Budman93's 10 gallon nano build!

Budman93 · Oct 18, 2016

Update 10/18!

Some sad news today, I found one of my trochus snails upside down and after taking him out and inspecting him he was dead. Coupled with the fact that I still haven't seen my emerald crab in about 4 days and I'm thinking he died as well. This makes me a little worried that it's something on my end. I tested ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate and everything was either zero or 0 - 5ppm for nitrate. I don't have a ton of excess algae so is it possible the snail starved? Don't really know what to think. The sexy shrimp I got are doing fine except for the occasional Favia munching :mad:.

I also got in two new zoa frags today so I'll post some pics later.

Coastie Reefer · Oct 18, 2016

Cold as it sounds... snails just die. I wouldn't let that be a major concern unless all of your inverts start to die. When a crab molts (hermit being a slight exception) they hide for a few days as their exoskeleton is still soft, so 4 days isn't way off either. It may be coming out at night. I love to check my tank with an led flashlight after lights out because you see so much that hides during the day. Never had a sexy shrimp so I can't help with the munching...

Budman93 · Oct 23, 2016

Update 10/23!

Everythings going well, well most everything. Cleaned my filter and the plastic piece that connect some of the tubing got damaged in the process. It is probably running at like 60% right now as some water is leaking out before it even gets to the filtration. Won't wait any longer to buy a new one. I think I will finish off my livestock with a small black misbar clown to pair with my other clown. I was torn between either getting that or a Yasha goby since they are on sale at liveaquaria.

Anyways here are some FTS for you guys! Added the frogspawn on the top left of the tank and I think it looks pretty good. I'm getting better at gluing corals which is an art form in itself

. The three sexies are almost always under it now except when they go down to bother my zoas which I think i will just live with.

Coastie Reefer · Oct 23, 2016

Coming right along. The frogspawn actually looks like a torch to me. Both in the same family.

Budman93 · Oct 23, 2016

Coastie Reefer said:
Coming right along. The frogspawn actually looks like a torch to me. Both in the same family.

Absolutely right, I always mix the two up!

MermaidTail · Oct 23, 2016

Looks great!

m0nk3y69d · Oct 23, 2016

Looking great

tj w · Oct 23, 2016

Looks good!

Budman93 · Nov 4, 2016

Update 11/4!!

Over the last few weeks I rounded out my stock list with an Astrea snail, a tiny black ocellaris, a cleaner shrimp, and a yellow clown goby! I was worried that the clowns would fight but after one day they have already become best friends.

A couple things I want to note...

- Clean your sand! After one month without doing it I finally bottom a vacuum from Petco and am hoping that does the trick. My glass has brown spots and the sand is equally gross. Hopefully that cleans it up.

- Bristleworms are increasing in population and getting bigger. I like having them in the CUC just because they make short work of any leftover food or dead tank members but they are getting to be a little much. I think I'll try the bottle trap I read on here and see if that works to thin them out a bit.

The original zoa colony I got (Dragon Eyes) is really hurting. I'd guess 2/3 have died off or been eaten. I suspect my sexy shrimp much on them when they are hungry. The little guys are VERY tough to target feed and going back I probably shouldn't have bought them. Other then eating Zoas though they are perfect. Just something to keep in mind for people also looking to get into nanos.

My tank is now fully stocked besides coral. I'm thinking a kenya tree or some kind of branching coral in the middle will fill up some empty space and give my clown goby a place to perch. Also want to get some mushrooms but they are expensive. Other things I'm looking at are frogspawn, hammers, and brain coral.

And here are some pics!

Budman93 · Nov 6, 2016

Welp, the football team is on bye this week and setting the clocks back gave me an extra hour so today is maintenance day! The Cleaner shrimp, goby, and clowns all dont seem to like the little cave so I'm going to rearrange the rockwork to give me more coral space. Also if anyone has any ideas of what corals to add let me know. Im thinking about adding a green slimer sps as my branching coral. Benny the goby seems to have made his home in the upper rightcorner behind the heater and powerhead. Gotta get him out of there!

Reef man 89 · Nov 6, 2016

What light are u running no this tank?

Budman93 · Nov 6, 2016

Reef man 89 said:
What light are u running no this tank?

It is a Current Marine LED light. Nothing too fancy but my Torch and monti seem to be both growing pretty fast. I think it'd all about location.

Reef man 89 · Nov 6, 2016

Really I love the setup u have going on there.

Budman93 · Nov 6, 2016

Reef man 89 said:
Really I love the setup u have going on there.

Thank you!! I'm kind of new to the hobby and I see you are as well. If you have any questions like what equipment I'm using, prices, or anything at all feel free to either post on here or shoot me a private message. It's definitely a pricey hobby but if you know which corners to cut you can do some really cool stuff on a relative budget.