46g bowfront sumpless mixed reef

adittam

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This is my first saltwater tank, after having kept freshwater fish for the last 10 years and as a kid in the 80s and 90s. I’m finding that it’s a pretty good combination of the two careers that I’ve had, chemist and ER nurse!

Designing it as a sumpless system with live rock, sand, two Korelia 850 power heads and a Fluval 407 canister filter with 2 of the 4 media baskets filled with Maxspect nano-tech biospheres and a spray bar on the outlet for filtration. Current Orbit LED lights with two light bars. RO Buddy for water, instant ocean reef crystals for salt. 24 watt Green Killing Machine internal UV system. 150 watt Eheim Jager heater with 200 watt Aqueon basic heater for backup.

Got it aquascaped and started cycling back in the beginning of March this year, lost a couple fish at the end of that month due to disease (RIP Royal Gramma and little clown), and it’s currently in the middle of its 45 day fallow period before start to restock with fish. In the meantime, we’ve added our first few corals, and have a pair of juvenile clowns in QT.

After doing a bunch of research on liveaquaria, here, and asking questions here as well, I think we’ve got our fish stock list down to the following:
2 juvenile ocellaris clowns (currently in QT, pictured. One is a sapphire snowflake, and the other is a black ice.)
Bicolor blenny
Goby - pistol shrimp pair (tbd what species)
Agile chromis (or possibly other species of chromis that will do ok as a single)
Carpenter‘s wrasse
Red-lined wrasse

Current CUC:
2 trochus snails
3 nassarius snails
3 blue legged hermits
3 red legged hermits
4 scarlet hermits

Current corals:
(Will likely be limited to softies and LPS due to our lights)
Bicolor frogspawn
Purple tipped hammer
Acan Lord
Tyree green polyp toadstool

Any input or advice is welcome, I’m still learning!




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adittam

adittam

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Nice tank looks like little mans really enjoying it.
Thanks! Yeah, he definitely is. Both he and my older son have had a great time reading about, looking at photos, and looking up youtube videos of the fish on our wishlist. The fallow period is just killing them, but they've been good helpers so far!
 
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adittam

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Looks like your starting to get some green In there.
Oh yeah. Definitely a few uglies creeping in! That’s ok though, I see a few tiny circles of coralline also, so with some more time it should look pretty awesome.
 
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adittam

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Pretty excited to report that my LFS was able to order me 2 vanderbuilt chromis! I just picked them up and they’re acclimating to the QT tank now. Will post a photo tomorrow or the next day once I turn the lights on.
 
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adittam

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A few new corals added over the last month or so - a couple hammers, a frogspawn, a Jack o lantern leptoseris, a turbinaria, a couple new zoas, a devils hand leather, and a neon sinularia (some were in the tank for my last photos, but are either happier now or in their locations on the rockwork instead of acclimating in the sandbed). My euphyllia garden is quickly becoming my favorite area of the tank. 5EDA22DF-A5CD-4513-B8B5-15684D51022A.jpeg 774EE7A2-81B0-4A37-B96B-74AA56CB3163.jpeg 1FC1E881-DE2E-4102-A4EC-3A8B38B7231C.jpeg A62241B3-FF8A-4DA4-9B71-05C02F6B4D49.jpeg 3A8C7960-9A7B-42CA-A5AB-AA4B58D875B5.jpeg 53118EB5-6B53-49A6-B6F7-2828C21C78D4.jpeg 19ECF0D5-C41D-462E-8DA6-A849D41285FC.jpeg 29739B4B-08D3-4F0F-AD06-9F9D87D30C86.jpeg FDC945F2-3541-4303-B366-25808B29B88F.jpeg
 
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adittam

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Well, the vanderbuilt chromis era in our house has officially ended. The smaller chromis got so harassed and nipped
by the large one in the QT tank that it got an infection and could barely swim, so I decided to euthanize it. Then the larger chromis was distraught and missed the object of its affection, jumping to its death out of the tank through the gap in the back of the hood where the HOB filter hangs. <sigh>

Here’s a FTS of the display tank to put us all in a better mood after that sordid tale…
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adittam

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Welcome to R2R, tank looks great. Do you run a skimmer?

I don't currently. I have my Fluval 407 canister, two bigger powerheads aimed at each other and a spray bar on the filter's output for flow. 50 pounds of rock and Maxspect Nano-Tech Bio-Spheres in two of my filter's media trays for biological filtration, and a in-tank UV sterilizer that I run intermittently at night to help with keeping the uglies a little more in check.
 
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