[IM 25g Lagoon] 1st Nano Tank

[Cristiand]

Hi all,

 

New to the forum and new to nano tanks. Not new to reefing. This will be my first nano tank. I recently broke down my 75g mixed reef after 7 years. I want this tank to be manly SPS with some LPS here and there. Tank currently has water in it, 20lbs or fiji pink sand and about 20 or so lbs of dry rock. Added some biospira and waiting to cycle. Will test water in a week or two and see where I stand. (haven't done this in a long time lol)

 

In terms of fish I want to add a pair of designer clowns, maybe six line wrasse, goby? a shrimp or two. Any other suggestions??

 

Equipment:

Radion G3

Sicce 1.5 return pump

IM Ghost skimmer

Cobalt neotherm 75w heater (2x)

Tunze osmolator

Apex controller

Bubble magus triple doser

 

Currently have the radion running for about 10 hours at ~40% with (4 hours ramp up/down) Will mess around with it more once I get some livestock in there. Any suggestions for a good schedule regarding this type of tank?

 

Comments/suggestions/ideas for this tank are highly appreciated. Thanks guys!

[lkoechle]

Welcome!

 

I think your stock list sounds good. You should definitely look at some other tanks of similar size for stocking ideas if you want.

 

I can't wait to set my 25 lagoon up. We just broke down my 85 in May when we moved across the country. I started with nanos though

 

For cycling, I would add some ammonia so you can see what actually going on. I use pure janitorial ammonia for all of my tanks when starting. It lets me start with a measurable amount of ammonia so I can monitor the entire process. Just a thought

 

And pictures please!

I would also like to see how the sicce fits. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to upgrade the pump and what to.

[Cristiand]

The sicce 1.5 fits great had to mod the tubing. I T'ed it off with a barbed T and 1/2in tubing then had it go straight up to the returns so the "middle" of the chamber is pretty open. I have 2x 75w Neotherm heaters in there and my ATO switch. A little tight but works well.

[Cristiand]

So decided to clean up the wiring a bit. I attached the EB8 and Apex unit to a piece of plywood and wire tied everything behind for a cleaner look. The weird thing about it is that after I hooked everything up the amp reading on my apex went from 2.5 to 3.4. Any reason why this would happen? Everything is hooked up in the same outlets as before. Nothing's changed. Not sure why the amps went up. Any ideas??

 

Anyway here are some pics of the setup. Wish the color matched and didn't have to use shims to hold it in place but this is best I could do and honestly didn't wanna do any more work lol.

 

Also waiting on a new ATO container to arrive in a few days

 

Questions/comments/ideas always welcome

[driftsaru]

It's coming along really nice!

 

In regards to your stocking list, I pretty much have the same in my tank as of right now. I feel that it's the perfect amount. My one problem is, aside from my phantom clowns, the gobies and shrimp don't really hang out around the front. When I feed the tank, everyone starts coming out of the woodwork. It's pretty comical.

[Cristiand]

Thanks. I plan on doing weekly water changes, have a skimmer running, I'm gonna run some chaeto at some point as well as a gfo/carbon reactor or maybe just chemipure. So I plan on have this tank pretty stocked so I might add one more fish than mentioned above. Just don't wanna do the "usual" stuff like chrmis, damsel, cardinal. So still looking for something different

[Cristiand]

Tank running for over a week. Nitrates, Nitrites and Ammonia all good (tested at LFS) so I added 5 hermit crabs. All still alive and doing fine after 3 days. Will do a water change tomorrow, retest parameters and possibly get some clowns in.

[Cristiand]

So the tank finally cycled and all the parameters are in order. Added a pair of phantom clowns and RBTA. clowns are doing good swimming all over the place. The RBTA obviously started moving and is in a crevice under a rock but doing well. Going to leave it alone for the next few weeks and see where it settles. Hopefully somewhere in view lol. Anyway here are some pics of the clowns (sorry for the blue saturation)

 

[Groot]

looking good I like it!

[cherokee2871]

Looks great man just got my 25 up and running start cycle tomorrow.

[Nomoreammo]

Looks awesome. Does the stock pump not do the job with 211 GPH? I always see people switch to a Sicce 1.5

[Cristiand]

The stock pump is kinda loud and weak IMO. I wanted a little more flow so I upgrade to the sicce 1.5. Very satisfied with it.

[kimberbee]

The stock pump is kinda loud and weak IMO. I wanted a little more flow so I upgrade to the sicce 1.5. Very satisfied with it.

I'm probably one of the very few people that have not upgraded any of my stock pumps. But that's mostly die to being lazy and cheap!

 

I love my lagoon tank!

[Cristiand]

Here are some more/better pics of the clowns and RBTA. They haven't decided to host the RBTA yet but it's only been a little over a week. Hopefully their realize that's their new home lol

[Rural]

looking good!

 

"mainly sps" with a RBTA would be challenging i feel, my flow is up there and my RFA hides from it...

[Cristiand]

looking good!

 

"mainly sps" with a RBTA would be challenging i feel, my flow is up there and my RFA hides from it...

 

yea I know that might be an issue but I wanted the RBTA for the clowns. I'm waiting on two mp10's to come this week after which i'll set the flow i want and see if the nem moves. I think with the rock work i have there might be a few spots in between the two islands that might be protected from flow. we'll see i guess.

[reefhound]

sweet.. another Lagoon looking good

[cherokee2871]

We are going to have to start our own forum with all these Lagoons showing up! LOL. Looks great love the Phantom Clowns

[Cristiand]

So quick update...Added two MP10s W QD for flow and they're amazing. running them at about 35% and cannot hear a thing. super quiet. Also started adding some corals and realized my alk and mag were low. Hooked up my doser and started dosing 3 part and everything is getting back in check. Some of the corals started to loose some color and realized my phosphates were high (0.2). Put in the chemipure elite in one of the media racks and GFO in a bag in the second chamber so it gets some up flow. Phospates went down. corals started to get some color back w/good polyp extension. Lesson learned: things can change very quickly in a nano tank :/

 

SPS:

Green slimer

Rose milli

Tubbs stellata monti

Superman monti

Unknown green monti

Wild Pearlberry

Strawberry shortcake (hopefully it colors back up)

Aussie Gold milli

Aussie Green table

Aussie purple/pink acro

Fiji Rainbow acro

Sarmentosa acro

 

Since I very quickly loaded up on corals think it's time to add a new fish just don't know what...

 

Currently have a pair of phantom clowns who have yet to host a RBTA and thinking of adding a combination of maybe 4 of the following. not sure if too many or not.

 

Fish wishlist:

Clown goby

Court jester goby

High fin red banded goby

Purple fire fish

Sixline wrasse maybe?

Blue-spotted jawfish

Yellow watchman goby w/pistol shrimp?

Yasha goby

Purple dottyback

Orchid dottyback

 

Any other livestock suggestions are appreciated.

 

Also here's a recent FTS.

 

 

[lkoechle]

 

yea I know that might be an issue but I wanted the RBTA for the clowns. I'm waiting on two mp10's to come this week after which i'll set the flow i want and see if the nem moves. I think with the rock work i have there might be a few spots in between the two islands that might be protected from flow. we'll see i guess.

 

I wouldn't worry about the flow. My RBTA in 85 parked itself right infront of the return as well as the flow path of my MP40 (and there was another mp40 in the tank). It did great (the one in my sig).

[Kyl]

Currently have a pair of phantom clowns who have yet to host a RBTA and thinking of adding a combination of maybe 4 of the following. not sure if too many or not.

My clowns were put in the tank last November, and finally started hosting the RBTA last month. Bubbletip went in around January, so almost a year for them to start, and the male is the one that initiated things (and is now kicked out of it most of the time!). Give it time and it should happen!

 

 

 

Fish wishlist:

Court jester goby -- Liked mine while he was alive, will be trying again when the LFS has new stock (blaming his death on dinos)

Purple fire fish -- Both of the Firefish I tried in my 20 jumped out, and I always have the cover on except for water changes or moving frags.

Sixline wrasse maybe? -- Sixlines I am told can be quite the menace to everything else in the tank and any loose frags

Yellow watchman goby w/pistol shrimp? -- I had a Randal's Goby and Candycane Pistol shrimp. Saw them for a few days at first then they decided to live behind my rear rocks, never saw them for weeks at a time.

 

 

Any other livestock suggestions are appreciated.

Put some notations on your stocking ideas list. If you want a small wrasse, I would really consider a pink-streaked wrasse or one of the Pygmy Wrasses. Cryptic and will hide somewhat, but they're neat to watch when accustomed to the tank and yourself. Also a big fan of Blennies, have had a Bi-colour and now a Tailspot in the tank. Tailspot will stay smaller, and has a funny personality.

 

It really depends what you want out of your stock, colouring, behavior, fulfilling a function, etc. For the 20 I'm still trying to source Greenbanded Gobies, you might want to check them out too. Unusual look and from what I've seen they're very interesting to watch.

 

Good luck and great work on your tank!

[Cristiand]

My clowns were put in the tank last November, and finally started hosting the RBTA last month. Bubbletip went in around January, so almost a year for them to start, and the male is the one that initiated things (and is now kicked out of it most of the time!). Give it time and it should happen!

 

 

Put some notations on your stocking ideas list. If you want a small wrasse, I would really consider a pink-streaked wrasse or one of the Pygmy Wrasses. Cryptic and will hide somewhat, but they're neat to watch when accustomed to the tank and yourself. Also a big fan of Blennies, have had a Bi-colour and now a Tailspot in the tank. Tailspot will stay smaller, and has a funny personality.

 

It really depends what you want out of your stock, colouring, behavior, fulfilling a function, etc. For the 20 I'm still trying to source Greenbanded Gobies, you might want to check them out too. Unusual look and from what I've seen they're very interesting to watch.

 

Good luck and great work on your tank!

 

Thanks for the feedback on the stock list. Def considering the pink streaked wrasse. think it'll be a good addition. I'm generally looking for peaceful fish that will be active and swim around. I would like to have this tank fully stocked w/corals and maybe 4-6 fish and a few inverts. We'll see how it progresses over time. Prob will add another fish within the next month.

[do not smoke the reef(er)]

So the tank finally cycled and all the parameters are in order. Added a pair of phantom clowns and RBTA. clowns are doing good swimming all over the place. The RBTA obviously started moving and is in a crevice under a rock but doing well. Going to leave it alone for the next few weeks and see where it settles. Hopefully somewhere in view lol. Anyway here are some pics of the clowns (sorry for the blue saturation)

 

i have some similar clowns! Tank is looking good. Can't wait to get my MP 10

[Cristiand]

i have some similar clowns! Tank is looking good. Can't wait to get my MP 10

 

thanks. mp10 are awesome. provide great flow and the QD are virtually silent

[catsofat]

very nice