20 gallon

count krunk · Oct 5, 2018

when i sold all of my livestock after i cracked my 20L when i moved it. I had everything in a bucket. An asian man contacted me (relevant) we agreed on a price and date. He came over to my apartment and looked at the livestock and eventually took the bucket with everything in it after he paid me.

Best part, he didn't really speak english so we used google translate on our phones to get the deal done. I would type something, show it to him. He would type something (in characters) show the translation to me. In the end, it all worked out just fine.

I have bought loads of things from CL (tools mainly) and never had any issues.

Corey Shelk · Oct 6, 2018

Yeah I'm just going to have to change the add but I get to keep the tank a while longer now it seems

Corey Shelk · Oct 31, 2018

The sale never went trough, so I still have the tank and my roommate said he will take care of it if I Ave to leave for an extended period of time, so we're back in business

I'm working on getting a new light and either switching to my 20 gallon long or upgrading to the 30 gallon. I'm still going sumpless but I'm also looking for a powerhead and another HOB filter during Black Friday sales

Corey Shelk · Nov 2, 2018

Here is my new light! I'm not home atm so it won't actually be on the tank till Sunday, but I'm messing around with the scheduling. I had no idea it could be this complicated. Can someone help me with my schedule? Here it is

Also if anyone has the Fluval smart app can you help me? I don't know how to give it a period of complete darkness

Corey Shelk · Nov 4, 2018

I'm back home, I was gone for 4 days. I left my brother in charge of my tank (he's also my roommate) with directions on what to do. Basically just turn the lights on and off each day, feed the clowns each day, and feed Langston either Friday or Saturday so he isn't hungry and to call me if he has any questions. Well I get back home today and the lights are all off and I asked my brother what was up. He didn't feed the fish and left the lights off because he thought it was only for the fish to see. So I turned the lights on and after about an hour or two all of the corals opened back up which is good. However I did notice only one clown was out. I did some searching and I found the smallest clown was basically ripped in half and looked like it had been dead for a day or two. So there are a few culprits, maybe he wasn't healthy (not likely, I got him the same time as the other one and that one is completely fine), could have been the salinity swing (water level was low but it didn't appear to affect the other clown so I don't think that was it either), Langston was really hungry and killed it (but Langston always takes his kills back into his burrow to eat, this clown was basically whole other than being almost completely torn in two, there was slight nibbling, and Langston hasn't ever taken food this large. Whenever I try and feed him chopped up shrimp, if it's too large he won't take it), or the clown just died and the emerald crab tore into it and nibbled a few bites. Honestly I'm thinking it could've been Langston, he went a while without being fed any chopped up shrimp so he hadn't eaten. Even if it wasn't I think I'm going to take him back to the LFS. He is a great character and all of my friends and relatives constantly ask how he is doing but he does severely limit my stocking and I think I want to get a goby or blenny or something.

Now onto new updates: the new light is plugged in and working on schedule, again if anyone can help me with the schedule that would be great. I also stopped at an LFS on the way home and got a Kenyan Tree coral and an Umbrella leather coral. They are still acclimating. Tomorrow or in the next day I am going to catch Langston and also rescape the tank so I'll be sure to take pics to share with you all! In the meantime I am going to start saving up for a powerhead and/or another HOB filter. And I'll possibly start setting up the 30 gallon (cleaning, possibly drilling for a sump, etc) we will see

Corey Shelk · Nov 5, 2018

Here is an updated FTS and the new Kenya tree frag and umbrella leather frag. Both are already out and looking good, the umbrella doesn't appear to be fully out yet. I'll get the aquascaping done tonight or tomorrow. The light still hasn't reached peak daylight hours which is why it doesn't appear too bright right now.

Corey Shelk · Nov 5, 2018

Langston is now back at the LFS sadly. I also only got $3 for him even though I paid $20... My next paycheck should be in soon which will probably be when the next major update happens. Anyways, I ended up aquascaping today. The corals are unhappy because I moved them all around but should open back up in the next few days. You can probably see the spot I have saved for a frogspawn and maybe hammer

stay tuned. Here is the new FTS teaser! I'll get close ups and a new FTS when all of the corals open back up

I'm open to any and all criticism and tips on making it look better. Tbh in that pic it mostly looks like a FOWLR haha

Corey Shelk · Nov 7, 2018

Here come the pics!
First is the full frontal:
Second is the left side:
Third is the right side:
Fourth is the top: (you'll notice I moved the chaeto there. The rocks keep it contained and I don't have a refugium so I put it here)

Corey Shelk · Nov 7, 2018

Here come the upclose with the corals.:
First are the palys, their colors are slightly changing (in a good way). It could be the better light or increased flow
Second is the Kenya tree coral. It's in a good amount of flow
Third are the red mushrooms. They are trying to bounce back and acclimate to the change in position, increased lighting, and increased flow.
Fourth is the spotted rhodactus mushroom frag. I didn't mean for it to be there but I left it there and didn't have time to move it for a while and it attached to it. It also showcases the zoas which I think are liking the better lighting and flow.
Fifth shows the other mushrooms I have that also came in on some live rock. They have grown a lot and are looking awesome.
Sixth and seventh show the Xenia. The bigger frag is doing well and the smaller frag is still kind of closed, it might be adjusting from the better lighting and reduced flow it has now.
Eighth pic shows some GSP encrusting on the rock. I didn't mean for it to encrust but I left the frag there too long and part of it encrusted. They also haven't shown much color yet.
The ninth pic shows the big GSP frag and the two smaller frags I made out of the frag I received from AquariumDepot. The plan is still to get it to eventually cover that entire rock.
The tenth pic shows the umbrella leather coral with Polyp extension. I can't wait for it to get huge

Corey Shelk · Nov 9, 2018

Two new additions! I finally got a frogspawn, it's been in for about an hour and already has all polyps out

I also got a blue damsel, I mistakenly thought it was an azure damsel :/. I know these guys can be devils so I'm hoping this one won't bother the clown. The clown is bigger and since the damsel was added last I'm hoping it won't be too bad, plus they have the 20 to themselves and it has tons of spots to break up line of sight. Hopefully I'm done with purchases for now (although I really want a month and Acros but don't think I have the space and want to see how these do first)

Corey Shelk · Nov 20, 2018

A few more updates. It’s been a little more than a week with the frogspawn, leather coral, and Kenya tree coral and all seem to be doing amazing! The frogspawn has great PE, although the colors don’t look super awesome under my light, I love the movement it adds and can’t wait for it to get huge. The leather is getting super thick so I’m hoping it’ll start growing up and out more soon. The Kenya tree corals are looking great and seem to be loving the direct flow from the HOB filter. Here are some updated pics although not much has changed

The GSP is really starting to take off and I think I might try and block some of the flow on the red mushrooms because I don’t like their appearance as much as the mushrooms with lower flow. Also I have two frags of Xenia, one is lower by the green striped mushrooms and has never given me issues and has been starting to take off, but my smallest frag has always given me trouble since the new light and aquascape, I think it was aquilmsying. It has now start pulsing and I’m so happy, eventually I’m going to move it off of this rock that it’s on, onto a smaller piece.

Also I have noticed a ton of new stomatella snail younglings which I absolutely love! And I’ve noticed amphipods under the palys frag and I think copepods, they look like tiny moving brown dots. Also with the increased light I noticed a lot of new algae on the glass, although you can’t really tell unless looking at it from the side, so they’ll have tons to munch on.

Also fish wise, there was a lot of chasing the first week I added the blue damsel, but I haven’t seen any torn fins. Also there are so many caves and things to break the line of sight that the chasing is nothing ore than a dart from the clown towards the damsel. They eat side by side without any squabbling so fingers crossed for future success

I’m about to leave for thanksgiving break so I’ll be gone for 4 days, fingers crossed for that too. I’ll have someone stop by halfway through.

Without further a do, here are the pics.

Corey Shelk · Nov 20, 2018

Oops I forgot the pic of the GSP

Corey Shelk · Nov 26, 2018

I’m back and luckily nothing major happened

Everyone is doing great, including the corals. The pushing Xenia in the middle has really started to take off and so has the GSP on that rock. The Xenia also has a new baby branch growing too, I can’t wait for it to take over that rock, forming a sort of “skyline.” Also underneath that tiny growth of GSP there is another feather duster-looking thing, you can’t see it in the pic. And there is one underneath the small Xenia frag on top of that rock piece

Corey Shelk · Nov 30, 2018

Sadly Mr. Krabs passed away. He was my emerald crab, cause of death is unknown. I just found him flipped over in the morning. He was a great inhabitant, completely eliminating my green hair algae and never bothering any of my other animals, including corals.

Corey Shelk · Jan 6, 2019

I just got back from break and my tank looks awesome! I was gone for a little less than a month and I had a friend come in every 2-3 days to top off the water and feed my fishies and she had no problems whatsoever. I came back and everything is popping in a good way! Here come some pics

1st pic is a FTS. I was worried about some of the mushrooms cause they weren’t looking “weird” when I left but they look super awesome now, I guess they just needed time to recover from the rescape a month or two ago.
2nd pic is a mushroom had is growing new heads that I’m super excited about.
3rd and 4th pics are close ups of the GSP. They have exploded in the month I was gone and I’m going to do some fragging soon and maybe try and get a few dollars of store credit at my LFS or put them up on the rock with the other clumps of GSP.
5th pic is the leather that was looking short and clubby when I left but is looking a lot taller and sleeker now which I love.
6th pic is the Kenya tree coral that looks like it’s sagging from the mass of its branches so I’ll need to frag it so it doesn’t end up fragging itself and ending up all over the place

Cheers to a new year!

Corey Shelk · Feb 2, 2019

Time for another update! I got a BTA, so I decided to switch the tank around to make space for it. I also moved the filter so the flow from the output would be more spread around the tank. I literally just did all of this so not everything is looking too great. Also I need to trim the hammer coral frag’s skeleton ton so I can place it in its permanent home. I also had to move it because the hammer was stinging my Xenia so I had to change that up as well. Here come some pics, the glass is dirty though. You can see the BTA, it moved under the rock. I’m hoping it’ll eventually
Place itself in the front right corner where I put the rubble. Also I found a surprise in the chaeto but I think I’m going to leave it because it seems to be having a blast. You’ll see it in the last pic.

Corey Shelk · Jul 25, 2019

Oh geez, it’s been a long time since I’ve updated this. I’ve made a few changes, so I’ll just update with what’s going on right now. I just started some coral food (Ocean Nutrition Nano Reef) and wanted to document any changes and realized I haven’t updated this in a long time.

Stocking:
2 ocellaris clowns (might be a pair but unsure)
1 Blue blue Fiji devil damsel
3 dwarf blue legged hermits
1 rock burrowing urchin
1 small emerald crab (I got it 2 days ago and haven’t seen it since so hopefully it is doing well, it’s about the size of my dwarf hermits currently)

Here are some pictures (a lot of the corals are still recovering from recent fragging and moving around).
1st pic is an FTS. As you can see I’m struggling with algae but it is currently starting to stabilize and come under control. I’ve got good coraline growth on the back glass though which I like.
2nd pic is the eventual zoa rock but it has some mushrooms, hair algae, and palythoa polyps on there right now. There are 5 different frags, but 3 of them I’ve had for less than a week, and my 2 older ones only have some polyps that open. I also think I might’ve dragged one improperly in my haste but hopefully it will recover (it’s the very small frag with 3 heads that are all closed up.)
3rd pic is an SPS that I also got less than a week ago for $5. I’m hoping I can get it to grow so I can see what it is.
4th pic is my umbrella leather and Kenya tree haven. The Kenya tree all started from one small frag and now they are everywhere and I’m growing some frags out to trade into my LFS for store credit. The one on the bottom left of it is massive but hasn’t fully extended in the past two days (I think it’s because I moved that rock to be right next to it and it doesn’t have the space so it has to adjust.) You can also see a lot of recently dragged GSP at the bottom of the picture. I have frags of them through the tank in various crevices and stuff because I love the look of them.
5th pic is my rock with more GSP, some pulsing Xenia, some macro algae, and my Pocillipora that has been losing its bright green that I want to get back. There are also a few small misc. mushrooms.
6th pic showcases a whole lot of algae on the glass, my frogspawn (not fully extended, also used to have 12 “heads” but I accidentally broke off 4 so now it has 8), my small hammer to the left of it up against the glass, and my huge mushroom rock that also has Kenya tree coral on it and some palythoas. All of the palythoas I wanted gone which is why I removed the huge ones I had, but they kind of spread and I’m too afraid to remove them right now for fear of palytoxins.

Other than algae and the recovering corals I’m mostly happy with this tank. Oh and my BTA has been acting up recently and looks terrible, I’m going to start a thread on possible reasons so look out for that.