14G Bowfront Nano Reef

lil sumpin

Digital Sponge
View Badges
Joined
Aug 13, 2023
Messages
896
Reaction score
1,608
Location
New York
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
That looks like a happy blenny! Glad to see she has friends now. I'm a big fan of PNS stuffs even though that stuff smells like a basket of rotten eggs in a sauna. I've been using their Pro Bio for months as a form of nutrient management and also as a coral food
 
OP
OP
kanders87

kanders87

Sarcasm Extraordinaire
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
Messages
344
Reaction score
308
Location
Midwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
That looks like a happy blenny! Glad to see she has friends now. I'm a big fan of PNS stuffs even though that stuff smells like a basket of rotten eggs in a sauna. I've been using their Pro Bio for months as a form of nutrient management and also as a coral food
The smell is absolutely awful, and lingers a little after opening. I like that they’re shelf stable so easy to keep with the rest of my supplies. And a bottle will last me forever! I’ll have to look into the rest of their products, but so far pretty happy with how things are going.
 
OP
OP
kanders87

kanders87

Sarcasm Extraordinaire
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
Messages
344
Reaction score
308
Location
Midwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Nice looking clowns!
Thank you! Of course I can’t remember exactly what morph they are, but I’m pretty sure the one was a Frostbite, and the smaller one is a Snowflake. I love the contrast that they provide, and the white one will pop nice one I get corals in there.
 
OP
OP
kanders87

kanders87

Sarcasm Extraordinaire
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
Messages
344
Reaction score
308
Location
Midwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Testing and water change day! Everything is going well, no major things to report. 4 gallons changed out, added a dose of LifeSource. Decided to add one more rock in to make an additional swim-through for the fish and to break up the flow from the powerhead a bit. Otherwise, just chugging along.

IMG_3019.jpeg

IMG_3022.jpeg

Glare from the window made it hard to photograph, but I’ll try to get better pics once the water clears up and it gets dark out.
 
OP
OP
kanders87

kanders87

Sarcasm Extraordinaire
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
Messages
344
Reaction score
308
Location
Midwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have some unfortunate news to report… my small snowflake clown died. I was doing some work on the tank a few days ago, and something scared him and he went dashing into the rock work and got stuck! Initially I was just letting him figure out how to get unstuck, but he kept wedging himself deeper until I noticed him not moving. I carefully used my long forceps to dislodge him, but it looked like he had injured his right gills. I’m so upset that this happened. He was so fun to watch swimming with the other clown.
 
OP
OP
kanders87

kanders87

Sarcasm Extraordinaire
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
Messages
344
Reaction score
308
Location
Midwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Ended up going this weekend to the LFS and getting a replacement clownfish. No name yet, but Marlin seems glad to have a friend again.

IMG_3078.jpeg

IMG_3082.jpeg


IMG_3083.jpeg


New clown is a Flurry, which appearance-wise looks very nice with the Frostbite. Also picked up two mexican turbos and 5 Nassarius snails. I think 2 turbos might be too much, but we’ll see how they do. I can always take 1 back if needed.

Did a large water change and sand siphoning. Dosed PNS substrate and AquaForest LifeSource. Inhabitants are all doing well at this point. Still need to set up the mini frag tank. I got my AI blade grow in and I’m excited to start playing with it. Hopefully will get that going next weekend. This weekend I plan on replacing my car stereo/head unit (which I’ve never done), so that may take some time. Wish me luck!
 

AC1211

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 28, 2018
Messages
1,273
Reaction score
555
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Ended up going this weekend to the LFS and getting a replacement clownfish. No name yet, but Marlin seems glad to have a friend again.

IMG_3078.jpeg

IMG_3082.jpeg


IMG_3083.jpeg


New clown is a Flurry, which appearance-wise looks very nice with the Frostbite. Also picked up two mexican turbos and 5 Nassarius snails. I think 2 turbos might be too much, but we’ll see how they do. I can always take 1 back if needed.

Did a large water change and sand siphoning. Dosed PNS substrate and AquaForest LifeSource. Inhabitants are all doing well at this point. Still need to set up the mini frag tank. I got my AI blade grow in and I’m excited to start playing with it. Hopefully will get that going next weekend. This weekend I plan on replacing my car stereo/head unit (which I’ve never done), so that may take some time. Wish me luck!
I think 2 Mexican turbos is too much. I had snails in my 60g of which 1 was a Mexican turbo and I could barely support the Mexican turbo. They eat a lot of algae although they only eat a few types. In a nano, I'd think 1 would be enough but 2 could work. I would monitor it.

Plus make sure you got nassarius vibex. I've had some bad experiences recently getting other nassarius species or even whelks that would even eat my cleaner shrimps.

Overall though, your tank is looking good. Good choice of fish. Neon gobies would've been nice too. Honestly, they are small enough that 1 might still be worth considering.
 
OP
OP
kanders87

kanders87

Sarcasm Extraordinaire
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
Messages
344
Reaction score
308
Location
Midwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Morning feeding time! Everyone is still doing fine with the new additions.
IMG_3089.jpeg


IMG_3087.jpeg
IMG_3090.jpeg


IMG_3091.jpeg


IMG_3095.jpeg

You can barely see my fire shrimp on the back of the rocks, just hiding out.

The turbos are going to have to go back. They are just way to big for this tank. Once I get corals in, they’re just going to bulldoze everything. I’ll probably look for trochus instead. I just need something to help a little with the rockwork.

IMG_3086.jpeg

I checked out Melev’s Reef (has a nice write up about nassarius vs whelks) and these are definitely nassarius, though still not 100% which species. But they are also doing well. It’s fun to see their little stalks sticking out of the sand. They dig out in a hurry when it’s feeding time!
IMG_3094.jpeg


Current Stock:
2 clownfish
1 tail spot blenny
1 peppermint shrimp
1 fire shrimp
1 porcelain crab
2 mexican turbos (will be getting returned)
5 nassarius snails
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
kanders87

kanders87

Sarcasm Extraordinaire
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
Messages
344
Reaction score
308
Location
Midwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
It’s been a minute since I’ve updated. Made a couple tweaks… my return pump was getting really loud for some reason. I took it apart multiple times, cleaned it, tried vaseline on the propeller shaft, and nothing helped so I ended up ordering a IM Mighty Jet. I love that thing. The feed mode is a life saver. I would often forget to turn my old pump back on after feeding (sometimes for a few hours or more), and this has solved that headache plus is much quieter.

IMG_3069.jpeg


I order some coral from the @AquaSD live sale, and got the mini frag tank all set up. I love watching the torch blow around in the current. I dipped with Red Sea DipX, which seemed to do a good job. Didn’t get a ton of critters, but after inspecting the corals, didn’t notice anything either.

IMG_3142.jpeg


And for my final update this round, I opted to swap out my sand. I couldn’t stand the tiny grain sizes of the Ocean Direct sand anymore. It was just blowing around too much, while still having fish waste laying on the sandbed. I pulled probably 85% of the OD out, and dispersed the remainder across the bottom of the tank (which was mostly like a dusting of sand). I topped it with some rinsed Fiji Pink…which is my absolute favorite sand. I think it looks so much better, though again I’ll have to try for some better pictures later.

IMG_3164.jpeg
IMG_3163.jpeg


So that’s about it for now. Just keeping up with water changes at this point. Hating the green coralline algae, but what are you gunna do?

Any input on a 1-man CUC for the frag tank? Some of the plugs have started sprouting small bits of algae, and I’d like to be proactive about it if possible.

Hope everyone’s having a good week!
 

TeamAquaSD

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
May 17, 2011
Messages
27,980
Reaction score
10,364
Location
San Diego, California
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
It’s been a minute since I’ve updated. Made a couple tweaks… my return pump was getting really loud for some reason. I took it apart multiple times, cleaned it, tried vaseline on the propeller shaft, and nothing helped so I ended up ordering a IM Mighty Jet. I love that thing. The feed mode is a life saver. I would often forget to turn my old pump back on after feeding (sometimes for a few hours or more), and this has solved that headache plus is much quieter.

IMG_3069.jpeg


I order some coral from the @AquaSD live sale, and got the mini frag tank all set up. I love watching the torch blow around in the current. I dipped with Red Sea DipX, which seemed to do a good job. Didn’t get a ton of critters, but after inspecting the corals, didn’t notice anything either.

IMG_3142.jpeg


And for my final update this round, I opted to swap out my sand. I couldn’t stand the tiny grain sizes of the Ocean Direct sand anymore. It was just blowing around too much, while still having fish waste laying on the sandbed. I pulled probably 85% of the OD out, and dispersed the remainder across the bottom of the tank (which was mostly like a dusting of sand). I topped it with some rinsed Fiji Pink…which is my absolute favorite sand. I think it looks so much better, though again I’ll have to try for some better pictures later.

IMG_3164.jpeg
IMG_3163.jpeg


So that’s about it for now. Just keeping up with water changes at this point. Hating the green coralline algae, but what are you gunna do?

Any input on a 1-man CUC for the frag tank? Some of the plugs have started sprouting small bits of algae, and I’d like to be proactive about it if possible.

Hope everyone’s having a good week!
Glad to hear you had a positive experience ordering from us!
Let us know if there is anything we can do to help out or if you have any questions in the future.
Love the frag setup. Looks like a perfect fit!
 
OP
OP
kanders87

kanders87

Sarcasm Extraordinaire
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
Messages
344
Reaction score
308
Location
Midwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Glad to hear you had a positive experience ordering from us!
Let us know if there is anything we can do to help out or if you have any questions in the future.
Love the frag setup. Looks like a perfect fit!
Thank you! Always happy to do business with you guys.
 
OP
OP
kanders87

kanders87

Sarcasm Extraordinaire
View Badges
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
Messages
344
Reaction score
308
Location
Midwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Solved my concern…Moved the turbo snail over to the frag tank overnight…and he mowed down all the sprouting algae. Everything should be good to move over to the main tank in the next week or so.
 

TOP 10 Trending Threads

WHAT'S HOLDING YOU BACK FROM BUYING THAT ONE FISH OR CORAL YOU'VE ALWAYS WANTED?

  • I need a bigger tank.

    Votes: 79 44.1%
  • I need a FOWLR tank.

    Votes: 11 6.1%
  • It isn't compatible with the current inhabitants in my tank.

    Votes: 32 17.9%
  • It is not in the budget right now.

    Votes: 61 34.1%
  • It is above my level of care experience.

    Votes: 25 14.0%
  • It is rare/not readily available to the public.

    Votes: 13 7.3%
  • Is is known to not do well in home reefs/it has a high mortality rate in home reefs.

    Votes: 9 5.0%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 19 10.6%
Back
Top