Driceftw's Sumped 22 Long

[Driceftw]

So I have an affinity for nano peninsula styled tanks.. I recently broke down my PM25 but not without a fallback of course. I picked up a 22 gallon long already drilled, a stand, sump, skimmer, and return from a semi-local reefer and decided to breath new life into a wonderful tank with great potential.

I don't have a picture of everything together when I initially received it. The tank came with the stand, a fiji-12 sump, an aquamaxx fc80 skimmer, and a jebao DC return. It also came with a reefkeeper with the 4 outlet power bar but unfortunately no probes so I replace this with something newer later on. The lighting arm/mount was originally intended for 3 kessil 160s but I managed to get a pair of primes I had sitting around mounted in it fairly neatly. Below is a shot I took as I was ripping out everything below to give it a nice CA soak and cleaning.

Got the glass all cleaned up! It's amazing what a little RODI and some melamine sponges can do when you have some glass to clean.

Sump and skimmer looking fresh and new again! The jebao doser actually came with the system as well but I actually remove this later. Depending on my final stocking decisions I may add a better single channel doser for some Kalk later. Wire management non existent for now.

And it's wet!

Another water in shot during the evening from a few days later. I also got another diffuser for my other 16hd. Cycle was about halfway done at this point. I used Dr tims and some MB7 with some heavy pinches of flake food.

Out with the doser and the reefkeeper, in with the Apex! Thanks BRS for the customer appreciation sale!

My cycle finished today (4-30-22) in 13 days! Just yesterday I dosed up to 2ppm with some fritz ammonium chloride and back to 0 within 24 hours. My nitrates weren't super high so I knocked out just a 50 percent WC. I also took the opportunity to install a few more goodies! An aquamaxx reactor and a aqua ultraviolet 8w classic.

More to come as this tank progresses! I do know that I have a CSB and a few high end zoas planned for this tank. I may scatter a few LPS here and there as well. Hopefully the LFS will have a few decent clowns next weekend, if not I will have to make plans to order. Stay tuned!

 

[blaxsun]

Interesting setup, although I don't see any firefish in your future.

 

[Driceftw]

Bonus picture. The rock structure came with the tank and while skulls in aquariums seem somewhat cliche to me.... this one is growing on me since I can really appreciate that someone took the time to mold these into the rockwork. I assume that they used marco400 with a silicone mold.

 

[Driceftw]

Interesting setup, although I don't see any firefish in your future.

Me neither really lol. I had two in my PM25 and they still managed to get through my mesh top. I do plan on getting a top made for this though but not really wanting a firefish.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Very nice!! I like the scape!!

 

[blaxsun]

Me neither really lol. I had two in my PM25 and they still managed to get through my mesh top. I do plan on getting a top made for this though but not really wanting a firefish.

I didn't notice the skulls earlier - now it's *really* interesting!

 

[Driceftw]

Very nice!! I like the scape!!

Many thanks!

 

[Driceftw]

The first inhabitants other than a couple snails and hermits from another tank are in! A watchman and tiger pistol are the first to stake the claim! This symbiotic pair was definitely on the stocking list and while I wanted to get a pair of clowns first, the lfs had no clowns but already had a bonded goby and a pistol just waiting for a new pad. I took them home and the pistol immideatly went to work scaping the new stomping grounds. The poor little watchman spent at least an hour and a half hopping around the bottom searching for his little buddy and managed to find him before lights out and it's like they were never separated! I do have to say this is my first pistol and bonded goby pair and it is one of the coolest things I have ever seen!

 

[Driceftw]

A few zoa/palys are in! I dropped another tank off to a good friend of mine and he tossed these my way as testers for the tank pretty much. Fun fact: the zoas on the right are actually some on a plug that I gave them sometime last year. They placed the plug near their rockwork and they grew onto it and three of the heads on this plug are the original ones I gave them!

 

[Sabdali]

Great looking tank! And I thought that aquascape was unique even before I saw the skulls. Really good looking.
Excited to follow along as your tank is really similar to my 12 gallon long. How’d the zoas do?

 

[Chasselti]

Nice peninsula. I really enjoy the rock coming out of the water. Imo a lot of scapes could do with a bit more height.

 

[Driceftw]

Great looking tank! And I thought that aquascape was unique even before I saw the skulls. Really good looking.
Excited to follow along as your tank is really similar to my 12 gallon long. How’d the zoas do?

Thank you. They are doing great! I will probably keep them low and unmounted for the time being. I'm really waiting for a friend's CSB to split so I can put one in this tank and let it settle before I mount any other corals. His Chicago split just recently but I am waiting for a split off the Colorado... that thing is about 14-16 inches across the base at the moment and takes up a third of the 28 cube he has it in.

 

[Driceftw]

Nice peninsula. I really enjoy the rock coming out of the water. Imo a lot of scapes could do with a bit more height.

I really like the concept myself. The only downside I see in the future is that once everything below the waterline colors up with coralline the rock above will still be stark white.

 

[Sabdali]

I really like the concept myself. The only downside I see in the future is that once everything below the waterline colors up with coralline the rock above will still be stark white.

Is there any saltwater moss or similar plant you could plant on the exposed rock? Maybe a mangrove?

 

[Driceftw]

Is there any saltwater moss or similar plant you could plant on the exposed rock? Maybe a mangrove?

I'm not too sure about either. I will have to look into my options. I do like the idea of a mangrove just not sure how it would do being planted so close to the surface.

 

[Chasselti]

I'm not too sure about either. I will have to look into my options. I do like the idea of a mangrove just not sure how it would do being planted so close to the surface.

I've seen a little air plant placed on exposed rock, not sure if the salt eventually bothers it, but could be worth a shot.

 

[Driceftw]

I've seen a little air plant placed on exposed rock, not sure if the salt eventually bothers it, but could be worth a shot.

Hmmm, any idea what the name is of said plant?

 

[Chasselti]

Hmmm, any idea what the name is of said plant?

Scientific name looks like Tillandsia sp. They're epiphytes so no planting/soil necessary.

 

[Driceftw]

Tank is coming along nicely! I'm exploring my options now for kalk dosing to help curve the night time PH drop. PH seems to drop to around 7.8 at night and up to 8.2 during the day. I haven't really started monitoring alk yet due to only a few softies. N03 has settled in around 10-12 for now and p04 is a bit high at .21. I have passed up water changes for the past couple of weeks to let nutrients rise a little so that explains the P04. Newest addition is a pair of true perc clowns that I am really happy with. Goby and Pistol have been doing great and are still the best of buds. I'll get some good photos of the gang through the flipper when I can manage to catch them out and about. Rockwork starting to get some green corraline patches and what almost appears to be orange coralline speckles. More updates to come but for now enjoy a photo of some rocks that are starting to color up and a snapshot of the halle berry zoas.

 

[Driceftw]

It's been awhile since I have provided an update. Tank is still running and finally finding its stride with its dry rock and sand startup. Diatom bloom came and went, cyano hit hard, gha after the cyano and it's (the gha) on the decline. Nopox, occasional mb7, and daily phytos have been on the menu for a couple weeks now. Tank is getting a very light saturated kalk drip. Clowns are growing and happy and the ywg makes his daily appearances. Tiger pistol unfortunately did not make it for an unknown reason and I am leaning towards it more than likely being pretty old. I replaced the tiger with a very tiny candy about a month ago and he has yet to come out long enough to find the goby. I dig out the candy's hidey hole about twice a week to check in on him and shoot a piece of mysis into his comfort zone which he has covered back up by the morning. No new corals for the time being and the zoa testers are on the rebound after thick cyano mats enveloped nearly every surface I'm the tank. Yesterday I did make the addition of what will more than likely be the center piece of the tank. More than a year and a half ago a friend of mine had acquired a Colorado Sunburst and I told him I wanted the first split. I worked out a trade with a tank and a few accessories I had collecting dust since he was wanting to setup another tank. A few months ago it split and since then has healed up nicely. He graciously held onto the split for me until this tank hit its stride and I got onto the tail end of the uglies.I still have it in an isolation/acclimation box for the time being as I am waiting on nem guards for the mp10s. It was alot of fun watching one of my dream pieces expel and take in new water during the acclimation. When he finally went into the display he immideatly bubbled up and stayed happy throughout the night and today. I will probably keep him in the box for a couple weeks to monitor health and if by chance it starts to decline my friend is more than happy to hold him as long as needed. I'll update as any major changes or additions are made but for now enjoy some CSB goodness and a view of some of the tester zoas/palys through the flipper.