This is mostly a thank-you post. If you’ve seen my other threads, you know I haven’t had the best luck with this hobby. For a while, I really thought I was going to quit. But I’m happy to say—that’s no longer the case.
I tried so hard to “do everything right.” Start bigger. Choose stable equipment. Add one fish. Stick to easy corals. And still, nothing ever seemed to go well for me. All I wanted was a small reef tank in my room. I wasn’t asking for much, but it felt impossible.
I read countless posts, asked questions, and listened to all the advice people offered. And here’s what I learned: you can make this hobby work, but the tank you want to build is the one that will succeed.
So I went for it. I bought a tiny rimless 6-gallon tank and built my dream reef. I’m even running an AI Prime freshwaterlight. I have one fish—a watchman goby. By most standards, people would say this setup shouldn’t work. But it does.
It’s been running for five months now, and it’s thriving. Yes, I have to test salinity daily. Yes, I’m always keeping an eye on my parameters. But it’s worth it, because this is the tank I wanted from the start, and it’s doing amazing.
Current stock list:
• 4 hammers
• 3 Duncans
• 2 Yumas
• 1 Blasto
• 6 acans
• 3 pipe organs
• 2 Montis
• 2 alveoporas
• 13 zoas
• 1 macro algae
• 1 Nassarius snail
Thank you to everyone who helped me along the way. Reef2Reef has helped turn my dream into a reality. If you’re struggling like I was, trust me—build the tank you truly want, and you’ll find a way to make it work.
Now… on the photos some are older some are newer but it’s the same tank.

I tried so hard to “do everything right.” Start bigger. Choose stable equipment. Add one fish. Stick to easy corals. And still, nothing ever seemed to go well for me. All I wanted was a small reef tank in my room. I wasn’t asking for much, but it felt impossible.
I read countless posts, asked questions, and listened to all the advice people offered. And here’s what I learned: you can make this hobby work, but the tank you want to build is the one that will succeed.
So I went for it. I bought a tiny rimless 6-gallon tank and built my dream reef. I’m even running an AI Prime freshwaterlight. I have one fish—a watchman goby. By most standards, people would say this setup shouldn’t work. But it does.
It’s been running for five months now, and it’s thriving. Yes, I have to test salinity daily. Yes, I’m always keeping an eye on my parameters. But it’s worth it, because this is the tank I wanted from the start, and it’s doing amazing.
Current stock list:
• 4 hammers
• 3 Duncans
• 2 Yumas
• 1 Blasto
• 6 acans
• 3 pipe organs
• 2 Montis
• 2 alveoporas
• 13 zoas
• 1 macro algae
• 1 Nassarius snail
Thank you to everyone who helped me along the way. Reef2Reef has helped turn my dream into a reality. If you’re struggling like I was, trust me—build the tank you truly want, and you’ll find a way to make it work.
Now… on the photos some are older some are newer but it’s the same tank.



