# my nano



## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

monti new in march 2nd 15 bucks







monti digi after a few months







first aqua scape after moving from 10 to 20 gallon







most recent aquascape


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## SUS (Mar 10, 2007)

Looks awesome, I want to do saltwater someday soon.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Is this the same one you almost lost awhile back man-

It looks good-Thanks for shareing with us!!


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

Well done!


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

Tank looks great! Are you using a 150W or 250W MH?

Love all the SPS corals. Great growth on that Green Monti Dig. Are you going to frag that Brown Monti Dig? Looks like it has either been stung by another coral, been covered by algae (hair) or part the main stem is dead/dying. You could frag that one into at least three solid frags (very redundent sounding I know).

Anyways, the entire tank looks wonderful!


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Coldfire said:


> Is this the same one you almost lost awhile back man-
> 
> It looks good-Thanks for shareing with us!!


yeah it looked like a mess 6 months ago i will try to create a time line picture tonight if im not to burnt from work


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

nismo driver said:


> actually the brown monti is the green monti, thats how much it has grown and colored up..
> 
> right now its a 70w mh 14k, im considering doing a DIY hood with two 70w 10ks using the reagent relfectors and then 2 t5 actinics.
> 
> for the depth of a 20 gallon i dont really need 150w the only up side i can see to a 150 would be if i mounted it high enough i would be able to get the entire tank illuminated but i would rather have a lower profile. i think two 70's would be perfect and going from the 14k to the 10k would give me a better PAR then the 14k plus using seperate actinic would give me better light scedueling control. i can put together the hood with all lights and ballast for under 300 and there arent any two qhi 70 30" in fixtures availabl on the market.


That is wonderful that you have grown and improved the health/color/etc. on that Monti dig. It looks great now, and tons of new growth.

Yeah, two 70w MH on a 20g would provide tons of PAR (evenly across the entire tank end to end) and it would be very interesting see what a LUX meter would read even for 70w bulbs. You will definitely notice a different in growth rate, colors, after you change from 14K's to 10K's. With a built in dawn/dusk effect that will really add the finishing touch to the tank. Plus, using separate actinics will really bring out the bio-flurence of the green corals [looks like Monti Dig, Monti Cap, Zoos, GSP's, and Green Acro (Green Bali Slimmer?)]

If that is a Green Bali Slimmer (green acro on top, center), what type of growth rate are you getting under the MH?

If you don't mind, post some pic on that DIY hood with two 70w HM and actinics. I would love to see it.


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## odyssey (May 30, 2006)

beautiful!, very well out together. and that 20g overflow system is rad too!


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## NeXuS (Aug 16, 2006)

nice tank


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Coldfire said:


> actually the brown monti is the green monti, thats how much it has grown and colored up..
> 
> right now its a 70w mh 14k, im considering doing a DIY hood with two 70w 10ks using the reagent relfectors and then 2 t5 actinics.
> 
> for the depth of a 20 gallon i dont really need 150w the only up side i can see to a 150 would be if i mounted it high enough i would be able to get the entire tank illuminated but i would rather have a lower profile. i think two 70's would be perfect and going from the 14k to the 10k would give me a better PAR then the 14k plus using seperate actinic would give me better light scedueling control. i can put together the hood with all lights and ballast for under 300 and there arent any two qhi 70 30" in fixtures availabl on the market.


That is wonderful that you have grown and improved the health/color/etc. on that Monti dig. It looks great now, and tons of new growth.

Yeah, two 70w MH on a 20g would provide tons of PAR (evenly across the entire tank end to end) and it would be very interesting see what a LUX meter would read even for 70w bulbs. You will definitely notice a different in growth rate, colors, after you change from 14K's to 10K's. With a built in dawn/dusk effect that will really add the finishing touch to the tank. Plus, using separate actinics will really bring out the bio-flurence of the green corals [looks like Monti Dig, Monti Cap, Zoos, GSP's, and Green Acro (Green Bali Slimmer?)]

If that is a Green Bali Slimmer (green acro on top, center), what type of growth rate are you getting under the MH?

If you don't mind, post some pic on that DIY hood with two 70w HM and actinics. I would love to see it.
[/quote]

there are two bali green slimer frags in there, they did brown at first, the polyps stayed green but the tissue browned , this seems to be reversing though, growth has been some what slow i guess, bu it is growing the montis grow like weeds though..

smaller frag that has shown more tissue growth and some of teh polyps appear to be gorwing to branch out..








larger frag 








the really fast growers are by far the montis you can see the digi above, and the older pic of this one here is two to three months of growth


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

ver nice!


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

Fishless tank?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

1 fish

hectori goby









other residents are a few dwarf blue leg hermits, scarlette hermit, astrea snails countless types of worms and pods

i do plan on adding a goby and pistol shrimp pair and either a skunk cleaner shrimp or scarlette cleaner shrimp, i really only want fish or inverts that serve a purpose to the greater good of the ecosystem. right now the tank is easy to care for i onlly feed a few ml of photoplankton once a day or every other day for the corals and the goby lives off the critters in the tank, my tested levels are all in the desired range with out much more effort then adding a two part alk/calcium daily but im considering setting that up with IV bags (cheaper then a doser) the one thing i have read often is that many sps keepers find there colors to be more vibrant withslightly elevated nitrates since i have little to no bio load and my skimmer removes the food radiply i have little to no nitrates, might be why some of my sps is on the dull side..


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

can anyone say growth?

here is the monty from above








here some of the acros and the green digi that has grown like a week and looks awesome

















some other stuff









fts its actually been re arranged and looks better i will try to take pics this week when the light is on


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## cueball (May 24, 2005)

rchan11 said:


> Fishless tank?


he took the words right outa my mouth...real nice tank man ,, i cant wait till lobster fishin starts half the stuff you guys have in your salt water tanks i through over back into the water,,, hard to belive you guys pay money for it. what would it cost to buy some of them corals?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

cueball said:


> Fishless tank?


he took the words right outa my mouth...real nice tank man ,, i cant wait till lobster fishin starts half the stuff you guys have in your salt water tanks i through over back into the water,,, hard to belive you guys pay money for it. what would it cost to buy some of them corals?
[/quote]

i highly doubt you would see half the acropora or montipora i have in lobster waters.

the most expensive frag i have cost maybe 80 it was mixed zoos and mushrooms and i got that early on before i got more savy about buying frags some of my better frags were my cheaper ones, most of my acropora was 20 per frag or less..









none of the frags in this pic cost over 15 bucks when i bought then however through most of the online frag sources they would have been atleast 30 - 60 each so if you can find the right people the hobby doesnt have to cost a fortune


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

That last pic is amazing. All the frags are growing like crazy, and the polyp extension on the acro is great.

I just bought a Clam and some Long-Bar Xenia on Friday. I will try to get some pics to share this week.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Coldfire said:


> That last pic is amazing. All the frags are growing like crazy, and the polyp extension on the acro is great.
> 
> I just bought a Clam and some Long-Bar Xenia on Friday. I will try to get some pics to share this week.


thanks man its kind of difficult to really get the color captured with the halide lighting and my middle of the raod camera

heres a FTS from just now


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

Great looking Reef! I love how shallow that tank is, the MH must really pount the top and center of the reef structure. Plus, the ends still get amazing power even though they are dimmer. A great place for LPS's and Softs.

Are you using one of those newer SunPods HQI's? If so, what are your thoughts about the fixture?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Coldfire said:


> Great looking Reef! I love how shallow that tank is, the MH must really pount the top and center of the reef structure. Plus, the ends still get amazing power even though they are dimmer. A great place for LPS's and Softs.
> 
> Are you using one of those newer SunPods HQI's? If so, what are your thoughts about the fixture?


thanks and yes its a sunpod i got the 70 watt so its just barely enough for the center of the tank, i would be better off with the 36 inch dual 150s even though it would hang over the sides a few inchs.. OR even better would be to get retro fit kits for another 70 w or two 150's and two t5ho's for actinic.. the sunpod came with a 14k bulb which did bring out more color but i changed it to a 10k to get the most par out of the fixture so now i could use some actinic to really get the best color.. i guess if i went to 150 w bulbs i could run 14k again and it would be less expensive then getting the extra t5's..


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

A few questions for you.

What do you think about the blue and white moonlights? 
How long have you had the fixture? Have you had any issues with the ballast? The reason I ask, is that I used to run a Current PC fixture and one of the ballast went out. I was wondering if that was a fluke or if Current USA's ballast has a shorter life span?

Yeah, running a 150w HQI on that tank would pound the top of that reef. Hell, if you added a second 70w MH that would be tons of light. The only problem would be that you would have to be all sorts of crafty to figure out how to add an additional light with your current one.

Currently, I run one 150 HQI 14K. The reef gets tons of light, and I am growing Monti Dig on the substrate. Granted, Montiporas don't need a ton of light like Acros, but I was still impressed with the growth I am getting with it being on the bottom. I have also wondered how I could add a Actinic light to the tank, because I love the way it make green corals bioflurence. All-in-all, I am very happy with just the MH with no actinic. I have also thought of how to add a second MH and run a 20K bulb in the second one, but I have not figured out how to get even light throughout the tank to "blend" the 14K & 20K bulbs. Oh well.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Coldfire said:


> A few questions for you.
> 
> What do you think about the blue and white moonlights?
> How long have you had the fixture? Have you had any issues with the ballast? The reason I ask, is that I used to run a Current PC fixture and one of the ballast went out. I was wondering if that was a fluke or if Current USA's ballast has a shorter life span?
> ...


only issue was the stock bulb blew after three months. i did like the 14k light but with only 70w i want to get the most par possible..

to get 2 70w over the tank i would strip the fan reflector and balast out of the sunpod and use the parts towards putting together a custom hood with the additional dual t5 ho's

but that will cost about another 200 - 300 i dont feel like spending right now and ht single 70 w is doing quite good.

start a thread of some shots of your set up coldfire


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

Thanks for the information.

Ok. The lights cut off about an hour ago, but I will take some pics and post them tomorrow when they come back on.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)




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## redbellyman21 (Jun 27, 2004)

nismo driver said:


> View attachment 156297
> 
> 
> View attachment 156299
> ...


always loved ur sps! nice shots man good growth


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

thank you

that greem digi went through a growth spurt and grew like a weed, its crazy i used to be so concerned about mounting any frag that broke off now the bottom of the tank has about half dozen one inch frags scattered about, if they grow they grow if not the ehhh.. no loss..

i wish i had tanked some good pictures of my purple digi wheni purchase that, its quadrupled in size and colored niccely


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

i take a million pictures of everything but for somereason enver of this frag, i guess since teh polyps are kind of bron and the branching is loose its not as appealing as some of teh other stuff..


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