- Location
- williamsburg
1.5 Gallon Pico Reef
Deep Blue 1.5 gallon 12x6x6 Tank, similar to aga 2.5 but 2 inches shorter with a canaopy to reduce evaporation and protect light with 2 inch gap for the hob filter
Exo Terra Nano Canopy
Zoo Med Reef Sun 50/50 Compact Flourescent 10w 6500k trichromatic daylight phosphor and actinic 420 phosphor
Deep Blue Biomaxx Nano with coarse black filter sponge
Cascade 20 floss/carbon filter cartridges as needed
4 inch fan
Instant Ocean Reef Crystals
Daily top off, Weekly Water Change,
3 zoanthids, 1 duncan, blue leg hermit, red macro algae, many pods and micro inverts and worms
This is definitely an unorthodox tank but no two tanks are alike. A few years ago a started a 2.5 gallon ago reef with hob filter with crushed coral and coarse black filter pad, crabs, snail, and some zoas. Eventually I upgraded this to a 5 gallon added a big button polyp. Then at the end of last year I was moving around a lot and couldn?t look after her like she needed so I broke it down, saved the smaller pieces of live rock and put them in this 1.5 gallon deep blue tank I use to grow java fern and moss in. This build is a Frankenstein tank as I repurposed the light canopy from a nano terrarium I kept. The zoo med reef sun bulbs are great because they are standard screw in compacts. I used two when I ran a 5 gallon but for this short short tank one seems to be plenty. I slowly got this super tiny tank running. A couple months ago I cleaned up the tank added sand seeded with the old tanks sand and crushed coral and got a tiny blue leg hermit to start things off. A month ago I added the zoanthids and the red macro algae. The tank was progressing nicely, coralline beginning to encrust the rock again, the macro algae has controlled any red slime and I glued the frags to my live rock. It needed a showpiece so a week ago I went to Coral Theory, which I recently learned was right in my neighborhood. The guys there were awesome and fragged a single duncan head for me on the spot. I want to leave a lot of room for growth in such a small space. I cant wait for the Duncan to grow and really become the king of the tank, although right now my blue leg hermit thinks he runs the show.
I am wondering if I should feed the tank, I am sure the Duncan would respond well and maybe it could help the zoas take over their rocks. I worry about it just polluting the water and hurting my corals though, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I am thinking maybe a single sexy shrimp could enable me to feed the tank and not worry about too much uneaten food, Im sure my hermit and one of those could clean up and I would hope the sexy would take shelter under my Duncan polyps.
Is feeding a bad idea, will a sexy shrimp hurt my zoanthids is such a tight space. And with daily top offs and and the tank temperature always at risk (althought I monitor it heavily and the fan works wells) would a sexy shrimp be ok?
