Photos by camera phone

Sony Ericsson W810i - not bad photos

here is one of a clarkii clown tending her eggs in my LFS display aquarium.....

What I intend to keep

I was inspired by the Marine Aquarium in Plymouth last year - and so due to space constraints I have what is considered a 'non nano tank' - more of a micro tank - around 130litres in total which is larger than what is considered to be a nano tank.

I would like to keep the following livestock

Fish
A pair of percula clowns (captive tank reared)
Neon or Yellow goby (captive tank reared) x 2

Total of 4 very small fish

Clean up crew - turbo snails, hermit crabs (not captive reared), plus maybe a shrimp or two (captive tank reared)

Corals - soft
Pulsing Xenia - frags from captive stock
Mushroom Anemones
Button Polyps
Leather corals
and eventually maybe some hardy stony corals like torch corals

First readings

7.10pm

Water temp 27C
Salinity 1.020 - 1.021
pH 8.2
NH3/NH4 0 ppm
NO2 0 ppm
NO3 5 ppm
Calcium not tested
Alkalinity normal 1.7 - 2.8

Adding live rock

Selected 5 pieces of Indonesian cured live rock - just over 4kg.

It's looking a little sparse but will be purchasing the same amount again over the next week.

First casualty - I thought that I may had a stow away with the live rock - an unidentified crab species - unfortunately he copped it on the way home....crushed carapace d'oh!

First glitches

Water is super saturated with oxygen bubbles - seems to be some problem with either clogging in the filter or powerheads. The salinity is ok. Went into LFS (well, in Essex) for advice. Suggestion was to seed the tank with live rock.

Day 2 (12 January 2007)

Drained tank of freshwater and refilled with RO water. Then added substrate (Red Sea reef base) and just over 4kg of Red Sea Coral Pro salt.

In the afternoon added Nitro Bac bio-starter, Calcium +3 and Buff.

The Tardis! (12 January 2007)

Realise that the blue light makes the porch looks like the tardis!!

Choosing a location Part II (11 January 2007)

After much discussion including wife storming out of the house (which she'd rather I didn't mention) we've settled on a new location in the hall. Much better.

Choosing a location! (11 January 2007)

Thought it would be fine in the corner of the dining room, so set up tank after much fun with flat pack cabinet. Started to fill tank with fresh water for wet run (like a dry run only wetter). Sneaking suspicion that the other half wouldn't like where it was. I admit it dwarfs the dining room furniture a bit!

Day 1 (11 January 2007)

The Red Sea Max finally arrives!