SixlineRyan's first reef tank build thread - 15G HelloReef AIO

[Gumbies R Us]

After a 3 gallon water change and letting things settle my parameters are now at...

Salinity = 1.037
Ammonia = 0
PH = 8
dKH = 9.0
Nitrate = 9.2
Phosphate = .43

Didn't bother with CA or Mg since those aren't really a concern at this point. I expected a bigger salinity swing with the water change, but it is what it is. I'm going to do another water change with RODI a gallon at a time until I get down to 1.026. Phosphates are really high so I might add Phosphate RX, but going through all the water changes / other parameters first.

On track to add a fish or invert or both soon!

What kind of fish do you want to get?

 

[SixlineRyan]

What kind of fish do you want to get?

My initial plan was a Yellow Watchman Goby with a pistol shrimp and a possum wrasse / pink streaked wrasse, but I saw a Mocha Clown for the first time in person and was quite taken with it, so I'm considering that. I also really like Blood Red Fire Shrimp so if I don't go for the Goby / Pistol pair I might add one of those.

I try to not be a prisoner of the moment in the LFS, but if they've got something appropriate that works for the small tank I'm open!

 

[SixlineRyan]

Water was testing good on my side, so I had the local LFS test my water just to make sure things were truly good to go / roughly matching. Everything came back perfect except for phosphates, but those are slowly dropping.

Since everything came back good, I went ahead and sprung for a couple of clowns. They did have super tiny yellow watchman gobies, but I got taken with the naked clown, and the watchman gobies were about the size of my pinkie so size / color won out. Other options were a Biota Mandarin that was eating shrimp and a Fusi Gobi. The Fusi wasn't colorful enough for my tastes, and even though the Mandarin was eating I was still scared off a bit by the feeding requirements along with the knowing it would need a bigger tank and I wasn't sure how soon.

I was also really really taken by a yellow headed Jawfish. First time seeing one in person and pictures don't do them justice at all.

No names for the fish yet, but the debate has begun.



Edit: The black clown was labeled a Black Photon.

 

[SixlineRyan]

Did a 10 gallon water change, and all parameters are still rolling right along.

Went to the LFS and picked up a Cleaner Shrimp, some Zoas (unnamed), a red monti frag, and a decent sized toadstool.

I was thinking Blood Red Fire Shrimp, but after talking to my LFS I decided on the Cleaner since it would be a bit more active / visible.

Curious to see how / if the Monti grows with the lights as they are now, as I'm at the 15 watt per gallon estimation currently.

 

[SixlineRyan]

Update, I've added a mushroom frag and a small colony (like 15ish heads) of a zoa or paly. Things have been rolling along fine until recently. The Naked clown is breathing rapidly and separated itself from the Photon. I posted a separate thread for that issue.

The Cleaner shrimp is pretty fun to watch, but it is constantly perched on the initial zoa frag so they're closed up a lot. Not ready to get rid of it yet, but it scurries everywhere during feeding time making the corals close up; fairly annoying...

I'll get updated pictures up asap...

 

[SixlineRyan]

Whelp, didn't get photos up like I meant to so here's an overdue update.
- not even a day after I posted about the Naked Clown it passed. Not only was it a huge bummer, but I don't really know why...

- The initial zoa frag I added melted back to two polyps and seemed to stabilize. IDK why they melted back but the two that remain seem to be happy.

- I added a red legged hermit crab and an emerald crab to the tank to help with clean up. The red legged hermit is still alive, but hasn't really moved from the spot he was initially added to the tank. The emerald crab immediately started doing his cleanup thing and seemed fine for about 3 weeks and then I randomly found him belly up a few days ago. Water parameters have been solid so IDK if it was just his time or what...

- Added a blue bubble coral frag and a black clown goby at the same time as the inverts. The black clown goby looked so cute in the LFS, but I didn't consider their tank backgrounds aren't black and they're much more open. I almost never see him as he hids in the back for the most part, but every once and a while I see him chilling on the lobo.

- Added the N-clear nano filter roller I got for Christmas last week. I wanted to wait for a bit before adding mechanical filtration, and already notice a difference, so that was rad.

- The cleaner shrimp can still be a bit spastic, but it seems to want to scurry over everything less than it did initially. And I'm not sure why, but for some reason I thought it would molt like once every 3 or 4 months, but it's already on its 3rd molt since I added it to the tank. Which I am guessing is a good thing.

- I've seen some signs of hair algae in the tank, but it has really picked up in the past 2 weeks or so. Nitrates are right around 5, so I'll probably try to just remove it manually, and see where it goes...

- The Marco rock is really starting to get some color on it, which is rad. Gotta think that is 100% the TBS rock seeing the coraline so quickly. I didn't wind up with any hitch hikers from TBS other than some orange sponge, or so I thought. There is a single tiny worm / featherduster that has started poking up out of the rocks. It's about the size of a pencil eraser around. Fun stuff!

- Had my first aptasia in the tank. It was on a new mixed zoa frag I added and was definitely a lesson in dipping. Thus far everything has come from the same LFS except the bubble coral, so I hadn't been to worried about it. Sure enough, after about a week I saw it peaking out from behind the zoas. I lost track of the thread, but eventually found one with the OP suggesting the best method for removal was manual removal, and he was willing to die on that hill. I figured I'd give it a shot, and sure enough, scraping it off of the frag plug with a pocket knife seems to have done the trick. I gave the frag a h2o2 bath afterwards, but not sure that really did anything.

- Still super bummed about the naked clown (anyone else get super attached to their fish? ha!), but otherwise I'm pretty happy with how things are progressing. Plans may change, but I'll be keeping this tank up and running for the foreseeablefuture. That being said, I put down a deposit to have a 120 gallon Planet Aquarium tank installed in the wall / desk area in my basement, so I'll have a bigger tank to faf about with and might try to convert this one to an SPS long term, but maybe not...

- Total cost has been updated in the OP.

- Self high five if you made it this far!