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20G Nano Reef Tank (Diary)

26K views 102 replies 9 participants last post by  Roccus 
#1 ·
Hi TFK!

After much debate and research, I have finally decided to plunge into Saltwater after many years of Freshwater tanks. I've seen a ton of controversy as far as "What size is the easiest to start off with?" With many people saying smaller is easier, and others saying that maintaining a reef setup in a smaller tank is much more difficult. Anywho, I decided on a smaller tank to start off with to avoid the higher costs involved considering the price of rock and the equipment required for larger tanks.

I'm still in the 6-week cycling stage right now and only have my basic setup but can't wait to start adding coral after the cycling period. I have all of my necessities, so this isn't a help thread, just something to document my journey.

So far I have: Live Sand, Live Rock, Lights (2x 36W 1x 10k & 1x Actinic) My Heaters, Filters, Power Heads, and some simple base rock I used to build on.

I still have to get my circulation pumps installed and test for dead spots, but so far I'm having a pretty good time (despite the expenses).

I have a few low-res pics from after adding the live rock, it's a little stirred up due to the sand though.





Looking forward to documenting and sharing this experience with you guys ;-)

Any suggestions or recommendations? Feel free to tell me, I'm pretty new to SW so I'll be happy with any advice you can offer!
 
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#2 ·
You may have to arc the circ pumps twards the surface as sand will kick up rather easy. Also if you are using a hang on back filter rinse the cartridges frequently as to avoid nitrate build up.Once you have had an algae bloom and you get some readable nitrates then it's about time to add some corals,after a water change of course.Start slow as you know and ask alot of questions as patience and research\learning are key to success in the marine hobby.

I will give you a coral once your tank is ready,just let me know.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the advice and I appreciate the free Coral offer as well!

I installed my Circulation pumps today and cleared up the dead spots in the tank the best I could, I added about 9Lbs of additional rock to fill in the areas around the aquarium. Again, sorry for Low-Res pics, all I have right now if my cell phone for pictures and eventually need to go buy a decent camera since I sold my last one. :lol:

Some of the rock is a little "Out of place" right now as I haven't taken time to re-arrange everything like I want it to be, but for the most part I simply wanted to get all the Rock for the aquarium. When I re-arrange the rock tomorrow it'll have better flow areas for maximum bio-growth.

I have plenty of "Free" area in the aquarium for LiveStock, it may not seem so considering how it looks right now, but it'll look a bit better once I go through and arrange the rock :lol:

The "Middle" is actually hollow right now since it's bridged off of two pieces of base rock which I intend to remove since the base rock is rather moot now considering I have a few sturdy pieces of live rock I can build from.



 
#12 ·
I finally got around to locating my old camera, it's not the best camera in the world, but it takes decent shots (Fuji FinePix S4250).

Here's a FTS and another decent shot of the Mushrooms coming out of the LiveRock. Ignore the Damsel; He'll go back as soon as I get the time to net him out and exchange him for the actual LiveStock that will be going in here. (Oh what joy that will be).


(As you can see; The Diatoms are starting to take over.)



Also; I have something growing out of my LR but I have no idea what it is, I've did some checking around and I can't really find anything about it. Unfortunately since my battery did die in my better camera, I did have to take this with my low-res phone.

 
#14 ·
After looking up some images, that does appear to be what it is indeed (They look exactly like that actually).

It appears that I have all sorts of hitch hikers with this Live Rock. Pretty excited to check it again in a few days and see what else I can find.

Thanks Bert!
 
#16 ·
I probably won't be doing anymore photos unless I can find any new critters crawling from the rocks; I will likely begin more picture taking when I get some Coral in the aquarium, not much else I can take pictures of at this point ;-)
 
#17 ·
I decided to take some more photos for my documentation purposes considering I can literally see the Diatoms spreading by the hour. I'm hoping that they run out of silicate eventually and die off, I do know that the sand I added did have a fair amount of silicate. I'm just hoping my top off water doesn't have any trace of silicates :-(

Anywho; enjoy my Diatom infested aquarium :lol:













My cycle is quite near to the end, so I'll be able to add some diatom feasting snails at some point to clean it up.
 
#19 ·
Welp,

Time for another update;

No photos (yet) since my tank is still recovering from the disassemble I had to do in order to remove the damsels to take them back (Yes, I learned my lesson).

Anyhow; badxgillen sent me package with some goodies (Thanks again!) to help control my algae and some other stuff to help fill up my aquarium.

I went today and got some Button Polyps, Xenia, and picked up my actual aquarium fish; Six Line wrasse and Royal Gramma, I got some Turbo snails and blue leg hermits (Bert also sent me some of these) while I was there to start up me clean up crew.

I'll get some photos up later this evening once the tank clears up :shock:
 
#21 ·
Hope everything made it alright as it is really cold here. I used a heat pack and styrofoam. I was kinda worried about the tiny starfish but it sounds like everything is good.If you like those star polyps I have at least 4 types and can throw some your way next time.
 
#22 ·
Everything made it here just fine and all acclimated to my aquarium very well. I'll get some shots of the polyp you sent me in the morning when the lights come on and after it blooms.

I actually wanted to get more of the star polyps from my LFS when I picked this one up (but it was so damn expensive), so if you want to send me some stars I wouldn't mind :lol:

Thanks for reading everyone. More updates will come soon!
 
#23 ·
Star polyps should not be expensive as they are almost weed like.I suppose it really depends on where you are at as far as demand and rarity go but generally speaking faster growing corals fetch lower prices. Also I like to grow out corals,I think it is fun,and I find that if the coral is going to do well in your tank then all you need is a small piece and some patience. If it is not going to do well then no sense in getting a larger chunk.
 
#24 ·

Royal Gramma & Star Polyp


Royal Gramma feasting & Polyp Bert sent


Xenia after it bloomed


Six line Wrasse, Xenia, & Star polyp.

Still playing around with my camera settings, I think these photos might be the best ones I've taken so far :lol:
 
#26 ·
Thank you! Now that I go back and look at my earlier photos, it's amazing at how much change has occurred.

I need to get with you sometime and see what frags you have for sale. I'd like to start adding more to the aquarium and you're a bit cheaper than my LFS :lol:

I'll shoot you a PM here shortly.
 
#27 ·
Finally starting to get my algae issues under control after quite some time so I feel it's time for some more photos. I'm still playing around with my camera, so they aren't the best photos but these are some shots of how much my corals have grown since my original pictures. Some of these are newer corals that I got from Bert, they look marvelous as well!

Button Polyps and mushrooms. As you can see, I still have some GHA but it's getting much much better!


Gold Polyps (From Bert; They are new additions).


Large mushroom/star polyp colony starting to form in the corner of my tank.


Cactus Coral from Bert (New addition)


Purple Pavona from Bert (New addition). It hasn't came out very much yet but it's getting there! Some of them starting to come out today so we'll see how it works out in the future. That rock was actually covered in GHA about 3 days ago, so huge improvement thus far!


I'm still recovering from my algae screw up, so I'll get some FTS when it's gone completely.
 
#33 ·
I'm hoping to do a 40B upgrade in the future and move everything to that, I'm not sure if I want to go larger than 40 yet but we'll see when the time comes.

If it gets to the point that I don't have any room in this tank, I'll frag what I can and give it away.
 
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