+runamukus Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 Yeah, so after getting rid of my biocube 14 - it wasn't a week I was getting the itch for a new tank. Then some of my buddies started to drop all these statements like 'You can do it, just need to get a tank and stand" or "I know someone selling a 150 gallon tank with sump and everything for cheap! Go get it!" And the bombardment of such statements forced me to go out and get a 20 gal tank and stand. A really good friend of mine donated some HO T5's and a HOB refugium. So I put everything together, tested the HOB (it has some plumbing issues and was bringing air into the tank, but we figured it out.) I'll post some pictures when I get a chance, but I thought I would blog my journey with yet another reef tank. This will be my first time to have a HOB refugium so it'll be a new learning experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+runamukus Posted October 4, 2009 Author Share Posted October 4, 2009 So I found some LR! Got it added to the tank so now it is the good ol' fashion wait to make sure everything cycles good. So far it the params are looking good. That live sand is 'da bomb! SOOOoooo I thought I would share a picture. Since I'm limited on my file size I'll be showing a picture then deleted them as I go along. This is how the rocks are currently, but I'm sure I'll be rearranging them again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 You shouldn't have to removed any pics. Rock looks awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+runamukus Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 OK. So after a week and seeing the snails and hermit crawl around, I added a Pygmy Angelfish ~ Cherubfish. It's doing great, swimming through the rocks and eating when I feed. That fish has some character for sure. Then I added some nuke green zoos and some orange shrooms. They look sweet under the atinic lighting and even the moonlight. Eventually, I'll buy a real camera and take some good pics. But that is all I have for now - I think I may go ahead and move my clowns and their anemone over this weekend. The only thing I got left to do is get a clamp light for the refuge and some Chaetomorpha and Gracilaria. Anyone got some they are trimming back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+runamukus Posted October 22, 2009 Author Share Posted October 22, 2009 I got my two clowns moved from the old tank along with their home, mr green as I call him. Big anemone. Or at least big to me. The refugium on the back is working wonders! I have all zeros in my main tank (0, ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate). I wish I would have done a hang on back refuge a LONG time ago. I HAD algae growing in the main tank, but then it died off rather quickly. The refugium has enough macro algae it is eating up all the nutrients from the main tank. This works GREAT! I recommend it to anyone with a smaller tank. Check it out and let me know what you think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Good to hear the transfer was a success! My clowns are still hosting in the frogspawn. We have a beautiful RBTA they are totally ignoring! Dave- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrispar Posted October 23, 2009 Share Posted October 23, 2009 What kinda HOB fuge are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+runamukus Posted October 23, 2009 Author Share Posted October 23, 2009 When I first got my anemone, the clowns ignored it. Then after about 5 months, the male suddenly realized what it was and went from the frogspawn to the anemone. The female still thinks the orange mushrooms are her home during the day...but she is sleeping with the male in the anemone at night. I'm I understand now why they call them clown fish. I'm not sure what kind of HOB fuge it is. A friend of mine gave it to me and it looks like a home made job. Its about 13 inches tall, 22 inches wide (fits on my 20 gal perfectly) and 4 inches deep. I have pump in the main tank pumping the water into the fuge, and it is gravity fed back into the tank. I have macro algae and about 6 inches of sand. I threw a few small rocks back there for pods to hide in. Before the return, I placed a carbon pad (the type you cut to fit) and a phosphate pad (the type you cut to fit) and use those two pads as a filtering device to keep any algae from the refugium going back into the main tank. So far it is working like a charm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrispar Posted October 23, 2009 Share Posted October 23, 2009 would love to see a pic, im looking at setting up something similar on my 29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+runamukus Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share Posted December 13, 2009 I have not blogged about my tank in a while so I thought I would give an update. I lost my pygmy angel. I woke up one morning to find the poor thing on the bottom of the sand getting picked at by a hermit crab. I shook the crab off of angel...and well...fed it to the anemone. I foolishly purchased a yellow tank (yes, I know my tank is WAY too small for a tang) and it is doing fine. When I got it, it was just a tiny little thing. It is growing rather quickly and I'm going to need to trade him off for something else soon. I did have something very odd happen. I had some acans in the middle of the tank. One morning I got up to find them missing. I could even see where it once sat in the middle of the tank due to the imprint in the sand. No marks in the sand or anything. In the past some of the crabs or snails may have pushed it a few inches...but this time it was gone. I moved rocks around looking for the acans and could not find them. So I'm thinking I may have some sort of predator in the tank. I did see a bristle worm (quiet large actually) in one of the rocks a few times. Its the kind that looks like a freaking centipede. Scared the living crap out of me when I saw it. I'm wondering if it ate my acans. Who knows. Then I moved one of my mushrooms to the same location where the acans disappeared. I wake up the next morning to find it missing! This shroom is not small, about 4 inches across. I couldn't believe my eyes. Then I noticed the mushroom on top of a rock. HOW DID THAT GET THERE?!!? Then I notice, OMG, the mushroom was not attached to a rock, but to a shell and one of the hermits decided to make the shell with the shroom its new home. So now I have a mushroom moving all over the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+runamukus Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share Posted December 13, 2009 Good to hear the transfer was a success! My clowns are still hosting in the frogspawn. We have a beautiful RBTA they are totally ignoring! Dave- It took my clowns almost 6 months before they figured out they had an anemone. Whenever I would see a tank with an anemone and clowns hosting it, I would get so envious. I remember I even printed out a pic of a clown in an anemone and posted it on the tank so they could see it. I don't know if it helped or not because they didn't seem to leave the hammer coral or mushrooms they loved hosting. Then one day, out of the blue, the male decided to sleep in the anemone. The female would continue to sleep in the mushrooms. After a few months, she decided she would join the male in the anemone. Now, they protect that anemone like I've never seen. Always chasing anything that gets close to it. How long have the clowns been around the RBTA? They may just need some time, they'll figure it out eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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