My 20g w. 10g sump

[bklynmet]

Put some flake food in the tank to see how the cycling goes... will be checking params again tomorrow...

some brown algae starting to grow on some of the rocks the day before last. More of it today on some of the sand. the glass is still clean w/o growth on it.. been checking for copepods .. nothing yet...

[bklynmet]

Nitrates were up to 5ppm on 2/4/07. Still no measureable ammonia or nitrite. So I'm guessing the LR is doing it's job there. But still am going to be patient and wait for the nitrates to start coming down. The brown/rust colored alge is receding and almost totally gone.

When looking into the tank today I saw the first clear signs of copepods on the glass! That's a great sign as things are definitely progressing nicely. I'd take a photo of the copepods but it wouldn't come out as the copods are barely bigger than a pin head.

This weekend I'll start looking at fish options and setup a QT.

I'm thinking goby or clown. But since there aren't going to be many fish in there, I may try to go for something a little more unique. A mandarin would me awesome but the tank would not be big enough to support a copepod poulation.. maybe for my 75g.. hmm..

[fish.freak]

Wow this tank is moving fast, I cant wait to see where this ends up.

[Chris86]

That is a really cool setup. Why to go

[bklynmet]

Thanks. I'm hoping to apply what I learned from my mistakes with the 75g in this 'nano' build.

Here is a photo taken on 2/2/07.

You'll note some brown algae on the rocks and the sand. It's virtually gone today. Lights went out before I could take a photo tonight.

I installed the fan in the canopy on Saturday to help keep the canopy cool. It had been reaching 83 degrees wiht the lights on for 5 hours. I 'upped' the photo period ot 6 hours now and withthe fans on, the temp is maxed at 80.5 which is very reasonable considering there is 250W under there.

I had my in-laws pickup a Tunze Nanostream 6025 for the tank. I'll be picking it up this weekend and install when I get back. It should provide 30x turnover just on its own.

[bklynmet]

I picked up tigger-pods and put 1/4 bottle in the refugium in the sump. Information about them can be found here: www.Tigger-Pods.com

The rest of the bottle went to the refugium on my 75g. I'll posts photos in a few days. Macro algae is beginning to take off. I plucked a few snails from the 75g and put them in the 20g to help control algae. I put in one each of nerite, nassarius, astraea, and cerith. The nerite and astraea began muching right away so it looks like I'll need ot get more of them into the 20.

[bklynmet]

I can safely say that there are no more diatoms and the hair algae stopped spreading. I think it's actually receeding a little. I don't know how much they're eating but the few snails I put in there are keeping busy!

OK, I believe I made some decisions on stocking. I'll be picking up the following for clean up crew at the GRMAS frag swap in a few weeks...
Astreas - 10
Ceriths - 10
Blue-legged hermits - 15 to munch on the macro algae
Emerald Crab - 1 to take care of the bubble algae
Peppermint shrimp - 2 as they tend to come out more when there is more than one in a tank...

I think I made a decision on fish stocking...
Mated pair of tank-raised perculas with host anemone from Preuss Pets. Anyone in or around Lansing, MI have a great LFS with Preuss Pets. They're my preferred LFS at 2.25 hour drive (in-laws are in Lansing). I decided on percs because of temperment (compared to other clownfish species) and final adult size.

I'm probably going to work on DIY lighting for fuge this weekend.

[dobejazz]

It's looking great! your stocking plan sounds great too

[VWD]

Cool looking tank!

[bklynmet]

Well still waiting for the tank to mature a little bit more before the first corals are put in... I did get the cleanup crew in there last night!

The crew consists of:
(10) Astrea Snails, (10)Cerith (small), (25)BlueLeg Hermit (small),
(1)Emerald Crab, (1)Peppermint Shrimp:

Here are some photos:

The peppermint shrimp





Photos of the hermit crabs at work...


I have the LFS keeping an eye out for mated true percs... That's all realy for now.

[2a6N3d9y]

Great looking setup!

I didn't know you could dump skimmate in a tank to start a cycle. I might try that myself. I joined this board too late to get in on the build contest but I started a new ten gallon nano last weekend.

[bklynmet]

Just a quick update..

The peppermint shrimp died on day two in the tank I think stress of move did him in.

The blue-legged hermits are busy - though they do not seem to be putting a dent on the macro algae gowing in there. I now occassionally take some out and put in th 75g when my yellow tang can chow down on it at his liesure

I saw the emerald crab again tonight.. I haven't seen him in a week but the bubble algae is vitually gone so I know he was eating away!

I undid a MJ Mod and put the MJ1200 in the tank for extra circulation. I was going to put a Tunze nano steam in there but my 75g tank likes it too much - Actually - too much of a sandstorn with the nanostream in the 20g.

About a month ago I put a frag of monti cap from a piece (green w/ purple rim) that was dying. Although no longer green, I have a significant quantity of polyps and signs of growth on the monti. It just looks white.

This weekend, I'm planning on mannually removing all the macro I can pull out manually. I'll make sure to take before and after photos of it.

[fish.freak]

sweet, cant wait for more pics.

[bklynmet]

No pics today.. looks like tomorrow... Mut I did notice some red flatworms in there... please follow the discussion in this thread:
http://thereeftank.com/forums/showth...797#post995797

You help/input with this issue will be appreciated.

[bklynmet]

Ok.. some photos from last Sunday when I pulled the macro algae fromt he tank..
http://picasaweb.google.com/bklynmet...62752765148482


http://picasaweb.google.com/bklynmet...62748470181170


Photo of the tank today:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bklynmet...62800009788834



Youll note there's some GHA in there. I'll be getting some red-leg hermits and/or lettuce nudibrach to takle this. The store I am getting the clowns form told me that they got a shipment of tank raised perculas in and that they'll be putting pairs in with anemones after a QT period. So I'll probably be putting them in tank after next weekend!