Returning to the Reef: Peter's Desktop Nano

[PeterLL]

Hi Everyone,
It's been a while. Used to be on here a lot but had a bit of a change of pace recently; Somehow ended in the Tropical North of Queensland in Australia doing my Masters of Marine Biology. Got a research project assessing a reef restoration technique being piloted by the university here; I'm biased, but it's pretty cool. Anyway, a year without a reef tank has been enough for me, so I'm bringing in a small desktop nano to keep me company as I write and read endless papers.

It'll be a modest set up - a 20L picked up from Kmart for about 40 dollars, likely just going to run some softies, maybe some easier hard corals if I feel confident.

One cool thing I'm looking forward to doing - I will try to catch my own fish for the tank, most likely some small goby species I will try to net while I'm out snorkelling some day. Same with clean up crew - snails and hermits are allowed for collection here, even in the GBR Marine Park so I plan to make use of that.
Corals a strict no go for collecting - so will be funding the local LFS here for a bit.

Anyway, that's the introduction, here's the first picture:

Costs to date:
Aquarium and Filter: A$39
Heater: A$16
Light: Free
Live Rock: A$28
Sand: Free
Water: A$5
Frosted Backing: A$16.71
Behind Tank Light: A$8.71
Mat under Tank: A$14

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[PeterLL]

Went for a bit of rock pooling today to see what I could find and came home with some goodies:
- a small blenny I was able to net (will not say how long that took.

- Trochus Snails (I think)

- A nerite snail (I think)

- some small hermits

- and some other juvenile fish which I have yet to ID.

- Small glass shrimp

All have settled in and even started eating some frozen pods

And what was awesome, but I didn’t touch, was what looks like a nice big mat of zoas

 

[PeterLL]

Added some more little fellas from the pools:
- Couple Gobies
- A blenny
- What I think is a juvenile Gunter

 

[ChuzUThisDay]

Went for a bit of rock pooling today to see what I could find and came home with some goodies:
- a small blenny I was able to net (will not say how long that took.

- Trochus Snails (I think)

- A nerite snail (I think)

- some small hermits

- and some other juvenile fish which I have yet to ID.

- Small glass shrimp

All have settled in and even started eating some frozen pods

And what was awesome, but I didn’t touch, was what looks like a nice big mat of zoas

I'd love to see these zoas when they're opened up! Any chance of you getting a picture in a few weeks when they have more water on them?