# Albert's 8 Gallon Cerianthid Nano



## albert_dao (May 28, 2012)

Let's start with introductions.

Hi, I'm Albert and I like Nano of all sorts. Here's a few I've done (both past and present):

Dendro Dominated Nano










Zoa Dominated Nano










Lily-themed FW Nano










Nano Display @ Oceanic Corals










Crypt-dominated 4 gallon










Same tank rescaped, a few months later










20 gallon Planted w/ Wood Hardscape @ Proline Aquatics










25 gallon cube (Rock Only) @ Oceanic Corals










Now for something different.

As you can tell, I change my tanks fairly often - every six months or so. I reuse most of my equipment and rarely upgrade. The way I figure it, if I intend to shut down and start a tank over again with any frequency, increased system sophistication would complicate the habit. And then I'd get lazy because the tank was no longer interesting. And then it would all fall apart. Frown town.

So bearing those criteria in mind, here is my proposal:

1. The tank will be simple beyond reproach. Like, I'm talking glance at the tank once a month simple. None of this "Oh sh-t! I've really been slacking and stuff be dyin!" crap.

2. The livestock will be sustainable without significant effort on my behalf. I did the high maintenance thing (See Dendro tank) and, while rewarding, it did not have a lot of overlap with my idea of personal zen.

3. This nano will not be retreading any ground upon which I have already covered.

4. I will spend exactly NOTHING to get this started aside from whatever I already have lying around. Why? Because I'm cheap and will get bored of most of this within a year anyway. And it also bites into my "oh snap(!!!!), I need booze" funds.

Okay, so now for the actual process. I will be reusing the sloped front 8 gallon that is featured in the first three images. Zoas have been relocated to my frag tank and all the equipment has been cleaned to the point of looking new.

I have the following parts assembled:

Filter - Aquaclear 207i
Flow - Koralia Nano 425
Light - Vertex Illumilux Marino Bianco 300

I've opted not to use a skimmer because I always have 50 gallons mixed and water changes take less than 5 minutes.

That's it. I have a heater somewhere but I will not require it to accommodate for livestock I have planned for this set up. Which is a colossal relief since heaters notorious for being garbage.

Alright, now for the reasoning and philosophy behind the design: How do we create a distinctly saltwater tank without it looking like every other nanoreef that's ever been slapped together as a weekend project? Initially, I dabbled with the idea of doing a temperate system, but eventually ruled against it since issues with heat were inevitable. There was also the legality of collecting local wildlife to top it off. So that went out the window. However, the idea of keeping similar tropical analogues kept tugging at me and I brainstormed for countless hours until it hit me: Tube Anemones on the sand flats!

Let's review my checklist:

1. Easy - check
2. Sustainable - check
3. Unique - check
4. Free - check

Perfect. Now came the actual planning process. I started by reviewing my inventory of dried reef rock. After playing with it in the tank for nearly an hour, I gave up. There was no configuration I could assemble where it wouldn't just look like a typical reef tank. And bearing in mind that Cerianthids have no business being in the rockwork, I scrapped the idea of using reef rocks altogether. Back into the boxes they went. Then I tried out some of the river-worn volcanic rock I had from a previous Freshwater install. You can see it here:










This stuff is gorgeous. It's light, colorful, inert and doesn't look like it has any place on the reef. Faaaaantastic

This is what I came up with after a few trials:



















For the substrate, I figured your basic white aragonite would look a tad peculiar, so I used a volcanic sand collected from the same area is the rocks:










Placed into the tank, filled with saltwater, I got this:










I've since added 10 drops of Zeobak, 2 mL of Zeostart3, 1mL of household Ammonia, 2mL of Potassium Chloride concentrate and will be monitoring the progress daily.


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## albert_dao (May 28, 2012)

Here are some pics of the Cerianthids I have been collecting over the past few months:





































(Thanks to Rick for this last one!!!!)

I also have a pair of club-tipped anemones (Telmatactis americana). I've had these guys for nearly four years now. I'll see if I can fit them into this tank or not. Fingers crossed - they're one of the coolest hitchhikers you'll find anywhere:


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## AcidFear (Aug 19, 2012)

Those are some nice looking setups! I really like the Dendro Dominated Nano


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## albert_dao (May 28, 2012)

Thanks! I did too, but it was a lot of work. There's about $2000 worth of Dendros in there, so that was sort of stressful also...


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

My favourite is also your very expensive, high-maintenance Dendro nano. The collection of tube anemones looks great as well. Those are for sure going into your new nano reef for the Canreef contest.


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## Luke78 (Apr 24, 2010)

Some very impressive nano setups, thanks for sharing your photos!


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## albert_dao (May 28, 2012)

Thanks for the props guys! Hopefully this pans out the way I have it thought out in my head.

@ Anthony,

Hellz yeah! I wish I could fit a few more, but the likelihood is that I will have to cut down to one or two individuals once the start growing. C'est la vie.

I'm thinking I'll throw in a bunch of brittle stars and sexy/glass shrimp to add some movement. I'll debate on something like a scotter blenny once I see how the anemones look fully expanded (at night).


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Very nice setups. Thanks for sharing


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## Sidius (Mar 25, 2012)

Those are definitely some amazing setups... I want to try a reef aquarium more and more every day.


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## Algae Beater (Apr 21, 2010)

Good stuff Albert!! I look forward to seeing this project mature!


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## leer (Jul 1, 2010)

Where did you get the slanted front tank?


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## albert_dao (May 28, 2012)

leer said:


> Where did you get the slanted front tank?


Custom tank from MACNA 2010. My bros helped these guys out with something at their booth, scored a tank in return:

Coast to Coast Custom Aquariums


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## albert_dao (May 28, 2012)

Whooo! Yesterday, NH4 readings were off the charts (<8 mg/L). Today, they're down in the ~0.5 mg/L range. I'm also getting a cloudy bacterial bloom in the water. I'll wait until the bloom clears then throw in a bunch of micro brittle stars and bristleworms.

For those of you who haven't seen a bacterial bloom, here's what it looks like:










This is a good thing during cycling; the bacteria scavenge all of the available nutrients and out-compete any nuisance algaes, so you get to skip the entire three "weeks of ugly tank" phase so common to new set ups.

Just some changes to my original plan:

1. I've also decided that the tank looks a little dim, so I'll add another Illumilux and see how that looks (I have one lying around, just missing the legs).

2. With the increased light, I'll be able to plant a nice little colony of Grube's Gorgonian at little spire of rocks in the center. I was originally going to throw feather dusters there, but the gorgonian is much more forgiving if the tank isn't able to produce enough bacterial and algal fauna.


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## albert_dao (May 28, 2012)

Tested the water last night and this morning with NH4 readings at zero. Bacterial bloom has largely subsided, so I've gone ahead and added the anemones (which were stinging all of my Zoas in my frag tank).

*Clubby Anemone:*











*Tube Anemones:*




























*Full Tank Shot*










Now I just need to wait for them to settle in. Hopefully they'll stay where I put them.

As you can see from picture, I am in sore need of a feature or focal point to draw the eyes. The club tentacled anemone doesn't count since it will, in all likelihood, move under one of the rocks. I'm thinking I'll plant that Gorgonian in the center at the end of this week to address this situation.

Other than that, I've decided that I will use brittle stars instead of Nassarius as a clean up crew for the time being. They won't disrupt the sandbed and allow the anemones to properly settle. I'll take a second look at the snails once the anemones have erected their tubes.

Questions and critiques welcomed!


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## albert_dao (May 28, 2012)

Today's update:

Did a test this morning. NH4 was at 0ppm, NO3 was barely detectable and PO4's were barely detectable. Go Zeostart3!

I also moved the Club Tipped Anemones under a rock shelter since they weren't expanding as big as was use to seeing them. That seems to have improved their condition.

Full tank shots (I changed the white balance on my camera while taking pictures of other subjects and forgot to reset it, hence the crazy blueness - sorry about that):




























Here's a side view where you can see where I put the anemones:










You may have also noticed that I added another rock to the tank. Staring at the set up for a while, I felt that the balance between negative space, hardscape and animals was off balance. In my initial posts, I was hoping to address this by adding a gorgonian to the center. However, that would not be at least for another month or so and this was something that was irking me NOW.

Later on, I will be going back to my original plan and throwing in a few feather dusters to fill in any "odd" looking gaps. That should get rid of all the odd looking and clearly artificial gaps in the placement of the rocks.

Lastly, I have access to a couple of Mini Carpets. What say all y'all? Should I try them out? Or do you think it would dilute the composition? Right now, I'm leaning towards the latter, but apparently, there are points to be awarded for "diversity", lol.

Thanks for looking!


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## albert_dao (May 28, 2012)

Quick video update for today:


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## Alkatraz (Jul 20, 2012)

Very zen! Love it


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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