Nano Prize Tank Build

Nano Tank Showdown 2 Contest Prize Build​

I was lucky enough to be one of the winners of the last contest. My daughter and I won the Eshopps Deskmate Florida and a box of corals from WWC. We received the tank the other day. WWC said they'll ship the corals when the tank cycles. Which is cool because we are in no rush. This is only our 2nd reef tank. This will definitely be fun.

Equipment So Far​

• Reef breeders Nano LED light​
• IM 30W Mini Helio Heater ​
• Sicci Micra Plus 158 gph pump​
• Vivid Creations Dual RFG​
• JBJ Nano ATO​

I still need to purchase the Kraken lid.

Aquascaping​

Today we sat down with epoxy, super glue and insta-set. We grabbed a bunch of old rock we already had and created this...

It's kinda hard to tell from the pics, but there is three points rising at diffrent elevations leaning in one direction. I think I'm gonna leave that rock in the corner as an island.

Here's a picture from the top. I didn't want to overload this tank with rock. I also wanted to have a lot of sand bed exposed. For sand we are going with CaribSea Special Grade.
Not really sure about fish yet. Probably just a pair of clown fish if the tank is big enough. A cleaner shrimp. Maybe a goby. I still have to research what fish can live in a 9 gallon tank.
Can't wait to get this tank wet.

To Be Continued...





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[Pvtgloss]

Harlequin need starfish to eat. I'd pass on it... make sure you are quarantining your fish. I think the tank looked awesome with the orange but sand is the right choice. I hope you get some sweet corals. I'd wait a few more months though. You gals did an amazing job with the rock and a AI Prime would be perfect for this tank. You can get them here for about $120 with stand.

Thanks. We are actually a father daughter duo, lol.
We buy pre-quarantined fish from Dr Reefs.
I have a few 12" AI blades laying around. I'm thinking of putting a grow and a glow in the tank.

 

[Pvtgloss]

WWC ARE HERE!!!!​

@WWC Hooked us up today with a nice soft coral starter pack.
1) Island Time Zoa
2) Mini Me Zoa
3) Toxic Mushroom
4) Cabbage Leather
Honestly, we haven't had a Leathers or mushroom yet so we are pretty excited to see them grow out.
I would like to rearrange the aquascape a little to make room for a small zoa garden. I don't think I want to add any more rock. It feels like there's just enough rock. Not too much, not too little. Zoas how so fast, i don't want them overtaking the whole aquascape. I guess I got plenty of time to figure it out.
They are chilling on QT right now. Will definitely update with pics!

 

[Pvtgloss]

My daughter just noticed white strings hanging out of both clownfish. They were both from a pre-quarantined supplier. Hope it's not perisites!!!

 

[Pvtgloss]

Just a pic of a few soft corals chilling in qt. Can't wait to put them in!

 

[Pvtgloss]

The clowns have a new tank mate.

 

[Pvtgloss]

We moved the tank into my daughter's room and put a 12" grow blade and a 12" glow blade on it. Tomorrow we'll put some corals in.
Unfortunately, we lost the make clown fish.

 

[Pvtgloss]

We added the corals. A cabbage Leather, green mushroom, some zoas and a favities.

 

[Pvtgloss]

Quick update
We replaced the male clown that we lost with a black ice clownfish. We also added a cleaner goby!

 

[Haggisman14]

Will you be getting another coral box from WWC, or was it just the initial 4 coral box.

I think it's time y'all can add some more and really get that tank stocked!

 

[Pvtgloss]

Will you be getting another coral box from WWC, or was it just the initial 4 coral box.

I think it's time y'all can add some more and really get that tank stocked!

Idk, I'm hoping there will be more
Maybe @WWC Can answer that question

 

[Pvtgloss]

We hit the Top Shelf Easter sale pretty hard. We bought some for the deskmate.
️Kryptonite Candy Cane Coral
️TSA Snowday Pipe Organ Coral
️Green Stem Duncan Coral
️JF Daisy Cutter Zoanthid Coral
️TSA South Beach Cyphastrea Coral
️Green Montipora Cap Coral
️Kelly Green Psammocora Coral
️JF Jack O Lantern Leptoseris Coral
I hope we have enough room, lol.

 

[Haggisman14]

We hit the Top Shelf Easter sale pretty hard. We bought some for the deskmate.
️Kryptonite Candy Cane Coral
️TSA Snowday Pipe Organ Coral
️Green Stem Duncan Coral
️JF Daisy Cutter Zoanthid Coral
️TSA South Beach Cyphastrea Coral
️Green Montipora Cap Coral
️Kelly Green Psammocora Coral
️JF Jack O Lantern Leptoseris Coral
I hope we have enough room, lol.

can't wait to see the frags go in!

 

[nuxx]

Looking great!

 

[Pvtgloss]

We are about to install this bad boy on the Florida!
Can't wait.

 

[Haggisman14]

We are about to install this bad boy on the Florida!
Can't wait.

That's awesome! Let us know what you think compared to the stock pump!

 

[Pvtgloss]

I did a water change today. I noticed a ton of rotting pellets on the sand bed. My daughter has been over feeding.
I turned one of the dual RFGs downward to try to keep everything suspended.
It kinda stinks that we can only turn the Axis down to 1% on feed mode. Even on 1% the flakes go straight down the overflow and sinking pellets drop straight into the sand. It would be nice to turn the pump completely off on feed mode.
There's a clown, blood red shrimp and a cleaner goby in the tank. Out of all of them, it's the shrimp that acts starved 24/7.
Also what's crazy is that with all the heavy feeding no3 is 0. Having trouble raising it even with the heavy feeding.
There's some green film algae on the sand and rocks and very little hair.
All in all the tank is doing well. The Duncan has a bunch of baby heads. The Monti cap looks great. The lepto and Cyphastrea are starting to encrust. A couple of the zoas open up nice and wide. There's a few zoas that have stayed closed. So I turned down the lights a tad. Pipe Organ had been closed with some algae in it. So I moved it to the corner where there's better flow. We shall see

 

[Pvtgloss]

Some of our zoas have been closed up. Still can't raise N03 above zero. P04 did climb up to .08.
I took some par measurements.
Their lashes are folded up so i thought maybe to much par. But this one is only at 70 par.

And these are at 80 par

There's a mushroom shriveled up at 65 par. I didn't take a pic though. Not sure if I should raise the light intensity or not.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Maybe just move the corals up a few inches and see how they react vs a wholesale change to the entire tank?

 

[Pvtgloss]

Maybe just move the corals up a few inches and see how they react vs a wholesale change to the entire tank?

Great idea. I was going to pull them off and do a light h202 dip anyway. Thanks

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Great idea. I was going to pull them off and do a light h202 dip anyway. Thanks

I found some magnetic single frag holders on eBay a few months back. They were really helpful in getting some of my questionable placements more in the ball park before I super glued.