Nano Tank of the Month- Sept. 07

[joesmoe517]

First off i want to thank everyone who voted for my 12g nanocube as NTOTM this september, as well as those who
didn't because it made the competition that much better.
I started this little reef almost two years ago out of boredom, and it is now the reason why I haven't been bored since. I found out quickly that doing things right in this hobby takes time and patience, especially when dealing with issues like placement and crowding in such a small space.
Anyway, here is my thread to document pictures of whats gone down for the past few months, and even some from over the past year or so. Enjoy!

SPECS:
-Nanocube 12g DX with nanocustoms 4.24 (96w) powercompact lighting ugrade
-Maxi-jet 900 paired with a hydor flo attachment
-Stealth 50w heater

MAINTENANCE:
-bi weekly 2 gallon water changes with tropic marin sea salt & glacier ro/di water.
-Kent marine part A & B calcium/alkalinity supplement daily.
-Occasional use of trpoic marin bio-calcium in the week approaching a water change.
-Coralline Stimulator by Florida Aquafarms 2-3 times per week (I think this product is part of the reason for why my

colors look the way they do as it contains zooxanthellae stimulators as well).

FILTRATION:
chamber 1: DLS filter pad, chemi-pure half unit, Fritz phosphate remover, LR rubble.
chamber 2: LR rubble, Chaeto, 6700k bulb on back.
chamber 3: heater and pump.

FEEDING:
-I feed the corals and fish 2-3 times per week
-Corals get frozen cyclopeeze, prime reef,Kent phytoplex & microvert, & Roti-rich.

and now for some pictures:
FTS 9-25-07






[IMG]

[joesmoe517]

Macros




and some old pictures:
FIRST DAY MARCH 26th 2006

10-24-06

[PurpleUP]

Your tank has incredibly evolved over the past 2 years. Congrats again on the win.

[pmjfuture]

this tank is beautiful.

[SaltwaterChris]

Looks good.How long did you have the lion fish?

[All Delight]

congrats

[joesmoe517]

Thanks everyone.
Chris- I had the baby volitans in there from mid-august '06 till i came back from thanksgiving break (Nov 28th? '06) and found him half digested, sticking out of my green brain. My roommate apparently neglected to give him the guppies like i asked him to and he starved.

[bawla47]

looks really nice bro, ive seen it come a LONG way.

[Woods]

Nice Nano...Congrats.

[ReefGirlSara]

Thank you for giving me a goal!

[SaltwaterChris]

Aw man that sucks anyway he looked cool in there.

[Brian24]

Awesome looking tank. I especially like the clam.

[joesmoe517]

I couldnt sleep so i took some night shots, heres what that red and green acan looks like when he's hungry.

[Pinecone_Jeff]

Hey Joe,
Can you show us some pics of your hardware? It looks like you have a different outflow and a different overflow than what you had stock. I'd love to see what you did in the various compartments too.

Nice tank, man!

[joesmoe517]

hey guys, i have a question for you. I have been thinking about filling up the sand area in the front of my tank with zoas. I really like the zoa morphs that come through my store and always want to take a little frag from each colony but i am just about out of room. So, what do you think? Will filling up my sandbed in the front with a rainbow of different zoas look cheesy or not?

[TikiDan]

How about a FTS!

[joesmoe517]

alright well heres an FTS for october

and a pic of my new zoas which i aptly named "Bro's Zoa's" because (although you cant tell from the photo) in real life they're purple with gold centers, almost like grillz.

and another shot of my lobo feeding when the actinics just came on in the morning

[ZOKU]

Absolutely beautiful!!

[joesmoe517]

at the request of pinecone jeff, heres some shots of my setup:
Right sump

Left sump

crappy makeshift fuge light (yea those are soda cans and aluminum foil, so what it works)

96 watts of powercompacts

And the whole entire setup shot:

[joesmoe517]

Check out the growth on the red acan in exactly 2 months, look back to the top down picture at the top of the thread and compare:


And a macro shot of a sweet RPE or PPE or one of those stupid names

[Pinecone_Jeff]

Nice! Very nice!! Thanks, Joe for sharing your system pics.

I especially like the FTS with the rubber bands! What new critter did you get? I love those rubber bands.

[joesmoe517]

haha those are from the last zoa frag i got i think. Im surprised nobody said anything about the beer bottle on the shelf below the tank...

[ReefWreak]

Really nice tank. I'm kind of suprised that you've been that sucessful with PCs and no skimmer. I guess the refugium and filter floss (if changed religiously) really help. Do you do a lot of water changes too?

Too bad you're a gator

If you're living the college life, then nano is the way to go. I got a 24g cube freshman year, didn't bring it back for sophmore year, and now I just set up a new 2.5g cause the 24g was too much to lug around.

[joesmoe517]

Yep, im definitely a broke student at UF. I can honestly say i havent spent more than 800 dollars on this tank since i got it
"slightly used" over 19 months ago (including all supplies and maintenance stuff). It helps working at the lfs but so does being patient for the right peices.
I do 2 gallon water changes with Tropic Marin every 10-14 days depending on how busy i am with school. Thanks for the comments.

[Toygrr]

lol joe "interests: MJ" xDD

enjoi