8 gallon NPS Reef

[tbrown]

Ya but not everyone has a 3d printer

A lot of libraries do and I can easily send .STL files.

 

[BristleWormHater]

I have started to aquascape! I added some miscellaneous shells and rocks that I collected from beaches since that went well in my main tank. The large shells also help anchor down the sandbed since it gets blown around a bit in this tank.
I also added a rock from the liverock tank, the big peice that used to be in my 25 gallon, It makes a very good centerpiece. Now all the sand has been disturbed the tank is cloudy again. I'll post another pic when it clears up.
Enjoy this terrible flash photo

I'll add the other liverock later but I want to make sure everything is in order first since they both have large clams on them. Still should be an instant cycle for this tank.

 

[BristleWormHater]

I think I have found a suitable light, this thing is very cheap and only 12w and it can be turned down to 3w. The color temp is 6000k which is nice because im not a fan of a super blue look.

Also want to give a shout out to @Stephers who has an amazing build thread featuring nps corals, should be featured on reef of the month imo.

Build Thread - Steph's Mantis & NPS Mix-and-Match Tank

Hey all! This 7g cube tank has been up for over 4 years now, but had a big transformation earlier this year. It's always been geared towards having a mantis shrimp, but it started as a macroalgae tank. And that was fun and different after only doing corals for 15 years. One year ago to the...

www.reef2reef.com

Anyways his thread and @exnisstech's thread gave me the idea of just finding a super low powered reef light since they both run standard reef lights on super low settings.

 

[exnisstech]

The price is right that's for sure. It looks like you may be able cut a slot in the mount if you want to center it in the back. That divider dead center back there is a bit of a pain

 

[BristleWormHater]

The price is right that's for sure. It looks like you may be able cut a slot in the mount if you want to center it in the back. That divider dead center back there is a bit of a pain

I will probably try that but it is a flexible arm so I could also try just bending it towards the the center.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Updated photo

The two other rocks will go in soon, might change the location of that rock. Gonna add more shells to left side, you can see a little sandbar forming there.

 

[BristleWormHater]

I threw in the other rocks today and everything looks good! The clams opened up pretty fast after being added, the tunicates followed suite. Hopefully the various sponges will do well too, I kept the rocks submerged while moving them.
Ill post a picture soon, still waiting on the phytoplankton I added to clear up.
I am very happy with the scape! I did my best to make sure all the clams were visible. It feels good to finally have a proper tank for them.

 

[BristleWormHater]

You may notice a small sea fan peice to the left, that has been sitting in the liverock tank, I dont think ive ever seen the polyps open so its probably dead but we'll see, didnt want to just throw it away.

Heres some individual shots of the clams, sort of hard to do with flash photos since I cant see anything. Also I dont want to annoy them too much.
This is the largest one, took me awhile to figure out this was a clam and not a rock when I first got it. Its usually opened up more but the flash bothered it. No clue on ID, very hard to judge since the shell is completely overgrown but it may be a chamid.

This big yellow guy is a chamid of some kind (jewelbox clam belonging to the family Chamidae) Theres also a tunicate attached right there.

This is my favorite of them all though, the orange flesh and siphons pop out against the rock. No clue on ID though, havent really looked.
Theres another clam towards the back of the tank, a turkey wing clam (Arca zebra) Ill get pictures of it tomorrow because I know it will close immediately from the flash.
That was just a quick little recap pf what's on the rock in case anyone dosent follow my 25 gallon thread.

 

[BristleWormHater]

If all goes well I will be moving the sea fan soon, maybe tomorrow but probably Thursday.
Going to dip it in peroxide, iodine, and joker corals coral infection elimination. I think that will give it the best chance. Its flesh has continued to recede in the 25 gallon.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Hit the first big problem and it was entirely my fault!
I tested salinity and it read 1.028 so I took out some water and added ro water but I added WAY too much and reduced salinity to 1.021 Usaully I pour with a measuring cup but I poured it straight from the jug and I poured way too much, feel like such an idiot.
I changed a ton of water with the holding tank to bring salinity up to 1.025, I really hope I didnt just crash this tank 6 days in.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Luckily everything seems to be ok, Ill see how everything is doing later. The clams and tunicates are still open so I guess it cant be that bad.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Ive decided im going to get an ato before adding the sea fan in, salinity fluctuates too much right now. Im not used to having to be so careful with how much water I pour in, the real volume of this tank is 5 gallons give or take with rock and sand.
I think I'll get a tunze nano, they arent too expensive and still have that classic tunze reliability. Im going to DIY a reservoir for it.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Ato set up finally, reef breeders prism. Salinity has been stabilized at 1.025. Unfortunately the sea fan is pretty much dead, I dont think theres anything I can do at this point. Im going to set up a baby brine shrimp culture before I try any other nps corals. Next ill try is probably sun coral, black sun coral if I can find it. The clams are still doing fine.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Good news is that this hitchhiker northern star coral, Astrangia poctula is doing well. This coral is facultatively symbiotic, meaning it can host symbiotic algae but it can also live without it. Right now you can see it is not hosting, as you can see by the color. It actually grows pretty fast too, it was only a polyp or two when I got it, I think its at 5 or 6 now, this is an older pic. The rest of the polyps are sort of hidden underneath the clam shell.

 

[twentyleagues]

Just so you know sun corals will take frozen mysis and brine just fine no need for hatching brine shrimp for them, though it would not hurt.