10 Gallon Nano Bonanza

[Nasty_Goblin]

Finally getting back into the hobby, this time with a reef instead of a FLOWR. No fish at the moment. I'll likely only do one or two fish—definitely a dottyback and maybe a damsel or clown. I'm interested in gobies, but I'm currently running without a lid. Fed the snails 1/4 cube of mysis and less of an algae wafer because they were aggressively hunting for food.

The intention is to focus on softies and, eventually, LPS.

Aquarium: 10 Gallon Aqueon Rimless (Picked this up for a steal at 20 bucks.)
Lighting: Hipargero A036 (Running full whites and blues, though I should probably lower this and reposition.)
Filtration: Bubble Magus Mini Q
Flow: Mini Wavemaker 530 GPH
Misc: USeek ATO, Heater, about 12 lbs of dry rock, and 5 lbs of live sand.

Current Livestock:

4 Nassarius Snails
5 Cerith Snails
1 Lime Green Rhodactis Mushroom


Always open to advice! Livestock and hardware suggestions are much appreciated. Will upload pictures tonight.

 

[Nasty_Goblin]

Rhodactis Mushroom is doing well so far.

Main viewing angle

Snail snorkel

 

[Nasty_Goblin]

Long needed update. Bad news first!

I introduced my first fish (a three-striped damsel) while waiting for a local shop to get a neon dotty back. Six days later, he passed after pinning himself beneath a rock.

In the attempt to get him out of the tank, I scraped my AIO's with said aforementioned rock and thought I lost them. Thankfully they are alive and recovering (slowly).

About a month ago I upgraded my lighting. It was the first major change I'd made since cycling and in all honesty, a mistake. A poor understanding of PAR led me to bleach a nice birdsnest as well as a monti cap.

After readjusting the montipora is on the road to recovery. Sadly the birdsnest didn't make it.

Given the size of the frag, this was probably for the best. It consumed between .6-.8 dkh daily, which made dosing a necessity.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

So sorry about your fish loss and birdsnest. At least your monti is recovering!

 

[Nasty_Goblin]

Good news is that the parameters are stable now, and most corals are happy from what I can tell.

Parameters:

Temp: 76.1
Salinity: 1.026
Nitrate: 10-12
Alk: 9.6
Magnesium: 1350


Live Stock:

- One clown fish (still no dotty back)
- 3 Nassarius Snails
- 3 Lightning Dove Snails
- 2 Dwarf Cerith Snails
- 3 Blue Leg hermits
- 1 Emerald Crab

First Acans, and the birdsnest and monti before I blasted them with light.

 

[Nasty_Goblin]

So sorry about your fish loss and birdsnest. At least your monti is recovering!

Thanks, I was overzealous and tried all the wrong things before checking PAR.

 

[Nasty_Goblin]

I attended a Reefing USA event this weekend and grabbed some frags.


Currently, the glass is overrun with pods, but algae is under control, and everyone is happy from what I can tell.

I'll try to upload some clearer pictures tonight. Does anyone have suggestions on a good spray-on glass cleaner?

 

[Nasty_Goblin]

 

[Nasty_Goblin]

I'm curious if anyone can explain chalice feeler tentacles.

Neither my hurricane nor stellaria seem to have them. I've checked several times in the middle of the night, and nothing. None of the corals nearby have been stung from what I can tell.

 

[awokenreefboy]

Looking great so far! Following along!

 

[Nasty_Goblin]

Looking great so far! Following along!

Thanks! Us nano folk outta stick together haha.

 

[andrewfishh]

How’s your tank doing we started at the same times and I’m doing great

 

[Nasty_Goblin]

So far so good!

Fish/inverts are happy. Softies and most of my LPS are great as well. I've had trouble with hammers and SPS though. Montipora always looks dull, and birdsnest never really extends all the way.

Only SPS that seems to do alright are leptos.

Beyond that no major issues!

 

[Nasty_Goblin]

Tank is doing well!

Monti cap is slowly gaining its color back, of course only after I donated my other SPS

 

[Nasty_Goblin]

Better pictures of a few specific pieces.

If anyone can ID the first and third frags I’d appreciate it!

 

[Nasty_Goblin]

Please keep the frag glueing shaming to a minimum, I should have just used putty

 

[SixlineRyan]

Tank is looking good! Curious what light you upgraded to?

 

[Nasty_Goblin]

Nicrew Gen 2

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Tank is doing well!

Monti cap is slowly gaining its color back, of course only after I donated my other SPS

I'm liking all the new corals you are adding to your tank! They look great!

 

[Nasty_Goblin]

I'm liking all the new corals you are adding to your tank! They look great!

Thank you!

Still trying to find that nutrient balance.

I try and keep phosphates below or at .20 but a 15 percent water change drops them to .03ish. Trying to avoid changes like that is proving to be a tall order.

My only saving grace is the tank consumes about .02 phosphates every day on its own.


If you have any tips I'd appreciate it!