I am a college student with a love for aquariums, a relatively small budget, access to a wholesaler and a very expensive taste for zoas.
I first setup a reef in early November of 2018 using a 3.6 gallon tank. The tank is 18.5” x 6” x 7” which gets often mistaken for a 20 long in photos. I use an in-tank, air powered box filter as a mini refugium and a current maker. The first time I set it up I moved too quickly and challenged myself too much with the amount and variety of coral I had in the tank. Tank was set up on Nov. 20th of 2018 and crashed hard in the beginning of April 2019. Here it was March 8th, March 28th and April 11th.
I wasn’t doing frequent enough water changes and had too many LPS and SPS that drained the nutrients and minerals in the tank. Massive carbonate drop ended the tank. I sent a few corals to friends tanks to see if they would survive and a few did but most died.
I didn’t start the pico back up until November of 2019 and realized I needed to go much slower. To remind myself to do water changes I also decided to add a fish. I added a Trimma Hollemani, a pair of bumblebee shrimp, three blue leg hermits, two snails and a peppermint shrimp as my livestock.
I’ve slowly added corals, mostly zoas, to the tank and mostly just let it be except for weekly water changes and feeding a small pinch of mysis every other day.
Unfortunately my Trimma goby passed away a few weeks ago, likely due to age. And brown jelly disease just killed the hammer and short tentacle torch.
While I took my time with the pico I purchased an Innovative Marine NUVO Fusion 14 peninsula in early February of this year. And slowly set it up as well. I built my own stand and let the tank run for a week before adding Dr. Tim’s. I still hadn’t purchased a light so I ran it with fish only for another month.
I got an AI Prime HD last week and moved a few zoas and my green torch out of the 3.6 and into the 14 where they are now doing great! Current stocking is a pair of black bar chromis (the third came in very sickly and died), a Trimma Benjamini, 10 blue leg hermits and a feather duster.
For both tanks I plan on focusing mostly on zoas. So far I have scrambled eggs, space monsters, playboy bunnies, radioactive dragons eyes, sonic flares, armor of gods, red people eaters, Sunny ds, Green Bay Packers and one unknown. If these tanks continue to grow well then zoas will help pay my college .
I hope that everyone enjoys watching these builds grow!
I first setup a reef in early November of 2018 using a 3.6 gallon tank. The tank is 18.5” x 6” x 7” which gets often mistaken for a 20 long in photos. I use an in-tank, air powered box filter as a mini refugium and a current maker. The first time I set it up I moved too quickly and challenged myself too much with the amount and variety of coral I had in the tank. Tank was set up on Nov. 20th of 2018 and crashed hard in the beginning of April 2019. Here it was March 8th, March 28th and April 11th.
I wasn’t doing frequent enough water changes and had too many LPS and SPS that drained the nutrients and minerals in the tank. Massive carbonate drop ended the tank. I sent a few corals to friends tanks to see if they would survive and a few did but most died.
I didn’t start the pico back up until November of 2019 and realized I needed to go much slower. To remind myself to do water changes I also decided to add a fish. I added a Trimma Hollemani, a pair of bumblebee shrimp, three blue leg hermits, two snails and a peppermint shrimp as my livestock.
I’ve slowly added corals, mostly zoas, to the tank and mostly just let it be except for weekly water changes and feeding a small pinch of mysis every other day.
Unfortunately my Trimma goby passed away a few weeks ago, likely due to age. And brown jelly disease just killed the hammer and short tentacle torch.
While I took my time with the pico I purchased an Innovative Marine NUVO Fusion 14 peninsula in early February of this year. And slowly set it up as well. I built my own stand and let the tank run for a week before adding Dr. Tim’s. I still hadn’t purchased a light so I ran it with fish only for another month.
I got an AI Prime HD last week and moved a few zoas and my green torch out of the 3.6 and into the 14 where they are now doing great! Current stocking is a pair of black bar chromis (the third came in very sickly and died), a Trimma Benjamini, 10 blue leg hermits and a feather duster.
For both tanks I plan on focusing mostly on zoas. So far I have scrambled eggs, space monsters, playboy bunnies, radioactive dragons eyes, sonic flares, armor of gods, red people eaters, Sunny ds, Green Bay Packers and one unknown. If these tanks continue to grow well then zoas will help pay my college .
I hope that everyone enjoys watching these builds grow!
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