alpinestar's 17g Nano Reef

[alpinestar]

Happy Holidays all! I was stoked to find this forum - it has been an amazing resource for critical information and inspiration alike. Thank you all for your contributions here! I've been lurking and taking notes for a few months while I set up my system.

 

I started off with a small 15 gallon freshwater when I was in middle school which, if my memory serves, housed some gouramis and tetras. Years later around 2002 a roommate had a large 120g freshwater pacu tank as well as a 55g eel and lionfish tank. I helped him with maintenance and was eventually convinced to dive into a FOWLR saltwater setup with a 55g. Was pretty simple, a petco 1$ per g special with a canister filter. I had some gha problems towards the end but in its prime it was spectacular. I started off with a maroon clown, copperband butterfly and a flame angel. Lost the copperband and tried another, lost him too and decided to steer clear of them permanently. Returned the flame when he became aggressive towards the much smaller maroon and ended up adding a tiny juvenile niger trigger and red coris wrasse. All 3 lived in perfect harmony until my job took me to the bay area and I tore down the tank, returning them to the LFS. For anyone in the Sacramento area, YourReef ran an excellent shop.

 

2 months ago I got the bug when I found out a co-worker had a very large reef setup and we started chatting about it. We rent here in the bay area and space is limited so I decided to try my hand at a nano. I was impressed at the price point and AIO setup from Aqua Japan which one of my LFS's carried. Ended up with the 17g version. Purchased a wholesale end table from Ashley Furniture which I reinforced with some metal brackets and drilled a cable management hole in.

 

After leveling the stand, and setting up electrical with a GFCI adapter, the tank got wet on December 9th.

 

 

Setup :

Tank : Aqua Japan AJ-Q40B AIO 15.7W x 16.9D x 15.7H 17g rimless

Heater : Cobalt Aquatics 31003 Neo-Therm Heater 75W

Sump Pump : Aquatop NP-305

Powerhead : Hydor Koralia Nano 240

Wavemaker : Jebao OW-25

LED : Hipargero 30W LED on a Centure HD Programmable timer

Power Strip : ADJ PC-100A w/ GFCI on panel

Sump Setup : Chamber 1 Filter Floss / Chamber 2 Marine Pure Gems, Chemi Pure Blue and Heater / Chamber 3 Return Pump and Activated Carbon Sock

 

TBD : We will see how the LED does...

The Jebao wavemaker which has not been installed yet may be overkill since the tank has what appears to be good flow with the return pump and Hydor powerhead installed.

I am handling evaporation manually at the moment but not sure how long I will hold off on an ATO for.

Looking into a custom acrylic top as well.

 

Added CaribSea Arag Alive sand and some of the new man made rock with coralline color (so cool! I dont think this existed when I had my 55g). I added some bottled bacteria and measured the tank cycle which finished @ 10ppm Nitrate on 12/21. Performed a 5g waterchange and went looking for a bi-colored blenny or 6 line wrasse. I was pretty disappointed with the south bay area LFS livestock offerings at the time. Most of the stock from several shops looked sick, tattered or obviously had ich. I did find a large frag of GSP which I couldn't resist and placed on a separate rock in the front hoping to contain it.

 

I took a drive to Aquatic Collection and found a superb 6 line. Highly recommend their fish offerings. Also grabbed a small cleaner shrimp and a CUC.

 

 

And that is where we are now!

 

The GSP is beginning to open most of it's polyps although one of the hermits has made it his personal parkour gym.

 

 

Fed the tank for the first time tonight with a modest offering of mysis and garlic and the 6 line immediately took food which I was relieved to see. I also manually fed the GSP a tiny amount of some oyster feast.

 

 

For the next few weeks I will keep an eye on the tank health and keep up on water changes. If everything is static after that timeframe, the wife and I will head out coral shopping for some easy LPS (she can already identify several types).

 

Thank you again for creating such an awesome community!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WV Reefer]

On 12/24/2018 at 10:31 PM, alpinestar said:

Happy Holidays all! I was stoked to find this forum - it has been an amazing resource for critical information and inspiration alike. Thank you all for your contributions here! I've been lurking and taking notes for a few months while I set up my system.

 

I started off with a small 15 gallon freshwater when I was in middle school which, if my memory serves, housed some gouramis and tetras. Years later around 2002 a roommate had a large 120g freshwater pacu tank as well as a 55g eel and lionfish tank. I helped him with maintenance and was eventually convinced to dive into a FOWLR saltwater setup with a 55g. Was pretty simple, a petco 1$ per g special with a canister filter. I had some gha problems towards the end but in its prime it was spectacular. I started off with a maroon clown, copperband butterfly and a flame angel. Lost the copperband and tried another, lost him too and decided to steer clear of them permanently. Returned the flame when he became aggressive towards the much smaller maroon and ended up adding a tiny juvenile niger trigger and red coris wrasse. All 3 lived in perfect harmony until my job took me to the bay area and I tore down the tank, returning them to the LFS. For anyone in the Sacramento area, YourReef ran an excellent shop.

 

2 months ago I got the bug when I found out a co-worker had a very large reef setup and we started chatting about it. We rent here in the bay area and space is limited so I decided to try my hand at a nano. I was impressed at the price point and AIO setup from Aqua Japan which one of my LFS's carried. Ended up with the 17g version. Purchased a wholesale end table from Ashley Furniture which I reinforced with some metal brackets and drilled a cable management hole in.

 

After leveling the stand, and setting up electrical with a GFCI adapter, the tank got wet on December 9th.

 

 

Setup :

Tank : Aqua Japan AJ-Q40B AIO 15.7W x 16.9D x 15.7H 17g rimless

Heater : Cobalt Aquatics 31003 Neo-Therm Heater 75W

Sump Pump : Aquatop NP-305

Powerhead : Hydor Koralia Nano 240

Wavemaker : Jebao OW-25

LED : Hipargero 30W LED on a Centure HD Programmable timer

Power Strip : ADJ PC-100A w/ GFCI on panel

Sump Setup : Chamber 1 Filter Floss / Chamber 2 Marine Pure Gems, Chemi Pure Blue and Heater / Chamber 3 Return Pump and Activated Carbon Sock

 

TBD : We will see how the LED does...

The Jebao wavemaker which has not been installed yet may be overkill since the tank has what appears to be good flow with the return pump and Hydor powerhead installed.

I am handling evaporation manually at the moment but not sure how long I will hold off on an ATO for.

Looking into a custom acrylic top as well.

 

Added CaribSea Arag Alive sand and some of the new man made rock with coralline color (so cool! I dont think this existed when I had my 55g). I added some bottled bacteria and measured the tank cycle which finished @ 10ppm Nitrate on 12/21. Performed a 5g waterchange and went looking for a bi-colored blenny or 6 line wrasse. I was pretty disappointed with the south bay area LFS livestock offerings at the time. Most of the stock from several shops looked sick, tattered or obviously had ich. I did find a large frag of GSP which I couldn't resist and placed on a separate rock in the front hoping to contain it.

 

I took a drive to Aquatic Collection and found a superb 6 line. Highly recommend their fish offerings. Also grabbed a small cleaner shrimp and a CUC.

 

 

And that is where we are now!

 

The GSP is beginning to open most of it's polyps although one of the hermits has made it his personal parkour gym.

 

 

Fed the tank for the first time tonight with a modest offering of mysis and garlic and the 6 line immediately took food which I was relieved to see. I also manually fed the GSP a tiny amount of some oyster feast.

 

 

For the next few weeks I will keep an eye on the tank health and keep up on water changes. If everything is static after that timeframe, the wife and I will head out coral shopping for some easy LPS (she can already identify several types).

 

Thank you again for creating such an awesome community!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to NR! 😀

 

The tank looks great so far.  Do you have any plans for other livestock yet?

[alpinestar]

10 hours ago, WV Reefer said:

Welcome to NR! 😀

 

The tank looks great so far.  Do you have any plans for other livestock yet?

Appreciate it!

 

No rush but eventually I am looking at adding a bi colored blenny. Once I get some more nutrients in the tank I will evaluate the CUC as well. For now I will continue to monitor the parameters and slowly add some easy LPS.

 

This is my first adventure into a reef tank since my last was FOWLR and I am stoked to dive into corals. That being said, there is quite a bit more research I need to do on different types before I expand the lineup. I couldn't resist the GSP. Out of the LPS I have been looking at it was by far my favorite.

 

Hopefully this FTS resolution from yesterday looks better and I found the cleaner shrimp had molted today as well! The GSP today is nearly completely open.

[alpinestar]

Came home today and noticed the cleaner shrimp was terrified of the 6 line wrasse. Thought to myself that's odd.

 

Came back a few minutes later and the wrasse had one of the shrimp's antenna sticking out of its mouth. Well...that explains it.

 

Moved the shrimp to the sump where I will eventually evacuate back to the LFS. Bummer but that's nature!

[DreC80]

Yes, six lines can be turds sometimes.  I have one as well and so far it's been a model citizen.  You may want to add the blenny sooner than later...ie before the six line establishes his territory.  I tried to add a tailspot blenny to my tank and the six line swam around like jaws looking for the blenny.  The blenny now resides in my wife's tank.

 

Tank is looking good.  Coral shopping is a fun couples activity.  Enjoy 

[alpinestar]

37 minutes ago, DreC80 said:

Yes, six lines can be turds sometimes.  I have one as well and so far it's been a model citizen.  You may want to add the blenny sooner than later...ie before the six line establishes his territory.  I tried to add a tailspot blenny to my tank and the six line swam around like jaws looking for the blenny.  The blenny now resides in my wife's tank.

 

Tank is looking good.  Coral shopping is a fun couples activity.  Enjoy 

Superb advice. I was naive enough to think the wrasse and blenny would be equally non aggressive. Then again I have been feeding sparsely so that may have contributed. Maybe a larger blenny would help as well.

 

Looking to add a small Ricordea and a Zoa this weekend. Got a pic of the former that I have my eye on @ the LFS.

 

 

[alpinestar]

Well the 6 line continued his reign of terror. Took out all of my hermits over the last few days. I had already returned the traumatized shrimp but I don't want to run the tank without a CUC so back he went. You can see the hatred in his eyes. Too bad what a gorgeous and interesting fish!

[DreC80]

Yeah, they can be hit or miss.  Have you looked in to any pygmy wrasses?  Those are pretty cool and well suited for smaller tanks.

[alpinestar]

Tank was without a fish last week. Dropped by Aquatic Collection in Hayward this morning and found a gold bar maroon. Added him in this morning just turned the lights on. He is hiding near the rear atm.

 

Everything is doing well. Weekly +/- 30% WCs and media replacement. Still battling a renewed diatom bloom after the cycle but I am hoping it will slow as the bacteria catches up with the bioload. Really enjoying how quick tank maintenance is compared to my old 55g. Daily glass scrubbing is working for now and the CUC is doing work on the rocks and sandbed. Stoked to have a fish again although I definitely miss the terror that was the 6 line. Looking forward to the gold bar adventuring out.

 

I added a 2nd Hydor 240 but it is making some terrible noises. Going to return it and add a small Jebao OW-10 wavemaker. I had the OW-25 installed along with the existing Hydor but at the lowest setting it was creating a sandstorm. Hopefully the ow-10 will be perfect.

 

Tank is now stocked with the following :

GSP

Unidentified Orange/Purple Zoa

Jack o Lantern Lepto

Pulsing Zenia

Unidentified Red Acan

Ricordea

 

Excuse the overexposed cell shot. Have a 90mm macro lens shipping soon for the DSLR.

[alpinestar]

Heard some strange clicking tonight and found a hermit bull riding a snail 🤠

 

 

[alpinestar]

Short update : Added a midas blenny 4 days ago. Monitored the introduction. The clown and blenny are agreeable roomates and are getting along..swimmingly!

 

Params :

79 Degrees

1.025 Salinity

8.6 Alk  

420 Calcium 

1410 Mag 

Nitrate 10 

Phosphate .01

 

Still messing with the macro lens hopefully will have some decent shots soon. Added a small hammer and a green acan.

 

Quick little phone vid :

 

 

[alpinestar]

We had a suicide. The tank came with a glass top which I had on last night but there are a few gaps which are apparently large enough for a midas blenny to jump out of. Ordered some mesh that I'll use as a stop gap until I can order a custom top. Super bummed. You will be missed good sir. 😞

 

[DreC80]

That sucks.  Do you keep moon lighting on during the night?  I've read that can help with keeping some fish from jumping at night...not sure if it's true, but a screen top should do the trick.

[alpinestar]

1 hour ago, DreC80 said:

That sucks.  Do you keep moon lighting on during the night?  I've read that can help with keeping some fish from jumping at night...not sure if it's true, but a screen top should do the trick.

No moonlight Dre. I do have an order in for a CBB called the "Noopsyche K7 Pro II". Will allow much more customization than the 2 channel non programmable LED I have now.

 

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/noopsyche-k7-pro-ii-95w.506365/

 

I will definitely try and customize it for a moonlight but yes, hopefully a custom top solves the issue. I e-mailed safetoplids today. https://safetoplids.com/

[1891Bro]

Any of that stuff opening up for ya?

[alpinestar]

3 hours ago, 1891Bro said:

Any of that stuff opening up for ya?

Bro.. I failed you. I found a flatworm on the blasto and left most of them in a peroxide dip (that was probably too strong) for a bit too long. Good news is the several flatworms fled and died. Bad news is the blasto and zoas didn't make it. They also had tons of bristleworms pods and other good hitchikers that I would have loved to add. The acans and GSP rock will be fine - the acans are already open with a feeding response. But the basto and zoas didn't make it. So sorry man I feel terrible...I failed hard.

 

 

[1891Bro]

12 minutes ago, alpinestar said:

Bro.. I failed you. I found a flatworm on the blasto and left most of them in a peroxide dip (that was probably too strong) for a bit too long. Good news is the several flatworms fled and died. Bad news is the blasto and zoas didn't make it. They also had tons of bristleworms pods and other good hitchikers that I would have loved to add. The acans and GSP rock will be fine - the acans are already open with a feeding response. But the basto and zoas didn't make it. So sorry man I feel terrible...I failed hard.

 

 

I wonder what the FWs we’re eating. Must’ve been commercial fish food eating FWs (CFFEFWs?). Joking, but I am surprised about pests like that. Genuinely curious what they were munching too. Never seen a single bristle worm in my tank either so that’s a surprise too. Guess I should’ve looked a bit closer. 

Hey it’s all good. No hard feelings either. You did me a big solid. 

[alpinestar]

2 minutes ago, 1891Bro said:

I wonder what the FWs we’re eating. Must’ve been commercial fish food eating FWs (CFFEFWs?). Joking, but I am surprised about pests like that. Genuinely curious what they were munching too. Never seen a single bristle worm in my tank either so that’s a surprise too. Guess I should’ve looked a bit closer. 

Hey it’s all good. No hard feelings either. You did me a big solid. 

I counted 6 bristleworms all together. They were probably half the length of my pinky fingernail. Like I said man I felt super shitty about it. So sorry.

 

Any luck finding a home for the clown? ClearWater Aquarium is super close to your pad (I'm sure you are aware) I imagine they would be happy to re-home her for you maybe even throw some cash. That was a gorgeous fish.

 

 

[1891Bro]

1 hour ago, alpinestar said:

I counted 6 bristleworms all together. They were probably half the length of my pinky fingernail. Like I said man I felt super shitty about it. So sorry.

 

Any luck finding a home for the clown? ClearWater Aquarium is super close to your pad (I'm sure you are aware) I imagine they would be happy to re-home her for you maybe even throw some cash. That was a gorgeous fish.

 

 

I was gonna ask what the hell is Clearwater. It’s the old Tropical Fish Int. I’ve been there. Those new owners are good guys. Too bad that old lady that used to run it died, but man was it a dump back then. She was super nice though and always let the kids feed the koi. 

Yeah found a taker already though. Getting bummed about everything being gone. Gonna have to live vicariously through others for a bit I guess. 

[alpinestar]

1 hour ago, 1891Bro said:

I was gonna ask what the hell is Clearwater. It’s the old Tropical Fish Int. I’ve been there. Those new owners are good guys. Too bad that old lady that used to run it died, but man was it a dump back then. She was super nice though and always let the kids feed the koi. 

Yeah found a taker already though. Getting bummed about everything being gone. Gonna have to live vicariously through others for a bit I guess. 

Youre welcome to drop by, crack a beer and visit your acans and gsp just lmk. Picked up a replacement for the suicidal blenny 

[alpinestar]

Got the order from safe top lids in. This is the gulag setup while I wait.

 

[Tahoebound]

On 1/18/2019 at 11:14 AM, alpinestar said:

 

Hey how are you liking that tank? I recently saw one at a shop here in Reno and was intrigued by the price point for them. 

[alpinestar]

On 1/20/2019 at 3:39 PM, Tahoebound said:

Hey how are you liking that tank? I recently saw one at a shop here in Reno and was intrigued by the price point for them. 

No issues so far! I dig the dimensions and the sump is functioning perfectly. No media caddies or premade tops though...diy or custom order.

 

Been seeing this alot lately. Love or posturing? No nipped fins on either...almost like the clown is trying to host the blenny.

 

[alpinestar]

Chillin on the porch with the crab.

 

[alpinestar]

Everything is running smoothly. 

 

Params :

79 Degrees

1.025 Salinity

9.3 Alk  

430 Calcium 

1417 Mag 

Nitrate 5

Phosphate .01

 

Added a grey and green favia. @1891Bro 's acans are recovering from the nuclear peroxide blast and the gsp is open. They are all slowly regaining colors.

 

Fashioned a custom screen top while I wait in que for the safe top lid fusion vent.

 

Installed the new LED fixture and I am slowly ramping up the power to make sure no one gets shocked with the new par levels.