# Victor's 6g Tiny Reef



## darthvictor

*Current FTS:*









I have just started my first salt water tank with the Edge on last sunday Dec 11 2011. 

Got 6 lb of dry marco rocks, 1lb of liverock, 6 lb of sand. There goes the sand storm and the waiting game of cycling...

*Filter & flow:*
2 x Koralia Evolution 240
Fluval stock filter

*Lighting:*
2 x Ecopico LED blue & white
1 x Panorama Pro 445nm Royal Blue & Magenta

*Heater*
Jager 50 Watt

*Livestock*
Yellow Clown Goby
Blue Reef Chromis(Jumped)

3 Snails

*Coral*

•SPS
Orange Montipora cap

•LPS
Nero Green Torch
Purple Tip Frogspawn
Nero Green Bubble
Christmas Favia
Cyan & Orange Acan

•Soft Coral
Different types of Zoas: pink, red, orange, eagle eyes. 
Pink Pulsing Xenia, Pom Pom Xenia
Red mushroom
Blue mushrooms
Ricordea: Blue, Orange, Green, Multicolor

2013-12-11









2012-05-30









2012-01-08


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## altcharacter

very nice start!! If you're interested I have a couple aquamedics 14k MR11 bulbs that would be perfect for your setup.

Good luck with the tank!!


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## darthvictor

altcharacter said:


> very nice start!! If you're interested I have a couple aquamedics 14k MR11 bulbs that would be perfect for your setup.
> 
> Good luck with the tank!!


Thanks!

I thought the aquamedics 14k are MR16 bulbs. anyways I find they are too "spotlight" for my taste, which is why I've got the MR11 wide angle blub to replace the stock blub


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## altcharacter

if you take out the optics they work pretty awesome on a small tank


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## sig

It is very nice, but since I am a "bad person", i suggest until it not very late to change tank to normal (if this tank with the closed top).
You will have enormous problems to maintain this tank. IMO

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## altcharacter

very bad man!! =P


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## Ciddian

oohh the delight of a tiny tank... I was drawn to this as well not not with a fluval edge! Sure looks pretty ^^


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## pat3612

Oh that looks so nice good job now I want one lol


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## darthvictor

sig said:


> It is very nice, but since I am a "bad person", i suggest until it not very late to change tank to normal (if this tank with the closed top).
> You will have enormous problems to maintain this tank. IMO


Haha You are a bad person as I have already faced several problems since setup  first hard to do the aquarscape, then hard to clean/vuccum sand,... need to take water out first before putting my hand/or anything in... the list goes on 

Thanks for all the kind words, I still encounter some of the algae issue as you see the rocks has thin green where it get light the most (center area), you guys think getting some Chaeto is a good idea?


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## altcharacter

Getting a new tank is a good idea. I've seen a few setups with the tank you're running and everyone runs into the same problems and eventually gets a different tank anyways =P

As for the algae, pretty sure a cuc would take care of that but I think Alex had the same problem. You might want to ask him what he did


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## darthvictor

Actually I have no idea if I have enough CUC in this tank, I only have 3 snails and 2 Hermits, one of my snails like to stay under the sand and now I have no way of finding it XD

Sadly, I am living in a condo unit, so space is very limited...


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## sig

darthvictor said:


> Sadly, I am living in a condo unit, so space is very limited...


I just do not get. You know ahead that you will not be able to maintain this tank properly and I am telling you that in few months you will give up and will switch to another tank or just trow all SW stuff out.

And you continue anyway 

10G regular tank will have almost the same footprint

Sorry Man, I am not planning to offend you with my comments

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## darthvictor

I totally understand your points, just that it is too late to return all those and the tank go with style in my condo. So I just have to keep going and put more effort to maintain it  that's what I willing to commit when I choose this tank other than the normal tank

I do thank you for pointing out and don't think there is any offend at all 



sig said:


> I just do not get. You know ahead that you will not be able to maintain this tank properly and I am telling you that in few months you will give up and will switch to another tank or just trow all SW stuff out.
> 
> And you continue anyway
> 
> 10G regular tank will have almost the same footprint
> 
> Sorry Man, I am not planning to offend you with my comments


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## darthvictor

Added some Xenia coral, love watching them pulsing


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## altcharacter

that xenia will own your aquarium in a month =)


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## Ciddian

Love that Xenia too


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## darthvictor

altcharacter said:


> that xenia will own your aquarium in a month =)


Haha Yea I heard, they either melt or they grow like a weed; that's why I am thinking putting them on their own rock and at the top area of the tank as they grow towards the light


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## altcharacter

Put it in the sand near the base of one of your rocks and watch it "walk" to the top over a couple weeks. It will crawl its way up and leave little pieces of itself as it goes. Next thing you know you'll have a whole forest of them.

Atleast that's what happened in my tank.


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## darthvictor

*Current FTS:*


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## darthvictor

Got some more frags


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## Kooka

Kewl, looks bigger than a 6 gallon tank! Very nicely done.


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## manmadecorals

I love how in every picture, the Thermometer keeps changing location lol


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## darthvictor

manhtu said:


> I love how in every picture, the Thermometer keeps changing location lol


LOL yes and now it is gone, can't bear to see it around!


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## manmadecorals

darthvictor said:


> LOL yes and now it is gone, can't bear to see it around!


LOL I'm still trying to figure out where to put mine...


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## Kooka

Good job on keeping the sand so clean, I have 2 turbo snails and they literally leave a shiesterload of snail poo all over the place. BTW, what happened to your clowns? I wonder how well 2 of them would do in only a 6 gallon without a skimmer.


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## darthvictor

Kooka said:


> Good job on keeping the sand so clean, I have 2 turbo snails and they literally leave a shiesterload of snail poo all over the place. BTW, what happened to your clowns? I wonder how well 2 of them would do in only a 6 gallon without a skimmer.


Oh I have 2 Nassarius Snails, 2 Cerith Snails, they keep my sandbed very clean and 2 Trochus Snails clean up any alges on the rock. I think the snail poo are all cleaned up by the pods or the Nassarius snails just covered them up while they go around.

One of the clowns has ick when I first got them, they eat well and stuff but then the second one get ick also, and then it doesn't eat well. I put them in another tank for hyposalinity treatment but they didn't make it after about 2 weeks of the treatment  So no fish for me anymore.


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## darthvictor

*Baby Clam~*

Video of the baby clam that come as freebie with my Favia coral frag


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## darthvictor

more zoas and other coral 
Finally able to capture the glow under the blue LED


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## Phantheman

this looks fantastic. i hope to have my fluval set up like this one day. how awesome would it be to have a tank like this as your night light..


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## darthvictor

Thanks Phantheman


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## Fragbox

its coming along very nicely!


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## darthvictor

I am having problem with my bubble coral tho, it looks like it keep getting cut by its own skeleton, then it heal but never cover the skeleton again... so it getting smaller and smaller.. 

tested my water and it is all good... sigh..


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## darthvictor

Current FTS updated


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## cablemike

You do have normal lighting also right?


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## sig

cablemike said:


> You do have normal lighting also right?


there is no normal lighting with AI SOL LEDs. you will bleach all corals with a full white like in T5
but blue is nice, until you have fishes

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## darthvictor

cablemike said:


> You do have normal lighting also right?


What do you mean by normal light?


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## cablemike

I meant white but I looked back a few pages and see you do. Bubble corals are hard to keep. They hate flow and bright light. Flow will tear the tissue and bright light will make it deflate.


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## cablemike

sig said:


> there is no normal lighting with AI SOL LEDs. you will bleach all corals with a full white like in T5
> but blue is nice, until you have fishes


What the heck is this kind of led? They made a more powerful led then the cree's now? I can't keep up with this led tech, that's why I'm gonna wait at least a year more to see what come to market. The lighting industry for aquaria is moving so fast. Three years ago it was hard to find t5 bulbs and now that's all I see and PC bulbs are now hard to find even though that's all people bought for like 10 years. Now its led. When are the plasma lights gonna become available?


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## darthvictor

cablemike said:


> I meant white but I looked back a few pages and see you do. Bubble corals are hard to keep. They hate flow and bright light. Flow will tear the tissue and bright light will make it deflate.


I got some 12k led and 65k in white, I have moved the bubble to the edge so it is getting less light, bubble looks like recovering... we will see i guess.


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## sig

cablemike said:


> What the heck is this kind of led? They made a more powerful led then the cree's now? I can't keep up with this led tech, that's why I'm gonna wait at least a year more to see what come to market. The lighting industry for aquaria is moving so fast. Three years ago it was hard to find t5 bulbs and now that's all I see and PC bulbs are now hard to find even though that's all people bought for like 10 years. Now its led. When are the plasma lights gonna become available?


The problem with AI SOL that they have cold white. I have no clue what iit means, but that's what I was reading.
But to tell true, I am jealous when I see full LED light even running just for 10 minutes. It is not comparable to T5s.

I have just t bulbs reef brite moon light and the tank looks unbelievably surrealistic at night

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## cablemike

Get metal halide if you want incredible. I have yet to see leds look nicer then a halide - t5 combo. But led is about power savings and long life. Led looks good, better then t5 but not better then halides.


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## altcharacter

I beg to differ Mike. MH to me just seems really really bright but the growth and color you get out of LED is amazing. Go to the Fragcave and you'll see what i'm talking about.


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## cablemike

I didn't just say halides, I said halides - t5 combo. I'm not much for the blue look either, when I had my 90 I ran two 150w 14k halides, 2 t5 10k, 2 t5 actinics, and two powerglo 18k which is not really 18k as its bluish white. I see a trend now for super blue tanks. On my current tank I'm running 1 actinic, 1 10k , and two 6700k. Its yellowish but the corals will thrive.


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## cablemike

http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7852
and look at my 90 build. Tell me you've seen more vibrant colors?


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## J_T

Do what I am doing... All three! LOL

I will likely not ever not have a halide over my tank (until plasma becomes a better choice ) I have t5's that will be up and running when I get a new reflector. They will be for accent color. Then, eventually I am going to do what I have done before. I will be making LED "spot lights" to shine on certain corals to really pop their colors!

I am not sold on the LED units yet. They can grow a coral, but so could NO tubes (remember those tanks.... 6 bulb NO's.... LOL) They are getting better, but until they settle on a "ratio" of LED's (inc red/green/UV) I am not switching! 

However, I have seen tanks with all LED, that look fake. The blue LEDs just bring out the most amazing colors!


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## J_T

cablemike said:


> http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7852
> and look at my 90 build. Tell me you've seen more vibrant colors?


Your tank looks "natural". Nowadays no one likes that! They want the crazy bright LED look from their corals.

Nice work! Saw a few things I might have to make arrangements to get a frag of


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## darthvictor

XD guys, I am not hanging a huge MH or T5 lighting over my tiny 6Gal tank in condo unit... LED is the way to go for me, less power consumption, low heat generation, small footprint.


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## cablemike

Sorry bro, your tank is awsome. I can't believe you got that tiny 6 gallon to look like that. And it makes sense with the tiny hood you can't have anything other then led. Question, does the top glass always have bubbles collecting on it? Every time I see one of those tanks at a store there is always trapped bubbles on the top glass. Your probably not even running the stock filter are you? I'm thinking it is what brings all the bubbles.


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## darthvictor

cablemike said:


> Sorry bro, your tank is awsome. I can't believe you got that tiny 6 gallon to look like that. And it makes sense with the tiny hood you can't have anything other then led. Question, does the top glass always have bubbles collecting on it? Every time I see one of those tanks at a store there is always trapped bubbles on the top glass. Your probably not even running the stock filter are you? I'm thinking it is what brings all the bubbles.


I am using the stock filter, with the water level at about 3cm below the opening and set the filter speed to low, I don't any bubble trapped.


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## sig

J_T said:


> However, I have seen tanks with all LED, that look fake. The blue LEDs just bring out the most amazing colors!


but all fishes lose colors under blue

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## Flexin5

darthvictor said:


> XD guys, I am not hanging a huge MH or T5 lighting over my tiny 6Gal tank in condo unit... LED is the way to go for me, less power consumption, low heat generation, small footprint.


I'm with you on that one.


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## cablemike

Some people like myself don't care about fish. I'm all about the corals the fish just add movement to the tank.


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## darthvictor

FTS updated after a visit to FragCave some weeks late 

and Bubble coral become an expensive rock rock


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## darthvictor

After a year wait, finally I have finished moving into the new townhouse  and all the livestock are back in


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## Flexin5

congrats on the move! everything looks nice and happy.


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## aln

veryy beautiful new tank shot!!


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## darthvictor

Lost one fish during a 24hr+ blackout  Use this to reorganize the whole layout.


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## Fragbox

victor this has grown into a really beautiful nano I haven't seen it in a while!


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## darthvictor

Thank you guys


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## aln

you have to show us how you take those stunning black, florescence photos! in your sig


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## Flexin5

Fragbox said:


> victor this has grown into a really beautiful nano I haven't seen it in a while!


+1 tank is looking really nice!


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## LTPGuy

Hello,

A point was raised regarding the maintenance of this tank. I would really appreciate it if you would share your experience in this regard. Some of the things I am looking for are..
1. Cleaning algae
2. Removing detritus
3. Cleaning rocks
4. Pruning and fragging corals

I am trying to start a nano also, and these information will help me greatly in my planning.

What salt are you using for this setup and what kind of dosing if any that you're using.

Thanks so much in advance.


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## darthvictor

1. Cleaning algae

Hmm actually there is not much algae to clean, I use the Vertex Cleaner-Mag Duplex to clean the glass like once a week, then my snails are doing their job so not much algae. ( I never snack off on 10% Water change each week)

2. Removing detritus

hmm not much to do about it, the size of the opening not really allow me to clean it much, but there isn't really much detritus to clean. I guess I layout the rock work where there is no dead spot. I have one powerhead at each side connected to a wavemaker

3. Cleaning rocks

Use turkey baster to clean the rocks while doing watch change

4. Pruning and fragging corals

I haven't really frag any coral except the frogspawn and xenia. Both are very easy, you just use a small bone cutter cut at its skeleton where it has not living tissue.

Xenia as all other soft coral you can just use scissor to cut them.



> What salt are you using for this setup and what kind of dosing if any that you're using.
> Thanks so much in advance.


No dosing. I am just using Instant Ocean salt, not even the reef crystal. Brought a bracket and still haven't finish it after 2 years of reefing 

Hope this help.


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## LTPGuy

*Super Amazing!!*



darthvictor said:


> 1. Cleaning algae
> 
> Hmm actually there is not much algae to clean, I use the Vertex Cleaner-Mag Duplex to clean the glass like once a week, then my snails are doing their job so not much algae. ( I never snack off on 10% Water change each week)
> 
> 2. Removing detritus
> 
> hmm not much to do about it, the size of the opening not really allow me to clean it much, but there isn't really much detritus to clean. I guess I layout the rock work where there is no dead spot. I have one powerhead at each side connected to a wavemaker
> 
> 3. Cleaning rocks
> 
> Use turkey baster to clean the rocks while doing watch change
> 
> 4. Pruning and fragging corals
> 
> I haven't really frag any coral except the frogspawn and xenia. Both are very easy, you just use a small bone cutter cut at its skeleton where it has not living tissue.
> 
> Xenia as all other soft coral you can just use scissor to cut them.
> 
> Hope this help.


Hi Victor,

Thank you for the quick response, and super awesome answer to ALL of my questions!!! Having seen your tank and the length of time you have had it, your comments hold a lot of weight for me.

I am totally excited about the 10G I am trying to start thank to your answers. If you have and advice, or lesson learned, I would be most appreciative.

Thanks again!!!


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## darthvictor

March 10, 2014 Update


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## Flexin5

tank looks amazing in person, very nice little nano!


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## darthvictor

Flexin5 said:


> tank looks amazing in person, very nice little nano!


Thank you, it is nice to finally meeting you. If I find some room in my tank later on, I would love to get some SPS from you.


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## Flexin5

darthvictor said:


> Thank you, it is nice to finally meeting you. If I find some room in my tank later on, I would love to get some SPS from you.


sure thing, whenever you're ready, i'll make some nice frags for you


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## aln

The tank looks better everytime you post!!  keep it up! The pink monti cap I got from you is really pink now! And growing now that my lighting is bettter


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## darthvictor

aln said:


> The tank looks better everytime you post!!  keep it up! The pink monti cap I got from you is really pink now! And growing now that my lighting is bettter


Thanks &#128526; Glad to hear about the Monti cap is doing great  I heard that you are working on a new tank, how is it going?


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## LTPGuy

Thanks for the inspirational photo, and the regular updates! Looking to get some more advices in the future! 

Sent from my X720D using Tapatalk


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## verano

wow very nice for such a small tank.


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## darthvictor

Upgrade to a 17 gallon Do!aqua 60-p. The Bubble and Frogspawn corals are getting big!


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## kjay88

darthvictor said:


> *Current FTS:*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have just started my first salt water tank with the Edge on last sunday Dec 11 2011.
> 
> Got 6 lb of dry marco rocks, 1lb of liverock, 6 lb of sand. There goes the sand storm and the waiting game of cycling...
> 
> *Filter & flow:*
> 2 x Koralia Evolution 240
> Fluval stock filter
> 
> *Lighting:*
> 2 x Ecopico LED blue & white
> 1 x Panorama Pro 445nm Royal Blue & Magenta
> 
> *Heater*
> Jager 50 Watt
> 
> *Livestock*
> Yellow Clown Goby
> Blue Reef Chromis(Jumped)
> 
> 3 Snails
> 
> *Coral*
> 
> •SPS
> Orange Montipora cap
> 
> •LPS
> Nero Green Torch
> Purple Tip Frogspawn
> Nero Green Bubble
> Christmas Favia
> Cyan & Orange Acan
> 
> •Soft Coral
> Different types of Zoas: pink, red, orange, eagle eyes.
> Pink Pulsing Xenia, Pom Pom Xenia
> Red mushroom
> Blue mushrooms
> Ricordea: Blue, Orange, Green, Multicolor
> 
> 2013-12-11
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2012-05-30
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2012-01-08


Crazy tank


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## kjay88

Love this thread I just got a 6 gallon yesterday 20$


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