20 Gallon Softy Build First Reef Tank

pulpfiction

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This is my first reef tank that's gone through a lot of ups and downs as I've been learning. At first my goal was to keep clownfish because I love them, but after many trials and errors, and having the tank stable with finally no issues for 7 months, I decided to try my hand at reefing. The tank was a little over a year old when I first added corals and has had corals now for a little over a month.

Equipment :
20 gallon tall aqueon tank and lid
35 Tidal HOB filter
x2 Hygger power heads
50w Hygger light

I started off with dragon stone and 2 live rocks + live sand. Over time I cured more porous rock to replace it. I kind of regret the rocks I replaced them with since I have no aquascape to speak of and wasn't even thinking about rock placement, so I'm just rolling with the rocks I got.

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The fish in my tank right now are 2 clowns and a yellow clown goby. I started off with two different clowns that perished to ich. I tried and failed to do quarantine when I barely knew what I was doing. I got a second fish to put into the quarantine tank and it also died of ich. I left my main tank fallow for 3 maybe 4 months before adding these quarantined clowns and kept them for 7 months before I was brave enough to so much as stick in my hand in the tank for fear of killing something.


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Current corals. I'm unsure if I'll add more what and where. My only plan so far is to let the clove polyp take over the middle rock and for the mushrooms to take over the far right and left rock.

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pulpfiction

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Quite happy with the corals I have gotten. If I get anymore they will likely be mushrooms. I'm still not sure if I want to keep the pink cabbage coral where it is or place it next to the green one.

I still have diatoms but the green algae has gone down some.
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Rico's Reefnecks

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Cool setup! If your clowns are hanging out in the cave, I'd say you have a functioning aquascape! I wish mine would appreciate their custom rockwork home rather than just hanging out by the return flow nozzles, lol. If you decide to add more down the road, check out duncan corals - LPS but very tolerant and easy to care for, plus they sway in the water and have some cool feeding behavior - one of my favorite first corals.
 
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pulpfiction

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Cool setup! If your clowns are hanging out in the cave, I'd say you have a functioning aquascape! I wish mine would appreciate their custom rockwork home rather than just hanging out by the return flow nozzles, lol. If you decide to add more down the road, check out duncan corals - LPS but very tolerant and easy to care for, plus they sway in the water and have some cool feeding behavior - one of my favorite first corals.
The cave is their home base. Since I put the goby in they have been venturing out to the right side of the tank a lot more. Duncans are very pretty.
 
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pulpfiction

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Fish: My yellow clown goby never ate and wasted away :(. After him I got a royal gramma that I have had for five months now. She's been a great fish. When the lights come on she is out in front with the clowns.

Though she has started attacking her reflection when the light is at a specific setting. The giant divot to the left is where she kicks up sand and buries any frags I put in that area.

Coral loss: I had an event that killed off the clove polyps, rhodactis, and bleached my ricordea. My only guess was too much light, the alk deopped, carbon was not changed enough, or i didn't rinse a carbon bag well enough.

The mushroom basket is there from me trying to save the mushroom since it detached. Im pretty sure its dead. its shrunken to a pinhead and completely bleached.

I adjusted my light setting, changed the flow, and replace a bag of chemiclean every month now. And I finally got an ATO. Things evened out and the surviving coral are looking much happier.

New Coral: After the tank stabilized I added more ricordea, sympodium, a discosoma, and a duncan. The sympodium has already had some visible growth.

It looks a lot different from when I started but still has a long way to go. Hopefully no more bumps and all grows out nicely.

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Rico's Reefnecks

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Fish: My yellow clown goby never ate and wasted away :(. After him I got a royal gramma that I have had for five months now. She's been a great fish. When the lights come on she is out in front with the clowns.

Though she has started attacking her reflection when the light is at a specific setting. The giant divot to the left is where she kicks up sand and buries any frags I put in that area.

Coral loss: I had an event that killed off the clove polyps, rhodactis, and bleached my ricordea. My only guess was too much light, the alk deopped, carbon was not changed enough, or i didn't rinse a carbon bag well enough.

The mushroom basket is there from me trying to save the mushroom since it detached. Im pretty sure its dead. its shrunken to a pinhead and completely bleached.

I adjusted my light setting, changed the flow, and replace a bag of chemiclean every month now. And I finally got an ATO. Things evened out and the surviving coral are looking much happier.

New Coral: After the tank stabilized I added more ricordea, sympodium, a discosoma, and a duncan. The sympodium has already had some visible growth.

It looks a lot different from when I started but still has a long way to go. Hopefully no more bumps and all grows out nicely.

21469DDB-EDF6-4F27-851D-E0742CEB37A2.jpeg
Sorry to hear about the losses along the way but it happens, looks like things are back on track. If by chemiclean you mean bags of chemipure resin, I might suggest keeping an eye on phosphate levels occasionally, if you aren't already. I used the chemipure elite and didn't notice I had bottomed out my phosphates...until the dino outbreak happened and knocked me back to square one (oof). Beautiful gramma!
 
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pulpfiction

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Sorry to hear about the losses along the way but it happens, looks like things are back on track. If by chemiclean you mean bags of chemipure resin, I might suggest keeping an eye on phosphate levels occasionally, if you aren't already. I used the chemipure elite and didn't notice I had bottomed out my phosphates...until the dino outbreak happened and knocked me back to square one (oof). Beautiful gramma!
Ooof that sucks. I'm using chemipure blue that I replace once a month. Have been using it for 4 months. I've never encountered dinos in this tank. *knock on wood* Thanks for the heads up.
 
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pulpfiction

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The tank has not been taking off. I moved which doesn't help. I upgraded the tank to a 40 gal during the move. I lost my gramma 2 days after the move. I don't know if the stressed killed her or what. She was perfectly healthy. I'm really sad about that. My clowns adapted right away and show no signs of distress.

I'm not sure what to fill the tank out with. It still looks so naked. Anything orange dies off for some reason. So far I've only had luck with discosoma, my duncan, and leathers. My leathers are still super angry from moving.

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A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 63 36.6%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 34.3%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 24 14.0%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 26 15.1%
  • Other.

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