5g Rock Flower Sexy Shrimp Tank

[hart24601]

This build has a bit of a backstory. I had wanted to convert my 70g to all rock flowers and had around 130 in there at one point, I had previously had a 30g and they made babies like crazy, but in this larger tank they didn’t thrive. Some did ok, but even with 300 par or more on most they seem to need spot feeding - or something secretly was picking them off. Over time I noticed less and less and due the the complex rock work spot feeding just wasn’t feasible. I could only count 50 or 60 at this point.

I went in a different direction with the tank and took out all the LR that had nems attached (all of it) and put into my sump which is a 150g Rubbermaid. I keep chaeto in a laundry basket and clams in there too so I didn’t like all the rock packed in there too but did not have a solution since they are impossible to get off the rock.

I finally decided to bite the bullet and take a hammer and chisel and break all my precious live rock and see how many nems I could get off and put into a 7g lifeguard slanted front tank. I already had a nano stand and I like the 7g has a glass lid for evaporation.

After a back breaking night so started the sexy shrimp nano!

 

[hart24601]

Trying to find pics of the rock in the sump but it was really piled up. Here is the bucket o’ nems on rubble I removed. They don’t heal well from any tears so I expected to lose a couple.

 

[SaltyT]

Wow!! I love rock nems. Congrats on your success with them! I’ll definitely be following along!

 

[Zach B]

Wow, so cool!

 

[rwreef]

Can't wait to see the tank!

 

[hart24601]

Whoops it’s the 5g lifeguard not the 7!

Here is a photo of the sump with the rock in it before hammering it apart. The sump is really for my clams and it just would not work long term especially as the gigas and other grow out so this is a nice solution and fun to have a tank in the bedroom.

 

[hart24601]

I should have kept the nems in the bucket inside the sump for a couple weeks to make sure any that would die wouldn’t pollute the small system, but I got excited and transferred them all to the small tank.

mistake. While I lost remarkably few for hitting rock with a hammer and screwdriver to pry the foot off with my fingernail some did die due to bad rock breaks and polluted the water. I did some full w/c then said forget this, I am going to put the whole tank in the sump until they are all settled and any that die won’t pollute the big system.

here is the entire 5g tank in the sump! Not the most elegant solution but hey, it worked!

 

[hart24601]

Here it is now things settled down. 40 nems easy to spot feed with pellets and a syringe attached to airline. 6 sexy shrimp which are so fun to find like where’s Waldo.

ATO is just a squeeze bottle I put a tube on so it gravity feeds. Only needs about one bottle top off a week and I have an extra bottle under the tank so super easy.

rest a kessil a160 right on the glass at 100% intensity.

 

[SaltyT]

Now that’s a tank full of eye candy!

 

[hart24601]

Few more pics today:

 

[hart24601]

Now that’s a tank full of eye candy!

Thanks! The yellows don’t translate with iPhone photos but a couple of them have some really nice color.

 

[hart24601]

 

[hart24601]

Let’s see if these work. Uploading to YouTube changes the colors for some reason.

 

[hart24601]

I don’t think those worked. Let’s try the YouTube ones but they might look odd.

 

[jeffrey750750]

Wow, those are amazing. How many news did you start off with to have that many?

 

[hart24601]

Wow, those are amazing. How many news did you start off with to have that many?

I really don’t remember but I think the max I had was 120 in the 70g before they started disappearing

 

[pseudorand]

This is one of the coolest tanks I have ever seen. Forget these silly coral thingies. I'm going rock nem as soon as I find someone selling some.

 

[hart24601]

Fed each nem today, so easy with 100ml syringe with airline. Reef frenzy pellets are the nearly perfect size for it too. The nems just puff up so nice afterwards.

 

[hart24601]

 

[hart24601]

Found an aptasia that somehow made the trek right next to a baby rock nem. Thankfully think I got it without any carryover. I really like “f aptasia” been the most effective treatment I have used.