Nathan's 25l Softie Reef

[Nathans_Reef]

Nathan's 25l Softie Reef

 

Hello Everybody, My name is Nathan, I am 15 years old and I have been in the hobby for a couple of years now.

my first tank was a very simple, cheap fish only tank, I unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the aquarium

but I had a pair of Ocellaris clownfish, a cleaner shrimp and three Nassarius snails. The aquarium itself was around 60l (16 US gallons)

and it lasted for a couple months. But enough about me, lets talk about my 25l Softie reef.

 

(Sorry for the Bad quality picture.)

 

The Tank and Equipment:

The Aquarium: AllPondSolutions 25l Optiwhite Cube Tank £28

https://www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/ultra-clear-25l/

 

Filtration: 480l/h HOB filter £10

ATO System: H2Ocean Compact Auto Top Off £70

Lighting: Fluval Sea Nano Marine Bluetooth £90

Heater: Fluval Edge 25w heater £20

Thermometer: Reptizoo Digital thermometer £5

Wavemaker: Jebao sw2 £30

Rock: Caribsea Life rock £25

Sand: Hugo Kamishi Coral Sand

 

Stocking Plan

Corals: 

Pulsing Xenia

Green Star Polyp

Zoanthids

Weeping Willow Leather coral

Green Finger leather

Different Gorgonians

 

Inverts:

Ornamental Shrimp Species (not made up my mind as to which one to get)

2x Nassarius Snails

1x Cerith Snail

 

I Hope that you guys like my tank and the aquascape

if you have any advice or questions feel free to tell me.

look forward for an update on the tank soon.

 

 

 

 

[debbeach13]

Welcome back to NR. Looks like a nice set up. I like the aquascape. 

[Nathans_Reef]

11 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Welcome back to NR. Looks like a nice set up. I like the aquascape. 

Thankyou. 👍

[Nathans_Reef]

Here is a photograph of what I think is a Hydroid Jellyfish, its about 1-2mm big and there

are now lots of them all over the glass of the tank.

 

Also here is another shot of the tank 😁.

 

[Nathans_Reef]

Quick Update on the tank.

 

A couple of days ago I placed an order for some cleanup crew from CellarMarineStore.co.uk (they seem to be very good by the way) and yesterday everything arrived!

I got 1 Feather Duster worm, 1 Electric blue legged hermit, 2 Nassarius snails and 1 Cerith snail. they seem to be doing well so far, here are some pics. 😀

I should also mention that I removed the wave maker as I thought that it was just too much flow for a tank of that size.

 

 

 

 

 

I know that these shots are only of the feather duster but I haven't been able to get a photo of the others yet. 

 

[Nathans_Reef]

Some more tank shots 😃 and I finally managed to photograph the hermit crab!

I ordered my first Coral frag a couple of days ago too, it should arrive this Wednesday! 

 

 

 

[TatorTaco]

@Nathans_Reef, anything new going on with the tank by chance? 

[Nathans_Reef]

On 2/26/2021 at 11:29 PM, TatorTaco said:

@Nathans_Reef, anything new going on with the tank by chance? 

Yes I actually have got a couple of coral frags in the tank now, I will take some pictures later and post and update to to tank. 👍

[Nathans_Reef]

Tank update

 

I have been quite busy over the last couple of weeks so I haven't really had time to post any updates on how the tank is doing at the moment. The tank is doing really well at the moment, all the water conditions are finally becoming more stable but I still have lots of red cyano bacteria that has covered the rock, the sand is staying nice and white as every other day I stir it around. The diatoms have definitely started to disappear now. I have now got a frag of Sinularia finger leather coral, Rastas, Purple hornets, reverse gorilla nipple and a really nice colony of radioactive dragon eye zoanthids that I have recently glued to a rock. 

 

I have also just ordered a frag of Neon green Toadstool leather from jbsmarines.co.uk.

 

I will post some pictures of the tank and corals tomorrow. 

[Nathans_Reef]

Here are some shots of the tank and of the new corals. 😃

[Nathans_Reef]

Its been a while since I posted anything on this Tank journal so I thought I would post an update!

A couple of days ago got some new coral frags from a website called mailordercorals.com, I got a couple of pulsing Xenia frags and two really nice zoa colonies.

The day after I also got two really nice Ricordia florida mushrooms.

 

here are some pics. 😃

 

 

Unfortunately the finger leather frag was currently shedding when the photo was taken. 

[SaltyGallon]

Looking really great Nathan. The feather duster worm really adds something! I like MailOrderCorals and JBs Marines. Sometimes MOC can be a bit over priced but their stuff is good, healthy and well packed. The one to steer clear of is ZoaMarine - that guy is just a cowboy (well over priced, and over edited pics...)

[Nathans_Reef]

On 5/13/2021 at 8:58 AM, SaltyGallon said:

Looking really great Nathan. The feather duster worm really adds something! I like MailOrderCorals and JBs Marines. Sometimes MOC can be a bit over priced but their stuff is good, healthy and well packed. The one to steer clear of is ZoaMarine - that guy is just a cowboy (well over priced, and over edited pics...)

Thankyou 😃, yes mail order corals seem really good so far so I will definitely order from those guys again. Jbs marines in great too! Thanks for the advice on ZoaMarine, I was originally going to get my first corals from there, I think they were charging around £35 for a single rasta zoa head! which I thought was way too expensive so I headed over to a website called JP coral frags and they had a huge selection of zoas and I got a single rasta head for £5 👍

[CD_Scapes]

On 5/1/2021 at 6:06 AM, Nathans_Reef said:

Its been a while since I posted anything on this Tank journal so I thought I would post an update!

A couple of days ago got some new coral frags from a website called mailordercorals.com, I got a couple of pulsing Xenia frags and two really nice zoa colonies.

The day after I also got two really nice Ricordia florida mushrooms.

 

here are some pics. 😃

 

 

Unfortunately the finger leather frag was currently shedding when the photo was taken. 

This tank looks so dope! Can't wait to see how it progresses

[Nathans_Reef]

On 5/21/2021 at 6:51 PM, Frozen_Reef said:

This tank looks so dope! Can't wait to see how it progresses

Thankyou. 👍

[isaiahwittingslow]

Looks great! 

[Southener]

Hi, your tank looks great! I'm just staring my own pico tank, 30x30x30 and I'm looking at the same light you have. What's your thoughts on it? Decent power for the corals? And spectrum and schedules? I'm about to order but it doesn't seem many people use these! Cheers

[Nathans_Reef]

On 6/6/2021 at 5:08 PM, Southener said:

Hi, your tank looks great! I'm just staring my own pico tank, 30x30x30 and I'm looking at the same light you have. What's your thoughts on it? Decent power for the corals? And spectrum and schedules? I'm about to order but it doesn't seem many people use these! Cheers

Hi, Sorry for the late reply. I didn't see your comment for some reason. The light seems great so far, unfortunately I haven't got much knowledge on reef lighting as this is the only reef light that I have ever had. I currently only have soft corals in the tank but I am planning to start adding some hardy Euphyllia frags in the near future as this light seems to have a good amount of power for the corals I currently keep. The light connects to a bluetooth app which is really easy to use and its easy to create a schedule for the light too. I would do some research on Youtube on whether this light is right for you as it depends on what corals you want to keep. Overall the light is really good for our size tanks and other nanos as long as the corals aren't super demanding in terms of lighting. Hope this helps! 😊👍

[Nathans_Reef]

Tank Update 

I am pleased to say that the tank is doing really well! Crystal clear water and Healthy corals with good growth. The brown diatoms that I was getting on the sand bed have almost completely disappeared and the red cyanobacteria has almost been eradicated. The only maintenance that I do to the tank is a water change every 3 weeks, scraping the glass every couple of days and blasting some detritus off of the rocks now and then. The tank is also started to look more like a reef now that the corals have grown more although the finger leather has kind of flopped over a little bit but it is still growing and looks healthy with good polyp extensions. I have ordered a neon green Kenya tree, a green mushroom frag, a Cleaner shrimp, a single trochus snail and some live Copepods which should arrive sometime during the week! 😃

 

Now for some pics.

 

 

The Orange ricordia has finally settled down against this rock.

 

The tiny green toadstool frag next to this lovely Aiptasia 😆

 

 

 

 

[Nathans_Reef]

 

 

[Nathans_Reef]

I have recently started to get some Green hair algae on the rocks but none of my cleanup crew are eating it. I currently only have the 2 Nassarius snails, a single Cerith snail and a blue legged hermit crab. I have a livestock and coral delivery arriving this Wednesday and it includes a Trochus snail, will that eat the hair algae? or should I buy another type of hermit crab? If anybody knows of any cleanup crew that likes to eat green hair algae then please let me know. 

 

I will post some pictures of the new corals when they arrive.

[Nathans_Reef]

The New Corals and shrimp have arrived!

I got a Green Kenya tree frag and a super bright green mushroom, but the mushroom is in a place that is hard to photograph 

 

 

 

 

The Cleaner Shrimp is so friendly, when I put my hand or any equipment in the tank it swims straight onto it.