KJR's 25 Gallon

[kjr_trig]

All the fish in my 240 are too big to comfortably use this tank as a QT anymore so I decided to turn it into a Nano Tank of sorts. It's an eclipse, 2 feet long, 1 foot deep, I think 18 inch high. It has the the main pump that comes with the system, and I added Hydro K nano powerhead, so it is moving about 500 gallons an hour. No skimmer, so I will lightly stock with fish and do 5 gallon weekly changes to control nitrates. The lighting is not spectacular, 30 watts total, half in 10,000k, half in 03 True Blue Actinic, as such nothing too crazy coral wise. I have 30 lbs of LR in, and 30 lbs or sand, the tank is pretty well cycled so i'm ready to go.
Here is the planned stock list, very open to suggestions as I'm no small fish nor coral expert.
2 Clowns...probably Occelaris, maybe one of them Black and White
1 Yellow Watchman Goby
Shrimp...Thinking of doing cleaner shrimp, can I do 2? Open to suggestions here, but like cleaners as they seem very social.
Various cleanup critters...open to suggestions.
As far as coral, looking mostly to Ricordea, but may try polyps too, very open to suggestions for things that will work with pretty good flow, not great light.
Couple pics....pic 2 you can see the hitchhiker anemone, anyone know anything about it? I have had some interesting critters on the LR.

 

[rcreations]

Looking good!
I wouldn't do 2 cleaner shrimp because they get territorial. One would be good though. I think you can do a lot of corals like rics, mushrooms, zoas, xenias, different star polyps. Those are the corals I have in my little 30gal reef tank and it only has PC lighting and all these corals are doing great.

 

[kjr_trig]

Originally Posted by RCreations
http:///forum/post/2752220
Looking good!
I wouldn't do 2 cleaner shrimp because they get territorial. One would be good though. I think you can do a lot of corals like rics, mushrooms, zoas, xenias, different star polyps. Those are the corals I have in my little 30gal reef tank and it only has PC lighting and all these corals are doing great.
Copy that on the shrimp....I saw a guy with a Coral Banded and a Cleaner together in a 35...He was asking for trouble, yes?

 

[aquaknight]

I had a cleaner and a peppermint in my 29 for over 2 years without issue. I think they were different enough, the cleaner was out during the day and the peppermint was reclusive till the lights went out, but I haven't heard of cleaner shrimp getting terriotoral.

They usually will even breed in captivity, though I haven't had two in my experiences...

 

[subielover]

Looks nice, I like the tank itself. Are you gonna add anymore rock? I think you would be ok with two cleaners as well. Or you could get 2 fire shrimp, as they will perform a cleaner function as well as being better looking, IMO. Can't wait to see it stocked with some corals

 

[hefner413]

My 2 cleaners stick together - no problems with them - and I've had them for about a year. I added them together. I added a coral banded later on - is quite territorial - wherever he is, the cleaners run away.
Are you going to do an anemone for the clowns?
My fav of my CUC is my sally lightfoot - always out and very active.
And I would get a nice colorful clam if I were you... you probably would have to get some more light though. I love my 2 clams. Just make sure you get one over 2-2.5 inches. The smaller ones have a poor survival rate.
Also in regards to coral - I like frogspawn, anchor, etc in addition to the polyps... they wave with the flow of the tank and add dimension to the tank.

 

[kjr_trig]

Originally Posted by Hefner413
http:///forum/post/2752398
My 2 cleaners stick together - no problems with them - and I've had them for about a year. I added them together. I added a coral banded later on - is quite territorial - wherever he is, the cleaners run away.
Are you going to do an anemone for the clowns?
My fav of my CUC is my sally lightfoot - always out and very active.
And I would get a nice colorful clam if I were you... you probably would have to get some more light though. I love my 2 clams. Just make sure you get one over 2-2.5 inches. The smaller ones have a poor survival rate.
Also in regards to coral - I like frogspawn, anchor, etc in addition to the polyps... they wave with the flow of the tank and add dimension to the tank.
I don't know about the anemone...I thought they were rather tough to keep, and as I don't have the best light...Do you think I could Hef?
I agree and like the Sallylightfoot as well.

 

[hefner413]

I would say you would probably be fine with a condi, as they usually don't need as much light - but clowns won't host them. I have two purple condi's in my tank - they are nice in that they are cheap - usually $10 or less. A BTA would need more light. I would love a Rose BTA, but they are just so $$$.

 

[kjr_trig]

An update here are some pictures of the inhabitants.

 

[kjr_trig]

I probably will do a little more LR in there and then some additional corals, seems to be doing pretty well.....A few more.

 

[subielover]

Looks like it is coming along nicely. How about adding some nice duncans or acans

 

[t316]

Nice kjr. I like the arch/tunnel look. How about a Bangaii?

 

[nissan577]

really nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!! love it!!!!!!!!!!!! and as subie said try adding duncans and acans. they will make your tank amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[blazin2k6]

Your tank is looking great but i am no expert but now i am thinking this guy said he only has 30 watts of light on a 25 gallon tank. Thats like only 1 watt per gallon. I am no expert on acans or anything but i would think they would need to have at least 2 or 2.5 watts per gallon to keep them healthy. Because they do need some light and i dont think 30 watts is good enough for that deep of a tank. JMO. Everything is looking pretty good though. I have 2 nanos with acans in both but i think each tank has at least 3 watts per gallon. I am sure you could buy you a 18 inch light with 75 watts of light and you could have all kind of different corals then It would be really sweet.

 

[kjr_trig]

Thanks for the comments, I have been away a bit.
My 240 FOWLR is my main project, but it is pretty dialed in now, so I may throw some additional money into this tank to allow some more fun stuff. May do a 24inch 96 watt T-5 fixture, and a hang on protein skimmer. Any suggestions of which models to look at should I do so?