20 gal high nano goby/ soft coral tank journal!

[herp_mommy]

Been absent for a bit here, some life happened and got in the way. But life got back in line and I'm setting up a tank again! It will be a pretty slow journal- because of finances- but it will hopefully be exciting. I don't own that much right now, but believe me I couldn't wait to set up an aquarium again. Got a good deal on a 20gal high combo, and today we're at the point of being ready for fish. The HOB filter is doing a good job at the flow right now, and I've had success using HOB filters for smaller reefs.

I was thinking about doing a soft coral (possibly ALL mushrooms?) and nano goby tank. Which make pretty nice pico tanks, but I'm curious as to how a few pairs of different nano gobies do in a 20gal high with lots of rock work.

I MIGHT add one or two larger fish... like a pigmy wrasse or something.

My LFS has a pair of flaming prawn gobies. Don't think they'll EVER be in the budget, but one can dream right? Realistically I was thinking of these species.

(might have some in pairs, some in trios or some single)

Gold neon Eviota gobies x2
Blue Neon Cleaner Goby x1
Yellow Line Cleaner goby x1
(have you seen the hybrid babies of these two, adorable am I right?)
Masked Goby x3
Red Head Goby x2
Greenbanded goby x4

I'm thinking this selection along with a bunch of soft corals... Either ALL mushrooms, ALL zoanthids, and maybe a leather or something. I want the coral to be there, but I really want the focus of this tank to be on the dynamics of the gobies.

There's a good bit of rock, and I don't anticipate the gobies to have too many issues. But for that reason, and financial reasons, I'll only be adding the species one at a time.

The white blob at the top of the rockscape on the left is a paper towel keeping the HOB filter level... didn't realize how bad it looks until now. haha

 

[Mattyfelts]

haha, no real advice but the scape looks great. I'm doing the same thing as your paper towel but im using a sharpie!

 

[herp_mommy]

haha, no real advice but the scape looks great. I'm doing the same thing as your paper towel but im using a sharpie!

ha! Somehow that little plastic piece got lost in transport.

 

[Mattyfelts]

ha! Somehow that little plastic piece got lost in transport.

mine too, they just dont fit snug. If i could find it i would superglue it in place but i dont think i ever will

 

[Macscale]

The hob filter post likely won't be enough flow for that size tank. Pick up a WP-10 if possible...

 

[Sniperhank]

The white blob at the top of the rockscape on the left is a paper towel keeping the HOB filter level... didn't realize how bad it looks until now. haha

Paint the back black and it doesn't matter what it looks like. How do you think I get away with all of my redneck reefing?

 

[herp_mommy]

Yeah I thought about a larger HOB or a small power head on the right. Might not paint the back black, but probably put black poster board on it.


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[CNew66]

Paint the back black and it doesn't matter what it looks like. How do you think I get away with all of my redneck reefing?

"Redneck reefing" I love it. Thought the same way, painted my tank black and everything. LOL

Sent from my C6730 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[carey]

welcome back!

I'm afraid with all that rock you might not get to see the tiny fish you plan on stocking! lol

That is alot of fish, even if they are small for that size tank. Just my opinion though, lol, but if you are up for the challenge then great.

Keep us posted.

 

[Autumnsky]

For the evening out of the HOB, on my 110, I used a chunk of foam board insulation like one puts on a cement wall in a basement for insulation, about 3/4 inch thick (found from a hike looking for DW it was laying on the edge of the river) Hard styrofoam would work as well. I just slid it up or down to get the right flow. Those little adjuster things on the bottom don't work all that well on larger heavier hobs.

Red neck reefing, lol.

Your rock work looks lovely! Welcome back. I have a similar kind of thing which is lower budget and soft types mostly and I have the Scooter Blenny, Baby Clown Goby and just got 2 young Saddleback Clowns which will be needing to move to a new tank pretty soon. 4 months in for me so far, took 3 months to get fish.

I will enjoy watching what you are going to do with your tank. Eager to learn all this.

 

[herp_mommy]

Update tiiiiiiime! I added a small powerhead, the flow seems to be good now... a kenya tree frag, and a GSP frag. A large chain petstore is going out of business here too... and I grabbed 6 250ml bottles of Seachem reef supplements (chemicals/ phyto & zoo plankton) for $28! My upcoming paycheck will be double what I was expecting- so yay! I'll be getting much more for the tank very soon.