Clown's 5g Reef

[Clown79]

My spec 5 was originally a planted tank but it wasn't for me. I just wasn't good with plants.

 

So I transferred my betta, emptied the tank. Cleaned with vinegar, cleaned all equipment, set a plan into motion.

 

My process for this build was a little different than I usually do.

 

I'm attempting to build this tank with bare minimums and a tight budget. Trying to use what I have and not buying new items. 

 

"What can be done with what I have" tank.

 

 

I used branching rock this time as I've never done an aquascape with it.  Most of it is live rock, 2 pieces are dry.

 

I purchased the rocks 2 weeks prior to set up and they were in sw with a pump so they were cycling already in a bucket.

Tested ammonia twice and it was at 0.25ppm

 

I saved waterchange water from my established tanks for this build.

I didn't want to add dirty water to a new tank so I filtered it.

 

I ran an aquaclear on my bucket with floss and carbon. Added a powerhead in there and within 4hrs the water was crystal clear. 

 

So the tank was 70% established water and 30% new water.

 

 caribsea aragamax sand which was rinsed really well.

 

I made a media basket from eggcrate and I'm using an aqueon pro heater.

 

Stock pump in use- I'd love to use a spinner but it won't fit?

 

Waiting for my gooseneck to arrive for the par38 bulb I will be using.

 

My plan is a softy tank.

 

My plan is a tail spot blenny. Would love to do a clown goby as well...we'll see. 

[Thrassian Atoll]

Would a tail spot Blenny be too big?  I wouldn't mind having a bigger fish than our clown goby in our Evo.  

[Christopher Marks]

Great looking aquascape, I like what you did with the branches. Maybe you can get some zoanthids to grow up the towers.

[WV Reefer]

42 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

My spec 5 was originally a planted tank but it wasn't for me.

I transferred my betta to a 3g and decided to do another reef. I have a ton of stuff for sw so I only had to buy rocks.

 

I used branching rock this time as I've never done an aquascape with it.  Most of it is live rock, 2 pieces are dry.

 

Standard caribsea aragamax sand which was rinsed really well.

 

I made a media basket from eggcrate and I'm using an aqueon pro heater.

 

Waiting for my gooseneck to arrive for the par38 bulb I will be using.

 

My plan is a softy tank. I have a toadstool for it already-its in my 10g waiting. Going to frag my green nepthea and xenia to add later.

 

Hoping to get some cool mushrooms and zoas to add as well.

 

My plan is a tail spot blenny. Would love to do a clown goby as well...we'll see. 

 I love branches but am usually too intimidated to even try that route!  ———I think it looks really good so far.   

[Clown79]

7 hours ago, TILTON said:

Would a tail spot Blenny be too big?  I wouldn't mind having a bigger fish than our clown goby in our Evo.  

Tsb is really small.

Ppl keep clowns in 5g now. I wouldn't as they grow bigger and are messier.

7 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

Great looking aquascape, I like what you did with the branches. Maybe you can get some zoanthids to grow up the towers.

Thank you. I want to. I have had no luck keeping gsp (I know, odd) and only success with zoas is in my 10g.

I'm going to attempt zoas in the 5g.

7 hours ago, WV Reefer said:

 I love branches but am usually too intimidated to even try that route!  ———I think it looks really good so far.   

Thanks. 

[Friendly]

I like the driftwood look, Clown.    

[1967type1]

Like the idea of the TSB. Ive always hated putting a clown in a 5 but I know its do able. My GF was able to keep a clown goby and a perc in her spec 5 till they mysteriously died. Can't wait to see another build from you.

[Clown79]

1 minute ago, 1967type1 said:

Like the idea of the TSB. Ive always hated putting a clown in a 5 but I know its do able. My GF was able to keep a clown goby and a perc in her spec 5 till they mysteriously died. Can't wait to see another build from you.

I think 2 small fish is possible.

 

It's frustrating not knowing why a fish mysteriously dies.

 

Thanks ?

[Lula_Mae]

The branch rock is so neat!  I've always thought it would be cool to do one with it.  I have one piece I got dry at an LFS and have never used lol.

[Clown79]

On 06/11/2017 at 6:01 PM, Christopher Marks said:

Great looking aquascape, I like what you did with the branches. Maybe you can get some zoanthids to grow up the towers.

Definitely want to do a branch of zoas, a branch of xenia, and hoping for some mushrooms too

21 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

The branch rock is so neat!  I've always thought it would be cool to do one with it.  I have one piece I got dry at an LFS and have never used lol.

Thank you.

It was different aquascaping with it, especially in a small tank! 

[Clown79]

So to keep with a budget/recycle plan I....

 

Purchased liverock on sale. $3.99/pound 

Dry rock $5

 

White bristol board background $0- want to try white as it makes tanks appear larger and reflects light back into the tank.

 

Aqueon pro heater RECYCLE- used in my FW tank

 

Eggcrate media basket $0- had some already

 

Par38 24watt 50/50 RECYCLE- used on my 15g before that was upgraded

 

Par38 gooseneck  $20

 

Caribsea aragamax sand $0 - had some left over from my 15g upgrade

 

 

So far I have spent $40.

 

 

Coral plans:

 

I plan on fragging corals from my 10g

 

Green leather, Xenia, and zoas 

 

Purchased a toadstool for it and will have to buy mushrooms. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Friendly]

if there is any pico tank that can house a clownfish, I'd say it's the Spec V or Evo V. being peninsula style, if the rock is put down the center as a long ridge, the fish would have a distance oval to swim through and stay trim...theoretically.  

[Clown79]

Been a while since I updated things. Been busy the last few months.

 

 Nov

 

Cycle went really smooth. Took no more than 2 weeks. i love using liverock for not only this reason but the diversity I get in the tank from it.

 

Did the typical waterchange before adding anything. My nitrates weren't high but I was getting the ugly diatoms.

 

I added a clown goby and hermit crab to start once the tank was ready for them.

 

Clown goby is really cute but very shy. He tends to hide out in the rocks, he comes out 30 mins before lights out.

 

After adding the fish, I started adding corals. I had some zoas that I added.

 

I started getting some nasty algae. I had diatoms, bryopsis, and some sort of lettuce like algae. My tests results wouldn't be very reliable at this time because of the algae but they came out low.

 

I started attacking the algae before it could become a problem.

 

Treatment method:

 

I started peroxide spot treating.

On waterchange day , I pulled out as much of the algae as possible with tweezers. I then spot treated with 3% peroxide, I apply it directly to the area with a syringe. I then proceed with my waterchange.

 

I added purigen and a tiny amount of phosguard in my media basket

 

I was doing 2 waterchanges a week and did spot treatments during this time.

I also did peroxide treatments in between waterchanges. I turn off water movement, pull out what I can manually, then I spot treat small sections. I use 1ml of peroxide only.

I turn on my pumps after 15mins.

 

After 2 weeks it was gone.

 

 

 

this helped reduce the algae but in between waterchanges( i was doing a couple a week)

[Clown79]

December

 

I added a tailspot blenny. Super cute fish, what a character. Since adding him the clown goby comes out more. He now likes to perch in the corals. Sometimes the blenny and the goby lay in the toadstool which was added mid Nov.

 

The algae issues have gone away so I have removed the phosguard from the media basket. Nutrients seems low, tests show 0 nitrates. 

 

Not sure why the nitrates are at 0. I have 2 fish in there which are fed daily and I feed the corals once a week.

I feed the corals aquaforest build, energy, amino mix, and reef roids.

I only feed the aquaforest supplements once a week.

 

I have slowly added a few frags.

 

I added a toadstool, which isn't a frag.

 

frags added through mid nov to mid dec.

Rippin rainbow Rhodactis, orange leptastrea, and some zoas. 

 

 

 

 

[Clown79]

During the holidays, I fragged my green nepthea leather and added it to the 5g, I also fragged some xenia. Both of these are from my 10g.

 

For the leather I simply cut off one of it's fingers, dipped the coral, layed it across a rock and tied it down.

 

For the xenia, I layed frag plug bases in a container, layed the xenia on the plug bases, covered the container with mesh and waited for them to attach.

within 4 days they were attached.

 

 

[Clown79]

2018

 

Not much has been going on except 2 additions. I added a golden hammer I had in my 25g and I added some rics. I love the rics! I got them for a great deal during boxing week.

 

My nepthea has grown already, the zoas have grown too.

[TatorTaco]

Thank looks great.  I can't wait to see how much everything will take off in the next few months.  Between the toadstool and xenia, you'll have a full tank in no time!

[Clown79]

Wow, I'm so behind on my updates!

 

I last wrote about Dec.

 

Everything was fine and doing well besides my clown goby not eating anything I fed and he often hid in the rocks. His behaviour was like this from the beginning.

Blenny was active, ate well, very social.

 

Jan 10th, I woke up to my blenny laying and jerking around on the sand, breathing heavy, darted around and within a few mins he was dead. Not a single mark on his body, no red gills, no spots. 

I hate it when a fish dies , worse when you are never certain why.

 

2 Days later my glown goby was dead.

Same thing. No known reason

 

Because I wasn't certain the cause of death, I let the tank go fallow. I planned 8 weeks.

During this period I just maintained the tank as normal. The hermits entertained me. 

I couldn't wait till I could add a fish. 

 

so at this point I had hermits, snails, and corals.

 

I also switched the light. I put the Aquamaxx nemolight on this tank and Abi on my IM. The par 38 in my living room was just too bright for the eyes.

 

After the 8 week fallow period I added a blue porcelain crab. Beautiful colour on it but he hides all the time. I've seen him twice and at night only. otherwise he's always in the same area in between two rocks, I can see his antennae.

 

I run this tank differently than my others. I am testing monthly, rely on WC only, about 15% every 1 - 1.5 weeks, no dosing, daily manual top up, feed corals once a week with reef roids. My nitrate is 0 but its API which I have run against Salifert before and Salifert would read 2 when API read 0.

 

My toadstool had grown so quickly I had to sell it. My leptasrea didn't make it. I have no clue why. My Nepthea has grown a lot, my rics have grownm zoas have spread, xenia has been fragged 3 times.

 

I added a frogspawn which was not happy in my 10g. It was getting bleached. lost most of its colour but it is very happy in the Pico. After a few weeks it started gaining the purple in its tentacles back.

I also added superman mushrooms. The tank needed some red.

So the tank is full of coral. 

 

After 11 weeks I added a bicolor blenny. He will be the only fish in this tank. He was extremely shy for a long time. He has finally started coming around and finally eats any food that I feed. The only thing is, he is still quite skittish when anyone gets close to the tank. He hides.

 

Anyone else experience extreme shyness in fish that are kept alone? whenever I have only 1 fish, they are not social but once they have a tank mate, they become social.

He likes to sleep on the small fountain pump I have in there for added flow.

 

I also made a new media basket out of the plastic craft canvas. I like it better than the egg crate.

 

I like the fluval tank. I wish I had not done the tonga and had done island aquascape instead. The narrowness of this tank is limiting. 

 

I haven't done much upgrading, it's hard to on this tank. I wanted a stronger pump so I could use a spinner attachment. I'm not having luck finding a pump between 160 - 200gph that will fit in the tiny chamber. It's the one down fall of converting this tank to SW.

 

So I had a few issues with this tank but overall it's been good.

 

 

 

[Ranjib]

Sorry about the losses , but the tank look  nice even now

[Clown79]

Wow, it's been quite a while since I did an update.

 

I finally upgraded the return pump and choices are limited for the Fluval Spec V. 

 

I went with the Aqueon 600. I had to do a simple mod but  it's popping off one piece of plastic and it fit perfectly. Not only has it added a nice flow but it's very quiet.

 

Highly recommend the pump for upgrading in small tanks.

 

My tank has turned into an LPS tank, pretty much Euphyllia dominated.

 

I have 2 different Gorgs, green hammers, yellow jacket frogspawn, golden hammers, and mutant hammers, I have an orange acan in the front, some zoas and rics.

 

My porcelain crab didn't make it but my Blenny is still doing great.

 

The Blenny - her name is Peekaboo or boo for short, she's very skittish. The most skittish I have seen a blenny before. She acts like a goby. Swims around a bit but generally hangs out in her " homes".

 

She's so skittish that something spooked her and she went flying out the tank! She made it through 1/4" mesh. Luckily we were home to get her back into the tank before the cats got her.

 

I doubled up the mesh on my DIY lid. Now the squares are far smaller.

 

 

I think she would do better with another fish in there but I'm not certain what I could put in there since it's only 5.5g.

 

 

Other than that, things have been going smoothly in the tank.

 

I do waterchanges every 1.5-2 weeks, I do 2g the most. 

 

I test monthly and do no dosing in this tank. Everything is very happy in this tank and even with feeding the corals 2 times a week, the fish quite a lot, my nutrients are still low and I have had no algae outbreaks since the beginning.

 

The one things I wish I had done was 2 islands in this tank rather than the tonga branch. It just would have provided more aquascaping room.

 

 

[Newstead]

I like the tonga in there! Beautiful job with this tank. I still have one I used as a QT... this is making me want to do something with it again!

[Clown79]

24 minutes ago, Newstead said:

I like the tonga in there! Beautiful job with this tank. I still have one I used as a QT... this is making me want to do something with it again!

Thank you.

 

It's a fun tank and super easy to maintain.

 

I really wanted to do dwarf seahorses but they are impossible to get here now

[Daniel91]

Looks great! DIY mesh lid? Did you follow a specific guide or can you share one with me?

[Clown79]

Ya it's a diy lid.

 

I didn't really follow any particular plan. I looked online and found it was a simple diy.

 

I used 1/4" mesh I purchased from my reef supply store.

 

Went to the hardware store, purchased window frame supplies. 

 

 

Measure, cut, put together. 

[Pjanssen]

37 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Ya it's a diy lid.

 

I didn't really follow any particular plan. I looked online and found it was a simple diy.

 

I used 1/4" mesh I purchased from my reef supply store.

 

Went to the hardware store, purchased window frame supplies. 

 

 

Measure, cut, put together. 

Yep. Simple as that.