Chucktown 20H - SPS Dominant

[divecj5]

It may take me a bit to comb back through all of my pictures so hold tight, there will be plenty of pictures to come.

Just to get things kicked off, a little background about myself. I've been reefing now since 2005. Ever since I was waist high to a grasshopper, I have always wanted to keep a saltwater tank. Although my original plan was to setup just a fish only with live rock tank, I joined RC and quickly got sucked into wanting to keep some simple coral as well. Long story short, I setup a 55g and kept a variety of Acans and other LPS, as well as some Z's and P's. I ended up getting vermitid snails that ended up covering every single inch of every rock in my tank. It got so bad in the end, that I was spending on average a couple of hours each week trying to chip them off the rock, back wall, and out from the inside of the skimmer. The hobby really stopped being fun.

I knew I wanted to start fresh so I started thinking about setting up a smaller tank. I settled on a BioCube 29 and kept that for a little over 19 months. Great tank, had a lot of fun learning more about the hobby and really honing my skills with keeping a smaller, more self-contained system. Jumped into SPS but it was mainly a mixed reef. After the first year, I started noticing some Neomeris popping up in a little patch of rock. They were colorful and I was told that they wouldn't spread so I just trimmed the stalks back when needed. Well, needless to say, the people were wrong as I suspected. When I finally took down the 29, once again, every single inch of rock, backwall, and back chambers were covered in little green Neomeris stalks.

Honestly, I was getting ready to toss in the towel at that point and just quit the hobby all together. I decided to stick it out due to a couple of local reefers and my wife asking why in the world I would stop.

That brings us to my current tank. Here are all of the specs -

• Standard AGA 20H
• 100% EcoRox from Bulk Reef Supply (NO NUISANCE PESTS)
• 24" Aquatinics TX5 fixture
• MP20
• Aqua-C Remora HOB Skimmer

Livestock includes:

• 2 False Percs (had since the 55g)
• 1 Purple Firefish

Coral:

• Icefire Echinata
• Bruddah's Original Superman
• Sunset Monti
• Idaho Grape Monti Cap
• Orange Monti Cap
• Green w/blue Polyp Monti Cap
• FNF Red Bug Monti
• Green Slimer
• Green Poccilipora
• Tyree Bonsai
• Tyree Tri-color Acro
• ORA Red Planet
• ORA Cali Tort
• ORA Joe the Coral
• Green Acro Vermiculata
• Green Deepwater Acro
• Couple of Acans
• Green Favia
• Hollywood Stunner Chalice
• Pink Chalice
• Pink Lemonade

And to make sure I don't start off without a pic, here is a recent topdown of the tank.



I'll be posting more pictures later today.

-Adam

[jimsflies]

Wow - Adam, I am already liking your tank. I love smaller tanks. I can tell this thread will be fun.

[schminksbro]

We are a friendly community. You can't just tease us like that!

Looks awsome man, I look forward to more pics.

[igot2gats]

Yeah, c'mon, man....no FTS?!?!?! Top downs don't count. :D

We like dem SPS over yonder - this thread will def be a hit.

Keep us posted - looks fantastic.

[divecj5]

Thanks for the warm welcome and sorry for the one picture tease (only could sneak in a few seconds on here while at work )

Here are a couple of additional shots of individual pieces that I have as well as the all important FTS.

Aquascene Icefire Echinata


FNF Acan Frags




Superman Monti


Washed out FTS...need to grab a more recent one SOON


Enjoy

-Adam

[Mike]

Awsome job on this tank!!! I am having a hard time believing it is a 20H from the pics

[ReeferRob]

Originally Posted by Mike

Awsome job on this tank!!! I am having a hard time believing it is a 20H from the pics

I know right! Adams tank is the shizz!
The one problem I see is that he has too many corals I don't have or want

[Mike]

It is seriously impressive. I just converted my frag tank into a Zoa tank for now (until I get a proper display for them) and this tank is proof that it does not have to be huge to be sweet looking!!!!

[divecj5]

Originally Posted by Mike

Awsome job on this tank!!! I am having a hard time believing it is a 20H from the pics

Thanks Mike. I get that same response a lot. Like with past tanks, I started out with just simply too much rock. It's great to have a lot of rock as it offers places for corals to be placed and grow but it can make a HUGE tank look teeny tiny. I removed a pretty good size rock on the right side of the tank a couple of months ago and it made the biggest difference.

I still find aquascaping to be one of the most challenging things in reefing.

Originally Posted by ReeferRob

I know right! Adams tank is the shizz!
The one problem I see is that he has too many corals I don't have or want

Haha....I'm always up for sharing Rob. Give it another month and I should have plenty of frags to trade/sell/whatever.

Originally Posted by Mike

It is seriously impressive. I just converted my frag tank into a Zoa tank for now (until I get a proper display for them) and this tank is proof that it does not have to be huge to be sweet looking!!!!

You know what they say, good things come in small packages :D I actually find the smaller tank I have, the more I pay attention to details. Also, with a smaller water volume, it forces me to stay on top of things like dosing, water changes, etc.

Glad you guys are enjoying it.

[jimsflies]

The proportions are perfectly done. It gives the impression it is much larger than it is. Very zen...nicely done!