Updated Photos of 2 Gallon Cube

[ninjafish]

Thanks guys. I have been waiting for the coral to grow a bit more before taking any pictures but I will snap a few next week.
And I never noticed the eagle's head either - wierd.
By way of update I have spent some time on hollidays and there was a period where I only visited (and fed) the tank twice in two weeks. The sexy srimp (four now) did great and all the corals continued growing as though nothing had happened. Obviously, this kind of inattention is less-desireable but it was really a testament to how solid this design is. My salinity and nitrates did not change at all over that period of time. This tiny tank is even more stable than my 90gallon reef was!
Thanks to the chaeto 'fuge, I have never had any nuissance algae growth in my tank, but there is a film that grows on the glass after a couple days. I believe that the stomatellas feed off this and then spawn, which in turn provides live food to the tank. I also have a lot of pods in the 'fuge and main tank. It really is a little ecosystem.

- Chad

 

[bennerkla]

Can't wait for updates.

 

[ninjafish]

Well here you go then. Thanks for your patience!

- Chad

 

[ninjafish]

What do you think?


- Chad

 

[spoon671]

Holy cow man. You can owe it all to careful planning right? I know it probably says it earlier in the thread, but just for the sake of asking questions, is that just one piece of rock? Also, did you use epoxy to mount the Frogspawn? I guess you really did "do it right the first time!" This little piece of ocean is incredible. I am constantly glued to this thread. Major major kudos to you Chad. So inspiring.

 

[bennerkla]

I second that post, spoon. Chad's tank rocks!

 

[ninjafish]

Holy cow man. You can owe it all to careful planning right? I know it probably says it earlier in the thread, but just for the sake of asking questions, is that just one piece of rock? Also, did you use epoxy to mount the Frogspawn? I guess you really did "do it right the first time!" This little piece of ocean is incredible. I am constantly glued to this thread. Major major kudos to you Chad. So inspiring.

Justin,

Thanks dude, that is really being generous! The "reef" is actually made up of three rocks stacked on each other. I had about 50lbs of live rock from my old system and a hammer and a chissel so I had no problem getting the shape I was wanting. And you're right, I did epoxy the frogspawn to one of the rocks. You can still see how white it is - I am hoping that over time that epoxy will get covered up. I did do a TON of planning (ie 6 months of daydreaming) before starting this tank but I attribute most of my success to dumb luck. The cannister filter happened to give me the perfect amount of flow for the size of tank and head height I was running + The submersible lights, actually did grow chaeto (I didn't know that when I bought them) and added just the right amount of heat to the water + I found a desk lamp that just happened to be a perfect fit for the halide + The dosing pump for the auto topoff uh, ... wait, no that part was actually pure genious J/K
Cheers bro,

And thanks Ben.


- Chad

 

[coker98]

incredible thread and great tank and everything in it

 

[ninjafish]

Thanks !

 

[bennerkla]

I think a Plate Coral would look great in there Chad. Does your frogspawn require any unique care? I'd love to have one for my 5.5,

 

[79Yota]

How do you moniter the flow from the tank to the canister and back a again. I know you have the outlet under the substrae, but how do you keep to much from running out.

 

[ninjafish]

I think a Plate Coral would look great in there Chad. Does your frogspawn require any unique care? I'd love to have one for my 5.5,

Is that an offer Ben? You're right it would look really nice.
The frogspawn is easy to care for and provides a dramatic contrast to the other corals in the tank - plus the sexy shrimp use it as their treehouse. You can spot-feed frodspawn with larger pieces of food but so far it has done fine just with reef chilli I feed the rest of the corals. The real problem the frogspawn poses is outgrowing such a small tank. If it gets too big I will just have to frag it back to one or two branches.

- Chad

 

[ninjafish]

How do you moniter the flow from the tank to the canister and back a again. I know you have the outlet under the substrae, but how do you keep to much from running out.

You're right, it would be impossible to regulate the flow from the bottom of a tank to a sump - that is why I used a cannister filter as a sump instead of a tank. A cannister filter is completely enclosed - a closed loop. If any water runs down the inlet hose, the exact amount is also forced back up the return hose, because there is no where else to go. This eliminates any risk of an overflow. Incedentally, when the pump is turned off, no water flows anywhere because both the intake and return bulkheads have the same amount of water pressure on them and there is a constant equalibrium. Hope this makes sense.

Chad

 

[79Yota]

Now I see the light. thanks

 

[Chris&Carol]

Simply amazing! I just went through the whole thread and I can't believe how beautifull this small tank is! Keep up the good work fellow Canadian reefer!

Carol

 

[ninjafish]

Carol,
Thanks for the encouragement. I'm glad that you came across this thread, it's nice to see some of the rare "northern reefs" here in the forum.

- Chad

 

[ninjafish]

Hello everyone!

I have changed things around a bit and the nano is now a "species tank". I have all of the same corals - they're growing quite nicely thank you - but my livestock list has shortened considereably:

- mantis shrimp
- mantis shrimp's food (snails, hermits)

Here is a picture of the little guy:

I think I am going to call him Google. He is still a little shy but I will get some more pictures as he ventures out of his lair.

- Chad

 

[MHannon]

Definitly needs to be nominated for tank of the month!:thumbsup:

 

[nodbugger]

You never stated if the tank was glass or acrylic, if it is glass you will need to be really careful with that mantis. Break right outta glass.

 

[ninjafish]

Wow thanks Sebae! I guess all I needed was the right animal in the tank . When Google starts venturing out into the open I will make an updated video and take some better pictures.

- Chad