This is my 3 gallon tank manufactured by JBJ (tank seems to be no longer sold), I bought it off Drs. Foster and Smith about 5 years ago, shortly after, I left the hobby for 5 years. I came back and rebooted this tank as an upgrade to my 40oz micro tank.
Aquarium Profile and Equipment
- What type of saltwater aquarium is this?
- LPS Dominated
- Total Water Volume
- 3
- When did you start this tank?
- Feb 14, 2023
- What is your aquarium made of?
- Glass
- Aquarium Length (inches)
- 11
- Aquarium Width (inches)
- 8
- Aquarium Height (inches)
- 7
- Aquarium Overflow/Drain
- No Overflow
- Aquarium Sump
- NO Sump
- Aquarium Stand
- Cheap Cabinet from Walmart
- Aquarium Controller
- YES
- Aquarium Controller Make and Model
- ApexEL
- Protein Skimmer
- NO
- Aquarium Reactors
- None
- What types of equipment are you using for water flow and circulation?
- Powerhead
- Water Flow and Circulation Equipment List
- Hydor 180GPH circulation pump and HOB Tidal Filter
- Aquarium Lighting
- LED
- Lighting Equipment List
- Original AI Prime (Non-HD)
- Lighting PAR and Goals
- I’m still increasing lighting over the course of several months using the built-in AI acclimation mode, around 100 PAR is my goal for most LPS.
- Dosing Equipment
- Calcium
- Alkalinity
- Magnesium
- Dosing Equipment Detail
- Using small but variable amount of All for Reef based on daily testing results.
- Auto Top Off or ATO
- YES
- Aquarium Heating and Cooling
- I am using a heater or heaters
- I am using a chiller
- Water Temperature
- 77
- Heating and Cooling Equipment Detail
- Heater and fan-based chiller are unbranded
- Additional Equipment Detail
- Apex EB8 energy bar is used to control all equipment except lighting and ATO. I’m currently on the search for a more reliable optical sensor-based ATO, currently using a gravity-fed ATO in the interim.
Aquarium Water Chemistry and Parameters
- pH Level
- 8.1
- Specific Gravity
- 1.025
- Calcium
- 440
- Alkalinity
- 8.2 to 8.5
- Magnesium
- 1450
- Salt Brand
- Fritz RPM
- Trace Element Dosing
- All for Reef
Aquarium Natural and Mechanical Filtration
- Substrate
- Sand
- Substrate Level
- Shallow
- Live Rock
- 3
- Live Rock Type
- Generic dry rock purchased from Amazon years ago that went unused.
- Nutrient Export
- Algae Scrubber
- Water Changes
- YES
- Water Change Details
- 1 gallon water change about once a week.
- Nutrient Export Details
- Water changes are probably the single best nutrient export strategy for me. Additionally, the water change helps to reset any imbalances in the tank chemistry.
Aquarium Tank Inhabitants (fish, coral, invert etc.)
- Fish List
- Goby
- Total Fish
- 1
- Coral List
- SPS Coral
- LPS Coral
- Soft Coral
- Mushroom Coral
- Total Corals
- 11
- Invert List
- Snails
- Total Inverts
- 4
- Livestock Detail
- Fish and inverts:
Eviota lachdeberei - Cosmic Nano Goby
Cerith snails
Soft corals
Rhodactis mushroom
Sinularia
LPS corals:
Fimbriaphyllia
Australian Scolymia
Indophyllia
Platygyra
Cynarina
Duncan
SPS corals:
Leptoseris
Stylophora
- Livestock Quarantine
- No Quarantine
Aquarium Nutrition (fish, coral, invert etc. feeding)
- Fish Feeding Frequency
- A Few Times Weekly
- Coral Feeding Frequency
- A Few Times Weekly
- Fish and Coral Feeding
- Pellet
- Auto Feeder
- Trips Only
Additional Aquarium Information
- What do you think are the keys to your success in reefing?
- Stability and weekly water changes, I’m still getting through some algae on the rocks so it’s still just trying to find that balance and maturity in the tank's microfauna. I have noticed a small amount of coralline algae has begun to grow on the glass this week (first week of August) so that’s encouraging. The Apex controller is usually seen on much larger tanks but having monitoring and controllability is probably one of the keys to success with a smaller volume of water, things can change quickly so receiving instant push notifications about a drop or increase in a monitored reef parameter is vital.
