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Quick customer review: Happy and nice colored using only black box LEDs, after 10 days. They respond quickly to powdered foods and gooble up mysis/LRS nano/LPS pellets, if you are into that kind of thing.
I also have been running a nano for less than 2 month 20g with a HOB filter and a HOB skimmer. The skimmer is a cheap 50g rated Amazon special, but it does pull out a good amount of organic debris. The HOB runs filter floss 24/7 changed/rinsed at least weekly and chemical filtration including...
Looks nice. I still think its a water stability thing.
1) 10 gallon, open top, warm light above tank. There's definitely going to be temperature fluctuations, especially during the summer. You manually top off or go away for a weekend, salinity fluctuations. Things corals dont like.
2)...
Seems like a lot of livestock and a lot of feeding with suboptimal nutrient export. Too many fluctuating parameters, in addition to temperature and salinity inherent to 10 gallons. The growth of frags I got in my 20 gallon doesn't compare with their sisters still at the LFS, because there is...
My understanding is that you can't really predict how long it will take, but you can do things to speed up the process and use ammonia/nitrite/nitrate tests to tell where you are. It's not a once cycled, all done, kind of thing, I think of it as a dynamic equilibrium, in which the entire system...
Tank update:
Medium clean up with 25% water change, two weeks since last minor one. Checked parameters before and after and the only thing that stuck out was a drop in KH (9 to 8) and my calcium always less than 380. I have 2 part (bought Kent for prior tank and won Tropic Marin, and using...
Tank update:
Lots of not tank related life stuff going on. Maintenance and documenting have taken a back seat, but lots of enjoyment still going on.
So, rearranged again (and again and again). I finally decided to consolidate everything towards the middle and just leave free space on the...
Yah, I cheaped out going with the black box LEDs. Had to return one because the cooling fan would not turn on. Definitely will be going with quality lights when I upsize tank. Otherwise, I see why there are diffusers and hybrid systems, but going to stick with these for now.
Rock formation...
Quick update.
Busy week and weekend, non tank wise. So, my "favia" is actually an acan echinata, of some rainbow type. I picked up a small zoa frag and two small hammers from @Wilson (thanks!). Did some rearranging for flow and coral placement.
Tank shot with everyone except Hermie.
higher...
Ha ha. I was just reading about them and POTM.
Sounds like my kind of gathering. Not sure if I can make it, i.e. have to run it by my wife and explain why I am leaving her with all the kid duties for a Sat afternoon. Hopefully, I have enough credit/hubby points!
Thanks for the comments.
In terms of the skimmer, it is starting to gunkify. More air intake would be nice, which I might play around with, once it matures. One con is that you cannot access the separate chambers after removing the collection cup, like you can with the CPR bakpak, for...
It’s coral time!
Spent the last week bringing up salinity to 1.025 from 1.020 and checking out more local fish stores. Parameters in good range and my results matched the store tested values, so feel better about using the rest of my API test kit.
Picked up an 8 headed green duncan and a...
Live stock:
Blue spotted watchman goby, aka Grumpy, and pistol shrimp aka Digger, kept things interesting in the 5 gallon. They definitely appreciate the new real estate, and formed a cave system underneath the R sided formation. Been feeding almost daily for now, keeping them pretty active...
Thanks! Corals are one of the reasons I am here. I signed up because of all the knowledge and experience I have seen here. Like the idea of “documenting” my progress and hopefully this will stimulate discussion or at least be helpful for someone else. Onto the tank.
Equipment:
A friend...
Two weeks ago, I transferred everything from my 2 year old 5 gallon nano (6 lbs of rock, sand, a watchman goby, a pistol shrimp, and a scarlet hermit crab) into a 20 gallon L glass tank,. Went with coarse Florida crushed gravel, added 8 more lbs or rock, and a friend donated a barely used...