rhythm9
New Member
Hey everyone!
So I have decided to start a journal of my interesting little adventure of keeping a nano reef tank in my college apartment. Throughout high school I worked at my local LFS and owned two of my own larger tanks, one being a 38g FOWLR and the other a 55g reef. However, after having to leave those two tanks in the care of my parents while I lived in a dorm my first two years of college, its pretty safe to say they both fell into disrepair. I almost called it quits completely this summer and sold off all my stuff until I came across a little 12g nano cube in my laundry room my boss at the LFS had given to me for free while he was cleaning out the basement of the store.... Long story short, I broke down the other tanks and I decided to attempt keeping this nano tank in my apartment this year and this journal is to document its progress as well as successes and failures of a reefer on a college budget.
Tank Specs:
12g Nano Cube
70w Viper HQI (got off a coworker for 60 bucks!)
Koralia 2 ph
Rio 600 (return pump)
Funny side note, the tank is actually placed on top of a mini fridge (beer fridge to be honest) in my living room and actually requires NO extra heating source. Between the halide and the fridge, the tank stays at a nearly constant 78 degrees... I obviously monitor this often to make sure it doesnt suddenly drop but I think that is pretty cool... I also mix all my saltwater using jugs of distilled water from the local Walmart as I do not have a RO/DI system here in the apartment nor have a LFS within and hour and half of me... Surprisingly I have had ZERO issues with this and the fish and corals dont seem to mind... so hey, I can afford $.88 a gallon!
Stock List:
8-10 lbs LS from breaking down my 55g
20-25lbs LR from 55g
handful of hermits
3-4 turbo snails
1 very tiny brittle star (like the size of a quarter)
1 Royal Gramma
1 duncan head
1 green hairy mushroom
6-7 orange zoas
The tank has been humming along without so much as a peep since the beginning of this semester (about 2-3 months). I have noticed the nitrates have started to climb a bit but I really feel this is due to the way I have the back filter chambers set up. After some research I decided to invest in some Chemi-pure and chaeto algae. As soon as these arrive in the mail in the next few days I am going to redo the setup in the back to include the Chemi-pure and sponges in the first chamber, and a simple refugium i the second chamber.
Today I got a call that the rest of my items from my old tanks sold and I recieved a check for 120 bucks.... and I obviously promptly went on the internet to recycle the money into this tank!!! Sooooo, here is the order I placed today, let me know what you all think! Id love any feedback/suggestions!!!
1 Porcelain Crab
1 Black Percula Clown
2 Peppermint Shrimp
4 Nassarius Snails
12 Cerith Snails
1 nano Purple Sea Whip
1 Orange Stereonephthya Coral
1 Fire and Ice Zoa frag
1 Paly frag
1 bag of 500 copepods w/ chaeto
So I have decided to start a journal of my interesting little adventure of keeping a nano reef tank in my college apartment. Throughout high school I worked at my local LFS and owned two of my own larger tanks, one being a 38g FOWLR and the other a 55g reef. However, after having to leave those two tanks in the care of my parents while I lived in a dorm my first two years of college, its pretty safe to say they both fell into disrepair. I almost called it quits completely this summer and sold off all my stuff until I came across a little 12g nano cube in my laundry room my boss at the LFS had given to me for free while he was cleaning out the basement of the store.... Long story short, I broke down the other tanks and I decided to attempt keeping this nano tank in my apartment this year and this journal is to document its progress as well as successes and failures of a reefer on a college budget.
Tank Specs:
12g Nano Cube
70w Viper HQI (got off a coworker for 60 bucks!)
Koralia 2 ph
Rio 600 (return pump)
Funny side note, the tank is actually placed on top of a mini fridge (beer fridge to be honest) in my living room and actually requires NO extra heating source. Between the halide and the fridge, the tank stays at a nearly constant 78 degrees... I obviously monitor this often to make sure it doesnt suddenly drop but I think that is pretty cool... I also mix all my saltwater using jugs of distilled water from the local Walmart as I do not have a RO/DI system here in the apartment nor have a LFS within and hour and half of me... Surprisingly I have had ZERO issues with this and the fish and corals dont seem to mind... so hey, I can afford $.88 a gallon!
Stock List:
8-10 lbs LS from breaking down my 55g
20-25lbs LR from 55g
handful of hermits
3-4 turbo snails
1 very tiny brittle star (like the size of a quarter)
1 Royal Gramma
1 duncan head
1 green hairy mushroom
6-7 orange zoas
The tank has been humming along without so much as a peep since the beginning of this semester (about 2-3 months). I have noticed the nitrates have started to climb a bit but I really feel this is due to the way I have the back filter chambers set up. After some research I decided to invest in some Chemi-pure and chaeto algae. As soon as these arrive in the mail in the next few days I am going to redo the setup in the back to include the Chemi-pure and sponges in the first chamber, and a simple refugium i the second chamber.
Today I got a call that the rest of my items from my old tanks sold and I recieved a check for 120 bucks.... and I obviously promptly went on the internet to recycle the money into this tank!!! Sooooo, here is the order I placed today, let me know what you all think! Id love any feedback/suggestions!!!
1 Porcelain Crab
1 Black Percula Clown
2 Peppermint Shrimp
4 Nassarius Snails
12 Cerith Snails
1 nano Purple Sea Whip
1 Orange Stereonephthya Coral
1 Fire and Ice Zoa frag
1 Paly frag
1 bag of 500 copepods w/ chaeto
