20 long: First Saltwater Tank

[Chevyguy8893]

This is just a basic build of a 20 long that was once a sump for one of my planted tanks. I guess I cannot leave a perfectly good empty tank sitting around :smile:. Anyway, this is my first saltwater tank that I am starting with, so I am bound to run into some sort of hurdle that I will have to figure out and learn from. It isn't much to look at right now, but should continue to progress well.

Light: 24" Ecoxotic Marine LED
Filtration: 2 Aquaclear 20's with poly-fil (just for water polishing, changed weekly) and one runs a small amount of ROWAphos, Hydor Koralia Nano 425
Rock: ~17 lbs of man made live rock from the indo-pacific
Substrate: 40 lbs of Caribsea special grade reef sand
Living things: 2 snowflake clownfish, 1 tangaroa goby, and the diverse CUC (no more fish will be added)
Salt mix: Tropic Marin Sea Salt


DSC_0128 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr


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[Flameback Pair]

Subscribed.

 

[Chevyguy8893]

Here's some other random pictures of the inhabitants. I was playing around with the camera settings while taking pictures of the dendro, so I messed up the pictures a bit.

Dendrophyllia, a newer addition.

DSC_0279 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

Dendro feeding on a piece of mysis shrimp. I intended on the large piece to go to the bigger head, but that didn't work out.

DSC_0384 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

Fire shrimp

DSC_0426 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr


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DSC_0442 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

 

[Chevyguy8893]

Some more random pictures, including some new additions.


DSC_0625 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr


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DSC_0538 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

This is the only part of the hitchhiker sponge that I can get a picture of. Well, I'm pretty sure it is a sponge. There is a couple other openings like this one.

DSC_0502 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

 

[Bry]

Great looking tank! How longs it been running?

 

[Dsobo]

Awesome tank and pics

 

[Sicklid]

Nice nano tank, but also cool pics!!

 

[Chevyguy8893]

Great looking tank! How longs it been running?

Thanks, it has been running for around three months now.

Awesome tank and pics

Thanks!

Nice nano tank, but also cool pics!!

Thank you! Someday I hope to have a much larger tank.

 

[Davesgt]

Looks good

 

[mrbncal]

I think your hitchhiker is actually a sea squirt ( tunicates )

 

[Flameback Pair]

Nice photography, what camera are you using?

 

[YHSublime]

It's always refreshing to see some nice "not regular" reef size tanks. Love the pictures and the share, thanks!

 

[Chevyguy8893]

Looks good

Thanks

I think your hitchhiker is actually a sea squirt ( tunicates )

Ah, you are right, thank you for correcting me! That changes the identification of some of the other hitchhikers I thought were sponges.

Nice photography, what camera are you using?

Thank you. I am using a Nikon D5100 with the 18-55mm kit lens. The sticky threads in the photography section have help to greater improve the outcome of the pictures with some changes to the settings.

It's always refreshing to see some nice "not regular" reef size tanks. Love the pictures and the share, thanks!

I've always found the 20 long a nice size tank to work with for freshwater aquascapes, and it seems to be the same with the reef tank so far. Although it would be nice to have a larger tank for more options. Thanks for the complements!

 

[Tradewinds]

Your tank is looking very nice.

At one point in time I had a 20 long, I've always loved the dimensions of that tank.

 

[Diamond1]

Beautiful tank.

 

[Chevyguy8893]

Your tank is looking very nice.

At one point in time I had a 20 long, I've always loved the dimensions of that tank.

Thank you! Agreed, the dimensions of the tank are nice. I like the shallow, long layout.

Beautiful tank.

Thanks!

 

[Chevyguy8893]

Despite this tank having been set up for a while now, I still find new hitchhikers on the rock. I found this small colony the other day. They aren't much bigger than the larger grains of the substrate. Either they just popped up not too long ago, or I just overlooked them continuously despite them being close to the front of the tank. If anyone has any thoughts as to what they might be (even though they are hard to see), please let me know. I would link the largest size picture from flickr, but it takes up pretty much the whole page.


DSC_0989 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Well done, looks great!

 

[Chevyguy8893]

Well done, looks great!

Thank you revhtree!

 

[Chevyguy8893]

Not much has changed other than adding some more corals and another piece of live rock. It took me a while to find a piece that would fit on the right, but I am not sure if I will search for another piece to go on the left. I may just swap the Euphyllia sp. with the Acanthophyllia deshayesiana so it has more space to spread out. I am pleased with the amount of coral I have placed on the substrate, so I hope to just stick with getting other coral that grows on the rocks better. The tank as a whole seems to be coming along well so far and have been seeing healthy growth in the corals that I have had longer. I'm open to suggestions on anything if anyone has any.


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