My (used to be) budget nano tank: 20 gal of mixed reef delights

[mizimmer90]

Edit:

FTS progression:
November 2023

April 2023

March 2023

Jan 2023

Dec 2022

Nov 2022

Started September 2022:

Hello everyone!

I've been dreaming of starting a reef tank for nearly 20 years and I've finally pulled the trigger and began my adventure!

I'll be documenting my adventure in this thread.

Tank/gear/design:

Tank - UNS 60a AIO
Lights - 100W nicrew LED with controller
Powerhead - hygger mini wavemaker
Return pump - Sicce 1.5 silent
Heater - Eheim 75 W glass
Rodi 5 stage from BRS
Dosing pump - Kamor x1 pro wifi

Substrate - 15 lbs of caribsea fiji pink
Dry rock - Marco from lfs

Mechanical filtration- filter floss and sponge in overflow
Chemical filtration - rox 0.8 carbon pellets amd GFO (in media bags)
Bio filtration - Ceramic media balls
Uv sterilizer- aquatop nano 5W

I used command strips to attach a surge protector to the side of my tank (not much room inside after all the things I'm storing). I've made this side my control center, with the controller for the lights and powerhead.

 

[mizimmer90]

My tank is only 1 week old and I'm currently cycling it with some dwarf hermit crabs.

I got some snail shells for the crabs from the lfs, and it turns out 3 were live cerith snails! Guess I also have some snails along for the cycling.

Current nitrite is measured at 2 ppm and nitrate jumped up today to 12 ppm.

 

[OldRed1]

Hello everyone!

I've been dreaming of starting a reef tank for nearly 20 years and I've finally pulled the trigger and began my adventure!

I'll be documenting my adventure in this thread.

Tank/gear/design:

Tank - UNS 60a AIO
Lights - 100W nicrew LED with controller
Pump - hygger mini wavemaker
Thermometer - Eheim 75 W glass
Rodi 5 stage from BRS

Substrate - 15 lbs of caribsea fiji pink
Dry rock - Marco from lfs

Mechanical filtration- filter floss and sponge in overflow
Chemical filtration - rox 0.8 carbon pellets (in media bag)
Bio filtration - Ceramic media balls
Uv sterilizer- aquatop nano

I used command strips to attach a surge protector to the side of my tank (not much room inside after all the things I'm storing). I've made this side my control center, with the controller for the lights and powerhead.

Do you have drop loops for your chords that come out of the tank? If not, you are encouraged to add them.

 

[OldRed1]

Beautiful tank! Cannot wait to see where your build design goes!

 

[mizimmer90]

Do you have drop loops for your chords that come out of the tank? If not, you are encouraged to add them.

Yes! I've rolled up the extra cord lengths and zip tied them behind the tank. However, I left the controllers longer so that I can grab them and pull them out a little bit. Would be nice to upgrade to wifi controllers!

 

[mizimmer90]

Beautiful tank! Cannot wait to see where your build design goes!

Thanks so much for the encouragement!!

 

[OldRed1]

Thanks so much for the encouragement!!

Will definitely be following along!

 

[mizimmer90]

Update:

I added a couple new pieces of equipment:
1) aquatop 5W UV sterilizer that sits in the middle rear chamber
2) inkbird 306a temperature controller to use with my Eheim Jager 75 W

The UV sterilizer fits snug in the back, but there is an annoying blue line that shines through the back!! I'm thinking about getting some black tape or something to cover it.

I'm having a rough start with the inkbird. Kept throwing high temperature errors for a while until I was able to get the wifi setup. Now it's working as expected, however, I noticed the temperature was reading nearly 2 F higher than other 2 other thermometers! I finally figured out the inkbird has a calibration feature (sets a temperature offset) and now have everything in agreement.

 

[mizimmer90]

As far as the cycling goes, I'm a little over 3 weeks in and my nitrites are starting to come down!

My nitrates and phosphates have come down too, however, I think I'm starting to begin the ugly tank phase. I've been cycling with a full light period but at low intensity. I am starting to get some slime algae on the rocks, the sand, and the glass (pictured).

Although some glass scraping with my nano flipper and a big water change helped out a lot!

I'm chomping at the bit to get some corals but don't want to rush things.
Question: since the nitrites are down, is the cycling finished? Is it safe to slowly start adding corals? Or should I wait until after I get the algae under control?

I bought some red grape macro algae online to add to the tank and hope to get it this week. Considering adding a few corals next week, maybe some acans or a duncan. Let me know if this is too early or a bad idea!

 

[mizimmer90]

Update:

I added galaxy pods from the algae barn to my tank! They are zipping around and eating the algae off my glass. They look like little specs (attenpted pictured below)

I also added some Botryocladia to the tank from gulf coast eco. It was gorgeous for about a day but then started loosing all the little red grapes! I'm devastated but hoping they start to grow back soon.

I also added my first corals!! Two acans from the LFS. They were $10 frags and I'm using them as a trial to make sure I can keep corals alive. I was super excited to feed them, for which they also seemed very happy

The cyano in the sand seems to be clearing up. Seems it was just a temporary new tank flare-up. Green algae on the rocks is pretty sticky and I'm wondering if this is the start of coraline?

I'm looking forward to seeing how these little corals do and planning my next steps!

 

[geekengineer]

I like how that tank looks bigger than 20 gallons. Looking like a good start.

 

[mizimmer90]

I like how that tank looks bigger than 20 gallons. Looking like a good start.

Thanks!!

One thing that I think helped with the look of size was breaking up my dry rock with a hammer and chisel to glue smaller pieces together.

 

[mizimmer90]

Update:

My rock has a sheet of green algae and the sand has some cyano, but otherwise the tank is doing great!

My tank didn't have anything to control the water level of the overflow, so I bought a small sheet of plexiglass on Amazon for $5 and wedged it infront of the floss that's in the first chamber. Works perfectly!

My red grape algae has lost all of its grapes but I'm still keeping them in there in case they decide to grow back.

I added the first fish to the tank! Two clowns, one orange and one black.

I've also added a few more corals:

Edited:
A couple Duncans, a cristata torch, two acans, and a trumpet from @CoralsAnonymous. One of the acans was missing (they offered me a store credit) but I'm still pretty happy with the order. The corals look really nice, were cheap, arrived on time, and in good condition!

I also got an alveopora frag from a LFS and love it! Once I feel confident in keeping these alive, I'm definitely going to get a goniapora. The way these move in the current is beautiful, like xenia without the worry of taking over!

 

[mizimmer90]

My tank is filling out a bit!

I added 2 fish and a shrimp: a yellow watchman goby (paired with a candy stripped pistol shrimp) and a firefish. I tried to dictate where the shrimp and goby would set up shop by sequstering them between 2 plexiglass sheets. Seemed to have worked pretty well!

It's really fun to watch this shrimp dig! The goby stands guard and the firefish likes to hang out in there cave with them.

 

[mizimmer90]

I also added some new frags from my LFS. I got a pretty good deal on a hammer frag, a Ricordea mushroom, a leptastrea, and a montipora. I love the new pops of orange, pink, and yellow!

I can't wait for these frags to fill in!

 

[GHOSTLY]

I love the scape! Tanks looking good so far

 

[mizimmer90]

I love the scape! Tanks looking good so far

Thanks so much!

 

[GHOSTLY]

What are you using for light? Any idea how much par?

 

[mizimmer90]

What are you using for light? Any idea how much par?

I'm using the 100W Nicrew lights I got on Amazon for $150. I'm quite happy with them!!

They seem to be a cheaper version of the AI hydra 32 HD series. They don't have the same level of control (just a simple timer that ramps between 6 time points) but they're powerful! You can also control the power of blue lights (a mix of blue and purple shades) and white lights (a mix of cool, warm, red, and green). I rented a PAR meter from my LFS and was pleasantly surprised.

Running 100% blue/white lights:

I'm running them at 60% blue and 20% white:

 

[Subsea]

Very nice tank. Quite impressive for 3 months young.

I will comment on your thread about GHA & Red Grapes