microbius's 14 uk gallon nano reef

[microbius]

Greetings all at TR,

This is my first saltwater tank it has been running for 6 months now its a simple glass 24x16x12 tank 14 uk gallons no sump or fuge

equipment is

d+d ro unit (i made the mistake off thinking i could get away using de-chlorinated tap water to begin with)
belkin ups power backup with 1 powerhead and heater atached. i tested it for 5 hours and it was still going strong as the heater only comes on about 10 mins an hour should run it for 12 hours+ easy(well worth the investment for my peace of mind)
2 aqua clear powerheads giving about x15 flow(with modified quick fiter atatchment for carbon and phosban. +filter floss while doing tank maintenance)
dual interpet 50/50 36w power compacts
jager 100w heater(temp stable at 80 never fluctuates more than 0.5 day or night)
cheap airlift skimmer(seems to work great please see pic comments on efficiency most welcome as i have no comparison to go by the pic is one days skim wont skim dryer)
9kg indonesian live rock off e bay(stunk bad when it arrived so had to cure)
2" deep 1mm coral sand substrate i replace a small amount of this every few months to keep it fresh i also vacuum it as part of each water change.
instant ocean salt

now for the inhabitants please bear in mind i do a weekly 25-35% water change
1 common clownfish
1yellow watchman goby
2 green chromis

cleanup crew
1 cleaner shrimp
4 assorted hermits
3 cerith snails
1 jumbo nassarius
2 trochus turbo
3 mexican turbo


corals
kenya tree +gsp +psp +2 mushrooms

im fighting a few stubborn areas of hair algea been there since the rock arrived but i think its coming under control slowly

a few pics (i love the pic of osiris the watchman goby beutiful markings)

[Amphibious]

Microbius, (love that handle, by the way)

Your SW tank and all the critters look great. Keep up the good work.

Dick

[Reefbaby]

You could raise your skimmer a bit by placing it on top of something in the sump. The skimmer skum looks a bit too liquid...you want to get a nice, dark, rank-smelling skimmate. Try to raise it to the point that your getting really small, thick bubbles that are making it to the skimmer overflow.

Also, looks like you might have a/some glass rose anemones in your tank (can see in picture with the chromids). These can quickly infest your tank if you don't get rid of them. If your shrimp don't take care of them, then you might want to consider getting some Joe's juice or something to get rid of those.

Otherwise, everything looks great! Beautiful tank!

[microbius]

many thanks amphibious and reef baby

no worries on glass anenomes reef baby thats a bit of out of focus hair algae? i think you can see
been lucky so far and had no nasty hitchikers other than the hair algae

[Reefbaby]

okay...good....glad to "see" that!

[microbius]

just a few more pics