14g (now 20g) Anemone/Ricordea/Goby Cube

[Karen00]

Wow, what an amazing setup!! I see you love gobies as much as I do!! Coincidentally I have been looking at the WB 20 (AIO). So... after reading your thread I feel certain your answer will be "yes" but I will ask for my peace of mind... "You feel completely safe with your rock nems and small fish?" LOL I don't plan on adding any rock nems for a little while because my tank is only going on 5 months but they're now on my list of "to get". Also on my list of "to get" are some Trimmas and Eviotas. They were supposed to be one of my first additions but my lfs's are always out of stock (I'm in Canada and apparently we are challenged up here lately). Haha. Thanks for the great build thread!

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Dang, just witnessed my female Fire Clown giving my coral banded shrimp a haircut (clipped one of his whiskers with a single swift blow!). Usually the clown leaves all of the shrimps/gobies alone in the tank, only getting upset with either myself or my kittens if we get too close to the tank (or cleaning inside the tank). Wish I could have got a video of this, because I would be lying if I didn't say it wasn't entertaining!

 

[Mkus]

Here’s my 24 going on 14 years clowns been in there since I started the tank.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Here’s my 24 going on 14 years clowns been in there since I started the tank.

Absolutely stunning! I remember coming across your tank before, but I'm adding the link here for everyone's benefit:
JBJ 24 gallon going on 12 years
That's what my tank wants to look like when it grows up!

 

[dawi03]

would love to see an updated vid or photo mate!!

 

[nvcheeko]

How do you find Flow of the Oase and the UV does it help with Algae at all.

 

[gabulldogg22]

Nice

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Labor Day 2022 Update:

 

[TriggersAmuck]

How do you find Flow of the Oase and the UV does it help with Algae at all.

@nvcheeko - Sorry for the delayed response. Even with the resistance of the UV filter in line the OASE puts out a good amount of flow, though it is all pointed downwards due to the UV configuration. I wouldn't rely on it as the sole provider for flow, as the Nero 5 simply wins hands down (and allows for programmable random variation). As to the algae, yeah. That has been a constant struggle with this tank, even when the nutrients (PO4/NO3) were flatlined, but with manual removal and the corals/'nems slowly taking over I'm not too worried about it. I rather have slightly too high nutrients and avoid Dinos then have to deal with ticked off corals from the Dinos winning out over the algae.

 

[nvcheeko]

@nvcheeko - Sorry for the delayed response. Even with the resistance of the UV filter in line the OASE puts out a good amount of flow, though it is all pointed downwards due to the UV configuration. I wouldn't rely on it as the sole provider for flow, as the Nero 5 simply wins hands down (and allows for programmable random variation). As to the algae, yeah. That has been a constant struggle with this tank, even when the nutrients (PO4/NO3) were flatlined, but with manual removal and the corals/'nems slowly taking over I'm not too worried about it. I rather have slightly too high nutrients and avoid Dinos then have to deal with ticked off corals from the Dinos winning out over the algae.

True that, My Nems seems to only split and get massive when nitrates are little high, When there low seem to Bubble up more, Im talking .04 p04 and 5ppm Nitrate, Tank still looks great

 

[TriggersAmuck]

True that, My Nems seems to only split and get massive when nitrates are little high, When there low seem to Bubble up more, Im talking .04 p04 and 5ppm Nitrate, Tank still looks great

Last test my NO3 was right in that 5-10ppm (5 was my best visual guess), but the PO4 was way up (like 0.9!.....now it is below 0.2). I hadn't done water changes in a bit up to that point, so that combined with heavier feeding and the skimmer being turned off resulted in a climb. Hence why I'm just now putting the tiny AquaClear (combined with an InTank basket) on to make more efficient use of GFO/Chemipure Elite. I found that when you set the AC's current super low you can get really effective removal of either PO4 and/or NO3 (when I was using the ceramic gems.....too low as the combination stripped both nutrients resulting in the first round of Dino's).

Obviously maintaining an equilibrium or sweet spot is a constantly changing challenge, but for now I'm relying on pretty frequent, moderate (not heavy) size water changes (keeps NO3 in check and keeps alk/ca/mg up without dosing). Then I'm going for a bit more efficiency with the phos remover as I think the rapid flow in the OASE just doesn't make it the best delivery mechanism for that media. And if I strip the nutrients again, well, time to back off just one of those variables at a time instead of multiple.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

I came up with a good hack in using the tiny AquaClear 20 power filter to deliver GFO/Chemipure Elite. Clearly a proper media reactor with very slow flow will always be the most efficient means of delivering phos remover, but for a non-sump based nano where using a reactor would either be an ungainly hang on with sizable powerhead in the tank or a rather inefficient in-tank reactor (yes, tried that) using a HOB filter works very well provided you can really throttle down the flow. Most of the AquaClears allow you to throttle flow to some degree by swinging the input tube clockwise, but because I'm using an InTank media basket the basket gets in the way of moving it all the way over. (This was not a problem with the larger AC's). So, I got thinking what can I do, and the best answer is to take really fine Tunze micro floss and jam it in the input tube. This location is better for two reasons: it does really help to slow down the flow to a desired trickle, and 2, it is actually a better place for doing mechanical collection without risking overflow (while using the media basket). Many InTank media basket users complain about this as when the fiber/padding gets clogged in the output side of the filter it can slow output to a point where the water level rises and overflows the back of the whole unit. If the fiber is on the input side there is never a risk of this happening.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Update October 29 -

Since the last update I have added:

• 2 Sexy Shrimp
• Cryptic Wrasse - adapted amazingly well and very quickly

The Rose BTAs have almost covered the entire center rock, at least the top. This tank is starting to look the part, and I'll soon have the problem of needing to remove some 'nems to keep a reasonable amount of space. Will add a video over the weekend.

 

[Matt Miller]

Looking forward to the new vid, i have tank envy for sure!

I'm still struggling to keep nems happy in mine and starting to think about throwing in the towel.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Looking forward to the new vid, i have tank envy for sure!

I'm still struggling to keep nems happy in mine and starting to think about throwing in the towel.

OK, looks like I blew past that weekend/month/year in getting a new video up! But now I can show that this tank is now officially a planted tank! Not a freshwater one mind you, but a single live rock I put in from my smaller tank had a couple of macro species on it apparently and they have loved this tank's (dirty) water! LOL

So @Matt Miller , What is going on with your tank? If it is any consolation one of the first Green BTAs I put in decided it was going on a world tour of the tank and is melting away at the bottom where it wasn't getting very good lighting. Everything else is still growing like a weed. I really do believe everyone when they say the tank has to be pretty stable before 'nems will do well as I lost a lot in the first year or so. If you want an "easy" tank you can always put in Green Star Polyp, but be aware it will win against all species (except anemones funny enough).

 

[TriggersAmuck]

.....and macro algae. It appears to be crowding out an area of GSP in my 'nem tank.