Western_reefers 28 gallon Nano-Cube HQI diary.

[Western_reefer]

Ok, here is a list of the dead things so far:
1 Yellow Coris Wrasse
1 Neon Goby
1 baby Bluehead Wrasses(he was like an inch long, got him cuz he was a freebie that was thrown in)
Spawning Pair of True/False Percula Clownfish(Male was True, Female was a False)

2 some kind of rainbow Acos
Ponape Birdsnest
Millepora
Little Neck Clam(had it for a long time)
Elkhorn coral (Montipora hirsuta)
Large Derasa clam
tank raised Large Golden Tear Drop Maxima ( had is for 2.5 years, raised it from a 1.5 inch baby to 6 inches. )
Mexican Turbo snail
Nass snails


Things that are trying to survive, but are in really bad shape.
Setosa Montipora
Surf N Turf
ORA Green BirdsNest

 

[bobthehobo9]

so sorry to hear about the crash. your tank was truly an inspiration to myself and many other nano owners!

 

[Western_reefer]

so sorry to hear about the crash. your tank was truly an inspiration to myself and many other nano owners!

Thanks!

 

[deansreef]

updates?

 

[Western_reefer]

Yeah, I'm currently building a rock background. I'll post a FTS hopefully next week when I get the background into the tank. The rock background is in-progress. I'm currently ziptieing the rocks to the background and I plan on filling up all the nooks and crannies with epoxy and silicone. The PVC tubing is for an Eel. There will be a total of 4-5 feet of tubing if you take it apart and line it up. Here is a picture. More pictures will be posted as I continue to build it. Tell me what you think!

 

[Western_reefer]

Here is an update picture. Still lots of work to do...

 

[Western_reefer]

Here are a few more pictures. The empty 28 gallon is not mine, its my friends. He let me borrow it so I can "map" out the back wall. Tell me what you think so far!

 

[Western_reefer]

Here are a few more pictures. I'm basically done. Just need to do a couple more things then its 100% finished! Woot!

 

[Western_reefer]

Well, I'm finished with the background! All I need to do now is wait until the silicone drys and drill 2 holes for the return then I'll put it in my 28 gallon nano! Woot!

 

[Western_reefer]

Well, I finally finished it and put it in my 28 gallon DT 30 minutes ago! Woot! Water is a little cloudy right now. I'll post pictures later today or tomorrow.

 

[JByer323]

Interested to see where you go with this.

 

[Western_reefer]

Hmm... Water is still a bit cloudy.... I guess its a bacteria bloom or something like that... Going to do a water change today.

 

[Western_reefer]

Well, there is 5 feet of PVC tubing total in the nano tank. I used 6 sticks of epoxy, 4 tubes of silicone, and about 10 or so lb of live rock. The background weighed a total of 14 lb in the end, that's with epoxy, silicone, PVC, live rock and such. 4 tubes of silicone cost $5 a tube, epoxy was $6 a stick and live rock can be found at about $2 lb, so, total was about $76 not including PVC and egg crate.

 

[60G]

cool idea cant wait to see how it looks later:bounce3:

 

[Western_reefer]

cool idea cant wait to see how it looks later:bounce3:

Thanks! I'm going to start gluing corals to the background today.

 

[Western_reefer]

Well, got a bit of bad news. Tank isn't doing so hot. Tank had a pretty bad bacteria bloom and one of my jumbo sized cleaner shrimps died today. Cleaner shrimp body was 3 inches long, or 6-7 inches long with the antennas. Corals are ****ed off but fish are doing fine. Did a 14 gallon water change this morning, going to do another water change either tonight or tomorrow morning. My guess would be that the rock background was the cause of the bacteria bloom. I used live rock, but had to let it sit dry for 24 hours for the silicone to dry. Not a good idea to use live rock... lol Lesson learned. It should clear up within a few days and everything should go back to normal.

 

[Western_reefer]

Well, I gave all my high end corals to a friend of mine to hold them for me until things get better in the tank. So far, the losses are: 1 Cleaner shrimp, Red Robin SPS, Candlelight Acro, and Minefield Cyphastrea. All fish, the remaining cleaner shrimp and corals are fine. Water is about 10 times more clearer. All those things that died, they all died on the second day of the bacteria bloom, after that second day, I added 2 skimmers, added some carbon, and did very large water changes and nothing els has died yet and things are improving. The first day of the bacteria bloom, I didn't know it was a bacteria bloom.

 

[Western_reefer]

Well, I tested my water at 2 different LFS today, so the readings are pretty accurate I suppose. Here are the readings:
pH: 8.0-8.2
Alkalinity: 10-11
Calcium: 450-550
Ammonia: 0
Phosphates: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Salinity: 1.026-1.027


Calcium is a little high but that's not really a problem... Looks like my water is good. lol

 

[Western_reefer]

I also changed out my old Phoenix bulb for a new Phoenix bulb on December 5th.

 

[Western_reefer]

Changed out the RO/DI filters today. Changed out 2nd stage, 3rd stage, and both DI filters. :bounce2: