20 Gallon Low Budget Nanoreef

[billygoat]

Looks really wonderful. 😊 Do all the fish in here get along okay? And did you mention that you also have a 40g setup? I'd love to see that one if you do!

[Ratvan]

Lovely looking tank, love that Clown too

[Poison Dart Frog]

17 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Lovely looking tank, love that Clown too

Thanks, that is a Fiji clown. Apparently they stay fairly small.

On 9/23/2020 at 8:37 PM, billygoat said:

Looks really wonderful. 😊 Do all the fish in here get along okay? And did you mention that you also have a 40g setup? I'd love to see that one if you do!

Thanks, yeah they get along pretty good. I've seen a little bit of friction between the damsel and the Bangai cardinal but nothing major. The other two are mostly peaceful.

The 40 gallon is going through the same stages I went through with the 20. I got past the diatom stage and now I have some red cyano showing up. I just have some leathers and I've added some SPS "test frags" from my other tank. So far I think it's doing ok.

 

[AJ Odasso]

On 9/9/2020 at 9:40 PM, Poison Dart Frog said:

The green rock flower nem has been all over the tank the last few days. It has finally picked the perfect spot at least from my perspective. I spot fed it, hoping it will choose to stay where it is. 

What kind of coral is at the very top-center in this photo?

[Poison Dart Frog]

1 hour ago, A.J. Odasso said:

What kind of coral is at the very top-center in this photo?

That's a "bird's nest" coral. https://m.liveaquaria.com/product/1677/?pcatid=1677

[Ratvan]

Never heard of a Fiji clown although reading up on them now. Seems like a really nice fish, big and fat body shape but max size of 3.5"

[debbeach13]

Those fish are so active. I absolutely could watch them for hours.

[Poison Dart Frog]

7 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Those fish are so active. I absolutely could watch them for hours.

I've noticed that none of them seem to mind the pygmy filefish swimming into their "area" of the tank. The cardinal and damsel occasionally get aggressive but it' like they don't see the filefish. Weird. lol

[Poison Dart Frog]

I got this cool purple gorgonian yesterday. The photo I took at the fish store. It is in my 20 for now but may end up in the 40. 

[Poison Dart Frog]

I moved the purple gorgonian into the 40 gallon tank and it seems happy. 

[billygoat]

Cute gorg! It looks like somebody chopped the top off of it; it probably used to be quite a bit bigger. It'll likely settle down quick if it likes your tank. Don't be surprised if it grows super quickly.

[Poison Dart Frog]

2 hours ago, billygoat said:

Cute gorg! It looks like somebody chopped the top off of it; it probably used to be quite a bit bigger. It'll likely settle down quick if it likes your tank. Don't be surprised if it grows super quickly.

Yeah, someone traded it in. I got it for $10 which I thought was a decent deal. The flesh on it is a really deep purple. At first I thought it was an NPS because its polyps looked white under the T5s at the fish store but in my tanks it definitely has tan polyps. 

[Poison Dart Frog]

The tank is doing pretty good. Everything continues to grow. In addition to feeding the fish I'm feeding reef roids and Nutrigorg. Here's a blue light shot. It looks much whiter throughout the day except when the lights start dimming for sunset. 

 

[Poison Dart Frog]

The 40 gallon is doing okay. I guess it will take longer than a year to look grown in. The critters in it seem to be doing pretty good.

 

[Poison Dart Frog]

The bonsai acropora has been getting a lot of color. 

[Poison Dart Frog]

I replaced the Aquaclear with a Tunze internal filter which is nice because now I don't get salt spray all over the lights. And I got a different wave maker since the gyre was way over powered for a 40 gallon tank. Even on its lowest setting the soft corals were always drooped over. Everything is happier now.

 

 

[Poison Dart Frog]

The 20 gallon is still doing okay. Most critters seem pretty content. 

[Poison Dart Frog]

 

[Poison Dart Frog]

The few stony corals I have are growing good. I dose the tank with a 2 part calcium and alkalinity solution every other day. The corals near the top of the rocks get about 180 PAR, which is not a lot but enough to keep them growing. I actually think other factors may be more important than light when growing coral. The "bird's nest" started out as a small frag with a couple branches and has really taken off. And the montipora is growing. 

[Poison Dart Frog]

The 40 gallon in its early stages is dominated by leathers and gorgonians. I have several sps frags which will give it more of a mixed reef look as they grow. After the tank matures I am going to add sponges and hopefully do a better job with them than I have in the past. My ear sponges only lasted about 6 months and I had a purple plating sponge that was healthy and growing but I nuked it when I used Chemiclean in my 20 gallon tank. This time around I will use KZ Sponge Power and the smallest micron phytoplankton I can find. 

 

[Poison Dart Frog]

I added a filefish to the 40 gallon tank. 

20 Gallon Update 

[Poison Dart Frog]

[Poison Dart Frog]

I got a leopard wrasse and a few new corals: 2 varieties of "birds nest" and a new gorgonian. 

[Jakesaw]

What is the Yellow and white fish with black spot.  

 

That's a cool one.

 

Thanks

[Poison Dart Frog]

The leopard wrasse had been living at the fish store for a few weeks and eating frozen food. So far she eats anything I feed: frozen mysis and brine, flake food and even nori and Seaweed Extreme pellets. I also bought pods and seeded the macroalgae with them but seeing her be such a voracious eater gives me some confidence.