My first reef tank: RedSea MAX Nano G2 XL

[slobodan]

Hey everyone!

I have been reading this forum for 3-4 months now. But it's time to show my first reef tank.

A background story:
Having a reef tank wasn't a big plan for me. As a kid, I had a freshwater aquarium, and I thought about getting a smaller one for a while. But then we visited Palma Aquarium in Mallorca in September (we go to aquariums whenever we travel), and I joked with my 3-year-old son that we should get Nemo (of course) at home. But you know what they say: "There's a grain of truth in every joke." (or is it "There's a grain of joke in every joke?")

I began my research in early September, and, as you all know, it's a rabbit hole. The idea was to build a tank that could run for 10-15 days without anyone at home (we like to travel when we can). Reaching this goal is still challenging because reef tanks are not so common in my area (Belgrade, Serbia). But with help from some awesome people (and Claude and ChatGPT, of course), my tank has been running for 48 days.

Current tank
[Warning: I know I don't really need all these things for a nano tank]

Equipment:

• Red Sea MAX Nano G2 XL (125l, 111l display tank) with 3-in-1 ReefATO+
• Red Sea ReefDose 4 doser
• Kamoer ReefMaster SPA

I am still waiting for a few things to arrive, including NanoMat, Vortech Mp10 with a battery backup, RedSea Slide-out control panel, etc.

Rocks and sand:

• 10kg of rocks initially, but then I added 2.2kg of live rock from someone's aquarium
• Two bags of CaribSea Ocean Direct sand initially (~5kg), and I added one more bag later.

I have 2 clowns, 4 Trochus Histrio snails, and 1 Nassarius Distortus snail. I also saw 1 weird snail that came with live rocks (looks like Stomatella snail) and 2 tiny snails similar to Trochus snails in the past week or so.

I have added some initial corals. On day 35, I added the following:

• Calustrea - blue candy 2 heads
• Kenya tree ~15cm
• Sinularia dura green ~5cm
• Daisy ~3cm
• Green Star Polyp small frag
• Sympodium small frag
• Superman mushroom small frag

And then the following on day 43:

• Euphyllia Paraancora Gold
• Pink Ricordea mushroom
• Orange Ricordea Mushroom (very small frag)

I adjusted the lights a bit when I added the first batch of corals (by recommendation).

I am dosing 2.5ml of RedSea NO3O4-X and 2ml of RedSea Reef Energy Plus daily. And I'll start dosing the 4-part Complete Reef Care next week (as soon as it arrives).

I made a big mistake when I added clowns: we overfed them, so Nitrites increased to ~5mg/l. I noticed the problem because the water got dirtier, and diatoms started blooming. It took me a while to take them back to 0 and put everything under control (I added 3 pieces of live rocks, dosed more RedSea Nitro Bac and BioDigest ProdiBio, and did many 5-10% water changes).

Params seem stable now. They are at:

• Nitrite 0
• Nitrate 3-4
• PO4 0.02
• KH 8.3-8.6
• Ca 410
• Mg 1200
• Salinity 34-35
• Temperature 26.7-27.1 C

I keep a detailed log from day 1 that includes measurements, supplements, and my notes (about actions, issues, concerns, etc.).

That's it for now. We have not been home for 2-3 days now (we'll get in a few days), but I still need to figure out how to automate feeding because the return pump takes all the mini pellets to the overflow filter very fast when I use Eheim autofeeder. I am considering updating the pump to control it remotely and picking a better auto feeder.

A few photos are attached. And that's all folks.

 

[Tahoe61]

Hi and Welcome to R2R.

Looks like a great start.

 

[MySoCalReef]

Wow, looks amazing. How is it coming along? We started our tanks around the same time.

 

[slobodan]

@MySoCalReef thanks! It’s progressing well so far. I added more fish, shrimp, and corals in the meantime. I also (unintentionally, with live rocks) added some aiptasia, but I managed to remove it (visible ones at least) using Aiptasia-X (3 small ones) and peppermint shrimp (remaining 2 larger aiptasias). I also had some issues with the water level, so I am considering upgrading the return pump (Sicce Synchra 3.5 is currently the main candidate, as the space is limited). I added a wave maker (VorTech MP10), which helped with Euphyllia corals.

Currently, I have:

Fish:
- 2 clowns
- Bicolor blenny
- Watchman goby
- Royal Gramma

Shrimps:
- Skunk cleaner shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis)
- Red Pistol Shrimp (Alpheus bisincisus)
- Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni)

Corals:
- Euphyllia paraancora gold and pink
- Calustrea Candy Cane
- 3 frags of acans
- One favia
- 4 frags of zoas
- GSP (now on the back glass)
- 2 types of Xenia corals (Sympodium and one other brown Xenia)
- Daisy
- Kenya tree
- Sinularia dura green
- 3 mushrooms (2 x ricordea and one discosoma)

My first torch and 2 SPS frags are arriving in a day or two.

I’ll try to upload a few better photos tomorrow.

How is your tank progressing?

 

[MySoCalReef]

Looks amazing! I can’t wait to start adding coral.

What have you been dosing so far?

You mentioned you are considering a different auto feeder. I ordered a Plank from Avast Marine and have heard really good things. I think it would help with your issue because it soaks the food before dumping it in. It would go into the water column instead of floating on top. It requires two plugs with timers though. I just ordered the Apex Jr and an EB4 to be able to control it (and I will use it to add a shutoff for the heaters in case they get stuck on).

My tank is going really well. I have 2 clowns, a striped Blenny, a Helfrichi firefish, and a Laboute Wrasse so far. I have a bunch of snails and a tuxedo urchin. I’m waiting for some more snails to arrive, along with 25 blue leg hermit crabs. I feel like I’ve been keeping the parameters pretty stable and am looking forward to adding corals, but I’ve spent a ton of money already and want to make sure the tank is ready. I didn’t add any live rock or sand, it’s all Premium Shelf Marco Rock and special grade aragonite (dead) sand. I need to post an update on my tank thread too.

 

[MySoCalReef]

The royal gramma and bi color Blenny color combo is really cool. Also, how do you like the watchman goby w/ the shrimp? My next fish will either be that or a Diamond goby, but I haven’t decided which yet.

 

[slobodan]

@MySoCalReef sorry for the delayed reply; something was wrong with my bicolor blenny. It seems it got flukes, but it’s under control now (or at least I hope so, all fish look normal).

The Plank looks great, but I can't get it in Europe (I can, but shipping would cost more than the auto-feeder ). I’ll get it next time I go to the US.

Helfrichi firefish is beautiful! I would love to see some photos. I am planning to try to get it next in a few months.

The watchman goby and pistol shrimp combination is interesting, but I only see the shrimp during feeding time. Also, goby is not the most active fish. I like Bicolor Blenny's behavior. It's active and a bit crazy

 

[slobodan]

I few better photos:

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I few better photos:

Very nice photos! What are you using to take photos?

 

[slobodan]

Thanks! It’s an iPhone with the Mantis Aquarium lens filter kit, and I used the Flipper magnifier for a few of these photos. I guess it would be better to temporarily increase the white lights. I’ll try that at some point.

 

[slobodan]

Increasing white lights while taking photos definitely helps: