The tank that provides my morning “dive” without suiting up!

reveriesh

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Ok, so I’m starting my build thread, albeit a few months later than I would have liked but here we are! Im also including a brief snippet on my introduction to the hobby because I’m always so curious how everyone got here so if anyone reads this and has the same curiosity then I did my part. ;)



A friend of mine heads up a coral research facility and took me on a tour last September (2022) and as I left she gave me a vial of some tiny little Cassiopeia jelly fish, that were going to be disposed of, so I could see them up close. When I left I decided to find a LFS where I could get a tiny little aquarium to keep them for a few days just to have some fun.



During that LFS visit I met an employee who showed me around their saltwater fish/coral/tank section and then sort of playfully offered to install a beautiful system in my house. I paused, smirked, and called his bluff - telling him to put together a proposal. And so, on a whim, it began…



As an avid scuba diver this hobby is a natural progression of my love for all things saltwater. So I was incredibly excited when the tank was installed in November of 2022 and what an exquisite ride it’s been ever since! I’ve spent countless hours researching all aspects of the hobby and trying to get myself somewhere respectable with my level of knowledge of the husbandry of the beautiful creatures I’ve taken into my care. I owe it to them to know what the heck I’m doing. So now I’ll document this journey, and although I started nearly 10 months ago, I’ll backtrack for the sake of tracking progress and milestones. If anyone happens to come across this thread and can offer any wisdom or advice it would be appreciated more than you know.



Unfortunately all of the pictures are current, aside from the first shot showing the bare aquascape with anemone and clowns. I so wish I had taken pictures of all the coral I’ve had for months, when I first placed them in the tank. It would have been nice to document their growth, but I’m adding pictures now to document future growth (fingers crossed).



So here goes…



TANK

  • Red Sea 425 XL Gen 2 w stand
  • 24 gallon sump
  • 2x Radion XR30 LED lights
  • Red Sea reefmat 500
  • Red Sea 300 Protein skimmer
  • Neptune Cor20 return pump
  • 2x Red Sea Reef Wave
  • A3 Apex Pro
  • Apex Trident water analyzer
  • Apex supplement doser
  • RODI water filter system
  • Carbon & GFO reactor
  • Apex leak detection
  • Apex auto feeder (never gets used)
  • Neptune Gro refugium light
  • 300w Eheim Jager heater
  • CoribSea Arag alive Fiji pink
  • 100+lbs CaribSea Life Rock


FISH

  • 2x storm clown
  • 1 mandarin dragonet, female
  • 1 tiny juvenile Biota mandarin dragonet, female (was in acclimation box destined for other tank but escaped - so far she is alive and well)
  • 1 ruby red dragonet
  • 1 yelllow watchmen goby (he has 2 pistols)
  • 1 blue damsel
  • 1 coral beauty angelfish
  • 1 tail spot blenny


INVERTS

  • 2x scarlet skunk shrimp
  • 2x fire shrimp
  • 8x sexy shrimp
  • 1 banded coral shrimp
  • 4x peppermint shrimp
  • 1 Purple short spine pincushion urchin
  • 4x tuxedo urchin
  • Massive CUC including various snails, hermits, emeralds, pithos, etc


CORAL

  • 5x Palarsky rainbow bubble tip anemone
  • Green polyp toadstool leather
  • Blue mushroom coral
  • Zoanthids (several different colonies)
  • Pipe organ coral (wish I never added these!)
  • Orange Florida Ricordea mushroom Coral
  • Green Yuma Ricordea mushroom Coral
  • Moon polyps palythoa
  • 3 x various Hammer coral
  • Frogspawn
  • red people eater palythoa
  • Red disco mushroom
  • Twizzler zoanthid
  • Green Sinularía leather
  • 3x Acan lord
  • Orange Yuma Ricordea
  • Long tentacle green goniopora
  • Pink Goniopora
  • Red Goniopora
  • Short tentacle green Goniopora
  • Yellow Birds nest coral
  • Trumpet coral
  • Blastomusso
  • Utter chaos palythoa
  • Purple Stylophora Coral
  • Tyree Rainbow Stylophora Coral
  • Flamethrower Yuma Mushroom Coral
  • Rainbow Pocillopora
  • ORA Birds of Paradise Birdsnest Coral
  • 3x Green star polyps
  • Purple acropora
  • Neon Orange mushrooms
  • Teal grey Oulophyllia
  • Pink flamingo birds nest (Jason Fox)
  • Fox flame acropora (Jason Fox)
  • Red Planet acropora
  • Ron Burgundy favia
  • Scorpion King Favia
  • Raptors Peace Favia
  • Rainbow Pectinia
  • Orange & blue Bounce mushroom
  • Neon green montipora digitata
  • Poletti jawbreaker


DOSING

  • Alkalinity (via Apex)
  • Magnesium (via Apex)
  • Calcium (via Apex)
  • Red Sea Trace Colors ABC&D (manual dose)
  • Red Sea Reef Energy Plus (manual dose)




I read a thread that included missteps. I thought that was brilliant and real so I’m including (just a few) of mine. Also I’m adding things that just didn’t work.



THE NOT SO GOOD (as another poster put it)



  • Red rock flower anemone, removed beautiful specimen because I began reading it can kill fish. Now I’m reading a lot of people disagree. Mistake? …IDK. Would love to have one again if I can reach a comfort level.
  • Removed 3 emerald crabs because they were eating coral and harassing fish and anemone only to add several back in months later in hopes of helping with bubble algae
  • Removed 3 Blue damselfish for relentlessly attacking newly added clownfish. Placed them in sump until LFS opened but could only find 2 when time came to remove. We looked in every nook, cranny and LR crevice but nothing. 5 weeks later there he was in the sump!! So we added him back to DT and call him Sméagol since he lived in the dark for so long (before we added fuge light)! Ha! He is much nicer without his posse.
  • Various clownfish - was told originally that we could have one large female with several small males. For anyone that’s had clownfish for more than a couple of months this is the exception not the rule. They are vicious little creatures! Sold all but 2 back to LFS. They live peacefully
  • Long tentacle plate Coral, looked amazing for 3 months then died nearly overnight
  • Colt Leather coral, this thing was so healthy and grew so fast it ended up taking over about 1/4 of the tank. We sold it back to LFS. Great beginner coral but it can grow sooo quickly
  • CTE Orange sunset anemone, became massive and loved to move around and wreak havoc on the tank. Sold back to LFS
  • Clove Coral, grew like wildfire and began eating up valuable real estate. Difficult to remove. Wish I had been warned against this coral from the beginning. Sold back to LFS but it still pops up!
  • Daisy polyps, not enough juice for the squeeze on this - got rid of them and gave that part of the tank to a beautiful Blasto
  • Yellow anacropora (died, my first SPS before I was dosing some of the nutrients)
  • Red Montipora Digitata (died, before I was dosing some of the nutrient)
  • To date I’ve had very quick spurts of hair algae and aiptasia but was easily eradicated, however I’m currently dealing with a weeks long battle of bubble algae that is getting the better of me. I’ve added pitho & emeralds to help but they are lazy and Im losing. Plan to spend some serious time next week on removal. If anyone happens to read this I’ll literally take nearly any coaching/guidance!


And there it is! As I said in another post, this hobby is the perfect intersection of beauty, hard work, research, discovery and reward. I’m heading all the way down the rabbit hole!

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blaxsun

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Nice tank! Some quick answers to some of your Q's:

* No, rock flower anemones don't eat fish. At least they don't eat >1/2", smart fish. I've got 3 types of anemones and the only one that ever ate a fish was my condy anemone (and it was a stupid tang).

* Emerald crabs won't eat fish (bark is worse than bite). Chances are they weren't eating your corals but foraging through them for snacks.

* Damsels can get along with the right setup (I have 6; 4 different species).

* Clownfish are a**holes. That's all you really need to know. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:
 
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reveriesh

reveriesh

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Nice tank! Some quick answers to some of your Q's:

* No, rock flower anemones don't eat fish. At least they don't eat >1/2", smart fish. I've got 3 types of anemones and the only one that ever ate a fish was my condy anemone (and it was a stupid tang).

* Emerald crabs won't eat fish (bark is worse than bite). Chances are they weren't eating your corals but foraging through them for snacks.

* Damsels can get along with the right setup (I have 6; 4 different species).

* Clownfish are a**holes. That's all you really need to know. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:
I truly appreciate you taking the time to respond to my questions/concerns.

I absolutely love rock flowers but everytime I go to the pull the trigger on buying another one someone tells me they just saw it eat one of their fish! The guy who installed my tank swears they only eat sick fish.

I’m learning what you said about the emeralds that I added back to the tank. They haven’t openly harmed the coral. Although they seem to be slacking on the bubble algae and going for the proverbial lower hanging fruit. Lazy bums!

You have a condy?! So cool!! I haven’t seen one in the hobby (in my whooping 10 months in! Ha). I’ve only ever seen those diving…just beautiful.

Thank you again for your help. I think this hobby might involve the nicest people on the planet
 

blaxsun

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I truly appreciate you taking the time to respond to my questions/concerns.

I absolutely love rock flowers but everytime I go to the pull the trigger on buying another one someone tells me they just saw it eat one of their fish! The guy who installed my tank swears they only eat sick fish.

I’m learning what you said about the emeralds that I added back to the tank. They haven’t openly harmed the coral. Although they seem to be slacking on the bubble algae and going for the proverbial lower hanging fruit. Lazy bums!

You have a condy?! So cool!! I haven’t seen one in the hobby (in my whooping 10 months in! Ha). I’ve only ever seen those diving…just beautiful.

Thank you again for your help. I think this hobby might involve the nicest people on the planet
No problem. I've had 8 rockflower, 4 bubbletip and 2 tube anemones with over 50+ fish and I've never seen any of them even interested in a dead fish. I had a pipefish that brushed up against a tube anemone (the only fish to-date I'm aware of) and he shot 2 feet straight out the top of the tank (he gave it quite a wide berth after that).

2 stupid small (healthy) tangs that dove into an elegance coral and condy anemone (quite different, as they are known to eat fish) are the extent of my fish losses to corals/anemones.

Emerald crabs are tank snobs; they start out great with algae but will quickly shift their sights as you introduce tastier menu items. Pitho crabs are supposedly great with various types of algae. Ring cowries are good against dinos.

Condys are weird anemones. I have one that just up and moved into a cave after 2 years for some unknown reason. Hopefully he's getting enough nutrients as he sure isn't getting enough light... They're definitely "sticky".
 

Stang67

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Welcome to the fray. I have to ask as a fellow diver, where is your favorite place to dive? I'm heading to fiji next month and the red sea next year. Caribbean has gotten too small. Favorite for me is Honduas.
 
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reveriesh

reveriesh

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No problem. I've had 8 rockflower, 4 bubbletip and 2 tube anemones with over 50+ fish and I've never seen any of them even interested in a dead fish. I had a pipefish that brushed up against a tube anemone (the only fish to-date I'm aware of) and he shot 2 feet straight out the top of the tank (he gave it quite a wide berth after that).

2 stupid small (healthy) tangs that dove into an elegance coral and condy anemone (quite different, as they are known to eat fish) are the extent of my fish losses to corals/anemones.

Emerald crabs are tank snobs; they start out great with algae but will quickly shift their sights as you introduce tastier menu items. Pitho crabs are supposedly great with various types of algae. Ring cowries are good against dinos.

Condys are weird anemones. I have one that just up and moved into a cave after 2 years for some unknown reason. Hopefully he's getting enough nutrients as he sure isn't getting enough light... They're definitely "sticky".
No problem. I've had 8 rockflower, 4 bubbletip and 2 tube anemones with over 50+ fish and I've never seen any of them even interested in a dead fish. I had a pipefish that brushed up against a tube anemone (the only fish to-date I'm aware of) and he shot 2 feet straight out the top of the tank (he gave it quite a wide berth after that).

2 stupid small (healthy) tangs that dove into an elegance coral and condy anemone (quite different, as they are known to eat fish) are the extent of my fish losses to corals/anemones.

Emerald crabs are tank snobs; they start out great with algae but will quickly shift their sights as you introduce tastier menu items. Pitho crabs are supposedly great with various types of algae. Ring cowries are good against dinos.

Condys are weird anemones. I have one that just up and moved into a cave after 2 years for some unknown reason. Hopefully he's getting enough nutrients as he sure isn't getting enough light... They're definitely "sticky".
I love pipefish, just the most awesome little guys! Do you still have him?

My BBT anemones are super peaceful so I think that’ll be the extent of the anemones in the tank for now.

True to what you are saying about crabs, my pitho crabs started on the bubble algae but now they run to the front of the tank when I go in to feed twice a day and wave their front legs around in the air begging for meaty morsels!! It’s so darn cute that I’m crazy tempted but instead I point behind them at the bubble algae and chastise them - oddly they don’t seem to listen! ;)
 
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reveriesh

reveriesh

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Welcome to the fray. I have to ask as a fellow diver, where is your favorite place to dive? I'm heading to fiji next month and the red sea next year. Caribbean has gotten too small. Favorite for me is Honduas.
Hi, thank you, it’s my absolute pleasure to be here!
That’s funny you should ask, I just responded to a thread on that very subject a couple of days ago…I wrote the following:

“I’ve been an avid diver and underwater photographer my entire life, it is my absolute passion, and have been diving all over the world - Fiji, Tahiti, Australia, Bora Bora, Sea of Cortez, Grand Cayman (many times), Little Cayman, St.Lucia (many times), Key West, Great Exuma, Roatan, Belize, Nassau, Jamaica, Playa del Carmen, Xtapa, Virgin Gorda, Tortola, Peter Island, Curaçao, Turks & Caicos, Antigua, & Bonaire (probably 25 trips - we go several times a year). Im sure I’ve missed a few on the list but I recount this only to give credibility to my next statement.

As far as this side of the world and Caribbean diving I say, in no uncertain terms, that Bonaire is absolutely the spot to go if you want the most expansive, breathtaking diving in the region. It has been a marine park for many decades and is listed as the number one shore diving in the world. There are yellow rocks all around the coast indicating marked dive sites that you literally walk right into from the shore. The diving is so spectacular here and easy to get to that we go several times a year no matter where else in the world we travel. It’s an absolute must for anyone who loves diving.”

To speak to your question directly, as I indicated on my other post, Bonaire is absolutely fantastic for a fairly short journey. As for Fiji, it was jaw dropping above and below water. I stayed on Taveuni (the garden isle) which has magnificent waterfalls, exquisite flora and is close to the world famous Rainbow Reef. I dove twice a day for 2 weeks and the most spectacular dive was the White Wall, covered in the most extraordinary “Christmas Tree” soft corals that puff up when the current is in full swing and you are staring at this brilliant wall of soft coral as far as the eye can see in every direction. Breathtaking!!

Which island will you be visiting? It’s sure to be a magical trip
 

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