Ljaus's 23 gallon nano

Ljaus · Jun 2, 2016

Hi everyone, this is my return to reefing after a 4 year break. I've had several set ups from nano to a 4x2x2. I decided i enjoyed the nano the most plus i already had everything laying around that i need to set this tank up. Originally it was t5 lit and sumpless, after a month i decided i needed to upgrade my lights and decided to go with a 12 month old ai hydra 52 with the director. A month and a bit later i was annoyed with lay out of the tank due to it being sumpless. So a sump was made and the tank relocated and changed around. The new layout is much better. I'm mainly keeping lps, the lfs isnt the greatest at keeping coral alive so some of the ones you will see were rescued in the hope that i will save them from becoming a skeleton. Also have plans to make add on removable cupboards to hide some of the other equipment.

Tank specs,
75x30x40cm
60x30x30 sump
Ai hydra 52's with director
Aquarium industries Hang on overflow (already had it so it was used)
aks aquatics venturi skimmer (Australian company) will be upgraded at a later date
1200l/h return pump
no name chiller which will also be replaced at a later date

Stock
1 eyelash blenny
2 ocellaris clowns
1 trochus
would like to add a peppermint or coral banded shrimp as well as a firefish goby

currently using redsea salt and abc+ powder.

feeding is flake alternated with frozen shrimp

FLAdaboy · Jun 2, 2016

Awesome looking build!

Pelmo · Jun 2, 2016

beautiful, simple, clean. ok.
excellent choice for Hydra 52.

Ljaus · Jun 3, 2016

FLAdaboy said:
Awesome looking build!

Pelmo said:
beautiful, simple, clean. ok.
excellent choice for Hydra 52.

Thanks, still only a young system and has awhile to go yet, i love the hydra best decision i made to date.

Unfortunately today i found some colonial hydroids so i removed 2 pieces of offending rock and will keep an eye on the rest. I've moved some rock from the sump to the tank to fill the void, may get some more rock later on. So the tank now looks a little different. Will post some new photos later on. I'm a little annoyed but will work through it.

revhtree · Jun 3, 2016

Looks nice!

Ljaus · Jun 4, 2016

So today i went to another town an hour and came across some nice lps, wallet emptied and now home i have some acclimatizing to do and some maintenance. Will get take photos tomorrow and do another update.

Pelmo · Jun 4, 2016

photos photos another photos

Ljaus · Jun 5, 2016

As promised here are some photos of the new lay out and corals. I did my one and only piece of sps i plan to keep, green montipora. Other new corals are a piece of aussie war coral (favites pentagona), a couple of pieces of favites sp and a small acan which for the moment isnt out. Need to get myself some putty to attach some corals in places to allow for more coral and start a permanent layout, completed a water change yesterday and mucking with water flow in the tank.

Chrisfish · Jun 5, 2016

Welcome! Beautiful nano. The colors are stunning

Ljaus · Jun 7, 2016

Chrisfish said:
Welcome! Beautiful nano. The colors are stunning

revhtree said:
Looks nice!

Thanks! This site has being a bad influence and i think the scape and tank itself could look better, especially after seeing so many nice tanks on R2R. So watch this space!

Ljaus · Jun 10, 2016

Tank has had a rescape and I'm pleased with it. However I'm in two minds at the moment. I went bare bottom to see what it would look like how it worked. I do like the ease of maintenance, however I'm not entirely pleased with the look. I have some Red Sea reef base and have being thinking of putting a 2cm layer in. The tank is lps dominated so ultra low neutrient isn't a goal. Anyone have some input? Should I stick out the bb and let the coralline grow? Or put substrate in?

revhtree · Jun 10, 2016

Looks good!

Ljaus · Jun 16, 2016

Update time, had a rescape awhile back and i am finally happy with it. I also added substrate and i am much happier with the look, anyway photo time. Also caught my eyelash blenny grazing on my trochus snail!

Ljaus · Jul 29, 2016

Update time, things have changed a lot since my last post. I now have a 45cm sumped cube. Was all transferred over a few weeks ago, work in progress but it's going good. Here's a sneaky pic will post more this weekend.

Sorry for the quality it's an iPhone shot.

ReeferBoo · Sep 29, 2016

Looking good! Looks like we have the same fungia haha, what is that red ?favia called?

Ljaus · Sep 29, 2016

ReeferBoo said:
Looking good! Looks like we have the same fungia haha, what is that red ?favia called?

Orange fungia's are amazing! The red favia is a lord Howe acan, they have a new name now can't remember it. I'm going to update this thread today!

Ljaus · Oct 7, 2016

Update time, so not much has changed with the cube. Currently battling cyno from a tank sitter overfeeding and a lack of flow, its contained to the substrate and i'm slowly winning the battle. Some corals have being involved in warfare so i had to move things around and lost a couple. I changed the return pump to a 1200l/hr dc oceanrunner and i love it, changing to a dc pump has dropped the temp of the tank 1.5 degrees celsius! Anyway here are some photo's, will get some more photos at a later date.