Thanks, both of you. :)

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/...20gallon-1.jpg

I was mucking around with something called the "Marine Compatibility Guide" (http://www.marinecompatibilityguide.com/) yesterday, and I think I worked out a potential stocking list. The screenshot is above. I chose "25 gallons" when working through it, as I find that many times the minimum recommended tank size for fish is pretty generous.

The way it works is that you start with one fish, then "Find Compatible Fish," choose another fish, find more fish, choose more fish, . . . it is pretty neat. In reading through care information with regards to the chosen fish, and where they live in the tank, I think it looks alright.

I think the Pygmy Wrasse will be very hard to find. To complicate things further, if I stock this with fish I would like to find all of the fish from the same source, at the same time, and before any corals of inverts are added to the system. That way, if I need to do hypo, PraziPro or Paraguard, I can do it in the cycled display. I've had a couple of very unsettling events in my QT in the last month.

It returned four Wrasse options for me: Pygmy, Yellow Banded Possum, White Banded Possum, and Pink Streaked.

I'm playing around with the guide some more, with the tank size set to 15 gallons. It will let me choose all of the same fish, but it won't give me the option to add a clownfish.

I entered all of my stock for my 40 gallon into it . . . and I got a great big note on the screen telling me that a 40 gallon was not appropriate for one of the fish (it isn't, and I know this).

Overall, a very neat tool.

This system is looking bad-ass Shelley! Nice job on the LED.

Thanks for posting that link above. I've been playing around with it a bit here on my lunch break

Thanks, Josh. :) I have nearly hit my limit when it comes to the work I've done on this thing. :lol: I've still got a couple of little things left to do, and I'm having a hard time finding the motivation.

I've decided that it is getting one of the MP10s off my 40B. I'm honestly not fond of the things . . . they just weren't the right choice for that system. I'm hoping it will work nicely on here.

The more I play around with that link the more I like it. The recommendations it gives appear to be really solid.

If you ever wanna get rid of an MP10... shoot me a pm.. :lol:

When/if I get my Tunzes. :)

Soapy's posts of inspirational shots have inspired me to post my own.

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/...nspiration.jpg

I'm hoping to achieve a similar look with this build, though that is a 29 gallon.

Oh hey, well reefwarz got me thinking about inspirational photos so it is just getting passed along. Good luck with your goals. Cheers.

BTW, if you are specifically looking for that red monti cap like in the inspirational photo, I have some and could break you off a piece if you like. Of course it will have to be a trade or sale in order to comply with the rules...

I have a green one that has a purple rim that I was going to try on the sandbed. But, the red would be awfully nice. :lol: A frag of the red one is something we can talk about later. :)

:lol: Despite the fact that this is a terrible photograph . . . here is my "official" empty tank shot.

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/...1014-00197.jpg

I do think it looks great on that table, though!

The tank is sitting in my very dark basement. It is still without water, and I'm hoping I make the November 1st fill date. We're redoing the floors upstairs and painting the bedrooms. The room this tank is going into hasn't been started yet. It was supposed to be done today.

Well I must say Shelly you have been very busy on the build of your nano and very well done thus far. I have not had much time to check out other contestants threads until tonight.

:thumb: great job

Thanks, Greg. :)

I bet you're going to beat my fill date, even though you just started building your tank. :lol:

I highly dought it :lol: but I do have my rock already cured as its been in my 165 sump for at least a yr. :biggrin:

The build is looking good Shelly :D

Great job so far cant wait too see live stock in it:biggrin:

Thanks, guys. :)

The paint is going on the walls in our bedroom. The second coat has just gone on. Hubby is sanding the floor tomorrow, and he'll get at least a couple of coats on it. I may be able to fill this puppy this weekend. :)

We got the last coat on the floors last night, and she's been moved into place!

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/...1020-00211.jpg

I gave up nightstand to have the tank in our bedroom. Our bedroom isn't very big in our old bungalow.

Two inches of this sand has gone in:

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/...1020-00210.jpg

(Photo taken before the last of the sand was added)

15lbs was new, and 5 (or so) pounds is from my 12 gallon Nano Cube, which was "retired" in June.

My rock structure has been glued together, and is curing on the bathroom floor downstairs. I *think* it will hold together long enough to get it up the stairs and into the tank.

As my rock is not live rock, I think I'm going to break a rule and add it before the water. The water will come from my main display system, over the course of a couple of water changes. I think.

Looking good Shelley! I thought the sand would be deeper than that.

Looking good :)

:lol: It might wind up deeper: a lot deeper. I'm not yet sure how much volume the equipment, filtration media, and rockwork will take up.

Official "fill" photograph:

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/...1022-00220.jpg

17.5 gallons!

Had I any idea how much displacement there would be, I might have tried an NC29. :D

Yes, my rock is in there already. I'm prepared to take a points hit for that, as it was the best course of action for me.

Is that salt on the sandbed?

Yup. It is dry rock. No worries. :) I don't use live rock.

I've added the salt directly to the tank before when first filling.

Was just curious. :lol:

Just take the rock out for minute to snap another picture and label it "prior to adding rock" photo. I may or may not be doing that.:lol:

I'm impressed that you caught that. Good eye! When I add the salt directly to the tank I give it longer to mix before I add anything else to the tank. I'll start dosing "Stability" in a week or so, with fish food to kick start the cycle.

I can't do that. The rock structure doesn't fit out the top of the tank. It is all glued together, and I'll need to try to get it apart when/if I remove it from the tank. Funny story (or not). I'll tell it later. ;)

Well, she is now officially cycling. :)

I'm adding Stability. I've got another bottle of Microbacter7 on order, and when that arrives I'll use that as well. I think there is value in using a variety of bacterial sources. I'm adding a big pinch of fish food pellets a day: more than the fish in this system will get to eat. I'm not going to test for ammonia or anything until mid-November. The last tank I cycled this way took 19 days, but I didn't add bacteria daily past the first week: I just kept ghost feeding the tank. I suspect this one will cycle more quickly, as I'll be adding bacteria daily. This tank will be a nitrifying beast by the livestock addition date.

Worth noting is that this tank is cycling hot at 83F. I believe this is a better temperature to cycle at, as it is said that the bacteria multiplies more quickly in warmer temperatures. I wouldn't cycle that warm with live rock, but as this rock is dry rock there is nothing worth trying to preserve on it.

Also, we should talk about phosphates. Dry rock is a phosphate bomb. People may advertise otherwise . . . but don't believe it. I am heading for a MAJOR GHA issue. I'm not worried about it, as I've been through it before. But, in an attempt to mitigate the phosphate damage, this rock was soaked in RO/DI for several weeks. In addition to that, I've added Phosbuster Pro to the water, and I'm using Pura Phoslock. Despite that, I expect this tank to go really green and hairy within eight weeks.

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/...1028-00235.jpg

I've only got the blue LEDs turned on in that photo. The Royal Blues aren't working again. I need to trouble shoot those. And, the whites really aren't required while cycling.

I'm incredibly pleased with the way my scape turned out. It really loses something in the photo. I'm sure that as it is filled out with coral the depth and dimension of the scape will become more obvious.

Here's a top down shot from before I added the water:

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/...1021-00213.jpg

There are nice shaded spots, as well as spot that will be lower flow. There are an abundance of places to put coral. I think this will work out well. :)

I had originally built the scape outside of the tank. I carefully made all of my measurements, and I methodically glued it all together.

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/...1019-00203.jpg

I brought it upstairs to put it in the tank after the glue had cured . . . and it didn't fit! It must have shifted ever so slightly after I had glued it.

I had to take it partially apart, and rebuild it in the tank.

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/...1021-00212.jpg

It isn't 100% what I had originally, but it is pretty close.

The aquascape looks good, but should be seeded with at least some live rock. IMO dry rock takes 6 months to start to cycle and over a year before becoming fully live and having enough beneficial bacteria to support a reef system properly.

I won't be putting any live rock in this system to start. Some live rock may wind up in it once corals are added: if the corals are on rock. I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to manage that. If corals can be removed from the rock easily, then I won't be putting any in.

I'm actually very "anti" live rock. While I did start my first system with eight pounds of live rock, and I still use that in the sump of my main display system, I try to avoid it when possible.

While it is true that live rock and dry rock are very different, if one is aware of the differences and is willing to compensate, dry rock can become very efficient very quickly. The difference is in that the bacteria needs to be added to a system using only dry rock, and quite a bit of it. The fuel for the bacteria needs to be added, too.

My NC12, by day 19, was processing a cube of mysis a day. It was so efficient that when I lost two clowns to brook (and never found their bodies) three days apart that there wasn't even a blip in the ammonia reading for the tank.

I'll be adding a lot of Stability and Microbacter7, and a lot of fuel to feed the bacteria. The ammonia in this tank will probably get horrifyingly high at some point, and the tank may start to smell pretty bad, too. The cycle may even stall at some point if the ammonia gets high enough to kill the bacteria. I'm guessing it should be just about cycled by the 23rd of November, though. :)

I know a lot of newbies that have had lots of issues with their tanks from using dry rock. Not many people have the patience to go slow enough with dry rock and their tank suffers because of it. Guess you can say I am anti dry rock, but to each their own.

Dry rock certainly presents its own set of challenges. It's easy to use when one knows what to expect and is prepared to deal with the downsides, but if one doesn't know what's coming it can be incredibly challenging and frustrating.

Great aquascape Shelley. Really liked the way you came up with it :D

I myself used aquacultered live rock which is guaranteed to be pest free. But over the time, pest did find a way in my tank (aiptasia through frags) but they also have to drink lemon juice as soon as I find them.

I prefer dry rocks for not being pest-free (aquacultered LR are pest free too) but because I can choose my own preference regarding shapes of rock which is not always the case with LR and aquacultered are not really available through LFS.

Coming along nicely Shelley! The rockscape looks great.

Any updates? It's been over a month since the last one, just curious how the tank is doing now.