Sub-Gallon SPS Cube: 6+ Months Old

[Thesmallerthebetter]

So a while back i posted on here my old 0.25 gallon SPS reef. That tank had a few issues getting certain things to grow and i attribute that mostly to insufficient low quality LED lighting, bad design on a couple of key mechanical components, and my taking a job where i have to handle thousands of gallons every day and not wanting to come home and do it all over again with my coffee cup sized reef haha.

So, that tank has since been torn down and after a couple years of collecting dust i decided to resurrect it. I hated that it was acrylic so i scrapped it and started over with a glass tank, that "Marina Cubus" betta cube. At a 0.9 Gallons volume it was perfect for me, affording me a bit more stocking space, while still squeaking in under a gallon.

I also rebuilt "the pump", sealed the wet side to the tank and permanently mounted the dry side to the rear glass as well, it kept spinning off if a snail got in the prop in the last build.

For heating i went with the tried and true Flex-Watt + Thermostat i used last time as well, but this time potted it in a high quality epoxy using that handy little rim on the bottom of the tank.

Lighting is a DIY PAR30 with 7W of LEDs (2 CW, 4 RB, and 1 TV or UV), and it packs a bigger punch than the old 12v MR16 that didnt cut it on the last tank unless it was like 1cm from the surface.

I made a stock list of what i wanted to keep and so far ive done well, being able to get 42 species of corals into the tank, theres a couple more on the list but well see, i kinda like the look as it is.

Enough jabber tho, specs, stocking and pics below:

Tank Dimensions:

Marina Cubus:
5.9"L x 5.9"W x 5.9"T = 0.9 Gallon
Painted Out Back

Flow:

Mini DIY "Pump" V2.0

Lighting:

7W Cool White LED Pendant
120 Degree Optics
1x UV LED
4x Royal Blue LED
2x Cool White LED

Heating:

Flexwatt Heat Tape + Connectors epoxied to the underside of the tank in the little base
Digital Thermostat


Dosing:

Gravity Fed ATO


Current Stock List (Kept Updated):

Softies:
"Pink Vampire" Palys
"Gold Maul" Palys
"Valentines Day Massacre" Palys
"Wobbegong" Palys
"Pink Elephant" Palys
"Space Monster" Palys
"Sunny D" Palys
"Rasta" Zoanthids
"Lakers" Zoanthids
Blue Ricordea Yuma
Green Silunaria Leather
Blue Sympodium Blue Clove Polyps
Green Star Polyps

LPS:
Orange/Blue Tip Fungia
Red Fungia
Red/Green Micromussa
Purple/Green Micromussa
Orange Acanthastrea Lord
Yellow/Purple Acanthastrea Lord
Baby's Breath Favia
Green/Purple Frogspawn
Blue Lithophyllon
Orange Tubastrea
Pink Tubastrea
Yellow Dendrophyllia
Geen/Purple Turbinaria

SPS:
Acropora Carduus "Red Dragon"
Acropora Caroliniana "Neon Tips"
Acropora Granulosa "Neon Green"
Acropora Lokani "30k Leagues"
Acropora Nasuta "Pink Lemonade"
Monipora Setosa "Mandarin"
Montipora Capricornis "Blue Flower"
Montipora Capricornis "Seasons Greetings"
Montipora Capricornis "Purple Rim"
Montipora Stellata "Tubbs"
Seriatopora Hystrix "Tubbs"
Seriatopora Guttatus "Green/Orange"
Acropora Valida "Purple Bonsai"

Other:
Blue Plating Sponge
Grube's Gorgonian

Invertebrates:
Mini Starfish
Mini Cerith Snails

Progression Shots:

August 2013 FTS:



September 2013 FTS:

[URL="http://s635.photobucket.com/user/thesmallerthebetter/media/1G%20SPS%20Pico/photo.jpg.html"]
October 2013 FTS:

[/URL]

November 2013 FTS:

December 2013 FTS:

January 2014 FTS:




February 2014 FTS:

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

AWESOME! Following...

 

[Thesmallerthebetter]

Some more recent pics of the tanks inhabitants:

Red Fungia:


Orange Fungia:






Red Dragon (im just in love with the white tips on this piece....i hope it makes it):




Deepwater + Pink Lemonade (this deepwater is one of my favorite wild corals ever....seems hardy in here too, its exposed every water change!)


Tyree Blue Flower Cap + Monti Setosa fighting:



Micromussas + Monti Stellata:

 

[Thesmallerthebetter]

NEW things going on today....adding a piece of equipment that should add a new dimension to the system...

 

[Thesmallerthebetter]

So i got sick of the saltcreep that build up on my exposed rockwork, and the fact that every mangrove i put in there just didnt make it, i suspect due to a lack of proper substrate to grow into.



SOOOO i ran to micheals and picked up one of those little acrylic display boxes. with a drill, some sand, some hydroponic media, 2 magnets and some polyester mat i made a little riparium planter for a black mangrove that ive been acclimating to leds and full strength salinity in another system. Its fully rooted to it should do well in here....if not idk what to do haha


Also broke the old back wall rock formation into two separate formations and attached them as well, gives me a couple more mounting spots to spread out the corals a bit, one of my caps hated being in the back so i moved it to the new shelf and hopefully it'll color back up, it was a purple rim when i acquired it.


Anyway, pics of the new get up and just of the tank in general:

Polyps


SPS


A. Valida? that growth is so weird tho and making me thing efflo?


S. Guttatus


A. Granulosa


A. Walandii/Carduus


"Abyssal Rainbow" Diaseris


FTS:

Top Down:

 

[Thesmallerthebetter]

Update:
So been a busy week at work with aquaculture releases and and a trade show last weekend. Good news is i got to pick up quite a few goodies from the trade show

most didnt go into this tank but rather into grow out but some did

Recent additions:


Halley's Comet Palys (my name, they're a scarface morph with blue centers)
Utter Chaos Palys
Maryjane Palys (my all time favorite zoa...probably)
IceFire Echinata (try #3 on this one, if this doesnt make it im doing something else instead)
Tiny Orange/Blue Scoly (smaller than a pencil eraser)




Super stoked on the scoly. bought from an awesome guy who fragged a gorgeous neon orange with blue streaks scoly and this one failed to thrive, leading to it shrinking back to just the mouth. hes been feeding it and its recovered to a perfect TINY round little beastie. Looks better than amazing next to my baby red plate

In sadder news i lost my tabling deepwater, accidentally knocked it off the rock and onto the acans during a water change

but even that has a silver lining as it opens up space for another SPS

Also continuing to get amazing growth on my "Purple Bonsai" that im not nearly certain is an efflo or solitaryensis, its full blown plating from three places now, no branches forming at all. very interesting.


oh, and finally getting purple coraline on the tank walls and the "Pump" after 8 months or so....very happy with that. always makes me feel more comfortable when there's calcification going on.

enough jabber....pics


Close Up FTS:

Top Down of Palys (Halley's Comets are right above the Utters):

Scoly! (You can kind of see the blue streaking starting to develop)

Top Down:

FTS: