Equipment:
20H AGA w/ Black Stand
SLS Reef Optix III Plus HQI Pendent with 250w Galaxy E Ballast and 250w 14k Phoenix Bulb
Vortech ES mp10
200w Aqueon Heater
AC70, fuge modded with HD 60 watt bulb and some cheato
AquaC Remora w/ MJ1200
JBJ ATO w/ Tom Aqualifter
B-Ionic Two Part Dosing
GFO and Carbon in the HOB fuge

20lbs Fiji LR
20lbs LS

Feeding PE Mysis, Spectrum Pellets, Roti-Feast, Rod's Food and Cyclop-eeze.

Livestock:

Fish:
x1 Flagtail Goby (Amblyeleotris yanoi)
x1 True Percula Clown (Amphiprion percula)
x1 Banded Possum Wrasse (Wetmorella sp.)

Inverts
x1 Porcelain Crab
x1 Cleaner Shrimp
x1 Crocea Clam
x1 BTA
and the CUC...

Corals:
too many to name...

Great looking tank! I was in the process of planning a 20H saltwater SPS till my mom got me a BC14 and i was not allowed to have anymore tanks for now. Looks great though some sps up high and lps will sure be beautiful!

Thanks!

I love your set-up, just remember to take it slow and test frequently. Also the Tek fixtures are great you will be glad you chose the pricier light when you see your corals growing like weeds

I am not sure when my cycle is going to start/if I will get one. I have pre-cured LR from a local and I used filtered sea water for my fill up. I have been testing twice a day and all my params are zero, I am getting a small amount of macro algae and starting to see some small patches of green algae. I am not sure what is going on.

Can someone shed some light on this? Either way, I wont be adding a CUC for a week or so

I would do the shrimp cycle. Put raw shrimp in clean sock, place sock in tank, let sit for 2 weeks if you testing 0 then your good. Also if you dont trust your readings you can alway put a snail in there and if it survives your done cycling

Ok, I just got my first additions to my tank! A Coral Banded Shrimp and 2 Margarita Snails. I hope that the CBS is doing ok, I floated him adding 1/4 cup tank water for an hour. He is very reclusive and I don't know if he is eating or not. There are no fish in the tank yet so he isn't getting their scraps. I dropped some small fish food pellets near him and I don't think he got them. Will he get better or is he eating stuff off my rocks?

Here he is:

I just looked over at my tank and saw my shrimp floating around!! I looked closer and noticed that he was still hiding behind the rocks. I wasn't expecting him to molt so soon. Scared me lol.

Ha hahahahaha! I laugh because I know that feeling very well. I flipped out when my cleaner did it the first time. Thought I killed it. then I saw "another" one and thought it multiplied.

Your rockwork is epic! I love that look.

Needs moar pix.
especially since you have sexies in there.

Thanks for the compliment latteslave. I worked for awhile on the rock work. It turned out nice I think.


I just picked up another margarita snail today and an emerald crab. Little bitty guy. I will get some more pics up when I get my magfloat in the mail and can clean my glass.

I thought I had a dinoflagellate outbreak but I have since been advised it is just part of my new tank,

Here is a pic of my hitchhiker zoas. I hope they re-color soon.

... taps foot. Waiting somewhat patiently for new pics.

Nothing has really changed so far. The CBS and the Emerald Crab only move around when lights are out. I lost a Margarita Snail (It was far in it's shell for awhile, then seemed like it had problems readjusting itself and became very slow and lethargic). I get paid in a week and plan on adding a few easy corals to start my tank off. I am thinking about trying to find some pulsing xenias, some cool looking shrooms or maybe an acan or something. We shall see.

No fish for another couple of weeks yet. Getting a Maroon Clown or a True Perc is the plan.

I will add pictures when there is something interesting going on other then my inverts picking at stuff and my diatoms growing all over and making me mad I hope the diatoms go away soon as I really hate them. They are growing very long and stringy and even growing on the bases of my zoas. grrr

I would look at beefing up the CUC... Sounds like you are down to the 2 snails, 1 shrimp and 1 crab? I am not the expert by any means - maybe look at getting 7 nerite or astrea sanils, 7 nassarrius (i know that's not spelled right) and if you like them - a couple of scarlet reef hermits.

I have to bump mine up as well - never fun when you have the uglies in the tank.

Ya, I only have the 4 inverts in my tank atm. I am thinking about getting a couple hermits maybe. I don't have a lot of green algae growth in the tank yet so I am holding off on more snails as my x2 margaritas already seem sluggish and inactive. I just need something to keep eat the diatoms.

Taking things slow... though I am going to look into getting some coral in a week

yeah! Fishy!!!

I ditched the bicolor for a false perc because I read that they can be aggressive to shrimp and other fish. I didn't want to come home and find my CBS in two or more pieces.

and how was it trying to catch the bicolor?

Let's get some pics up...

I had to take everything out of the tank... and the thing was inside one of my rocks. I caught it... then while I was putting all my inverts and rocks back into the tank, IT GOT OUT OF THE NET!!! So I took everything out again... Never again will I get one of those.

I am wondering what my clown is doing though. He likes to hang out in the top left corner of the tank and doesn't move around a lot. He is eating well, so I am thinking it is just new tank syndrome... I hope. I really want him to do well. Well, here he is.

@ Latte, do clowns do this from time to time? I don't know what there normal behavior is.

I would not worry yet, especially if he is eating. Good looking perc - guessing he is still pretty small... the black looks to be still coming in. Give it a couple of days... Mine took a few days and now it's the most personable fish I have. Comes right up and bites my hand if I get into the tank for anything. Mine also like to play in the flow from the powerheads.

You should be in good shape, enjoy this one for a while. What other plans do you have for fish?

Ya, he is a really nice perc, about an inch and a quarter in size.

I am thinking about getting some sort of Gobi, maybe a Yellow Watchmen. I only want to have two or three fish in the tank. In a week or so I am planning on getting some frags to get my coral on. I am looking for some yellow polyps, GSP, some blue/black zoas, monti cap, some acros and something for my clown to host (hammer, bubble coral?) Starting off with the easy ones first and then moving to harder ones.

I just hope the clown starts exploring. I have read that many clowns hang out at the top of the tank, maybe for multiple reasons. At least I know it is not just my tank being ill suited to the fish.

20H's are fun.....

I'm really curious to see how your clown does. My black and white clowns are about a month in the tank and they still "host" the powerheads. They're getting more and more curious each day and even eat flakes from my hand... but still it worries me that they don't explore more. Good luck SoCalDude.

Thanks! It's good to know that it's not just my clown being weird but that clowns in general behave like this.

Too bad we do not live a little closer - I have yellow colony polyps I need to frag, some zoa and my Yuma has 3 babies that are getting half dollar size. Of course I do get out to SB every couple of months or so... hmmmm - possibilities.

Funny enough, I have a real nice frogspawn and my clown decided to host my Green Hairy Mushrooms (you oughta see the mushrooms in person - THEY ARE HUGE)

I would venture to say you will see more exploring as you add some things to the tank.

If you make it down to SB sometime in the near future, you should totally let me know and we can meet up. I would love to buy some cheap frags from you. Also, I noticed in your FTS that your shrooms are very large. You have some really nice corals.

Nice looking tank, the pics are great!

I'll let you know when I am going to be out... maybe even bring a couple little zoa frags for ya. I still gotta get gutsy enough to try and frag anything else.

Yes, they are very fun. I feel that it is the perfect size for my first reef.

I picked up a frogspawn coral today in an attempt to get my clown something to host other then my powerhead. I also picked up a couple of turbo snails to work on the hair algae that has come about lately.

Here's a pic of the new coral.

My new Armor of Gods and Blue Tubbs.

nice additions
ive been looking to get a set of tubs and a nice frogspawn

SWEET! love em both. Good luck with the clown and the frogspawn. That was the same thought I had and the clown decided it liked the group of hairy green mushrooms better.

Nice additions... I guess that trip out there will have to be soon.

Clown doesn't seem to be interested in the frogspawn yet. I still have plans on getting a BTA for him. Also, the clown has some kind of virus I believe, Lymphocystis (sp?). Seems to have white bulges coming off his fins and gill.

From what I have read about his symptoms, no matter what it is all I can do is let him deal with it on his own. It really sucks cause I had plans on getting a goby or something this week. I have to let the virus run its course and not introduce anything new for 4-6 weeks I figure to make sure the virus dies off.

So I will focus on the corals I guess. Still looking for some yellow polyps, superman shrooms, toadstool leather and a BTA.

clowns aren't gonna go to a frogspawn off the bat... usually they'll host in a anemone-like coral such as a frogspawn, hammer, torch, duncan, etc... but only in a limited sense, it takes several months for them to host them and they probably won't ever host them if there's a BTA or something better around

they all pretty much love BTA's though... and BTA's can look great with good lighting and are pretty hardy (as anemones go at least)

i got one for my maroon clown just the other day and he loves it, took him about 4 days to go to it, but now he rarely leaves it... he sleeps in there all wrapped up in the tentacles.

i have a 20H as well, it's a good first tank. kinda wish i had a 20L, i like the shallower tanks....

my next tank will be a shallow cube for sure... hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine

i like your taste in zoa's

I some new corals today. First one is two heads of Neon Green Hammer and the second is a single head of Blue Spotted Red Shroom. Updated FTS as well. Enjoy!

hammer looks nice... I really like the blue spot mushroom - those spots are... well... blue! Do you know if that type spreads as fast as the purple mushrooms? (Those things turn up everywhere in my tank)

Not sure about how fast they spread. I guess we shall wait and see. They really look cool though eh? I have been looking around for them for awhile and my LFS was breaking down a tank and I saw one growing in the sand bed. $5.00 for the head, not a terrible deal I guess.

good luck getting that clown to host the frogspawn
mine decided she wanted to host a toadstool instead... she never hosted anything else
even at that i had the toadstool for 5 months before it hosted it
be weary of the bta in a 20 gal, they do migrate and cause some major damage
just as a heads up
other than that looking good

Ya, I will be watching the nem very closely if/when I get one. I am not going crazy with corals and keeping everything mobile on plugs for now until I get the bta and it figures out where it is happy before placing things. I know things can go south very fast though, but I gotta try eh?

id love to have an anemone in my tank for my clown to play in. I went ahead and mounted all my corals so gettin one now in such a small tank could be disaster. You have the right idea keeping everything mobile until you get one!

Tanks looks great btw! Love thos AOG zoas

If you do get a BTA - I hope you have much better luck than I did... I had one with my last tank - I did not know enough, my tank was WAY too new. Anyway, lesson learned for me - I think if I ever do another anemone it will be in a tank set up specifically for it.

Of course - your tank is still KILLER!

Thanks, I can't wait until they start growing.

@ Latteslave- Ya, I have been thinking about my tank not being matured enough yet, but I think it can handle it. A nem specific tank would be cool.

wait till your tank is older ... seriously its worth it

Lol, it's like my parents telling me to wait for something. I will be waiting a little while to get a new one for sure, but that only means that I will be buying more coral or fish (unless my perc doesn't get over this disease that it has ). I am currently holding off on buying a Suntail Goby and Firefish until it clears up as I don't want it to spread.

Speaking of which, here is a pic. I have been roaming around a couple of forums trying to figure out what to do about this. I have come to the conclusion that it is lymphocystis or some type of fungus but that is based mostly on a semi-educated guess. I have been told to give the clown some dips in a hydroplex/tank water combination.

Give me some opinions.

Sucks about your clown. You keep your temp high enough? Read they are prone to various things if the tank is running cool. My clowns hosted my Koralia's as well, but don't seem to have the same love for the MP10. Waiting to see what they'll do, so far they still hang around in the corner the ph's were in, but do swim around the tank from time to time. Goofy fish! Thought about getting a wrasse? Wicked cool fish.

Dude, the BTA - enjoyable for about two days. Then it starts wandering around looking for a comfortable spot and stinging everything in its path. Then it shrivels up to the size of a golf ball. You think it's dead and about to nuke your tank, but no it's just taking a crap. Couple days later it does it again and again you think it's lights out for the tank... Read up on what happens if/when they die if you haven't already.

I didn't have the nerves for it and got rid of the thing...

I looked through a few threads - think you are right on the lymphocystis... There are quite a few "remedies" out there (including scrubbing your fish with a q-tip!) Hope you get it taken care of and the clown pulls through.



...look both ways before crossing the street and eat your vegetables.

At the advice of a local reefer, I did a Hydroplex dip with the clown. He did not like it one bit, but after I re-scaped a little tonight (I took a rock out that was bugging me and moved things a little) the lumps just fell off him. No traces left on the clown other then some tattered fins where it was. So awesome. So I will be waiting a couple of weeks for for the clown to get it's strength back and I will go and get me a 6line wrasse or a goby to complete the fish stocking.

Here is a new FTS after I rearranged my scape. Lemme know if you like it more or less then the previous scape.

Where's the before shot? Paged through and I'm missing it.

I like this scape a lot regardless.

I guess I got rid of the old pic. O well, out with the old and in the with the new! lol

I am struggling to figure out what corals I should be getting for this tank. I want a couple of leathers (toadstool and kenya) and I will be getting a couple of acroporas later on.

I just need to figure out placement. Anyone have any suggestions? BTW, right after this pic was taken, I moved the frogspawn into the middle of the tank on on the flat spot because it was not opening up well on the left side.

Help me out here