An attempt at a super simple and aesthetic 32G rimless mixed reef - no sump, no skimmer, no problem?

Filipabp

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Hello all!
I've decided its time to stop lurking these lovely forums and actually start posting here - thanks for having me :D


Spoiler:
Screenshot 2019-09-30 at 19.00.44.png


First a little introduction, just skip if you'd rather read about the current tank!
I'd always wanted an aquarium but for years all the seemingly difficult technicalities eluded me, and I had convinced myself it was a hobby of only the most persevering geeks. After years of baby steps towards the hobby I finally decided to start small and simple 3 years ago, with a 10 gallon freshwater "aquascape" aquarium.

HIEK8uV.jpg



I stuck with this one for a bit more than a year before the thirst for salt became unquenchable. There's just something about saltwater fish, not to mention corals :eek:
I decided to get a 12g tank that would fit into my bookshelf, as I found it would fit into the livingroom better. However, being well into my medical studies the budget was quite limited and, as such, the tech VERY sparse. Cheap chinese lights were able to grow LPS and softies to some extent though, so I managed..

PREVIOUS SETUP
BODbx2T.jpg
5hPdzyX.png


However, after finishing the studies and moving to a different city upon beginning my working life, I eyed an opportunity to finally upgrade some. My girlfriend does not care much for the looks of most aquarium furniture, and I have to say I share that sentiment. Its unfortunate, because I think a lot of people are put off from the hobby because of the idea of these huge boxes that take up giant space and dont really fit in. I therefore promised her I'd do my best to create an aesthetic setup that would also fit into our new quarters:


UNuswQy.jpg


I had a 32 gallon tank made, and found a table pleasing to the eye. Didn't take me long to realise it might not hold the weight itself, and ended up spending half a dozen of trips to the local hardware store, blood, sweat and almost tears before i managed to reinforce it without ruining the looks (spoiler: people do not refer to me as a craftsman by any measure :confused:) .

A couple of weeks later, about 8 months ago, water was poured in and the inhabitants from the previous tank joined the party:

f51MqP4.jpg


Being fresh on the job as a rookie doctor the budget has still been quite limited, and I have to admit that the money I did spend was prioritised poorly - mostly on corals rather than tech.

One thing in reefing that is extremely important to me is keeping it simple. Less is more, and I've tried to stick to this with all of my tanks.

For 6 months the tank has been lit up by a single coral moon box LED. Kalkwasser and water changes were used to keep values in check. A canister filter with carbon, GFO and Biohome Pure rocks was installed to keep coral warfare toxins and nutrients at bay. So no sump, and no skimmer. After the first 6 months, the tank looked like this:

3jJCT24.jpg


I tried to venture into the world of SPS other than the single montipora purple haze that has somehow survived through all my mistakes since a couple of weeks into the first tank. I noticed that most of the newly added SPS quickly began to brown out, and I released that phosphates and nitrates were unmeasurably low. Since then I've removed 3/4 of the Biohome Pure rocks, and almost tripled my feeding - still yet to see a change in values, but macro algae have begun growing again, and some of the SPS have started growing and regained their colours.
Unfortunately, after a little while STN suddenly came upon both my old friend montipora and a stylopora.

After the first 6 months Ive made a few changes. With a coral frag shipment with more than 20 frags landing soon I absolutely have no more room for frags, and finally I can focus on actually improving some of the tech. Here's a quick overview:

Current tank settings
Dosing: Single doser, dosing Tropic Marin's All-for-reef
Lights: Hydra 26
Circulation: 1x 2000 L/H Sicce Nano + 1x 2000 L/H tunze powerhead
Nutrient export: GFO and Biohome Pure rocks (claims to remove nitrates, which I guess is actually true) in a canister filter with carbon also.

No sump, no skimmer. :eek::eek:


Most recent video:
 
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Dr. Dendrostein

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Hello all!
I've decided its time to stop lurking these lovely forums and actually start posting here - thanks for having me :D

First a little introduction, just skip if you'd rather read about the current tank!
I'd always wanted an aquarium but for years all the seemingly difficult technicalities eluded me, and I had convinced myself it was a hobby of only the most persevering geeks. After years of baby steps towards the hobby I finally decided to start small and simple 3 years ago, with a 10 gallon freshwater "aquascape" aquarium.

HIEK8uV.jpg



I stuck with this one for a bit more than a year before the thirst for salt became unquenchable. There's just something about saltwater fish, not to mention corals :eek:
I decided to get a 12g tank that would fit into my bookshelf, as I found it would fit into the livingroom better. However, being well into my medical studies the budget was quite limited and, as such, the tech VERY sparse. Cheap chinese lights were able to grow LPS and softies to some extent though, so I managed..

BODbx2T.jpg
5hPdzyX.png


However, after finishing the studies and moving to a different city upon beginning my working life, I eyed an opportunity to finally upgrade some. My girlfriend does not care much for the looks of most aquarium furniture, and I have to say I share that sentiment. Its unfortunate, because I think a lot of people are put off from the hobby because of the idea of these huge boxes that take up giant space and dont really fit in. I therefore promised her I'd do my best to create an aesthetic setup that would also fit into our new quarters:


UNuswQy.jpg


I had a 32 gallon tank made, and found a table pleasing to the eye. Didn't take me long to realise it might not hold the weight itself, and ended up spending half a dozen of trips to the local hardware store, blood, sweat and almost tears before i managed to reinforce it without ruining the looks (spoiler: people do not refer to me as a craftsman by any measure :confused:) .

A couple of weeks later, about 8 months ago, water was poured in and the inhabitants from the previous tank joined the party:

f51MqP4.jpg


Being fresh on the job as a rookie doctor the budget has still been quite limited, and I have to admit that the money I did spend was prioritised poorly - mostly on corals rather than tech.

One thing in reefing that is extremely important to me is keeping it simple. Less is more, and I've tried to stick to this with all of my tanks.

For 6 months the tank has been lit up by a single coral moon box LED. Kalkwasser and water changes were used to keep values in check. A canister filter with carbon, GFO and Biohome Pure rocks was installed to keep coral warfare toxins and nutrients at bay. So no sump, and no skimmer. After the first 6 months, the tank looked like this:

3jJCT24.jpg


I tried to venture into the world of SPS other than the single montipora purple haze that has somehow survived through all my mistakes since a couple of weeks into the first tank. I noticed that most of the newly added SPS quickly began to brown out, and I released that phosphates and nitrates were unmeasurably low. Since then I've removed 3/4 of the Biohome Pure rocks, and almost tripled my feeding - still yet to see a change in values, but macro algae have begun growing again, and some of the SPS have started growing and regained their colours.
Unfortunately, after a little while STN suddenly came upon both my old friend montipora and a stylopora.

After the first 6 months Ive made a few changes. With a coral frag shipment with more than 20 frags landing soon I absolutely have no more room for frags, and finally I can focus on actually improving some of the tech. Here's a quick overview:

Current tank settings
Dosing: No more kalkwasser. --> 2-way dosing (manually) with Seachem.
Lights: Coral Moon box LED --> A Hydra 26 HD is on its way ;Woot;Woot
Circulation: 1x 1000 L/H Sicce Nano + 1x 2000 L/H Sicce Nano
Nutrient export: GFO and Biohome Pure rocks (claims to remove nitrates, which I guess is actually true) in a canister filter with carbon also.

No sump, no skimmer. :eek::eek:

Bioload
2x clownfish
1x royal gramma
1x coral beauty (which showed up much larger than the small one I was told I'd get ;Nailbiting)
1x Scarlet hermit
1x Strawberry conch
5x Nassarius snails
+ A gazillion Collonista hitchhiker snails


Im hoping to upgrade the phone so I can hopefully take some better and closer shots of the aquarium as it looks today, 2 months later! In the meantime, I look forward to hearing your inputs :D
Love it, welcome comrade
 
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Filipabp

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Filipabp

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I think I may have finally realised the reason for my SPS dying and boy do I feel stupid.

Back in the early days I bought my GFO from a LFS where I was told you couldn't use too much of it. I never really gave it any thought since then, until just now when I checked how much people tend to use. Turns out I have been running almost 10x the recommended dose the last couple of months.. No wonder my SPS are all suffering.
 
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Filipabp

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Forgive me father, for I have sinned.
My girlfriend has been begging for a regal tang since forever, and this entire time I've attempted to lecture her on how big they get and the amount of room they need. I'm not sure what happened, but one day I came across a teeny tiny one (half an inch), and I somehow ended up buying it. The deal with the GF is to either pass it on to another reefer with a larger tank in 6 months when its gained some size, or to upgrade my own tank to a more fitting size by then.

It immediately started following the clowns everywhere they go. Although they've never let any smaller fish come near their home (the large torch) they somehow accepted the tang, and its not sleeping with them every night which is super cute.

Ive uploaded a new video from today, which I hope you like. Unfortunately I had two birds nest colonies completely wipe almost over night, so they've been pulled out :( The other corals (including sps) are still doing fine so Im not quite sure what caused it. A few days ago I had a minor alk accident from a mix up between additives, maybe thats the culprit..



Another thing I realised after making the video is how huge the coral beauty has gotten now. Im starting to think I may have to rehome it also, which is a big bummer. Its such a nice fish, literally a labrador incarnated as a fish, as its the most gentle one I've ever had, never seen a single act of aggression from it.
 
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Filipabp

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Extremely nice tank - and welcome - question - what quarantine method did you use (if any?)

Thank you very much! :) I do have a quarantine tank where I can do a prophylactic treatment with chloroquine if need be. However, i rarely use it as the fish from my LFS are quarantined quite thoroughly before being sold.
 

MnFish1

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Thank you very much! :) I do have a quarantine tank where I can do a prophylactic treatment with chloroquine if need be. However, i rarely use it as the fish from my LFS are quarantined quite thoroughly before being sold.
velkommen til R2R
 
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Filipabp

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I guess its time for an update!
After a few weeks I passed on the tang to another reefer. It was doing fine and really seemed to bond with the clowns, but in the end I just couldn't justify keeping it in this tank, regardless of current size.

I also lost my beloved coral beauty to what seemed like a stomach infection. I really don't want to try and replace it, since I would most likely be disappointed.. I do have a couple of interesting fish on the way though, so stay tuned ;)

IMG_20190928_200546.jpg


So the tank has been running for around a year now, and some of the corals have grown quite a bit. Especially the green and purple hammer at the back, which is actually getting a tad too big now..

1569764005508.png


Ive recently also attempted to add a few SPS, and so far they've been doing fine.

Heres a top down shot from one side of the tank.

1569764075352.png


A Moseleya latistella:
1569764150817.png

I love its colours, but haven't quite been able to capture its true look on camera yet..
 
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WV Reefer

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I guess its time for an update!
After a few weeks I passed on the tang to another reefer. It was doing fine and really seemed to bond with the clowns, but in the end I just couldn't justify keeping it in this tank, regardless of current size.

I also lost my beloved coral beauty to what seemed like a stomach infection. I really don't want to try and replace it, since I would most likely be disappointed.. I do have a couple of interesting fish on the way though, so stay tuned ;)



So the tank has been running for around a year now, and some of the corals have grown quite a bit. Especially the green and purple hammer at the back, which is actually getting a tad too big now..

1569764005508.png


Ive recently also attempted to add a few SPS, and so far they've been doing fine.

Heres a top down shot from one side of the tank.

1569764075352.png


A Moseleya latistella:
1569764150817.png

I love its colours, but haven't quite been able to capture its true look on camera yet..

beautiful tank.
 

MnFish1

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I guess its time for an update!
After a few weeks I passed on the tang to another reefer. It was doing fine and really seemed to bond with the clowns, but in the end I just couldn't justify keeping it in this tank, regardless of current size.

I also lost my beloved coral beauty to what seemed like a stomach infection. I really don't want to try and replace it, since I would most likely be disappointed.. I do have a couple of interesting fish on the way though, so stay tuned ;)

IMG_20190928_200546.jpg


So the tank has been running for around a year now, and some of the corals have grown quite a bit. Especially the green and purple hammer at the back, which is actually getting a tad too big now..

1569764005508.png


Ive recently also attempted to add a few SPS, and so far they've been doing fine.

Heres a top down shot from one side of the tank.

1569764075352.png


A Moseleya latistella:
1569764150817.png

I love its colours, but haven't quite been able to capture its true look on camera yet..

Nice tank - do you know the PAR values at the water and the base of the tank?
 
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Filipabp

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Nice tank - do you know the PAR values at the water and the base of the tank?

Unfortunately not, and its actually something I'd really like to know because im sure there is plenty of room for optimisation. The tank is quite a bit longer than recommended for a single light, and at the same time its very shallow, so I really think there could be a big difference in PAR throughout the tank..
 

MnFish1

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Unfortunately not, and its actually something I'd really like to know because im sure there is plenty of room for optimisation. The tank is quite a bit longer than recommended for a single light, and at the same time its very shallow, so I really think there could be a big difference in PAR throughout the tank..

Actually - I like the look - I have a similar look in my tank - I dont feel every square centimeter needs to be the same PAR. The reason I asked - I would not like that much light scatter in my room - but your tank is a 10:)
 
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Filipabp

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Actually - I like the look - I have a similar look in my tank - I dont feel every square centimeter needs to be the same PAR. The reason I asked - I would not like that much light scatter in my room - but your tank is a 10:)

Thanks mate! Ive actually never felt the scatter was that bad in the room, but maybe Ill start noticing it more now :eek::p
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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