My first SW tank...and it's a nano!

[mixixe]

Ah!!! you guys from BCaquaria get everyone addicted! Now I have my own SW tank and I never thought this day would come but it's so much fun. I got a couple of peices of live rock and wow...live means live, I've found all sorts of things in my tank like sea stars, snails, feather worms.... cool!!! anyway... here is my tank..i think it's 4 gallons.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m271/mixixe/Picture866.jpg


so far just live rocks and some zoas...

[andsoitgoes]

SUPER CUTE!!!

Glad I'm not the only one addicted to this ;)

You'll have to keep me posted, you have any idea what you want in there?

[mixixe]

not yet. I'm just going to keep it running like that for while to see how fast things colonize and to see if everything is doing well. I would like a hermit crab though. I need to do some more research on the corals, but i'll update everyonce in a while. :)

[andsoitgoes]

6 days, where's the update???

I know, I haven't posted mine yet, but I'm waiting until just the right moment (mostly after a water change so I can ensure everything's not dead ;))

[mixixe]

Hi all,

Sorry I dont have any pictures to post, but I lost the connection cable from my camera to my comp :) Neway, a nano question about lighting, I have 18 watts of 10000k bulbs over my tank and 13 watts of a desk lamp too, not sure what temp. Most of my zoos that are orangey color are very nice and bright the ones that are supposed to be blue and pink look very dull and barely blue and pink, just a bit irridescent. Is there a problem with my lighting? I had an actnic?? bulb before over it too but it seemed like my anthelia did not like and it cowered for a week until i took those bulbs away. Otherwise everything seems to be growing very well.

Jen

[Mr. Scratch]

A 10k bulb won't highlight the colors that well, actinic will help as would a bluer bulb, but that is of course only my experience.

[BCOrchidGuy]

In my experience the black gravel/sand really doesn't do a tank justice. White or natural aragonite is much nicer, it reflects a lot of light and makes the tank look much brighter. A 10k tube won't give you the nicest colour and your desk lamp will be washing out most of the colour the 10k is giving you if it's a normal light bulb. There are a number of upgrades you can go with for light over your tank, depending on what size it is. A 10k and an actinic will go a long way or two 50/50 tubes (actinic/10k on each tube).

Congrats on getting involved in nano's you'll love it.

Doug

[mixixe]

I have changed the gravel already, I didn't like the black either. Now I am using crushed coral. It's much better. Though I've been reading lately, sand is better than coral. So many things to learn. Maybe I'll upgrade on the lighting a bit more. I'm not quite sure how I should upgrade though. It seemed like some of my corals didn't like the actinic bulb... I dunno why.

[woodcarver]

Looking good ! Any details on filter etc ?
..................Dave

[mixixe]

just that little internal filter there, mostly for flow. I try to maintain water quality with water changes, 2 x a week, and i want to add a refugium soon.

[mixixe]

I think my boxer crab is holding eggs! I thought the crabs were fighting all this time but maybe they were just getting it on :)

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m271/mixixe/Picture012.jpg

What should I do?

[Flusher]

Though I've been reading lately, sand is better than coral.

In such a small tank, it probably won't make a difference either way. The tank is too small for a deep sand bed (DSB), so you'd probably do best keeping the substrate as shallow as possible. The depth of the sandbed in the first picture looks about right, IMO.

Maybe I'll upgrade on the lighting a bit more. I'm not quite sure how I should upgrade though.

Coralife 50/50s. I've been using those for over a year in my nanos, and they work great for soft corals. They screw in to medium-based lightbulb sockets. Two 20W bulbs might be overkill; that's what I use on my 6 gallon tank. A 20W might do it, or maybe a 20W and a 10W?

HTH
________
Stracraft 2 Replay (http://screplays.com/replays)

[mixixe]

so now I have two light strips over my tank, and theyare both 8 inches long. It's the mini coralife light strips. I"m using 2 10000k 9 watt bulbs, 2 actinic 9watt bulbs. Is that good? The corals look much nicer now. I see more of the colors that didn't show up before but some are still brown.

[imisky]

mixixes! nice to see you on here, well i havent been using canreef much but i see that we have converted you:mrgreen: :mrgreen: i cant wait to see what your final tank will look like, so far so good

[mixixe]

Imisky after seeing your tank I told you I was gonna have to do one too! It's all your fault, but thank you, b/c i love my tank so much, but dones't quite look as nice as yours. I'm still trying to figure it all out

[mixixe]

Update... so i made some changes in the tank and now it's been running for about 3-4 months and I like it alot better. Here are some pics.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m271/mixixe/CIMG0005.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m271/mixixe/CIMG0011.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m271/mixixe/CIMG0013.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m271/mixixe/CIMG0025.jpg

my sharknose goby

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m271/mixixe/CIMG0004.jpg

my featherduster

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m271/mixixe/CIMG0012.jpg

my refugium

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m271/mixixe/CIMG0076.jpg

enjoy!

[Midknight]

Hey there, The tank is looking good.
Nice stuff you have in there.
Can't see the xenia, is it hiding? :wink:

[andsoitgoes]

LOVE the fuge setup! Great work! I see you have a standard powerhead pumping water into the fuge, what do you have pumping water out? Dying to know! :)

[mixixe]

I think I killed the xenia :( it stopped pulsing and stretched out looking all funny so I scraped it off. Maybe I will give it another shot when I'm brave enough to have another one :)

[mixixe]

LOVE the fuge setup! Great work! I see you have a standard powerhead pumping water into the fuge, what do you have pumping water out? Dying to know! :)

I didn't make the refugium, mykiss made it for me. There is the powerhead pumping water into the fuge and then another tube on the other end that goes into the tank. Mykiss explained to me as the water level equals out between the tank it will pump excess water back into the main tank. But I don't know how, but it works!

[andsoitgoes]

ahhh - right, that makes sense - it's just like cleaning the tank using a gravel cleaner, the joys of gravity!

What powerhead do you have running the flow? I have a MJ 400 and it's so bloody much I've now pointed it back towards the rear of the tank to equalize things a bit.

[mixixe]

I have a maxjet 400 too it was great but then I got my clown goby which seems uncomfortable in it. What other options are there?

[Midknight]

Well anytime you want another peice I will just replace the first one.
How long was it "stretched out"?I find it does some odd stuff at time. I just leave it and a day or so later it is back to normal.

I think I killed the xenia :( it stopped pulsing and stretched out looking all funny so I scraped it off. Maybe I will give it another shot when I'm brave enough to have another one :)

[mixixe]

Well anytime you want another peice I will just replace the first one.
How long was it "stretched out"?I find it does some odd stuff at time. I just leave it and a day or so later it is back to normal.

Thanks!

It was good for about a week and then it kept stretching after that till it didn't look like xenia anymore, and turned pink,and stopped pulsing. Though it but parts of it was beginning to shrivelled up.

I scraped it off just last week.

[mixixe]

My clown goby Elaine finally came out from hiding! So cute!

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m271/mixixe/CIMG0088.jpg

[Skimmer Juice]

Taht is a pretty sweet 4 gallon! It must be nice to be able to get cool things , like sexy shrimp. I have not seen a sexy shrimp in calgary in over a year:cry: . I have lots of pom pom crabs and they are full of babies all the time. I really like that sharpe nose goby, cant say I have seen one of those before.

[mixixe]

thanks, it's actually a 5 gallon tank now. As I switched it over.

[andsoitgoes]

Toooo cute. Love those guys. Shame he hides so much :(

How is the refugium working out for you? Can you take a full top-down shot of the two together?

[mixixe]

I'm confused with my refugium right now. The water in it was level with my main tank before I did a waterchange. After I did the water change, it's water level is much higher and it also spilled one time. So I think I need to adjust the flow of the pump. But when it's working it's great. :)

I will take a picture and post it soon!

I'm goign to try and make a protein skimmer for my tank like imisky's too

[mixixe]

Here is the picture of the refugium and tank

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m271/mixixe/CIMG0097.jpg

This is the water level right now
main tank much lower than fuge

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m271/mixixe/CIMG0099.jpg

[imisky]

mixixes~ i stil think for safty issues put another powerhead of the same type as a return pump wouldnt want your house to be flooded or a small portion of your carpet /wood to be damnaged..

as for Canreef i dont think many people know me:redface: after all ive only got 2 posts haha well + this one itd be 3, ill just grab the posts i did in BCA and have a chance for people to get to know me a little.

oh and BTW tanks comming along well, hope u everything works out!! and the fuge problem fixes itself without getting another pump ( $$ saving)

[mixixe]

LOL I figured out the problem with my fuge. The return u tube had some algae clogged in it. It must have gotten in there during the water rush.

Now it's fine. But that is still a good idea. First would be the protein skimmer.