18 gallon reef tank pictures

Ok so i got a reef tank for my bithday but it still needs alot of work to be where i would like it to be. I only have a few corals in the tank. When i got the tank it was already up and running for some years. It is 18 gallons with a 5 gallon refugium. Their is a 96watt PC lighting. no skimmer or filter. I am running the tank bare bones. I am unsure as to what else i can add in here. can ya guys give me some info or thoughts. Here are some pictures of the reef tank. sorry if they do not come out right i will repost the pictures.










So i hope you all enjoy the pictures and once again thank you for any info that you guys can share.

You definitely need a protein skimmer to remove organic waste from fish(nano skimmer), a small mechanical filter should be good(small penguin), The lights you got have your soft corals looking great. Nice xenia, button polyps and branching hammer.
Let me know if you need anything.

Great looking tank.

looks good

Looks amazing!!!!!!!

Nitty,

Thank you very much. I got the tank as a full set up. The guy who i got the tank from said the tank had been running for about 6 years with out any filters. I want to try to keep the tank running like it was sitting in the ocean. I have used the nano skimmer before and they never lasted very long. the motor on them only lasted 3 months. do you have a better brand to try? I would love to add just a few more things but i am not sure as to what i would like to add. also I am useing mircole mud in the ( i know i spelled it wrong ) refugium.

I use Oceanic biocube protein skimmers in all my small tanks. I have a 24nano dx, 12nano, and a 14 biocube.
The oceanic skimmers are I think 8" long. Do you have any type of koralia in there for water movement? If your close, I have lots of frags right now that would do great under PC's.

Nice tank!

Wow. Nice work here.

Nitty, I Live in Orange County, CA. I wish i was close that would be great to be able to share frags with people but not really any people here in OC, CA does that. as far as water movement the guy had it set up with some POS system but i am going to change that out with a wave maker and 2 power heads. There is no power heads in the tank and it looks super clean this way. I will have to check into those skimmers. I dont want anything to be seen in any way. I know I am being very picky but this is my 1st reef tank and want to keep it looking super clean looking.

my next step is to install the LED when i order them and to find a nice online store to order from but i have heard such bad things about it so i am unsure as if i would ever order online or not.
Thank you to everyone who has left comments on the pictures.

Miller

ok so is everyone ready to laugh at me. I was moving some rock around and i found a freakin mushroom in my tank. my god what a total find lol. I am finding new things all the time in this tank. thought everyone would get a kick out this.

Miller09

Mushrooms multiply pretty often under PC's.

i know im pretty late here but.....wat are pcs???

pcs are power compacts.

looks really good

and wat exactly is a power compact? lol

alkomist wrote:

and wat exactly is a power compact? lol

Power compacts are a form of high output lighting that are often used in reef tanks to put out a lot of light without taking up a lot of room and without using tons of electricity. In reef tanks it is most common to find either PCs (power compacts), MH (Metal Halides), T5s, or LED lighting. Or you can find a combination of two, three or all four. There are pros and cons to each of them and most are a lot more expensive than your standard florescent strip lighting system.

ooooohhhhhh......thanx for clearing that up for me fishy-friend!!!!
lol
thanx!

of course nitty forgot to mention T5 High Output lighting LOL

have you added anything else to ur 18G?????
would love to see more pics of it!! it looks great!!:)