Package arrived

[mikehulen]

Hi Richard,

My package arrived safe and sound, though it was bumped to a later flight, and everything is in my Nano happily settling in.

I was a little concern about fitting the large rock in, but it fit and the smaller rocks round out the look (what I can see thru the cloudy water right now) very well.

One question, what is the palm tree looking plant that came with it? ANy special care I need to give it?

I'll try to post pictures later this weekend after everything clears up.

This was a surprise for the kids, and they are excited to see how it turns out.

 

[HowardW]

<<< One question, what is the palm tree looking plant that came with it? ANy special care I need to give it? >>>


Without seeing it, it sounds like it may be a shaving brush plant.

 

[mikehulen]

Well this nano tank is definitely a learning experience.

Note: This is in no way a reflection on TBS quality or service. Instead this is testimony to how much I still have to learn in this hobby.

I found out the hard way just how well Aquapods hold in heat. :-(

Prior to receiving the package Friday, the tank had been running for about 6 weeks with a 2 inch layer of sand (donated from my 75) and 2 medium sized rocks (also from my 75), and was home to 2 perculas and some small hermits, ceriths and an emerald crab. Temp in tank never went north of 83 (at least I don't think it did).

I added the package Friday evening. Several very nice rocks, one large and several small ones. Added in the sand, shaving brush plant, the anenome, crabs and snails and everything was copecetic for the evening. Though the clowns were a little upset that they no longer had as much room.

Saw lots of neat stuff right off the bat. A 3 inch N. Wennarae and what appeared to be a small octopus (2-3 inches long), and lots of feather dusters, worms and pods.

Saturday morning, I installed my ReefKeeper 1 (that I replaced with an RK 2 on my 75) system and setup all of the timers and left the system alone until mid-afternoon.

My daughters told me the nemo's were floating, so I when I went in, the temp had gotten up to 86 and things looked bad. I scooped out the clowns, and put them into my 75, where a dominance battle immediately ensued with the pair that occupies that tank....I think I am down to 3 clowns from my original 4 now.

The mantis was cooked; have not seen the octo again and several worms appear to be dead.

I added some icepacks, ventilated the lid and added a deskfan on a temperature control to get things moving back the right direction. I changed out the stock pump for a lower wattage MJ900 and that seems to have helped significantly. I still have some mods to make, entailing adding muffin fans and opening up more vents on the lid, but hopefully I am thru the worst of it. Now I just have to keep up with water changes daily and see what is left. Most of my crustaceans and snails and stars seem to have come thru, but I don't know how much stuff died. No sign of the anenome, and my cucumber that puked out it's innards seems to be moving around again

So far I have not seen ammonia rising, but I know that is coming soon.

 

[ZoeReef]

Any more news?? Nano's are so particular. But I think if you can master one, the larger tanks may seem like stabile-paradise.

 

[mikehulen]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7286110#post7286110 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ZoeReef
Any more news?? Nano's are so particular. But I think if you can master one, the larger tanks may seem like stabile-paradise.

Not much to report. I pulled the rocks out last night and scrubbed and rinsed them well (stunk to high heaven). Also did a 50% water change because nitrates were up to 3. Removed a dead emerald crab this morning.

This is definitely a karma payback for me. My 75g was a breeze to setup and get running; I never had any cycle issues. Basically I will just have to let the cycle run it's course and see what is left. My hermits, snails and stars all seem to be handling it well. I still see the barnacles flicking their sweeper tentacles, so there is still life in the tank...it just ain't happy.

I do have some new temp controlled fans on the way now, so Thurs night I will be performing surgery on the hood of this Aquapod to get better airflow and heat dissipation (hopefully to the point that it will need a heater). I purchased a Hydor Bioflow device and an MJ900 pump as an upgrade Saturday, and last night the Bioflow had already decided to quit spinning (Murphy's Law in full effect), so I need to pull it apart and see what happened. I have yet to try and shoehorn in my Fission skimmer, but I won't attempt that until I remove the hood for surgery.

This tank is proving to be a real learning experience, that's for sure.

On the positive side, I was able to get my aquascaping done the way I wanted it. Looks like a tropical beach scene surrounded by mountains, with the shaving brush in the middle of the beach. I will post pictures as soon as the water clear up well enough for it. Everytime I move stuff around, I set off a sandstorm that takes 2 hours to clear up.

 

[ZoeReef]

I got the aquapod with the MH and this one has no cover. It came with a glass shield that sat on top of the tank. I got rid of that in a hurry, primarily due to heat. My fan (walmart special) blows across the water all the time when the MH lights are on. If there was no heater, the water temp would drop down to about 72 degrees. So, I got a good, titanium heater which can warm it up faster then the fans can cool it off. My temp is now regulated by the heater.

Take a look at my gallery. I've gone through several versions but I am really happy with my setup as it is today. The first two pics reflect the current state of my tank (except that I added an auto water topoff).

You know they say nothing good happens in a hurry in these tanks, I think you can more than triple that in Nano's. Good luck!