My Waaayyy Overcrowded Reef Tank!

S

SEAF

New Member
I posted in this section when I first got my reef tank and in "Saltwater Setups" when I finished my sump. My system has come a long ways since then.

It's a 20-long reef tank with a 20-long sump. The sump was built with one purpose in mind... I wanted a Mandarin and knew my tank was too small to support his feeding habits. I needed an external refugium to have a continuous supply of pods for him.

Since those early days, almost a year ago; when I first set up my reef tank with a single Hermit Crab, a Nassarius Snail, and 25 pounds of live rock; it has evolved into a very overcrowded system. The only
thing that keeps it from crashing is a 20-25% weekly water change. I spend so much time looking at it, that I can tell right away when something is not right, just by looking at my corals. I was doing 10%
water changes every two weeks and started having serious green hair algae problems. When I upped the amount and frequency of the water changes, the green hair algae nearly vanished in just a few days.

Okay, I know you are wondering what all I have in this seriously overcrowded tank. Are you ready for this? (I know I am going to get scolded by some of you veteran reefers, but here goes!)

Pair of Ocellaris Clowns
Pair of Dot-Dash Orbiculate Cardinals
Royal Gramma
Mandarin Dragonet (aka Goby)
Green Clown Goby
Blue Chromis
Peppermint Shrimp
Frogspawn Anemone
Several Pulsing Xenias
Colony of Green Button Polyps
Colony of Green Star Polyps
Colony of Purple Star Polyps
Kenya Tree
Large and small colonies of Orange and White Zoanthids
One Pink and White Zoanthid
Three Red and White Mushrooms
Three Green Mushrooms
Four Purple Mushrooms
30+ Green Stripe Mushrooms
Nassarius Snail
Cowrie Snail
Three Turbo Snails
Seven Astrea Snails
Several Limpet Snails
9-10 Hermit Crabs (lost count)
Several Small Clams
Hundreds of Rock and Sand Critters; Brittle Stars, Tube Worms, Feather Dusters, Pods (thousands), Sponges

Then in the sump are a pair of Perculas, a Pistol Shrimp and a Blue Chromis, with 8-10 more Hermits, a couple of small snails and thousands more pods. My Echinophyllia is there also (didn't have any place to
put it in low light in the main tank)

I never have to worry about over-feeding with my extensive cleanup crew.

Now the pics: (You'll have to forgive the cheap camera pics - The setup pic is two seperate pics pasted together because I couldn't get back far enough to get it all in one picture)













 
S

SEAF

New Member
I have plans to build a 71-gallon reef tank (59L x 21W x 14H) with a 45-gallon sump (52L x 16W x 12.5H). I have all of the glass I need for the big one and the sump is already built (currently housing some freshwater fish). It will be built much the same as my current setup with just a few "hindsight is better than foresight" modifications. I am thinking I may build the refugium seperately and connect it to the sump. That way I can have a much higher flow-rate sump. I want to keep my tank relatively shallow so I can use the same kind of lighting I am currently using... cheap to build and inexpensive to run. The tank will be set with the top at eye level to compensate for the lack of height.

The Mandarin was $12 and you can see more pics of him and my "Mandarin Success Story" under the Saltwater Fish section in a post entitled: "My Mandarin is going to make it!" He is a young fish, less than 2" long and has adapted very agreeably to my tank.

Sorry it took so long to answer your question. For some reason I am not being notified of replies on my posts... guess I need to check my settings.
 
S

SEAF

New Member
I GOT HER!!! Well, I don't know that it is a "her", but she IS a "Dory Fish" I have been waiting soooooo long for my Blue Tang and finally got her in a trade the other day! Now my overcrowding is complete. There is no room in my tank for anything else. I got a large tube anemone in the same trade and had to put him in a tank I use for liverock that's for sale. I searched for a place in my reef tank and had to face facts. There was no place to put this guy that would be safe for the other livestock. So, I guess I'll sell him too and wait until I can get my "big" reef built.

I had to wait a long time to get a Blue Tang that was small enough. She is not more than 2" long and likes to hang around "Nemo" and "Marlin". The people who made that movie, "Finding Nemo", really studied the critters in the movie. They got all of thier movements down perfectly and matched the personalities.

So here she is:



... and the homeless guy:
 
S

SEAF

New Member
Here are some views that don't show up as well in the full tank picture.

Left side of the tank: That finger leather coral started out as a single stalk with no branches about two years ago. You can see it above in the original part of this post 17 months ago. (6th picture from the top). It's that fuzzy looking thing with the chartreuse coloring.


Right side of the tank:


Lawnmower Blenny:


Black Sea Slug:


Green Clown Goby:
 
S

SEAF

New Member
aquaman95 said:
I love that last picture it looks like he is trying to look away
Click to expand...
Actually, he probably was trying to look away. He is extremely camera shy. I am sure I took at least twenty pictures just trying to get one I could display.
 
S

SEAF

New Member
Just added this new coral to my reef tank. Actually it is not new, I have had it for a long time in one of my sale tanks. I only recently was able to confirm that it is an ecrusting coral. I think it is in the Leptoseris family. It has tiny hair-like protrusions that you would not see except that they retract when the coral is disturbed.

 
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