ADA 60p Soft Coral Mangrove Peninsular - Long overdue update

[East1]

Still amazed that I got onto reefbuilders!

 

After some deliberation I removed the current fish stock barring the cardinal, I want to be able to keep smaller fish and shrimp without fear of the plectranthias eating them

 

I fear I'll get flamed for this, but I'm a firm believer of water quality and available food over tank size is what keeps most of our inhabitants happy (obviously not all fish, I'm referring more to the cryptic portion of reef fish that rarely stray from crevices and overhangs)

I don't think it matters to them weather you've got them in a small box that holds 5 gallons or a small box that holds 50 gallons, they're still enclosed but I believe that synergises with their natural behaviour.

 

ANYWAY I got these:

 

 

the shrimp is a Periclimenes imperator, from what I read there's a mixed opinion between them needing a nudibranch or sea cucmber host, I'm going to see what happens here.

I'm not too sure on the trimma, I believe it's annosum. I have two of each of the nanogobies but they disappeared into the rockwork already

 

The angel has been nipping my SPS but that's expected, she did clear my acro of some hydroids which is cool, I hope she'll trim down some of the macroalgae overgrowth I've got at the back. It also amazes me that she spends over half her time hidden from sight despite my tank's small size. I'll probably look to upgrade to an ADA 30c or Mini M in the next months

[East1]

It's with a heavy heart that I announce that the 1.5gal pico is no longer running.

 

^{spoiler: there's a link you'll want to see in this post}

[East1]

[yoshii]

Congrats on the Reefbuilders article!

And the upgrade looks very nice! Details?

[East1]

it's still dusty

[East1]

The upgrade was primarily because

 

• my tank was full as hell
• my dwarf angel wasn't really gonna spend that much time in there
• my tank was too full to clean properly
• I needed more flow, because my tank was too full

tl;dr my tank was full

 

It's just the glass display that was changed, it's a hand-drilled (with a dremel, it took an hour) Evolution Aqua tank, they're a new manufacturer and their tanks are absolutely gorgeous, cheaper than ADA and just as good to look at, the glass is low iron but has a blue tinge instead of the clear we're used to in ADA.

I got a WP10 for flow and it's so, so much better than my old closed loop, I'm glad I did the upgrade.

 

I got the idea for the scape from Brad's mangrove nano, but I just used live rock to retain the slope, hopefully that plus the flow angle should keep it as it is.

[East1]

I really, really miss the tiny tank, but the better flow opportunities and scape, as well as not having to seperate corals every day is great

 

[k4ndyk1ng]

Looks fantastic, what are the dimensions of the new tank?

[East1]

Thanks! it's a 30cm cube, basically an ADA 30c from a different company with slightly bluer glass

[jc2014]

Awesome tank! Where can I get super long tweezers like the ones in post #257 ?

[East1]

They're only about 30cm long, I used eBay but I know ADA and the planted tank brands have a number of variations, these seem decent for the price

[East1]

 

Turns out the more passive damsels make a decent shoaling fish

[East1]

Final year dissertation is really taking it out of me! I'll have some commentary and photos up ASAP though

[k4ndyk1ng]

I like the bigger tank better, what is the yellow fish, think I missed it

[East1]

It's a juvenile Lemonpeel angel, she's almost entirely lost her spot now, though.

[East1]

Dissertation due day is the best day in the world. I feel like I've given birth, not just developed a cement composite and written about it.

 

I got some photos, I've yet to do a proper write up for my old 1.5 G but that will come soon^tm

 

[k4ndyk1ng]

why isnt this totm?

[teenyreef]

Looks great! And congratulations on the new baby! I mean, dissertation

[JR!]

might just be one of the best builds i have ever read through. well done

[East1]

Update time!
(I just pressed the back button and lost this all, damnit)

I've had issues maintaining coral colours in my SPS despite dosing nitrate and the colour elements (Potassium, Iron, Iodene and lesser trace elements) daily. I've upped my fishload twice over the last week to include a royal gramma and a flasher wrasse now and it's really had an impressive impact on the colors of the tank!

My fish stock is upto 11 including the new additions; 4 trimma / eviota gobies; the 3 damsels (one died, one was relegated to the sump due to agression) as well as the angel and latezonatus.

I think my tank can handle this due to the mangrove growing rapidly as well as the skimmer performing impressively with the AIO biopellets I run. I'm going to start testing po4 and no3 just to see if the tank can deal with it long term, but it's impressive as hell to see.

[Reefkid88]

Awesome looking tank,so what it's a 12" 7.5 gallon tank ? And housing 14 fish,sweet Jesus...

[East1]

Yeah, I do run a skimmer rated for 100 gallons or so, which helps and if you include the sump it works out to about 15-20 gallons with the skimmer body. I've slowly increased the fish till I stopped seeing coral paling and too much territory related agression, only the dwarf angel flares at the damsels occasionally now

[k4ndyk1ng]

Yeah, I do run a skimmer rated for 100 gallons or so, which helps and if you include the sump it works out to about 15-20 gallons with the skimmer body. I've slowly increased the fish till I stopped seeing coral paling and too much territory related agression, only the dwarf angel flares at the damsels occasionally now

does that skimmer even skim lol.

and wow! that many fish!

[Reefkid88]

Regardless of skimming and sump,that LemonPeel should be in at least a 70 (Live Aquaria suggest) and the Whip Fin (I believe is what you have) Wrasse calls for a 50 tank with ample swimming room for both. Just my .02 lol

[East1]

does that skimmer even skim lol.

and wow! that many fish!

Yeah, it pulls mostly thick gunk but I feed 4-5 times a day on top of dosing phyto/reef roids and amino acids.

I really like the dense reef look, I'm probably gonna upgrade with the angelfish growing, She won't be this small in 3 months

 

Regardless of skimming and sump,that LemonPeel should be in at least a 70 (Live Aquaria suggest) and the Whip Fin (I believe is what you have) Wrasse calls for a 50 tank with ample swimming room for both. Just my .02 lol

I'm of the school of thought that water quality is more important than tank size, you're still taking an animal with no limits and putting it in a box, you want that box to encourage it's health and mimic it's surrounds, most reef-associated life has a territory measured in square inches so it doesn't much impact, Tangs and larger fish are a different boat.

 

either way, an adult lemonpeel, I'd fully agree, they grow to about the size of most Majestic angels that get shipped out, it's impressive for a 'dwarf', The wrasse I agree with to a lesser degree, fairy wrasses hang about in the high flow and don't really swim around, they just like unobstructed water. Either way, this tank will probably be upgraded in a few months as it's younger sibling.