New Aquapod 12 setup w/pics!

[TGBrown]

I'm a sick man. I couldn't fight it off any longer. After having been without my 55 gallon reef tank for a little over a year, I broke down and bought my first nanotank.

I chose to go with the Aquapod 12 because of the information I gathered on here and 'one of those other forums'. The AP seems to have fewer issues with cracking; and I really liked the looks of the tank itself.

My AP has now been set up for 1 week. Right now, I have about 18lbs of sand and 15lbs of live rock cycling in the tank. One of the pieces of LR came with some orange zoas on it, but I'm not sure if they'll survive or not (they already looked like they were on the way out when I got the rock) but we'll see. I took out all of the filter media, and substituted it as follows:

Chamber 1: LR rubble with a layer of floss on top.
Chamber 2: LR rubble
Chamber 3: Heater and temp probe
Chamber 4: MJ900 return pump

The tank is pretty much stock right now. I did upgrade the factory pump to a MJ900, and blocked the lower two intakes on the back wall. I added a visi-therm 50watt heater, and the temp's holding steady day and night at 79. I also shortened the locline returns from the outlet. When I can locate some chaeto locally, I'll probably move the heater and temp probe to chamber 4 and turn chamber 3 into a fuge. I'm sure that at some point down the road, I'll look at a lighting upgrade too. Soooo many things to do, but man does it feel good to have a tank again!

Here's a couple of pics of the tank and my amateur aquascaping...after several hours of arranging, I'm pretty happy with it now

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[Friskaburger]

cool start flashpoint! I'm in the exact situation as you strangely enough. I had a 55 gallon tank at home but I'm in college now across the country and just recently ordered a 12 gallon AP with the 70w Sunpod. Lookin forward to watchin ur tank grow! Good to see I'm not the only one who couldn't take it anymore haha!

 

[smartang22]

I like the cave you have at the bottom. A blenny might like that. I am hoping I do well with my 14 gal. BioCube. Then it is on to a 75-150 in a few years. It will take that long to save enough $$$.

What are you planning to put in it?

Also, how hard was it to change the pump? I want to do that, but I don't have the courage.

 

[A Canfield]

Just wondering if it's a bad idea to put your rocks right up against the back wall...........I've read so many things saying not to, but then again, I see alot of tanks that way.
Just getting ready to put LR in my 12g pod and would like to set them up on the back wall because of the little amount of space in there already.........

 

[Friskaburger]

it hink most of the reason ur not supposed to do that is cuz it can lead to uneven pressure on the glass, but since the all in one tanks have a plastic backing, it's probably not a big deal. Others leave space so they can get back there to clean things up and give fish more areas to hide in so they aren't so stressed out.

 

[A Canfield]

My thought was that no flow would get back there and maybe cause some problems with algae growth etc...

 

[TGBrown]

Changing the pump was an easy swap out....old pump out, new pump in.

I have the rocks against the back of the tank (although it's the back divider, not the glass) but I don't anticipate much of a problem. I had it the same way, even directly on the glass, on my previous 55gallon reef for a year and had no problems with it. I'm hoping the the back false wall will become coraline covered anyways.

Actually, I'm in the process of reworking the aquascape in the AP12....the more I stared at it, the less I liked the 'pile-o-rocks' look. So I'm opening it up some to provide a few more holes and more ledge areas for future livestock placement. I'll post some updated pics when the water clears back up.

 

[TGBrown]

Ok, finally I have some updated pics of my "new & improved" aquascaping. This gives me quite a few more areas both on the LR and the sand for future additions to my tank. The majority of the rock is now held in place with a "super glue/aquamend epoxy/super glue sandwich". I feel 100% more confident in the integrity of my aquascape now

The tank is almost 2 weeks old. I have had the LFS test the water, and although I don't recall the exact parameters, everything is looking good so far; they advised that I add a small cleanup crew, so I now have 5 hermits (2 blue leg and 3 Mexican Red Tips) and 6 snails.

Hitch hikers I have seen so far include the previously mentioned zoos (which still don't seem to be faring too well, although they really didn't look good from the start), a small colony of Green Star Polyps (found on the back of one of the pieces of LR; now seperated and moved to the front. Has yet to fully emerge), a couple of asterina stars, a few pods, vermitid snails, 2 aiptasia (already eradicated), and two or three bristle worms. I'll be watching closely to see what else I can find!

 

[TGBrown]

One other hitch hiker I forgot about....anyone know what this is? It appears to be some sort of small anemone, about the diameter of a pencil eraser. It has what appears to be a pinkish colored foot attached to the piece of LR that has the green star polyps on it. When disturbed, it completely closes up so all you see is the pinkish colored part of it. The tentacles (?) have small white balls on the ends, and it appears to have a mouth in the center. Here is the best picture of it I could get!

 

[ILoveLlamas]

Everyone on here seems to get so many hitchhikers, and I got one measly snail. Oh well.

Thanks for the aquascaping inspiration. I don't like my pile o' rocks look either, and now I can see what to do with it. Thanks.

 

[StunnaShadez]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9351443#post9351443 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ILoveLlamas
Everyone on here seems to get so many hitchhikers, and I got one measly snail. Oh well.

Thanks for the aquascaping inspiration. I don't like my pile o' rocks look either, and now I can see what to do with it. Thanks.

i'd be happy if i got a measly snail. i dont have anything at all!

 

[jellyous]

Tank is looking good so far, the recent aquascaping looks much better than before in my opinion. I have this same tank, good choice.

 

[Friskaburger]

wow interesting little hitchhiker, looks almost to be a ricordea but i know that isn't what it is

 

[d9sccr]

this is funny...i was in the same boat...I had a 55 reef and then went to college..now I have 12g AP...I'll post pics later..I've had it for since Sept

 

[Friskaburger]

wow that's three guys with a 55 that moved to a 12g aquapod for college

freaky?

 

[TGBrown]

Seems to be a trend starting.

On the above unidentified hitch hiker, I believe I've narrowed it down to a type of Pseudocorynactis or Ball Corallimorph...anyone able to verify?