[M I N I O N]

Updated 10/10/12 - Over 75 species, 50 of which are SPS

Updated 8/12/2012 - I have almost 60 species to identify (mostly SPS)
Bansai:

Blue tip acropora pulchra:

Bali green slimer:

Teal acropora pulchra:

Tricolor acropora (purple/blue w/ green polyps):

Metallic green star polyps:

Red montipora capricornis:

Blueberry delight acropora:

Hot pink birdsnest:

Pink fusion zoanthids:

Tricolor (teal/maroon with ice blue tips) acropora:

Blue/purple cerealis acropora

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I'm just reporting in... I have had my share of problems getting this new 20L started but I finally have everything stable enough to where I am seeing growth in my SPS. This is a mixed reef with two species of mushrooms, seven different types of zooanthids/polyps, two types of SPS, geneopora, one ricordia and one leather.... I am seeing growth out of everything! :dance:

Shot from a couple days ago:

I recently had my only fish die for no known reason and my water parameters tested phenomenally... that will remain unsolved. I'm trying again though and getting another yellow corris (canary) wrasse so we will see how that goes.

 

[Cutlass]

whats that coral in the front on the bottom . right above the "parameters" word in your post

 

[james30ct]

Looks good, love the frags to the left torches i believe.

 

[dkling]

kinda dark pic.Looks good . (what I can see):>O

 

[M I N I O N]

I finally decided to try throwing another wrasse in there. The first was a yellow corris (canary) wrasse and it died within a couple of days all while looking healthy the whole time and eating. This time I decided to get a smaller breed and got a six-line wrasse. He died within a couple hours. My water parameters tested great last time aside from a slight phosphate reading. I changed a lot of water and cleaned out the rocks and the problem completely went away. The six line seamed to be in pretty rough shape from shipping and almost looked like a goner in the bag. I doubted he would survive acclimation sadly.

I'm going to try picking up another wrasse from a different pet shop and hope for better results. If that fails I will give up and throw some sort of damsel or cardinal in there for a few months.

 

[M I N I O N]

That is a nuclear green geniopora. I have since moved him into another part of the tank and started target feeding him. At the point that this picture was taken he was not doing so well. It is a notoriously hard coral to keep alive but I have had him for a little while now.

 

[Dave's Not Here]

Nice job!! So you have no fish now?

 

[M I N I O N]

I don't have any fish in it. I really just want to stick a wrasse in it but I haven't had luck acclimating them from the store I got them from.

 

[Cutlass]

i had the same issue with my 6-lines... the first one died before i even got home, the second one lived for 3 days... Its the only marine fish ive had that i couldnt keep lol

 

[swnoobie]

on the yellow coris wrasse. give some time. i had one in a 29g and didnt see it for days. then out of the blue there he was. they bury themselves in the sand to sleep and when they get spooked. so he may just be buried.

 

[M I N I O N]

My yellow corris I actually found dead in the tank so he wasn't just hiding. I got another one yesterday. This will be my last attempt to keep a wrasse in this tank. So far he has popped out once. Looks to be doing fine. Water params are great... you should see the growth of the SPS since that picture was taken only a few weeks ago.

 

[M I N I O N]

Just to make sure that there was no hidden problem with my water, I got a scooter blenny (cheap) and he was doing great. I got another yellow corris wrasse last Friday and he is doing great!

 

[M I N I O N]

Check out the SPS growth..... Also meet Apollo and Pontus.

 

[M I N I O N]

Lots of growth since my last update almost a month ago. The scooter blenny would not eat anything so I had to get rid of him. Today I got some more unidentified SPS and a copper banded butterfly. He will not be in the tank long, he is going in my 65g as soon as it is cycled, I couldn't pass him up. Pics soon.

 

[M I N I O N]

The CBB seams to be rubbing on the rocks though he shows no other signs of a parasite so I think I am going to pick up a fire shrimp tomorrow to keep the guys clean. Parameters are all normal and he acclimated well but he isn't going crazy for the live brine I am feeding him which he chowed down on in the store. My tax return is going to put an overflow box, sump, refugium and new skimmer on the 20 and a new sump, skimmer and lights for the 65.

 

[M I N I O N]

Wasn't a great day for the tank. My fire shrimp (Hades) got sucked into the tube for the filter and died. His cleaning station was a rock which I have been dying to get at to remove from the tank because I knew it was leaching phosphates into the water. This rock was always covered in algae and cyano all while nothing else in the tank. Even when I was doing 20% weekly water changes and syphoning detritus, I was still getting algae on the sand around the rock even. Since Hades died, I decided to finally remove the corals from the rock and redo my rock work in the tank without that piece. The moving around caused RTN on one of my SPS frags which was out of the water just a little too long. I had to trim the RTN tonight. While trimming, I also noticed that Achilies (my copper band butterfly) has lost almost all of his color. I got him without knowing that he had a fungal infection. Fish can normally beat this with a proper diet but Achilies was really difficult to feed. I fear he will not make it through the night....

I will probably get another shrimp but most likely a normal skunk cleaner shrimp this time rather than a fire. I probably won't take a stab at a CBB again until the 65 is done and he would be the first fish in the tank.

 

[M I N I O N]

To my surprise, Achiles not only lasted through the night, but this morning he also started eating like a fat kid. I got some more live brine and I am going to mix them with a little mysis and garlic and try my luck.

 

[M I N I O N]

New sump on this tank:

I'm up to 25 species of SPS and have gotten rid of most of my other corals.

 

[Calepy86]

What kind of plants are those growing in the sump?

 

[Andyf30]

Looks like mangroves and some caulerpa?