Northwest_Scapes_
Well-Known Member
Well Well Well summary, an equipment failure caused the tank to crash (most of the corals were good, and I only had 3 so not too many). This tank is actually going to serve as a temporary setup while I wait to build the big (what will likely be) UNS 90S 48 Gallon NPS Display. This tank will kind of serve as a growout / nano display for that tank, and since I'm going to Uni in 2 years, this is a great option to pack up and bring with me if the University allows it.
This build I'd say is rather simple, though this time I'm able to spend more since I've got a job now (it's really been helping with the hobby) so that's awesome. With that, I've invested in what should be some more reliable equipment than what I had last time.
The Current Build Consists of;
Tank- Aqueon 20 Gallon Long
Filtration- Aquaclear 70 (Though I may upgrade to a canister or Tidal 35 if it gets too noisy)
Heater- Aquarium Co-op 100W on an Inkbird (Set to around 74F)
Lighting- None, though I do have a Nicrew in storage I'll put on the lowest setting for a few hours since most public aquariums do that, along for photography reasons
Wavemaker- Nero 3
Scape- This is actually a pretty interesting story. So the NPS Tank at the Seattle Aquarium has become one of the favorite within recent years (you can view some photos I took here). Mainly because of the Wire Corals but the big colonies of Tubastrea are also insane. Thankfully, I became a High School Volunteer there (YOA) and it's been a blast the past 2-ish months I've been officially on the floor. Anyways, it's given me a good chance to really study the layout of the tank and I took a lot of inspiration from it for this scape. Most of it is really 2 rocks glued on top of each other on both sides but it makes for a nice Deepwater Look in my opinion. I'm hoping those will be covered in Tubastrea and Dendros in the coming months.
Rock- 18 Pounds of Marco Dryrock
Sand- 20 Pounds of CaribSea Special Grade (Arag-Alive)
Currently, my experience with NPS is good but not that diverse (just Tubastrea (Sun Corals), Leptogorgia, and Didogorgia (Red & Yellow Finger Gorgs.) I'm hoping to expand that by quite a lot with this build, I'm super excited for it. Here's a list of corals that I'm pretty set on having;
Corals: -Tubastrea (Orange, Pink, Black), Dendrophyllia, Swiftia Exeserta, Chili Coral, Menella (Red / Gold most likely), Blueberry Gorgonian, along with a couple others that I can't find an ID for. This tank will most likely be Cup Coral dominant (So mostly Sun Corals and Dendros). The height doesn't allow for too many Gorgs, but I have at least 3 spots I think I'm able to put gorgs in and have them be happy.
Most likely, the Swiftia and Menella will have a spot in here since I've wanted those two species for forever and they're quite easy going in terms of NPS Gorgonians. I know the Swiftia I can get in smaller sizes so that shouldn't be a problem, though the other species will come in quite big so I need to be wise about which species I choose.
I'm actually hoping to donate a few species to the Aquarium through this tank. Were missing a few species like Swiftia, the Red and Gold Menella, etc in our NPS Tank and especially since the tank is moving to the new building across the street, couldn't be a better time.
Fish choices I'm not very set on yet. I'll most likely be moving my Pink Streaked Wrasse over since it'll help with any potential coral pests + it'd look amazing in here. I'm thinking of a group of Biota E. Atriventris gobies for here since they're bright and do venture out into the middle of the water column. At first I loved the thought of a group of Long Spined Cardinals, however even though they've got the reputation of being the "friendliest" cardinal, they can still kill each other off until there is a pair. I do have someone who might be able to get in some Tryssogobius sp. (Fairy Gobies) which is a dream species of mine that would fit really well in here but we'll see.
Currently the Nero 3 and Sand are stuck in transit due to Snow and I don't have an ETA on when they'll be here. But as of tonight, I got the cycle running and just letting the tank run until those come. I hope to get corals in here soon. Starting off with Tubastrea and Dendros then slowly adding the Gorgs. I do have plans on doing an auto refrigerator doser for whenever I go away, so I'll have to look into that. I hope everyone enjoys this one! Should be super fun! (and a headache haha)
Will look a lot better with Sand + proper flow. The Blue dots are areas I believe I could put gorgs, but I'll have to see once I play around with the flow of course. The lighting also won't be like this, it was just for the photo.
This build I'd say is rather simple, though this time I'm able to spend more since I've got a job now (it's really been helping with the hobby) so that's awesome. With that, I've invested in what should be some more reliable equipment than what I had last time.
The Current Build Consists of;
Tank- Aqueon 20 Gallon Long
Filtration- Aquaclear 70 (Though I may upgrade to a canister or Tidal 35 if it gets too noisy)
Heater- Aquarium Co-op 100W on an Inkbird (Set to around 74F)
Lighting- None, though I do have a Nicrew in storage I'll put on the lowest setting for a few hours since most public aquariums do that, along for photography reasons
Wavemaker- Nero 3
Scape- This is actually a pretty interesting story. So the NPS Tank at the Seattle Aquarium has become one of the favorite within recent years (you can view some photos I took here). Mainly because of the Wire Corals but the big colonies of Tubastrea are also insane. Thankfully, I became a High School Volunteer there (YOA) and it's been a blast the past 2-ish months I've been officially on the floor. Anyways, it's given me a good chance to really study the layout of the tank and I took a lot of inspiration from it for this scape. Most of it is really 2 rocks glued on top of each other on both sides but it makes for a nice Deepwater Look in my opinion. I'm hoping those will be covered in Tubastrea and Dendros in the coming months.
Rock- 18 Pounds of Marco Dryrock
Sand- 20 Pounds of CaribSea Special Grade (Arag-Alive)
Currently, my experience with NPS is good but not that diverse (just Tubastrea (Sun Corals), Leptogorgia, and Didogorgia (Red & Yellow Finger Gorgs.) I'm hoping to expand that by quite a lot with this build, I'm super excited for it. Here's a list of corals that I'm pretty set on having;
Corals: -Tubastrea (Orange, Pink, Black), Dendrophyllia, Swiftia Exeserta, Chili Coral, Menella (Red / Gold most likely), Blueberry Gorgonian, along with a couple others that I can't find an ID for. This tank will most likely be Cup Coral dominant (So mostly Sun Corals and Dendros). The height doesn't allow for too many Gorgs, but I have at least 3 spots I think I'm able to put gorgs in and have them be happy.
Most likely, the Swiftia and Menella will have a spot in here since I've wanted those two species for forever and they're quite easy going in terms of NPS Gorgonians. I know the Swiftia I can get in smaller sizes so that shouldn't be a problem, though the other species will come in quite big so I need to be wise about which species I choose.
I'm actually hoping to donate a few species to the Aquarium through this tank. Were missing a few species like Swiftia, the Red and Gold Menella, etc in our NPS Tank and especially since the tank is moving to the new building across the street, couldn't be a better time.
Fish choices I'm not very set on yet. I'll most likely be moving my Pink Streaked Wrasse over since it'll help with any potential coral pests + it'd look amazing in here. I'm thinking of a group of Biota E. Atriventris gobies for here since they're bright and do venture out into the middle of the water column. At first I loved the thought of a group of Long Spined Cardinals, however even though they've got the reputation of being the "friendliest" cardinal, they can still kill each other off until there is a pair. I do have someone who might be able to get in some Tryssogobius sp. (Fairy Gobies) which is a dream species of mine that would fit really well in here but we'll see.
Currently the Nero 3 and Sand are stuck in transit due to Snow and I don't have an ETA on when they'll be here. But as of tonight, I got the cycle running and just letting the tank run until those come. I hope to get corals in here soon. Starting off with Tubastrea and Dendros then slowly adding the Gorgs. I do have plans on doing an auto refrigerator doser for whenever I go away, so I'll have to look into that. I hope everyone enjoys this one! Should be super fun! (and a headache haha)
Will look a lot better with Sand + proper flow. The Blue dots are areas I believe I could put gorgs, but I'll have to see once I play around with the flow of course. The lighting also won't be like this, it was just for the photo.
