1armfish's 20g Super-Awesome-Magical Reef Diary

[1armfish]

Hey Everyone!

I'm very excited to make this post! I've been a lurker on these forums for over 10 years slowly soaking up info and It's finally time to put it to use.

My tank has been running for 7 months now and in that time It has developed an enormously rich history. So much so that I regularly forget things that have happened!
I became aware of this last week when my girlfriend was reminiscing about some melted Zoas from the 2nd month that I had completely forgotten about.

My goal is to keep this diary alive in order to provide relief for my poor, weak brain and this over encumbering burden to remember things.


Currently, It's a mixed reef with mostly Zoas, a Euphyllia garden and some acro varients on top.

My initial plan was to have my first reef tank be only Zoas, and then I took a few trips to the LFS and quickly stopped kidding myself.


EQIUPMENT LIST!
JBJ 20g Nano cube
AI Prime 16HD
2x 50w heaters
2x eflux Wave Makers
Marinepure Spheres
Kamoer X1 PRO 2 Micropump (For Kalkwasser dosing)
Salifert Test Kits
RO/DI Filter
Lowes Bucket (For Water Changes)
Love
Affection

ANIMALS WITH EYES STOCK LIST!
2x Ocellaris
1x Purple Firefish
1x Yellow Watchman Goby/Pistol Shrimp pair
1x Albino Urchin(Giant steamy ****** this one)
2x Conchs
10x Blue Leg Hermits

ANIMALS WITHOUT EYES STOCK LIST!
Blue Squamosa Clam
Sunset Fungia
Rasta Zoa
Armageddon Paly
Grand Master Kraken Zoa
King Midas Zoa
Stargazer Zoa
Insane Rainbows Paly
LA Lakers Zoa
Mohican Sun Zoa
Blondies Zoa
Jungle Juice Zoa
Flaming Fireball Zoa
Pink Zoa(Real name unknown - Temporary name, Lucille)
Firework Clove Polyps
Teal Duncan
Paly Grandis
Green Slimer Acro
Green Goddess Birdsnest
Green Humilis
Green Goblin Anacropora
Golden Rod Anacropora
TNT Anacropora
Rainbow Stylo
Red Montipora
Orange Favia(Glued on black wall)
Galaxea(Glued on black wall)
NY Knicks Torch
Teal Cristata Torch
Purple Tip Green Torch
Golden Branching Hammer

Current water Parameters:
Phosphates - 0.03
Alkalinity - 8.5
PH - 8.2
Calcium - ~470ppm
Magnesium ~1500ppm


Time for PICS AND VIDEO!!

 

[thomas_neil]

That is so awesome. I just set up my JBJ 20 cube in my office and would love for it to look like that one day. Is kalk all you dose? I was looking into all for reef as a one stop shop for dosing. I want to keep is as simple as possible.

 

[1armfish]

Yup, Kalk is all I dose for now and I only started dosing a little less than a month ago mainly for the SPS corals. I decided early on to take a very reactive method when it comes to putting chemicals in my water, as in, I don't put anything in the water unless necessary.

I use Red Sea Coral Pro Salt, have done a 5g Lowes bucket water change every 2 weeks since first setup and my Ca and Mg stay very consistent at 470 and 1500 respectively.

My alkalinity was at 7.5 and that was fine while the tank was Zoas, but once I started putting SPS I needed to fix that.

I chose to use Kalk because It seemed to be the easiest and I felt like I didn't need to add the Mg that you get with 2 part and All For Reef.

 

[thomas_neil]

Yup, Kalk is all I dose for now and I only started dosing a little less than a month ago mainly for the SPS corals. I decided early on to take a very reactive method when it comes to putting chemicals in my water, as in, I don't put anything in the water unless necessary.

I use Red Sea Coral Pro Salt, have done a 5g Lowes bucket water change every 2 weeks since first setup and my Ca and Mg stay very consistent at 470 and 1500 respectively.

My alkalinity was at 7.5 and that was fine while the tank was Zoas, but once I started putting SPS I needed to fix that.

I chose to use Kalk because It seemed to be the easiest and I felt like I didn't need to add the Mg that you get with 2 part and All For Reef.

Definitely going to follow your tank. I also use Red Sea coral pro salt on my home tank so it’s what I use in my office. I’m not really planning on sps but that will probably change.

 

[thomas_neil]

Do you use any special filtration besides what came with the tank?

 

[1armfish]

Definitely going to follow your tank. I also use Red Sea coral pro salt on my home tank so it’s what I use in my office. I’m not really planning on sps but that will probably change.

Thanks Tom!

Can't wait to see your office tank! I wish I could have one in mine

 

[1armfish]

Do you use any special filtration besides what came with the tank?

I have about 20 Marinepure spheres stuffed into some filter media bags and a filter sponge that came with the tank. Once every 2 months or so I'll take the "bag o' balls", lightly rinse them in RO/DI water and clean out the back of the tank.

 

[thomas_neil]

I have about 20 Marinepure spheres stuffed into some filter media bags and a filter sponge that came with the tank. Once every 2 months or so I'll take the "bag o' balls", lightly rinse them in RO/DI water and clean out the back of the tank.

That’s all I added to mine was some small bio bricks in the center chamber. I’m currently going through a bacterial bloom so don’t really have any great pictures yet. This was about 2 weeks ago. Have an ai prime on order, tried using an old Fluval marine light I had laying around but it just doesn’t look blue enough for me.

 

[V A R I A N T]

Looks like a great start. Interested to see how it fills in over the next 7!

 

[Pkunk35]

Love nanos and yours looks pretty sweet esp at 7 months!
Does the Red Sea salt give you a 1500 mag?? I might have to switch if so…

 

[1armfish]

That’s all I added to mine was some small bio bricks in the center chamber. I’m currently going through a bacterial bloom so don’t really have any great pictures yet. This was about 2 weeks ago. Have an ai prime on order, tried using an old Fluval marine light I had laying around but it just doesn’t look blue enough for me.

Looks great!! I really love the rock work, especially the arch! Is that a Xenia or Clove on top?

 

[1armfish]

Love nanos and yours looks pretty sweet esp at 7 months!
Does the Red Sea salt give you a 1500 mag?? I might have to switch if so…

Thank you!! And yes I believe the high mag is due to the Red Sea salt.

I was using Instant Ocean during the first month and then when I tested the water to see if I could add some softies, I saw my Mg was sitting at 800. I saw a post that suggested using a higher quality salt before thinking about dosing and that did the trick.

 

[thomas_neil]

Looks great!! I really love the rock work, especially the arch! Is that a Xenia or Clove on top?

It's actually a pipe organ. I plan on adding 2 more up top there. They're one of my favorite corals, grow fairly quickly but don't spread a ton, add a ton of movement to the tank.

 

[1armfish]

Its been a few months and some things have changed. For some reason, I lost the birdsnest and stylo. They both bleached, I tried turning the lights down a bit and moving them lower but no luck. The green slimer also developed a white spot that has algae growing on it, however it seems to be doing better now as I constantly see the polyps fully extended during the day. I also lost the Fungia plate, but I think that is due to a bit of flow and the peppermint shrimp messing with it.

I slowly raised some parameters after watching a BRS video on coral growth relating to PH and alkalinity.

My Salifert tested parameters are now:
Phosphates - ~.1(usually reads on the lower side between .05 and .1)
Alkalinity - 10
Magnesium - ~1430ppm
Calcium - ~450ppm


I based my light intensity on a par test in this video
He has the same light and tank as I do. Im estimating I have about ~600PAR just under the water surface and ~100PAR on the sand bed. I’m also using a modified Dr.Saxby schedule.

To replace the stylo and Birdsnest, I brought in a couple of leathers that I hope are more tolerating of the environment. A green nepthea and a japanese pink nepthea.

I also move the galaxea to the other wall for better isolation and added a rainbow monti on the back wall. Threw in a few zoa plugs as well that I got 3 for $30 when I was visiting my mother. And added a yellow anacropora which didn’t take too kindly upon first introduction, but is now doing much better after moving it around some and regained half of its color.

Other than that, growth has been great and fast with the soft corals and slow and steady with the stonys.

Any input would be super appreciated!

Here is my tank today taken with an orange filter,

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Tank looks like it's doing really good!!

 

[Kavorka]

Looks great. I just stated a build about 4 weeks ago. Hope it looks this good after 7 months.