VNghost's aqua japan 22 gallon first reef.

[VNghost]

hello folks, im a newbie currently in los angeles. this is sort of my first reef. i had a 34 gallon solana previously for abut 6 months but in that tank all i had was one chromis, a couple polyps of zoa and a bunch of base rock. i had to get rid of it because we kept it in the living room and it was just an eye sore. i decided to try to get more serious about reef keeping and bought this aqua japan 22 gallon placed it in my bedroom, took all my sand from the 34 gallon, some of the live rock and my one lonely chromis and placed em all in this tank. did a bunch of research and filled it up with easy corals. got lots of help from some friends i met on this and other reef forums. tanks been running 5-6 weeks. anyways here it goes.... enjoy....

 

all pics from my iphone 5, did the best i could.

 

Tank: aqua japan aj-60 AIO 22 gallon 24x15x15

Lighting: 4 bulb t5ho temporary (new 4 bulb t5ho with actinic bulbs on the way, also waiting on a reefbreeders photon 16, will keep which ever looks better) Ai Vega Color

Filtration: all in one build, diy media basket with carbon, phosban and filter pad in bottom 2nd chamber, chaeto and rubble rock on top for mini refugium.

Return pump: mj1200

Circulation: 2X koralia nano 425 on a smartwave controller (wp25 on the way, too strong​)

Skimmer: eshopps nano skimmer in 1st chamber

Heating: eheim jager 75 watt

Cooling: 4 fan cooling fixture with diy fan controller

ATO: tunze nano

other info: about 30 pounds live rock, mix of real-reef, fiji, acropora rock.

 

Live stock: 2 chromis, platinum and picasso pair, firefish pair, tail spot blenny, cleaner shrimp, and CUC

Corals: a bunch of random corals dont know the names ahah

 

[adinsxq]

Good job, V. More circulation should help break up that surface film. Is your skimmer dialed in?

[Red_Blenny]

Nice job. Never seen a Aqua Japan 22 tank here in socal... That WP25 will probably take care of your flow problem but I fear it might cause a huge sandstorm.

[VNghost]

My skimmer is dialed in, it takes about a week to pull some very dark skim. I usually drop the water level in my rear chambers and the surface buildup goes away instantly but I left it a little higher this time trying to dial in the flow in the back with this new mj1200 I'm running in the return

[VNghost]

The new wp-25 I'm getting is suppose to come with a new style controller that can dial it down. I have 1 koralia behind the LR in the lower left corner and one top right corner. With the mj1200 there seems to be a real good amount of flow throughout the whole tank. Is there any obvious flow pattern problem that I'm unaware of? Help a newbie out thanks.

[VNghost]

here is an update. wp-25 is a little too strong for this tank. i am using 2 koralia nano 425 on a hydor smart wave controller which is working pretty well for me so really no need to upgrade. i also added loc-line dual output nozzels. and i built a diy fan controller.

 

diy fan controller keeps my tank stable.

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/vu_nguyen/media/fish%20tank/IMG_2290_zps36c2f8d8.jpg.html'>

 

dual loc-line nozzle. makes water distribution perfect with a maxi jet 1200

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/vu_nguyen/media/fish%20tank/IMG_2289_zps0dce44a8.jpg.html'>

i also added 2 firefish goby last week and a tail spot blenny yesterday. the tail spot is all over the tank, the firefish hide all day.

i also have a picasso and platinum pair.

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/vu_nguyen/media/fish%20tank/IMG_2300_zpsdf0b8875.jpg.html'>

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/vu_nguyen/media/fish%20tank/IMG_2292_zpsf10e7154.jpg.html'>

and finally i am running an ai vega color at 10 percent intensity. i ran at 20 percent and killed my flower pot. gonna bump up real slow.

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/vu_nguyen/media/fish%20tank/IMG_2293_zps95916501.jpg.html'>

 

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/vu_nguyen/media/fish%20tank/IMG_2288_zps0ef1bb10.jpg.html'>

 

all pics from an iphone 5, the best i could do.

[AZReefJunkie]

Update?

 

I actually have this same tank, planning on starting it up in the next few weeks. I'd love to see how you built that fan controller. Could you also incorporate the heater?

[Kenmak2008]

Nice tank thread, I had this tank as my first reef tank is a great tank.

[drexel]

Just bought this tank myself and I can't seem to find the right return nozzle/elbow. I was given a Rio+200, but the return flow is too low and the elbow/nozzle are too small for the existing hole. How did you connect the loc-line to your mj1200? I'm upgrading to the mj1200 too.

[reefernanoman]

Nice. Different tank. I like it.

[Grantlewis1983]

Nice tank, I have a similar AJ-45 closer to a 9-10 gal. I'm setting it up for a nano reef however I'm having a hard time with it building up too much surface crud. I realize the problem is that these tanks do not use an overflow style. Instead it has holes at the bottom and top for the water to go into the back of the tank. So the surface never "falls" off. Was thinking about plugging up the bottom holes so it will truly "overflow" into the back where it will get skimmed off. Any ideas, thoughts?