The Stony Nano and the Swamp

[Jon in SW Ohio]

I redid the rockwork a while ago with pukani rock in an attempt to be rid of Caulerpa and afterwards there was just no room for it and all the other things I wanted to add to the tank.

The big indo acan is now in my 20l that I call the swamp. The sides are all coralline algae and the only landscaping is an eggcrate rack lol. This is where all my corals go when they outgrow the nano, and if it's something I really like I'll take a frag and put a piece in each tank. It's also where I keep a lot of backups in case I ever have a tank crash. Eventually I'll upgrade to a bigger display tank...or a horse trough 

This the most recent pic I have, but you can't see all the stuff on the bottom of the tank.


BTW, also a Nepenthes fan though I only have a N. Miranda now. I'd like to find a N. clipeata one of these days.

[xXTheWendigoXx]

There's a nursery based out of Germany that sells them, though you might have to research the legalities of sending such an endangered plant. www.wistuba.com Got a N. Seychelle from them(ended up having to donate it to the UM Conservatory due to space issues during the winter tho'  ), seems like they're honest people.

Do you target feed your lords? I've never had luck with getting lords to grow very quickly but I've also never probably fed them as much as I should, and I've only ever run marine snow or pytoplankton through the return pump into the entire tank.

[Jon in SW Ohio]

Yup, they get spot fed at least once a week with New Life Spectrum pellets or ORA Glow pellets. I used to feed frozen mysis, but the pellets are much easier. Every couple weeks I'll spot feed everything everyday for a week or so as well. I treat all LPS as barely photosynthetic creatures.

[Jon in SW Ohio]

Some pics from today (after the swap :lol: )



Replacement Sunset Monti


War Coral


Aussie Prism Favia


Aussie Reverse Prism Favia


And a horrible pic of an incredible coral, PPE Blasto



And the Iwagumi Tank today after getting the "carpet" started

[Jon in SW Ohio]

Well, it's been almost 3 1/2 years since my last update but the nano is still up and running. For the last couple years I've only been using ESV B-Ionic Seawater Mix with distilled water and can honestly say I'll never use another brand of salt. Also switched bulbs to 70w XM 20K and love them.
Not the best pic, but here it is now a days:


The planted tank from the above post:


And a few killifish I breed:

[lazylivin]

Oh my goodness what a great update. Those are both beautiful tanks. Very nice job. Everything looks so healthy. Would you mind telling us how you care for the acans. Food types and how often? Target feeding or broadcasting?

[Jon in SW Ohio]

I target feed all the acans (all the corals actually) with CyclopEeze once a week the day before a water change and I feed a lot. Now that I'm nursing back a starved sun coral with daily feedings they get their weekly feeding and all the leftovers from the sun coral when I turn the pump back on every night after feeding. I also have a massive amphipod population that can be seen at night searching for leftovers and I'm sure all the corals catch some of them as well. I used to feed all different foods but now it's exclusively CyclopEeze and has been for a year or two.

For maintenance I do a weekly 50% water change with ESV B-Ionic Seawater with the proportions tweaked a little so I don't ever need to do any dosing. I don't know how many people use ESV but ever since my first batch a couple years ago I can't say enough good things about it and suggest it to everyone. It truely is noticeably better than any salt mix I've ever used...and I've used most of them.

[HUNGER]

o wow ur tank looks great

[The WuSue]

Gorgeous! That's quite an update!

[micki]

Very Very cool! 

[Jon in SW Ohio]

Trying some different camera settings, thanks for all the kind replies

[The WuSue]

Wow....That is stunning.  I think you're going to need a bigger tank though.

[HUNGER]

wow that looks great

[Jon in SW Ohio]

Update time.
I finally finished my latest attempt at actinics for this tank and think I am finally happy with the tanks lighting. I used four 3w Cree XT-E Royal Blues and an Osram 660nm Red. I used a 1 1/4" aluminum angle spray painted flat black, some mylar for side reflection and managed to get it all wired up inside the SunPod with a couple grommets and butt connectors to make it not look too jury rigged. I used some spare mounting legs cut down to the slide and attached those to the angle with E6000 glue to attach the strip onto the SunPod.

Here's how it looks attached to the SunPod






The tank with MH only




LEDs turned on




And LEDs only




I also moved my old huge Indo acan colony into a different tank since it was outgrowing this nano and fighting with the Duncan. I moved the Favias into it's place and they seem happy with long tentacles almost always out.

[Twizted1]

Wow looks great.

[lazylivin]

Love the light show it adds to the wall behind the tank. Looks cool. Nice pics!

[HUNGER]

Looks great man is that tank packed

[joncat24]

Awesome tank. I like the progression shots. Nice work!!

[Jon in SW Ohio]

Love the light show it adds to the wall behind the tank. Looks cool. Nice pics!

LOL now that it's getting dark it kinda looks like my tank is getting pulled over for a traffic stop

[Jon in SW Ohio]

Seems I have more updating to do since the reefing bug only really grabs me a few months out of each year.
This year I switched to just LEDs and started running RowaPhos in a Phosban Reactor but the scape and corals are mostly the same only more grown in. I also have been putting more attention into a 29 gallon softie tank that I'm not sure I've posted here. Photo update to come!

[Delerium]

Those are some beautiful zoas!