14g Simple Budget Nano Cube

[camilenoel]

Hello reefers! My name is Camile, I have a BS in Marine Bio and about 9 years of experience working in public aquaria and aquaculture but am new to reef keeping at the hobbyist level! I've had a well established FOWLR tank for about three years now and figured it was about time I got into reefing! I’m currently running the aquatics department at my local LFS and fell in love with this absolutely evil maroon clownfish that has been here for about 8 months, killed a couple fish before he got his buddy privileges revoked and loves to nip at fingers. He inspired me to set up another tank so he can have a home where he gets to be the only fish in the tank and bite me all he wants.

I wanted to keep the setup simple and budget friendly, using as much of the extra stuff I have lying around as possible. Here’s the current setup and my plans for the future if anyone’s interested in watching my progress!

Tank: Rimless Aqueon 14g cube
Filter: Fluval Aquaclear 50
Media: mature bio block from established FOWLR tank and ChemiPure Blue (LOVE that stuff and already had on hand)
Substrate: 10lbs Caribsea Aragalive
Aquascape: Caribsea Liferock Arch and small rock
Circulation pump: Fluval Sea CP1 (leftover from FOWLR tank)
Light: SmatFarm 60w G3 (just came in today so once I get it set up I’ll let you know what settings I end up running it at)

Planning to upgrade my wave maker and add an ATO at some point soon.

Currently running the tank with just Little Evil the maroon and am planning to add mostly softies and LPS at first and then maybe a few SPS up top down the line. There’s a coral convention in town in a couple months so I’m planning on just letting the tank mature a bit and picking up a few corals to start with then.

I plan on dosing All For Reef once I get corals in to keep it easy also.

First Photo is day 1 second photo is day 2! I love how quick and well the ChemiPure Blue clears the water right up!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Hello reefers! My name is Camile, I have a BS in Marine Bio and about 9 years of experience working in public aquaria and aquaculture but am new to reef keeping at the hobbyist level! I've had a well established FOWLR tank for about three years now and figured it was about time I got into reefing! I’m currently running the aquatics department at my local LFS and fell in love with this absolutely evil maroon clownfish that has been here for about 8 months, killed a couple fish before he got his buddy privileges revoked and loves to nip at fingers. He inspired me to set up another tank so he can have a home where he gets to be the only fish in the tank and bite me all he wants.

I wanted to keep the setup simple and budget friendly, using as much of the extra stuff I have lying around as possible. Here’s the current setup and my plans for the future if anyone’s interested in watching my progress!

Tank: Rimless Aqueon 14g cube
Filter: Fluval Aquaclear 50
Media: mature bio block from established FOWLR tank and ChemiPure Blue (LOVE that stuff and already had on hand)
Substrate: 10lbs Caribsea Aragalive
Aquascape: Caribsea Liferock Arch and small rock
Circulation pump: Fluval Sea CP1 (leftover from FOWLR tank)
Light: SmatFarm 60w G3 (just came in today so once I get it set up I’ll let you know what settings I end up running it at)

Planning to upgrade my wave maker and add an ATO at some point soon.

Currently running the tank with just Little Evil the maroon and am planning to add mostly softies and LPS at first and then maybe a few SPS up top down the line. There’s a coral convention in town in a couple months so I’m planning on just letting the tank mature a bit and picking up a few corals to start with then.

I plan on dosing All For Reef once I get corals in to keep it easy also.

For whatever reason I can’t get the photos to post so I’ll have to tinker with it later for some progress photos!

There is a fairly new thread here at R2R about being a 'Minimalist Reefer' (that's the name of the thread). Come on over and say 'Hello".

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[camilenoel]

Hello reefers! My name is Camile, I have a BS in Marine Bio and about 9 years of experience working in public aquaria and aquaculture but am new to reef keeping at the hobbyist level! I've had a well established FOWLR tank for about three years now and figured it was about time I got into reefing! I’m currently running the aquatics department at my local LFS and fell in love with this absolutely evil maroon clownfish that has been here for about 8 months, killed a couple fish before he got his buddy privileges revoked and loves to nip at fingers. He inspired me to set up another tank so he can have a home where he gets to be the only fish in the tank and bite me all he wants.

I wanted to keep the setup simple and budget friendly, using as much of the extra stuff I have lying around as possible. Here’s the current setup and my plans for the future if anyone’s interested in watching my progress!

Tank: Rimless Aqueon 14g cube
Filter: Fluval Aquaclear 50
Media: mature bio block from established FOWLR tank and ChemiPure Blue (LOVE that stuff and already had on hand)
Substrate: 10lbs Caribsea Aragalive
Aquascape: Caribsea Liferock Arch and small rock
Circulation pump: Fluval Sea CP1 (leftover from FOWLR tank)
Light: SmatFarm 60w G3 (just came in today so once I get it set up I’ll let you know what settings I end up running it at)

Planning to upgrade my wave maker and add an ATO at some point soon.

Currently running the tank with just Little Evil the maroon and am planning to add mostly softies and LPS at first and then maybe a few SPS up top down the line. There’s a coral convention in town in a couple months so I’m planning on just letting the tank mature a bit and picking up a few corals to start with then.

I plan on dosing All For Reef once I get corals in to keep it easy also.

First Photo is day 1 second photo is day 2! I love how quick and well the ChemiPure Blue clears the water right up!

Day 5 update!

Today’s water test:
Salinity: 34 ppt
pH: 8.07
Nitrate: 5.4 ppm
Those three are all I’m really going to be testing for now because its just Little Evil in there. I will probably just do biweekly water changes until I get corals in there, keeping an eye on salinity and nitrate and topping off with RO in between. Once it actually becomes a reef tank I plan on testing Alkalinity and phosphate on a weekly basis along with 10% weekly water changes and dosing All For Reef.

Got the light all set up today! It was relatively easy for me despite hearing it was difficult. Going with sunrise from 9:00-10:00, daylight from 10:00-18:00, sunset from 18:00-19:00 and moonlight from 19:00-23:00.
Daylight spread
A: 40%
B: 100%
C: 100%
Moonlight spread
A: 0%
B: 1%
C: 1%

I am currently using the Mix reef setting, which is where the 40% white came from but will probably ramp it up when I add corals. I am really curious about the par situation though. I will attach the chart provided by Smatfarm. The light is currently sitting 9in above the water line with the sand bed being 14in from the surface. I’m not sure how much the percentage of white effects par so if anyone knows or could direct me to a thread where they are discussing something similar that would be awesome!

Second photo is the tank, now lit, although it is already ramping down so its a little hard to photograph because it is so blue. The shimmer is very nice and I like that it doesn’t have red or green LEDs because I wanted it to be very cool toned blue.

Third photo is Little Evil, who still hasn’t figured out that he has full run of the entire tank and is basically hosting the heater in the corner. Temp is currently 76 and I want to bring it up a bit, but being this is a tank starting from spare parts I just have a preset 100w in there that will be replaced with an adjustable one in the near future.

Fourth photo is the 3D printed skimmer box attachment I ordered off of Etsy. We will see how well it keeps the surface clear as I am going topless on this tank which is a whole new world for me. The tank came with a glass lid but I’m not sure how much it will effect the light penetration so I’m just going to leave it off for now. ATO will most likely be the next purchase on my list because I’m sure its going to evaporate more than I am used to without a lid.

 

[lil sumpin]

Really cool to see another 14 cube build

Good luck!

 

[camilenoel]

Day 5 update!

Today’s water test:
Salinity: 34 ppt
pH: 8.07
Nitrate: 5.4 ppm
Those three are all I’m really going to be testing for now because its just Little Evil in there. I will probably just do biweekly water changes until I get corals in there, keeping an eye on salinity and nitrate and topping off with RO in between. Once it actually becomes a reef tank I plan on testing Alkalinity and phosphate on a weekly basis along with 10% weekly water changes and dosing All For Reef.

Got the light all set up today! It was relatively easy for me despite hearing it was difficult. Going with sunrise from 9:00-10:00, daylight from 10:00-18:00, sunset from 18:00-19:00 and moonlight from 19:00-23:00.
Daylight spread
A: 40%
B: 100%
C: 100%
Moonlight spread
A: 0%
B: 1%
C: 1%

I am currently using the Mix reef setting, which is where the 40% white came from but will probably ramp it up when I add corals. I am really curious about the par situation though. I will attach the chart provided by Smatfarm. The light is currently sitting 9in above the water line with the sand bed being 14in from the surface. I’m not sure how much the percentage of white effects par so if anyone knows or could direct me to a thread where they are discussing something similar that would be awesome!

Second photo is the tank, now lit, although it is already ramping down so its a little hard to photograph because it is so blue. The shimmer is very nice and I like that it doesn’t have red or green LEDs because I wanted it to be very cool toned blue.

Third photo is Little Evil, who still hasn’t figured out that he has full run of the entire tank and is basically hosting the heater in the corner. Temp is currently 76 and I want to bring it up a bit, but being this is a tank starting from spare parts I just have a preset 100w in there that will be replaced with an adjustable one in the near future.

Fourth photo is the 3D printed skimmer box attachment I ordered off of Etsy. We will see how well it keeps the surface clear as I am going topless on this tank which is a whole new world for me. The tank came with a glass lid but I’m not sure how much it will effect the light penetration so I’m just going to leave it off for now. ATO will most likely be the next purchase on my list because I’m sure its going to evaporate more than I am used to without a lid.

Day 13 Update!

Starting to see a little algae so I added a small CUC of 6 red leg hermits, 6 nassarius snails and one fatty turbo snail! They are already scavenging and picked through my one dead spot where the excess food accumulates (under the arch) so they are already paying their rent lol!

I also installed ATO to make my life easier because I’ve been having SO MUCH evap going topless! It is amazing and I think I need one for every one of my tanks now! The one I got was like $50 from amazon, simple and effective. Put the pump in the basin, attach the tube, place the magnetic sensor and plug it all in! Best invention ever. Literally obsessed. How did I go this long without it on my other tank?

Water tested today. Everything looks good.
Salinity 33 ppt
pH 8.4
Nitrate 5.7

Salinity is a little low but its water change day tomorrow so it will be fine! Also trying out a bit of filter floss in the skimmer box to catch and remove anything I stir up while doing maintenance!

Oh and I got a little clip on orange lense so my pictures aren’t completely blown out blue now!

 

[Macbalacano]

Following along!

 

[kanders87]

Looks good!

 

[kevgib67]

Very nice, well done!

 

[Manpeckz]

Best of luck on this nano!

 

[camilenoel]

Day 13 Update!

Starting to see a little algae so I added a small CUC of 6 red leg hermits, 6 nassarius snails and one fatty turbo snail! They are already scavenging and picked through my one dead spot where the excess food accumulates (under the arch) so they are already paying their rent lol!

I also installed ATO to make my life easier because I’ve been having SO MUCH evap going topless! It is amazing and I think I need one for every one of my tanks now! The one I got was like $50 from amazon, simple and effective. Put the pump in the basin, attach the tube, place the magnetic sensor and plug it all in! Best invention ever. Literally obsessed. How did I go this long without it on my other tank?

Water tested today. Everything looks good.
Salinity 33 ppt
pH 8.4
Nitrate 5.7

Salinity is a little low but its water change day tomorrow so it will be fine! Also trying out a bit of filter floss in the skimmer box to catch and remove anything I stir up while doing maintenance!

Oh and I got a little clip on orange lense so my pictures aren’t completely blown out blue now!

Day 18 Update!

We did our first water change today! I just did 10% but I think I am now in full algae bloom because the diatoms bounced back in just a few hours. The water is a little cloudy but I am assuming its just a healthy bacterial bloom now that the tank has been going a little over two weeks! We will see if it goes away on its own or if I will have to intervene at some point. I’m sure its just some growing pains as the tank is maturing!

My par meter came in today and I was planning on making a fancy par map but honestly that thing was ticking me off so I just marked up a photo with the readings for places I am already planning on adding corals. For some reason i have a really bright spot in the farthest deepest corner from the light which is very confounding to me so if anyone knows why that might be please let me know! My original plan was to do a zoa garden on the left cascading rock and then a mix of SPS, LPS and some softies on the arch, and maybe some mushrooms on the sand. Now looking at my par readings I am a little worried that the par is too high for all the softies and LPS but somehow too low even at the highest point for SPS. The light is already mounted as high as it can go and the white intensity is only 40%. I tried turning it down but then there really wont be anywhere SPS can thrive!

Little Evil the maroon clownfish is still doing well, along with his snail and hermit friends! I am impatiently waiting for April to add some corals in for some more color!

 

[camilenoel]

Day 18 Update!

We did our first water change today! I just did 10% but I think I am now in full algae bloom because the diatoms bounced back in just a few hours. The water is a little cloudy but I am assuming its just a healthy bacterial bloom now that the tank has been going a little over two weeks! We will see if it goes away on its own or if I will have to intervene at some point. I’m sure its just some growing pains as the tank is maturing!

My par meter came in today and I was planning on making a fancy par map but honestly that thing was ticking me off so I just marked up a photo with the readings for places I am already planning on adding corals. For some reason i have a really bright spot in the farthest deepest corner from the light which is very confounding to me so if anyone knows why that might be please let me know! My original plan was to do a zoa garden on the left cascading rock and then a mix of SPS, LPS and some softies on the arch, and maybe some mushrooms on the sand. Now looking at my par readings I am a little worried that the par is too high for all the softies and LPS but somehow too low even at the highest point for SPS. The light is already mounted as high as it can go and the white intensity is only 40%. I tried turning it down but then there really wont be anywhere SPS can thrive!

Little Evil the maroon clownfish is still doing well, along with his snail and hermit friends! I am impatiently waiting for April to add some corals in for some more color!

Day 27 Update!

There’s not much going on as we are still in the pre coral stage.

Still having diatoms but nothing crazy. Ive been wondering why my water is cloudy but realized I still am using the same chemipure blue packet from the setup and its been nearly a month, whoops. So I switched it out and did a water change today but I’m pretty sure its mostly diatoms and bacterial bloom so it should resolve itself eventually.

I also turned up the lights to 50% white today so that I’m happier with the par readings. Hopefully the softies and LPS don't bleach out but I think I’d rather have slightly high par than too low. The top of the rock is about 200 and the sandbed is about 150 so its nothing too intense but I can always turn it down if I need!

That’s pretty much it for now. Little Evil the Maroon is doing well, starting to get a little feistier again and the snails and hermits are doing great!

 

[camilenoel]

Day 27 Update!

There’s not much going on as we are still in the pre coral stage.

Still having diatoms but nothing crazy. Ive been wondering why my water is cloudy but realized I still am using the same chemipure blue packet from the setup and its been nearly a month, whoops. So I switched it out and did a water change today but I’m pretty sure its mostly diatoms and bacterial bloom so it should resolve itself eventually.

I also turned up the lights to 50% white today so that I’m happier with the par readings. Hopefully the softies and LPS don't bleach out but I think I’d rather have slightly high par than too low. The top of the rock is about 200 and the sandbed is about 150 so its nothing too intense but I can always turn it down if I need!

That’s pretty much it for now. Little Evil the Maroon is doing well, starting to get a little feistier again and the snails and hermits are doing great!

Day 44 Update!

A friend of mine had some Watermelon BTAs that he needed to get off of his hands so I decided to add one into the cube for Little Evil. He took to it almost immediately! About an hour into it being in the tank he snuggled right in and hasn’t left since. I’m so glad he loves it!

I figured if I was going to add a nem to the reef I better do it now to get it settled in before I have corals in there and he decides to do a walkabout of destruction. Which I understand may happen anyways but the chances are significantly less and I have another tank I can put it in worst case scenario. Although now I don’t know if I would have the heart to take it away from this sweet evil boy.

I got my Alkalinity and Phosphate Hanna Checkers in as well as a 3D printed tray for all of them and it looks so good and makes it so easy to do my water tests now. Here’s my most recent test results:
Nitrate 0.0
Phosphate 0.0
Alkalinity 7.0

I want to boost my nitrates a bit for optimal coral growth when the time comes but I would rather do that by feeding heavier and stocking more fish. Because my tank is pretty small I have limited options on what will do well so I ordered a shrimp goby and pistol shrimp pair. I’m thinking they would be the perfect addition because I would love to observe their symbiotic relationship and they can quickly and easily dart into their cave if Little Evil decides to get snippy with them. If he ends up killing them I wont try again with any other fish and probably will just have to dose nitrate but I figured he has only ever killed other clowns so I’m willing to try another fish once and see how it goes.

Since I have been using ocean water for this tank the Alk is sitting at a natural 7. I’ll probably start dosing AFR about a week or two before corals go in so I can get it stable at a higher level before adding them for the easiest transition. I’m thinking of not keeping it too high especially because it will be LPS dominant and my nutrients are low. Probably will shoot for about 8 dKH so that there’s a little wiggle room to drop in a worst case scenario.

I saw Randy Holmes-Farley talking about this and he had anecdotal evidence that too high of a dKH with low nutrients can “burn tips” of SPS so I don’t want to shoot too high. Even if I do get my nutrients up it won’t be much so no need to risk it. To start I am just going to dose the recommended AFR dose and see what happens.

Oh! My friend also gave me a shell that some Xenia settled on and I figured that would be a perfect little island for it to live on. The hermits are very interested in the new shell even though it is way too large for them but they have done a great job cleaning the algae off of it.

 

[camilenoel]

Day 44 Update!

A friend of mine had some Watermelon BTAs that he needed to get off of his hands so I decided to add one into the cube for Little Evil. He took to it almost immediately! About an hour into it being in the tank he snuggled right in and hasn’t left since. I’m so glad he loves it!

I figured if I was going to add a nem to the reef I better do it now to get it settled in before I have corals in there and he decides to do a walkabout of destruction. Which I understand may happen anyways but the chances are significantly less and I have another tank I can put it in worst case scenario. Although now I don’t know if I would have the heart to take it away from this sweet evil boy.

I got my Alkalinity and Phosphate Hanna Checkers in as well as a 3D printed tray for all of them and it looks so good and makes it so easy to do my water tests now. Here’s my most recent test results:
Nitrate 0.0
Phosphate 0.0
Alkalinity 7.0

I want to boost my nitrates a bit for optimal coral growth when the time comes but I would rather do that by feeding heavier and stocking more fish. Because my tank is pretty small I have limited options on what will do well so I ordered a shrimp goby and pistol shrimp pair. I’m thinking they would be the perfect addition because I would love to observe their symbiotic relationship and they can quickly and easily dart into their cave if Little Evil decides to get snippy with them. If he ends up killing them I wont try again with any other fish and probably will just have to dose nitrate but I figured he has only ever killed other clowns so I’m willing to try another fish once and see how it goes.

Since I have been using ocean water for this tank the Alk is sitting at a natural 7. I’ll probably start dosing AFR about a week or two before corals go in so I can get it stable at a higher level before adding them for the easiest transition. I’m thinking of not keeping it too high especially because it will be LPS dominant and my nutrients are low. Probably will shoot for about 8 dKH so that there’s a little wiggle room to drop in a worst case scenario.

I saw Randy Holmes-Farley talking about this and he had anecdotal evidence that too high of a dKH with low nutrients can “burn tips” of SPS so I don’t want to shoot too high. Even if I do get my nutrients up it won’t be much so no need to risk it. To start I am just going to dose the recommended AFR dose and see what happens.

Oh! My friend also gave me a shell that some Xenia settled on and I figured that would be a perfect little island for it to live on. The hermits are very interested in the new shell even though it is way too large for them but they have done a great job cleaning the algae off of it.

Day 61 Update!
I decided to order a couple new friends to put in the tank and see how they do, but of course I’m extra and had to have a Yasha Goby and A Candy Cane Pistol Shrimp to pair up.

It was a pain getting them in the tank because I wanted to try and get them to settle as far away from Little Evil and his nem as possible to avoid problems as best as I could. I know gobies tend to be jumpers so I put on the lid that I have temporarily until he gets settled or I found a better lid solution that doesn’t effect my PAR for the corals.

30 seconds in, the goby jumped and I had to scoop him up off the desk but he was fine. Once I got them in safely they paired up and finally found a cave in a good spot and were happy as can be when I finally stopped anxiously staring at them for hours and went to bed.

This morning I found the yasha dried up on the carpet . I couldn’t see the shrimp anywhere but I’m sure he’s burrowed in somewhere. I’m so frustrated, not only did I spend like $85 on that fish, I was so excited for the pair to be in that tank.

Now im worried that the shrimp isn’t going to do well without his partner but I don’t really want to deal with another goby jumping or sealing every square inch of the lid to try and keep them from jumping.

If anyone has any recommendations for other options small enough to be in a 14g nano that my clownfish won’t kill that would be great. And if there’s anything else I can do to ensure the shrimp thrives too.

 

[camilenoel]

Day 61 Update!
I decided to order a couple new friends to put in the tank and see how they do, but of course I’m extra and had to have a Yasha Goby and A Candy Cane Pistol Shrimp to pair up.

It was a pain getting them in the tank because I wanted to try and get them to settle as far away from Little Evil and his nem as possible to avoid problems as best as I could. I know gobies tend to be jumpers so I put on the lid that I have temporarily until he gets settled or I found a better lid solution that doesn’t effect my PAR for the corals.

30 seconds in, the goby jumped and I had to scoop him up off the desk but he was fine. Once I got them in safely they paired up and finally found a cave in a good spot and were happy as can be when I finally stopped anxiously staring at them for hours and went to bed.

This morning I found the yasha dried up on the carpet . I couldn’t see the shrimp anywhere but I’m sure he’s burrowed in somewhere. I’m so frustrated, not only did I spend like $85 on that fish, I was so excited for the pair to be in that tank.

Now im worried that the shrimp isn’t going to do well without his partner but I don’t really want to deal with another goby jumping or sealing every square inch of the lid to try and keep them from jumping.

If anyone has any recommendations for other options small enough to be in a 14g nano that my clownfish won’t kill that would be great. And if there’s anything else I can do to ensure the shrimp thrives too.

Day 65 Update!

I have not seen the shrimp since the yasha met his crusty end and I even picked up my rocks today (much to little evil’s dismay) to look for him. I feel like one day he’s just going to show up but it’s entirely possible that he’s burrowed somewhere and he will just show up one day so here’s to hoping for the latter.

My turbo snail also fell upside down right in front of me the other day and I flipped him immediately hoping to save him but it didn’t work because I found his operculum next to him so I took him out today RIP. But of course my tank is really in the uglies right now, diatoms everywhere, and my biggest and most useful passive tool against them is now gone so that’s great.

Water test results today were as follows:
Nitrate - 0
Phosphate - 0.11
Alkalinity - 7.3

We are one week out from the coral show so in order to get my parameters back in check before then I did I nice big 30% water change, sand stirred, scrubbed every surface and dosed my AFR. Im too cheap at the moment to buy a dosing pump and I’ve been really bad at dosing every day so that will be this weeks goal, to dose daily.

Hopefully that big water change brings my phosphates down enough and I can keep them that way and the AFR should boost my alkalinity enough to get it where I want it.

Anemone and Little Evil are doing great although he’s really mad at me right now for moving his rock and has bit me multiple times. Which I’m secretly a little happy about considering that aggressive personality is the reason I brought him home in the first place, so I’m glad that he’s gotten back to himself.

 

[camilenoel]

Day 65 Update!

I have not seen the shrimp since the yasha met his crusty end and I even picked up my rocks today (much to little evil’s dismay) to look for him. I feel like one day he’s just going to show up but it’s entirely possible that he’s burrowed somewhere and he will just show up one day so here’s to hoping for the latter.

My turbo snail also fell upside down right in front of me the other day and I flipped him immediately hoping to save him but it didn’t work because I found his operculum next to him so I took him out today RIP. But of course my tank is really in the uglies right now, diatoms everywhere, and my biggest and most useful passive tool against them is now gone so that’s great.

Water test results today were as follows:
Nitrate - 0
Phosphate - 0.11
Alkalinity - 7.3

We are one week out from the coral show so in order to get my parameters back in check before then I did I nice big 30% water change, sand stirred, scrubbed every surface and dosed my AFR. Im too cheap at the moment to buy a dosing pump and I’ve been really bad at dosing every day so that will be this weeks goal, to dose daily.

Hopefully that big water change brings my phosphates down enough and I can keep them that way and the AFR should boost my alkalinity enough to get it where I want it.

Anemone and Little Evil are doing great although he’s really mad at me right now for moving his rock and has bit me multiple times. Which I’m secretly a little happy about considering that aggressive personality is the reason I brought him home in the first place, so I’m glad that he’s gotten back to himself.

Day 76 update!

Okay so I’ve skipped a couple updates BUT we have FINALLY gotten some corals!

Last Saturday we went to the 3RMAS annual coral swap and stocked up on our first batch of corals for the cube!

We got:
- Montipora setosa
- Pavona (potato chip)
- Alveopora
- Gorgonian (i think its a candelabra)
- 6 Zoa frags (Ive attached a photo for ID help)

I basically blacked out for the whole thing and cannot remember what kind of zoas I bought because there was soooo many BUT I know that my large colony is an Avatar and there’s some Gobstoppers and I think Pink Zippers in there if I remember correctly! As they grow and open up more I plan on doing some recon to find out what each kind I have is named. I have two colonies that are split between a couple different kinds which I always find fun.

I will attach some photos from acclimation and original placement but the hermits keep knocking everything over so I shoved the plugs in the sand until I had time to glue everything down. They got glued today and are now in their hopefully permanent spots.

The Anemone has been shrunk down for the last few weeks so its hard to estimate exactly how much space he needs to not sting everyone for now but he is still thoroughly rooted in his spot despite me picking up and moving all the rocks the other day in search of the missing pistol shrimp so that’s good news. Hopefully now that the corals are glued he doesn’t decide suddenly that he needs to go for a walk.

Water parameters are doing well, nitrates are still 0 but phosphates are going down. Ive discovered I am terrible at daily dosing AFR so I am working on getting a dosing pump set up on it.

I also added a cleaner goby because he needed a home and I wanted another ammonia source so let’s see if it helps at all, although I’m sure he’s too little to add much. So far Little Evil is leaving him alone so all good on that front.

The tank is still in the uglies right now with orangey-brown algae hanging out most places but it will pass and everything is doing well.

My Xenia shell is doing awesome as well, its finally in a nice spot where its pulsing and not getting absolutely bodied by the hermits daily so I am stoked about that.

I’m already itching for some more zoas for the garden and am currently brainstorming what kind of coral I should add to the front of the arch and along the bottom/sandbed.

 

[lil sumpin]

Very cool zoas! I really dig the alveopora, have been looking to add one for a bit now. You'll want some nitrates and phospates to keep coral happy. Are you testing for alkalinity? AFR will help to maintain parameters but if alk and cal begin to fluctuate, which will likely happen now that you've added coral, dose the according 2 part

 

[camilenoel]

Very cool zoas! I really dig the alveopora, have been looking to add one for a bit now. You'll want some nitrates and phospates to keep coral happy. Are you testing for alkalinity? AFR will help to maintain parameters but if alk and cal begin to fluctuate, which will likely happen now that you've added coral, dose the according 2 part

Thank you!! I saw that Alveopora and immediately fell in love and tried to find something else like it at the swap and nothing compared. I probably came back to look at it 3 times before I finally pulled the trigger and bought it! It’s a pretty nice colony and I only spent like $30 so not bad. By far my favorite piece in there atm.

I’ve been trying to boost nitrates but I just don’t have a large enough bioload to boost it so I might have to start dosing nitrates but I want to see if I can let it go for a bit and see if it boosts it naturally. I do test alkalinity. It has only wavered since I started dosing because I’m not very consistent. I haven’t dosed since adding the corals to try and keep it as stable as possible while I’m waiting for my new doser to come in. I’ll keep you updated on how it goes after that. If AFR isn’t doing the trick for the two SPS I’ll switch to two part.