and the reef building begins

my new coral today - Zoanthus Polyps mega red

and a few shots of it in place

Are you drifting away from Koi then???

to be honest G i don't know.... koi have been a consuming passion for me for a long time but i have reached the point where space is limiting my hobby. I want a bigger pond but can't and the challenge is no longer there. I will never be able to achieve what I want so I needed something to divert my attention so i returned to marines - the challenge...to build and maintain a reef in 20 gallons of water

Great challenge and you seem to be doing well.I know nothing about marine.Do the corals just appear when the water is right.

Looking great.

We all need a challenge!

Yes some corals/ polyps etc will appear out of the live rock and start colonising as will all sorts of critters (crabs, starfish, shrimps)- other than that you have to buy your corals either as whole colony or as a frag which is a bit cut off and creating a new colony - a bit like gardening really

Its looking great Rich! So these red polyps they are live I take it? ( stupid question i know).

If they are do they spread so it will cover the whole area?

Yes they are live and are called Zoanthus Polyps. They will over time spread out over neighbouring rock work and will require cutting back (fragging)to control them...so if anyone is thinking of getting into nano reefs there is a freebie straight away!

looking good rich

Updated pic of the budding reef with new toadstool coral (back left), rearranged zoas to make a zoa tower
Just have to figure out how to stop glare on the front of the aquarium when taking pics

ONE MONTH ON[u]

Richard

Looking great.Can`t really get my head round this...has it all just appeared now your water is good.Looks amazing!

it is a mixture really...a lot of things appear and grow out of the live rock and some are bought as frags(cuttings) and others as colonies
Apart from the corals I have now spotted two star fish, several shrimps, killed a few zoa spiders (nasties) and a crab.
It is hard to get a grip of where all the extra inhabitants are coming from but keeps me entertained - on average I find something new each day

Amazing how quickly it has come to life, is it real coral or seeded from a real reef ?

the corals from the live rock are from nature...nowadays most corals are cultivated -multi million $ industry and to be honest i would not buy a coral that had been taken from the wild

I made enquiries at an aquatic place near to me and they said the same thing, they dont do them yet but I do know they are packing in the koi side so maybe they will start doing the marines.

there is a big culture of hobbyists out there who frag their own specimens and sell on - usually overnight post...well worth it because they grow pretty quick so a frag for a fiver soon becomes a colony for £30 in a shop

Alot cheaper than koi and quicker results to see, I can see why people are going this way.

not to mention weather resistant, less problematic, no inflated prices because of name and very cheap to run....so far in four weeks it has cost just under £3 (lights, heater,protein skimmer, 5 power heads)
go on chrissy you know you want to lol
I am really enjoying my journey into reef keeping

I know where I am with koi after years of learning and getting my system running to my liking with minimal maintenance. So to take on a new learning curve to keep it healthy is a daunting process at the moment.

you would be surprised how simple it really is - the only thing I am struggling with at the moment are the classifications of corals - what is a soft coral, hard coral, small polyp stony or large polyp stony coral. But I am getting there, even contemplating another nano reef system!

Its very pretty to look at. I would love one. The colour of the reef looks more purple (my favourite colour) underwater.

There's an aquatics shop near me that has a great display of marine life out the back in a seperate room. He had some cute sea horses too but they got snapped up really quickly.

well done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gEnW1TU0n8


Came across this reef on you tube which looks great

a bit of furniture moving

Probably the last view of the Nano (a little video)


no not giving up...the bug has bitten deep and I am about to start work on my latest project with a reef in a 6ft x 2ft x 2ft tank

Thats amazing how the video really brings it to life lol I know that sounds corny but it is so much better in video than just a picture.

So you moving on to the bigger stuff with a huge tank by the sounds of it. You will still look in now and again and keep us updated.

That is of course if we are still here