UPDATE: 10 gallon kitchen nano
- Thread starter brooklyn johnny
- Start date
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
Vibe, I have 2 36 watt PCs, one 10k and one actinic... I'd much recommend a refugium over a protein skimmer on a ten gallon. I originally left my options open and thought about getting a protein skimmer, until I found everything running smoothly with no need for it...
Dvskin... I have 5 types of gorgonians, 4 of them photosynthetic. Some of the keys with them are getting a healthy specimen at first, with no dieback on the branches, and if they do cut it back. Regarding flow most like to get pounded, but not so hard that their polyps won't open. I have LOTS of flow in my nano, which has a hundred benefits... Aside from that they do well and grow fast. The tricky guy is my orange nonphotosynthetic gorgonian, which needs all of it's nutrition from outside food sources as opposed to being supplemented by zooxanthellae like many others. You see I put three seperate pieces in my nano of this guy, hoping at least one would survive, and now they are all growing. I no doubt credit this to my refugium and heavy feeding of phyto and other things. I don't believe this guy feeds directly of off the phyto as the particle size is too small, but he feeds off of larger things. When I saw new growth on these orange guys I got really excited as I've known these guys to be very difficult to keep long term. With gorgonians you either see new growth, or dieback... HTH
plum thanks man... you have the lights for a clam, but remember there are like a thousand other factors (and we always blame it on light!). When you feel confident start with a small squamosa...
Two people from Coral Springs! I'm heading down there in afew months to visit Mom
anyway all thanks again I love BSing on my nano...
Dvskin... I have 5 types of gorgonians, 4 of them photosynthetic. Some of the keys with them are getting a healthy specimen at first, with no dieback on the branches, and if they do cut it back. Regarding flow most like to get pounded, but not so hard that their polyps won't open. I have LOTS of flow in my nano, which has a hundred benefits... Aside from that they do well and grow fast. The tricky guy is my orange nonphotosynthetic gorgonian, which needs all of it's nutrition from outside food sources as opposed to being supplemented by zooxanthellae like many others. You see I put three seperate pieces in my nano of this guy, hoping at least one would survive, and now they are all growing. I no doubt credit this to my refugium and heavy feeding of phyto and other things. I don't believe this guy feeds directly of off the phyto as the particle size is too small, but he feeds off of larger things. When I saw new growth on these orange guys I got really excited as I've known these guys to be very difficult to keep long term. With gorgonians you either see new growth, or dieback... HTH
plum thanks man... you have the lights for a clam, but remember there are like a thousand other factors (and we always blame it on light!). When you feel confident start with a small squamosa...
Two people from Coral Springs! I'm heading down there in afew months to visit Mom
anyway all thanks again I love BSing on my nano...
jonathon0883
Member
Brooklyn, i also have a 10 gallon nano but nothing like yours..yet all i have for filtration is a hob penguin with a bio-wheel...i really want to do a refugium but i guess you could say that im outside the loop on knowing how to set one up...if you could give me any advice on how you would go about doing it i would appreciate it..thanks
all i have for filtration is a hob penguin with a bio-wheel...i really want to do a refugium but i guess you could say that im outside the loop on knowing how to set one up...if you could give me any advice on how you would go about doing it i would appreciate it..thanks
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
Hey jon I obviously strongly recommend a fuge for a bunch of reasons previously mentioned. Nothing is simpler than the concept of a refugium. It is simply a seperate area set up where water is pumped through and you provide light. Evereyone's situation is different, and you could see how I designed mine to fit to my kitchen. There are many units for sale but for me they didn't fit my situation and are usually overpriced pieces of acrylic.
Research into it a little. Mine is simple. I have a HOB filter on the tank that flows normally. nside that filter I have a very small powerhead that pumps up to my refugium that is drilled with a half inch PVC inlet. Then the water drains on the other side down into the HOB again. I have two 15 watt lights from Home Depot above the fuge. If you decide to set one up I'd be more than happy to help... look into it they're not that hard...
Research into it a little. Mine is simple. I have a HOB filter on the tank that flows normally. nside that filter I have a very small powerhead that pumps up to my refugium that is drilled with a half inch PVC inlet. Then the water drains on the other side down into the HOB again. I have two 15 watt lights from Home Depot above the fuge. If you decide to set one up I'd be more than happy to help... look into it they're not that hard...
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
Here's a recent shot of the tank...
overanalyzer
Active Member
Johnny - did you ever frag that frogspawn? You mentioned you were thining of taking a saw to it - but it doesn't look much smaller in your recent pic .... just curious
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
Hey overa... Yes I did frag it! I took a jigsaw too it while on the stove next to the tank with help from my brother (and my wife shaking her head in the background ) and now it's almost as big already (as seen in the pic). Here is a pic right before I fragged it. I got three nice size branches off and gave them to club members.
) and now it's almost as big already (as seen in the pic). Here is a pic right before I fragged it. I got three nice size branches off and gave them to club members.
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
Here's a night shot showing the white spot where I cut. as you could tell from the full tank shot it's spread out again and is growing like a weed. My clown loves it though and bites whenever I enter...
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
Yeah it was a show... I really had no other option as it was stinging it's neighbors... I was more worried about damaging the coral than cutting off my fingers . FWIW the coral was out of the water for a while and it perked up again next day no sweat... It was much tougher than thought though as the skeleton was super dense
I assure you you'd laugh harder if you saw it in person fragging sps is so easy it's usually done by accident
. FWIW the coral was out of the water for a while and it perked up again next day no sweat... It was much tougher than thought though as the skeleton was super dense I assure you you'd laugh harder if you saw it in person
fragging sps is so easy it's usually done by accident
overanalyzer
Active Member
kewl and congrats on the successful fragging .....
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
Never fluctuates more than a degree when we cook
wolffam
Member
Tank is fantastic. Inspiration to those who want a reef, but don't want the larger tanks. I'm showing my wife the pics in hopes of here giving up some cabinet space in the kitchen. If you ever do decide you need a chiller, you could just pump some water to the frig and back, you should be close, huh, being in the kitchen. Thanks again for the update. Keep us posted.
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
Yeah wolffam lemme tell my wife that I'm going to drill her fridge while there are still calcium carbonate chips on her stove from the jigsaw fragging... anyway here's a neat image I got with an attachment lens...
vibe
Member
everything seems to be going a long nicely johnny. i now have a 20", 28 watt 50/50 compact fluorescent lamp, from Aqualight. my corals took to it right away. today when i came home from school, my white goniopora was opened so big it looked like the polyp tips were going to explode. what would you say if i said i wanted to get a clam for my tank, under my lighting? im not saying i want one.....yet. im thinking about getting many other corals before i start taking care of a clam, but i want to know if i could, just for the sake of knowing thanks, and once again, you are an inspiration to your fellow nano reefers
thanks, and once again, you are an inspiration to your fellow nano reefers
j21kickster
Active Member
IMO and IME clams and sps should not be kept under PC's Or VHO's sure they might survive - but- you know what i am getting at
sammystingray
Active Member
Vibe, don't waste your money.....don't buy any more gonis either...you may or may not know that they are sure deaths no matter what. Later on when you ask why they are dying.....trust me here.....you will get this response..."gonis just won't live in aquariums", and that goes for even VERY advanced keepers. Disease and poor water conditions are common, but those kept in perfect water usually die within a 12-18 month period regardless. Unknown and lacking food supply is my guess and many others. Phyto has usually been found in them......so definately feed phyto.
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
Hey Vibe thanks. Regarding your goniopora listen to sammy on this one. These are perhaps the most commonly collected corals that are for the most part doomed. It seems to be due to something lacking in their diet as sammy mentions. Seeing as how you have the corals, I suggest you do some searches and research to give yourself the best shot. Aside from that, these corals should be left to the VERY SELECT FEW that dedicate their lives to the hobby and could find out it's secrets. Aside from that they should not be sold in stores. At the risk of going to far off on this, I'll leave it at that. Be sure to research anything you are adding to your tank beforehand, as you are doing with asking about the clam...
With that said I DO NOT recommend you get any clam for that tank. Honestly, aside from clams, I would think about upgrading or adding some more wattage over your tank. Congrats on your success so far, but have patience and don't go to fast.
Remember if curiosity killed the cat, overconfidence has killed many a reef tank. Know your boundaries and go slowly. There are plenty of beautiful appropriate corals you could go with, but clams is not one of them.
I hope that helps vibe and good job on asking before you make a purchase. Incidentally how old are you? I was surprised to see you are school aged (that's a good thing)...
Incidentally I'll post some pics I just took this week. Here is one I snapped of my purple max when he was closed up from the emerald crab walking by. He is growing well and note the new white growth laid down. I am dosing full strength kalk now with about 5-7 mLs of B-ionic daily on top of that to keep my calcium and alk up.
Johnny
With that said I DO NOT recommend you get any clam for that tank. Honestly, aside from clams, I would think about upgrading or adding some more wattage over your tank. Congrats on your success so far, but have patience and don't go to fast.
Remember if curiosity killed the cat, overconfidence has killed many a reef tank. Know your boundaries and go slowly. There are plenty of beautiful appropriate corals you could go with, but clams is not one of them.
I hope that helps vibe and good job on asking before you make a purchase. Incidentally how old are you? I was surprised to see you are school aged (that's a good thing
)...Incidentally I'll post some pics I just took this week. Here is one I snapped of my purple max when he was closed up from the emerald crab walking by. He is growing well and note the new white growth laid down. I am dosing full strength kalk now with about 5-7 mLs of B-ionic daily on top of that to keep my calcium and alk up.
Johnny
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
Close up of my nonphotosynthtic Swiftia gorgonian showing new growth. I am very excited about the success of this guy. There is no doubt that my refugium and additions of phyto are partly responsible for this. I am not sure what size particles it's feeding on, but it's getting something. It's probably not benefitting from the phyto, but most likely from something that was initiated by the phyto...
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
Shot number 1 of my green stag, which has cast of many new corallites recently...