Bud_Rick's Low Tech Nano Mixed Tank (HOB/Skimmerless/NOPOX)

[bud_rick]

The title says it all. I'm keeping it super simple and so far it has been working out great! I started this tank initially with the intent of keeping mainly zoas and mushrooms in it so I went cheap and grabbed a 15 gal marineland tank, hob filter, heater, $30 270 gph power head and my old xr30 from a previous tank. At that point I added a bag of live sand, 1 piece of live rock and cycled the tank before adding my smiths damsel that I found half dead at petco. Once the fish was in there the tank cruised for about 6 months with the lights off and no water changes.

I will admit that at one point I definitely lost interest in the tank since it was just a piece of rock and a fish, but once I made the mistake of joining an online coral auction it was go time. The first purchases were some Jason Fox Mango Cooler Zoas and a Florida Ricordia. It was all down hill from there. Now I have the little tank stacked to the gills with both lps and sps frags. I am also in the process of setting up a 50 and 75 gallon frag system but that will be another build thread in the next couple months. I'm excited to hear feedback on growing out both sps and lps corals in a tank with the most simple filtration possible and no skimmer.

Below are my current parameters (1/10/23) and some pictures of the tank.

Parameters
Ph- 8.1
Phos- .1
Nitrates-40.2
Alk- 8.5
Cal- 480

I dose All for reef for alk/cal/mag and the recommended dose of red sea ab+ and marine snow daily. Reef roids once a week. Today I also started 1/10th strength NOPOX to bring my nutrients down slightly.

Equipment
Seachem Tidal 55 HOB w/ matrix bio media (6 months old) and filter floss
Heater
1-Sicce Voyager 1000 + Voyager 2000
Gen 5 Ecotech XR30

Corals (Updated 1/10/23)

-Red and Green Blasto Wellsi
-Tiddy Twister Blasto Wellsi
-Breaker Bob Chalice
-Dragons Breath Favia
-JF John Deer Leptastria
-JF Night Life Favia
-Blasto Merletti
-JF Psycho Rainbow Rim Favia
-Blue Zoas
-Incredibles Zoas (Mixed Rock)
-Eagle Eye Zoa (Mixed Rock)
-Jf Mango Cooler Zoa
-Fire and Ice Zoas (Mixed Rock)
-Radioactive Dragon Eyes (Mixed Rock)
-Phoenix Monti
-2x Bleeding Avenger Acro
-2x JF Solar Flare Milli
-Banana Hammock Acro (Mounted sideways w/ yellow polyps)
-Teal Frammer 2 heads
-Purple Tip Octospawn 3 Head
-Random brownish bounce mushroom
-montipora setosa
-Princess peach Acro
-Walt Disney Acro
-Orange Passion Acro
-2x Strawberry Shortcake Acro
-Candyland Acro
-ACI Prince of Darkness Hammer
-Snipers Bubble Gum Milli

Clean Up Crew
-3 Snails
-1 S Hermit Crab
-1 Money Cowrie

Below are some pics to kick off the thread!

 

[bud_rick]

Just Added this 5 headed hammer frag today (with about 8 babies). I purchased it along with the other 22 heads I put in my other temporary tank lol. I couldn't really tell what it looked like in the sellers tank because the lights were almost 100% white so we shall see in a couple hours what kind of hammer it turns out to be!

 

[bud_rick]

They are about half opened up at this point because I need to adjust the flow a little bit in the tank. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what these are because they almost look the tips are gold and teal? Am I color blind? The first pic is with a orange filter and second is no filter
.

 

[bud_rick]

This Phoenix monti is really starting to grow on me. When I first got it a couple weeks ago it Just looked brown with a little tint of blue. It’s colors are starting to come through now that it’s settled in and lovin life!

 

[bud_rick]

Quick update!

Things seem to be going great! Parameters are stable and my sps frags are steadily encrusting their plugs and are actually taking on a little better coloration now that I have them under a bit lower par lighting and a tad higher nutrient system. I also got my hands on three new frags! The one I am most excited about is the Prince Of Darkness fimbriaphyllia (hammer) ACI Aquaculture just released! (Pics once it arrives)The other two are in the pics below. ORA Red Planet and a tiny little Green Elk Horn monti.

The next thing I want to figure out is how to bump my ph up a bit. Since I don't run a skimmer I was thinking about running my old co2 scrubber through a air pump and putting the air stone in my hob filter. Only issue I am having with that is finding a air pump with a spot to hook up a intake hose to connect to the co2 scrubber. Anybody with a suggestion on which air pump would work please let me know!

This is what I’m most excited about.

 

[829282610]

found this? I usually just open my door or window

Experimenting with air pump to supply outside air to tank

Its winter time here and with the house closed up I've noticed my ph drop from 8.1-8.3 throughout the day to 7.7 - 8.08. I have an IM lagoon 25 which doesnt allow for a large skimmer, the eshopps nano skimmer I have doesnt draw enough air for me to run its intake outside. So instead I thought I...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Tank is looking really good!!

 

[bud_rick]

found this? I usually just open my door or window

Experimenting with air pump to supply outside air to tank

Its winter time here and with the house closed up I've noticed my ph drop from 8.1-8.3 throughout the day to 7.7 - 8.08. I have an IM lagoon 25 which doesnt allow for a large skimmer, the eshopps nano skimmer I have doesnt draw enough air for me to run its intake outside. So instead I thought I...

www.reef2reef.com

Thanks for the link and the suggestion to open my window, but unfortunately I am in New York and that would be brutal on my utility bill lol! I want to use my old c02 scrubber because I am looking to have a max daytime ph of 8.2-8.4 which I have achieved with it in the past on a different tank. I just need to find the air pump with spot to hook up a intake tube since I don't have a skimmer to run the scrubber through.

Tank is looking really good!!

Thank you! I'm really liking the results so far not running a skimmer. I might be crazy, but I think the corals are lovin it! Everything I put in has colored up and showed good growth!

 

[bud_rick]

Got my Prince Of Darkness frammer in today! It showed up very healthy and unexpectedly had 2 1/2 heads which is always a plus. I'm excited to grow this one out into a show piece! I'll get some pics later on with a filter on my cam. This pic makes my tank look way more blue than it actually is.

 

[bud_rick]

It's been almost a month since the last time updated, and I'm happy to report that everything has remained stable and I've acquired a hand full of really nice pieces!

As of right now I am running my nitrates between 20-30 ppm and phos at .05-.08. At these levels everything seems to be coloring up nicely and encrusting the frags pretty nicely. I've also been gradually bumping my all for reef dosing up week after week to slowly raise my alk from7.0 to 9.5.

Below are some of the new corals!
Candyland Acro (Coming out of a high light/low nutrient system. Hoping to color up with more nutrients)

Walt Disney Acro

Orange Passion Acro

Sniper Bubblegum Milli

Princess Peach Acro

Strawberry Short Cake Acro

 

[bud_rick]

Also here is an update on what is probably my favorite frag so far. This is a Grafted Banana Hammock that was given to me for free so I experimented with it and mounted it sideways on a plug. It's worked out great so far! It seems to be puddling out nicer on its side than the normal upright nub lol.

Grafted Banana Hammock
11/29/22

1/7/23

 

[bud_rick]

Just got these in today! These will be the last frags I grab up for a while since I will be starting construction on the fish room hopefully this weekend! The plan from this point on is to get everything set up with the fish (Coral) room and let everything I currently have grow out for a year or more before I frag anything.

RRC Rainbow Splice

MCC Prom Queen

CB Flaming Unicorn