Hello everyone!
Needed a good place to document my reefing journey as I'm realizing I haven't done a great job at that over the last 7/8 years of reef keeping. What better of a place to put it than here!
My journey started back in the day with a 5g Fluval Evo. That tank lasted about 5/6 years but ended with a small leak after a move and I broke it down completely.
A few years in to that tank I realized I had a love for SPS, so I took a 10g and made it happen with a HOB. This tank was an huge success despite the stigmas on small tanks. I was very on top of it, dosing ESV and doing regular water changes. Also worked part time at a fish store to get some extra discounts and insight. This used a coral box moon led for lighting.
All was great until I tried to upgrade into my 30g tank. Despite having let it cycle a bit, I lost quite a few pieces in the swap over which was a real bummer. I think losing my xmas tree rock I had for a few years, which was covered in porites, was the worst blow. I got discouraged around this time and can't even find any pictures of the full 30g. Finding closeup pictures it definitely had some bubble algae I was fighting and aptasia. That tank did ok going forward a few years but the ultimate demise was the heater died, I didnt realize for a day or two, and my house is on the cooler side... The leather I had for the past 6 or so years, now the size of your fore arm and hand, completely melted into what i can only describe as a nightmare of sulfur stench, pretty much did in the rest of the tank minus the fish.
From there I already had my 75g that I was planning to swap into partially set up, so i finished getting that together. Aqueon 75g with an overflow and stand, but I didnt do enough inspection when I bought it (despite having got it as a set at the local store...), and on going to plumb the tank, I see the supports for the stand literally block the overflow area. So had to fix the stand up a bit to accommodate but made it work!
Set up around September 2022. Clownfish and Melanarus wrasse from my 30g were moved in early 2023. Summer of 23 came around and the tank was still getting more established, but was now being hit by excess light from the sliding doors on either side, which caused a significant amount of algae to bloom. Meanwhile I wasn't feeding as much due to the algae, which led to my wrasse eating every last invert I added. Towards the end of the summer things started clearing up a bit more just with brute elbow grease removing algae on a weekly basis or so. From there I renewed the cleanup crew, got a pincushion urchin, and soon after got a captive bred yellow tang followed by a two spot tang. Since then they have been doing great and working hard keeping the tank almost spotless. Now I feed at least once a day and my wrasse seems to leave all the inverts alone!
Tank Stats:
75g w/ 20g sump
Sump = live rock, bioblock type porous material, macro algae, heaters, return pump.
2 Mp10s and one reefwave 45.
Coral pictures and more tank info coming soon. My hopeful plan is to do pictures once a month to document coral growth as well.
Thanks for following along!
Needed a good place to document my reefing journey as I'm realizing I haven't done a great job at that over the last 7/8 years of reef keeping. What better of a place to put it than here!
My journey started back in the day with a 5g Fluval Evo. That tank lasted about 5/6 years but ended with a small leak after a move and I broke it down completely.
A few years in to that tank I realized I had a love for SPS, so I took a 10g and made it happen with a HOB. This tank was an huge success despite the stigmas on small tanks. I was very on top of it, dosing ESV and doing regular water changes. Also worked part time at a fish store to get some extra discounts and insight. This used a coral box moon led for lighting.
All was great until I tried to upgrade into my 30g tank. Despite having let it cycle a bit, I lost quite a few pieces in the swap over which was a real bummer. I think losing my xmas tree rock I had for a few years, which was covered in porites, was the worst blow. I got discouraged around this time and can't even find any pictures of the full 30g. Finding closeup pictures it definitely had some bubble algae I was fighting and aptasia. That tank did ok going forward a few years but the ultimate demise was the heater died, I didnt realize for a day or two, and my house is on the cooler side... The leather I had for the past 6 or so years, now the size of your fore arm and hand, completely melted into what i can only describe as a nightmare of sulfur stench, pretty much did in the rest of the tank minus the fish.
From there I already had my 75g that I was planning to swap into partially set up, so i finished getting that together. Aqueon 75g with an overflow and stand, but I didnt do enough inspection when I bought it (despite having got it as a set at the local store...), and on going to plumb the tank, I see the supports for the stand literally block the overflow area. So had to fix the stand up a bit to accommodate but made it work!
Set up around September 2022. Clownfish and Melanarus wrasse from my 30g were moved in early 2023. Summer of 23 came around and the tank was still getting more established, but was now being hit by excess light from the sliding doors on either side, which caused a significant amount of algae to bloom. Meanwhile I wasn't feeding as much due to the algae, which led to my wrasse eating every last invert I added. Towards the end of the summer things started clearing up a bit more just with brute elbow grease removing algae on a weekly basis or so. From there I renewed the cleanup crew, got a pincushion urchin, and soon after got a captive bred yellow tang followed by a two spot tang. Since then they have been doing great and working hard keeping the tank almost spotless. Now I feed at least once a day and my wrasse seems to leave all the inverts alone!
Tank Stats:
75g w/ 20g sump
Sump = live rock, bioblock type porous material, macro algae, heaters, return pump.
2 Mp10s and one reefwave 45.
Coral pictures and more tank info coming soon. My hopeful plan is to do pictures once a month to document coral growth as well.
Thanks for following along!
