Cali Kid Corals

Howdy, from a New-to-Nano Reefer

jesse

jesse

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Hi All,

I just got rehooked on reefs and, of course, found the BAR forums so full of interesting, thoughtful ideas and expertise - generously shared - that I had to join. So thanks in advance from someone who really appreciated finding a local bunch of enthusiasts while jumping back into the hobby. Especially all the LED talk. Great stuff.

How it all happened...I spent the holidays snorkeling the Belize Barrier Reef which is, as you might suppose, pretty nice. I spent so many hours hovering over square-foot micro-outcroppings of coral in the middle of acres of turtle grass that it reignited a well-suppressed desire to grow my own nano-reef at home. Back stateside, when a little jbj 12g dx nano cube came available, I bought it - knowing full well that the cost of the "sale" tank would be a trivial part of the whole.

The tank has been full of Oceanic saltwater and bathed in 12 watts of LED light for a week. I've got a Koralia Nano in the lower left and a Deflector on the pump return. 15 lbs of aquacultured live rock is coming from the Florida Keys next week, as is 10 lbs or so of live sand, and I want to turn the back chambers of the tank into a mud and cheato fuge with a bank of LED lights. A 36 watt LED fixture is still in the planning stages for the display portion of the tank, but I figure the 12 watt will get me through the curing process for the rock, and buy me enough time to learn what the heck I am doing.

Thankfully, this forum is a rich repository of expertise. I have a lot of reading to do.

Best,
-Jesse
 
Welcome! Look forward to seeing how your LED nano tank progresses. Did you happen to take any photos while you were diving in Belize?
 
Hi Richard,
Back when I was in high school, thrashing around trying to figure out what to do with my life, my folks suggested starting a pond business. At that time EPDM-lined ponds were _just_ starting to popularize and we lived in an area that could certainly support it. So I did.
Somewhere along the way they had me build one for them, which is still at the house in Napa.
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We have a small collection of Koi and goldfish - which unfortunately are regarded as food by the local herons.
P1000054.jpg


As an ambitious addition, we decided to put an island at one end and vary the slope of the pond floor from 5' deep to 3' in the hopes of encouraging convection circulation. Large pumps from two points feed the waterfall which flows through a smaller pond full of water lily, pennywort, anacharis, and parrotfeather before winding its way back into the main pond.
P1000066.jpg

The little building in back is the "skippy house" where a huge home-brew skippy filter lives, feeding the waterfall.
P1000052.jpg


In spring and summer, when the lily's all open, it's a wonderful place to sip a glass of wine and wile away an evening.
P1000053.jpg
 
Wow, what a beatiful pond. 110,000 gallons is a huge accomplishment! How much water is routinely lost to evaporation?
 
Mud puddles, Beside that I made mud puddles. Maybe Nano is a more update description. Dad had scrap from a roofing job so I made two long ponds to form more of a stream with the landscaping on each end buried tubs with cat tails and the like. Looked for a photo of the granite slabs that spanned 'creek'.
 
Rick, 99SF, Tuberider,

Thanks for the enthusiasm. That always feels good.

Yeah - my back yard isn't either! Oh, wait - I don't have a back yard! Ergo nano aquarium. I did manage to put a found-object fountain in my little apartment garden here on the peninsula, but gee it's nothing compared to spending the evening by the big pond in Napa.
P1060966.JPG

(I just took this 5 minutes ago - put your daylight goggles on and it looks more plesant)

The folks pond uses about 300-500 gallons a day in evaporation (wild-ass guess based on how long that well runs a day) but the plus side is that the area around the pond needs MUCH less water than the rest of the gardens and what-have-you.

Richard, I love the idea of using scrap to make something wonderful. A roofing scrap water feature sounds really cool to me - would LOVE to see the bridge! The bridge spanning our little "creek" is actually old redwood wine casks (huge ones) over a curved-wood span I cut from "beams" laminated out of the pieces of cask. Since the wood is shaved on one side, it needed a lot of jointing and planing!

Speaking of using found-objects, I just finished a new LED hood for my nano using scrap trim cut-offs from my folks house and other odd pieces. The 36 watt LED panel is custom - and purchased - but the rest of the hood was all found around the house. I'll post pix on my aquarium page as soon as the mothership sends them down (forgot my camera!).

Ciao
Jesse
 
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