The ShermaNANO, a 12g project

[brady816]

very nice pics man

 

[Damsel13]

I see what you mean about the tail. It is really spectacular. Seems you wouldn't get to see much of him in your 120.

 

[spongebob lover]

wwouu very cute fish dood .
don't put him in the bigger tank, he looks happy right where he is .
that tail of his is really awesome

 

[Sherman]

It's been a while since the last full tank shot. The goby is SLOWLY getting more used to us being around. He doesn't run for cover whenever we enter the room any more. As I type this, the aquarium only 3 feet away, he's still sitting out front and center, guarding his home, as in the photo below.

The halimeda has absolutely taken off like wildfire. I'm glad I learned this before introducing it to my 120g. It's frequently going sexual and releasing spores. There's new growth coming out of rocks all the time. I'm sure it's also sucking all the calcium out of the water, as well. I haven't tested the water, but I will soon, out of curiosity. I recently read that halimeda is the single largest reef builder on the planet, responsible for more of the reef formation than any other hard coral. Interesting....

So here's a FTS from today.

 

[edwing206]

The tank is coming along nicely a pom pom crab in there would be sweet, and sexy shrimp.

 

[Sherman]

And this morning I found the goby on the carpet. <sigh> ...And he was doing so well, too. Looks like the 12g is back to QT status again.

 

[edwing206]

Aww man, that's too bad. Don't those biocubes/aquapods have a cover?

 

[Sherman]

Yeah, but I leave the front lid area open for cooling. It's about 4" deep and the width of the tank. I read this fish was a jumping hazard, but I'd never seen it do anything but sit at the bottom of the tank, so I wasn't real concerned. I've never seen him anywhere near the surface of the water.

 

[spongebob lover]

And this morning I found the goby on the carpet

ouch dood i feel your pain

 

[Sherman]

A club member works at a LFS. One of his store's customers has a pair of Bangaii Cardinals that readily breed. Until recently, he had been letting the fry become food for the larger fish. I guess he never considered the marketability until someone mentioned it to him. Now he sells them to that LFS, and makes available some captive bred Bangaiis for far less than ORA. Around here, wild caught sell for about $15, and captive (ORA) are $25. These were about $10. They're already eating and exploring, and they've been in the nano less than an hour. Now, I just have to wait for another batch to mature because I'd like 6-8 of them. Once these two get a little bigger and are able to eat slightly larger foods, they'll make it into the 120. For now, they're a great addition to the office tank!

 

[tat2z_21]

WOW that is a really big penny. LOL

 

[edwing206]

Those guys are soo cool!

 

[Krish]

Cool additions Jason!

 

[mark peacock]

what a cool looking salfin.

 

[Sherman]

The Bangaii are growing up! They're close to being ready for the big tank.

Since I was taking some photos of the Bangaii, I decided to document another FTS. This tank is extremely neglected, but still does extremely well. I don't even have a Mag-Float for it, there are never diatoms anywhere. About every other month, I'll use a razor blade to quickly wipe off any green coralline. It sees a water change only about that often, as well. The zoas keep growing, but so does the bubble algae. With yesterday's water change, I removed 4 golf-ball sized bubbles! I also decided to add a small rock covered in aptasia, because the copperband in my 120g eats them out of my hand. Unfortunately, and half expectedly, the aptasia found its way all around the tank. Every now and then, I have to spend a few minutes injecting them with kalk paste to keep the populations down.

So all that said, here's tonight, with the two baby Bangaii out to play.

 

[Sherman]

Since the 120 came down, the nano has been promoted from the back office to the front room of the house. Though this setup is almost a year and a half old, it's always been a bit neglected. That should change now, since I'll be looking at it every day.

I still only clean the glass every couple of months. I don't know why this tank's never grown diatoms, but I don't mind. Some of it might have been all the nutrient export with the bubble algae and halimeda. I assume I'll always fight both of those. I don't mind the halimeda, and it's extremely easy to harvest.

I've decided to get a little aggressive with the bubble algae, though. Just as a point of experimentation, the ShopVac does wonder on bubble algae. Pull the rock out of the water, ShopVac the bubbles... GONE. No spores, either. It rips the bubbles right off the rock! Keep in mind, this is only an experiment, so I'll keep you posted as to whether or not it was a good idea if this stuff starts appearing everywhere.

I'm thinking about getting another Aurora Goby, but making the top a little more jump proof. I really enjoyed that fish, he was gorgeous. Other than that, I haven't really decided what I'm going to do with this tank long term. For now, it will become a zoanthid haven, but I'm sure I'll work a larger diversity of corals in here, eventually.

Here's a full tank shot from today, and a full room shot, so you can see the tank in the room as I do.

 

[5150REEFER]

Sherman, let me know when you frag some of the zoas!!! looking good!

 

[MC Lighting]

neat nano... I sure need to do something with mine it is overrun with aptasia right now I am loosing the battle and thinking of taking out the few ricordia and shrooms that exists to boil the rock and try again. It has had a problem since I got it from the seller who did not maintain it to much. you have given me some ideas though!

 

[Sherman]

I had a run of aptasia for a while. I recently added the peppermint shrimp from my 120 into this nano, and all the aptasia was gone within a couple weeks. I know they're not all aptasia eaters, but this guy has worked out well.

 

[Sherman]

I have a couple new acquisitions. A sea star (fromia sp.?) and a blueberry gorgonian.

I'm watching the gorg very closely. They have such terrible long term survival rates in captivity. I've placed it in a location where the flow should help the most, in medium laminar flow. I feed phytoplankton very, very heavily, (harvest my own) and there's also a good amount of filter feeder stuff in my fish food (cyclops, rotifers, pods, etc.). I'm still trying to decide whether the gorg's polyp extension is related to feeding, but I think it is. I notice just about every time I feed, the polyps are very extended. This happens with both the phyto and the fish food. Only time will tell, but I'm leaning toward the polyp extension probably being a good thing. Here are the photos, through the annoying curved glass of my little nano.