A Beginner’s 5 gallon Marineland Pico reef

[kiswanson]

Love the clown goby

 

[LegalReefer]

The kindness of members in the reefing community continues to astonish me and warm my heart! I’ve been given several frags by a local reefer who I’ve gotten to know. My birdsnest and purple stylophora (mistakenly said pocillopora in early posts) have been growing nicely, and he thought it would be alright for me to try my hand at some more complex SPS, and was kind enough to give me an RBTA too!


From left to right: Orange Montipora, Green Montipora digitata, Green Slimer Acropora, Space Invader Pectinia



Rose Bubble-tip anemone in the cup bottom-left. Red plating monti on the back glass.


I’ve also attached pictures of his reef tank. It’s an absolute work of art, I could spend hours just sitting and looking at everything! He has a beautiful euphyllia garden and really good acros, shout-out to Jay! Thank you again, man!

 

[LegalReefer]

Been a while since my last update. I had to move my aquarium for the summer, so I took it home where my parents were kind enough to watch over it for the past few months. Big shoutout to my father in particular, the man kept the tank alive and thriving in spite of a four day long power outage. Still don’t know quite how he managed that one.

Here are pictures from today, everything is alive and well, and I’d even go so far as to say much of it is thriving!

The corals I had received from an awesome member of the 3 Rivers Marine Society are largely thriving! I sadly lost the Green Slimer shortly after receiving it, but the red plating monti, the orange setosa, green monti cap, and Pectinia have all been growing quite nicely!

The RBTA has also been living life well, taking on a gorgeous orange and lime hue.

My birdsnest has kept on growing out, and overall I’ve been impressed with how much life the tank has in it right now.

My brittlestar population seems to have quadrupled, along with feather duster, spionid, and spirorbid worms. However, there also seems to be a growing population of vermetid snails, so I may need to pick up one or two bumblebee snails. Overall, I’m so thankful that the tank has managed to not only survive, but seems to have thrived in the time I’ve been away. Goes to show what following a care schedule can actually do.

 

[LegalReefer]

Will bumblebee snails eat feather-duster worms or anything other than vermitid snails and detritus? I have a growing population of cool-looking feather-dusters that I don't want to wipe out, but the vermitids could become a problem if I let them go. Any advice?

 

[LegalReefer]

My Rose Bubble Tip Anemone has split! It looked funky and sick last night and I was somewhat worried about it, but then I woke up this morning to two Nems instead of one! Super excited to see it doing well enough to propagate itself, here’s to hoping I’ll get another one or two in the next few months so I can give them to my brother one his tank has matured enough!

 

[LegalReefer]

And following a split to my RBTA, I moved my tank from my parents’ home to my new apartment in Arlington, VA! Excited to be in the DC area and super excited that it seems like everyone survived the move, tho the new RBTA has me a bit worried. Overall tho, happy with how everyone looks!

 

[sizemore5000]

Looks awesome!

 

[Sump Crab]

Nice build

 

[LegalReefer]

Haven’t updated in a while! Law school is very busy, and has consumed most of my life to the point of neglecting my tank for a few weeks, definitely harming my aquarium. Tank ran into some problems with heightened salinity; I need to invest in an ATO, topping off by hand clearly hasn’t worked out as well as I had hoped it would. Nearly lost my plating monti, and most of my corals and nems have lost some coloration, growing more muted due to the water quality hardships, but they have started to look better these past few days.

One interesting result of heightened salinity that I got to witness was a drastic increase in splitting events for my rhodactis shrooms and RBTAs, going from five rhodactis to nine, and two RBTAs to five. Not an optimal situation for my other corals, but it is an interesting observation that there is probably a “sweet spot” of salinity that can trigger propagation events for certain corals and anemones. I need to do more research, and once I have more than one aquarium, may experiment a bit.

Here are two quick full tank shots under blues and whites! I’ll get some more targeted photos this evening.

 

[AnotherReefHobbyist]

Looking great! That is a really interesting observation, I wonder if this technique is applied by aquaculture specialists or if this is a possibly new discovery?

 

[LegalReefer]

Looking great! That is a really interesting observation, I wonder if this technique is applied by aquaculture specialists or if this is a possibly new discovery?

Thank you! I have done a bit of research but don’t really have any knowledge of it being used in aquaculture. There are some papers on salinity levels strengthening corals, but nothing about triggering propagation events. I’d be quite interested in learning more from experienced aquaculturists though!

Here are some more pics of my tank right now! I realize I forgot to take a pic of my rhodactis shrooms, I’ll update with that tonight

 

[LegalReefer]

Currently undergoing an upgrade. My 10 gallon is thriving, but my corals are running out of space to grow and thrive, especially as I now have 6 RBTA's running around like little maniacs wreaking havoc on my poor corals. I purchased a 20-gallon Long from a local here in Arlington, and have it set up with some new live rock. I've transferred over a rock of rhodactis shrooms, my kenya trees, and xenia, and it all seems to be doing alright. Any recommendations from hobbyists for how best to transfer SPS and LPS corals over? Hoping to do this without losing anyone!

Thanks in advance.

Here’s the new 20L. Kenya tree and shrooms seem happy, though the tank is going through a bit of an ugly stage. I’m hoping that’ll subside when there’s more live rock in there.

The 10 gallon is a bit cramped, thanks to all the RBTA’s. One good thing about the upgrade is the ability to get more fish. I’m thinking of a pair of clowns, put the Bubble Tips to work. Here’s to hoping this goes well!

 

[LegalReefer]

Any recommendations from experienced reefers on how best to transfer from a 10G to a 20G? What should I test, what should I do, how should I try to make this work best?

 

[LegalReefer]

Anyone? Please?

 

[BadCrab]

Your primary goal should be to get the parameters of the two tanks as close to each other as possible to avoid shocking the livestock when it moves over. In my experience, the most important things to equalize are temperature, pH, and lighting (hours & intensity.)

You have the advantage that you're able to keep both tanks running simultaneously so there's no reason to rush. Move things over slowly. If you can, let the new tank's parameters stabilize for a few weeks before moving over the LPS/SPS.

Are you leaving the RBTAs in the 10g? Your coral selection so far has erred on hardy so they should all take the move well. Keep the brain shaded at first. If you start to get algae blooming in either tank consider restricting feeding or reducing photoperiod temporarily.

 

[LegalReefer]

Hello everyone! It’s been quite a while since my last update. A lot has changed, a lot has grown, and I’d like to think things look okay. There have been struggles, some ups and downs, and a very sad loss of my Hector’s Goby (he jumped while I was out on vacation). I’ve struggled with cyano, then dinos, and now have a horde of annoying ruddy flatworms again that Flatworm Rx just won’t kill, but most everything is alive, and I’ve even succeeded in being able to keep two different acros, one of which is actually growing for me! I think we’re heading in a good direction now, with plenty of growth potential.

My brother is currently setting up a second saltwater aquarium of his own, so I’m looking for advice on how to frag some of my corals for him if anyone has any advice. Talking with him had me go through my aquarium and “audit” my corals. I had no idea I actually had such a diversity of corals! Here’s the list, from left to right in the aquarium:

Green Star Polyps
Kenya Tree Leathers
Blastomussa Merletti
Forest Fire Digitata (I think)
Browned-out Acro
Candycane Coral
Platygyra
Space Invader Pectinia
Montipora Spongodes (x2)
Birdsnest
Green Branching Monti
Purple Branching Monti
Devils Fingers Leather
Green Plating Monti
Duncan
Hollywood Stunner Chalice
Sunset Montipora
Montipora Setosa
Purple Stylophora
Orange Plating Monti
Bubble tips
Pulsing Xenia
Orange Rhodactis Shrooms
Blue Discosoma Shrooms

Largely a good list of hardy corals, but I’m trying to “branch” out a bit into some of the finickier stuff, loving the look of the acros honestly! My corals aren’t growing at an insane pace, but I have been able to make a few frags by bumping some of the branching corals. My RBTA’s have been multiplying like pests, and now I’ve got between 10 and 14 total, don’t know what to do with them! They’re all relatively small, and my clownfish won’t host any of the, so that’s a bit of a loss, but if anyone has advice on how to get them to grow rather than just split ceaselessly, I’d appreciate it. Loving having clowns, they’ve got so much personality for fish!

All in all, I’m liking how things are going. Need to get flatworms under control because they look disgusting, and probably need more bumble bee snails for a growing vermitid problem, but overall I think we’re in a decent spot, and headed the right direction.


Here’s my brother’s aquarium as well, the kid is doing a great job! He rescued a dying candycane colony from a local store that they’d sumped, thinking it was done for, and now look at the thing!

 

[TokenReefer]

Hello everyone! It’s been quite a while since my last update. A lot has changed, a lot has grown, and I’d like to think things look okay. There have been struggles, some ups and downs, and a very sad loss of my Hector’s Goby (he jumped while I was out on vacation). I’ve struggled with cyano, then dinos, and now have a horde of annoying ruddy flatworms again that Flatworm Rx just won’t kill, but most everything is alive, and I’ve even succeeded in being able to keep two different acros, one of which is actually growing for me! I think we’re heading in a good direction now, with plenty of growth potential.

My brother is currently setting up a second saltwater aquarium of his own, so I’m looking for advice on how to frag some of my corals for him if anyone has any advice. Talking with him had me go through my aquarium and “audit” my corals. I had no idea I actually had such a diversity of corals! Here’s the list, from left to right in the aquarium:

Green Star Polyps
Kenya Tree Leathers
Blastomussa Merletti
Forest Fire Digitata (I think)
Browned-out Acro
Candycane Coral
Platygyra
Space Invader Pectinia
Montipora Spongodes (x2)
Birdsnest
Green Branching Monti
Purple Branching Monti
Devils Fingers Leather
Green Plating Monti
Duncan
Hollywood Stunner Chalice
Sunset Montipora
Montipora Setosa
Purple Stylophora
Orange Plating Monti
Bubble tips
Pulsing Xenia
Orange Rhodactis Shrooms
Blue Discosoma Shrooms

Largely a good list of hardy corals, but I’m trying to “branch” out a bit into some of the finickier stuff, loving the look of the acros honestly! My corals aren’t growing at an insane pace, but I have been able to make a few frags by bumping some of the branching corals. My RBTA’s have been multiplying like pests, and now I’ve got between 10 and 14 total, don’t know what to do with them! They’re all relatively small, and my clownfish won’t host any of the, so that’s a bit of a loss, but if anyone has advice on how to get them to grow rather than just split ceaselessly, I’d appreciate it. Loving having clowns, they’ve got so much personality for fish!

All in all, I’m liking how things are going. Need to get flatworms under control because they look disgusting, and probably need more bumble bee snails for a growing vermitid problem, but overall I think we’re in a decent spot, and headed the right direction.


Here’s my brother’s aquarium as well, the kid is doing a great job! He rescued a dying candycane colony from a local store that they’d sumped, thinking it was done for, and now look at the thing!

Wow your tank (upgrades) has come a long way! It looks fantastic! Are you just running the 20 now? Were you able to get rid of the flatworms or at least keep their numbers in check?

 

[LegalReefer]

Wow your tank (upgrades) has come a long way! It looks fantastic! Are you just running the 20 now? Were you able to get rid of the flatworms or at least keep their numbers in check?

Thank you so much! I'll post some more updated photos tonight, I recently re-designed the 20, added a bit more live rock and moved things around with a deep-clean, and have revitalized the 10 to be a softies-focused tank! The corals have grown well in both aquariums, thankfully.

I went through a pretty rough patch prior to re-designing and deep-cleaning the 20, where I somehow had both cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates wreaking havoc on my tank and causing issues. Turns out I'd bottomed out my nitrates, as I only have three fish in the 20, my two clowns and a six-line wrasse, and had a bunch of Halimeda growing throughout, as well as corals growing well sucking up all the nitrates. To try and course-correct (my corals were beginning to bleach from lack of nutrients), I've been dosing Ammonia daily and everyone is already looking better. I'm planning to add another fish, maybe a blenny or a coral beauty angel if anyone has advice there, would love cool suggestions!

The flatworms are, thankfully, mostly under control in both the 10 and 20, they just started dying off in the 10 one day and while there are still some there, they're no longer a nightmare. In the 20, the six-line wrasse has been putting in work eating the flatworms, he's constantly hungry.

 

[TokenReefer]

Yeah I went through a learning curve with nutrients, being both high and low. That's how I learn tho and know better now. Sounds like you are on top of your system's needs as well.

Maybe another Wrasse for the other tanks worms? Other than that a tailspot Blenny might be a cool addition. I have a coral beauty, got it as a thumbnail size. I had a 20 tall then; it was fine obv. Fast forward and it's much bigger and very active... The 20 long like you have is a better layout tho imo... Get one if you plan to upgrade (again) eventually would be my take.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Hello everyone! It’s been quite a while since my last update. A lot has changed, a lot has grown, and I’d like to think things look okay. There have been struggles, some ups and downs, and a very sad loss of my Hector’s Goby (he jumped while I was out on vacation). I’ve struggled with cyano, then dinos, and now have a horde of annoying ruddy flatworms again that Flatworm Rx just won’t kill, but most everything is alive, and I’ve even succeeded in being able to keep two different acros, one of which is actually growing for me! I think we’re heading in a good direction now, with plenty of growth potential.

My brother is currently setting up a second saltwater aquarium of his own, so I’m looking for advice on how to frag some of my corals for him if anyone has any advice. Talking with him had me go through my aquarium and “audit” my corals. I had no idea I actually had such a diversity of corals! Here’s the list, from left to right in the aquarium:

Green Star Polyps
Kenya Tree Leathers
Blastomussa Merletti
Forest Fire Digitata (I think)
Browned-out Acro
Candycane Coral
Platygyra
Space Invader Pectinia
Montipora Spongodes (x2)
Birdsnest
Green Branching Monti
Purple Branching Monti
Devils Fingers Leather
Green Plating Monti
Duncan
Hollywood Stunner Chalice
Sunset Montipora
Montipora Setosa
Purple Stylophora
Orange Plating Monti
Bubble tips
Pulsing Xenia
Orange Rhodactis Shrooms
Blue Discosoma Shrooms

Largely a good list of hardy corals, but I’m trying to “branch” out a bit into some of the finickier stuff, loving the look of the acros honestly! My corals aren’t growing at an insane pace, but I have been able to make a few frags by bumping some of the branching corals. My RBTA’s have been multiplying like pests, and now I’ve got between 10 and 14 total, don’t know what to do with them! They’re all relatively small, and my clownfish won’t host any of the, so that’s a bit of a loss, but if anyone has advice on how to get them to grow rather than just split ceaselessly, I’d appreciate it. Loving having clowns, they’ve got so much personality for fish!

All in all, I’m liking how things are going. Need to get flatworms under control because they look disgusting, and probably need more bumble bee snails for a growing vermitid problem, but overall I think we’re in a decent spot, and headed the right direction.


Here’s my brother’s aquarium as well, the kid is doing a great job! He rescued a dying candycane colony from a local store that they’d sumped, thinking it was done for, and now look at the thing!

Tank is looking great!