13.3 gallon bow front ... with Sumpie-Goodness

[Apexdv]

Hi all,

Just joined and thought I would share a bit on my build. First, I've been out of reefing for a number of years having previously been the keeper of a thriving 90-gallon. Once I moved to Seattle from the East coast the reefing bug hit me once again so ... I caved in and began my plans. After much thought I decided I wanted to go the nano route (my landlord was none too pleased about a 100+ gallon setup lol) and sketched up the following:



My intention was to utilize furniture I already had available as the stand and cabinet housing a nano display tank, sump, ATO reservoir and optionally a refugium. I also wanted as silent a configuration as possible along with a clean look - no HOB equipment. After selecting and receiving my new 13.3 gallon bow front tank I commenced with customizing the little guy by drilling for return and overflows and finally painting the back side a nice deep rich black. The progression from start to current went a little something like this:



















For the sump I decided on a 3-gallon tank as it would fit within the lower compartments. I wanted something larger but ... no dice on the size. This would do and in the future could always be upgraded.





*whew* that was a lot of work but now I was ready to rock this puppy up and get her wet!







Now, I didn't have the lighting fixture yet as I was still undecided on exactly what I would be using so I grabbed a couple old cheapie ikea LED night lights out of the closet and positioned them just above. Yup ... that would do for now.



Hmmm ... needs more rock.



There. Much better. Now to cycle!





After a few days I noticed a piece of macro algae hanging out and even the beginning of the initial diatom bloom.







I went through the usual and customary ammonia, nitrite and nitrate spikes rather quickly and by day-nine the cycle seemed complete. I could dose up to 4 ppm with ammonia and within 24 hours the levels were back to zero. YaY! Still, I'll wait a few more days just to make sure and during this time I'll finalize my decision and ordering of the lighting fixture.

Ultimately, I selected a 24", 14,000k full spectrum LED fixture with a manual dimmer and tank mounts by Build My LED.





This will be a good fixture since in the future I plan on acquiring a tank controller ... Apex, RA, etc still have not decided ... but the BML fixture will be able to be monitored and operated automagically. There, now to plop this puppy up on the tank ...









YaY! So I waited a few more days just to be sure then hopped on over to a nearby LFS to select a small CUC for the diatoms and small amount of algae. I think 4 ceriths and a skunk cleaner shrimp will do just fine for now.





I shall name him, "Meeester Shreeemp"! So now I had everything set up and slowly maturing. The gang of ceriths along with Meeester Shreeemp were doing a bang-up job at general housekeeping but not to the level they need so I decided to get a couple more tank mates to join the CUC. But first a quick run through of where I was at.





Below I located the sump on the left, water top off area in the next compartment, supplies storage in the next and all the way to the right was the electrics area.









Also, I grabbed one of those fancy BRS RODI units and set that up in my laundry room. Clean water is a must in this hobby!



So, I headed down to another LFS just South of Seattle and picked up 4 trochus snails. By the end of the next week the tank was spotless so I reasoned it was now time to begin slowly stocking. I returned to the same LFS and came home with a xenia, paly, zoa, mushroom rock, ricordea florida and a partner for Meeester Shreeemp ... her name is Mreeezes Shreeemp!

Unfortunately, within two days the xenia was seemingly dead and melting away although water parameters were good. Meh ... xenias: sometime they die and sometimes they grow like weeds!













That was the xenia then. After just a few days he was all ...



Currently the tank looks a little something like this:



So there you have it ... my nano-build as of today. Next up: I'm open to suggestions as to coral etc and am looking forward to hopefully meeting some of y'all at a frag-swap or LFS.

Cheers and Best!

 

[user 26995]

WOW...this is very cool! Nice job.

 

[Krish]

Amazing job! It's crazy how you can make theses little tanks look so nice!


Sent from my iPad Mini using Tapatalk

 

[Apexdv]

An update for y'all. I wenta coral shoppin' again:





4" x 2 1/2" Montipora:




2" X 3 1/2" Birdsnest:



2" X 1/2" GSP:


And for your viewing pleasure, a Day-30 tank shot or two:



I also made an attempt at a quick video using my phone. Meh ... it was just a practice shot I suppose:

 

[Apexdv]

Day 33 FTS


Notice the mushroom rock is gone: I noticed the mushrooms were curling in an odd fashion and went in for a closer look to find the rock was absolutely infested with aiptasia. Not one or two but twelve in total all residing on this small rock and pestering the crap outta the mushrooms. I went into emergency mode: knowing aiptasia can and will release polyps if threatened I s.l.o.w.l.y. lifted the rock to the surface all the while ensuring the little devils were still flailing their stupid little arms about to ensure they were unaware of my plan for their demise. At the surface I took a deep breathe, counted to three then whisked the rock from the water and placed it onto my work table.

There, I removed from the infested rock as many mushrooms as I could and placed them into a separate container - I was able to save eleven of the approximately 17 'shrooms. After, I wrapped up the rock complete with the little devils and chucked it in the dustbin. After rinsing the 'shrooms at least 10 times and dipping them to assist in their healing process they are now safe and sound in a small container of rock rubble situated in the back of the tank. I imagine they'll attach within a couple weeks; I'll recreate another ledge/shelf formation for them to live on. Meanwhile, I'm on high alert for aiptasia. Considering the immense concentration of aiptasia on a single rock logic indicates this is where they hitchhiked from so ... in the future I'll be a bit more wary of livestock sourcing.

All in all, the tank is thriving and I'll continue this slow and steady pace to ensure a gradual and healthy maturation process for my nano. Geez ... I luv this little tank

 

[ak_reefer]

Amazing build!! Tagging along to see its growth!!!

 

[Apexdv]

Questions du jour

1) The snails need to get their act together and start munching on that algae lol. I did just notice my photoperiod was inadvertently set for 13 hours

which probably explains the recent algae growth so I've adjusted the timer to 1pm to 9 pm. What photoperiod seems to be working for y'all? The primary critter that is most light-hungry in the tank (other than algae) is the birdsnest followed by the montipora. Eight hours should be sufficient, no? I currently have a 14000k full spectrum LED so I'm thinking on at 10% ... ramp to 100% ... 100% for an hour or two ... down to 75% for an hour or two followed by 50%, 25% and 10% for the last hour. Does this sound adequate? Future plans will be to add actnitic and moonlights along with a tank controller for automation.

2) The two little reddish areas (you may need to zoom in): is that coraline algae beginning to form or cyano? Hmmmm

 

[Apexdv]

Hi all! It's been a crazy past number of weeks in my professional life which has caused me to slack a bit on my updates ... so here's a quick photo-update as of 9 1/2 weeks!


Everything is doing very well - I made a bit of a change to the rockscape due to the bryopsis outbreak (which now seems under control YaY!) and have even added a bit of pertie livestock. Let's start with a few poor-quality phone pics ("real" pics to come later):


A new zoa colony!


Two new Ricordea yumas! The green and purple to the right is a variety called "Incredible Hulk" - the orange to the left began to split this week and has not two but three mouths. Cool!


A new brain coral!


A new and totally cool green toadstool mushroom leather coral!


A new super-little baby torch coral!


And as far as the existing kiddies well, they are all doing very well. Meester & Mreeezes Shreeempie have continued to molt about every two to three weeks and rotate out egg-duty. Currently, Meeester Shreeempie has a clutch (to the right):


The GSP seems to be doing well and is already growing new polyps:


The paly frag has grown from three polyps to a total of nine. Unfortunately it has what I suspect to be the beginnings of bubble algae forming on the plug though, this should be fairly easy to remove from the tank for cleansing as it is not attached:


Mr. Rici the Ricordea florida seems to now expel extra zoo's about every 7 days or so. I've read this is normal behaviour prior to splitting. Here he is just after his latest up-chuck:


And within an hour he is always back to his normal plumpy self:


Both the xenia and monti (pics to come soon) are doing exceptionally well and the birdsnest is growing. Each tip facing the the powerhead is branching while those on the opposite side are lengthening. You'll also notice there is quite a bit of coraline forming throughout the tank:


And now ... for a FTS as of approx. 9 1/2 weeks:


I have many more pics on my Flickr page including some showing the rics and brain having a silverside dinner - that was crazy awesome to watch. I'll post a more complete update soon but for now, enjoy!

 

[user 26995]

Those are some nice pictures. beautiful coral too!

 

[stylaster]

That is an awesome little build. Makes me want to do something like that for my work office.

 

[Apexdv]

Feeding time!


I just finished feeding a bit of silverside to the brain and Ricordea corals as well as, the shreeempie pair. I totally geek out on this process ...


The brain immediately began inflating the mouths to engulf the tasty morsels straight-away



Mr. Rici the Ricordea florida also immediately began chomping on the delicious bit of fish:



The two Ricordea yumas also were treated to bit of dinner. The variety, "Incredible Hulk", is to the right. The orange variety to the left - I'm unsure what it is called but has began to split. It has three mouths and is beginning to change shape from perfectly round to oddball oval with lobes:



The torch coral began extending its mouth so I dropped a small piece of silverside within:



Of course, I could not forget about Meeester & Mreeezes Shreeempie:



The brain coral has completely gulped down the silverside:



Meanwhile the torch coral seems to be rejecting the fish:



Mr. Rici the Ricordea florida has *just* completed chowing down:



The two yumas are still munching away. "Incredible Hulk" has began closing up on the fish while the orange yuma to the left is in a battle against the other two mouths:



Now that the silverside has been ingested, the brain coral has began deflating the mouths and at the same time extending its tentacles a bit. Additional feeding response?



The brain coral is now in a post-feeding distended mode as if it's loosening its belt after a large meal. Notice the section to the right has begun to fluoresce a bit more perhaps it's a response designed to attract more food:



The Ricordea florida has returned to its pre-feeding state:



"Incredible Hulk" is also returning:


The larger of the three Ricordea yuma mouths has apparently won and is now engulfing the silverside:



The Ricordea florida, right, and the smaller of the two Ricordea yuma have returned to their pre-feeding state:



The brain coral is still fluorescing after feeding on silverside:



The larger of the three mouths on the Ricordea yuma has almost completely engulfed the silverside:



The torch coral rejected the silverside. That piece went to the brain coral:



One of the skunk cleaner shrimp is searching for silverside crumbs. Unfortunately for the shrimp, the Ricordea yuma has completely engulfed the meal:



The triple set of Ricordea have finished their meal of silverside and have relaxed and plumped up for an after dinner siesta:



The brain and torch corals are now relaxing for the afternoon:



And all is copacetic:

 

[user 26995]

Those are some great pics. I love the brain corals. Those ric are pretty too.
Any thing new? New fish? any cute gobies?

 

[snoozer]

Your tank looks great. Those are awesome pics. Great set up.