22 gallon Sumpless DREAM BUILD!

[Denisk]

Update time:
not sure if the lights were really the problem with the current sps in the tank. I haven’t mentioned this before but I noticed my tank having these days where one moment it looks incredible with crystal clear water and the next being cloudy with the glass having a film on it. Ended up writing a post about it to see if there was anyone that could help and turns out I had very low nutrients in the tank. Nitrates were undetectable and phosphate was .02ppm. Thanks to @Chlorinated for being super helpful and going over in detail on what I should do. I started dosing brightwell neonitro yesterday and will be taking it slow and updating everyone with the process. We shall see how things go over the next couple weeks.

 

[Denisk]

Update since starting the dosing. Frogspawn looks fat and happy. I think I’m getting a little more color out of the corals that were pale but tough to say since it’s only been a 4 days. I would think it’ll take a few weeks of dosing nitrates and phosphates. My nitrates jumped to 26.3 so I’m not going to dose anymore today as I was doing 10ml a day. Phosphates randomly bottomed out today again at .003pm so I went ahead and dosed 2.2ml again with the hope that since I didn’t dose nitrate it will hopefully rise a little. Will most like check just phosphate tomorrow.

 

[that guy E]

I happen to have the same tank and have really wanted to have a go at salt water. I know this is an old post, but your tank is stunning and I'm wondering how it turned out long term

Hopefully you still use this account

 

[Denisk]

I happen to have the same tank and have really wanted to have a go at salt water. I know this is an old post, but your tank is stunning and I'm wondering how it turned out long term

Hopefully you still use this account

Hey there! I would say it wasn't exactly what I had expected haha. I took the tank down about a week ago after running for about 3 years with no sump, no ato, and just keeping anemones. It was an up and down battle when I got Dinos but they went away after I just left the tank alone for it to naturally balance out and stopped trying to fix the problem overnight. In the end, I would say it's a great tank and a ton of fun with little no maintenance.

 

[Denisk]

8.27.25 Update: Its been a while since I have spoken about the tank and figured I would give an update. I have officially upgraded the 22 gallon and my question to everyone is do I keep this thread going with the new tank or do I move it to a new thread?

 

[bubbgee]

Start a new thread! We can always visit here for one of your journeys. It seems best to start fresh.

 

[Denisk]

New Build thread : https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/38-gallon-peninsula-sps-build.1126412/

 

[that guy E]

Hey there! I would say it wasn't exactly what I had expected haha. I took the tank down about a week ago after running for about 3 years with no sump, no ato, and just keeping anemones. It was an up and down battle when I got Dinos but they went away after I just left the tank alone for it to naturally balance out and stopped trying to fix the problem overnight. In the end, I would say it's a great tank and a ton of fun with little no maintenance.

Best of luck on the new build. I've been doing a lot of reading and planning to take the plunge. I'm planning out a sump to get a little more volume. I'll have to follow the new build.

Why change to 38? Just a new project or did you find the 22long to be limiting?

 

[Denisk]

Best of luck on the new build. I've been doing a lot of reading and planning to take the plunge. I'm planning out a sump to get a little more volume. I'll have to follow the new build.

Why change to 38? Just a new project or did you find the 22long to be limiting?

Honestly I loved the 22 gallon and would not hesitate going down that route. It can be limiting to the fish you want especially since I was skimmerless but the real reason is I wanted a little more of a viewing panel and surprisingly going from a 12in height aquarium to a 15.5 made all the difference. Of course you can always buy small fish and sell them as they grow but I think we all kind of get attached to our fish one way or another. I mean my clowns have been with me for about 10 years haha

 

[that guy E]

Honestly I loved the 22 gallon and would not hesitate going down that route. It can be limiting to the fish you want especially since I was skimmerless but the real reason is I wanted a little more of a viewing panel and surprisingly going from a 12in height aquarium to a 15.5 made all the difference. Of course you can always buy small fish and sell them as they grow but I think we all kind of get attached to our fish one way or another. I mean my clowns have been with me for about 10 years haha

Yeah, I found it limiting in fresh water as well. But having a few smaller personable fish is what it's interesting to me compared to a school of freshwater nano fish.

How do you like the prodigy overflow. I've been debating if it's worth the premium. Once I settle on an overflow then the flood gates will open on the rest of my purchases.

 

[Denisk]

Yeah, I found it limiting in fresh water as well. But having a few smaller personable fish is what it's interesting to me compared to a school of freshwater nano fish.

How do you like the prodigy overflow. I've been debating if it's worth the premium. Once I settle on an overflow then the flood gates will open on the rest of my purchases.

I agree. As far as the overflow goes, the build quality is good however I would say it would look really bulky for a 22 gallon. Espicially if you were going to go with a peninsula style since I when I drilled the 38 gallon, I was pretty limited for the return and the pumps all being one pane of glass.

 

[that guy E]

I agree. As far as the overflow goes, the build quality is good however I would say it would look really bulky for a 22 gallon. Espicially if you were going to go with a peninsula style since I when I drilled the 38 gallon, I was pretty limited for the return and the pumps all being one pane of glass.

Over flow location on was definitely inwasndebating. I like the peninsula setup, but my tank is currently in a corner so rear drilling would be fine.