Re-Vamped 2 Gallon

A few months back, my 2 gallon zoanthid tank that I'd had running for 6 months crashed due to a bad batch of caulerpa macro in the fuge. It was utterly depressing, but I didn't let it stop me from starting over.

Here are current specs:

*2 gallon Fluval Desktop Aquarium (filter media removed)
*Placed rubble rock and macro algae in the overflow, making it a fuge
*Added 11" Coralife light fixture with two T5 bulbs - one actinic and one 10k
*Inhabitants: one baby oscellaris clownfish measuring about half an inch long, one nassarius snail, one frilly limpet, one stomatella snail, one nerite snail, one cerith snail, one emerald crab, and one tiny blue-legged hermit.
*Coral: Supernatural monti, (red?) plating monti, pink torch coral, acan frag, fire and ice zoanthid mini colony, radioactive dragon eye zoanthid mini colony, blue and red zoanthid mini colony, Miami Vice paly colony, whammin' watermelon frag.

So here are a few pics of my re-vamped tank. I recently re-aquascaped, and am still moving a few things around, like some montis and what not. But since we're all picture whores here, I thought I'd give you all a little of what you like

Here's a FTS, taken tonight:



My baby clown, Goliath - isn't he soooo cute ^_^



Supernatural Monti



Fire and Ice mini colony



Purple Torch



There will definitely be more pics to come soon

Very cool little tank! I like your taste in corals

Thanks, spiny!

Beautiful display! I love nano's.

Thanks, I do too

Wow that's really cool! I always see these little setups in the shop but I'm afraid If I bring another tank home the missus might get rid of me in my sleep haha I love the look of yours I might have to take the risk and get one too lol

Are they considerably harder to maintain than a large volume tank? I have never tried nanno's, I love my 5 gallon guppy/mangrove tank. I look every day to see what color babies have shown up.

Originally Posted by trav trav

Wow that's really cool! I always see these little setups in the shop but I'm afraid If I bring another tank home the missus might get rid of me in my sleep haha I love the look of yours I might have to take the risk and get one too lol

Do it! Do it!! They're so fun, and they don't take up a lot of space! Does your missus have a desk? You could get one and tell her it's for her desk, so she has something pretty to look at

Originally Posted by Variko

Are they considerably harder to maintain than a large volume tank? I have never tried nanno's, I love my 5 gallon guppy/mangrove tank. I look every day to see what color babies have shown up.

In general yes, nanos are a lot harder to maintain than larger tanks, mostly because of fluctuation. Levels aren't affected as immediately in larger tanks as they are in smaller if something were to happen, like death. In a nano, the smaller it is, the more you have to keep on top of it, and the more it can go bye-bye in a matter of hours. The dying caulerpa I put in my 2 gallon a few months ago killed it overnight because of its small volume. If it were in a larger tank, there wouldn't have been as big an impact.

Plus, I have to do a water change about every 2-3 days because the water gets dirty quickly. Funny thing is, though, of all three of my tanks, this one is the most stable! Go figure!

Haha good idea

Haha good idea

I really like this tank. Very pleasing setup.

Originally Posted by chris&barb

I really like this tank. Very pleasing setup.

Thanks, Chris! I'm hoping to add get some GSP, maybe from a local reefer, to glue a small part to the back wall of the tank where it is bare. I think it would look snazzy

S'more pics of my critters ^_^

The stomatella:



My frilly limpet, a gift from another reefer I met at SeaMax (apparently, she has TONS of these living in her sump for her 350 gallon):



My small nassarius snail:



My tiny blue-legged hermit, who loves chillin on top of the monti (thanks Joanne, btw, for the frag! This is that plating one you gave me at Seamax - it's colored up nicely!):



And a funny happenstance tonight - my nassarius decided to hitch a ride on top of the horseshoe crab O_o Maybe he was giving him a hard time because it is the horseshoe's last night in the tiny tank!:



Tomorrow, I am hoping to take pics of my fuge set-up in the overflow portion of the tank. "Hoping" is the key word

Very nice

how do you like the horseshoe crab? Does it knock things over?

Originally Posted by rgrking

how do you like the horseshoe crab? Does it knock things over?

He's a character! And yes, he knocks stuff over all the time, but that's my fault, because he has little to no room. He is only temporarily in this tank until I get the levels in my larger FOWLR tank back on track. Then he is going in that one and will have lots more space to roam!

nice!! Its rebounding nicely.... Hehe

Awesome little 2 gallon, i almost bought one of those. This is making me want to take a second look.

Originally Posted by estanoche

nice!! Its rebounding nicely.... Hehe

Sure is, thank goodness! I'm so paranoid about this one crashing again, that I've been super attentive to it and spending a lot of time and effort maintaining it :P

Originally Posted by mgdmirage

Awesome little 2 gallon, i almost bought one of those. This is making me want to take a second look.

Thanks! It is the perfect tank/set-up for a mini-reef. I would definitely recommend giving it a shot!

Looks really nice I like the limpet.