Baby Reef

[drewzero1]

I've been dabbling at saltwater for a few months and thought it might be time to start a journal. With this tank my goal has been very literally "testing the waters" for whether I can handle a marine tank (and possibly a reef down the road).

Tank: 5.5gal standard tank with HOB filter on the end.

Edited November 1, 2022 by drewzero1
added picture

[Chris]

Looking good, man!

How's that Caulerpa doing for you? It took me a long time to be able to get it to grow how I wanted - it'd grow, but super spindly and sparse. Lots of nutrients and a bit less light was what got me nice, big, healthy algae!

[drewzero1]

On 11/1/2022 at 8:50 AM, Chris said:

Looking good, man!

How's that Caulerpa doing for you? It took me a long time to be able to get it to grow how I wanted - it'd grow, but super spindly and sparse. Lots of nutrients and a bit less light was what got me nice, big, healthy algae!

Thanks! The Caulerpa has been a mixed bag. It's bleached and died back twice now, most recently when I added the new light. I don't think it likes the intensity very much, but the parts that are growing back look stronger. Plus it introduced Aiptasia to the tank. I'm not fighting those yet because I don't have coral and anemones are super cool. (This tank is an experiment, after all. I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep anything alive on my skills, time, and budget. )

[drewzero1]

The story so far:

I've always looked at people's beautiful reef tanks with equal measures of awe and sticker shock. I told myself I'd never be able to have one unless I won the lottery, and conversations with reef keepers only seemed to confirm that I couldn't afford a reef.

Then my kid comes along with a fierce and lasting clownfish obsession. After seeing his reaction to a tank full of clownfish at an aquarium this summer, I wondered how much harder saltwater really could be.

I started looking into pico reefs and was amazed by some of the things people were doing in gallon pickle jars. I set up a 5.5g I had lying around with a HOB filter to provide some flow, added sand and a mix of cultured (wet) live and dry rock. Mid-July:

August 17th, added blue leg hermit crab:

At the end of August I found a molt from the hermit and thought it might all be over. Then I noticed a shell moving and realized it was okay. (Phew!)

September 30, added Caulerpa (seen from the side):

I picked out the aiptasia I found except for one which anchored itself to the top of the big rock. It's really fun to watch it eat food particles out of the water.

I've also added a rather large margerita snail which has been working very diligently cleaning the glass and sometimes the rocks. Between the crab and the snail, the pretty stubble on the cultured rocks has been almost completely mowed down. September 30:

 

Edited November 1, 2022 by drewzero1
Rearranged pictures

[Chris]

On 11/1/2022 at 1:20 PM, drewzero1 said:

Thanks! The Caulerpa has been a mixed bag. It's bleached and died back twice now, most recently when I added the new light. I don't think it likes the intensity very much, but the parts that are growing back look stronger. Plus it introduced Aiptasia to the tank. I'm not fighting those yet because I don't have coral and anemones are super cool. (This tank is an experiment, after all. I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep anything alive on my skills, time, and budget. )

I think it'll grow fine with intense lighting - it just seems to be more "stems" than "leaves" (it's all just algae, but y'know).

To be honest, with the Aiptasia, I'd fight them now rather than later if you plan to have any expensive/sensitive corals in the tank. I had a pico pest reef with aiptasia and a few coral there, but it was mostly easy stuff that grew fast enough to escape the aiptasia.

You have a nice looking tank!

Edited November 1, 2022 by Chris

[drewzero1]

At the beginning of October I picked up a cheap reef bulb. Tank had been using a hardware store full spectrum PAR LED until this point.

The caulerpa and aiptasia didn't sem to love this development, but hair algae also seems to be growing a little less. (I also cut down on feeding after some pellet food started fouling up the water and growing a bunch of unwanted algae.)

Around this time I acclimated a baby molly from my 40B, so I now have molly fry in 3 of my 4 tanks! I was curious to see how well a fish would do in my saltwater tank. It's been growing noticeably in the last month; I'll be moving it (along with everything else in this tank) to the 10G I'm building once that's ready. When the molly gets too big for that I'll either reacclimate it to freshwater or see if my LFS would like it.

So that's about the current state of affairs. Starting to build the new 10 gallon tank, trying to avoid any more big changes until that's done. Enjoying watching the inhabitants go about their business.

[drewzero1]

On 11/1/2022 at 1:51 PM, Chris said:

I think it'll grow fine with intense lighting - it just seems to be more "stems" than "leaves" (it's all just algae, but y'know).

To be honest, with the Aiptasia, I'd fight them now rather than later if you plan to have any expensive/sensitive corals in the tank. I had a pico pest reef with aiptasia and a few coral there, but it was mostly easy stuff that grew fast enough to escape the aiptasia.

You have a nice looking tank!

I'm reading through your thread now and really enjoying it! I forgot to mention that mine also had the micro feather dusters on one of the rocks, but they disappointingly disappeared shortly after the introduction of the hermit crab. I hope he enjoyed his tasty snack.

Edited November 1, 2022 by drewzero1

[Andy's Fish Den]

If you can keep the parameters in check in this small tank, you will have no problem with a larger tank. I had a gorgeous 75 gallon reef along with a 30 breeder frag tank set up about 15 years ago. Then one day I decided to set up a pico reef in a 5.5 gallon on my desk and I could not get that thing to stabilize. The parameters would shift so much so quickly and I ended up taking it down after a couple of months.

[Minanora]

Ord. Cool new project! I look forward to seeing the upgrade. I'll live vicariously through you for this one. 😊

[Chris]

On 11/1/2022 at 5:48 PM, drewzero1 said:

I'm reading through your thread now and really enjoying it! I forgot to mention that mine also had the micro feather dusters on one of the rocks, but they disappointingly disappeared shortly after the introduction of the hermit crab. I hope he enjoyed his tasty snack.

Thanks!

I've never had hermits eat the dusters - maybe he just knocked the crowns off and the worms are relocating? Those micro feather dusters tend to hide out in rock crevices without much of a crown when things aren't to their liking, and build the nice "big" crowns we can see when things are good for them. Maybe they're not gone, just hiding?

You never know!

[Patrick_G]

Great thread. I’m slowly learning saltwater through threads likes yours and @Chris’s, thanks! 

[drewzero1]

On 11/2/2022 at 5:27 AM, Andy's Fish Den said:

If you can keep the parameters in check in this small tank, you will have no problem with a larger tank. I had a gorgeous 75 gallon reef along with a 30 breeder frag tank set up about 15 years ago. Then one day I decided to set up a pico reef in a 5.5 gallon on my desk and I could not get that thing to stabilize. The parameters would shift so much so quickly and I ended up taking it down after a couple of months.

So far so good. I need to get my own tests; I've been bringing samples to the LFS weekly (and checking out other stuff while I'm in there... that's how they get ya!). I'm a bit nervous about swings when I start adding more sensitive livestock, plus (like in freshwater) it's been hard to find fish that will do well in a 5 gallon. I've done about a 25% pwc per month but with heavier stocking that will probably need to go up.

On 11/2/2022 at 8:12 AM, Minanora said:

Ord. Cool new project! I look forward to seeing the upgrade. I'll live vicariously through you for this one. 😊

Thanks! I can't wait to see what it turns into.

On 11/2/2022 at 9:49 AM, Chris said:

Thanks!

I've never had hermits eat the dusters - maybe he just knocked the crowns off and the worms are relocating? Those micro feather dusters tend to hide out in rock crevices without much of a crown when things aren't to their liking, and build the nice "big" crowns we can see when things are good for them. Maybe they're not gone, just hiding?

You never know!

Good point, I haven't looked too closely at the rock. I'm glad to hear they might still be around; I love feather dusters and hope to have a large one in there at some point.

On 11/2/2022 at 10:19 AM, Patrick_G said:

Great thread. I’m slowly learning saltwater through threads likes yours and @Chris’s, thanks! 

I'm flattered! I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. There's so much to learn!

[Eric R]

@drewzero1, how's the saltwater tank coming along?

[drewzero1]

On 10/1/2023 at 4:54 AM, Eric R said:

@drewzero1, how's the saltwater tank coming along?

Sorry for the delay... I don't check in here often any more, but the tank is surviving. At the beginning of 2023 I moved everything to a 10 that I partitioned for a filter/heater/pump chamber.

Lost the hermit crab last summer, recently replaced it with another blue leg who has been absolutely chowing down on the algae like an absolute champ. I have been vaccilating for a long time over whether or not I'm really ready for corals but I decided I had to finally just try something and see if I (and the tank) could handle it, so to that end I added a zoanthid frag.

Still very early on that one and only time will tell if I can keep it happy, but so far it seems to be acclimating well.

The caulerpa and aiptasia have completely disappeared. Now most of the inhabitants of the tank are tiny isopods and digitate hydroids. I also lost the molly after a while and have not repeated that experiment, but I would like to try another fish in here: probably either a watchman or neon goby, or possibly a clownfish. My ultimate goal with this tank was clownfish, but I still don't feel quite prepared enough to care for marine fish. As my kids get older and more independent I hope to have more time and energy for my aquaria again!