# 20G Nano Reef Tank (Diary)



## AndrewM21

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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## badxgillen

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.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> 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.


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.


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## aussieJJDude

Wow, looking good! Can't wait to see what it will look like down the road! :-D


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## AndrewM21

aussieJJDude said:


> Wow, looking good! Can't wait to see what it will look like down the road! :-D


Thanks! 

Still got a long ways to go; but we'll get there. Patience is the key. :lol:


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## nawilson89

Looking good! Jumping into SW from FW is an awesome change! 

You're gonna love it!


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## djembekah

Looks great! I'd love a salt tank, so I'm excited to see you working with a small one. 
Also welcome back


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## AndrewM21

Looks like I am starting to get my Diatom bloom :-D


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## badxgillen

The sooner the better.get it out of the way and onto better things.


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## AndrewM21

I found Mushrooms!




























(This one is in between the two rocks, it's greenish, kinda hard to tell from my lovely low-res photos. Sorry!)


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## badxgillen

Nice Score! When things start popping out of the rocks it becomes exciting.Must be some pretty good live rock.


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## AndrewM21

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.


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## badxgillen

Those look like brittle star legs.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> Those look like brittle star legs.


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!


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## aussieJJDude

WOW, the tank rocks! I love it!!!  
I demand more pics


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## AndrewM21

aussieJJDude said:


> WOW, the tank rocks! I love it!!!
> I demand more pics


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 ;-)


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## AndrewM21

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.


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## aussieJJDude

haha, yay - more pics! I knew you give in!!! 

Love all the diatom bloom so looking forward to the corals in there!


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## AndrewM21

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:


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## AndrewM21

^ Clean Up Crew








^ Clean Up Crew








^ Clean Up Crew








Star Polyp, hasn't fully came out since I added it. But it's starting to come out!








^ Polyp from badxgillen, hasn't came out yet.








Button Polyps.


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## badxgillen

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.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> 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.


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!


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## badxgillen

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.


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## AndrewM21

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:


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## badxgillen

WOW man things look ten times better than your last pictures and I don't just mean the camera work.The tank is looking a little calmed down as far as algae.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> WOW man things look ten times better than your last pictures and I don't just mean the camera work.The tank is looking a little calmed down as far as algae.


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.


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## AndrewM21

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.


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## AndrewM21

More photos.

This leather was one of my first additions to the tank after I got it cycled, still going strong.










Here's another good shot of the star polyps in the tank. 










More Mushrooms;


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## djembekah

It looks so great Andrew!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## badxgillen

It is really looking like a reef is coming along there man. NICE!


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## AndrewM21

I have some new lights on the way to get some better color in my tank but these were tank under the PC lighting, I'll get up some more photos here after my new lights come in.


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## badxgillen

If things keep growing you might not have room for new corals soon. I suppose there is the chance to upgrade.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> If things keep growing you might not have room for new corals soon. I suppose there is the chance to upgrade.


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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## AndrewM21

Here is the tank with just the LEDs on. I forgot to take pictures when the regular bulbs were on, so I'll get some up soon.


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## badxgillen

What LEDs?


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## wake49

What do you have, Power Compact with LED nightlights?

Looking good!


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> What LEDs?


Not sure, they came with the fixture. There are 4x LEDs on it. 2 on one side and 2 on the other. 



wake49 said:


> What do you have, Power Compact with LED nightlights?
> 
> Looking good!


Nah I swapped out the PC fixture and got a T5 HO fixture from Ebay (4x24W) w/ 2x true blues and 2x 10k.


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## AndrewM21

PC lighting:










T5 HO:










Ricordea from Bert. 









Not sure what these are to be honest, anyone wanna ID?









Better shot of the golds.









I seem to be getting better with my camera. I'll do some more shots soon


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## AndrewM21




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## aussieJJDude

Wow, everything is looking so vibrate in there!


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## AndrewM21

Just a minor update; My camera hasn't been focusing well lately so I haven't been able to take any nice pictures, one of my T5 bulbs blew out so I'm running 2x blues and 1x white right now until my replacement gets here so the corals aren't bustling like they usually are.


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## badxgillen

Andrews Back! Is that a happy fungia in the top pic? All these corals look real healthy,and look at that sarcophytons size,won't be long until you need that bigger tank.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> Andrews Back! Is that a happy fungia in the top pic? All these corals look real healthy,and look at that sarcophytons size,won't be long until you need that bigger tank.


It is indeed a Fungia, I was a little skeptical at first with it being my first LPS, but it turned out pretty great in the end and he's happy. 

The sarco grew quicker than I expected, when I first got it I could stick it in any random place and it would be a nice fit, after my tank move a few months ago I realized while I was reassembling the tank that he no longer fit anywhere, so I had to wedge him between those two rocks and he finally took root and stuck to it. 

I've started the planning process of my larger tank, perhaps I should document it as I did with this one in a new thread :hmm:


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## AndrewM21

Well,

It's time to upgrade. I'll split this into a new thread at some point, I'm starting to make the move from the 20 tall to a 33 long. My lights will be here next week and I'll start moving everything, I've already got the tank and stand setup and I'm moving just about everything from the old tank except the sand (water, rock, pumps, etc).

Store bought RO water, since my RO housing unit is cracked for now. I'll be using it to top off after I add my current 20 gallons to the new 33, this way it's basically just a "water change" instead of a tank move.











Salt & Live Sand, since I'm not keeping all of my old sand since the bed is about 3" deep and I'm not risking taking anything on the bottom of it.










Yes, the stand is not pretty. I do not believe in over building my stands nor spending money to make them pretty. 










Anywho, I'll keep everyone updated.

In addition, the tank was cut with a hand saw, I do not recommend this for anyone who isn't cheap like me and can afford a skill saw, it was extremely hard to get straight cuts and it took forever.


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## badxgillen

UPGRADE!!!

Gotta love the 33 longs,so much floor space and so little distance for the light to travel...It is going to be a reef right?


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> UPGRADE!!!
> 
> Gotta love the 33 longs,so much floor space and so little distance for the light to travel...It is going to be a reef right?


That's the main reason I went with the 33 instead of a 55, less water capacity but same amount of floor space, I won't have to spend as much on live rock as well, which was a big bonus ;-)

Correct, it's going to be a reef tank. I'm swapping everything in my 20G reef tank to this new tank, so it is essentially going to be the exact same tank, just bigger.


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## badxgillen

Be careful if you use sand though as you will have no room for the circulation pump to go but up without stirring sand into filter components. I have a 33 with sand and did not realize this until later on.12 inches depth of tank then after substrate it is more like 10ish so not alot of room to work with the circ pumps.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> Be careful if you use sand though as you will have no room for the circulation pump to go but up without stirring sand into filter components. I have a 33 with sand and did not realize this until later on.12 inches depth of tank then after substrate it is more like 10ish so not alot of room to work with the circ pumps.


Hrm, I didn't anticipate that at all. Perhaps I can arc is properly to avoid disturbing the sand bed, I already bought the sand and I'd hate to not use it since I can't return it. :shock:


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## aussieJJDude

Wow, congrats on the upgrade!
The new tank looks fab!!


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## AndrewM21

Hey Everyone,

So my lights came in today, and I can say that I'm less than satisfied. The condition of the lights are absolutely disgusting cosmetically, but internally they appear to work find (lights come on, timer works, etc), so I've decided to use them despite the cosmetic damage. I'm just posting up some pictures of the lights, I'll be starting the move process later tonight and I'll keep everyone updated.


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## AndrewM21

Hey folks,

The move is done, was is successful? I have no idea, only time will tell. Everything is at the front of the tank because I couldn't see anything due to the new live sand, therefore I didn't want to risk pounding rock on top of my corals, I'll scape it once it clears.


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## AndrewM21

I did some minor aquascaping today after it cleared up just to get everything partially in order, nothing appears to be stressed from the move and we appear to be solid, thankfully everything went well. I took a few photos of how it looks today.


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## AndrewM21




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## badxgillen

New lights,new sand, new water,things look crisp. Corals look healthy and happy, I bet you are pretty stoked yourself. I love a good upgrade,more room for corals.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> New lights,new sand, new water,things look crisp. Corals look healthy and happy, I bet you are pretty stoked yourself. I love a good upgrade,more room for corals.


Indeed, now I just have to decide what to get next. Got anything you want to sell? :lol:


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## badxgillen

I have many corals I can cut...In fact I think I have one or two I can give you. I need to start a thread for a DBTC coral incentive here.We do it frequently here in Oregon.


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## AndrewM21

Got rather bored today and decided to clean up my entire office and setup a frag aquarium under my 33G reef with some extra equipment I found in my closet. 

Used my original PC lights (1x 10k and 1x actinic - 72W Total), which should work pretty decent on a 10G aquarium.


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## badxgillen

Thats alot of light,you might have some heat build up under there with Power Compacts.Are you plumbing it into your 33?


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> Thats alot of light,you might have some heat build up under there with Power Compacts.Are you plumbing it into your 33?


Yeah I had concerns about the heat build up as well, but since it's a "use what I already have" job, I used it for now.

I want to plumb it into my 33G, but I'm not entirely sure yet. It's not predrilled and I have concerns about the HOB overflows, so we'll see what ends up happening in the end.


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## AndrewM21

Bubble Tip Anemone; It does host, but I can never get a picture of my clown inside it since he only visits after the lights go out.










Lord Acans; These were a gift from my mother, we'll see how they do.










Purple Pavona I got from Bert ages ago, it's been doing quite well.


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## badxgillen

The acans are a real nice addition.The coral looks a bit like the purple star polyps, if you need some purple pavona I can send you some no prob.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> The acans are a real nice addition.The coral looks a bit like the purple star polyps, if you need some purple pavona I can send you some no prob.


I'm not sure, you sent these to me on two different pieces a while back and classified them as purple pavona. I don't remember you sending purple star polyps though.

I did some checking and they kinda look like both except these don't have the white centers like the purple star polyps.


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## AndrewM21

Here's a FTS a while after the tank move and everything has settled.


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## badxgillen

Has that fresh "new tank" look.Needs some coraline algae.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> Has that fresh "new tank" look.Needs some coraline algae.


I have a lot of growth on my circ pumps, but not much on the glass yet.

I'm trying to decide on a good ATI bulb combo right now, I'm thinking probably the ATI purple and the ATI blue special w/ the 2x acintics I already have.

Not sure yet though.


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## AndrewM21

Watermelon Zoas (New)










Crayola Palys (New)










Candy Apple Zoas (New(ish))










Dragon Eye's










And, by far my favorite coral in the aquarium, the Yuma Ricordea I got from Bert a long time ago.










---

All of the corals above (except for one) were purchased from badxgillen (a well known reefer here). I highly recommend him for corals and he's always sent me top notch corals!

Enjoy!


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## badxgillen

I am glad you really like those polyps,I will be posting more in the DBTC soon.

Remember that the coral I have given you,once grown out, has to be given to another salt water hobbyist capable of caring for it.

You will have quite the zoa garden going on here soon,they all look like they are adjusting just fine and going to start growing for you soon.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> Remember that the coral I have given you,once grown out, has to be given to another salt water hobbyist capable of caring for it.
> .


Hopefully it'll split up soon so I can go ahead and get it over to another reefer.

----

I decided to swap over and go full ATI. I went with 2x true blues and 2x purple plus, not sure if I want to swap out the true blue in the future for a coral plus or not, but we'll see.

I'll get some new photos up soon!


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## AndrewM21

Here's a photo of the new lights.

Unfortunately I had to take it with my phone camera, so it's pretty grainy.


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## badxgillen

SO BRIGHT! I am a big fan of 50\50 but it is hard to deny that a little extra blue does not look good on the corals. I still see alot of open sand bed there.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> SO BRIGHT! I am a big fan of 50\50 but it is hard to deny that a little extra blue does not look good on the corals. I still see alot of open sand bed there.


Yeah I want to swap out one of the other acintic bulbs for a coral plus, which is a cooler white. We'll see what combos work out I suppose. 

Maybe you can help me fill it up? :lol:


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## AndrewM21

Some coral love for today. They look quite different under the new lights.

And there's you some coraline algae badxgillen, since you said my tank needed some ;-)


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## badxgillen

I have to admit it looks pretty good in there. The blues are deep.Looks like you are getting a zoa garden going,corals are looking happy.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> I have to admit it looks pretty good in there. The blues are deep.Looks like you are getting a zoa garden going,corals are looking happy.


Thanks man!


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## AndrewM21

Well, it's been about a month and a half since I've made any updates here. So I figured it's about time to get some new photos uploaded. Took these earlier today.


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## badxgillen

Oh man...So much coral. You are building that collection up I see. They all look happy to me.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> Oh man...So much coral. You are building that collection up I see. They all look happy to me.


I'm workin' on it! Haven't made any new additions in months, mostly just been sitting back and letting it do its thing. 

My Kenya tree decided it was [finally] time to split. 










Not much has changed, but here's a FTS anywho~ You can see my `not so bubbly` bubble tip 'nem. ' It is now "the attack of corraline"; because i'm too lazy to scrape.


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## tankman12

Looks good. My kenya trees dont stop splitting. I had one, now i have a forest and they are everywhere. Sometimes i have to remove some cuz they bother my sps and lps. They ric and the radioactive dragon eyes are my favorite, in this tank.

Do you have any stonys?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## AndrewM21

tankman12 said:


> Looks good. My kenya trees dont stop splitting. I had one, now i have a forest and they are everywhere. Sometimes i have to remove some cuz they bother my sps and lps. They ric and the radioactive dragon eyes are my favorite, in this tank.
> 
> Do you have any stonys?
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I have favites and psammacora, there's some photos somewhere in this thread... not sure where though, not much though. Tons of polyps/softies though. 

The dragon eyes were a great addition -- and the Ric is still my favorite in the tank. I have some green rhodactis growing out of my rocks somewhere, I can't for the life of my find it anymore though 

My kenya decided to split on top of my lunars, so i'll probably eventually end up having to move those around.

I'll try to get some better photos up soon (phone photos are always bad).


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## badxgillen

Don't lose any of those lunar palys,they tend to grow a bit slower than the kenya and are much more desirable. I used to have some nice lunar Eclipse Palys but now I have none.


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## AndrewM21

I did a little bit of cleaning today in the salty, decided it was time to scrape the glass. Got some decent shots of stuff in full bloom; May do some horse-trading at the local fish store tomorrow, if he's got anything decent.











I don't remember what these are, but they are growing everywhere. May be time to do a clean-up.










Couldn't really scrape near my 'nem since he likes to stay flush against the glass, and I don't like moving him so I decided to leave it be until he goes into hiding.










Love my toadstool, not sure if it's time to trade it in though. 



















Crabs being Crabs.









I'm debating on a new fish addition; I have a six-line and a clown now, any thoughts? (nothing big please!)


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## badxgillen

I am sure your sarco will start dropping babies soon enough and I bet your kenya has already begun. Even your rock is looking nice. There are a number of fishes you could go with ,many types of blennies and gobies come to mind,maybe a clown companion.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> I am sure your sarco will start dropping babies soon enough and I bet your kenya has already begun. Even your rock is looking nice. There are a number of fishes you could go with ,many types of blennies and gobies come to mind,maybe a clown companion.


Well, after seeing this ; It was hard not to go out and get one, such an amazing fish.

I was thinking about a fuscus or bicolor, but not sure yet. It'll be the last addition (I decided on a 3 limit-small fish max for my tank), so I kinda want to get it right.

I enjoy clowns in-general, I have a ton of fun with mine (he loves the camera, although often the feeling isn't mutual since I can never get a good shot).










here's a close-up. The Chaeto is kinda taking over and I need to trim it (although I knew this was going to happen, but what can ya do). I've been having a lot of "sand-algae" issues lately due to my being out of town and it suffered some neglect, so I need to do some cleaning on the sand eventually. 










you can see the massive growth on the yuma on the rock from afar, it's gotten pretty huge. and there's some favites in the sand down there somewhere.


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## AndrewM21

Well;;

Long story short, I ended up moving states and couldn't bring any of my aquariums with me, so this aquarium has ended (as with all others).

Will hopefully start up again in the future.


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## badxgillen

Well that was sudden,a job I presume? or family?


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> Well that was sudden,a job I presume? or family?


It was job related. I was offered a new position with the company I work for, the position is in Miami, FL (9 hours away). It was a quick move, without much wiggle room to make plans/adjustments, so I had no choice but to give away my aquariums. 

I'm looking to start another salty up again soon. Still deciding on when/how I want to start back up, we'll see what the future holds.


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## badxgillen

Just keep us posted when you do get your feet wet again. Have a good time and hope the transition goes well.


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## Roccus

AndrewM21 said:


> Well;;
> 
> Long story short, I ended up moving states and couldn't bring any of my aquariums with me, so this aquarium has ended (as with all others).
> 
> Will hopefully start up again in the future.


This is sad, I know I never commented on the tanks, it's kind of my nature to admire in silence and not repeat what others are saying.. but I will miss this... hope all is well and I'm sure it wont be long before it "begins"


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## schoch79

Im so jealous. Even the pics of the early days makes me itch to set up a reef again. The last one I had crashed and I didn't even want to bother again. I have some empty tanks that would be perfect right now and an aqua illuminations led just sitting around that is begging to be used again.....soo soo jealous.


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## AndrewM21

Reef will be revived soon, it's in progress.

Keep a look out for a new thread soon!


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## badxgillen

Good to hear man, always room to improve in a rebuild.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> Good to hear man, always room to improve in a rebuild.


I agree, I learned a lot from my initial build. I've been slowly working to acquire my parts since I got here (ebay/cl/etc). I wanted to take a break but it was very depressing to wake up and not see my aquariums, nor being able to see them at night. 

Since most of my older pieces came from you, I'll probably be hitting you up soon to order some pieces once everything has been setup and cycled.


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## badxgillen

I have added a few more tanks and a number of new things myself, I could not imagine life without my tanks.


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## AndrewM21

As my initial aquarium decided to spring a leak during stress testing, I went out today and picked up a 55G during the Petco $1/gal sale. Hopefully I'll have this machine back up and operating in the next few months.


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## badxgillen

Thats the ticket, just dust yourself off and get back on that horse. 

Building a stand? 

I heard the new petco tanks are all tempered, do you know if that is correct? if it is then no drilling the tank, only external overflows I suppose.

I look forward to seeing some new progress when you get to accumulating rock and equipment.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> Thats the ticket, just dust yourself off and get back on that horse.
> 
> Building a stand?
> 
> I heard the new petco tanks are all tempered, do you know if that is correct? if it is then no drilling the tank, only external overflows I suppose.
> 
> I look forward to seeing some new progress when you get to accumulating rock and equipment.


I'm torn right now on what I want to do with the 55G because it's tempered and I can't drill it, the LFS here has a nice pre-drilled 30G long (I had a 30G long for my other setup) except it wasn't drilled. I'm more about coral and not fish (2 clowns works for me) so I don't really need anything extravagant as far as size goes. The $1/Gal deal was too good to pass up, tempered or not and it was a perfect deal to make me really hop back into the hobby.

Likely case here is I'll setup the 55G as a Cichlid and go snag the 30G pre-drilled so I can properly setup my reef system this time (Live and learn). I'm a fan of both worlds (FW/SW) so I'd like to do both, and probably will.


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## badxgillen

There you go, two 4 footer tanks, I like it. You can always run an external overflow with an aqualifter for added safety, I run a couple tanks with just that and it has worked years for me.


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## AndrewM21

badxgillen said:


> There you go, two 4 footer tanks, I like it. You can always run an external overflow with an aqualifter for added safety, I run a couple tanks with just that and it has worked years for me.


I like the premise of the idea, I just dislike the clutter (which is why I'd rather drill, and hide everything) since these are show aquariums in my living room. Though, I can say it would be nice to have a 55G reef (Just due to extra coral space). 

I've got a few weeks before I make a final decision, I'll do some research on the external setup and see if I can make it a viable setup (as far as looks go).

Thanks Bert!


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## AndrewM21

I started a small rebuild and I added some more LR to it today so I figured I'd shoot up a photo; It's been running solid for a little while now and it should be ready for some corals soon, I decided to start out with a smaller build so I can "ease" myself back into the saltwater side of things, as to not blow up a large aquarium and screw something up . Apologies on the cloudiness, I tend to make a mess when I add stuff.


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## badxgillen

Going with a couple caves for the fish and some flat spots for the corals I see. Good idea, I some times put in too much rock and have to take some out over time as the corals fill in.


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## AndrewM21

I've not had a huge amount of time invested on getting my aquariums rebuilt after the move, pretty much regular maintenance and dosing but here it is 6 months later.


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## badxgillen

Tank Looks good, you getting that coraline algae growth coming on?

It still looks super clean, what are you using for filtration now? Nutrient export and such.


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## Roccus

Glad to see you back at it..


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