Shrimpchips' SPS nano

[shrimpchips]

Hello CanReef!

I joined while ago and posted here and there but never introduced myself until now. I enjoy this board a lot as the discussions here actually are productive (and well, you guys actually have discussions unlike on our local big forum), and all the folks here seem like good reefers. Glad to be here, even though most of you guys are so far away!

My tank: 21 g nano tank dominated by SPS
Tank Specs:
Tank: 16 x 16 x 21 custom glass tank
Light: 6x18w T5HO Current USA Nova Extreme Pro
Sump: 10g standard tank with acrylic baffles
Skimmer: Tunze 9002
Return: Eheim 1250
ATO: Tunze Osmolator
PH: EcoTech MP-20
doser: GHL Profilux 4-channel standalone doser + Fauna Marin balling light and vodka dosing (1 ml 2 times / day)
controller: GHL Profilux plus II w/LAN

Fish: 2 Pearly jawfish, sixline wrasse, pair of true percs
Inverts: RBTA, sexy shrimp, cleaner shrimp, hermits, astreas, ceriths, trochus, nassarius, mithrax crab, gold maxima clam

Corals: Lots of SPS, a few LPS, a few zoas, a few ricordea and some softies - a mixed reef.

recent FTS:

[Coincidentally]

Beautiful..
Those ricordia are gorgeous! very jealous.

[whatcaneyedo]

Wow thats quite the nano. In shear numbers you have more in a 20gal than I do in my 120gal!

[bignose]

very nice tank! How old is it? how do you like your vortech?

[LeeR]

your blue rics are friggin sweet i wish i could find nice ones like that here.

[BlueAbyss]

Wow, amazing little tank. I love the dimensions! And welcome!

[shrimpchips]

Originally Posted by bignose

very nice tank! How old is it? how do you like your vortech?

Thanks! I started with a 10g last September (to the day?), and quicly upgraded in December to this one.

I really like the vortech, and was one of the first purchases I had made, and I'll definitely get more for the upgrade.

Originally Posted by Coincidentally

Beautiful..
Those ricordia are gorgeous! very jealous.

Originally Posted by MacheteAvenue

your blue rics are friggin sweet i wish i could find nice ones like that here.

Thanks - it's my latest "thing", although first and foremost I'm interested in SPS.

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

Wow thats quite the nano. In shear numbers you have more in a 20gal than I do in my 120gal!

Yeah - it's quite full. I'm looking to thin out a few pieces, but not too many. Hopefully I'll be upgrading soon so I can start with some nice mini-colonies - I've collected a few pretty nice pieces so it's time to leave them alone to grow out (which in truth is really really hard.....)
I recently got asked to count up everything in there: 45 different SPS (colonies/frags), 7 ricordea colonies, 6 xeniids, 3 LPS, and 20+ zoa morphs - so a fair amount of variety in a small space.

Originally Posted by BlueAbyss

Wow, amazing little tank. I love the dimensions! And welcome!

Yeah, I liked the small dimensions at first - until I realized I really shot myself in to foot with lighting choices, especially since I didn't want to go MH.

I'll try to get some updated pics soon

[shrimpchips]

Been a while since an update - a few corals were placed, things were removed, some things placed here and there. Not too much changed though.

I did get a new fish last week however. She's in QT and doing very well.

Introducing my little Centropyge potteri (Potters dwarf angelfish):




Sorry for the crappy pics, but in the second one you can see how nice the colours are on her.

She's in week two of qt, and so far so good. She's getting fatter and eating pellets and macroalgae, but nothing out of the water column yet. I've found that she loves to eat filamentous algae, so she gets a frag plug/rock covered in it every few days. I'll be putting some LPS and zoas in with her to see if she eats them, or if she's going to ignore them for now. Yesterday I gave her a FW dip, and today the cleaner shrimp and her are buddies, so she's finally getting the cleaning she's been wanting the last few days.

While 20g is on the small side for a centropyge (most places recommend a 30g), I think she has plenty of rock to forage off of, and the rock is mature with lots of macro algae growth on it. I'm also able to supplement with more macros (not chaeto) from the fuge, as well as offer lots of foods

She's small in that she's about 2.5" - a bit bigger than the (timid) six-line wrasse in the DT. I'll introduce her slowly into the DT isolating either her or the sixline and let them get used to each other first. She should ahve no issues with the jawfish and vice versa.

In terms of nipping at corals, not too worried about my zoas - she can eat them all if she wants :P LPS, I only have 3 kinds, so no big loss. If she takes a chunk of clam, no harm done. But if she's becomes a SPS nipper we may have a problem.

The display tank is looking good - noticed after a WC that the water looked slightly yellow so I changed the carbon (1 cup) and the GFO at the same time (to absorb any phosphates leached by the carbon). At the same time I refilled my Alkalinity buffer solution - 3.5 L lasted me since April or May. At this rate 1 kg will last about 1.5 years. The ca and Mg solutions aren't running anywhere near low.

So without further ado, here are a few shots from tonight:

The Jawfish:


Picked this up from reef raft. used to be all brown, but the new growth is pale blue or purple, and the rest of the coral is starting to turn a lighter colour too:


Since I started to do WCs regularly again (1/week, 5g) the christmas millie has really coloured up. Pink is coming back, and the lower areas are greenish! Pink, green, white/brown polyps says it's christmas time!


Here's a top down of the back half of the reef wall. kinda dark, but I like the top downs, and the back half isn't one I usually take:


Close up:


FTS:

[mseepman]

Okay, I have a 16G custom nano but it looks nothing like that. Wow, you have a ton of corals in there. What is your mix of bulbs?

[lorenz0]

love the pearly jaw fish. one of my favorite fish's