My first tank

[Karita]

I got this .75 gallon from my boyfriend, who is an avid reefer. So far I have 2 candy canes, some zooanthids, and a hermit. I had a mushroom who didn't do so well. I know that the lighting is not the best, so does anyone have experience on keeping up small tanks like mine? What else could I put in it that will tolerate the lighting and small size?

 

[Anonymous]

Look at the little filter! Its so cute! LOL Thats a PC light isn't it?

 

[chiliaddik]

Is that an AZOO? Damn they are cute, but hard to take care of.

 

[Anonymous]

its looking good, just maybe put some small pieces of LR in there.

 

[chiliaddik]

Yeah, I meant to mention that last night (was tired), you need a few little pc. of LR so that your water parameters don't go haywire.

 

[Karita]

Reefraff: yes its a 7w daylight but I'm thinking I need more light and maybe a 50/50

Chiliaddik: It is an AZOO... have you had one? What sorts of problems have you had (if any)? Since that pic was taken, I've gotten a larger piece of live rock and I'm planning on putting in some small live rock pieces or rubble rock. Water params have been good so far (2 months)
What kind of tank do you have?

What other types of coral do you think will work in there?

 

[chiliaddik]

Karita - sorry it took me so long to reply....No, I have not had an AZOO before, though considering one!!! I have a friend that had one, we set it up together, yada, yada...water parameters were a PITA to keep constant. Anyways. then after that, I tried my hand at a 10 gal. nano and water parameters were hard to control as well. As a newbie, I should have never even considered the 10 gallon, I am sure it was all on my end - taking a dive at something I didn't know a whole lot about at the time.

People keep nano's very successfully, and I myself have a better hand in it all now too with successful exp. with my 2 other tanks and will probably try another small nano after summer.

You could try little coral frags in your azoo, but if they get too big, you can move them to another tank (if you have one), mushrooms and small frags of zoo's would work too.

 

[Flame Angel]

The little bugger definitely has potential. I can't tell from the pic, but if you still have the little filter pad in there, take it out once you get live rock in there. You can run into problems if you don't. Also make sure you keep track of the water level...I had an Azoo set up for 6 months, and I was topping it off daily, sometimes twice a day. But I'm sure you already knew that

You can actually get some 13w 50/50 bulbs that I believe will fit that fixture...you may have to cut the end of the little hood opposite the fixture off, though...not sure. Check out http://www.hellolights.com/13w5010dayac.html . Correct me if I'm wrong, but those should fit in that socket, as long as you have an Azoo. If you have a tank made by Red Sea, it may work, although you might have a time getting it to fit...

Anyhow, hope it all works out for you!

-Flame

 

[Karita]

Thanks for the advice, Flame Angel.

There were 2 filter pads that came with it, actually, and when I removed the white one, my algae problem diminished significantly. There is also a black one that I still have in there; should I remove that one as well?

The light setup you described is the exact one I have been looking at. Should get that going in a few weeks & I'll post an update.

I do top off daily, but what about water changes? As of now I do a 50% water change about once a week. Is this too much/ too often? Or not often enough?

You said you had yours for about 6 months... what happened?

Thanks again for all of the tips!

 

[Flame Angel]

Please, call me Flame...you make me sound so formal!

I would personally take that black pad out. It's a carbon pad, and while it's made of a different material than the white floss pad, it can still cause algae problems.

Glad to hear you found the light! I'll be getting some soon enough for my 6 gallon Eclipse, so I'll be happy to hear how they work out for you.

My exact situation with the Azoo tank is a little bit different than yours...I was working at a LFS at the current time, and we had it sitting underneath a 400w metal halide pendant...so of course I was doing massive topoffs. As for the water changes, I took out about and replaced about 2 cups a week, which was fine for the Acro's we had growing in there. After I left the store, I took the tank with me, but not the MH pendant...it's sitting on my desktop now, empty, looking forlorn...

As a little extra tidbit of nonsense...I fashioned a tiny, DIY undergravel filter for the Azoo out of the top of an impeller box, as well as made a tiny gravel vac out of airline tubing and 1/4" ridgid tubing...we had a lot of time on our hands there I mainly used it for the Acro's, although I also grew some caulerpa in there, so I could harvest the sprigs and give them away with Tangs people bought. The MH went a long way

-Flame

 

[Flame Angel]

And for everyone's reference, it's actually not .75 gallons...it's more like .5 gallons, so keep that in mind. This thread has inspired me to set mine up again. I plan on making my own little wooden stand and hood, complete with a 13W 50/50 bulb from AH Supply. Due to the amount of heat generated by the light, I shouldn't need a heater, either!

I also plan on putting one of my extra moonlights on it, too. I'll make a thread and update it as I make changes.

-Flame

 

[Karita]

Here is a more recent pic. i've added some more rock and everything seems to be more stable now. Flame, today I removed the other pad so hopefully that'll help out with the algae problem. i know i need a better clean up crew... it seems i picked the dud of the hermit pack - all he does is sit on the rocks and bask in the light - no help!!

 

[Phischy]

Sounds to me like you got yourself one of those San Diego Slackin' Krabs. Bunch of worthless beach bums, they're all over SD!

 

[Flame Angel]

It's a good start!

If your crab isn't doing much of anything, he probably doesn't have anything to work on. After all, your tank is awfully small. Could just be that he powered through whatever stuff there was in there for him to work on, and now he's bored. Try switching him out for a snail...at least that will help get rid of some of that algae and keep it from getting a foothold.

Any problems with the temp staying constant?

-Flame

 

[Karita]

Trust me, that crab has had plenty to work on :roll:
I am definitely planning on picking up a snail pretty soon though. Oh, and ever since i took that black pad out of the filter, everything has looked SO much more clear. THanks again for that tip!
To answer you question about the temp... believe it or not, I've never tested the water temp. However ,I do know that the temperature of my apartment is very consistent... I know that is not very scientific but i assumed the water temp was alright.. I live in Texas and my apt. is always cool - around 75.

 

[wizord25]

You know, you really should get a thermometer. You can get a digital one on Ebay for about $10-15. Or even go with a cheap stick on one for $1 at your LFS. Either way, you should definitely get one.

 

[Karita]

ok, I'll look into that. What temp should I be looking to keep the water at? and, what measures should I go to to keep the water at that temp? i heard somewhere that when I upgrade my lighting, i will need to get a fan to keep the water temp down.

 

[wizord25]

Well temp should probably be around 77-81. Stability is really more important than the actual temp. With your setup i would just say to move the light closer or farther away depending on if you need more or less heat. The only thing i would worry about is how low it would get at night with the lights off. If it gets too low, or fluctuates too much from night to day, then i guess you should get a heaterr... if you can fit it..

 

[Karita]

Wow, i guess i never thought of needing a heater in texas!! 8) I will pick up a thermometer soon and see what goes on throughout the day/night.

 

[djconn]

With your apt staying around 75 and living in Texas as I do, there should not be any significant temperature swings. None of my 3 nanos have heaters and if anything, I will fight high heat with the blazin' summer approaching. I think you will be ok but I would consider a fan with upgrading lighting and also spend the $2 on a little thermometer.