Stella's Nano 20g Long

Stella1979 · May 4, 2018

Hey guys! I've mostly lurked here for a long time, but am finally making my build thread!

The tank is a 20g long closed system mixed reef. It's got an SBReefLights Ultra 22" hanging over it, 2 Jebao SW2's, and an AC70 modded into a mini HOB fuge. Water is provided by the RODI system and Red Sea Salt. Testing regularly, and no dosing is needed yet. Here she is.

Please forgive me for being a terrible photographer! I'm trying, and a real camera is definitely on the wishlist... if only I could stop buying coral.

The tank will be 1 year old later this month, and though there's still plenty of growing to do, I'm proud to say that this tank is 80% WWC corals.;Drool #reef2reef, #worldwidecorals, #mywwccontest

A few of my favorites...

As always, many thanks to @Nart for helping me get this started, and much respect to @Nanologist and @C-Reefer for helping me along the way.

Tahoe61 · May 4, 2018

Looks great. All corals look nice and healthy.

mahindra.dev · May 4, 2018

Beautiful setup.

mckinleyw · May 4, 2018

looks really good.

C-Reefer · May 4, 2018

Stunning as always! Love your corals. Do you have the SW-2s on wave mode or just constant mode and have them running into each other?

Raindog3030 · May 4, 2018

Awesome reef! Love your aquascape

Long live the 20g Long tanks!

Stella1979 · May 5, 2018

C-Reefer said:
Stunning as always! Love your corals. Do you have the SW-2s on wave mode or just constant mode and have them running into each other?

Thanks bud! I suppose you could say the SW-2's on a wave-like mode. We messed with it for a while as we were really trying to achieve the ebb and flow we've experienced on our own reefs.

They're set on C, with the speed knobs set just below medium. The pump furthest from the AC has the timing button set to 2, and the one nearest the AC is set to 1. The one nearest the AC is set to master and the other to slave. Hrmm, sorry, I don't know how to better explain... it did take me a bit to figure out the controllers in the beginning.

So, what this does is sometimes one pump or the other is on, sometimes they are both on, and for very short amounts of time, both are off but the AC is always running for some flow. You may remember that before we had 2 SW-2's we ran one with a Koralia 425. At that time we didn't even attempt wave-mode since the Koralia would always be on. We didn't like the look of things, and knew varied flow could only be better for corals. Indeed, the corals responded well to the change. I believe that alone helped to increase the growth rate. For sure, the Duncan heads that were small for a long time started to grow a lot faster after they weren't constantly 'blown' in the same direction.

Raindog3030 said:
Awesome reef! Love your aquascape

Long live the 20g Long tanks!

Thank you!!;Joyful I'm not always happy with my rockscape, but am loathe to change it... so compliments feel great.

I love long tanks. Almost got the Aquamaxx 5.2g long for my beloved betta fish, but have limited space, and a 7.5g cube offered a smaller footprint and more water volume.

najer · May 5, 2018

Very nice, looks really happy and healthy.

Nanologist · May 5, 2018

I'm still jealous of your rainbow monti... [emoji7]

Stella1979 · May 5, 2018

Nanologist said:
I'm still jealous of your rainbow monti... [emoji7]

Bahahaha! You know what I thought when I read your post? Welp, July is around the corner, and that's anniversary sale time. ;Smuggrin

Nanologist · May 5, 2018

Stella1979 said:
Bahahaha! You know what I thought when I read your post? Welp, July is around the corner, and that's anniversary sale time. ;Smuggrin

Maybe you'll get your blasto. [emoji6]

Nart · May 7, 2018

Your tank is looking so good Stella! Keep up the great work

Stella1979 · May 21, 2018

Big news about the reef tank. We have a new little fishy and a shrimp buddy in QT.

Yellow Watchman

Randalls Pistol - we try to keep a bare qt, but this little guy was kind of freaking out without any sand to work with, so we added some just before this picture was taken.

I also have an admission to make. Months and months ago I got some aiptasia riddled chaeto but was too green to know it. Threw the stuff right in my fuge and it wasn't long before the first tiny pest reared its ugly head in the tank. We bought AiptasiaX and did our best to get these guys. We didn't know what we were in for at first, and would only treat on weekends. As time went by, we realized it was getting worse and started treating more often. The problem just got worse and worse though, and these days it's out of control. I've been through nearly a whole bottle of AiptasiaX, but for every one I kill, 5 more show up. I've had enough and ordered Berghia nudis over the weekend. They should be here this week.

With that said, here are some new pics, and yes, you will see some of those awful pests here.

Morning on the reef, with UV's starting to ramp.

Some new zoas I procured when picking up the fish and shrimp.

Frags that survived 2-day priority shipping from my buddy @C-Reefer . A galaxea, fruity loops shrooms and agent orange zoas.;Drool I've had them a few weeks now and they are growing.

My little baby is getting bigger!

Love this rhodactis. ;Smuggrin Hate those pests!!!

Nart · May 22, 2018

Very nice Stella. I am liking those fruit loop zoas. I just might have to get some myself.
Did you get sunny D's too??

Stella1979 · May 22, 2018

The zoas are Agent Orange's.

The shroom is called Fruity Loops. The zoas had more of a yellow skirt at first, but in pretty high light on the rack, it's turning a bit greenish. I love them!!! @C-Reefer says they grow like wildfire in his tank, so maybe a trade among friends is in order.

Speaking of friends, is G around here? I miss having him around on a forum, where it is easier for me to share a long story like this...

The berghia nudibranchs... They won't ship until tomorrow, so it's tough to say that I've got a guaranteed delivery date until they are on the way. I have received confirmation from the company that they will be part of this Wednesday's shipment though. They should be here by lunchtime on Thursday.

Here's what I know so far... These guys are very, very delicate in the physical sense. I do not want to touch them at all. They will come in a small plastic container instead of a bag. I had planned to float the cup for a while, then begin a drip acclimation. Thing is, they are known to 'walk' on the surface tension of the water and possibly escape the cup. This means that I could lose one during drip acclimation since the container would be out of the tank for that process. Can't really take a chance on that, since I can't handle the little guys should one or more escape the cup.

I hope it's ok that I mention that I purchased from a company called Reef Town. They've been very attentive to my order and questions I've asked via email. I am super impressed so far.

So, they tell me that as physically delicate as the nudi's are, they are actually quite hardy otherwise. Not that I'd expect them to do well in a really dirty tank or anything, but it seems I don't have to be quite as careful with water acclimation. I will simply float the container, remove and discard a small portion of their water, and add the same amount of my tank water back every 15 minutes or so. At the point where I feel comfortable that the water quality is the same in the cup as it is in my tank, I'll turn off the flow, sink the cup and somehow stabilize it so they may crawl out onto the rock.

It's important to put them near, but not on aiptasia nems. If they were to crawl out right into the clutches of a larger aiptasia, then the nem could eat the predator. Luckily, until recently I've been pretty heavy handed with the injections, meaning the aiptasia in the tank right now are all pretty small. Putting them near aiptasia will not be a problem... those suckers are everywhere.:meh:

Once the little guys have crawled out of their cup they will still need some time to get a good grip on the rock. I'll leave flow off for a bit longer, then slowly raise it back to normal over a couple of hours.

In all likelihood, I will not see much of the nudibranchs after introduction. They are good at hiding and hunt in packs at night. I'll be receiving 7 of them, (bought a 6-pack, and there's a deal - buy 5+, get one free!), plus a tiny coil of eggs. The eggs need to be placed deep in a crevice where they will not blow around. Anyhow, these guys will need to breed and populate in the tank. This is no overnight fix, but I hope to see some results in the next few weeks. From what I've read, they'll probably clear a small area before moving on to another area... and on it goes until the tank is clear. At the end is when they might be spied most often. As the population of aiptasia dwindles, so will the nudi population, but whatever is left will probably congregate on the last few aiptasias... so if I can find the pests, I might see the tiny predators.

I hope to have the same great berghia experience as this @GoVols ... This was a great read and much appreciated.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/berghia-nudibranchs-for-the-dreaded-aiptasia-anemone.317481/

Wish me luck folks!

C-Reefer · May 22, 2018

Wow the Agent Oranges look a lot brighter in your tank, probably the higher light. I'll have to put some in my nanocube since it has nice high PAR. I like the green tentacles! So sorry guys, I've been calling them fruity loop for forever... But there Fruity Pebbles! Totally my bad lol.

I can't wait to see these guys. I'm guessing by the way your talking baout them they travel quite slowly? Hopefully your tank will be aiptasia free soon!

GoVols · May 22, 2018

Beautiful Reef!!, Stella

As long as you don't have any wrasses (that eat them), the nudi's will get the job done!!

Freddie

Stella1979 · May 23, 2018

Thanks for the kind words everybody!

@C-Reefer - Those zoas have changed! I didn't necessarily want them to, and when I first saw green skirts in a pic, well, I thought it was my phone taking awful pics again... but they are green to the eye! Anyway, I'm in love and you have changed my reefing life with your kindness bud.

I'm going to get up the nerve and have some euphyllia for you one of these days.

@GoVols - Thanks for chiming in.

The excellent recording of your experience really helped me pull the trigger on the berghias... only wish I had done it sooner. I have a single firefish in the tank, and he's quite the little hunter but I'm hoping the medium-sized nudi's will be too much for him.

I have a question for you - What's your experience with berghias going after aiptasias that are in the sand? From all I've read, the nudi's depend on a good attachment to the rockwork in order to feel safe and move around. There's plenty for them to eat on the rocks, but I've got tons of little pests in the sand too. ;Shifty I've been told that they may clear the rocks first and only move to the substrate in desperation if and when the rocks are pest free. This sounds like a vicious circle to me, because if aiptasia remain in the sand... won't they continue to populate the tank? Can berghias even move through the sand? I haven't and won't continue to use AiptasiaX since that's no good for the nudis, but perhaps I should work on manual removal from the sand. I've had success siphoning them out, but idk what's best, because every time I kill one of them, more pop up in the dead one's place.;Meh

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

-Melissa

GoVols · May 23, 2018

Melissa,
They will get the ones in your sand too.

Please stop using any other methods of Aiptasia removal while the nudi's are at work.
Aiptasia-X and other methods only make the aiptasia release more spores.

It will take time and the nudi's only come out in the deep of night.

Aiptasia are the only thing that the nudi's eat.

As @HolisticBear told me many times "They will eat, or They will starve".

Wish you all the best and Good Luck!!

Freddie

HolisticBear · May 23, 2018

GoVols said:
It will take time and the nudi's only come out in the deep of night.

@GoVols you lowered your temp a bit for the nudis, do you think that's necessary or not worth the stress? I think you lowered the temp to 78(?), not sure what
@Stella1979 is running.