Jump to content
Cultivated Reef

Matt's 20 Gallon


matth6761

Recommended Posts

WillWork4Frags

Great looking tank! Do you have any issues growing any specific corals? I'm thinking of making the switch from t5 ho's to LEDS for more SPS, but I don't want to spend the extra money if I don't need to.

Link to comment

Hey Matt, congrats on ToTM. Quick question, do you know what the orange growth is that is mostly on the lower left side of the tank around the zoas and above the ric garden? Is that a sponge or coraline or what? It adds so much color whatever it is.

Link to comment
Great looking tank! Do you have any issues growing any specific corals? I'm thinking of making the switch from t5 ho's to LEDS for more SPS, but I don't want to spend the extra money if I don't need to.

 

The only coral that i haven't seen awesome results with is the acros. The specimens in my tank are alive, but i've seen barely any growth out of them.

 

 

 

Hey Matt, congrats on ToTM. Quick question, do you know what the orange growth is that is mostly on the lower left side of the tank around the zoas and above the ric garden? Is that a sponge or coraline or what? It adds so much color whatever it is.

 

I think it's some sort of coraline. It grows deep purple in the shade and orange-ish, almost yellow in the brighter areas of the tank. The growth rate really stepped up when I got rid of all the astrea starfish too.

Edited by matth6761
Link to comment

Is that sand or crushed you have on the bottom ? Tank is beautiful ;) . Makes me want to tear down and start over. Ive got the slim(red). :(

Link to comment
Is that sand or crushed you have on the bottom ? Tank is beautiful ;) . Makes me want to tear down and start over. Ive got the slim(red). :(

 

Just sand. It's that live sand stuff that petco sells.

Link to comment
I think it's some sort of coraline. It grows deep purple in the shade and orange-ish, almost yellow in the brighter areas of the tank. The growth rate really stepped up when I got rid of all the astrea starfish too.

 

Awesome, consider yourself lucky! Those colors of coraline are pretty rare indeed.

Link to comment

Weekends are special to me, because not only do I not have to work, but I get to witness a special part of my reef's day. I'll usually pour myself a cup of coffee and park myself in front of the tank just as the lights come on. All the night-time critters, such as snails and pods, retreat back to their hiding places and the corals slowly open up and inflate.

 

I thought I'd make a video and share it with you all. It's short and sweet. I recommend going full screen and watching it in HD if your connection can handle it. Click the image below to view the YouTube video.

 

Link to comment
nor_cal_nano

haha I do the same thing. Love having my coffee and scoping out the tank as the lights come on. I usually sit at the table and watch for a few minutes...then I find myself walking around the room, looking at it from different angles. As if it had changed or something lol.

 

That's a cool time lapse. The ricordea opening towards the beginning was tripping me out.

Link to comment
haha I do the same thing. Love having my coffee and scoping out the tank as the lights come on. I usually sit at the table and watch for a few minutes...then I find myself walking around the room, looking at it from different angles. As if it had changed or something lol.

 

That's a cool time lapse. The ricordea opening towards the beginning was tripping me out.

 

Watch the lobo. It changes color! :P

Link to comment
Deleted User 6

Matt, congrats on TOTM! How do you like the ZeroWater pitcher? Does it require a lot of filter changes? Is it really 0 TDS? I'm thinking it might be a nice replacement for my RO/DI unit now that I downgraded to a 3g pico. Do you use it for WC water as well, or just topoff?

Link to comment
Matt, congrats on TOTM! How do you like the ZeroWater pitcher? Does it require a lot of filter changes? Is it really 0 TDS? I'm thinking it might be a nice replacement for my RO/DI unit now that I downgraded to a 3g pico. Do you use it for WC water as well, or just topoff?

 

The ZeroWater pitcher has been great. I've tested it with a few TDS meters and it's really zero. I havent had to replace the filter yet, and I've been using it for almost 6 months now and it still comes out at zero. I only go through maybe 1/5 a gallon in a day. I use it only for top off because it takes so dang long for the water to go through. Filling up a 5 gallon bucket would take a weekend. :-P

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...
I thought I'd make a video and share it with you all. It's short and sweet. I recommend going full screen and watching it in HD if your connection can handle it. Click the image below to view the YouTube video.

 

 

I absolutely love your videos. I'd love to set up a nano for my classroom this year and yours is a huge inspiration.

Link to comment

Just got started in the hobby and your tank is without a doubt the main inspiration. Amazing work...

Edited by CKphl
Link to comment

Matt- wanted to know what your thoughts are on the zerowater pitcher you mentioned in your tank write up. You say in the same write up to only use RO water. I don't have an RO system even though its probably worth the cost down the road, but for now, I only have a 10 gallon system. If I could use the pitcher for top offs and changes to mix salt I would definitely buy it. However, I posted a topic about the pitcher in general discussion and some people had different views on how the overall success of using the pitcher would result. As many people have mentioned before me although, your tank looks fantastic while using the zerowater pitcher.

Link to comment

I moved the 20 gallon into my new house earlier this week. What a task that was. I had no one to help, so I had to choreograph the move perfectly. I pretty much put everything that wasn't glued down in my emergency ice chest and filled it with water from the tank. I then drained enough water from the main display to the point where I could lift it. I put everything in the car and hauled booty across town. I only splashed a little water and dislodged a couple of corals from their homes. There unfortunately was one casualty, a new green monti got a little smooshed. But once I got everything set back up at the new house and fired the pumps back up, the dust settled and everything looked great.

 

5894373272_7135405d0e_z.jpg

 

5893893987_f8112651ec_z.jpg

Link to comment
Matt- wanted to know what your thoughts are on the zerowater pitcher you mentioned in your tank write up. You say in the same write up to only use RO water. I don't have an RO system even though its probably worth the cost down the road, but for now, I only have a 10 gallon system. If I could use the pitcher for top offs and changes to mix salt I would definitely buy it. However, I posted a topic about the pitcher in general discussion and some people had different views on how the overall success of using the pitcher would result. As many people have mentioned before me although, your tank looks fantastic while using the zerowater pitcher.

 

I only use it for top offs. Since I only loose a small amount of water to evaporation, it works great, but I imagine using it as a single source of water would be a bit time consuming since it takes a long time for the water to filter through and can only filter a small amount of water at a time.

 

lol, he said booty.

 

:P

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...