Great little tank. Nice growth updates. One day you will do them and it will have grown so much. Nice polyps extensions this month on the slimer.
Mixed Reef Fluval Evo 13.5 with Natural Sea Water
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jfoahs04
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Thanks! The Red Planet is the faster growing Acro in my tank, but the Slimer is showing measurable growth finally. Can’t wait to see what it looks like over the long haul.
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jfoahs04
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The trickiest part of this tank in my opinion is using it as a true peninsula. It’s obviously a small tank, but the amount of room you have to work with drops when you’re trying to make sure there are views from all of the glass sides. The toughest side for me has been the front. It’s finally starting to come along now, but I’d really like to get some more color in there.
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jfoahs04
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Has anyone who reads this ever kept a clam in this tank (especially with this light) and had long term success? I’ve had the itch to grab a Crocea for a few months now and set it up in that open area toward the bottom middle of the tank. It gets about 250 PAR. I also think that my large natural seawater water changes may help the supplemental feeding too.
But I’ve never actually kept a clam before. And my understanding is that while Crocea are the slowest growers, they’re also a little challenging. I’m worried 250 PAR + supplemental feeding may not be enough. And I don’t have space for it to grow higher up on the rocks. I’m neither flush with cash nor am I keen on putting an animal in my tank that’s doomed from the start, so I’m curious to hear other’s experiences.
But I’ve never actually kept a clam before. And my understanding is that while Crocea are the slowest growers, they’re also a little challenging. I’m worried 250 PAR + supplemental feeding may not be enough. And I don’t have space for it to grow higher up on the rocks. I’m neither flush with cash nor am I keen on putting an animal in my tank that’s doomed from the start, so I’m curious to hear other’s experiences.
There is space and 250PAR can be fine for a more mature clam. The baby clam (which you should get if you get one that is aquacultured) will need more. You can always put a little rack in the tank at the top for the clam until it is grown enough to move down.
I have this on my grow out tanks. The rack is up really near the top of the tanks for the babies.
I have this on my grow out tanks. The rack is up really near the top of the tanks for the babies.
3-4" should be a good size. Push for larger. 
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jfoahs04
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Thanks again! One follow up question - realistically how long before a 3-4 inch clam becomes a 6-8 inch clam? I've never been the type to make decisions based on the assumption that I'm going to eventually upgrade, so if it'll only take 6 months or a year for this thing to outgrow the tank, it's not something I want to do.3-4" should be a good size. Push for larger.
Crocea grow really slow. I have had my babies (came in about 1.75"-2") for almost 1.5 years and they are only 2.5-3". Maybe larger one is 3.5".
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jfoahs04
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I’ve had vermatids in my tank since pretty early on. I manually remove when I can, but I also bought bumblebee snails as they were rumored to eat vermatids. I heard varying reviews (people insisting they help, and others insisting they don’t), but bumblebees are decent looking and good CUC. Well… today I saw one actually eating a vermatid. It was pretty cool. Here’s the action shot (my Pom Pom crab is just as excited to see it as I am):
SteveMac84
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Amazing****most recent FTS****
May 16, 2022
***End Update***
I’m starting my first tank in 6+ years and my 3rd ever reef tank.
The goal with this one is to build a streamline (hence the AIO), attractive nano reef in the condo I share with my fiancée who has never been involved with a reef tank (or fish tank of any sort). She doesn’t care what I do, so long as it’s pretty and there’s no clutter/mess.
I picked this tank up as-is from a local reef club member. As you can see it’s been slightly modified. It’s topless, but I have a Kraken lid coming soon. It’s also running the Current USA Led and Wavemaker on the Loop system. Stock
Pump in chamber 1 (may upgrade), heater in chamber 2 (may move to chamber 1 and create a refugium in chamber 2), and media basket insert in chamber 3 which contains fiber on top, carbon in the middle, and Fluval bio media on the bottom).
As you can see, there’s no rock in it yet. I’m picking up some established rock this weekend from different members of the local reef club - all of which has coralline and some hardy sponges, mushrooms and polyps. The live rock will drive the cycle along with natural sea water I’ve pulled from nearby Winthrop, MA (not treating it… only bringing to temperature and pulling out macro items like seaweed). I know there are risks, but almost every post from someone who has used NSW seems to be positive.
Once I start reading Nitrates and the Ammonia level drops, I’ll add a small CUC. Once parameters are stable, I’ll add a few hardy softies and probably a tail spot blenny and a pair of black ice clowns.
Eventually, I plan on upgrading the light and growing some SPS. But… baby steps.
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jfoahs04
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2 weeks ago, I added this little guy. Tailspots are my favorite nano fish and I won’t have a tank without one. This guy is slowly but surely getting comfortable and flashing that quirky personality.
On the other hand, I’ve got a bit of an issue with cyano on one end of the tank. Im not sure what triggered it, but at the moment I’m manually removing every other day and keeping nutrients stable. If it doesn’t show signs of receding in a few weeks, I’ll probably hit it with the Chemiclean. But I’d like to try and beat it naturally first.
On the other hand, I’ve got a bit of an issue with cyano on one end of the tank. Im not sure what triggered it, but at the moment I’m manually removing every other day and keeping nutrients stable. If it doesn’t show signs of receding in a few weeks, I’ll probably hit it with the Chemiclean. But I’d like to try and beat it naturally first.
SteveMac84
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AmazingI don’t want to run heavy blues all day every day, but I do love the glow just before lights out:
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jfoahs04
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This is the face of a coral killer:
This Pom Pom Crab lost his pom poms a while back. When they lose their pom poms, they find something else to use instead. Usually in my tanks it’s zoas. That works out great because I have so many that they’re borderline pests and I have to trim them back about once a month. So when I see a detached Zoa polyp floating around, I know what happened and I’ll often grab it and glue it to a plug to grow out and give away (I have 7 heads on 3 different plugs right now).
But last night, I watched this one being chased by the other Pom Pom Crab and jump up on top of the Frogspawn. It slowly ripped chunk off and then used it defensively during its kerfuffle:
I honestly don’t mind. The Frogspawn looks fine and it’s tough the beat the entertainment value of the Pom Pom chase.
This Pom Pom Crab lost his pom poms a while back. When they lose their pom poms, they find something else to use instead. Usually in my tanks it’s zoas. That works out great because I have so many that they’re borderline pests and I have to trim them back about once a month. So when I see a detached Zoa polyp floating around, I know what happened and I’ll often grab it and glue it to a plug to grow out and give away (I have 7 heads on 3 different plugs right now).
But last night, I watched this one being chased by the other Pom Pom Crab and jump up on top of the Frogspawn. It slowly ripped chunk off and then used it defensively during its kerfuffle:
I honestly don’t mind. The Frogspawn looks fine and it’s tough the beat the entertainment value of the Pom Pom chase.
This is the face of a coral killer:
This Pom Pom Crab lost his pom poms a while back. When they lose their pom poms, they find something else to use instead. Usually in my tanks it’s zoas. That works out great because I have so many that they’re borderline pests and I have to trim them back about once a month. So when I see a detached Zoa polyp floating around, I know what happened and I’ll often grab it and glue it to a plug to grow out and give away (I have 7 heads on 3 different plugs right now).
But last night, I watched this one being chased by the other Pom Pom Crab and jump up on top of the Frogspawn. It slowly ripped chunk off and then used it defensively during its kerfuffle:
I honestly don’t mind. The Frogspawn looks fine and it’s tough the beat the entertainment value of the Pom Pom chase.
Hahahaha so do you have two Pom poms in there?
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jfoahs04
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I do! You can see them chasing each other in that video. It’s a male and a female, and they do mate (she carries eggs every so often). I’m guessing this recent spat is part of the mating routine. When they’re out, they’re so much fun to watch.
I’ve been waiting on my LFS to get some in. I told him I wanted two. Then I got nervous that if they weren’t male/female, they might fight and kill each other. Still of the fence if it is worth the risk. I would hate to lose one or both, after waiting all this time to get them.
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