Moklevat's 20 Long Build

[moklevat]

This is my first reef tank. I grew up in a beach community watching Jacques Cousteau on TV. Over the years I have been an avid diver, have admired others' salt water aquariums, and am finally moving forward with my own tank. I am grateful for those who have shared their experiences.

I was looking for something that would fit in a 32" space between my living room and dining room that would be visible from three sides. After seeing some great examples here, and in consideration of my budget, I settled on a 20L. I have enjoyed the weeks of planning and setting it up (and making mistakes and learning). I welcome suggestions.



This is the view from the front. There happens to be a display space in the wall behind the tank that fits an Aquaclear 70 very nicely. I've already changed the aquascape a bit since taking the picture. I wasn't satisfied with the jumble of live rock.



The view from the living room includes a heart-shaped hole in the rock.



The view from the dining room.

Tank:
20 gallon Long Aqueon
Versa Top (too messy and locked light)
DIY eggcrate top

Stand:
Aquatic Fundamentals 29/37 (this integrates nicely with the aquarium and was on sale)

Lighting:
165w full-spectrum dimmable LED from ebay (flickered at low power, returned)
Current Orbit Marine

Filtration:
Filterless (lasted about 48 hours and got tired of crud in the water)
AC 70 with
InTank media basket (love the basket more than I thought I would)

Surface skimming mod

Filter floss and Chemipure Blue

Circulation:
Jebao RW-4

ATO:
Tunze Osmolator 3155

Heater:
Neo-therm 75W (in the Aquaclear)

Rock:
10 lbs CaribSea South Seas Base Rock
10 lbs live rock from local store (The Reef Farm)

Sand:
20 lbs CaribSea Fiji Pink

RO/DI:
RO Buddie 50 gpd 4-stage (love this setup)

Inhabitants:

2 Ocellaris clownfish

1 Ocellated dragonet / Scooter blenny

20 dwarf cerith
2 nassarius snails
2 1 trochus snail (1 DOA)
2 scarlet hermit crabs
1 emerald mithrax crab
1 (gigantic) serpent star
2 dwarf cowrie
9 4 Asterina (hitchhikers)
Something that looks like it might be a colonial hydroid
Blue sponge
Black sponge

[righttirefire]

Nice start. I use a tunze nano. But I have a sumped 20long, no issues with my ato.

 

And the big question... STOCKING PLANS?

[moklevat]

Nice start. I use a tunze nano. But I have a sumped 20long, no issues with my ato.

 

And the big question... STOCKING PLANS?

 

I knew I left something out!

 

Right now, I am planning to get stock locally at the Reef Farm in NC. They have a great selection of corals and clowns.

 

Fish:

A pair of tank-bred clowns (variety TBD) and a sailfin blenny.

 

Corals:

This is in flux as I read more, and I think I am going to enjoy the process of selection over time. I like several soft corals, LPS, and zoanthids. Easy(ish) to keep, non-aggressive and colorful would be a nice place to start.

[righttirefire]

Awesome. Research, research, research. I started with pulsing xenia, mushrooms, and zoas. Each have there own challenges. I next tried lps. Torch coral, hammer, acans, and finally frogspawn. Regressed to gsp, than challenged myself with a bubble tip anenome. Finally last week I got a couple frags of birdsnests.

 

So planning is key. Let your system "mature" stock slowly, frags will save move money and allow you to watch grow out. Dip coral. And mostly you have to look at it so.you need to enjoy it. Maintance is key to enjoyment

[moklevat]

I noticed that one of my pieces of live rock has some cool orange fluorescence under the blue lights. I took this shot using a UV led flashlight.

 

 

Googling around leads me to think that this is a form of coralline and may be temporary. I wonder if it's a stress related change to red or pink coralline, or a different variety all together.

 

Edit: it looks like a form of Cyanobacteria that is symbiotic with corals produces an orange fluorescent compound. I wonder if this is bacterial.

[righttirefire]

Can't advise... I ran a single ac50 and eventually added a second ac50. Why'd you prop down you 70? I ran an ac50 with cheato and min, and 200gph. And the other with the foam and chemi-pure elite on max. Like 400gph. Plus a hydor 240 gph

[moklevat]

Can't advise... I ran a single ac50 and eventually added a second ac50. Why'd you prop down you 70? I ran an ac50 with cheato and min, and 200gph. And the other with the foam and chemi-pure elite on max. Like 400gph. Plus a hydor 240 gph

 

I have been tinkering with filter settings and have seen that many people cut back to an ac30 impeller, particularly when running the inTank media basket. The RW-4 can really blast, so don't think I need much flow from the AC 70. The current motion seems good for my current and immediate plans (mostly rock -> some inverts -> a couple of ocellaris -> a soft/LPS).

 

Today's update: diatoms.

[righttirefire]

Oh the new tank "blues" enjoy the colonization of life

[moklevat]

Oh the new tank "blues" enjoy the colonization of life

 

I'm loving it!

[moklevat]

Diatoms are gone.

 

Clean up crew went in at the end of last week.

 

20 dwarf cerith

2 nassarius snails

2 1 trochus snail (1 DOA)

2 scarlet hermit crabs

1 emerald mithrax crab

1 (gigantic) serpent star

2 dwarf cowrie

 

Added a refugium and amphipods and copepods.

 

Green hair algae (I think) showed up yesterday.

 

[moklevat]

Oops! I added a piece of Tonga shelf rock from BRS and don't think I got it quite cured enough. Looks like it's cycling again. Adding Seachem Prime and Stability to help protect the critters and move it along.

 

Update: Ammonia and nitrites climbed overnight so I removed the Tonga shelf this morning and did a 50% water change. I was pretty thorough with my cleaning of that rock (I thought), but there was still a bunch of stuff in the cracks a crevices.

[moklevat]

Updated FTS. I just got a shipment from the SaltCritters frag sale (front and center) along with a red RFA. Also in evidence are the Ocellaris clownfish pair, the peppermint shrimp, and "Scoots" the scooter blenny.

 

 

Water chemistry has been great since making it through the Tonga shelf-related re-cycle. I used a SeaChem Ammnonia Alert (still in tank) and a bottle of AmGuard to protect the inhabitants.

 

Edit: Photo with better white balance.

[vlangel]

Hey, nice clean looking tank. I always like seeing as little equipment as possible. When I read your first entry about a 32" space, I thought to myself, "a 20L would work well". Looks like it is!

[moklevat]

Hey, nice clean looking tank. I always like seeing as little equipment as possible. When I read your first entry about a 32" space, I thought to myself, "a 20L would work well". Looks like it is!

 

Thanks! I suppose I should take out the MagFloat and Ammonia Alert for photos. Next time.

[moklevat]

I caught a glimpse of a new hitchhiker a couple of weeks ago, but was not able to see enough to ID. This morning, I got a full view of this stomatella.

 

 

I also woke up to this carnage of a zoanthid frag I just got from Coral Gardens Aquaculture

 

 

Here is the prime suspect, though his accomplice in the background was seen earlier dragging a smaller frag toward their lair.