Need some inspiration

[diego]

Hey everyone I was looking to get some inspiration on my 20 gallon tall. To be honest I am just bored with it and I have neglected it a little bit. I love zoas so I would want a zoa garden. My current setup has a little too much hair algae\briopsis. I like to see the purple rock not the green stuff. Any help would be appreciated. I have a skimmer but it is constantly over flowing so I stopped using it. Here are some pics.135801357913578

[Europhyllia]

have you tried adjusting the skimmer down so that it can actually do it's work?

[diego]

Karin,
I tried multiple things with the skimmer but got frustrated with it because of the overflowing.

[rockmp]

What water level do you have in your slimmer chamber of your sump?

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[Europhyllia]

That's a good question. Jack with wet acrylic made me a skimmer stand for one of my skimmers because it was submersed too much. You may find a manual online that tells you optimal water level. Perhaps that will do the trick?
How old is the tank? In the beginning hair algae and bryopsis can be a bugger.

[diego]

It is a HOB skimmer. The tank is over two years old. I am really looking for inspiration on changing things in the tank. Like different aquascape, go with a theme, etc. Something to help motivate me again to spend some time with the tank.

[Europhyllia]

bout a macro/zoa tank? The macro could take up some of the nutrients now used up by the hair algae and look pretty and natural in combination with the zoa garden?

[FireWater]

Inspiration or rebuild?
A new tank set up always gets people excited. Take some time to look at other tanks and study what appeals to you. Then put those ideas into action.

[diego]

John,
Just inspiration. I like the 20 gallon tall. I don't want to spend on new lights, tank, stand, etc.

Karin,
That sounds interesting. Thanks

[diego]

I decided to go with the minimalist approach so I removed half of the rocks in my tank and then created two main areas. A zoa garden on the left and a mushroom garden on the right. The middle has some show pieces or whatever. The picture is horrible but please tell me what this needs besides cleaning :wink_smile:

13587

[FireWater]

I didn't speak right when I posted a new tank. I meant exactly what you did. Use your existing tank and redo it.

[allan]

I did it, couldn't be happier.

[profntbtr]

i would say that what you are missing is dimension. i'd love to see a tower on one side, maybe even take the corrupted nature approach and add an old glass mexican coke bottle, or some other beach finding. problem, as i see it, is that with a lack of upright growing corals, the zoas and mushrooms will only occupy the bottom 1/4 of your tank, and leave the other portion bare. i have a frag of green leather i'd be willing to give you that would look great in there, if you make it up to san antonio anytime soon.

[hobogato]

i think a nice tall photosynthetic gorgonian or two would help add that dimension that mike is talking about. looks like you are off to a good start on the re-do tho

[diego]

I used to have a really big green finger leather that stood maybe 7" but it died. I have the worst luck with leathers. Thanks for the offer.

[diego]

How about a nice big birds nest colony?

[reefreak]

if you are looking for a bright fish go look for a reef safe fairy wrasse

[Europhyllia]

sure if you can keep it alive

[kkiel02]

Karin at first I thought you were talking about the fairy wrasse. Then I saw Diego's post above and that made more sense. lol

Those sour apple birdsnest people have been posting are nice.

[FireWater]

Do you have any of the rock left over that you took out? If it is clean and free of algae I would look into adding a rock or 2 for the height dimension.

[diego]

Thanks John. I will do that.

[allan]

If you have the necessary sizes you can use some emaco mortar to "weld" the pieces together.