Newbie:8 Gal Nano w/ Clam, Pipefish, & 14 Corals (LPS,SPS,Polys,Zoas)

[swiftvision]

This is my fist saltwater/reef tank. It's a small 12"x12"x12" Cube 8 gallons (about only 4-5 of water).

I did not get to pick out the tank; my brother-in-law was about to throw it off his balcony and I told him GIVE IT TO ME!

I had to learn FAST but I am the kind of person who loves a challenge. I ended up replacing the inadequate filtering, water movement, and other issues along with saving the last fish and (2) corals he hadn't killed.

I've had her up and running 6 months now and have had almost zero fish/coral deaths (my goby killed a cardinal fish and I killed (1) toad stool leather by dosing too much).

I'm running a:

-modified AC70 HOB filter with a 20 gal impellor, JBJ 6 LED fuge-light, Plasti-Dip black body, with chempure-elite, purigen, and phosban in the chemical section, live rock rubble and Cheato in the fuge area.
-Hydor wave machine with Karolia 240gph and Pico 160gph pumps alternating.
-BioCube Protein Skimmer
-Ehiem 50w heater
-30lbs of live rock
-2" live sand bed
-Custom locally made 16W LED PAR38 light (blues, whites, ultra-violet)

Livestock I've got a lot of coral and:
(1) pipefish, (1) clam, (1) giant 5" yellow watchman goby, (1) perc clown.
(1)Blood Red Shrimp, (1) sand sifting starfish, (2) nassarius snails, (5) clean up snails, a couple hermits crabs, Red (Emerald) Crab

I don't even know all the names of the corals.

I know I've got:

Australian Rose Hammer
Large Torch
Devils Armor Polys
Green Star Polys
Green and a Brown Frogspawn
Australlian Acan
Ricordea
Gorgonian
Goniopora
etc

I change 20% of the water every 7-10 days.

I feed everyday (I overfeed) and add live phyto every three days.

Don't dose much, just Alk every other day. Temp is at 76 and salt is at 33-34.

Pictures tomorrow :jester:

After doing some research it appears that this amount of "stuff" is very difficult to keep in such a small space :bounce3::fish1::dance:

 

[swiftvision]

Found a couple older pics on my phone:

 

[swiftvision]

 

[swiftvision]

 

[sde1500]

Got any pictures of it?

 

[swiftvision]

Just added a couple

 

[rjkrejci]

That must be some dense rock to be able to fir 30 lbs in an 8 gallon and not have it look stuffed to the "gills"

 

[swiftvision]

That must be some dense rock to be able to fir 30 lbs in an 8 gallon and not have it look stuffed to the "gills"

It takes up about 50% of the room. I did not personally weigh it (my BIL told me he bought 30lbs w/ the tank) but when I took it all out to catch a fish, I'd say that looked to be accurate (25-30lbs).

 

[soulpatch]

a clown in an 8 gallon..... sad

 

[ReefWreak]

a clown in an 8 gallon..... sad

Yeah, I've been holding back from even posting....

(1) pipefish, (1) clam, (1) giant 5" yellow watchman goby, (1) perc clown.
(1)Blood Red Shrimp, (1) sand sifting starfish, (2) nassarius snails, (5) clean up snails, a couple hermits crabs, Red (Emerald) Crab

All of those things are too big, demanding, or otherwise not able to be kept reasonably healthy in 8 gallons.

I'm happy to help, and I'm glad you're learning a lot, and you're working very hard to keep these as happy and healthy as possible, but even as a habitual rule-breaker myself, I wouldn't feel comfortable with the red above in 8 gallons (plus rock, so maybe 5 gallons of water?).

 

[swiftvision]

The clown is very happy, he has bonded with the torch (stings the crap out of him though; tons of black spots).

He actually doesn't move away from it; tank size is certainly not an issue for him. The Goby on the other hand....he was my rescue fish and I like him a lot. He has also grown a lot. The tank is deff. full.

I've got plenty of fish keeping experience from the freshwater side although very little about this reef stuff carries over. But in terms of keeping animals happy and safe, I take no short cuts here. Everything but more space is available to the tank and obviously I'm doing something right. I'm working on the larger tank now actually to solve the space issue.

I posted this because for me, this is normal (hard/advanced) and none of the life in the tank is doing bad at all. Like I said, I've only killed ONE coral in 6 months in my first tank. I wouldn't call this "sad" at all :lmao:

FYI my mini 'Fuge is keeping a good population of pods for Mr. Pipefish but I'm going to start growing them in another tank later this summer too.

 

[swiftvision]

Yeah, I've been holding back from even posting....


All of those things are too big, demanding, or otherwise not able to be kept reasonably healthy in 8 gallons.

Sorry to prove you wrong.:worried2:

 

[ReefWreak]

Sorry to prove you wrong.:worried2:

Hey, I hope you do prove me wrong. It's all about sustainability. You've been doing a great job so far, and I hope the trend continues and you're able to continue keeping everything happy and successful.

There are a million ways to do things in this hobby, and most of them aren't wrong. Like I said I'm glad your situation is working, and hopefully when you set up that 93g in your signature, they'll be transferred over, before they outgrow the 8g tank. :beer:

 

[swiftvision]

While I have tons to learn; I am deff. not the idiot who just buys a lot of stuff without research (that was my BIL).

I work on the tank everyday and if it hadn't been for running great for 6 months, I wouldn't have posted.

I even had one emergency (that I caused) were Nitrates were off the chart (above 70) and not one death (50% water changes everyday for a week).

Now they are at 0.1-1.0, Cal at 14. Phos at zeroish.

 

[swiftvision]

Some "sad" photos of the tank this weekend...

The poor creatures had a big helping of live brine shrimp and live tigger pods this weekend along with a water change. Such torture.

Everyone is doing fantastic like always:

 

[rjkrejci]

Looks beautiful. Everything looks healthy.

 

[swiftvision]

way too may fish and too large of fish in a tank that small, talk about a jail sentence

Well, they think otherwise.

All three don't really leave their areas; these are not super active fish in general. The clown stays in her coral, the pipefish only stays at the front and the goby lives in all the caves and tunnels under the rock.

3 fish are not over kill and are not competing for space; but you must be able to talk to them otherwise I'm not sure how you know this? Because based on behavior, health, and tank water quality, I'd say it's just the right mix. :thumbsup:

PS I'm sure a lot of fish would choose to live in this predator free, food rich "jail" if given the option.

 

[swiftvision]

Looks beautiful. Everything looks healthy.

Thank you!

I have some frags growing up front from my Ricordea:

 

[soulpatch]

Well, they think otherwise.


but you must be able to talk to them otherwise I'm not sure how you know this?

kettle pot. pot kettle

PS I'm sure a lot of fish would choose to live in this predator free, food rich "jail" if given the option.

Sure if given the option to be constantly hunted or be bed ridden the rest of my life I might chose to be bed ridden as well. Doesn't mean I would be happy about it or living a great life.

If one were to put a great dane in a small crate and force him to live in it but feed him and water him it would still be considered animal abuse but because these are fish many overlook what they do to the animals. The fact that they are alive does not dictate health or happiness.

You have a larger tank coming and one that is plenty big enough for these fish and some more so I help off saying anything more after I saw that but I hope you hurry with that tank.

Your tank looks good which means you care for it well enough but it is not a long term solution for that bioload in that size of tank nor is it really right to constrain fish to such a small footprint when naturally they have a larger one. Even in the wild Clowns swim around in a decent sized footprint around their hosting location....

 

[rjkrejci]

We are all trying to do our best to keep our inhabitants healthy and acting as normal as possible. I think we've all seen at one point one of our inhabitants stressed at being in too small of a space, and we've all seen our inhabitants acting naturally in a space smaller than what they would have in nature.

Soul, last I checked you have a pair of Clown, a 6 line wrasse and a Goby in a 20x20" cube. Do you think those fish would normally be that near each other and stay confined to that space? No.

We try to anthropomorphize our fish by comparing it to prison to be dramatic. But frankly, I don't feel I'd care about the difference between a 12'x12' prison cell with 2 other people and a 20'x20' cell with 3 other people (same proportions as his tank to yours) . Both would suck equally I think. Neither allows escape, both are smaller than I'd normally "range".

The best we can hope for is to keep our charges healthy and reasonably non-stressed. Nobody should fool themselves. Any environment we are providing our fish falls WAY short of nature and is a "prison" for our own enjoyment and edification. Just because one person is following the "rules" and one person isn't doesn't warrant all the high and mighty attitudes that get thrown around.

I'd much rather see a well cared for tank like swift's than some nonchalant attitudes about dying inhabitants by some that are following the "rules". Or those who have fish jump out because they wanted that cool rimless, topless "look". Yet few people call them out with such voracity.