MaraRavenous
Community Member
Hi everyone! I meant to get around to this sooner, but life has kept me busy, so now I'm finally making my build thread!
I inherited this little 15-gallon (18 including the rear sump) from a friend on Halloween of last year, just under half a year ago. It was dirty with algae-infested rocks and only one inhabitant, a lonely Ocellaris Clownfish that we named Weenis (in celebration of getting them on Halloween).
Over the last few months I've worked hard to clean the tank up, get nutrients under control, and slowly bring many new critters into the aquarium. I've had my fair share of pests along the way - aiptasia, a zoa-eating nudi, and a few asterina, and I've taken them all out as far as I can tell. I've almost messed the tank up a few times learning about things, including having a temperature failure and overdosing with vinegar at one point...
At this point my aquarium is becoming more stable and happy finally!
I have a Tunze 9001 Skimmer, two hygger mini wavemakers (one on each side), and a cannister filter. I run a bit of carbon in a filter baggy in the sump, and use GFO in the cannister. I also use two filter socks in the sump area. I use an AI Prime 16 HD mounted at about 10 inches for light.
I maintenance the tank with a 5-gallon water change each week (I just started preparing my own saltwater finally, using Red Sea blue bucket!) on Mondays, change the filter socks every 2-3 days, change the carbon out twice a week, and change the GFO every 2-3 weeks. I feed the tank twice a day with a third of a cube of Hikari brand "Spirulina Brine Shrimp" frozen food, and dose 1 1/2 teaspoons of Vinegar each day.
My tank still needs a lot of work, and I'm still chasing stability. Many of my corals that used to be suffering have shown serious improvement recently, and I've noticed coralline beginning to form in small patches around the tank. My numbers are no longer swinging all over and my parameters sit pretty stable lately. I'm very happy with my progress, though it still feels like a struggle sometimes...
Current Fish:
Ocellaris Clownfish - Weenis is a pretty typical ocellaris, other than that she's a bit aggressive and territorial. She's definitely the queen momma of the tank, and she has drawn blood from my hand when I was maintenancing the tank. She doesn't like me messing with things...
Domino Ocellaris Clownfish - The little Domino is a newer addition, named Shadow. He's smaller and rather submissive, and follows Weenis around like her shadow. My girlfriend is obsessed with him because, in her words, he's a "tiny goth fish."
Current Corals: (I don't know crap about coral names in the hobby, so don't be afraid to tell me!)
Blue Acan with Yellow/Red bits - This guy is pretty and has always been easy to care for. He's a big eater and seems to really enjoy his spot at the edge of the aquarium.
Wall Frogspawn - Despite them apparently being really hard to care for, this wall frogspawn has been very nice to me. He's bushy and full.
Bubbly Neon Hammer - You're probably wondering where this guy is. He's at the center of the tank, dying... I can't seem to care for him right. He's slowly receded over my time having him and is now basically gone.
Highlighter Goniastrea - This beautiful highlighter became very sick and unhappy for a while and had algae growing on him. Recently we have nursed him back to health, and now he even regularly extends his feeder tendrils and seems to be quite pleased.
Green Star Polyp - I bought this coral first, as a tiny frag. Over time it's spread out and grown... Now I'm gonna need to frag it back to keep it from bothering the zoas near it, which I'm kinda proud of.
Xenia - I don't care what people say, I really love xenia. They are so lively! This one has been steadily growing, but hasn't spread too crazily. I'm wondering if that'll change and it'll become more of a nuisance as my aquarium is getting more stable.
Mushrooms! - I have a green more common mushroom, I don't know the name, as well as a Florida Ricordia. They both seem rather happy, but the green mushroom detached from its original spot and planted itself in the middle of one of my paly rocks, where it's been bothering those palies for a while.
Zoa and Palythoa - I have a bunch. They are my favorite, but I really struggle with keeping my zoa happy. For a while it was pests, but I think I've mostly dealt with those... The palythoa are huge clusters I got from others in the hobby that are spreading and growing like mad. I hope I can get my zoas to eventually grow that way too.
Other Inhabitants:
As well as those above, I have a Tiger Conch, two Stromboid Conches, a trochus snail, two big Turbo Snails (one of which has a friendly hoof snail on its back), two Emerald Crabs, a cleaner shrimp, a bunch of spaghetti worms and feather dusters, at least one bristle worm, and at least half a dozen stomatella snails. I find more each day, the stomatella seem to be spawning! I'm worried there won't be enough food for them.
I inherited this little 15-gallon (18 including the rear sump) from a friend on Halloween of last year, just under half a year ago. It was dirty with algae-infested rocks and only one inhabitant, a lonely Ocellaris Clownfish that we named Weenis (in celebration of getting them on Halloween).
Over the last few months I've worked hard to clean the tank up, get nutrients under control, and slowly bring many new critters into the aquarium. I've had my fair share of pests along the way - aiptasia, a zoa-eating nudi, and a few asterina, and I've taken them all out as far as I can tell. I've almost messed the tank up a few times learning about things, including having a temperature failure and overdosing with vinegar at one point...
At this point my aquarium is becoming more stable and happy finally!
I have a Tunze 9001 Skimmer, two hygger mini wavemakers (one on each side), and a cannister filter. I run a bit of carbon in a filter baggy in the sump, and use GFO in the cannister. I also use two filter socks in the sump area. I use an AI Prime 16 HD mounted at about 10 inches for light.
I maintenance the tank with a 5-gallon water change each week (I just started preparing my own saltwater finally, using Red Sea blue bucket!) on Mondays, change the filter socks every 2-3 days, change the carbon out twice a week, and change the GFO every 2-3 weeks. I feed the tank twice a day with a third of a cube of Hikari brand "Spirulina Brine Shrimp" frozen food, and dose 1 1/2 teaspoons of Vinegar each day.
My tank still needs a lot of work, and I'm still chasing stability. Many of my corals that used to be suffering have shown serious improvement recently, and I've noticed coralline beginning to form in small patches around the tank. My numbers are no longer swinging all over and my parameters sit pretty stable lately. I'm very happy with my progress, though it still feels like a struggle sometimes...
Current Fish:
Ocellaris Clownfish - Weenis is a pretty typical ocellaris, other than that she's a bit aggressive and territorial. She's definitely the queen momma of the tank, and she has drawn blood from my hand when I was maintenancing the tank. She doesn't like me messing with things...
Domino Ocellaris Clownfish - The little Domino is a newer addition, named Shadow. He's smaller and rather submissive, and follows Weenis around like her shadow. My girlfriend is obsessed with him because, in her words, he's a "tiny goth fish."
Current Corals: (I don't know crap about coral names in the hobby, so don't be afraid to tell me!)
Blue Acan with Yellow/Red bits - This guy is pretty and has always been easy to care for. He's a big eater and seems to really enjoy his spot at the edge of the aquarium.
Wall Frogspawn - Despite them apparently being really hard to care for, this wall frogspawn has been very nice to me. He's bushy and full.
Bubbly Neon Hammer - You're probably wondering where this guy is. He's at the center of the tank, dying... I can't seem to care for him right. He's slowly receded over my time having him and is now basically gone.
Highlighter Goniastrea - This beautiful highlighter became very sick and unhappy for a while and had algae growing on him. Recently we have nursed him back to health, and now he even regularly extends his feeder tendrils and seems to be quite pleased.
Green Star Polyp - I bought this coral first, as a tiny frag. Over time it's spread out and grown... Now I'm gonna need to frag it back to keep it from bothering the zoas near it, which I'm kinda proud of.
Xenia - I don't care what people say, I really love xenia. They are so lively! This one has been steadily growing, but hasn't spread too crazily. I'm wondering if that'll change and it'll become more of a nuisance as my aquarium is getting more stable.
Mushrooms! - I have a green more common mushroom, I don't know the name, as well as a Florida Ricordia. They both seem rather happy, but the green mushroom detached from its original spot and planted itself in the middle of one of my paly rocks, where it's been bothering those palies for a while.
Zoa and Palythoa - I have a bunch. They are my favorite, but I really struggle with keeping my zoa happy. For a while it was pests, but I think I've mostly dealt with those... The palythoa are huge clusters I got from others in the hobby that are spreading and growing like mad. I hope I can get my zoas to eventually grow that way too.
Other Inhabitants:
As well as those above, I have a Tiger Conch, two Stromboid Conches, a trochus snail, two big Turbo Snails (one of which has a friendly hoof snail on its back), two Emerald Crabs, a cleaner shrimp, a bunch of spaghetti worms and feather dusters, at least one bristle worm, and at least half a dozen stomatella snails. I find more each day, the stomatella seem to be spawning! I'm worried there won't be enough food for them.
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