Court’s first nano tank

[Uptowngirl]

Hello everyone!

It’s been a solid 6 years since I’ve taken care of a tank. I had a 55 gallon, now due to living situations I can only have small tanks.

I started up with a used fluval spec v given to me by family. I added dry black sand because I love the look of it. Dry rocks and one live rock to seed the tank.

Filter: Took out the stock filter and just replaced it with some filter pad secured temporarily with a plastic chip clip until I find something better. Planning on relying pretty heavily on the rock for filtration

Heater: Aquatop 50 watt. Tried a 25 w but it wasn’t enough for some reason so I upgraded

Flow: fluval sea nano, 265 gph

Lighting: stock lighting for now, upgrading to kessil A80 as soon as I can.

I used instant ocean holdfast to plug this hole that is in fluval specs. Of course I read about this after filling the tank with water so it doesn’t look pretty, but at one point hopefully coralline algae and coral will cover it up.

Started cycling the tank 2/18/2019 so now it’s just a waiting game. Tested today and ammonia is 0ppm, nitrite 5.0ppm. Didn’t bother testing nitrates. Temp:79 salinity:1.026

My stocking plans are:
2 astrea snails
Porcelain crab
Pistol shrimp
Watchmen goby
Green star polyps
Xenia
Zoas

Any other ideas for stocking? I’m looking for easy things and nothing too expensive as I don’t have much trust in my reefkeeping abilities yet. I had a pistol shrimp and goby before and I love them, but rarely saw them in a bigger tank. Can’t wait to have them be front and center. They are non-negotiable for me, other than that I’m up for suggestions.

Also any suggestions for getting better pictures of the tank on a phone? I have an iPhone 8

 

[Big G]

Welcome to R2R! Really like black sand. Reminds me of the black sand beaches in Hawaii.

Firefish are perfect for a small tank.

 

[Uptowngirl]

Welcome to R2R! Really like black sand. Reminds me of the black sand beaches in Hawaii.

Firefish are perfect for a small tank.

I also vote firefish! Super pretty and peaceful

 

[Big G]

I also vote firefish! Super pretty and peaceful

Just be mindful of how a single firefish will be ok. If you add another they may not get along or they may pair up. And if you add even more the odd one out may be treated harshly by the others.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Looks good. Welcome as well

 

[NY_Caveman]

Looks like a great start! Welcome to R2R! I like a mix of snails to cover all the different nuisances. Maybe a Trochus and a couple Cerith snails added to the Astreas.

For iPhone photos I like to take images under more white light. Turning off the flow for a moment helps too. Tapping on the subject of the photo in the camera app will set the focus and exposure for that spot.

 

[kimberly :)]

super cute tank! <3

 

[kimberly :)]

super cute tank! <3

 

[sfin52]

welcome to reef2reef. For a small tank I would look at some gobies. Yellow watchman yellow clown and green clown gobies are great choices. You could also pair a yellow watchman with a pistol goby

 

[cracker]

Welcome !, Welcome ! Your tank looks very cool. There is a myriad of pretty & smaller fish. What ever You like !
Please consider passing on a clown fish. They can get territorial in a smaller tank like that.

 

[Uptowngirl]

Tank update:

Cycle is complete!! I already added a Pom Pom crab a day a few days ago. Love watching him dance around. He hides a lot but comes out for food.

I also added a yellow watchman goby. The lfs didn’t have an pistol shrimp so I will add one later and hope they pair up. The watchmen is super tiny, perfect for my small tank.

 

[sfin52]

if you know where the burrow for the watchman release the postal right next to it and it should find the watchman pretty quick in a small tank .