Another First Reefer... 20G Tall

[Tibs]

Finally got some batteries for my camera and took a few shots to share. Sorry, my camera sucks and my clowns love attention and find a way to get in nearly every shot. I built this aquarium on a college student budget and I'm happy with it so far. Its a little over 2 months old right now. Just starting to get some coralline building up on the rocks. I know the goby should be in a bigger tank but he's tiny right now and if I notice him acting weird, I'll transplant him ytbj's 500 Gal. He seems happy to me, sifting away.

Specs:
20G Tall
25lbs LR/ 25lbs LS
65W 50/50 PC
Current SubCurrent Filter (w/ Filter Floss & ChemiPure)
HOB Filter converted to HOB Fuge w/ Chaeto and 19w UV (doubles as night light)
Koralia 2
2 Clownfish (Barnum & Bailey)
1 Golden Head Goby (Bon Goby)
Nice variety of Snails and Hermits as CU

This is what I started with....
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/7370/20gweek1a.jpg

And then...
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/586/20gweek2cx.jpg

Ahhhhhhh Algae!
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/6664/20gweek3a.jpg

And then these are the recent shots
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7820/image001qu.jpg"

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/8757/image002bj.jpg

http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/9985/image003o.jpg

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/6118/image004xt.jpg

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/7348/image005dw.jpg

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/228/image006cu.jpg

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/2121/image010g.jpg

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/6835/image014mj.jpg

HOB Fuge Light doubles as moon lighting.
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/6907/image025c.jpg

Let me know what ya'll think. Thanks to ytbj, I think I'm getting addicted and foresee going bigger soon. It's a basic set up, as I didn't want to get too crazy being my first reef aquarium. Learning the basics and playing around with the water/equipment parameters mainly.

[Pennies2Cents]

Looking Good Tibs! :) This is the exact size we started off with. :)

Welcome to MAAST.:bighug:

[Mr Cob]

Yep, thanks for sharring. Looks great. Glad you took the plunge. Welcome to MAAST!

[ErikH]

Welcome to our big ol' hole in the wall. :)

[txav8r]

Great start! Keep the pictures coming.

[Shu]

Welcome, this is what I started with. Soon you will be upgrading to a bigger tank in no time. This hobby is addicting and I guarantee you will outgrow that tank. I went from a 20 to a 90.

[Jordan N.]

Looking really good, I think the rock work has a really nice flow from left to right. I'll be watching this as it grows out.

Edit: Also, welcome to MAAST! I'm sure you'll find that it's a quite helpful little community.

~Jordan N.

[diego]

I have a 20 gallon tall also. I am liking it so far. I want to upgrade already but I won't. I want my corals to grow out. Keep the pics coming and welcome to MAAST.

[Tibs]

Appreciate the comments. I promise I will keep updates going via pictures. I recently began inserting "Kents Essential Elements" into the tank after every water change and only after 3 weeks I can really see a change with my corals, especially with the frogspawn. They open up a lot more and I guess.... seem "healthier". The next thing I have to do is move my frogspawn to a different location or at least a tad bit farther away from the mushrooms. I've noticed some of the 'arms' doing a little damage to the couple of mushrooms that are close by. The only other corals I want to throw into this tank are some zoa's and as far as live stock goes, maybe a cleaner shrimp. What do you guys think. I want more fish, but with a 20g, it is limited and I know.... therefore... bigger tank in the future. Anyways, I took some high res pics tonight and will post up tomorrow. Once again, thanks for the comments and I welcome any opinions on how or what I could do better.

-Tibs

[justahobby]

Hi and Welcome. You are making great progress. Keeping a 20 gal. healthy can be more challenging than bigger tanks so congrats! The mushroom island is sweet. The advantage to smaller tanks is the ability to see everything up close and noticed tiny details.

[Tibs]

Well, I just did a water change and found what I think is Aptasia. They're crappy pictures because like I said before, my camera is old and horrible now. Can anyone give me some comments? It's the only one I have spotted so far in the tank. Other than injection, what else could i do to kill/remove it.

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/7457/aptas.jpg

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/6008/aptas2.jpg



Tried to get a pic of Bon Gobi. He's camera shy.
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4729/goby.jpg

Thanks,
Tibs

[Mr Cob]

Peppermint shrimp have always worked well for me as long as it's not some huge piece.

[Tibs]

Anyone ever use Red Sea Aiptasia-X. It's got great reviews and fairly cheap.

-Tibs

[cbianco]

For aptasia you have several options...

-Peppermint Shrimp
-Copperband Butterfly
-Manual removal, i.e. Joe's Juice, Kalk, Lemon Juice
-Berghia Nudibranch

Aptasia grow readily in light, without light, with food sources, without food source. They are one of a reefers worst nightmare and WE ALL HAVE THEM, lol!

Personally, I use a syringe and kalk and target them one by one. It can take some time but I feel this is the best method, JMO. I also have a peppermint shrimp but I'm not sure that he is eating any aptasia.

Christopher

[1fstlightning]

I too have purchased a Peppermint Shrimp for the removal of the one that I have. Its still there and I cant find the shrimp, Ive also heard that they like to hide very well, but maybe he died.

[1fstlightning]

I also have alot of rock, so he may be hiding well

[tony]

Anyone ever use Red Sea Aiptasia-X. It's got great reviews and fairly cheap.

-Tibs

yep, love it

[jay-roc]

I will ALWAYS recomend peppermint shrimp for Aiptasia. I have tried the lemon juice and it has never worked for me. Targeting them with kalk has worked for me, but the best thing that has worked is ....... Get a needle fill it with Lugols Solution, and inject them with that. If you get them right in the base it just takes a little bit and they are Done Son. This has worked for me 100 % of the time. Be careful not to use to much because you dont want to overdose your tank with iodine lol. Normaly if there are a few in there I'll wait to get them and not dose the tank at all for about 2 weeks, then I try to kill them all at once.

[Kristy]

Welcome to our big ol' hole in the wall. :)
I think Erik got distracted before he finished typing. He actually meant to say "hole in the wallet!"

Love the name Bon Goby, by the way. Looking good!

[nubz]

PM me and i will sell you some of mine real cheap ( the ones at fish haven are lysamata californius, ( not as good for aptaisia) mine are L. wurdanni