ParanoidObseshun's 5.5 Gal AIO Reef

[ParanoidObseshun]

Here is a post on the first actual Nano I got into. I built it as a winter break project. Since I was off of college for a month over Christmas break. So for fun I wanted to build a small Nano Tank. With liking the look of everything hidden in the tank I decided to build an All In One. I started this build around December 24th 2009. So I am going to start with the progress from the beginning until now.

 

I got a 5.5 gal AGA from Pet Supplies plus as it was the place that had the best deal on this size tank.

I wanted to build an internal oveflow inside the tank. So I got some supplies from where my dad works and I cut the sheet to size, cut some teeth for the overflow. Bent the material using a vice and a heatgun. Then drilled holes in the internal baffle, and both sides of the overflow as I was going to put some outflow pipes through it.

I mounted the overflow into the tank and sealed it with silicone. I then paint the back wall of the tank black, leaving the glass where the overflow was unpainted as I wanted to see everything that was going on in there. proved very helpful multiple times sofar.

[ParanoidObseshun]

The next step was to insert the water pump and attach it to the loc-line that I bought. This took me a while as the compartments in the overflow were so small that I could barely get my hand inside. Mostly was just able to get my fingers down in to grab something that was inches from the surface. [i](this is the one problem I have with this tank, shouldnt have made these things so small haha. Or should of atleast done the loc-line differently to give myself more room.)[/i]

Here is a picture from the back of the tank of the overflow. The one compartment is for the water pump, tubing, and the heater. The compartment on the left is where the water flows into the overflow. In here is my fuge. I also have a small container of carbon, and at the bottom between the 2 compartments is a sponge to keep all the crap from getting sucked back into the pump.

 

So after testing out all the seals and the water movement I stuck the light that I bought for this tank on top.

I bought an 18" Current Nova Exteme T5HO 36 watt light. 18 watts of 10k, and 18 watt of actinic. This has been a great light for me and does wonders for this tank. I love it.

[ParanoidObseshun]

Because it was a small tank I didnt want anything to get into it, or anything jumping out, or even too much water evaporation. So I went to lowes and got a glass lid cut for the tank. It fits across the whole top but leaves a gap that is between 1/4-1/2 of an inch for the wires to come out, and for a little oxygen exchange.

The next step was that I added the sand to the tank. With the sand I mixed in a little bit of crushed coral. (At the time I thought it was a good idea, but now I wish I had just put sand in instead.)

 

It was like this for a while, I had added some chaeto and other macro algae from the other tank, and filled it with water from a water change from the larger tank I have. This began my hunt for live rock for the tank. I knew I wanted a good amount in there so the tank would be healthy and stable. But I didnt want huge chunks that would fill the whole thing. So a few weeks later I finally found some live rock at a good deal of $2 a lb. Got about 10+ lbs into this tank and it fit in pretty well. Kinda gave me the look I was going for. Had some nice ledges and some nice caves.

 

A little while later I put a few small frags of corals that I got from my other tank and placed it into the tank.

FTS

Left side of tank

Right side of tank

Some of these corals have been in my tank the whole time. Some have grown well, and some have grown slowly. And some I moved because I didnt like the look of them.

[ParanoidObseshun]

It was only set up at my house for a few weeks before college started back up. Because the tank was so small and I felt it needed more attention than just once a week like my larger tank I decided to take it with me and place it on my desk in my dorm room. It was fairly easy to move to school as there wasnt a whole lot inside the tank. It was great having it on my desk as I could always look at it while doing work since it was right next to my laptop. Got distracted ALOT from doing work because this tank kept drawing my eyes towards it.

I added a couple more frags from other hobbyists and things started to really add up in the tank. At the time I had a CUC which includes 2 margarita snails, one quarter size, one dime size. They did wonder with cleaning. I also added 2 nassarius snails to eat poo and sift through the sand. And I had 3 blue leg hermit crabs, all of which were pretty small. I had 1 fish in the tank. It was a war paint clown goby, he was real shy at first and always hid between the back glass and the rock. only came out to feed, but started quickly eating from my hand.

 

Here is the next FTS after getting a few more corals since being at school.

[ParanoidObseshun]

About a week or so later I picked up my next coral for my tank. I had a friend pick it up from a Frag swap since I was unable to attend because of school events. I reserved it as it said it was a bright green candy cane. When I got it the candy cane wasnt what I thought it would be. Barely any green on these things. It was mostly a pale yellow with neon yellow mouths. It also had a slight powder coating of green on the top of the heads. This frag started with 16 small heads.

Picture doesnt really show much as it was a crappy one, but you get the idea.

Here is a better picture of these candy canes.

 

Here are some other closeup pictures of the corals I had in my tank at the time.

 

Here is a picture of that zoa frag above, the 4 different zoas on a rock fragment. This was taken a month later. got some pretty good growth.

 

Then a few weeks later I just cut 2 of these zoas from my other tank, because I couldnt get the matt off of the rock I just cut the zoas mid stalk. I wanted to see what they would look like underneath better lighting. These grew quick for me, quickly healed their cuts and spread out new matt popping up multiple baby heads.

[ParanoidObseshun]

A few weeks went by with my tank remaining the same and I didnt really add anything else. On a regular trip to petco I noticed that they had a real small Bicolor Blenny. I was immediately attached to this guy as he came right to the front of the glass when I walked up. Since he was only about an inch and a half I bought him and added him to my Nano. He fit right in and claimed several holes in the rocks as his home. He cleaned the tank up real nice, and even cleaned the shells of my hermit crabs. He was always nomming at the glass, and it only took him 3 days to start eating pellets that I had been feeding the corals and the clown goby. He did great in my tank for over a month, then one day I had to leave school for about 7 days because of a break, and we were forced to leave the dorms. So not wanting to pack the tank and everything up I decided to leave it there. When I had returned everything was doing great, even after 7 days. I was looking around but couldnt find my Blenny. Then I spotted him, he had managed to make it through the small quarter inch gap in my lid and was laying on my desk near my pens. It was far to late as he was all dry. Kinda sucked as he was my favorite fish. I still plan to get another one one day, when I find a small one. Nothing beats the personalities on these guys, Very Interactive.

 

Then a few weeks later it was time for a frag swap. On April 24th I had just got back from a fragswap in good ol Williamsport, PA. I picked up a good amount of corals at the swap, and I had also picked up some new frags the weeks before it.

 

Before the swap I had picked up a frag of kryptonite candy cane, and red with green center candy cane. Also picked up 2 frags of zoas. I had also picked up a small pajama cardinal.

 

After the frag swap I now added a few more things to my nano. I added a 4 headed duncan, Black Sun Coral, Nuclear Green Palys, Red People Eaters, small frag of unknown pinkish red zoas, a green and purple with white zipper mark acans, and a small elegance coral, and a small plate coral.

Here is the picture after getting back from the swap.

Here are some closeups of the new stuff.

 

Well it only took me a day to realize that my tank was now too packed. I had reserved the elegance early and bought it as a frag. I did not realize that it was going to be the size that it was. I had it in the tank for a few days because I was going to wait to take it out until I went home next. Within that time limit it killed several stomatella snails, both my nassarius snails, my big margarita snail. It was also stinging my nearby zoas.

 

So with the upcoming weekend I took the elegance home and put it into my larger tank.

[ParanoidObseshun]

Here is a picture of my tank after moving the elegance to my home tank. It freed up a lot of room to move some items around so they werent so cramped.

 

Before I knew it the end of the year came flying up. I was now forced to break this tank down, put everything into small tupperware containers, and bring everything home to be re-setup there. It took a couple hours to break the tank down and set it back up. I rearranged a few things, and scraped off the yellow polyps off the middle rock. They were starting to spread to fast and werent looking as good as before. They were reaching out and stinging other more important corals. So I made room.

In the place of the yellow polyps I added a small head of Pink with silvery/blue tipped Hammer coral.

I had also gotten rid of the duncan coral in the bottom right because it was getting kinda big and taking up space. I plan on getting another duncan for this tank, but plan on getting a single head frag so it will fit in the tank better.

 

Here are some closeup pictures of the corals.

Zoa garden in the top right of the tank.

These zoas have been in this tank since day 1. Started out as a 16 polyp frag. Now look at them.

 

Top down shot of the left side of the tank.

 

New zoas-

[Squared]

Nice tank. Very well stocked.

[ParanoidObseshun]

In the past few days here I have added some new frags to the tank. I added a few frags of zoas, Kedds reds, coco's pinks, yellow skirt eagle eyes, and radioactive dragon eyes. I also cut two orange zoas out of a colony rock I got in a trade. I also picked up an Astrea snail, and 3 nassarius snails.

Kedds Reds

Coco's Pinks

Yellow Skirt Eagle Eyes

2 zoas I cut out of a colony rock of Purple and yellow zoas

 

Nuclear green polyp forming a purple center

Possible Zombie Eyes

2 Zoas I got a couple weeks back.

Red Makassar Zoanthids got about 2 weeks ago

 

White Frogspawn, trying to find the right spot for them so they perk up.

 

Pink Hammer in the center of the tank

 

Right side of the tank, Picture is blurry because I was taking pictures of the Nassarius snall egg clusters on the glass. Laid them after being in the tank for 1 day.

[ParanoidObseshun]

Well now the post is up to date. All the past 5+ months in a few posts. I am supposed to be getting a zoa frag pack next week, hopefully on wednesday. I will post pics with updates as they happen.

[Sushi]

you did a great job on that overflow... great frags too!

 

you sure put a lot of corals in 5.5 gallons, good stuff

[ParanoidObseshun]

Just bought a couple frags today. Zoas, palys, and an SPS. Will post pictures up sometime tomorrow when I can use a better camera.

[Mr. Microscope]

Wow! That thing is stocked! Looks awesome. Nice zoa gardens. You got an amazing amount of growth in one month on that one group.

[straydog]

What are the demensions of the corner overflow/return , and what pump did you use ? Tank looks exelent.

[badfish816]

just read the whole thing.sorry about the blenny. i just saw one today at the lfs and it loved attention, but i couldn't bring it home and put it in a 3 gallon. kinda like the puppy in the window. lol. your tank looks amazing though.

[ParanoidObseshun]

The dimensions are roughly 5 1/2 inches wide, 3 1/2 deep, and 9 1/2 tall. It has 2 compartments. So the one with the pump and heater is slightly larger. Im not sure of what type of pump. It has a flow rate of about 150gph.

 

Yeah the blenny was just awesome to have in the tank. He would sit there and watch me as I did work on my laptop. He would come up to the top of the tank to get food from me. I hope to get another one someday, but it would have to be a small one, might look for other types of blennies as well. Some of them are under 2 inches, like tailspot blenny.

[badfish816]

the tribal blenny is pretty sweet. also some other sweet gobies and blenny

 

4th row from the bottom on the left:

http://www.aquacon.com/blennies_saltwaterfish.html

[ParanoidObseshun]

That blenny looks pretty sweet. Kinda like the tailspot one too. Welp its basically which one is available during the time span im looking for one, and if its small enough haha. Seriously best fish I've had though.

[badfish816]

ya. tailspot and tribal are pretty much the same fish just different colors.

[ParanoidObseshun]

Well I got some more zoanthid frags so I had to rearrange some things in my tank. I currently removed my teal candy cane colony, my bubble coral, and my frogspawn because they were taking up some space that I could use for the zoanthids. They were moved to my other tanks.

 

I took some updated pictures of the side I moved around most.

Left side of tank.

[fly_boer]

Great tank, love your zoas. Where's the SPS i don't see any ??

[Alkomist]

DUDE!!! ur lil project came out SICK!!!! really well stocked!!!!!!

u did a great job on the over flow

and ur still addin to tha tank????

[ParanoidObseshun]

I do have 2 pieces of SPS in the tank. A type of monti (Purple rim, green center, red polyps), and a red digi.

 

I am always adding to the tank, if I see something I really like and would look great in my tank I will get it, and then just move items around to my other tanks.

[ParanoidObseshun]

Its been a couple weeks since I posted anything on my Nano, and in that time I got some frags and moved some items around. I just did tank maintenance and scraped the front glass so new pictures will be posted up in a few hours.

[ParanoidObseshun]

Here are some updated pictures of my tank. Moved things more since I got more frags. And just a few pictures of some random corals.