Ok so there seemed to be some interest in my little 10 gallon... Let's hope that I can keep it up and going so that i dont dissappoint (I have a tendency to do this)... My saltwater stage started about in january 08 when i bought a 10 gallon with the intentions of doing a spearer mantis tank. I had a little craptastic skimmer and a little powerhead and about 10 lbs of rock... I never found my mantis for a resonable amount ($70 for a pest... dont think so) so the tank just kinda sat there for about 10 months... I then moved and the rocks/sand/CUC went into a cooler where they resided for around 4 month (lit and fed... I wanst completely cruel)... I then got a wild hair and set it all back up in my office and stocked it with a clown, a scarlet skunk cleaner, and a new CUC... Seeing as how they had all died (but one... Hermy... the only blue leg i still have...) I then let it go into slight neglect again until Pepe... my skunk... decided to jump shimp and get crisp ont he top of the tank ( I know i am a horrid person)... Well at this point i went out and bought about 30 lbs of base rock (actually just old LR from a tank one of my friends let fail), a AquaClear 30, and a Korlia Nano power head... The tank has now been moved into the living room (where hopefully it will gain more attention and remain in good health) and appears as shown below... It is currently stocked with a Clown (percula i beleive since he only has 2 stripes), hermy, and a CUC of 5 or so assorted snails and 2 red leg crabs... I soon hope to up my stock and get it looking more like it should... Wish me luck... and my fish luck too since i do have a bit of an issue with neglect... -me
You have a great example of how a small tank can be set up to very nice. The picture on the front of co author to Julian Sprungs first book is a pretty popular image of his 15 gallon reef tank that is just stunning. Keep posting pictures I am very interested how the tank progresses.
Thank you for the kind words, but do not be too kind until i can prove that I'm not gonna totally screw the pooch on this one... For anyone that is considering a small tank (and this is prolly true of large ones too) just make sure you realize that you and gonna buy some stuff and then realize its not good enoug and have to replace it, but also realize that its never going to be perfect... I really want a drilled, sumped, and fuged 29 gallon, but right now this is what i have... Livestock selectin is also ver important... Every time i buy something knew i research it for literally weeks because each livestock choice in a system like this will somehow limit another choice... Speaking of buying something... I purchased a pistol shrimp and a High fin gobi on saturday... They both seem to be doing well... My tank is currently being dug all to crap... Honestly its a little stressful, but he has pretty much dug everywhere he can dig... so hopefully he will settle in eventually... pics of the destruction comming soon... -me
I know what you mean. My pistol shrimp has holes and tunnels covering 1/2 of my 200gal. I can imagine what he's doing to your 10gal. He will find a place he feels safe and make it his home. I find giving him small pieces of coral rubble from time to time keeps him busy. Glad you're enjoying your project
It seems like he might have settled down... Im thinking this is his new home... here are some other places around the neighborhood that he tried out... and honestly since the current has had a chance to knock it all back a little and he has kinda settled down its not too bad... I have some places that are deffinately going to get smoothed out eventually though... BTW how do you guys take pics of fish... this is what i get when i try to photo PJ yeah i know... NEARLY PERFECT right???? -me
if you have a camera with adjustable settings try either manually switching your tv setting to a higher shutter speed. or if you have a point and shoot camera try a sports setting. they have a default higher shutter speed. another thing i can suggest is to shoot from a slight angle to avoid glare and reflections of yourself in the photo.
So most of the digging and such has been happening on the right side of the tank... doest really seem to be able to make the right hole, but atleast most of the work is in one area... Snapped a photo... crappy as usual, but im working on it... couldnt get a good shot of both... once i leaned down clyde went into the hideout and bonnie kept watchout (for the coppers of course)... -me
Get a handful of rubble so they can build a burrow with a little structure. That may help them settle down a bit.
I second the rubble, mine move it around all the time, makes a very stable shelter. You'll be surprised how much rubble he can hide under the substrate
I agree about the rubble. I have 2 in my 45 gal and they have pretty much stayed in one spot from the start. I have live sand and it has lots of little rubble and shell pieces. I'll be tagging along on this one...
I have been chippin off marble sized ans smaller peices from some extra base rock i have... So far ive put in prolly nearly 30 bits over the last few days and he collects them during the next 24 hours and does something with them... Ill prolly keep adding 10 or so bits till it looks like he has a pretty good litte lair going... Note to self... Plan for one of these b4 you start the tank and and mix sand about 3/4 finer sand and 1/4 course sand (shells and bits) so that he has better building materials... -me
just an update... everything is going good... I am having to make some adjustments to make sure clyde isn't killing some of the stuff i have clinking to rocks, but not a big deal... Looks like hear pretty soon ill be ready to add some more to the tank... -me p.s.... I did find out that if my water level drops more than an inch my filters will erode my sand something fearse... so im gonna have to stay on top of that...
RIP.... Bonnie (Highfin goby) jumped... Insert sad here.... Looks like ill have to get another... Any ideas on what kind besides a high fin... I think most get too big... I have a lid, but it has an open section at the back... I'm gonna have to do something "Custom" to make sure its sealed well, but im not sure about gas exchange... Will the trickle from the HOB handle that ok? -me
Ok so everything seems to be stabilizing out... Still havent replaced bonnie and have had a few snails pass (which threw the nitrates up pretty high), but currently my nitrates are bottomed out... So much so that the Micro algae that was in my tank is shriveled up and looking BAD.... The small plug of polyps that i put in a month or so ago are looking better (good actually)... They are definately getting bigger and fuller... No signs of reproduction, but they seem to be doing really well. I figure im gonna go get another bonnie this weekend (the issue with the lid has been corrected) and might start looking around for another small something in the reef realm. I've noticed that some users had some stuff avaiable and i'm prolly gonna contact them pretty soon looking for a new little addition. -me
You might look into a Tangaroa Goby. I purchased mine at NSA and he paired with my pistol shrimp immediately after he was inserted in the tank. I don't think that they are jumpers. Mine has not ever moved more than 6" from the bottom of my tank. He stays right next to their burrow. I think that he would be a good fit for your 10 gallon. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... catid=2112
Picked up some replacement fish at NSA today... Got another highfin (Thelma) and another Scarlet Cleaner (Pele [i guess that how you spell it]) The shrimp is tiny... the goby is a bit bigger than i would have liked, but acceptable... I ask about the Tangaroo, but they were out of stock and i wanted to go ahead and get something today so i just went back with the highfin/barber shop... In an alaround tank update... The Coraline algae has reall taken over... I do have a bit of a bubble algae problem (the red/purple kind), but i did some cleaning and got rid of most of it today... maybe it wont spread too badly... I considered an emerald crab today, but the cleaner won out... -me
Picked up a yellow clown goby today... Been watching my parms and everything was doing good so i decided to add another small fish. The few corals i have are doing good. Im considering pulling the kenya trees out, but have made that decision yet. Hoping to have some pics soon and I'm trying to work out a fuge for it... So ill keep you up to date with that one... -me
