- Joined
- Nov 17, 2017
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My first tank thread on this site but thought it was worth having a go.
So we have had a whole load of building work doen to our house and it's pretty much a full house renovation now. One room is a very small room, but going to be our home office. Both myself and my wife have to work from home on a semi regular basis.
I got hold of a RSR Nano tank about 9 months ago and never had anywhere to put it. As I was building the office though I realised I may have enough room for the nano, and sure enough after measuring I realised it would fit. So the project was born.
Here the tank is in it's new location.
However that wasn't enough... I have added to the difficulty of the challenge.
Right... So now baring in mind the recent issues with bans for livestock capture and export, I've decided the tank is going to be as environmentally responsible as I think is possible.
I will not be using LR in this tank. I will be using Real Reef rock. I've put together a scape using this now. I struggle with these, always have, trying to slot bits of rock together to make something cool.
Anyway I bought a pile of Real Reef Rock that I couldn't make anything I liked out of and a tub of Microbe-Lift reef scape glue. So I did what any frustrated bloke does when his house has been a building site for a year, I got the hammer out :idea: I've never tried this before but as its a small tank I figured I'd give it a go.
Sadly I'd managed to create a nice shape with a hammer and screwdriver when it then broke...
So I tried glueing a couple of bits together, so 3 bits stuck together and came up with this.
That spured me on as it started to look good. And in the end I came up with this.
I've now also taken delivery of ATI Absolute Ocean as my 'salt' mix. This sounds like a great product that gets you up and running really quickly so will be interesting to see how it goes.
I am going to be using Siporax in the sump to help with params. I've made a basket to fit in the sump between filter sock and skimmer
The tank was always going to be started with small frags, and the intention is now that I 100% make sure they are frags from corals that are themselves not imported. I can start this from frags of my own main display for a few frags, as I only ever start with frags anyway and I know where they have come from. My LFS also gets in frags from a frag farm all the time so that's no problem.
That's where the 'easy' part of this ends.
Only accepting tank bred fish reduces the choice, a lot... So far after speaking to the LFS owner the choice doesn't extend much past Clownfish for a tank this size, although TMC ( a UK supplier ) seem to list a couple of gobies. He also said it's possible to get Orchid dottybacks, banngai cardinals, neon dottybacks, and flame angels. But none of these really jump out much either. I already have clowns in my main tank, but possibly a pair of Skunk Clowns is a maybe. I'm hoping to come up with sources of UK tank bred fish before I get to needing to buy those. The US seem a long way ahead of us on this so it would be good to see more in the UK.
The move to tank bred I thought ruled out my favorite fish, the scooter blennies, however I am hearing there may be a way to order from ORA, via TMC in the UK. So I'll be looking into this firstly.
Then the really difficult bit CUC...
Other than possibly grabbing a few nassarius snails from my tank, and I have quite a few small ones that must have been born and raised in my tank, I'm struggling here. I can get tank bred peppermint shrimps! But peppermint shrimps are hardly the most exciting of things to have in the tank. So this point I'm really struggling to find sources for this. I have heard people say they have had other snails breed in thier tanks so I may try sourcing some form other reefers for at least some diversity.
The other one is sand. I may have to relent on this one as not something I can source from anything other than the sea. Since sand comes from the ocean and deserts and not much else. Red Sea however promote the reef base as being environmentally responsible so this seems like the best choice.
Anyway that's my update so far.
So we have had a whole load of building work doen to our house and it's pretty much a full house renovation now. One room is a very small room, but going to be our home office. Both myself and my wife have to work from home on a semi regular basis.
I got hold of a RSR Nano tank about 9 months ago and never had anywhere to put it. As I was building the office though I realised I may have enough room for the nano, and sure enough after measuring I realised it would fit. So the project was born.
Here the tank is in it's new location.
However that wasn't enough... I have added to the difficulty of the challenge.
Right... So now baring in mind the recent issues with bans for livestock capture and export, I've decided the tank is going to be as environmentally responsible as I think is possible.
I will not be using LR in this tank. I will be using Real Reef rock. I've put together a scape using this now. I struggle with these, always have, trying to slot bits of rock together to make something cool.
Anyway I bought a pile of Real Reef Rock that I couldn't make anything I liked out of and a tub of Microbe-Lift reef scape glue. So I did what any frustrated bloke does when his house has been a building site for a year, I got the hammer out :idea: I've never tried this before but as its a small tank I figured I'd give it a go.
Sadly I'd managed to create a nice shape with a hammer and screwdriver when it then broke...
So I tried glueing a couple of bits together, so 3 bits stuck together and came up with this.
That spured me on as it started to look good. And in the end I came up with this.
I've now also taken delivery of ATI Absolute Ocean as my 'salt' mix. This sounds like a great product that gets you up and running really quickly so will be interesting to see how it goes.
I am going to be using Siporax in the sump to help with params. I've made a basket to fit in the sump between filter sock and skimmer
The tank was always going to be started with small frags, and the intention is now that I 100% make sure they are frags from corals that are themselves not imported. I can start this from frags of my own main display for a few frags, as I only ever start with frags anyway and I know where they have come from. My LFS also gets in frags from a frag farm all the time so that's no problem.
That's where the 'easy' part of this ends.
Only accepting tank bred fish reduces the choice, a lot... So far after speaking to the LFS owner the choice doesn't extend much past Clownfish for a tank this size, although TMC ( a UK supplier ) seem to list a couple of gobies. He also said it's possible to get Orchid dottybacks, banngai cardinals, neon dottybacks, and flame angels. But none of these really jump out much either. I already have clowns in my main tank, but possibly a pair of Skunk Clowns is a maybe. I'm hoping to come up with sources of UK tank bred fish before I get to needing to buy those. The US seem a long way ahead of us on this so it would be good to see more in the UK.
The move to tank bred I thought ruled out my favorite fish, the scooter blennies, however I am hearing there may be a way to order from ORA, via TMC in the UK. So I'll be looking into this firstly.
Then the really difficult bit CUC...
Other than possibly grabbing a few nassarius snails from my tank, and I have quite a few small ones that must have been born and raised in my tank, I'm struggling here. I can get tank bred peppermint shrimps! But peppermint shrimps are hardly the most exciting of things to have in the tank. So this point I'm really struggling to find sources for this. I have heard people say they have had other snails breed in thier tanks so I may try sourcing some form other reefers for at least some diversity.
The other one is sand. I may have to relent on this one as not something I can source from anything other than the sea. Since sand comes from the ocean and deserts and not much else. Red Sea however promote the reef base as being environmentally responsible so this seems like the best choice.
Anyway that's my update so far.