Just a Humble Little 15-Gallon Mixed Reef in New York City

[nickscorals]

(Sep. 10, 2026)

(Nov. 6, 2025)

Background:
On July 1st of 2025, I had the pleasant surprise of learning I'd won this ReefCasa 15-gallon AIO tank in a raffle organized by Denis Ceke on Instagram. I'd entered weeks earlier and forgotten about it completely, so when I won the tank I was thrilled and knew I wanted to start a new build with it. I came up with an aquascape using two CaribSea nano arches and cycled it for three months in another mature reef, and finally set the tank up on November 1st, 2025.

As of September 2026 there is one Six-Line Wrasse which I got in August 2026, an adult Black Ice Clownfish I got in October 2024, a juvenile Black Ice Clownfish I got in August 2026, and about 26 corals, including a Holy Grail torch, Holy Grail Micromussa, Bubblegum Digitata, Red Monti Cap, as well as various Euphyllia and softies. The setup is currently very simple, but I will document any changes and/or updates on this tank thread, and most photos/media will go on my Instagram:
@nickscorals

Thanks for following along!
​

Equipment:
- Light: Aqua Illumination Prime 16HD
- Flow: Ecotech Vortech MP10 (Reef Crest: 3% all day)
- Heater: Innovative Marine Helio 50-watt
- ATO: Cheap $50 ATO from Amazon
- Return Pump: Stock ReefCasa return pump (future upgrade to MightyJet Mini DC Pump)

 

[nickscorals]

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[nickscorals]

A few updates!

I’ve been doing my best to leave the tank alone, and not poke around the display too much. By letting the ecosystem run as unabridged as possible, it’s stabilized considerably, and I decided it was time to add some corals.

My cousin’s tank has housed my previous clownfish, a Black Ice female named Bubbles that is approximately 2 years old. I bought it at Pacific Aquarium in the Lower East Side in October of 2024, shortly after moving to Brooklyn. I left him my old tank and Bubbles the clownfish after I moved out of his apartment in September. Since Bubbles is now a larger female, she has become territorial and chased my cousin’s first clownfish out of the tank. It’s unfortunate, but he’s decided to get a brand new clown pair that won’t fight, and I took back Bubbles the clownfish, who’s joined my Azure Damselfish. Since the damsel is the predominant occupant of the reef, the clownfish has not been territorial whatsoever, and the two are getting along great after being reunited.

 

[nickscorals]

It’s been a while, but happy to share the 15-gallon has been finding success!

The only real challenge to note has just been my struggle in actually getting nitrates in the water. With my clownfish and damselfish, my salifert test would always show zero ppm no matter how much I fed.

I’ve since added a new Royal Gramma Basslet, which has resulted in my nitrates reaching 3-5ppm. I haven’t added much to the tank, just changed the water intermittently and fed my fish and corals.

 

[nickscorals]

Without going into extreme detail, my updates (TDLR):
- Coral Dieoff: Slacked on water changes for a month or so, then all my Euphyllia died off
- Fish Updates: Azure Damsel jumped, then eventually got a small Six-Line Wrasse, and recently a juvenile Black Ice clownfish (not yet named) and newly released Flipper Invisi-Lid to prevent jumpers. My adult Black Ice clown has been aggressive to fish recently and has been put into an acclimation box while the juvenile clown settles in
- Algae Breakouts: Bubble algae broke out twice, covering the entire rockscape. After the bubble algae came back, I realized that the bubble algae was taking advantage of all the leftover nutrients that were no longer being absorbed after the coral dieoff. I cleared the bubble algae off the rock again (taking about 4 hours each time with the entire rockscape out of the tank), added a bunch of corals (below), an emerald crab, and have not had bubble algae taking over anymore
- Started Regular Dosing: Brightwell Amino Acids, Tropic Marin All-For-Reef, PolypLab Polyp Booster, Red Sea AB+. Nitrates were previously zero, but now sitting at 8.3 per my last Hanna HR Nitrate test
- New Corals: Holy Grail Micro, Holy Grail Torch, Hologram Hammer, Green Frogspawn, Red Monti Cap, Bubblegum Digi, Rasta Zoas, Rainbow Hornet Zoas, Candy Apple Red Zoas, Jungle Juice Zoas, GSP, Long Tentacle Toadstool Leather, Duncan, Rainbow Acan, Green Acan, Orange/Pink Acan. I now have about 26 individual corals in my tank

 

[nickscorals]

Some photos as of September 2026!

 

[ereeef]

Theyre calling him the sickest of all time

 

[Cornelia_Reefer]

Looks great!

Do you buy coral locally? Which shops do you recommend?

 

[nickscorals]

Looks great!

Do you buy coral locally? Which shops do you recommend?

I actually shop completely local—I’ve gotten most of my corals from a local firefighter in Manhattan believe it or not!

My favorite LFS to shop at for coral is Pop Corals (which will be a Vendor at New Jersey Aquashella this weekend), but I also like Exotic Reef Aquatic and New York Reef Aquatic.

 

[Cornelia_Reefer]

Looks great!

Do you buy coral locally? Which shops do you recommend?

I actually shop completely local—I’ve gotten most of my corals from a local firefighter in Manhattan believe it or not!

My favorite LFS to shop at for coral is Pop Corals (which will be a Vendor at New Jersey Aquashella this weekend), but I also like Exotic Reef Aquatic and New York Reef Aquatic.

Glad to hear that. I was thinking of ordering online but shipping is $$$. I’ve checked out the others but I’ll add Pop Corals to the list.

 

[nickscorals]

Shots from a Canon R6

 

[nickscorals]

Attended Aquashella New Jersey 2026!

Got to meet tons of awesome vendors selling thousands of discounted frags, and saw some of the best and brightest corals I’ve ever seen in person. It really makes sense now to save up more money just to get corals at Reefapalooza—being able to see the frags in person makes all the difference. I picked up a Warpaint Scolymia, 3-polyp GMK, Charmander Zoa Mini-Colony, and Green/Purple Grafted Hammer!

Also got the chance to meet George from CoralFish12g! It was his college dorm reef tank videos on YouTube that sparked my interest in the reef hobby and enthusiasm for nano tanks back in 2019, which made this year’s Aquashella even more special!