Coraln00b's 28 Gal Nano Build!
- Thread starter CoralN00b
- Start date
KeishaKornbread
Banned
Looks awesome! You will be fragging soon once everything grows out!
CoralN00b
New member
Thanks everyone! I really regret not waiting on that Gorgonian. It was an impulse purchase at the swap and I jumped on it. I love those and the starfish but I realized and accepted that I am not ready for them yet. I need to fine tune my water quality and make some upgrades to my equipment first. Just want to do it right from now on.
I was seriously humbled and given a reality check by my tank crash that time. It taught me to slow down and relax in the hobby.
I was seriously humbled and given a reality check by my tank crash that time. It taught me to slow down and relax in the hobby.
KeishaKornbread
Banned
And congrats on the MP10!! You decided to stop playing with the toy?
CoralN00b
New member
Thanks Dom! I love the tree! I wanted it for a while and it really helped me learn what my zoas and everything like. I have three pieces of sps. That ORA Birds of paradise and the red monti, and a sweet green monti. I bought the BOP and Jeff (tangency) gave me the monti as a PIF after my crash. The Monti grew and I broke a chunk off as a PIF to another reefer. Walt gave me a green monti that I really am loving the color on.
The BOP is doing great but the tree helped me learn and easily adjust for the flow and lighting. I was able to see the coloration of my zoas too and keep the tank nice and neat.
Those bright orange skirt zoas are fire and ice. They were real dull on the bottom. Super bright in that tree now.
CoralN00b
New member
I am eager to learn that whole side of reefing too!
HA! That thing was insane. Another member on here needed a pump with high flow and less bells and whistles. I needed a pump with less flow and more bells and whistles. So I traded and I put up some cash too. It was a win, win for both of us. I absolutely love the MP10. What a great piece of equipment.
I am going to stick to high end stuff. I am doing my research on the skimmers and options now. Most likely going with the tunze line skimmer and a really good media reactor since the tunze will take up my media basket space. If not, I will get a good hang on back skimmer. Then a UV sterilizer eventually. I have to do some more research though.
I upgraded my refractometer and test kits too! No more messing around on my stuff! Slowly but surely.
CoralN00b
New member
Time for a tank Update.....
So I ditched the metal halides. Don't get me wrong, they are great for growing coral. However, they ran my tank way too hot..... even with the heatsink and the fans on the hood. Then, they were too bright for what I wanted. I always felt like my fish and coral were not relaxed. Could just be me. Plus, they had alot of white so my tank always looked cloudy to me. The ballast and everything was so loud too.
I bought the LED's from Aaron and let me tell you, they fit like a charm. My hood had these slots in there and each strip fit perfectly. I jsut had to grind the slots down a bit so they could sit flush with the glass and casing. There are two all blue strips and one 50/50 strip of blue and white.
At first, I was not used to so much blue but after 24 hours, my corals really took to it. I used to think they were open before but man they are really open now! They look so full and happy. I also moved some stuff around and started to glue some frags down to where I want them. After running these for a week, i am now happy to report my algea issues are gone so far. Before, I used to get some green algea on the glass within a day or two of cleaning the tank. Now, I can't find any. I know a number of things affect algea but I also know too much light is a big factor.
I had a lot of coraline algea in the tank already but I swear I have a ton of new spots after the upgrade. I did some research and learned that coraline algea loves the blue lighting? Anyways, I am happy as can be right now.
Here are some recent shots......
FTS.
View attachment 17922
Another FTS to show the frag tree....
View attachment 17923
A shot of some of my frags on the sand bed. I purchased a frag rock for these bad boys. I should have it later this week. I was tired of my DWG flipping them over every day. That little guy has an awesome personality.
View attachment 17924
Here is another shot of a frag that I am pretty proud of. I picked this frag up at the CMAS swap a few months ago. It was definitely not this big. It is a tile, and the zoas weren't up to the edges yet. Mounted this guy on my liverock and it took off growing onto it.
View attachment 17925
As you can see I love my Z & P's. I also fell in love with Acans after I picked one up from walt. Now I am hooked on those. I am debating if I want to add a torch or frogspawn to the back right of my tank. I am still debating that.
I'll get some more shots of the coral, close-up. I also have to get one of my nem. It is loving the new light. My wife walked in yesterday after work and said "That nem is on point!"
I also have some new frags of Z & P's coming in this week! I can honestly say I am in love with my tank all over again. I really am happy with the direction I am taking and the results I am seeing. I am adding a skimmer and a media reactor soon to help keep everything in check.
So I ditched the metal halides. Don't get me wrong, they are great for growing coral. However, they ran my tank way too hot..... even with the heatsink and the fans on the hood. Then, they were too bright for what I wanted. I always felt like my fish and coral were not relaxed. Could just be me. Plus, they had alot of white so my tank always looked cloudy to me. The ballast and everything was so loud too.
I bought the LED's from Aaron and let me tell you, they fit like a charm. My hood had these slots in there and each strip fit perfectly. I jsut had to grind the slots down a bit so they could sit flush with the glass and casing. There are two all blue strips and one 50/50 strip of blue and white.
At first, I was not used to so much blue but after 24 hours, my corals really took to it. I used to think they were open before but man they are really open now! They look so full and happy. I also moved some stuff around and started to glue some frags down to where I want them. After running these for a week, i am now happy to report my algea issues are gone so far. Before, I used to get some green algea on the glass within a day or two of cleaning the tank. Now, I can't find any. I know a number of things affect algea but I also know too much light is a big factor.
I had a lot of coraline algea in the tank already but I swear I have a ton of new spots after the upgrade. I did some research and learned that coraline algea loves the blue lighting? Anyways, I am happy as can be right now.
Here are some recent shots......
FTS.
View attachment 17922
Another FTS to show the frag tree....
View attachment 17923
A shot of some of my frags on the sand bed. I purchased a frag rock for these bad boys. I should have it later this week. I was tired of my DWG flipping them over every day. That little guy has an awesome personality.
View attachment 17924
Here is another shot of a frag that I am pretty proud of. I picked this frag up at the CMAS swap a few months ago. It was definitely not this big. It is a tile, and the zoas weren't up to the edges yet. Mounted this guy on my liverock and it took off growing onto it.
View attachment 17925
As you can see I love my Z & P's. I also fell in love with Acans after I picked one up from walt. Now I am hooked on those. I am debating if I want to add a torch or frogspawn to the back right of my tank. I am still debating that.
I'll get some more shots of the coral, close-up. I also have to get one of my nem. It is loving the new light. My wife walked in yesterday after work and said "That nem is on point!"
I also have some new frags of Z & P's coming in this week! I can honestly say I am in love with my tank all over again. I really am happy with the direction I am taking and the results I am seeing. I am adding a skimmer and a media reactor soon to help keep everything in check.
CoralN00b
New member
Time for some updates. I have my new camera and i have been trying to mess around with it a little bit. I took these pictures outside of the tank, with actinics and loaded them to Google+. I have to figure out how to get the colors right on them but I think they will provide some nice candy shots for now.
All of the names are the names that I was given upon adoption.
This is an Acan I picked up a little while ago in a group buy that had a last minute spot.
Armor of God
Orange Bam Bams
One of my personal favorites... The Utter Chaos
I can't tell if this is the Bomb Diggity or the Vivid Smoothie. I have to check again.
Last growout polyps.. I think they were grasshoppers?
Gold Mauls
Walt was kind enough to PIF these to me. I found out they were from Mai and they are Guerrilla Nipples
Green Brain I picked up at the CMAS Swap
BlowPops
Some "Ultra" Kenya LOL I know it is nothing special but this coral has found it's place waving peacefully in my tank.
Green Bay Packers
Ring of Fire
Unknown Zoas -any help ID'ing them would be much appreciated.
Cat's Eye
Toxic Pineapple
Super Salyans
This guy I almost tossed because I thought it was dead. I had read a few reports of people's taking weeks for their toadstools to open. Sure enough after about a month this bad boy just took off and opened and bloomed.
Deciding to test SPS and so far I think it is doing well. Thanks to Funlad for the test frag.
Those are incredible hulks on-top. I got them as a frag of hulks but when they all opened, they had these awesome other ones on there.
And of course...... an updated FTS. You can see my new ORA Jigsaw Clown that I adopted a few weeks ago. She is doing very well and happy.
I still have some red hornets, spongebobs, sunny D's, Lord of the ring and a few others but I couldn't get decent shots of them. I have to try again when I figure out how to tweek for the LED lighting.
Thanks for playing folks, I'll be here all week!
All of the names are the names that I was given upon adoption.
This is an Acan I picked up a little while ago in a group buy that had a last minute spot.
Armor of God
Orange Bam Bams
One of my personal favorites... The Utter Chaos
I can't tell if this is the Bomb Diggity or the Vivid Smoothie. I have to check again.
Last growout polyps.. I think they were grasshoppers?
Gold Mauls
Walt was kind enough to PIF these to me. I found out they were from Mai and they are Guerrilla Nipples
Green Brain I picked up at the CMAS Swap
BlowPops
Some "Ultra" Kenya LOL I know it is nothing special but this coral has found it's place waving peacefully in my tank.
Green Bay Packers
Ring of Fire
Unknown Zoas -any help ID'ing them would be much appreciated.
Cat's Eye
Toxic Pineapple
Super Salyans
This guy I almost tossed because I thought it was dead. I had read a few reports of people's taking weeks for their toadstools to open. Sure enough after about a month this bad boy just took off and opened and bloomed.
Deciding to test SPS and so far I think it is doing well. Thanks to Funlad for the test frag.
Those are incredible hulks on-top. I got them as a frag of hulks but when they all opened, they had these awesome other ones on there.
And of course...... an updated FTS. You can see my new ORA Jigsaw Clown that I adopted a few weeks ago. She is doing very well and happy.
I still have some red hornets, spongebobs, sunny D's, Lord of the ring and a few others but I couldn't get decent shots of them. I have to try again when I figure out how to tweek for the LED lighting.
Thanks for playing folks, I'll be here all week!
CoralN00b
New member
Thank you sir!
tinman
Well-known member
MrDemonicAngel
New member
Love that Ultra Kenya! If you need some Ultra Xenia let me know. And when are you coming for the smurfs?
CoralN00b
New member
I kept goldfish as a kid that lasted about a year and a betta. That was it. This has been my first adventure in reefing.
Dom, thanks bro! my wife actually picked the maze and I love it. That candy cane, I had one prior. It was my first coral ever and I loved it. lost it in the crash and waited on replacing it until I seen the right piece from another member on here.
Thanks Phil! I might swap them again for something stronger or different but I love LEDs.
CoralN00b
New member
I am long overdue for an update on my tank.
I have been a busy reefer since my last update. Moved some things around, swapped some frags and coral out for different ones and I even started glueing pieces around my rock work. I had a bad case of Dino that almost spiraled out of control. Luckily, I read up on it, got some advice on here and made some equipment changes to help stop it. I started running GFO pellets and my tank looks great.
I also made the switch to RODI water. I bought a unit to make it at home and have been using it for a few months now. I even added a skimmer. Everything is looking and doing great. I am going to start researching carbon use. I may add a carbon reactor to the tank. I went with a Tunze 9002 skimmer. In my tank. So I had to put it where my media basket used to be. So I have a skimmer and GFO now. I wanted to add the carbon as an additional media but honestly everything is doing well now.
I used to have to clean the glass and tank every few days. At least once or twice per week but now I can go weeks before I even have to scrub the glass. I notice my fish are out more and more active and I definitely noticed an improvement in my levels and corals. The growth of my Z&Ps took off after all the changes.
I feed my fish two different pellets and mysis and brine. I switch it up every few days. I have a madarin goby that I feed Azox coral and fish food. The mandarin loves it. I don't run chaeto so I don't have a pod population in the tank. The mandarin has been in here for about 6 months now, doing great so far.
I just added a bi-color blenny and I will have to snap a picture of him soon to add to the thread.
Here are some shots of the Dino issue i had....
Now here are some very recent shots. They say the best way to know how your reef is doing is to just look at it, so here comes some eye candy......
I have been a busy reefer since my last update. Moved some things around, swapped some frags and coral out for different ones and I even started glueing pieces around my rock work. I had a bad case of Dino that almost spiraled out of control. Luckily, I read up on it, got some advice on here and made some equipment changes to help stop it. I started running GFO pellets and my tank looks great.
I also made the switch to RODI water. I bought a unit to make it at home and have been using it for a few months now. I even added a skimmer. Everything is looking and doing great. I am going to start researching carbon use. I may add a carbon reactor to the tank. I went with a Tunze 9002 skimmer. In my tank. So I had to put it where my media basket used to be. So I have a skimmer and GFO now. I wanted to add the carbon as an additional media but honestly everything is doing well now.
I used to have to clean the glass and tank every few days. At least once or twice per week but now I can go weeks before I even have to scrub the glass. I notice my fish are out more and more active and I definitely noticed an improvement in my levels and corals. The growth of my Z&Ps took off after all the changes.
I feed my fish two different pellets and mysis and brine. I switch it up every few days. I have a madarin goby that I feed Azox coral and fish food. The mandarin loves it. I don't run chaeto so I don't have a pod population in the tank. The mandarin has been in here for about 6 months now, doing great so far.
I just added a bi-color blenny and I will have to snap a picture of him soon to add to the thread.
Here are some shots of the Dino issue i had....
Now here are some very recent shots. They say the best way to know how your reef is doing is to just look at it, so here comes some eye candy......