10 month check in 18.5 Gallon Red Sea

[TheCanOpener]

Hey everyone,

Here’s a 10 month update on my Red Sea Desktop 18.5 gallon tank.

Some of the bigger changes so far:

• Brand new AI Prime. I wanted full spectrum again instead of being limited mostly to blue after some of the LEDs on my old light burned out.

• ReefBreeders ATO. The stock gravity fed ATO honestly worked great, but now I can run a 5 gallon jug and not have to think about top off nearly as often. Definitely a nice upgrade for stability and convenience.

• Coral. I went in for a Kenya tree and somehow left with 6 more corals shout out to Reef Shac.

What I picked up:
• Green Kenya tree
• Dragon Soul favia
• Pikachuz zoa
• Purple People Eater zoas
• Orange Oxide zoas
• Possibly Gatorade zoas
• One random super vibrant orange and pink zoa

Tank’s been coming along really nicely and I’m excited to see everything settle in and grow out.

 

[siege]

Needs more rock!

(and stone)

((rimshot))

Seriously tho... why so little rock?? There's not near enough habitat there if you're planning on adding anything much more than a pair of clowns, for one thing: no few fish - and inverts like shrimp - need coves and caves and tunnels and whatnot to hide in or claim as territory, and territorial fish like clowns may chase anything that gets near whatever piece of the tank they claim as home... and in that setup, there's nowhere for anybody to hide.

Adding more aquascape would not only create more fish and invertebrate habitat, but just plain more surface area, which means more places to put corals (and more access to higher lighting levels closer to the surface of the tank for more demanding corals, while leaving less bright - and even shaded! - areas for LPS and softies), and more habitat your microfauna, from copepods to amhipods, and even the bacteria that keep things in balance in your tank.

But! New rock has to cycle, too, don't forget, just like anything else you put in the tank. You won't reset or "undo" the tank's maturity, but you will have an impact on it, as all that surface area now has to go through its own maturation cycle, so, as ever, be mindful the more you do - especially in a smaller total water volume - the greater an impact it's going to have.

If you do wind up deciding to add new rock (and I do think you should), just don't add a whole bunch all at once willy-nilly - there are things that should be done first, and after, if you're going to add more than just a small piece or two at once, especially in a system as small and young as yours is. If you care, I'll be happy to provide more detail.