My six gallon cube -pics- at 7 months

[madhi]

My six gallon tank (11'X11"X10") at about 7 months old. I am trying to keep things simple and easy. It has a built in overflow sump with an air driven skimmer (seems to work okay). Lighting consists of two 13W 50/50 (10K/act03) and one 13W act03 and a CSL moonlight. It has about 14# LR.

I do 1 gallon water changes every 2 weeks and add Kent coral vite and Ca buffer every week (about 1/2 of the suggested dose). I feed the tank 1-2 times a week with a small amount of DTs phyto and a little bit of brine or mysid shrimp. I tend to feed on the light side.

Everything is growing and seems happy.

 

[madhi]

more

 

[Anonymous]

That is quite the nice little setup, very clean looking. Is it just the one clown, or are there any other fish? Thanks for sharing.
Matt


BTW, Welcome to reefs.org!

 

[reefann]

I really like this tank, well done.
JJ
_________________
Honda CB400F
_________________
BMW X-Coupe

 

[brandon4291]

yes absolutely, those zoanthids are little gold rocks up here in my city. We don't ever have 'em that nice up here, one would have to order them off the net from GARF or some place to get that bright color combination. The whole tank looks great and all the corals are very happy, aren't those 13w pc's the bomb? Multiply them a few times and you have enough intensity to run a larger nano easily without overheating. Thanks for sharing, I think this nano will impress all ouf our forum regulars.

 

[UnderGrad]

Great looking tank! Looks super clean, healthy, and very well organized. How long has it been up for? I think your choice of 3 x 13w PC is a great choice considering what you're keeping in the tank. Let me know if you ever want to frag any of those zoos... and don't forget to keep us updated with pics!

-AM-

 

[UnderGrad]

Oh, yeah, almost forgot... I especially dig the reflector you got there! Very DIYish!
-AM-

 

[madhi]

Yeah, i have just that little clown fish, he has been doing well over the last 6 months but has turned pretty much all black, except for the white stripes, still happy and eating though. i hear this is pretty common and benign.

I thought about adding a yellow wrasse or something but i am really trying to keep the bio load to a minimum.

As far as lighting, i have briefly entertained the idea of putting a 70W halide under the hood but i haven't seen anything done like that before. I am concerned about heat (right now i don't even need fans with AC in my place, so minimal evaporation). I am not even sure the corals i have would be any better off with the halide? maybe the pocillopora. i wonder if anyone has used a 70W halide on a nano under a closed hood.

Also, can someone please ID the "anemone/star polyp" looking things that have covered my seamat rock.

 

[UnderGrad]

Looks like xenia or anthelia to me...

 

[Anonymous]

Anthelia grows like a mat, similar to GSPs, while xenia grows from a central stalk, like the other colonies you have.

"Len", one of the admins here at RDO, used to have a 70W MH over his nano. I believe he took it off because of heat issues.

HTH, Matt

 

[bdelaney]

Madhi....nice tank! You rarely see zooanthids which such bright colors.

That coral growing within your sea mat definitely looks like Anthelia. It is a fast growing coral that grows like a weed in my 29 gallon. I'm going to try propagating some to my 2.5 gallon. It's not as finicky as Xenia, but I've seen large portions of the colony crash and then grow back just as fast.

 

[madhi]

I have tried to design a "low maintenance" nano. With basically zooanthids and mushrooms requiremets are forgiving. My care is based on light feedng and regular water changes (about 20%). I also have a significant amount of export through the pruning of macro, especially the halimeda and caulerpa, which i let grow in the tank.

Recently i have moved some of the xenia away from the zoo's, essentially with superglue and epoxy.

I wonder what would happen if i just let the two grow together and figure things out on their own. Like in my first pic, it seems the xenia is losing.


here is a pic of my pocillopora encrusting my vermatid gastropod.

 

[Anonymous]

Cool pic...I'll bite, what does vermatid mean?

Very nice looking Poci, how long has it been in your tank? I really like this coral, it's always the first to extend its polyps after a tank disruption (draining the tank, water change, etc.)

More Pics!

 

[madhi]

I really don't know what vermetid means. I just ID'ed this little guy from the "hitchhiker FAQ's" on reef.org, which also points to this link for more info.

http://www.aquarium.net/0897/0897_8.shtml

I actually have two of these hitchhikers, they are fun to watch but have the habit of slming the pocillopora when it uses its mucus trap to feed.

the little rock with the pocillopora and gastropod are actually about 3 yrs old. It is from a friends nano which he recently expanded to full size. It was just a little rock with the gastropod and an adjacent piece of pocillo spread all over it and is now growing vertical. that piece has been in my tank for about 2 months.

Here is a pic of the other gastropod who's shooting his mucus trap to the upper left.

 

[madhi]

Here it is>

 

[Anonymous]

Doh! You'll have to excuse my ignorance. Thanks for that link.

I like seeing stuff like that, barnacles or tube worms that are growing INSIDE a coral, and have killed off just the tiny little portion of space they need to live. Nature in action!

 

[UnderGrad]

So do you have any future plans for the tank like changing the lighting or adding/changing livestock?

-AM-

 

[MattGecko]

They look like Encrusting Gorgonian, it's a lot like GSP.

[/img]

 

[adinsxq]

nice tank

 

[brandon4291]

Madhi, Id like to thank you again for entering your post on our site. We got you a couple hundred more hits and have introduced your setup into our new forum, once again nice tank (!) and keep the updates and pics coming. Its time to release this thread and lurk around for another nano-reef spotlight thread!

Brandon429