ADA 60F sexy shrimps aquarium

[fabiocassa74]

Hi everybody

I'm Fabio from Genoa, Italy.  I'm 46 and coming back to the hobby after 22 yrs.

 I've been in love with the underwater world for most of my life as I assume all of you.

Like some of you, I'm a diver and I've been able to visit and dive many places I've been dreaming 

 since I was a kid, in particular I love Indonesia with all my heart

After almost a quarter century :-)) I decided to get back to having a tank, being forced to 

 be home a lot due to this pandemic had definitely a big role in this decision;-))

Given that I forgot most of what I used to know about reefing I spent last maybe six months researching

 and I found out that a LOT has changed since the late 90's in this hobby....

I finally decided to get something really small & simple, an ADA 60F nano tank dedicated to a small group of Sexy Shrimps

 and some other tiny crustacean, a very small bio-load, no fish , no skimmer, a small mechanical Tunze filter with a bit of activated

carbon and floss, I will only rely on weekly water changes.

Since the tank is so small I decided to use premium live rocks in order to have a quick cycle, It's 3  weeks since I added 

 the rocks, parameters look fine so I added the first few corals and a tiny tiny clibanarius tricolor hermit crab.

here's the list of my equipment:

 

light: Cetus 2 HM electronics 80W

filter: Tunze comline 3161

ATO: Tunze osmolator 3155

flow: 1x Aquaillumination Nero 3

heater : Dennerle Nano Thermo Compact 50W

heater controller: Inkbird ITC 306A

 

So far I had no algae blooms, a smidge of what looks like green hair algae but the hermit crab is taking care of it.

 I hope it remains this way, nitrate are 3-4ppm (nyos test)  and phosphate in the 0.06-0.12ppm range Hanna ULR checker , today after a 30% wc

 I tested 0.01,  maybe I'm too agressive with water changes, I don't want to get too low on nutrients but at the same time I would really like

 to avoid algae blooms.

any suggestion and tip is very welcome

 

thanks

Fabio

 

updated June 11  2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fabiocassa74]

finally added a group of 7 sexy shrimps and some more coral :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TatorTaco]

Wow!  That's a beautiful setup.  I googled the dimensions.  Do you struggle with aquascaping due to the short height?  

• Volume: 10 gal (35.1L)
• Length: 23.62" (60cm)
• Depth: 14.17" (36cm)
• Height: 7.09" (18cm)

[fabiocassa74]

Hi TatorTaco

well with a tank like that is all about limitations :-) I had to select very 

 small live rocks in order to have the top of the scape at 35/40% max height,

 if my focus would be fish I would be concerned about the height but it's a coral and crustaceans tank

(I might get a single neon goby later though)

 I love shallow tanks and I really like this tank proportions

but if I had to do it again I would get a bit bigger tank, maybe a 30% percent bigger, same proportions

it looks almost full already :-)))

bye

Fabio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CD_Scapes]

2 hours ago, TatorTaco said:

Wow!  That's a beautiful setup.  I googled the dimensions.  Do you struggle with aquascaping due to the short height?  

• Volume: 10 gal (35.1L)
• Length: 23.62" (60cm)
• Depth: 14.17" (36cm)
• Height: 7.09" (18cm)

I have nearly the same tank but mine is 18” x 11” x 7” and the height makes it perfect for mangrove or tidepool tanks (still cloudy due to disturbing the sand bed)

[fabiocassa74]

very nice! it looks really natural

[fabiocassa74]

Update: I added a battery back up for my Nero 3 pump

 it's a coral box v2, it does work with aquaillumination Nero 3 and should work with Nero 5 as well, it gives at least 14h of back up (probably more but The day I tested 

 I had to reconnect it before going to sleep :-)

it gives me a little more piece of mind

 

[Zer0]

A good investment indeed. Battery backups are always a good idea if you don't have access to a generator. Love the tank!

[fabiocassa74]

Thank you Zer0, yes indeed

 

[JR!]

very nice tank

[fabiocassa74]

Thanks JR, strugling a bit with dinos right now but it's getting better

[fabiocassa74]

update: finally it seems  that things are getting much much better with my dino situation,  I decided to try and add more biodiversity so

I added copepods + other zooplancton and a specific fitoplancton developed to compete with dino.

I know that there are many different kind of dino but in my specific case it did work, the product is called DinOut FitoPower by Power Aquaculture based in Madrid, Spain. for those of you in Europe that might be interested.

below my 2 pom pom crabs cought together in the open in a very rare occasion, the seriatopora caliendrum they are on is finally starting to grow :-))

 

 

[fabiocassa74]

Finally got the itch for more sps and added 2 montiporas and a birdnest, xenia grows really really fast, I had to prune it costantly..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fabiocassa74]

update: I added a peristaltic pump for dosing tropic marin carbocalcium 

 it really made my life easier, sps are growing nicely

 

 

before:

 

 

 

5 months later:

 

 

 

now I'm thinking to upgrade to a bigger tank on the same stand, from 60cm x 30x 18 to 105x30x30

 from 30 lt gross to 90,  am I going to face another maturation process?

if someone with more experience than me could chime in it would be very appreciated...

thanks

Fabio

 

+

 

[DevilDuck]

Great looking tank! You should just be able to transfer everyone as in into the new tank without issue. 

I would rinse out the sand and/or get new sand.  

[fabiocassa74]

Thanks for the input DevilDuck!

[gen]

As DevilDuck mentionned, you should be fine as long as you don't add too much dry things (rocks, sand, etc.). So if you want to get more rocks in you tank, do it slowly, stability is the key.

Aldo if you do add somethind not cycled, you should expect an ugly phase on it.

 

[fabiocassa74]

Thanks Gen, the plan is to add very little live rock to the ones i have , maybe just a small one, regarding the new illumination I was considering a kessil apx9 ,kessil lamps are not very popular here in europe but i’ve read that the light is similar to the old MH lights that I really love, very natural

it might be overkill but I want more sps 

[ReefTaco]

How did I miss this tank. Wow. Stellar.

[fabiocassa74]

Thanks Instant Taco😁😁