Dave's 15g Oceanic

[Dave Harms]

Yesterday when I took the clown and damsel to the lfs I picked up a tiny bulls-eye pistol shrimp, Alpheus soror and a small Clown Blenny, Ecsenius sp.

The blenny I picked up is mostly bluish black with yellow below its dorsal fin from head to tail. It looks similar to Ecsenius bicolor, but the color isn't split vertically.

I wasn't thinking and didn't snap a photo in the bag. I see him peeking out a bit already today. Hopefully he won't be so shy for long.

With these changes my livestock list is like so:

Randall's Shrimp Goby (My all-time favorite reef fish.)
Unidentified Clown Blenny
2 Pistol Shrimp
1 Fire Shrimp
various hermits and snails

 

[ronone10]

Your bird's nest is incredible.

 

[Dave Harms]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15327966#post15327966 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ronone10
Your bird's nest is incredible.

Thanks.

 

[Dave Harms]

It's here!!

I finally got my VorTech MP10. Installation was a breeze. My only complaint (and it's a nit-picky one) is that it didn't come with a couple of strips of Velcro tape so I could mount it to the side of the tank like my Tunze controller. Easily enough fixed with a quick trip to the drug store.

Here are some photos of it in action:

I have it set on Lagoon Mode and have it turned most of the way down for now. My shrooms aren't used to so much flow! As they adjust I'll turn it up a bit. You don't realise how much detritus you have in your tank till you add a lot of flow... man all kinds of stuff is floating around in there! Hopefully the skimmer will be able to get a lot of it.

I think this will for sure help the battle against cyano I have been waging.

 

[Dave Harms]

I got a shot of the new blenny. Just the actinics are on, and he took on his nighttime/camo look:

 

[chillaxe123]

Is there any paticular reason you decided to switch back to sand?

 

[Dave Harms]

Well, a few actually.

1. My shrimp goby seemed to be weirded out a little by the bare bottom thing. He might've eventually adjusted, I dunno.

2. Detritus was piling up BIG TIME. Barebottom needs a lot of flow, which I guess I could've done if I really wanted to. BUT... I decided I didn't want a super high flow tank, since I like mushrooms!

3. The LFS had a really nice pistol shrimp for me to try to pair with my goby, and it for sure needed sand. (PS. The shrimp STILL hasn't paired with the goby and he has been in there awhile now.)

I must say that I really liked the look of the cutting board in the tank, and if I were going to have a SPS tank I'd prolly stick with the BB route. With me mainly being interested in 'shrooms and LPS I decided to go back to sand so I can have more critters.

Make sense?

 

[Dave Harms]

My tank is getting used to the added flow of the vortech. I was able to turn it up a little more today.

As a side note: The tank temp went down 2 degrees when I got rid of the korallia nano and put in the mp10. This thing is totally silent and runs totally cool.

 

[Dave Harms]

I added 2 good sized Nassarius snails and a frag of Xenia today.

 

[Dave Harms]

Here is the Xenia:

Wider view showing some cloves and shrooms:

Tiny frag of Galaxea:

Sweet pistol shrimp, Alpheus sp., I've had him a few months, no sign of pairing with goby:

In this photo the shrimp is between the glass and the wavebox. He does this every once in a while.

 

[E.intheC]

very nice tank! Sweet pick up (mp10)

 

[Dave Harms]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15343843#post15343843 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by E.intheC
very nice tank! Sweet pick up (mp10)

Thanks! I love the MP10, it was worth the wait.

 

[E.intheC]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15343858#post15343858 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dave Harms
Thanks! I love the MP10, it was worth the wait.

haha, I'll bet. Do you think it's worth the $?

Thanks!

 

[Dave Harms]

Absolutely! The amount of space and temp it saves in my tank are awesome. Add to that the serious controllability... priceless.

PLUS, it cost a lot less than the Tunze wavebox, which arguably does less for the tank.

 

[E.intheC]

very nice! I'm really considering the mp10 for my cube.

side note; how do you like your WM skimmer?

 

[Dave Harms]

I like it a lot. Took a little playing with to get it working just right. You can read about my experience here...

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1619528

 

[james3370]

i'm seriously considering this tank footprint for the all-in-one i will eventually do (3 sides viewable peninsula w/ one end sectionalized for the filtration chamber)

still in the planning stages, but torn between an over the top closed loop w/ the loclines on the "front" end pointed back at the "rear" end.....or a hydor flo deflector dead center of the tank (also over the top)......or the vortech mp10

 

[E.intheC]

I'd go with the mp10.. I have had the hydor flow deflectors.. all they do is shift the output of a very laminar flow.. I don't really like it

 

[Dave Harms]

I've never used the hydor, but the flow you get from the MP10 is SO spread out, its more like undertow in the ocean than a jet of water blasting something.

 

[E.intheC]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15345156#post15345156 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dave Harms
I've never used the hydor, but the flow you get from the MP10 is SO spread out, its more like undertow in the ocean than a jet of water blasting something.

Exactly. That's what I'm going for. Just. Gotta. Bite. The. Bullet.