TheCoralReef's 20L Anemone Reef

[TheCoralReef731]

Well, I've just graduated and got a good-paying job. So this is the perfect time for a new fish tank! This tank will primarily feature anemones and clownfish. I plan to add corals to the tank as well, although I'm not sure which route to go quite yet (SPS, LPS, softies, mixed). I had to leave my 90 gallon mixed reef at home with the parents, rather than move it across the country. And while my 3g pico was neat, I just couldn't get over not having any fish. Thus, a small 20L tank will allow me to have corals, clownfish (big fan!), and anemones (very big fan!). So, without further ado, here is the setup:

Current FTS (Updated 4/7/13):



Stand Construction:
I constructed the stand of pine boards of various sizes. I then stained the pine to match the living room furniture, and applied generous coats of polyurethane to seal the wood. The stand conceals the tank trim and has storage for supplies and a future sump/refugium.





My wife loves cats, so we struck a deal that she can have a cat if I can have my fish. Sounds good! Although it turns out cats are quite curious creatures so I installed a net on the hood to prevent any accidents:



Aquascaping:
I decided on dry rock (from reefcleaners.org), for cost and ethical reasons. In past experience, I've had trouble with rocks falling over. To prevent this problem, I drilled the rock and used 1/4" acrylic rods to secure them:


I also used egg-crate on the bottom to prevent the glass from breaking:


Finished aquascape:


For sand I am using oolitic sand (Nature's Ocean Marine White Sand found at Petco). I've used it in my 90 gallon for years and am very happy with it. The grains are too small for algae to grow on, which keeps the sand looking clean. In addition, this sand is perfect for sand-sifting gobies.


Lighting:
I wanted to use LED lighting, but was hesitant to spend ~$200 on a DIY kit. Then I found the GU10 thread, and all my problems were solved. I'm using 14 3w GU10 bulbs. I ordered these on ebay and the seller was kind enough to offer bulbs in a blue/white variety. So each bulb has 2 blue LEDs and 1 white LED. I mounted them to a shelving track I had laying around and wired them to an old vacuum cleaner cord. They are BRIGHT!!! They don't seem too bright in the photos however, but believe me, they are.












Flow, Filtration, and Heating:
Flow will be accomplished with two 500gph JBJ Oceanstream powerheads on an alternating cycle. This will allow for semi-random flow which should keep detritus to a minimum. For filtration, I'm going REALLY simple with a AquaticLife Internal Mini Protein Skimmer 115 (see above pic). I had considered using a sump/refugium but decided against it to keep things very simple. I hope to do more water changes to make up for the lack of chaeto. For heating, I'm using a small 50w Hydor Theo heater. In the following picture, you'll see the Oceanstream controller mounted to the side of the stand with velcro:



I just filled the tank up with Red Sea Coral Pro Salt and will be checking levels. The next step is to seed the sand and rock to get the biological filter going.

Beginning FTS (9/16/12):

[eitallent]

Congratulations on your graduation and landing a good job!

Wonderful set up and rockscape. I like arches a lot. Looking forward to seeing new pictures as it matures.

[TheCoralReef731]

Congratulations on your graduation and landing a good job!

Wonderful set up and rockscape. I like arches a lot. Looking forward to seeing new pictures as it matures.

 

Thanks!

 

So, the LEDs have been bothering me. They didn't have the spread I was looking for. Perhaps thats because they're only 2.5" off the water surface. Anyway, I removed the optics and now get a much better spread of light! Also in this picture, you'll see the 1.5 lbs of live rock that I'm using to seed the dry rock.

 

[TheCoralReef731]

First Livestock Additions!:

Canary Blenny

3 Hermit Crabs

Dragon Eye Zooanthids

 

 

 

 

[sandcruiser]

bump...

 

any updates?

 

I'm using gu10 lamps as well

I've got 7 of the 3x1w over my 10g tank now, thinking to move up to 8 in order to have an even 1:1 ratio of blue and cool white. i would think that 2:1 blue:white is very blue.

 

I also pulled my optics off, the lamps are only 1"above the waterline now, and I'm going to pull them back just a little bit further, to eliminate the disco effect.

 

your build looks good so far, I'm interested to see what's next.

[TheCoralReef731]

Update!

Its been way too long since my last update, but thanks for sticking in there. In the meantime I've had some good and bad things happen with the tank. Getting the negative out of the way, the canary blenny did not make it. He seemed malnourished and wouldn't eat well, no matter what food I tried.

On the plus side, I did get two Clarkii Clownfish which are doing pretty well. I'm hoping they don't grow too large, otherwise I'll be upgrading to a 29g. They are doing well, although they came in with a bit of ich. The ich medicine I got worked well, but did not mix well with my trumpet coral (despite saying "safe for corals" on the bottle). Nevertheless, the other corals are doing very well.

I got some fragged corals from my 90g reef, and most are doing really well. These include some pulsing xenia, kenya tree coral, red cup coral, green brain coral, and green hairy mushrooms. A frag of trumpet coral and acropora didn't make the switch as well (although I'm not really suprised about the Acropora, I dug it up from the sand in my 90g). In addition to the frags, I acquired a small rock anemone. It won't host any clownfish, but it looks pretty and came with a good chunk of liverock.

Pictures!:

 

The GU10's are working well, although two have burnt out. I believe this is due to the optics being removed and salt spray causing damage. I have yet to replace them, since the remaining 12 are still bright enough:

[sandcruiser]

it looks like you're making progress

I'm down to 4 gu10 3w LEDs as the 7 I had were just too bright for some of my coral (notably my frogspawn hated it)

 

I'll be interested to hear how yours hold up. The tank looks good.

[TheCoralReef731]

Well this post is long overdue. A lot has changed in the aquarium, most notably that it is now a 29 gallon tank. This has the same footprint as the 20g long, but it taller. Thus I could keep using the same stand. I drilled the 29 gallon and installed two overflows, one on each side. Each overflow is constructed of a large 90 degree ABS bend. This idea didn't work as well as I'd like, as the overflows are rather noisy. In hindsight, I should have constructed a larger overflow box and used the herbie method to reduce noise. At this point, I am no longer using the overflow due to the noise and the sump cracked around the RODI input. So no sump, chaeto, or even skimmer. I am relying on regular 20% water changes to keep the tank parameters good, and it is working well thus far. My RODI and water change setup is all gravity fed so the task takes less than 5 minutes. As far as lights go, the GU10 bulbs are holding up well. About half went dead initially, but after replacing them and installing a glass splash shield, they are a reliable light source.

 

With all that out of the way, pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pgrVII]

This is a really cool tank! Love anemones

The lighting is really slick too.

[TheCoralReef731]

Thanks! It's coming along! Now...time to do a water change ;-)