Tharsis' 25 gallon - A New Hope

Current FTS 10-17-12

 

So after losing all my fish and corals in a move across the country, I took a little break from reef keeping...but I am ready to give it another go.

Equipment:
25 gallon eclipse tank
Oddyssea T5HO fixture with DIY LED strip attached
Eschopps HOB overflow
DIY 20L sump
Remora skimmer
Rio 1100 return pump
jbj autotop-off

Fauna:
I plan on keeping mainly wrasses in this tank (will have to research this)
I plan on keeping mainly LPS

The tank has been cycling for a couple weeks now, starting to see some little signs of algae creeping in so hopefully I can progress to the next step soon.

Here are some pics of my light rig, I had this on my previous tank (20L) and it had some spotlighting issues but it seems to be much better suited for this taller tank.



Here is my scape:







And the sump:

This was my first attempt at adding baffling and I messed it up a bit, but it seems to be functioning well. I have a few bio balls on top, some filter floss, live rock, sponge on the left, a refugium in the middle, the skimmer and return pump on the right. The is also some more rock in the right side, mainly to prevent the waterfalling sound of the return from the skimmer. I also rigged a piece of plexiglass wrapped in polyfil to return some of the skimmer output back into the refugium. This creates some surface agitation in the refugium.

So it is a bit of a hodgepodge, and I realize that the design is a little off but it seems to work and I am not getting any bubbles in the main tank so I am happy with it.

 

Great looking rock work. Good luck with the tank.

 

Thanks John! I am happy to be back on track with another salty tank.

 

Yes very nice looking scap and sump.

Congrats on getting back into hobby.

 

OMG I was wondering about you yesterday, seriously! Soo good to see you're back and you came back strong!!

Its only 25G? Looks a lot bigger. Can I ask you for some sideshots?

Definitely following

 

I like your rock work, very nice. What else do you have going on there? Looks like a planted tank to the right of it...

 

Thanks Corailline and exactlyobp, glad to be back. I will take some pics of the side tonight and post them.

elwolfe good eye haha, I have some hissing cockroaches and a bearded dragon to the left and a planted paludarium on the right. The shelving goes the entire length of my basement so I am quietly turning it into a fish/critter room...I am trying to do it very slowly though so my wife doesn't notice.

Here are a couple pics of the right tank:





And here is a pic of the beardie taking a walk in the moss (he has an arid tank that he spends his days in, I just bring him over here everynow and again)...

 

Nice, thanks for the pics. That paludarium is cool, I've never seen one before... Good luck with the wifely subterfuge, LOL. Looking forward to seeing what the whole thing looks like when you get it all built.

 

So I have been trying to figure out what I want to stock this tank with...I was wanting to do some wrasses but from what I gather, more than one in a 25 gallon tank could pose some trouble.

Should I just stick with one peaceful reef safe wrasse and then find some other peaceful fish to go with it?

I want to avoid a clownfish as I want something different, any suggestions? Also I would like to have several of whatever I decide upon. I am guessing that I can stock fairly heavily with my set-up as I have a big sump and alot of rock.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...oh yeah and I will be getting some shrimp and an emerald crab as they are fun to watch.