My 20 gallon softie/LPS tank build

[Tonedeafviolinist]

Greetings! I am new to the hobby, and my tank has been running for just about 10 months. It was a budget build, with the tank itself and quite a bit of the supplies coming from a box of aquarium stuff i found at a yard sale last summer for $5. I am currently in the process of setting up a display refugium, switching out the sand to something courser, and curing DIY live rock. I will post updates.

Specs:
Filtration/nutrient control: I use a Coralife/protein skimmer combo that I run carbon in. It is rated for a 30 gallon tank.
Lighting: up until 2 months ago, I used a Current USA Orbit Marine light, which went out. Salt creeped up into the housing of the LEDs because I never cleaned them, so it was in part a user error. However I like the light I am using now MUCH better, which is a HIPARGERO. It has a shimmering effect that the other light didn't come close to. I just wish it had a timer.
Flow: VERY low flow. I had a powerhead go out and electrify the water a few months in (nothing died), so I've been down to one cheap powerhead plus the flow caused by the filter. I am in the process of switching out the sand to a larger grain so that I can install 2 aquaneat wavemakers.
Rock: I definitely don't have enough rock for a 20 gallon tank, so I am making my own bonsai-shaped rock structure, using the tutorial posted by @Paul B
Sand: I don't know what it's called, It was the only sand my LFS had and I regret using it (too fine).
Maintenance: At first I did regular weekly water changes with RO water bought from my LFS, but due to COVID-19 I was away from home (and unable to pick up RO, so I stopped water changes all together (I dose calcium and stuff). Shout-out to my grandma for feeding the tank while I was away from home quarantining.

I will post pictures and updates in the comments:

 

[Tonedeafviolinist]

September, 2019: The tank has water in it!

 

[Tonedeafviolinist]

Late September, 2019: grainy image of my first coral. I think they are clementine zoanthids

 

[Tonedeafviolinist]

Mid October, 2019: a bunch of livestock additions, some of which I killed! What kind of LFS sells monitora digitata to someone with a 2 month old tank? I'm an idiot.

A few months later with fewer corals

Blue lights

My hammer (still alive, what a trooper )

Nemo, my best friend

May: after getting back from quarantine, replacing the light that went out (tank was dark for a week), and cleaning out all the algae growth, I painted the rim of the tank black and managed to get it looking halfway acceptable

 

[Tonedeafviolinist]

January, 2020: red discosoma (it usually doesn't look so boring). There are 3 babies now!

December, 2019: my Duncan, which has 5 small heads now

An excellent picture of Nemo, taken with snapchat's orange lens (I need to get and actual orange lens for my phone)

Nemo has an instagram account now, you can follow him @heres.that.*****.nemo

 

[Tonedeafviolinist]

Finally, pictures of the DIY rock project. It is nowhere near ready to go in the tank, and i struggled with getting the mortar to adhere to the PVC because i didn't follow the directions and cover the PVC with cotton string.

Now with mortar: (i had to touch up some spots that fell off with a different color of mortar, so it looks kind of funky)

Soaking in the water tub: (it has 1 month left, I will post updates when it is ready to go in the tank)

 

[Tonedeafviolinist]

Okay, that's all I've got for right now. My deepest apologies for the crappy photography and generally sad looking livestock

 

[Landers]

Ooh I also use a Hipargero! It was nice being able to buy a good light that wasn’t as expensive as many of the other quality lights for reef tanks. And if you want a timer on it there are always cheap ones you can buy that the light will plug into which is what I did and it worked great keeping the tank lit when I wanted while I was out of town recently.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Following!

 

[Tonedeafviolinist]

Working on my photography skills, this is with flash

This is with a yellow gel filter, it turned out more green than I would like

Some zoas with the yellow filter

The newest livestock addition: Zelda the royal gramma

I moved around the rock and put in a new powerhead since the last full tank shot, but I can't seem to take a picture that doesn't look like garbage.

 

[Tonedeafviolinist]

 

[Tonedeafviolinist]

I finally got the rock sculpture thing in the tank. I took all of my rocks out at the same time and brushed all the bryopsis off, so there's a huge bacteria bloom. I will take more pictures when the cloudiness has subsided

 

[Oldsman]

nice ! That rockwork looks good