Pic of my 10 gallon reef

[Dallascowboys16]

Hey guys. Just thought I would throw up a pic of my 10 gallon mixed reef that I've had going for a little over 2 years now. I'm pretty happy with how far this tank has come as my first and only foray into saltwater. I go for the low involvement approach with this tank and so far I can't say it's not working. This tank is pretty much on autopilot at this point and really brings me a lot of joy in seeing it mature. I'll give you the specs:

Tank: 10 Gallon tank
Filtration: Aquaclear 20
Dosing: None, just a 2 gallon water change every 2 weeks
Powerhead: Hydor Koralia 400
Lighting: AI Prime
ATO: Auto Aqua micro Automatic Top off (Awesome product for nano tanks)

Stocking: 1 snowflake clown, 2 hermits, 2 spiral top trochus snails, 1 pom pom crab, skunk cleaner shrimp

Corals: Frogspawn, hammer, duncan, Australian Acan, various zoanthids and palys, rhodactis mushrooms, pulsing Xenia, a few Monti caps, rainbow montipora, Seriatopora, and 2 rock flower anemones with a few baby nems they've spawned strewn about the tank.

 

[Sniperhank]

Things are looking like they are going swimmingly. How long have the SPS been in there? Has there been noticable growth?

 

[Dallascowboys16]

I’ve probably had the Seriatopora for about 6 months now, the rainbow monti for about 4 or 5 and the monti Caps and small acropra looking frag for around a month and a half. All of the small branches on top of the Seriatopora have grown since I added it to my tank. The rainbow Monti initially covered only about half its drag plug, but now it is grown off the plug and onto the rock work. The Monti caps and acropora have had slight growth since being in my tank. Nothing crazy, but I believe they are growing. All
Of them have healthy white growth tips and have good polyp extension from what I can tell! Believe it or not, the only corals I have ever had issues with in this tank are Zoanthids. I’ve had like 4 or 5 different zoo frags in this tank and 2 of the colonies exploded and have covered most of the rock work on the left side of the tank while the other 3 spread a little bit, but got progressively smaller until they just kinda disappeared... know any possible reasons behind this?

 

[bribo12]

The acro looking frag is actually montipora digitata. Nice looking tank! Looks very healthy

 

[Sniperhank]

Polyp corals can be finicky when it comes to alk level in the system. I usually go off of the statement of the more rare the zoa the more sensitive it will be. Some people just can't keep them because of that. Xenia can be the same way.

 

[coralbandit]

Very nice !
Well done.
It does seem your approach is working....

 

[agrasyuk]

Awesome .

Looking at those corals makes me want to wet my feet in salt water stuff. Maybe some day...

 

[Dallascowboys16]

The acro looking frag is actually montipora digitata. Nice looking tank! Looks very healthy

Awesome! Thank you! Im still kind of new to identifying SPS corals, but I'm starting to really with I had room for more of them.

Polyp corals can be finicky when it comes to alk level in the system. I usually go off of the statement of the more rare the zoa the more sensitive it will be. Some people just can't keep them because of that. Xenia can be the same way.

Ok, that sounds about right. The colonies that really took off are a little more basic than the ones that withered away back then. All I know is the colonies I have produce around 3 or 4 polyps every week as they grow up the rock work so I'll keep my fingers crossed that they continue to do well! I grow Xenia like a weed too. For a while it didn't really do much and then all of a sudden it exploded and I have it all over my tank now. I put the main frag towards the back and I'm going to sell it to my LFS because while I like it in small quantities it is becoming invasive.

Very nice !
Well done.
It does seem your approach is working....

The tank seems to think so too!

Awesome .

Looking at those corals makes me want to wet my feet in salt water stuff. Maybe some day...

Just do it. It's not as hard as people make it out to be. In my experience I have to put much more work into my planted tank than my reef. I'm also really lucky to have an incredible reef shop near my house that I've gotten most of my frags from for 10-20 bucks a pop. That made it a lot easier to fill up this tank with quality frags.

 

[dragonrider420]

Love the tank