20 Gallon Reef Tank - updated 10/06/05 - Tank is 2 years, 1 month old.

Front View of tank.

Corals from left to right:

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Some Yellow Polyps (Parazoanthus gracilis)

A monster Branching Hammer coral that has grown too large and needs to be broken up more and given away.

Red Mushroom corals and other mushroom coral species

Brown-Green Acropora (top center), grows fast, not sure what species

Some Sea Mat (Palythoa sp.) - brown green polyps at dead center

Green Star Polyps

Frogspawn coral (with Tomato Clown inside)

More Sea Mat (Palythoa sp.)

Candycane coral

Some Green Button Polyps, Zoanthus spp. here and there (they are getting squeezed out)

Fish: (Nothing has been added for at least 16 months)

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There are just two fish, a small Tomato Clown (Amphiprion frenatus), and a full sized Royal Gramma (Gramma loreto)

Other Critters:

There is a large brittle star deep in the reef, at least 26 inches from tip to tip. Some white tentacles can be seen in the above picture

A couple of hermit crabs and a dozen or so various snail species.

Deaths:

2 real nice Red Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, had them for almost 2 years, unknown demise about a month apart, bodies never seen.

A big Emerald crab originally purchased to eat bubble algae

2 big beautiful Hawaiian feather duster worms (they lasted for a while but then got smaller and disappeared.

Lots of hermits and snails have disappeared, lots of empty shells laying about.

Future critters:

I am thinking of buying a pair of Blood Red Fire Shrimp

A type of goby or pair of smaller goby

More hermits, and more sand dwellings snails

Some pictures

Left side of the tank. Lots of mushroom corals, yellow polyps and a monster Branching Hammer coral

Right side of the tank showing the Candycane coral, Frogspawn coral, Zoo polyps and Green Star polyp corals.

The clown fish inside the Frogspawn coral. He is always hiding here and only comes out for food.

A center view showing my Royal Gramma fish, he is the purple thing directly in the middle, he has other perches and is hard to photo when in the open.

Some history:

Here is what the tank looked like 2 years ago when it was about a month old. The Branching Hammer coral was just added. It had one head.

Here is the tank at around one year old. All my corals were growing like crazy. There was a SQWD device at this time pushing strong alternating currents, it died after about 6 months of use, I have not used one since and growth has slowed. I liked my Feather Dusters worms I had. The branching coral was starting to take off with 10-12 heads.

A picture taken of the Refugium underneath when the tank was about 4 months old (and I cared what it looked like). Contains a couple of hermits, a handfull of snails, lots of various macro algae and a giant brown-lavender brittle star.

Here is how the refugium looks now with neglected glass and rock structure. Most of the nicer looking macro has died out. A large part of the spaghetti algae and grape macro algae is discarded every few months.  The fuge is still swarming with pods and worms and tons of tiny red feather duster worms. I think the hermits are still in there as I see one from time to time. Over the last 6 months or so I have had an explosion of small limpets. The brittle star is what shapes the sand, he's a weird animal.

        Current tank info:

        20 gallon acrylic aquarium

        10 Gallon aquarium as sump/algae refugium

        Coralife dual 65 watt power compact lights (Coralife 50/50 bulbs)

        Two 9 watt atinic blue power compacts retrofitted into the Colralife canopy.

        Two 15 watt NO lights in refugium (one Coralife Powerglo tube, one Home Depot plant/aquarium tube)

        CPR Backpack skimmer (runs 24/7)

        Medical pump Kalk dosing as top-off water at a rate between 50-80 ml per hour (runs 24/7 - I change depending on evaporation rates)

        EboYager 150 watt heater in sump/refugium

        Submursible pump in sump/refugium and overflow box in main aquarium, Home made PVC and flexible tube plumbing

        Maintenance schedule:

        Water changes monthly, about 12-15% of the water is removed and replaced with Catalina Ocean Water

        Kalkwater mixed weekly (I use Kent Kalkwasser and R/O water purchased at a Glacier machine near me that is serviced well)

        Feed once a day, usually later about 2 hours before lights out

        I dose Coralvite once in a while

        I dose Iodine every once in a while

        I check the PH and Temp daily and Salinity before water changing

        Other tests, like Nitrate gets checked only when something looks wrong or bad (last Nitrate reading was a month ago and was .5-1.0 ppm)

        Remove excess macro algae from the refugium

        Light schedue:

        dawn/dusk dual 9 watt actinics come on at 10:00am

        first 65 watt 50/50 power compact comes on at 11:00am

        second 65 watt 50/50 power compact comes on at 12:00pm (noon)

        second 65 watt 50/50 power compact turns off at 10:00pm

        first 65 watt 50/50 power compact turns off at 11:00pm

        dusk/dawn dual 9 watt actinics turn off at 12:00am (midnight)

        refugium lights come on at 10:00pm

        refugium lights come off at 12:00pm (noon)