New 20 Long Office Reef Build

[ibanez2k]

So it's been about a month and a half since the last pics. Things are going pretty good. The tank went through a BIG algae bloom after it cycled out but everything's calming down now. I got a cleanup crew in there of snails and hermits now munching stuff down. The tank's looking tons better than a couple weeks ago. The algae is about all gone. The water is testing great. I'm noticing tons more life coming out of the rocks now I hadn't seen before. They are coloring up more now as well. I'm going to wait it out a little while longer to let things clear up more before I start adding fish or corals but so far things are turning out nicely. Even without fish or corals the tank is a HUGE hit in the office. You can see it from the doorway to my office so people ALWAYS stop by and check it out. I'm the only saltwater person in town and most here haven't even seen a saltwater aquarium before so I have to explain alot but it's been fun. Here's a pic of it as of today.

[Dragonist]

Awesome is that all the lr you are going to use?

[ibanez2k]

I'm not really sure yet. I've been looking at it and thinking I might want to add some more. It's got 25 pounds right now but more might be good.

[Dragonist]

How high are your plans for the aquascape...Maybe you can do a rock wall. Also what are you fish chocies?

[ibanez2k]

Originally Posted by Dragonist

How high are your plans for the aquascape...Maybe you can do a rock wall. Also what are you fish chocies?

Well, sort of like I have it right now, my intentions were to have a higher, more rocky area on the left side of the tank. Then on the right side of the tank have a lower rock area with more sand. The main reason for this is that from the door to my office you see the right side of the tank and I thought it would be cool to see more of a buildup of rocks from that point rather than across the top of the rocks. I hope to be able to do a variety of different corals so I thought that would work better for it. Eventually I want to move my ocellaris clown and blackbar chromis out of my 10g at home to this tank. I know they will be happier as they will have almost double the swimming room. I want to add at least 1 or 2 more fish but as of yet I'm not sure which one's would be the best. Any suggestions?

[Dragonist]

How about making some diy lr?

[quader94]

Originally Posted by ibanez2k

So it's been about a month and a half since the last pics. Things are going pretty good. The tank went through a BIG algae bloom after it cycled out but everything's calming down now. I got a cleanup crew in there of snails and hermits now munching stuff down. The tank's looking tons better than a couple weeks ago. The algae is about all gone. The water is testing great. I'm noticing tons more life coming out of the rocks now I hadn't seen before. They are coloring up more now as well. I'm going to wait it out a little while longer to let things clear up more before I start adding fish or corals but so far things are turning out nicely. Even without fish or corals the tank is a HUGE hit in the office. You can see it from the doorway to my office so people ALWAYS stop by and check it out. I'm the only saltwater person in town and most here haven't even seen a saltwater aquarium before so I have to explain alot but it's been fun. Here's a pic of it as of today.

man thats a huge heater


tank looks good though

[ibanez2k]

Haha, yeah. It's only a 100watt but a 12" heater takes up a LOT of space in a 12" tall tank I guess. Oh well. I have room underneath in the shelf it's on so I'd really like to put in a sump (maybe just a 10 gallon or so) and move the heater to there so it's not so unsightly. The big orange light it's got is somewhat annoying as well. Very good perfomance though. Never misses a lick and keeps my tank a very steady 78F. I've been happy with it so far all things considered. Thanks!

[Dragonist]

why not turn it to the direction of left to right. Thats what I have done in my tank.

[ibanez2k]

Originally Posted by Dragonist

why not turn it to the direction of left to right. Thats what I have done in my tank.

Haha, well actually... in hindsight that would have been better. This heater is unfortunately not the submersible kind so I can only just sort of tilt it a little like this. I might replace it though with a different heater if I don't end up doing the whole sump thing. Then I can hide it better.

[Dragonist]

lol

[ibanez2k]

Alright, yesterday I got almost all the livestock from my 10 gallon tank at home moved into this tank. Everything is doing well. My clown, Stan, has been living in here now for a couple weeks and is enjoying the extra swimming room. I haven't been able to get my blasted damsel out of the other tank though. I'm thinking I'll just leave him in there till after I get my birdsnest out and then I'll trap him. So far everything is doing FANTASTIC with this tank. I had ALOT of algae growth right after the cycle, some of which you can still see on the rocks in the pic from my last post. The hair algae and bryopsis has all gone completely away and cleared up entirely. There is a thin green layer of algae that forms on my glass but my snails love that stuff and keep it very thin. Here's some new pics as of this morning. I'm loving this tank compared to my 10 gallon nano. The wide footprint of the 20 Long is just perfect for what I needed in this room. Now I've gotta start the process of converting my 10g into a frag tank. Here's the pics:

FTS



Left



Right



Left from side



Right from side



Tonight, if I have time, I'm going to try to get my birdsnest transfered. I'll post more pics when I have it in the new tank!

[Loverotties]

Nice!

[Dragonist]

I say add more rock...and get a Left handed hermit crab...Imo the most awesome hermit! ALSO THE TANK LOOKS GREAT!

[150TALL]

Nice!!!!

This may be a stupid question....but what are you using for filtration??? I also have a 20 gal long this is inspiring me to convert to a salt......