Gregs 22g Long Saga

[GatorGreg]

Champ

 

[demonclownfish]

A tank like this I'd do a firefish or a flaming prawn goby and some sexy shrimp

 

[GatorGreg]

A tank like this I'd do a firefish or a flaming prawn goby and some sexy shrimp

I will absolutely check them out. Sounds awesome





Checked out......what a beautiful fish.

Gonna see about finding one

 

[demonclownfish]

I will absolutely check them out. Sounds awesome





Checked out......what a beautiful fish.

Gonna see about finding one

Firefish are an awesome nano fish at a super low price. Flaming prawns are amazing tiny gobies but a bit more pricey $$$. Sexy shrimp are perfectly suited to a tank like this as well.

 

[GatorGreg]

I'm trying to settle on a lid. I need one that isn't recessed because of the water level. I need one that sits on top. I've been imagineering one. Once I get it figured out I'm going to find a suitable fish. Those are great suggestions.

 

[demonclownfish]

I'm trying to settle on a lid. I need one that isn't recessed because of the water level. I need one that sits on top. I've been imagineering one. Once I get it figured out I'm going to find a suitable fish. Those are great suggestions.

Get the dimensions and go to a local Lowe's or HD. They have 1/8" acrylic sheets of all sizes they will cut for you for like $10 out the door. Once home you can sand edges to round them off and even cut ventilation grooves or a feeding port into it.

 

[GatorGreg]

Neat

 

[srobertb]

This is going to be my 3rd stab at reefkeeping. I had a successful reef as a teenager around the very early 2000s that was funded by my parents lol. It was a 29g biocube. It ran flawlessly for years. It was reefing on easy mode. The only difference I can pinpoint in my approach is the live rock. True live rock was used. My 2 tanks as an adult have been abysmal failures ending in Dino infestation and teardown. Both were fish less cycles and dry rock. I'm looking to take another stab and try to relive those awesome times staring into beautiful reef tank. Hopefully it goes better this time.

Tank: eshopps deskmate
Light: AI Prime
Other goodies are all stock things that came with the BRS package I picked up for this tank. It came with pretty much everything. I ditched the light and life rock though. Maybe use it for another project later on depending on how this goes.

Trying to make this as low tech as possible. Coral only, zoas and LPS. My plan is going to involve a mixture of two pico keepers whose approaches to reefkeeping are pretty close. Direct heavy feeding on day of 100% water change once a week. Turkey baste rocks and stir sand bed every water change, clean AIO chamber spotless. Refill with pristine fine tuned water careful to not let nutrients bottom out. No dosing, no chemicals just water changes, topping off and filter sock cleaning.

Using gulf live rock has been my key to a fast start and an abbreviated period of Dino/cyano. After getting a hitchhiker Eunice worm, I tried dead rock + “live rock” from the LFS a few years ago. Took a year to come around. Good luck with your tank! You have a good plan. Keep it simple. Plan for easy.

 

[willytb]

Any guitar players lurking in my journal? My other baby to break up some more monotony.

That is one beautiful flying Jay if I’m not mistaken

 

[GatorGreg]

That is one beautiful flying Jay if I’m not mistaken

Flying V

But I know what you mean. Thank you very much. It's a prize possession. A gift from my father

 

[GatorGreg]

Tank is still running smooth. We're closing in on one month here in a couple days. Seems like forever when I'm proverbially holding my breath waiting on disaster to strike lol. I guess I'm so scarred from the last two failures...yikes.

Copepods and other critters just dance around all over the tank. The coraline algae that came on the rock is noticeably growing and looks nice. All of the corals seem to be happy and aren't losing any color. Salinity is stable, temperature is stable and I'm working on VERY slowly bringing in the nutrients. Right now I have phosphate registering and my nitrate is at 5. I also purchased a IM desktop UV for emergencies if one were to arise.


Negatives.

On Sunday I returned home from the office and noticed my tank was cloudy. I had added the corals on Saturday and also fed with fauna LPS food. I will admit I did have a mishap from shaky hands and spilt around 6 pellets from the pipette. That I could count. By Monday I had a full blown bacterial bloom and the tank smelled of chemicals. Very very strange. Everything seemed OK though so I did nothing. Tuesday morning the cloudiness was a little better and so was the smell and by Tuesday evening when I got home from work the water was crystal clear again no smell. I'm going to attribute the bloom to the spillage of food. Now I only allow one peice in the pipette at a time.

4 Aptasia are still present but dont appear to be spreading. I am going to address it at some point. There isn't enough to get bergiahs and the majano wand says 5 mins for a 25 gallon so I'd on on be able to use it a 1 min at a time. Still getting a plan together here.

I do have algae but it's nothing that isn't manageable by me and my small Clean up crew which I plan to add 2 more hermits and two more snails.

I'm throughly enjoying this reef tank.

 

[GatorGreg]

Right now I'm doing weekly 3 gallon water changes. Before the water change I feed the corals, stir the sand and turkey baste the rocks along with cleaning the filter sock and wiping the inside glass with a magic eraser (no scent or chemicals). I then refill with clean saltwater that's tested to exact salinity with my refractometer that's calibrated at every use with 35ppm calibration fluid. The water is also temperature matched.

I test the phosphate and nitrate twice a week because every three days I'm dosing a little bit of both like 5 drops of each. Using seachem products for this. Once I get more corals I'll start testing mag, cal, and alk once midweek.

Every two days I'm adding 5 drops of seachem phytoplankton and seachem zooplankton. Acans visibly perk up when this is added.

I don't have fish so I have to be vigilant about keeping nutrients present in this tank.

 

[demonclownfish]

A bag of carbon/chemi-pure elite will help keep any odor under control and water clarity in check

 

[GatorGreg]

A bag of carbon/chemi-pure elite will help keep any odor under control and water clarity in check

The bacterial bloom only lasted 2 days. The smell was only present during those two days. It was strange. My tank usually has a very fresh ocean smell. It's presently back to normal.

My rock keeps my water crystal clear.

 

[GatorGreg]

They're nice and puffy. I think they're happy.

 

[GatorGreg]

Attack of the pods. I promise I'll get an orange filter one day. I'll be getting a brand new phone soon. So I may as well wait until then

 

[GatorGreg]

I have to make a surprise trip to Mississippi tomorrow so I'll be passing right by coral connection in kenner, louisana. I think I'll stop by and maybe pick up a coral or two tomorrow.....whoop whoop

 

[GatorGreg]

They had one. Oh yeah!

I also picked up a pink goni and a red acan.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Reading your thread and saw you were picking up some things in Shreveport. That’s where I am! Wondering where you went to pick up the pieces. Thanks and good looking build! We’re are you located?

 

[GatorGreg]

Thank you. I picked them up at a place called aquarium concepts. It's a few doors down from Jill's gymnastics. Pretty easy to find and not a very stressful traffic situation near it. I just went by coral connection in New Orleans too. It was really nice as well.