Birdfeathers First Saltwater Tank(20 gallons)

Birdfeather

New member
Hi guys I'm new to the reef community but not new to owning fish tanks. I've had aquariums for a little over 15 years now and I feel that I've done pretty much everything there is to do with freshwater, so I am now moving on to reef tanks. This tank was started 1/16/12 and has made a lot of progress since. Let me know what you guys think!

The tank is going to have an overhaul soon, I will be taking all my NPS's and putting them into a dedicated NPS/Coldwater tank.

Water Params:
pH-8.3
Specific Gravity 1.025
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0
Phosphate-0
Calcium-435ppm
Alkalinity- Meq/L 3.4 dkH 9.5
Magnesium-1360ppm


Hardware/Filtration

20H Gallon Tank
Marineland Bio-wheel 150(charcoal media/not using wheel)(uninstalled)
Aqua Clear 110 Refugium w/ chaeto
Custom Made Plexi-glass hood
Marine Depot Pro Refractometer
Marineland Reef Capable Light 24-36''(Refugium Light)
Rapid L.E.D. Full Spectrum Light
Rapid L.E.D. Controller
AquaC Remora Nano w/ Cobalt MJ900
AquaEuro USA Chiller w/ Taam Rio+ 800 Pump
Marineland Hot Magnum Canister(uninstalled)
Marineland Heater(Uninstalled)
Nextreef Mr1 Reactor w/ Eheim 600 Compact Pump running Rowaphos inside
2x Koralia Nano Evo 425
JBJ ATO
25 lbs Caribsea live sand
35 lbs live rock

Fish
2x Occelaris Clownfish(1 "Standard" 1 Black snowflake)
1x Green Mandarin
1x Blue Sapphire Damselfish
1x Green Corris Wrasse
1x Yellow Candy Hogfish
1x Azure Damselfish
1x Purple Dottyback(Traded)
1x Green Goby(Traded)

Corals

Zoathids
Palys
Pulsing Xenia
Green Frogspawn
Pink and Blue Flower Pot
White Frogspawn
Ricordea Mushrooms
Yuma Mushrooms
Nuclear Green St Thomas Mushrooms
Reverse Rainbow Monti
Orange Sponge(Traded)
Blue Sponge(Traded)
Green Duncan Polyp
White Clove Polyps
Kenya tree coral
Button Polyp(Traded)
Clove Polyps
Green Trumpet Coral(Traded)
Torch(Traded)
Skittles Acan
Elegance Coral(Traded)
Super Fatty Dendrophyllia
Long hairy Mushrooms
chalice(freebie)(Traded)
Monitpora Caprcornis
Green Starburst Polpys
Spiral Coral
Blueberry Gorgonian
Blue and Blue Sympodium Polyp
Black and Orange Sun polyps
Spiral Coral
Orange and Purple Chilli Coral
Purple Sea Fan(NPS)

Inverts

2x Astraea Snails
3x Florida Cerith Snails
3x Dwarth Cerith
5x Nerite Snails
5x Nassariuas Snails
1x Tiger Sand Conch
1x Peppermint Shrimp
2x Sexy Shrimp
1x Fuzzy Chiton
1x Bubble Tip Anemone(Sold)
2x Electric Blue Hermits(Traded)
1x Electric Orange Hermit(Traded)
1x Pom Pom Crab
1x Japenese Anemone(Halcurias carlgrenis)
1x Yellow Sea Cucumber(Colochirus robustus)
1x Green Ceratosoma Nudibranch(returned to LFS after being mis-informed on proper care for them and didn't want them to die in my new tank)

Here are a few pictures of the tank/corals.

ReverseRainbowMonti_zpse2088a77.jpg


3NuclearGreenStThomasShrooms_zps1a70f90d.jpg


DSCN0074_zpsaada1dec.jpg


DSCN0085_zpsa309aa34.jpg


SkittlesAcan.jpg


SuperFattyDendrophyllia.jpg


DSCN0440_zps145aa94b.jpg


IMG_3546.jpg


The tank is going to have an overhaul soon, I will be taking all my NPS's/coldwater species and putting them into a dedicated NPS/Coldwater tank pictured below, it's a work in progress.


1379812_10151943552220470_1390617125_n.jpg


Once again, any input is greatly appreciated :p
 
There's some great looking NPS in there. I was thinking of adding some to my tank. Are any easier than others that you think would be a good starter piece of NPS?
 
There's some great looking NPS in there. I was thinking of adding some to my tank. Are any easier than others that you think would be a good starter piece of NPS?

I would definitely recommend sun corals to anyone looking at a first time NPS. Unlike most of my NPS's, if I don't feed them every single day, they seem to be fine with it. They're also more hardy in general compared to other NPS's like gorgs NPS anemone's, etc. They seem to do fine in regular reef tanks, where as certain NPS, need to have lowered light as well as cooler water temps. I would still recommend spot feeding them every other day if you can. I feed mine a mix of rods food, pe mysis, cyclopseeze, and reef roids.

Hope that helps
 
I would definitely recommend sun corals to anyone looking at a first time NPS. Unlike most of my NPS's, if I don't feed them every single day, they seem to be fine with it. They're also more hardy in general compared to other NPS's like gorgs NPS anemone's, etc. They seem to do fine in regular reef tanks, where as certain NPS, need to have lowered light as well as cooler water temps. I would still recommend spot feeding them every other day if you can. I feed mine a mix of rods food, pe mysis, cyclopseeze, and reef roids.

Hope that helps

Thanks for the info!
 
No prob! Feel free ask me any other NPS questions you might have. I won TOTM on another reefer forum so I know a decent amount about NPS's ;)
 
Oh that's awesome! Congratulations on TOTM! I'm sure I'll be asking you about it. It's already something I wanted to try.
 
I'd love to see a full tank shot. You've got more fish in your 20g tank than I have in my 40B. :eek1:
 
Sorry I copy pasted that list from another forum I'm on and I've actually thinned out the fish in the tank. I've only got 2 clowns, 2 damsels, corris wrasse, and the hogfish. Some of which are moving to a bigger, none of which are staying in my nano tank. Some will be going to my 34 Solona, and others will be going to my 60 gallon.
 
What temp are you going to run the NPS / Coldwater tank at? My desktop 8 gallon coldwater tank hovers around 64-66F.

temporary_zpsdbd0006c.jpg

First off I love your Anthopluera eligantissima and Anthopleura xanthogrammica. They look gorgeous. I was actually thinking of keeping the water around 68-69.
Do you have any fish stocked in your NPS/Coldwater tanks? I really love catalina goby's, and was thinking of getting one.
 
I do :) Kept catalina and zebra gobies until my blackeye goby decided they weren't cool enough to hang out in there anymore.

Going to catch some small flatfish this weekend for it :)
 
I do :) Kept catalina and zebra gobies until my blackeye goby decided they weren't cool enough to hang out in there anymore.

Going to catch some small flatfish this weekend for it :)



haha lucky you. Another fish i've been thinking of getting are some Pacific Lumpsuckers. I don't suppose you've tried those, have you?
 
haha lucky you. Another fish i've been thinking of getting are some Pacific Lumpsuckers. I don't suppose you've tried those, have you?

Haven't got ahold of the Pacific Spiny Lumpsucker (Eumicrotemus orbis) yet.

Had about 30 of the Japanese Lumpsucker / Dango-uo / ダンゴウオ(Lethotremus awae) Here's a video of them when I had them all here before they shipped to public aquariums.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bLGHECYL9c
 
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