such as turtles, a small lizard maybe a pet spider or a snake who knows what 'can of worms' may be opened up?! You might want to check with your supervisor, mgr or human resource dept. before going through all the work and trouble just to find out your going to have to tear it all down.

As far as feeding on weekends there are times (most of the time) they dont get fed. They have not seemed to be affected-I havent had the hermits eat my snails my anemone hasny eatin any of the fish the fish havent attacked each other no signs of any other stress. The tank is doing well. I recently had my BTA split!

AS far as feeding on times of vacation I found someone at work I could trust to feed for me.

[Capt.Dave]

snafuforyou,

Great to hear about your anemone, what is your lighting?

Dave

[snafuforyou]

Thx Dave,

I'll tell ya I felt like a proud father:D

That was a sign telling me I must be doing something right.

My lighting is 1 jbj 24 watt white I also have 1x 36 watt
white from ah supply and a 36 watt blue all pc's. Total of 96 watts. I also have some sun that enters through a window which is about 11-12 ft from the tank on the south side of my office. I believe the tank gets some filtered sunlight.

If I could ever figure out how to post pics. I'll post some-I have some on a CD but just havent figured it out yet.

Snaf

[Daniel]

my boss has seen my nano and is trying to get me to setup a tank in the office
he said he would pay for everything but I would half to do the matinees work I haven't given him an answer yet

[snafuforyou]

Daniel,

Sounds like your chance to score some brownie points-lol

I would make sure I was on the clock and tell him I'll work on yours right after I finish mine and be sure to show him all the steps so that your boss eventually learns how to ride his own bike without training wheels.

Snaf

[Capt.Dave]

snaf,

That sounds like plenty of light, I would like to see those pics. They are not that hard to post and unless you have some web space set up, the easiest way to do it is to use the 'attach file' feature below where you type messages. It will then let you browse your hard drive or CD, select the correct file and your done. The only catch is that the pic can only be 640Wx480H pixels. If your CD is from film development, it is probably larger than that. If this is the case, then you will need to resize your picture in any photo editing software (i.e. PictureIt, Adobe, etc.) save it to the hard drive and then use attach to select the file.

Let me know if you need any help doing this.

Dave

[snafuforyou]

Thx capt,

I'll try that this wknd

Snaf

[Capt.Dave]

Snaf,
Great, why you don't you send me a Private Message if you have any trouble, I feel like I've hijacked Vilas original thread topic, which I think is a good one. (Sorry Vilas).

Anyone else out there want to comment on the logistics of an office nano?

Dave

[Pinecone_Jeff]

I work at Lucasarts and having a 10 gal nano has be pretty easy. I do all my maintenance at my desk whenever I need to... water changes, top off, pump cleanings (well this I do at the sink!), etc. I mix my salt water at work and keep the 5 gal jug under my desk. For top offs, I use the drinking water here. It's ro/di water and I just bring a 5 gal jug of the stuff and stash it under my desk (shh....)

I feed during the week only and I feed heavily. I toss in 2-3 big pinches of food per day but they get nothing over the weekends.

For vacations, I just get anyone who's close to do the feedings and top offs. Most recently, I finished a 3 year project and got all of November off for my comp. time. Just before my comp. time, I moved my tank to my new project area. So right now, my lead on my next game is taking care of those duties. He's digg'n it and so are all my new team mates!

Moving my 10 gal nano was a lot easier than I thought. I sucked out 5 gallons of water, put my tank on a food cart, rolled to my new desk, put the tank on that and poured in some of the 5 gallons I took out. Used this opportunity to do a 1 gal water change. It all took about 1/2 hour.

My lights are setup on a 12 hour timer and everything else is simply plugged in (on the company dime, yee haww!!!)

This tank has been a conversation piece ever since I set it up a year ago. Before that, it was a freshwater setup that went no where and nobody cared about it, including me. But now that it's a reef tank, folks are amazed. I have zoanthids, shrooms, anthelia and xenia, 1 ocellaris clown, 1 royal gramma, 1 scarlet cleaner shrimp, 6 lbs live rock, 5 lbs sand, and a "lawn" of razor edge caulerpa (needs trimming every 10 days to 2 weeks - probably because of the fish).

Hope this helps some!

[Capt.Dave]

Jeff,

Wow! that is really cool.

I'm sorry, did to you say something after "I work at Lucasarts.";)

Seriously, it sounds great, do you have any pictures, I'm trying to get some ideas for an office nano 7gal bowfront.

Dave

[Pinecone_Jeff]

Hey Capt. Dave,
Sorry for the late post. I've been on vacation (comp time) for the past month! I just took some pictures this past week. I'll post them soon. Tank's doing great with some xenia, shrooms, hairy shroom, and some sad zoanthids and anthelias. Also have a royal gramma, p. ocellaris, and and blood red shrimp.

[orkspace]

I keep an Eclipse-6g at work with a mantis. I work at a law firm, so the mantis shrimp fits right in. :D

[Pinecone_Jeff]

Here's some pics of my 10 gal on my desk at work.
http://www.sandplay-toys.com/Reefs/12-7-01_full_w.jpg

Here are some closer views.
http://www.sandplay-toys.com/Reefs/12-7-01_hairyshroom_w.jpg
http://www.sandplay-toys.com/Reefs/12-7-01_xenia_w.jpg
http://www.sandplay-toys.com/Reefs/12-7-01_left_w.jpg

[Christopher Marks]

That's a very nice nano reef Jeff! Thanks for sharing the photos with us!

[Pinecone_Jeff]

Thanks Christopher! Hey, I checked out your web sites. Neat looking tanks. How long have you been in business?

[Christopher Marks]

Thanks Jeff! I will have been in the nano reefing business for 1 year as of January 1st.

[Ananda]

The last place I worked, we had LOTS of tanks. I was the fifth person in the office to get a tank. We made jokes about "okay, here's your office, your computer, your phone, your fish tank...."

Tanks currently in that office:
Office #1, the loach fanatic: 30g long, Eclipse 6, Eclipse 12.
Office #2, the koi & pleco fanatic: 29g, Eclipse 6, Eclipse 12.
Office #3: Eclipse 3.
Office #4: two 10g tanks.
Reception area: 54g corner tank.

Tanks that people who used to work there had:
First person with fish: Eclipse 6 nano reef.
Person with the most gallons: Eclipse 12, 10g, 29g, 1 other tank (I forget how big it was).
Mine: 25g, 10g fry tank, both brackish.

Water changes get done on Fridays. With that many people with tanks, they are a frequent topic of conversation, and fish stores are a frequent lunch expedition. And there's always someone around to feed the fish when someone goes on vacation.

[mmarquis]

I keep a 6 gallon Eclipse with the upgraded Ahsupply lighting retrofit. I enjoy it tho I lost some acropora frags recently. I am thinking about making it safer by only putting in the hardiest inhabitants - i.e. some softies and mushrooms only and inverts - no fish. I have many colors of coraline alge thanks in part to GARF grunge and a few crabs, shrimp and stars. My sarco is really growing well and I have some green star polyps and some ricordia and other types of mushrooms. I have one acropora that is still kicking tho I am worried about it. I also have a 15 gallon ViaAqua tank at home that is also softies and shrooms, tho it has two false percula clowns and will be getting some more inhabitants over time. :)

[daffynmark]

I want to take one of my 4g Nanos to work. Just can't see how a 'fish tank' fits into the Farm Bureau...:sad1:

Ah Ha! Aquaculture. :idea:
Now to convince the boss of that:D