nYgel's 29 Gallon Reef

[nygel]

if anything, it looks worse. unless i come into some money it's probably gonna stay unimpressive too. sucks cuz im going to film school in about 6 months now so all money goes that way, cool thing is i'll be getting a ton of money from graduation so i'll keep a 10g at wherever im leaving then. but im going to definitely try to save this one right now, i need cleanup crew really bad. too bad i have to spend $100 on here before i can use those photo credits

 

[nygel]

alright, since we all love updates for tanks noone follows, here it is. I purchased a lawnmower blenny. thats mainly why I took pics.

I'm setting up a 3 gallon (Tom's Deco Kit) next week, so follow that.

 

[gharner]

i set up the tom deco 3 as well. great looking tank, im putin salt water in it right now as well as some l/r. ill get pics soon....i also just started a journal on it here as well.

 

[nygel]

aren't you doing a mantis?

 

[paintballer768]

Nice lawnmower. All you need is a constant algae bloom for it haha. I like the hammer coral, definitely going to be the next addition of mine as well.

 

[nygel]

my old hammer is long gone... along with a few corals... actually its gone quite downhill. rebuilding is at a minimum... also more focus will go on the 3 gallon.

 

[paintballer768]

Oh ok haha. Did he die or just not do too well under the lighting? Stock lighting right?

 

[nygel]

umm... i dont know what you consider stock lighting to be, as its not a all-in-one tank, but i had over 100w of lighting, so it def wasnt the lighting, the frogspawn is still doing fine. Just, the hammer slowly started fading and then my xenia melted within about a week. i had a decent amount of shrooms but they detached and wandered in the back of the tank... which would require complete remodeling to get to.

 

[vdubdan]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck lately, I can relate, it seems like things will be doing fine one day and then the next.......

It's hard when you put so much time and $ into it....
I was reading through this thread and was curious about the tubes you put under your sand and rocks for pod poulation....how well does that work?

 

[nygel]

well... hmm, its hard to say how well it worked, i DID have the scooter you saw throughout the thread for about 2 years (which seems to constitute success to many) but you know, how much was due to the rock rubble piles on top of pvc piping, who knows? i certainly say it doesn't hurt and its just like anything for pods, its a safe place that dragonets or other common pod eating fish have severe trouble accessing. I plan on getting another scooter, due to my love and fascination with them.

 

[vdubdan]

it sounds like your lighting upgrade might have upset your corals. I have been having problems getting my frogspawn to color up again since I upgraded my lighting.....It lost all of its purple hues and seems bleached to a light green. It doesnt open up like it used to either. I thought it was a flow issue at first but it still hasnt come back all the way.
I had some mushrooms shrink up and start sliding down the rocks, but my zoos like bright light so their growth rate actually improved. It was a trip to see how each one reacted different. I dont know if your light is hanging but you can try raising the light for a few days and slowly lower it to where you want or maybe try a shorter light cycle until your corals are used to the brighter light.

 

[vdubdan]

Originally Posted by nYgel
well... hmm, its hard to say how well it worked, i DID have the scooter you saw throughout the thread for about 2 years (which seems to constitute success to many) but you know, how much was due to the rock rubble piles on top of pvc piping, who knows? i certainly say it doesn't hurt and its just like anything for pods, its a safe place that dragonets or other common pod eating fish have severe trouble accessing. I plan on getting another scooter, due to my love and fascination with them.

nice.

 

[nygel]

no, it def wasnt the light, this is all way long term, i've had this tank with the same setup for about 2 years almost, so it was stuff going on in the tank, and if you look at the pics, i had MASSIVE shrooms, the fell off after they got too heavy to stick on the rocks anymore... fragging wasnt my thing.

 

[gharner]

yeah im doin a N. wennerae mantis. small species from the atlantic. the tank will be hopefully loaded with corals, and i got to try to find a cuc that the little guy wont destroy. my tank is cycling now, but it only has about a pound and a half of l/r. im picking up more rock today or tomorrow.

 

[nygel]

how long does it take to cycle? 6 hours? took my 10 like 1.5 days, but i use all materials from older reef tanks so to avoid cycles. I'm looking at pandas and various decorative crabs (pompom, porcelien, anenome) if i didnt already state that.

 

[nygel]

well, i realized it might be smarter to just use the money saved for the 3g to save this 29g... so ex the 3g atm.... new fts later tonight... i love redoing rock.

 

[coral keeper]

Very nice tank pics!

Can't wait for more pics!

 

[nygel]

I have also decided thats its time to move on from the deat of my last scooter (about 2 yrs old ) and get a new one, so the search is on for one that will be good enough for me... also maybe a clown, but thats a much lower possibility. probably a lot of shrooms or some good xenia.

 

[nygel]

Alright, I redid some rock work (again) and bought some Xenia so it's looking a bit better. I was at an LFS yesterday and saw they have a pom pom crab for sale, $12!, I made him rip up the tank to find it, only to find a dead one.