3rd times the charm - 25 gallon IM lagoon downsize

[cpschult]

Tank isn't wet yet, I am working towards it though! Life keeps interrupting things. Hoping to get my cycled rock and marine pure media in it this week sometime. I started with a 125 gallon that I tore down after my first son was born. My 70 gallon replacement came down when my second son was born. I may set this up at work, I haven't decided yet. Waukesha recently made a deal with the city of Milwaukee for water. Our water rates have already gone up and we are anticipating another x4 increase to help pay for the infrastructure for water transport (use AND disposal rates). Makes having a reef at home a little more pricey than normal.

I may just make water at work to bring home. My son helped with the stand and has been asking when we are getting fish. He wants a brown fish lol. I'm just hoping for a few chromis to get along.

Currently have a small hildalgo like 27W LED. May upgrade to an AI prime or 26 w/T5s. Just want to do some shrooms and LPS so I'm not really to worried about the light.

I haven't worked with wood much. Hoping I did an okay job with this. I did enjoy it, and learned a lot in case I decide I want to re-build lol. Biggest thing being follow cabinet making directions!! Could have made with a lot less trim if I had. Next stand I will!

My big helper!

Some goodies I bought with a friend. Most are his but I couldn't resist.

Tentative rockscape (Won't have small rocks on sides holding the larger rocks up). Aquascaping is HARD!

Here is 25lbs of pukani from BRS- That's not going to all fit in the tank guys!

I gave a friend a frag of a bounce. How'd you think they did? Hoping to get a baby frag back when the new tank is up. Then I can start my own bounce farm

 

[DLHDesign]

Pro helper right there.
The joy my two little girls (3yr and 18mo) get from having a tank in the house is awesome.

 

[cpschult]

Light got here!! Smaller than I thought, glad I’m thinking of adding t5s!

 

[corey01]

Light got here!! Smaller than I thought, glad I’m thinking of adding t5s!

any particular reason your thinking of adding t5's? thats a hydra 26hd right? I have one on my IM lagoon 25 and its plenty of light not even running it on full. think im somewhere in the 80% output range. just curious.
beautiful cabinet BTW. I wish mine had turned out like that. I just prettied up a bathroom sink cabinet I bought from home depot lol.

 

[cpschult]

I’ve got some big pieces of pukani. Will cause some shading likely. I also like the combo for growth. I had original ai hydra and 60”t5 on my old 125gallon. Everything grew insanely fast until I got the AEFW.

Also, I like spending money much to my detriment

 

[cpschult]

Yay we have water! One of my rocks was to tall so it looks like I have to hack off the bottom. Might try rearranging.

The little LED that came with the tank when I bought it has amazing shimmer. May try using it for awhile, will need to see what my final rock work looks like.

 

[Mark_C]

Gratz.
My first AIO Nano was the 25 shallow. Now I have the 20g drop, a 10g nuvo, and picking up a RS Max next week.
When I broke down my bigs and moved to the smalls was unsure about it, now I'm happy as heck I did.
As per the light, I have a 26HD on my 25 shallow mixed, I'm growing JB shrooms, zoas, and SPS (more center of tank) like weeds, no T5 required IMHO.
Best of luck and have a blast.

 

[cpschult]

Thanks! Working on my stocking list now. It’s hard! I was going to do clown fish and chromis. Went to our local fish store and saw some fathead sunburst anthias and decided I wanted one of them. May skip clowns now.

Cut and chiseled the rock that didn’t fit in my tank.

Hope to start stocking in two weeks!

 

[cpschult]

Aww yeah, joe knows reef delivery!

Triple bagged!

 

[cpschult]

Awesome friend gave me some macro algae. I changed scape a little too. I wanted the center more open. Marine pure balls will go in the back once I get my intank basket.

 

[d2mini]

Looks good! Don't you just love that Kreg pocket hole jig?

I had those marine pure balls in the middle section of my lagoon, no basket. Then I had a basket for carbon and stuff in one of the end sections.

I've always found small tanks to be much harder than their larger counterparts. Doesn't take much at all to cause swings in parameters. So be ready.
The one good thing is water changes are much easier.

 

[cpschult]

Looks good! Don't you just love that Kreg pocket hole jig?

I had those marine pure balls in the middle section of my lagoon, no basket. Then I had a basket for carbon and stuff in one of the end sections.

I've always found small tanks to be much harder than their larger counterparts. Doesn't take much at all to cause swings in parameters. So be ready.
The one good thing is water changes are much easier.

Yeah the Kreg jig is pretty nice. I wish I had paid more attention to the youtube videos I watched though. Stand could have been a lot easier if I had.

Did the marine pure balls make the pump noisier at all? I had been planning on cutting them into smaller pieces to fit more in the basket (also, what section did you have your heater?)

I've never had a small tank, started with a 125 gallon, then downsized to a 70 gallon. Tore that down when my second son was born. This 25 gallon is new territory for me. I'm hoping to do just softies, zoas etc. I've got an incredible friend who has been supplying me with water. Neglect is one of my biggest weaknesses, he's the reason I'll have a regular water change for this tank. The easier the better with two young kids.

The stocking part is really hard. I had a mixed reef with an awesome community in the 125. My 70 was potter and blue star leopard wrasse only.

I'd love to do a small leopard but don't think I'll be able to. The friend that gave me the macro algae recommended a possum wrasse. I had been eyeing up a pair of mollies and/or cardinal fish because I like the possibility of baby fish Also want to do a nem and pair of clownfish. Very hard budgeting fish for this tank! I plan to run skimmerless which complicates things a little too. Best Fish my favorite local fish store here in Milwaukee has a small fathead sunburst anthias. I had one in my 125 and I loved the colors. I'm really surprised I managed to get out of the store yesterday without buying. Any recommendations or suggestions on stocking such a small tank?

Thanks!

 

[corey01]

I had a tanaka possum in a 14 gallon tank. was one of the coolest fish I have ever had. lots of personality once he got over his hiding phase.
my lagoon has a mated pair of clowns, 3 green banded gobies and a baby bristletooth tomini tang.

other suggestion for intresting fish are some of my favorite small gobes. clown gobies come to mind. along with hi fin rose gobes and yasha hase gobies. paired with pistol shrimp.

if you have a very peaceful community you could do a few prawn gobies. I had one for quite a while. it was a treat when you seen him come out. he did it so rarely because they are so shy.
had him for 2 years I think until im pretty sure I accidentally got him during a water change/heavy cleaning and didnt notice. still feel super bad about that.

 

[d2mini]

Yeah the Kreg jig is pretty nice. I wish I had paid more attention to the youtube videos I watched though. Stand could have been a lot easier if I had.

Did the marine pure balls make the pump noisier at all? I had been planning on cutting them into smaller pieces to fit more in the basket (also, what section did you have your heater?)

I've never had a small tank, started with a 125 gallon, then downsized to a 70 gallon. Tore that down when my second son was born. This 25 gallon is new territory for me. I'm hoping to do just softies, zoas etc. I've got an incredible friend who has been supplying me with water. Neglect is one of my biggest weaknesses, he's the reason I'll have a regular water change for this tank. The easier the better with two young kids.

The stocking part is really hard. I had a mixed reef with an awesome community in the 125. My 70 was potter and blue star leopard wrasse only.

I'd love to do a small leopard but don't think I'll be able to. The friend that gave me the macro algae recommended a possum wrasse. I had been eyeing up a pair of mollies and/or cardinal fish because I like the possibility of baby fish Also want to do a nem and pair of clownfish. Very hard budgeting fish for this tank! I plan to run skimmerless which complicates things a little too. Best Fish my favorite local fish store here in Milwaukee has a small fathead sunburst anthias. I had one in my 125 and I loved the colors. I'm really surprised I managed to get out of the store yesterday without buying. Any recommendations or suggestions on stocking such a small tank?

Thanks!

Yeah, fish choices are challenging when you get down this small.
There is always the pistol shrimp and goby pair option. Other Gobies. Firefish. Clownfish. Cardinalfish. Could even do a dwarf angel.

 

[cpschult]

 

[cpschult]

I had a bad run of luck ordering from LiveAquaria.com the last two weeks. I ordered 3 blue star leopard wrasse, 2 were DOA. The 3rd has been picking pods and doing well. With those deaths I decided to try again and ordered 1 black leopard wrasse, 1 regular leopard and 1 possum wrasse. The regular leopard was DOA. The black leopard was breathing hard after acclimation but started eating pods following the blue star around within an hour or two.

On my previous set up I had ordered 3 blue stars and 3 potters wrasse. 1 blue star was DOA and the rest thrived in my system until I sold them. I'm not sure if it was just bad luck this week or if it was the quality of fish sent. They looked like they were in good shape so I'm attributing it to shipping stress.

I know I can't keep the leopards indefinitely in this tank so long term my plan is to sell them when they get to large. For now I've got 20,000 pods being delivered (already seeded tank once) tonight. At work I'm culturing tisbe pods. At home I'm culturing tigger pods. Hopefully between the two locations and the pods I ordered I can keep the leopards happy enough to switch to live/frozen food. The hardest part is making sure they are eating in my experience.

I've got two chambers in the back of my lagoon filled with marine pure balls. I'm going to take another chamber and fill with rubble to act as another location for pods to grow. The leopards picked all day so I know my population is getting annihilated in there.

 

[cpschult]

I thought I was out of the danger zone with the blue star. Had been eating great and on a regular schedule. Came home from work last week and he was dead. Crabs had been at him so I didn't get much chance to look at his body. Really bummed. Will be awhile before I order leopards from LA again.

Other than that the tank is doing great! Just picked up a beautiful breeding pair of clowns. Previously added two purple firefish and a yellow watchmen goby to go with the possum wrasse. Likely close to maxing out my bioload. May add a bangaii cardinal pair, I haven't decided yet. I tried to pick species that would breed in the home aquarium.

Some newer pictures!

Anemone taking a break from finding that sweet spot. Guy loves to walk!

This baby bubble tip is a traveling fool! He's been all over the tank. I think he got tired of walking and decided to hitch a ride here!

Baby bounce!!

View from the couch!

Hard to see but the female has a band of blue. This is prettiest pair of clowns I've ever owned!

 

[cpschult]

Chalice was hungry! LRS is a big big hit in my reef.

 

[cpschult]

 

[cpschult]

My rainbow chalice and acan are quite angry. I cut the flow and changed carbon. Fingers crossed


Acan has been receding and I noticed the rainbow chalice has an edge of brown that wasn’t there before. I’ve got a contact on standby whose saved chalice I’ve been killing before. Hoping I don’t need to take it to them but at least I have a back up plan. Gr. I like them so much!