NZ 2 Gallon Pico Reef

[Mork]

yardboy - The flow from the HOB seems to be pretty good, if I went any bigger I would have to put a small PH at the back of the rockwork to circulate the dead areas. I think I'll raise the HOB slightly to give a little boost to the flow.

TCU Reefer - Coral should hopefully be going in this w/e. Funnily enough - in my area of New Zealand (Wellington) there isn't really an abundance of LFS (i.e. none), and we pay a lot more for Coral. Saying that, New Zealanders seem to have a natural instinct to help people out - so you'll always have someone sorting you out with frags.

talksalt - Go for it. You have much greater satisfaction from building something from scratch. I'm always fiddling with something, I love it. This tank hood and base is suprisingly simple - I just glued it together (clamped) - and then used a stain and oil. The danish oil gives a beautiful finish.

 

[dreamersdisease]

kick a** job on the stand. let's see a pic of the back with the filter. did you put live rock in there. or are you just using the filter as it came?

 

[Mork]

Thanks - I'll take a pic of the back once I've finished the mods off, In the HOB I have Pho-Zorb, Live Rock, and half a sponge that I change every week.

 

[stretch415]

Very nice. I wish I was that crafty with wood

 

[Mork]

Here's some updated shots, I will take some more this week as I have a few more additions.

The Mushrooms are looking great and the leather is already branching out - It'll have to be fragged down soon.

The Yellow Polps are spreading out nicely, They are starting to interweave with the rock which is looking very natural.

I've left these small guys to attach themselves to some small rocks so I can attach them in place in a few weeks.

 

[whatnot45]

NICE TANK

 

[stretch415]

Very nice stand/hood. Very nice color choice

 

[WendyMc]

I love this tank! Your shrooms are nice...IME yellow polyps like that can get quite invasive/aggressive in a small space. Since they are such active feeders, I would try to place them on an isolated cluster of sm. rocks in the sand. W/ the proper nutrition, they will quickly overgrow the sm rocks, & you can trade for other frags. Where'd the rock come from?

 

[jcopp24]

Yellow Polyps

Yellow Polyps

This is true... we had a baseball size rock in the 75 gallon reef at work, as soon as we added the MH lighting that and the pulsing zenia's grew out of control... Frags are not a problem

 

[Mork]

Thanks for the comments guys. The yellow polps are growing in quite quickly, but I think I'll box them in around a few other corals and crop them when they get out of hand.

The Rock is half Fiji LR and the piece on the right is from a beach in Rarotonga. I found it when I was on vacation

 

[vanmo92]

sweet tank

 

[tankslave]

wow, those LED's are pretty bright. Look more like actinics...
I just stuck one in my 40 gallon, and it has a really cool effect when all the lights are out, because you actually get some glitter lines from it. It looks a little like a spotlight; you can highlight various corals/parts of the tank. I'm just a little suspisious of the sharp spectrum those LED's put out. Nothing natural, that's for sure, but it's usually so dim it doesnt matter.

 

[tankslave]

I really like the stain you used, very good woodwork. Which brand/color did you use? Do you have to prime the wood first somehow?

 

[Mork]

Thanks tankslave - the woodstain is a New Zealand brand, so I don't think you'll be able to get it - but it's just a regular stain, applied after a good sanding. I finished it off with Danish oil rather than a poly-Varnish which accounts for the smooth satin finish.

 

[Alucrep]

Hi Mork, i PMed you but i figured you might not check it (i ALWAYS forget myself )...

I just wondered where you got your lights from, i'm in Sydney myself and have never seen anything like them really yet but i am interested in setting up a nano shortly i hope.

They look pretty nifty.

Thanks,

Alucrep

 

[Mork]

Alucrep - check your PM.

 

[wmfsoll2]

Nice tank! I like the woodwork.
I was drawing something out that looks like that but extends past the back about 3 & 1/2 inches and had side doors to access the components in the back.

 

[Mork]

Just a quick update with some new additions:

 

[kaserpick]

really nice setup! I'm liking the corals.

 

[Mork]

It's all looking a bit yellow at the moment due to the temporary use of a 6500k bulb - my 10000k will be in soon.