Alks 5.5 Ghettotope (New pix of maroon clown and new corals on page 12)

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Most Recent FTS

current FTS
ok so i decided to bite the bullet (the wifey gave me the ok)
i went and got a 5.5g tank(pico) and am going salt with this ish!
im going to put on top of my dresser and hope it holds(it should lol)
my plans for this pico are maybe to get a cpl sexy shrimp or maybe a shrimp and goby combo!
Equipment:
5.5g glass tank
marinland stealth 50W heater
Cheap O 20g filter
Knano (240gph)
(MAYBE going throw my HOB fuge behind it to add more water volume)

Lighting:
par38 12,000K with 60 degree optics

Other:
5lbs of LS
and 5lbs of base rock
going to put bout 2lbs of LR to seed the rocks once its wet:)

Stock:
whatever Corlz i can get
shrooms
Zoas
some acans
whatever
pope said he might have some stuff for me when tank is ready;)

CUC:
typical turbo snail
Hermits
etc

Most Current FTS
(plz excuse the smuges on the glass my doughter got her slobery hands all over the front of the tank! i cant seem to get it off! lol)

Still looking great!!Keep it going!

thanks!
i was actually thinking if i could get away with having a baby 1" O.Clown
but i dont want to get hazed cuz i have a clown in a 5.5 pico ya know...
any suggestions would be much appreiciated:)

I was thinking maybe like a small shrimp/goby pair like you like so much but I may be wrong for your tank size. I'm not an expert at that.

yea but i want movement in the tank! i was also looking at yellow damsels like 1...cuz theyre mean as hell!

Some damsels are coral eaters too though.

:/..........................dang lol
i guess ill have to see whats up!
anyone against me getting the 1" baby O.Clown?

I'd raise the par38, you got nice little cone of spotlight in there. You might want to grow stuff in other parts of the 5.5

The problem with buying a baby anything that fits your tank is the size it requires as an adult. I can't put a tang in my tank and eat my algae because it requires like 90 gal as an adult. Why ruin a beautiful fish to help my algae problem.

so ill just push my luck with a clarkii damsel or a YWG
pope! the lights already 10" or more over the tank!
ill have to find another way to lift the light higher to get more spread!
also you can only see that spot light with the camera! the pix look ALOT more purple bluish! in real life the lights a more crisp white. the tank actually gets good spread i think! but if yall say so i lift it

i also want to sy that im disapointed with the Knano 240gph!
i can barely feel the flow by putting my finger 1" from the front of iit!
Koralia........eeh
any one else hav probs with their K's?

i have a koralia nano and a k 1 that were second hand from another member on here. with the two of those and my hob filter im afraid i have to much flow. My two move the water around pretty good in my 30. Maybe you have a dud there or it needs a good cleaning or a new impellar. I dunno

Here alko... you're welcome

http://blog.aquanerd.com/2010/08/ora-unleashes-blue-mandarin-onto-the-public.html

From august

Blue Mandarins

Hot on the heels of our Spotted Mandarins, ORA is pleased to announce that our first batch of Blue Mandarins (Synchiropus splendidus) is now available. We will be offering a limited number of Male/Female pairs as well as single males. The males are slightly larger than the Spotteds that we released last month but the females are a little smaller. It seems that the females are putting all of their energy into egg production now instead of growth. Most of them look like they have swallowed a pea.

We are seeing spawning behavior with these fish every day but there is a twist. The males will gather in groups of 2 to 4 fish and try to spawn with each other. When the females come close they aggressively chase them away. When the males aren’t trying to spawn with one another they are busy chasing each other and nipping fins. You may see a little bit of fin damage in some of the fish that we will be shipping out, we expect this to heal up quickly and we ask for your patience and understanding.

When we first started to breed these fish back in October we were setting up Blue, Red and Spotted spawns in the same larval tanks. There is even a possibility that some of the spawns were a cross between the Blue and the Red variety. Some of the fish shipping out this month have a lot of iridescent red in them but they do not have solid red pelvic fins. We have since purposely made the Blue x Red cross and we will report what the offspring look like in a couple more months.

This batch of Blue Mandarins has been off of live food since March. They are offered the same frozen and dry food selection that our Spotted Mandarins are given, Nutramar Ova, finely chopped Hikari Blood Worms, fish roe, frozen baby brine shrimp, frozen daphnia and New Life SPECTRUM Small Fish Formula pellets. These guys do seem to prefer pellets over Nutramar Ova, especially as they get older.

We are especially proud of these Mandarins and will be sad to see them go. We are steadily improving our techniques to raise these beautiful fish, and we hope to have both species of Mandarins consistently available within a few months.

their sick! but whats the Min tank size they can be housed in? and how much? i know ora is pretty pricey!

I got a guy saying 50 for an ORA green mandarin around here. so figure between 40 - 100. They're not really big swimmers so you could probably get away with it as an only fish in the 5.5

WTF????? REALLY???? the price is koo for a trained mandarin i think!
but if i can get away with one in a 5.5 ill look into it!

so i hit up ORA just to see if any LFS round me can get em and the nearest store that can is all the way in SD????:( thats a 2 hour drive
and the lady told me that a pair of blue mandarins would cost me round 90some dallars and that a single would cost me like 40 or so bucks
i still think theyre worth it though
im still debating on em i gotta let my tank mature 1st!

awesome

I love it. Are those led lights like you can get at walmart?

dude SD is like an hour and 15 min lol if you drive like me and i'm like 15 miles from you hahaha

hatman wrote:

I love it. Are those led lights like you can get at walmart?

i wish lol you can get em online for like 90-120$
http://www.ecoxotic.com/ecoxotic-par38-aquarium-led-lights.html

i got a great deal on mine:) the leds look awsome and are super bright! i can even keep clams under this light if i wanted to! but my tank is too small for one:(

my PAR38 is an evill66's brand thing is awsome!

Kegman! yea its not that far i have family up their that iv been meaning to visit! its just im lazy and the tank aint ready for the blue mandarin! i have to let it mature for a good while!


also update!!! my params are in check (for some weird reason) so i went and bought a yellow tail damsel! to give the tank some movement!
lil dude is awsome after acclimation he took off on some frozen brine shrimp pellets like crazy! already comfy in the tank and making a home behind the rocks! ill post pix of him on monday:)

alkomist wrote:

hatman wrote:

I love it. Are those led lights like you can get at walmart?

i wish lol you can get em online for like 90-120$
http://www.ecoxotic.com/ecoxotic-par38-aquarium-led-lights.html

OUCH! I still want some

GO FOR IT!!! theyre freakin awsome!!!!!!!
or look here!
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?s=20e295a548b8ac4980683c80d12b465c&showforum=11 theyre always selling great stuff for awsoe prices:)
i always say this to ppl and they think i blow the prices i get equipment for out my a$$ but just keep looking!
i got my par38 for dirt cheap;) 5$...hahahah no lie! it only had 3 months use. the bulbs last for 5 years. was off a local forum from some dude in LA
just keep looking and youll get somthin great for an even greater price

You got your pair, or stole them? At that price I would call it a steal! lol

lol
nope the dude was just haveing a breakdown sale!
he broke down his reef becuz he was beeing deployed! he didnt even need the monies so he sold everything for cheap! the one lucky guy came up on his 135g tank for 50$ complete!
and then some other dude prettymuch gave his coral away! he litterally asked for slimjims and beer!!! he also was beeing deployed and didnt need the $$$ but he was in FL lol lucky guys man!

The tank is coming along nicely. I've never done a dry cycle before.meaning no live sand, Live rock or established water. my previous tank was set up with established sand and live rock, so I've never really seen much of a cycle. I've never actually seen a reading for ammonia in my tank before. (my tank befor this one
I went through numerous test kits thinking they were bad!)

ok back to the pico
earlier in the week i threw in a pieces of cocktail shrimp to get an amonia spike.i took the piece out. i had a reading of 4.0. the next day i noticed Diatomes on the sand bed and the rocks! i also noticed some green algea behind a cpl rocks
heres a pic of the param check i think the cycles doin good! for some reason goin great and pretty quick


that was last week
since then i threw in a damsel (yllowtail damsel) his name is Clarkii i coudlt get a good pic of him cuz he all over the place lol Fat and Happy! ill get one of him tonight

no live rock no live sand = nothing to decay= no decay=no ammonia to turn to nitrites then to nitrates.
quick cycle? probably hasn't begun to cycle. JM.02