Plain Jane 10

[Type-H20]

This 10 gallon was started December 16, 2017, but the rock was cylcling for about 5 months prior to that.  I wasn’t in a hurry because I wasn’t sure if I was going to go small and fishless or a bit bigger with fish.  This is my 4th reef tank.  I started out with a 10 gallon, then a 5.5 and then a 20 long.  These three predecessors all failed due to a lack of patience and/or not sticking to the maintenance routine.  This time around I took it slow.

 

Tank:  Standard 10 gallon

Lighting:  Kessil A80

Filtration:  AC50 running Matrix and Chemipure Blue with filter floss as needed

Skimmer:  None (15-20% water change weekly)

Flow:  Jebao PP-4 (on lowest setting)

Heater:  Hydor 75watt

ATO:   Osmolator Nano (not set up yet)

Reservoir:  Innovative Marine (not set up yet - still in the box)

Rock:  Approx 8lbs

Sand:  Caribsea dry sand (not crazy about it - not fine enough)

Fish:  Royal Gramma

Coral:  Zoa, Paly and LPS

 

Here are some photos:

[A Little Blue]

I like it. Taking it slow pays off. 

[Christopher Marks]

Agreed, slow and steady pays off in this hobby! Great beginnings with your nano reef @Type-H20, much respect to the classic 10 gallon glass tank! 

 

Do you see your royal gramma much or does it mostly hide in the rocks?

[Type-H20]

On 4/28/2018 at 10:38 AM, Christopher Marks said:

Agreed, slow and steady pays off in this hobby! Great beginnings with your nano reef @Type-H20, much respect to the classic 10 gallon glass tank! 

 

Do you see your royal gramma much or does it mostly hide in the rocks?

The RG spends most of its time in the rocks.  He comes out for feedings, shooting in and out of the rocks to eat.  

 

I picked the standard 10 because it is the most generic tank ever and there’s just something cool about turning it into something amazing - well, not amazing yet, right now it’s still more of a frag tank with rocks, but soon, (I hope) 😎.

 

My photos suck, I know, (getting good shots is almost harder than reefing):  here’s a couple more:

[Type-H20]

Sexy 3/4 shot

[Type-H20]

Made some changes in placement and started to attach some frags directly to the rock.  Also trying a few sps frags.  

 

Some additional pics (some are pissed off cause my hands were just in there)

 

[Type-H20]

Couple of top down shots with the wave maker turned off:

[Type-H20]

Tank is cruising along, the trochus snails which comprise my cuc are doing a great job and so far the weak link in the chain (me) is keeping up on his part with regular maintenance, especially weekly water changes.  I replaced the Chemipure blue yesterday and scrubbed the glass and today the tank looks stunning 😎.

 

Playing around with the Kessil in almost 100% white setting  makes the photos come out a bit better, but no pop.  Is there a filter for an iPhone x that would help?

 

 

 

 

[A Little Blue]

Do do you know the name of those yellow zoas? 

 

[Type-H20]

2 hours ago, A Little Blue said:

Do do you know the name of those yellow zoas? 

 

I don’t & the LFS Where I got them did not have a name for them either.

[A Little Blue]

31 minutes ago, Type-H20 said:

I don’t & the LFS Where I got them did not have a name for them either.

Same thing here. I got them but never cared enough to find out what zoas are these.(not big on zoas😎) 

Here are my zoas under a little different lighting. 

[Type-H20]

3 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

Same thing here. I got them but never cared enough to find out what zoas are these.(not big on zoas😎) 

Here are my zoas under a little different lighting. 

Ha! Separated at birth!  Do your’s (grammar deficit?) look more yellow and less brown in person than in photos too?  

[A Little Blue]

6 minutes ago, Type-H20 said:

Ha! Separated at birth!  Do your’s (grammar deficit?) look more yellow and less brown in person than in photos too?  

Yes. Give it less light to look like brown nothingness and more light to bring up the color. At least that is my experience with this fellow. I usually try to melt zoas I don’t like but I might leave this one alone. 😇

[Type-H20]

2 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

Yes. Give it less light to look like brown nothingness and more light to bring up the color. At least that is my experience with this fellow. I usually try to melt zoas I don’t like but I might leave this one alone. 😇

I have some Palys that looked better online/in store than they do in my tank that I wouldn’t mind melting (if I thought they wouldn’t try to kill me 😳). 

[A Little Blue]

23 minutes ago, Type-H20 said:

I have some Palys that looked better online/in store than they do in my tank that I wouldn’t mind melting (if I thought they wouldn’t try to kill me 😳). 

I never feel bad about flamethrower cleaning.  

[Type-H20]

5 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

I never feel bad about flamethrower cleaning.  

 Doesn’t look big on precision, but That’ll get’er done.  

[Type-H20]

A few updates:

 

1.  So, I haven’t seen the Royal Gramna for a week now.  There’s absolutely no sign of him. 

 

2.  Had to dip my cherry red Zoa rock because I noticed they were closed a lot and I found a small white cottony fluff growing.  The dip was yesterday and they are still closed up.  Hoping they come out of it.

 

3.  Got 4 new frags, a Blasto, purple/yellow Acan, neon yellow/green, Acan and a beautiful fluorescent orange Zoa frag (pictures don’t do it justice).

 

Here are some shots of the new additions:  

 

[Type-H20]

So, I started lifting some rocks searching for the fish (managed not to knock any sps loose which was nice) and still nothing.  They’re not known jumpers, but I took a closer look around the perimeter of the tank and still nada.  If it’s alive it’s the best hider ever.....

[Lula_Mae]

This is really nice!  There have been some really nice standard 10s over the years like Lalani's, Tashayar's, and Yoshii's.  I hope you find your fish, sometimes they disappear without a trace.

[Type-H20]

Thanks!  I remember some of those tanks 😁 all very nice.

 

Hoping the RG comes out of hiding, but as of today, still nothing

[Type-H20]

This is always exciting, seeing a new head growing:

And the cherry Zoa rock seems to be coming out of it:

[Gradleg]

Awesome tank! I love my 10 gallon but its crazy how quickly they run out of room for coral.

[Type-H20]

6 hours ago, Gradleg said:

Awesome tank! I love my 10 gallon but its crazy how quickly they run out of room for coral.

Thanks!   Yeah it is starting to fill up, but I still have room 😀 

Got 3 new zoa frags today to add to the collection.  Will post pics later.

[Type-H20]

Here are the new additions:

[teenyreef]

On 5/16/2018 at 8:22 PM, A Little Blue said:

Do do you know the name of those yellow zoas? 

 

Great start on this tank! I love the classic 10g look, and I'm looking forward to seeing it mature.

 

These zoas look like the ones I have in my IM Fusion 10. If they are the same, they are probably Reefgen Vulcan Blood zoas. Here's a link to a picture from their web site: