I just recently joined R2R and since I saw such a nice looking nano reef forum, I figured I'd show the history of my tank.
My tank utilizes the Fluval Spec V, which I bought on black friday. I was initially going to set it up as a freshwater puffer tank, but then I decided if I was going to have to add salt anyway, might as well make it a reef tank.
So I bought some live sand and some pre-mixed saltwater, and I started it up. By sunday, I had a few pounds of live rock in it as well, and my cycle began.
A couple days later, I bought some more live rock and also got new lighting. I bought a 9-watt 50/50 LED strip.
By the end of the following week my cycle had ended, and I bought my first livestock. Snails and hermits.
A couple days later I bought an emerald crab to help combat the algae growth I had:
Fast forward another two weeks, and I was at almost a month since tank setup. I bought a pair of clownfish (one semi-picasso percula and one fancy ocellaris)
It was around this time that I knew the single pump wouldn't be enough, so I copied some other people's ideas and bought a second pump and outflow valve, and drilled a hole in the overflow chamber. This was the result:
I now had around a total of 170 gph of random flow.
I then decided it was time to add my first corals. So I went to my local LFS and bought some coral frags.
One was a rock with a few red mushrooms on it:
The other was a Xenia frag:
I also picked up a Pom Pom crab because I think they are awesome:
About 2 weeks ago I bought a nice branching Torch Coral as well as a Joker Zoa (don't have a close up of the Zoa):
And last week I also picked up a Hammer Coral as well.
Here's my current view of my tank:
So far this has been a very fun build, and I can't wait to add some more unique life to it.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments, and I look forward to showing how much beauty you can fit in a small package.
My tank utilizes the Fluval Spec V, which I bought on black friday. I was initially going to set it up as a freshwater puffer tank, but then I decided if I was going to have to add salt anyway, might as well make it a reef tank.
So I bought some live sand and some pre-mixed saltwater, and I started it up. By sunday, I had a few pounds of live rock in it as well, and my cycle began.
A couple days later, I bought some more live rock and also got new lighting. I bought a 9-watt 50/50 LED strip.
By the end of the following week my cycle had ended, and I bought my first livestock. Snails and hermits.
A couple days later I bought an emerald crab to help combat the algae growth I had:
Fast forward another two weeks, and I was at almost a month since tank setup. I bought a pair of clownfish (one semi-picasso percula and one fancy ocellaris)
It was around this time that I knew the single pump wouldn't be enough, so I copied some other people's ideas and bought a second pump and outflow valve, and drilled a hole in the overflow chamber. This was the result:
I now had around a total of 170 gph of random flow.
I then decided it was time to add my first corals. So I went to my local LFS and bought some coral frags.
One was a rock with a few red mushrooms on it:
The other was a Xenia frag:
I also picked up a Pom Pom crab because I think they are awesome:
About 2 weeks ago I bought a nice branching Torch Coral as well as a Joker Zoa (don't have a close up of the Zoa):
And last week I also picked up a Hammer Coral as well.
Here's my current view of my tank:
So far this has been a very fun build, and I can't wait to add some more unique life to it.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments, and I look forward to showing how much beauty you can fit in a small package.


I am digging the aquascape!

