20 long AIO: Build day 5 Aquascaping

Finally the day has come to move everything from my 37 gallon reef to the newly constructed 20 gallon long all in one aquarium in my new apartment. The build was a great success and everything came out looking awesome. Unfortunately I was not able to get any pictures during the move or during the actual aquascape. These pictures were all taken a few hours after setting up all the equipment and adding all sand, rock and coral. Because I moved everything out of an established tank, there was risk of the tank cycling. However I am still monitoring all chem levels just to make sure.

Here you can see the full frontal shot of the tank. I used quite a lot of live rock which took up about 6 gallons of water space – currently the tank can only hold 14 gallons of water with everything inside.

One of the best things about this build was the fact that the full length of the tank would still be available. This shot is the first thing you see when you come up the stairs to the apartment.

The opposite side is a bit more cramped, but I was still able to fit a nice size rock and a few pieces of coral in this area of the aquarium. The anemone and its clownfish hosts are also on this side of the aquarium currently. They fill the space nicely so I hope they dont move.

This is my favorite part of the build. Here you can see the window to the refugium with chaeto and grape culpera macro algaes inside. Once the pod population starts to take off, there should be quite a lot to see inside. I also like the fact that I can see the chaeto growth progress and know when its time for a trim. This should be interesting to watch once the pod population starts to take off.

Closer look inside the refugium chamber of the 20 gallon long reef aquarium. I mentioned in the previous days post that I painted the inside of the refugium white so it would reflect light better in this small space – it worked, its pretty dang bright in there. This should produce some really efficient algae growth.

Im hoping that the green star polyp frag in this picture will grow out and cover the entire rock around the clam.

Here are some of my soft corals off to the side out of direct light. I have not decided yet if I want to keep the large zoanthid rock in the back as it takes up a ton of room and the colors are just not that great for the real estate it takes up. We shall see!

My oldest fish – the yellow watchman goby. He’s probably searching for the pistol shrimp, hopefully they meet up soon.

This zoanthid colony was a great find I picked up at local fish store for $40. It looks like there could be some eagle eye zoas in there along with some atomic greens toward the bottom right. Really love this rock and I’m hoping it will grow up the false wall.

Top view of the aquarium with the tubes reflecting. Looks pretty cool.

Sadly one of my scarlet cleaner shrimp did not make it through the move. I was setting up some rocks while this guy was cleaning my fingernails when the rock slipped and landed right on top of him. He was alive for a bit, but after getting caught in the current, he was dropped right into the tentacles of the anemone, where he met it ultimate demise. More pictures and video of this event can be found here: Green bubble tip anemone eating scarlet cleaner shrimp

Rare white claw hermit crab that is native to Florida. Local guys catch these and sell them to fish stores.

Finally a shot of the right side which is packed with coral. Most corals are just starting to open after the move including the super temperamental toadstool toward the back. That leather coral opening is a good sign that things are looking good in the reef.

This was a really fun build with some cool unique parts. I will update in future with the removable refugium light that will go on the window and the media rack that will be going into the middle chamber of the all in one.

I hope you all enjoyed the build as much as me – please let me know what you think! (comment below)

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61 Responses to “20 long AIO: Build day 5 Aquascaping”

1. Steven says:

   December 29, 2011 at 1:56 pm

   Hi, I’m new to reef aquariums and I’m wondering if you can explain your choice of equipment a little better. For example what is that black thing on the left side of the aquarium sticking out, and what type of heater did you use, and did it fit into one of the chambers somewhere or is it behind your rocks? Thanks, cool how to!