I am starting this thread after the fact to document my little 16 gallon nano LPS/docile fish setup. We are doing his and her biocubes, with mine being the 16 focused on LPS and docile fish. My wife's is a 32 that will focus on a few fish and clove polyps (for some reason she just loves them.) We had a 20 gallon eclipse saltwater many years ago and I am now seriously amazed we were able to keep anything alive in it. The available resources now are just amazing for helping out starting a tank. I will add pictures as I can but here's a quick rundown so far.
We got the tanks in December and cycled using dry rock and live sand. Fiji pink for me and Bahamas Oolite for her. (She loves the beach)
We are both running stock lights and returns. We cycled for a month using Dr Tims until our readings all looked stable and good. Using Red Sea Coral Pro salt.
In my tank, which I will focus on, I have added a Aqamai KPS powerhead, which I find to be just fine. The initial setup was a little painful, but now it is on the network and running fine. The 32 has a hygger mini that also is fine for what it is. We also swapped out the crappy stock baskets for the intank versions. They are considerably better. We are both using inkbird controllers for temp control and they work nicely.
Current livestock in my tank is as follows:
Fish: Tailspot Blenny, Orange Spotted goby, and a tiny (seriously tiny) Panda Goby. I may eventually add a mid-water fish but I kind of like the aesthetic of fish poking their heads out and not constantly swimming in circles just because they can. I am contemplating a possum wrasse as a final addition once the tank is more established.
Inverts: Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, couple of Nassarius and trochus snails, 2 small blue legged hermits
Corals: Aussie Lord, 2 Blasto (Merletti frag and Wellsi), Neon Candy Cane, Acan, Duncan, a little chip frag of Raja Rampage Chalice, Pocillopora that I got specifically for the panda goby (which he doesn't even notice), One cyphastrea from the 5$ frag bin that is allergic to any lights so browns up every time the lights come on even though he's under a ledge. From the same 5$ frag bin, I grabbed a stick of unknown coral, could be a stylophora. He doesn't love the tank so far but is not dying, just not growing very well. All of the corals seem to be doing fine under the stock LED's and single powerhead/return configuration.
Feeding and dosing: I feed a mix of LRS nano and formula 2 frozen daily. I feed coral frenzy and reef roids once a week, and spot feed twice weekly mysis to the blastos, duncans and Aussie. They all seem to love it. I dose Red Sea A/B weekly but that's about it. I test every other day for Alk, PH, Nitrates and salinity. Weekly for Phos, Calc, Mag, Ammonia and Nitrites. Ammonia and Nitrites are generally undetectable and Nitrates are generally around 15. Phos runs around .03.
A couple of early learning lessons we have had so far: We are very fortunate to live in the Orlando area, so we have access to several really great LFS, World Wide, Top Shelf and others. It is mind boggling to walk into those shops. It is also easy to assume everyone in a LFS knows everything and can tell you the best advice. However, a couple of times we have been led to get fish that just aren't the right fish for our setups. My wife wanted something to help clean her sand, so the lfs suggested a diamond Goby. In a 32 gallon, with oolite sand... Hello bacterial bloom and constant clouds. I had a substantial pod outbreak and another lfs told be to get a scooter blenny, in a 2 month old tank... Needless to say he cleaned out the pods in about 2 days and then wouldn't eat frozen. Both fish were returned to the stores and replaced with more appropriate fish. Now we know to do our research and not buy on emotion or on the beauty of a fish or coral.
Also, aquascaping wet rock sucks. We both thought to cycle and then scape, but that is much harder than youtube would lead you to believe. Next tank we will take our time and figure out rockscape prior to cycling.
Thanks for all your insight and sharing your stories. It is both an inspiration and a huge help to those of us just getting started.
We got the tanks in December and cycled using dry rock and live sand. Fiji pink for me and Bahamas Oolite for her. (She loves the beach)
We are both running stock lights and returns. We cycled for a month using Dr Tims until our readings all looked stable and good. Using Red Sea Coral Pro salt.
In my tank, which I will focus on, I have added a Aqamai KPS powerhead, which I find to be just fine. The initial setup was a little painful, but now it is on the network and running fine. The 32 has a hygger mini that also is fine for what it is. We also swapped out the crappy stock baskets for the intank versions. They are considerably better. We are both using inkbird controllers for temp control and they work nicely.
Current livestock in my tank is as follows:
Fish: Tailspot Blenny, Orange Spotted goby, and a tiny (seriously tiny) Panda Goby. I may eventually add a mid-water fish but I kind of like the aesthetic of fish poking their heads out and not constantly swimming in circles just because they can. I am contemplating a possum wrasse as a final addition once the tank is more established.
Inverts: Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, couple of Nassarius and trochus snails, 2 small blue legged hermits
Corals: Aussie Lord, 2 Blasto (Merletti frag and Wellsi), Neon Candy Cane, Acan, Duncan, a little chip frag of Raja Rampage Chalice, Pocillopora that I got specifically for the panda goby (which he doesn't even notice), One cyphastrea from the 5$ frag bin that is allergic to any lights so browns up every time the lights come on even though he's under a ledge. From the same 5$ frag bin, I grabbed a stick of unknown coral, could be a stylophora. He doesn't love the tank so far but is not dying, just not growing very well. All of the corals seem to be doing fine under the stock LED's and single powerhead/return configuration.
Feeding and dosing: I feed a mix of LRS nano and formula 2 frozen daily. I feed coral frenzy and reef roids once a week, and spot feed twice weekly mysis to the blastos, duncans and Aussie. They all seem to love it. I dose Red Sea A/B weekly but that's about it. I test every other day for Alk, PH, Nitrates and salinity. Weekly for Phos, Calc, Mag, Ammonia and Nitrites. Ammonia and Nitrites are generally undetectable and Nitrates are generally around 15. Phos runs around .03.
A couple of early learning lessons we have had so far: We are very fortunate to live in the Orlando area, so we have access to several really great LFS, World Wide, Top Shelf and others. It is mind boggling to walk into those shops. It is also easy to assume everyone in a LFS knows everything and can tell you the best advice. However, a couple of times we have been led to get fish that just aren't the right fish for our setups. My wife wanted something to help clean her sand, so the lfs suggested a diamond Goby. In a 32 gallon, with oolite sand... Hello bacterial bloom and constant clouds. I had a substantial pod outbreak and another lfs told be to get a scooter blenny, in a 2 month old tank... Needless to say he cleaned out the pods in about 2 days and then wouldn't eat frozen. Both fish were returned to the stores and replaced with more appropriate fish. Now we know to do our research and not buy on emotion or on the beauty of a fish or coral.
Also, aquascaping wet rock sucks. We both thought to cycle and then scape, but that is much harder than youtube would lead you to believe. Next tank we will take our time and figure out rockscape prior to cycling.
Thanks for all your insight and sharing your stories. It is both an inspiration and a huge help to those of us just getting started.
