Maggie's 20g long Nano build

[Mhamilton0911]

Update.
Still battling Dino, although I feel like I'm on "team winning". Between dosing nitrate and phosphate, siphoning dinos that I see and uv running at night I'm seeing less and less.

And I got an urchin!! Cute lil guy/gal. I'm guessing a blue tuxedo, it was just 'urchin' at lfs. Still wearing its hats from the store

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Here ya go, random pictures!! I'm sharing my festive weenie, wearing her Christmas dress

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Got a Santa hat in the mail today, urchin approved!

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Story time... Lots of thought has happened recently, scary, I know. When I started this tank I thought I could go around the usual reef set ups like sumps and such, but that is harder in the long run. Avoiding the proper equipment has indeed cost more money than it would have had I done it right the first time. Ugh, I feel so adult admitting defeat and that I was wrong. Sure you can use a hob, or a canister but those come with another set of issues.
1. Hang on back filter was OK, but I hated the bubbles it caused, and no place for equipment like a heater. Was ok to clean though.
2. "Upgraded" to a canister filter with integrated heater compartment. Less bulk in the tank a plus, and at first it was easy to clean, but now the lines have..... something growing in the inside and everytime I stop it to clean I get the loose stuff coming loose and it's not great. I'm sure I could remove it all and give it a good clean or replace the lines, but then that's defeating the easy to clean idea. Plus now the fittings are getting increasingly difficult to remove and I'm afraid I'll break one. And this ate my bta. I'm still bummed out about that.

Now I'm getting crazy top film on the water so I'm realizing it's time for a surface skimmer/protein skimmer. So options are not great for those without sumps or aio spaces.

I'm the decide-r, and I think I'll go the All in one route. FigiCube has the drop in kits I've been looking at and that should solve my surface skimmer issue, get rid of my canister, provide area for equipment and more.

Now looking at thier website, no one has the 20g long size in stock (or the 10g one). BUT, they do have a 29g in stock, same price. Light bulb moment.... get the 29 aio insert, grab a new 29g tank, it's the same footprint just taller, works on my current stand even. Then I can silicone the insert in a dry tank, no rush. BRILLIANT I SAY! (this stroke of genius is not common for me and I'd like to thank my countless hours on reef2reef for implanting the idea over and over....lol).

Yes I know then there's a transfer of everything to deal with, we'll think about that later.

So this might take a bit to achieve but it's happening. Stay tuned...

 

[danieyella]

On the plus side, new sand & retain most of your water and treat it like a big water change and the transfer will be pretty smooth.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Yes, I have done similar tank transfers in the past with freshwater so I have a reasonable idea of how to go about it. I'm just plain excited to get a taller tank. The ultimate end goal with this tank will be quarantine for a larger future build, so whether it's a 20g or 29g it will eventually turn into the official quarantine tank, but that's once I have acquired everything I need to build my 75. Then I'll run all current fish through proper qt so I know I don't start my larger display with issues. Although my fish are not showing symptoms, I have a hunkering feeling they're managing ich. I'll see a spot or two but never an outbreak. Then it'll be gone in a day. I haven't lost a single fish yet though. I never put these fish through treatment when I purchased. Again, me being in a rush will have me taking longer in the end.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Small update, one of my rock flowers have been adventurous. I drew it's route. It started between the sand and the rock, the larger red in the picture, then it slowly walked around (purple in the picture) the rock in the front and nestled in close to the other rfa. Then moved a little more. Hung out there for a good week or more, and then yesterday decided to walk around to the back side of this same rock. 8 can barely see it, and I can't get a photo, but it's fully out and happy looking, just at the back. This whole adventure had been playing out since before Christmas. Hopefully it'll cube back around to the other one, really hoping for breeding, lol.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Update.
I have covid. My husband and myself have the worst of the symptoms, my 4 kids just had a fever for a few days, but my father in law that lives on our property needed hospitalized, and he's recovering. Quite the ride, can't wait till it's over.

My tanks have suffered. I didn't do anything for 2 weeks, not even top offs. It's mostly just ugly growing some crazy algea, I lost some coral, no livestock though. The increased salinity killed some things. Basically a mild crash. I'm finally adding water, but I'm so exhausted I haven't cleaned anything. This has been a tough few weeks.

 

[danieyella]

Update.
I have covid. My husband and myself have the worst of the symptoms, my 4 kids just had a fever for a few days, but my father in law that lives on our property needed hospitalized, and he's recovering. Quite the ride, can't wait till it's over.

My tanks have suffered. I didn't do anything for 2 weeks, not even top offs. It's mostly just ugly growing some crazy algea, I lost some coral, no livestock though. The increased salinity killed some things. Basically a mild crash. I'm finally adding water, but I'm so exhausted I haven't cleaned anything. This has been a tough few weeks.

Nooooo, I'm so sorry! Hoping for a smooth recovery from here out

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Got my replacement order yesterday, and all looks well. I ordered 2 rock flower anemones, and apparently one is a wall flower, lol.

I'm wondering, should I scrape and remove the little guy off the back glass before it encounters the flow pump?

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Well things are going well. No real changes. I thought I had lost one zoa frag, I left the plug in there and my urchin picked it up. It's been carrying it for a week or so, but this morning I notice that the zoas must still be alive! I saw some bright orange peeking through. I'll have to detach it from Mr urchin.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Not much happening in this tank. It's been on auto pilot. I've been collecting parts for my "slight" upgrade to the 29g. I've got the tank but waiting still on Fiji cube to send the insert. I did reach out to @Tenecor Aquariums and looks like they're going to be making a silicone in all in one insert so that's amazing. I'm expecting theirs comes in first so I can try it out!

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Finally received my Fiji cube insert. I'm still waiting on sand, I ordered online and fed ex lost the package.... however I feel like I can continue without sand and if I need to I can buy some local for an arm and a leg.

I'm approaching my 1 year mark on this tank and overall I think I did really well. I learned a lot of lessons, and not too many the hard way. I haven't lost any fish so that's a huge plus. I have lost a few corals, mostly sps beginners that I tried. I haven't lost any zoas or mushrooms. Most corals that are doing well are growing, my mystique zoas are huge now, a couple ricordeas have grown additional mouths, another mushroom has left babies all around it. My beloved rock flower anemones are big and happy looking. I have gone through most of the major uglies, dinos, cyano, gha, and I'm still majorly hooked. I have trialed a few beginner filter options, like hob, and canister, and have come to realize it's time for the AIO upgrade. I'm really excited for the next step of my journey.


I plan on taking a few last pictures today to commence the ending of this tank. I will start a new build thread to document my progress on my 29g build soon.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

I had a icky polyclad flatworm that ate most of my snails, and last week I finally caught the little bugger. So today I swung by the lfs and picked up a few new snails and this handsome little Halloween hermit crab. He and I fought with the bag for several minutes. They are stronger than I suspected.