65L ocean free Nano Tank newbie

[errand]

I have started reefing in March this year, after lurking on forums like these for a few months prior. I've kept freshwater planted tanks for years with success, and ALWAYS wanted marine but wrote it off as too difficult/expensive. I got the tank as a 40th birthday present from my sweet Minister of Finance, on the provision that there was a Nemo fish added at some stage, which I agreed to.

It's been amazing and I love it, currently we are living with the Minister's parents so my space is very limited, but as soon as we get our own house I will be firing up my old 1m tank and hopefully more.

Here are some pics of the journey so far, now that I'm over [I hope] the gnarly beginning I can post updates as things progress.

SPECS:

Ocean Free 63L nano - inbuilt sump, protein skimmer

ehiem heater

original lights - replaced with AI prime HD in the 4th month [July]

 

tank purchased March 15 - cycled with dry rock and tap water. 

April 28th - water replaced with LFS salt water, bought seneye reef probe and added snails, clownfish and 2 corals - hammer and trachy.

 

Since then have learned a lot and added more, including CBS and anemones - the nems are my favorite, but also the hammer coral is - they're all my favorite 🙂

[WV Reefer]

4 hours ago, errand said:

I have started reefing in March this year, after lurking on forums like these for a few months prior. I've kept freshwater planted tanks for years with success, and ALWAYS wanted marine but wrote it off as too difficult/expensive. I got the tank as a 40th birthday present from my sweet Minister of Finance, on the provision that there was a Nemo fish added at some stage, which I agreed to.

It's been amazing and I love it, currently we are living with the Minister's parents so my space is very limited, but as soon as we get our own house I will be firing up my old 1m tank and hopefully more.

Here are some pics of the journey so far, now that I'm over [I hope] the gnarly beginning I can post updates as things progress.

SPECS:

Ocean Free 63L nano - inbuilt sump, protein skimmer

ehiem heater

original lights - replaced with AI prime HD in the 4th month [July]

 

tank purchased March 15 - cycled with dry rock and tap water. 

April 28th - water replaced with LFS salt water, bought seneye reef probe and added snails, clownfish and 2 corals - hammer and trachy.

 

Since then have learned a lot and added more, including CBS and anemones - the nems are my favorite, but also the hammer coral is - they're all my favorite 🙂

 

Looks great! 😊

[Pjanssen]

That's a nice looking setup. Does not look like the work of a newbie. 

[Christopher Marks]

Looking good @errand! You've made a lot of progress since March, the first six months tend to be the hardest.

[billygoat]

Hi @errand! 

You've got a very beautiful mixed reef going on here! I love the then-and-now shots that show the development of your tank over the past six months. Look at how much that Trachyphyllia has grown! 😁 

[errand]

Small update. I got a second tank and have fragged the zoas [of course bought more as well], moved the corals around, and had to get new rocks as I foolishly allowed some caulerpa to get into the tank about 4 months ago. Big mistake. I've also started some sps. 

Main reason for the recent rescape/purchases are i was sick for about 4 weeks in February with some kind of virus [not covid though] and neglected my water changes. There was a crash of sorts, during which the caulerpa took over. I lost the torch, the soft leather coral, and 2 nems, which was incredibly disheartening as they're my favorite animals. The other corals did fine - trachy is as huge as ever, the hammers have doubled in size, and the zoas were fine. Just wanted to show some pictures of the tank as at the moment, with my giant ugly frag rack full of stuff, as a progression photo.

Once they have all been glued down to the rockwork I'll take another photo. 

 

I couldn't help also show some of the wild northern Australian zoas I got my hands on, they are really amazing. 

 

Tank is officially 1 year old now. 

[errand]

I have started SPS in April, and so far its going well thanks to support from this forum. I know there are too many frags in here for the tank size, I'm now considering this a holding tank for my next one, which I'm hoping to be at least a 5 or 6 foot. Still about 6-8 months away for that. In the meantime I'm learning how to keep everything stable, and enjoying watching the frags grow.