So, I’ve had this 5 gal tank running for a couple years now. I’ve kept duncan, hammer, scoly, garf bonsai, a couple different montis, blastos, favites, and a number of other things in this tank. It is really a testament to the hardiness of some corals. I don’t have an ATO, I don’t dose, I don’t WC often, the heater is unreliable and often out of range. But, I’ve lost less corals in here than my main tank lol. That being said, as of late a few of the stony corals have been less than happy(probably for good reason). I’ve moved the hammer, scoly, and what might be a baby torch that hitchhiked on a zoa frag into the main tank to nurse them back to health. I had a mini crash and my monti and garf bonsai ended up dying, which has caused some sort of bacteria/algae bloom and necessitated some extra intervention on my part.
I don’t think I can keep this up forever, the tank will eventually decline without any real care and I’d rather transition the tank to something lower maintenance before losing more coral. On one hand, I might just take the stony corals out and go with a number of softies. On the other hand, I think it might be fun to have a pest tank with a variety of anemones(Majano, aips, etc.) along with whatever else might be somewhat visually appealing and impossible to kill. I have some aiptasia, I have xenia, but I’m not sure how I could source some other interesting inhabitants. On the other hand, I’m curious how a bta or other nem would do in a smaller tank. It’s well established and somehow, without any WCs or anything, always has zero phos or nitrate, so I wonder what non-alk-consuming critters I could get away with. If anyone has some interesting ideas on what to do with this tank, please chime in! I could go a number of ways with this right now.
I don’t have any recent pics, but here are some photos at various stages in the tank’s like
I don’t think I can keep this up forever, the tank will eventually decline without any real care and I’d rather transition the tank to something lower maintenance before losing more coral. On one hand, I might just take the stony corals out and go with a number of softies. On the other hand, I think it might be fun to have a pest tank with a variety of anemones(Majano, aips, etc.) along with whatever else might be somewhat visually appealing and impossible to kill. I have some aiptasia, I have xenia, but I’m not sure how I could source some other interesting inhabitants. On the other hand, I’m curious how a bta or other nem would do in a smaller tank. It’s well established and somehow, without any WCs or anything, always has zero phos or nitrate, so I wonder what non-alk-consuming critters I could get away with. If anyone has some interesting ideas on what to do with this tank, please chime in! I could go a number of ways with this right now.
I don’t have any recent pics, but here are some photos at various stages in the tank’s like
