My 10G Nano Log

[WarEagleNR88]

So for the first post, I'd like to give you a little history of this 5-paned traveller. I just wonder how far it will take me? It's a genuine 10G Topfin Kit direct from Petsmart what seems like a long time ago. Started it's life out as a FW fish home with the shiny gravel and everything. Oh and Guppies! Even had a little cave and some plastic plants to go with it. Ah, how stupid I was back then with everything aquatic where all I had for "aquatic intelligence" was a little booklet I got with the tank kit. It went through it's stages of disarray and finally ended up empty sitting in a closet.

Then I got the idea that I'd start up a tank from scratch using the bare minimums. This is what it looked like. Bare with me here, I was going for a FW planted tank. So here was it's new humble beginnings. With the bare essentials--water, some sticks from outside, clippings from my other tank, the old filter, and a clip light. Nothing more, nothing less.

http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/01.jpg

Shortly thereafter, I picked up some gravel--from outside and started trying to get it ready for plants. Needless to say it had a while to go before anything would be going into it. But soon the water cleared and an aquascape began to evolve.

http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/02.JPG http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/03.JPG

So what to do with my new aquascape? Why let's put some plants in it. And so that's what I proceeded to do. I even upped the watts and added homemade yeast CO2 for the plants.

http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/04.JPG http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/05.JPG

This was the beginning of this humble little tank. Not much outlook on it. I just was trying a few things and they seemed to be working well. But, plants come and go and so did the ideas of this tank. So afterward, it was empty again waiting for a new project.

[WarEagleNR88]

Shortly thereafter, a new idea arose. Not one of low saline content either, one quite saltier. It would be my very first attempt at a small saltwater tank. I was working hard on a 50G system that I was learning from, improvising with what I had, succeeding and failing--sometimes it seemed like I was doing all of them at once. As far as I could tell I succeeded fairly well given the circumstances. Others may say differently.

Almost like bringing together some random inanimate objects, placing them together and breathing life into it, a new creature arose from the waters. Enter my 10G SW Tank--now equipped with 2 Topfin filters, a nifty water temperature probe, and a mag float! And like it's forerunner, the waters soon cleared and hope was on the rise.

http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/06.JPG http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/07.JPG

It was packing an okay punch as far as lighting was going. AH Supply helped me equip this little 5-paned traveller with 2x13W 10000K bulbs in a custom canopy that were fairly decent and giving light to this little tank. And as I feared as time progressed, it would not be enough. But, I overstep my place in the story. Flow also seemed to be a problem--or maybe it was excess nutrients. I couldn't tell. And soon I came across the dreadnaught of aquatic eyesores--cyano.

http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/08.jpg

But with the help of Chaetomorpha linum, a few scarlet hermit crabs, and some astrea snails. It was soon a losing battle for the devilish bacteria. Even the microcrustaceans in the Chaeto pitched in to devour any and all signs of unsightly algae as it appeared. As the battle raged on in this little tank, my 50G was undergoing some changes as well. It annexed this little tank as it's refugium and two became one almost overnight. How this happened required a little bit of thought and some PVC--a homebuilt, easy to build, functional overflow. This overflow was not to be confused with the overflows of the past, this one was easy to build, easy to start and did a fairly good job of doing it's job--overflowing. Now with my little Danner Supreme Mini Mag pumping out ~70gph, my Topfin filter delivering ~80gph, and my inlet from my 50G providing about ~65gph, this little tank actually had pretty good flow. The only problem--the light sucked. And so the tank halted for months and months and months. None of the polyps I would put into the tank would do well and the only things that seemed to do well were the astreas, nassarius snails, and the hermits. Not even the Chaeto did much good. But there was no sign of algae or cyanobacteria.

http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/09.JPG http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/10.JPG

So I replaced one of the 10000K bulbs with a 6700K bulbs. The Chaeto took off. For some reason that light alone exploded the macroalgae with growth. And so this continued for a while, just keeping the Chaeto trimmed. The pod population at this time exploded in numbers as they loved living in the Chaeto.

http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/11.JPG

Wanting to move on with my 50G tank and try something new, I decided to sell. This would help fund and kickstart my newest project my FW 20G long planted tank. Then I came to a juncture, what to do with this little tank? Should I sell everything SW off and get out of the salt, or continue under a new banner, a nano banner? So continue I did. So it underwent some immediate changes--another revival! By this time I was running a sylvania daylight filament bulb over the little tank and it provided an interesting effect. With all of the crabs, snails, zoas, rics, and shrimp from the 50G along with one of my fav fishes--my gold striped maroon clown--dropped into this little tank it seemed to get packed really quick.

http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/12.JPG

[WarEagleNR88]

Purchasing a quad 96W bulb and using one of my 50G's 96W waterproof ends and Fulham workhorse ballasts, I was able to really put some light over this small tank. Adding back on the 2nd Topfin filter put me right back at about ~230 gph through this little tank. Not quite the underwater hurricane I wanted since all of the flow comes from different sources, but it'll do for now. Here's the result--pictures taken a couple of days ago.

http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/13.JPG

http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/14.JPG

http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/15.JPG

http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/16.JPG

http://www.angelfire.com/mech/wareaglenr88/17.JPG

Don't be shocked by the last picture and no it's not doctored. One of the little gadgets I own is a bright green LED light and I stuck it to the side of the tank from the left side and the light struck the flourescent ricordea and illuminating it like a neon bulb. I thought it was a cool effect. I should get a tripod for my pictures--especially ones like that.

My next thoughts are removing the two Topfin filters and replacing them with an Aquaclear 70 (old 300s), adding in two dueling MaxiJet 600s, and trying to get my zoas to open back up--they've been closed every since I moved everything over. Any thoughts from the crowd? I hope you've enjoyed my first few 10G nano posts.

[WarEagleNR88]

Ok, two MaxiJet 600s and an Aquaclear 110 are on their way from PetSolutions.com. Who knows, from all of the flow, I may be going BB with this if it kicks up too much stuff. I tried my little rinky dink Penguin 550 on the tank--it's on there right now--and I think it will be pretty good to have two with that kind of flow plus the output of the AC110.

All things being assumed standard, there should be 160+160+500 = 820 gph in a 10G tank. How does that sound? Excessive? I will see shortly. Zoos should LOVE that kind of flow.

Now just to figure out how I'm going to do the AC110 "Refugium" mod.

[Brandon's Reef]

its looking good. I did the AC70 refuge mod myself, works great.

[Hobster]

Great writing (story)!:)
Nice tank also.

[WarEagleNR88]

Thanks, I was trying to go for a little entertainment with the logbook. Glad you enjoyed it.

Not much going on today, just found a wayward cluster of zoas floating around that i regelled to a rock. They're probably purples and fell off this one rock that has them on almost all sides of it. Also, both rics (orange and teal) are about to completely split finally giving me 4!

Can't wait to get my MJs and AC110. Check back later, will keep this thing UTD.

[WarEagleNR88]

Today, UPS delivered my new equipment--2 Maxijet 600s and 1 AquaClear 110. And let me tell you, there is lots of flow now.

I removed the old filters and powerhead, pulled out all of the rock, installed the new water flow devices, and re'scaped the tank. I'm sure I'll have to adjust the MJ outlets for optimal flow, but for now they seem to be working quite well. And it's not quite the underwater hurricane I thought there would be. But then again, most of the direct flow is in the top 1/3 of the tank and primarily directed at the front glass. Everywhere else is indirectly receiving flow.

And here are some pictures--please excuse the haze (and the mag float!).

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S18.jpg http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S19.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S20.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S21.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S22.jpg

[WarEagleNR88]

Current stats:
pH: 8.2
Temp: 80*F
Salinity: 1.023
Nitrate: 5-10 ppm
Alk: ~1.7 meqs/L
KH: 140 mg/L

I switched over to an RO/DI source of water and things seem to be looking a little better. Still using Coralife salt in weekly water changes of around 2-3 gallons using fresh RO/DI water and mixing for two full days before. I may change the salt mix in the future to IO.

Heat was becoming an issue with the AC110, 2 Maxijet 600s, and my lights running all at the same time so I removed the MJs. They seemed to be the source of a few degrees Fahrenheit. I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do about it since I really want that heavy flow in this tank.

I started adding Reef Builder to increase my Alk back to normal levels. My test kit was showing around 1.7 meqs/L of Alkalinity and I'd like it to be above 3. I am also going to begin bringing my calcium and magnesium levels up--but I need test kits for those before I begin doing anything with them. I'm almost positive they're low as I haven't noticed any coralline growth in my tank(s) for a while.

Here are some pictures. The zoas in the picture are the ones doing the best. The rest of the zoas are looking better every day. It's going to be a slow road to recovery.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S23.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S24.jpg http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S25.jpg

Thanks for stopping by!

[dime079]

How many lbs. of rock do you have in there?

looks good so far :)

[Mikeeal]

Cool story telling. It made it fun to read. Nice maroon, and sweet ric.

[kamla]

Nice.. Great little story bud..

Keep posting your progress and pics.. :)

[WarEagleNR88]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7192955#post7192955 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dime079
How many lbs. of rock do you have in there?

looks good so far :)
Thanks for the kind comments.

There is about 15 pounds of rock in the display with around 10 pounds of sand. In the AC110, there is probably another 3-5 pounds of rock. So probably close to 20 pounds of rock total with 8G or 9G of water capacity (including the water in the AC110).

Temperature: during the hottest part of the day I've been topping out at around 82.2 degrees. The room temp is close to 75 at that time with outside temps today in the low 100s--crazy Oklahoma hot and dry weather as of late. I am not liking the high temps in the tank at all, but it does only swing about 1-2 degree from dawn to dusk so that's not too bad. It just sucks because I want more flow but more flow = higher temps (83-85 degrees). That I think is too high. I've been thinking about borrowing a 3" hole saw and putting two holes on each side of my canopy for a PC fan or two. That means more work because then I'd have to top off even more. BTW, top off is about 15 ounces per day now.

Other params: I tested for Calcium and it is ~460 ppm with Alk still hovering just above 1.7 meq/L, maybe closer to 2.0 by now. I'm still trying to boost the Alk slowly but surely. All of my zoas are almost open and are really starting to impress me. Even the pink zoas and yellow zoas are perking up. Stay tuned for pictures of the recovering zoas. For now, here's a pic of my pretty little girl. :D Enjoy!

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S26.jpg

[Cutiewitbooty]

pretty maroon :D I llike your story telling too lol

[WarEagleNR88]

New update. I have a friend who gave me a couple of frags yesterday. One for me to keep and the other to see if I can revive the polyps and bring them back. The ones he gave me to keep were two small GSP mats and the ones I'm trying to bring back are about 6 polyps of Armageddon zoanthids. They've been on a slow decline in his tank and have been losing polyps and shrinking in size both in skirt diameter and length. So it's a little project that hopefully I can make them turn around. Also, I picked up a Coralife digital thermometer--the one almost everyone is using--to replace my plain glass in-tank thermometer. Temps are fairly stable between 80-82, but I may still add that fan and put back in those two MJ600s for more flow.

Here are some new pictures below. There's a FTS and lots of macro shots of my zoas that are coming back online.
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S27.jpg

Here's an astrea snail with a bright red algae on the side of his shell along with my teal ricordea that is really doing well.
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S28.jpg http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S29.jpg

This first picture is a small bunch of polyps that I've been trying to find for a while that have been floating around the tank unattached. NOW they're attached and not going anywhere! (note large glob of super gel) The second pic is of my first polyps--I think protopalythoas--that came with the rock they're on when I first picked it up for my 50G over a year ago. They're recovering really well.
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S30.jpg http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S31.jpg

Standard zoas, the first picture are the same ones from last week. Purple with brownish/purple skirts. During the peak of the day they are starting to push up against each other in a nice mat. A hermit had just walked across them, that's the culprit on the right. The second picture are of green/blue with yellow/brown skirts--the kind that grow like crazy once they're on a roll.
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S32.jpg http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S33.jpg

[WarEagleNR88]

The first picture here are of my green with brown skirt zoas. The are the second largest group of zoas behind the purples. The second picture are of my most colorful zoas. I've really never seen any like them. Can't wait for these to really open up and show their true colors.
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S34.jpg http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S35.jpg

The armageddon's below! Not looking too good, eh? Well they've only been in my tank for 1 full day so far, I'm sure they'll recover. That little pod there on the largest polyp in the middle is watching over them nursing them back to life :D. And yes, that is an aiptasia behind the polyp on the left. I think Joe's Juice was utilized which further destroyed the 'geddon colony of polyps. Regretfully, the aiptasia persisted. Now it may just have to come down to the skillful hands of a peppermint shrimp--but I don't have one. The second picture are orange/white mouthed neon orange skirted blue polyps. Very colorful when fully extended.
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S36.jpg http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/wareaglenr88/S37.jpg

I hope you've enjoyed the new pictures.

[RUGDOG]

WARDAMNEAGLE

[stewie24]

Nice tank! I really liked the story. At first i thought it was going to be a fw journal, and I thought oh no.. here come the flames. lol

Stewie

[Cutiewitbooty]

yeah thats what i first thought two lol