112 gallon mixed reef is looking like a reef again

[andrewkw]

Last day of the month and finally getting around to my monthly update. Tank is still doing well, but there is a lot less to do these days. I would love to squeeze in a few more pieces but local selection is so limited. Winter weather so unreliable both for shipping and for traveling. This past week there were 2 major power outages in my area but I didn't loose power. So happy I didn't have to snow blow the 5 foot snow drifts in front of my shed at 3am to bust out the generator.

If you've seen my thread about the asterina star fish, I have decided to remove most of them after being their biggest supporter for some time. Too many are turning to corals, perhaps because there isn't enough algae for them, or the coral eating ones are having coral eating offspring. I really believe its individual tastes vs different species that eat corals, at least in my tank. The other issue I have is one of my Kessils is dying. A360 not the WE. the a350 which is a year older is still going strong. I guess I can't really complain about 5 or 6 years use. It's stuck on a blue colour and blinks during startup and occasionally during the day. So I could get either a new 360we the new 360x since I have used every other 300 series kessil or buy 3 black boxes and have money left. It's a tougher choice then you'd think, as the Kessils do look better, I would still have 2 for shimmer. I currently have 1 black box over the tank between 2 of the kessils and always planned to get more but never got around to it.

Here are the pictures and video.

As always constructive criticism is welcome.

 

[andrewkw]

Still gotta take some pics and a video for this month. I continue to remove 50+ starfish every week probably more like 100+ I haven't been counting. I have been keeping them though. I filled up a 50ml cup. Fragged the chalice that was starting to grow over my zoas and palys which should now take off since they will no longer be eaten.

I am having an issue with one of my old kessils. Trying to decide if I should shell out for an a360x or just get a couple of black boxes and have a couple hundred dollars left for something else. The a360 is stuck on blue and I can only run it a little past 50% or it will blink like crazy. It also blinks when turned on and occasionally at other times. I have just turned up the black box I have between 2 to compensate.

So I could go a350 a360x black box a360we
or a350 black box x either 2 or 3 and a360we
or a 3rd option?

It's really hard to tell in the photo lighting has changed the tank really does still look fine so it may be months or even a year before I do something. I'm just aware the kessil is on it's way out. My original a350 seems like it will outlast it! Oh yeah I'm down one fish. My royal gramma was eaten by my Rhyzo It does occasionally catch fish unfortunately. I'm not really sure how. The Gramma for sure wasn't sick and fine the night before, but when I found it, it was just a pile of yellow and purple goo.

 

[andrewkw]

Hoping to get some feedback :

My giant green leather has been touching my pocillopora for some time. It also does reach the acro in the back occasionally. I have been thinking about cutting the green leather back (not really 100% sure if its nepthia or sinularia). It's such a nice piece though I hate cutting into it. I could move the acro and the pocillopora, or I could cut the leather. OR I could move that kenya tree rock to where the green leather is. My concern with that is it will throw off the colours with too much purple in the center of the tank.

I may or may not take your advice but I'd love some outside opinions. Probably not going to rush into anything, but the overgrowth is only going to get worse. It may, or may not look like it, but I really try and make my display tank a display tank.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I would frag it. It will just get bigger and you will eventually have to anyway.

 

[norfolkgarden]

I remember the switch from liking the asterinas to not liking them.
How did I get so many?!

At about 600+ removed after 4 years. Still pull out 3 to 8 a week.

The sinularia looks fantastic where it is. It will eventually need to be fragged but the shape is pretty awesome right now.

Would you move the small green coral to the right of it over to the left hand part of the tank?

Would that buy you some time and balance out the colors a little more?

 

[Corey Shelk]

I can’t help you with advice on where to move your coral placement, but I just wanted to say I read through the thread and watched/skimmed through your videos and I have no idea why you call this an “average reef.” It’s absolutely incredible! Keep up the good work

 

[andrewkw]

I remember the switch from liking the asterinas to not liking them.
How did I get so many?!

At about 600+ removed after 4 years. Still pull out 3 to 8 a week.

The sinularia looks fantastic where it is. It will eventually need to be fragged but the shape is pretty awesome right now.

Would you move the small green coral to the right of it over to the left hand part of the tank?

Would that buy you some time and balance out the colors a little more?

This is what I'm leaning towards doing. It looks great now, but overgrown means no room at all to grow. It really isn't good for a soft coral to rest on a hard coral long term. There certainly is some die off on the but it's still a beautiful colony started from a spec of a frag out here in a coral desert.

I can’t help you with advice on where to move your coral placement, but I just wanted to say I read through the thread and watched/skimmed through your videos and I have no idea why you call this an “average reef.” It’s absolutely incredible! Keep up the good work

I call my main reef average reef because it's an average sized reef tank, with mostly average corals. I do have some rare / collector pieces in here, but the show piece corals are things like green sinularia, and a purple gorgonian with millions of kenya trees floating around. Of course there is a rhyzo, pectinia, branching cyphastrea ect but they aren't as prominent. When I moved nearly 3 years ago I lost so much nicer stuff. All the sps I used to have and a lot of my lps. This is how the tank became so softy dominated although it has always leaned towards softies and lps in the past.

I do have some interesting fish, but in the past I've kept things like masked swallowtail angels, achilles tang, lots of different wrasses such as flame, labouti, lineatus, rhomboid ect ect. Even my tank is smaller then it used to be because the 180 gallon tank that this was supposed to be broke just as I was moving it into the house. It's a long complicated story but I thought my lifestyle would change a lot moving from a suburban / urban environment to a rural one but it's been nothing like that. A reason I don't even consider an upgrade is somewhere down the line I hope to move out of this boring place to somewhere with more fish stores, food delivery and a million other things I miss about city life. I do have plans for bigger and better reefs but unfortunately that is years away. I am fiddling with a 90 gallon sps reef but it's still got a long ways to go for various reasons.

Some new march photos and a video update.

 

[andrewkw]

I got a new centerpiece coral Australophyllia Wilsoni. So far so good although there seems to be some care issues with these guys. The colony was cut in half 5 minutes before being put in a bag for 8 hours and suffered no ill effects. After an iodine dip it went directly into my display tank. My frag tank runs warmer and there is no space so I did not want to put it in there first. I am realizing that I have very little room for future corals. The tank is full!

I am planning on some rearranging which will hopefully open up a bit of space. I need to get another black box or kessil first though. My frag tank which is really just a coral overflow tank is somehow still jam packed. I just got rid of about 125 frags but it hardly made a dent. Actually I just started fragging off whatever had glued to the eggcrate and those will grow into new frags on plugs over the coming months. The good reef shops are 7+ hours away from me so it's very rare I get to go shopping. I managed to hit 5 shops in one day and not come home completely broke. I actually expected to buy a lot more but got a couple of high end things and decided to hold back on others for now.

No plans to upgrade display - I actually have another 90 gallon tank that is supposed to be sps dominated although it has some issues. I think I'll turn more attention to that tank. Additionally I want to expand my coral growout capacity. While I have a very limited local market, bringing a couple hundred frags with me when I do make the long trek to coral shop really helps cover the cost of things and I can justify spending more for tiny pieces.

My new center piece! I don't run crazy blue so it doesn't look quite as good but very happy with it.

It seems like my toadstools are finally getting bigger. They usually self propagate and even spawn in my frag tank but they never really get big. I'm not really sure why they aren't dropping babies every few weeks but I'm not complaining.

Pocillipora really has to be moved. Hopefully it can stay surrounded by softies a few more weeks.

I've really noticed the streamers getting long on my female swallowtail. Maybe she will become he?

I love the shadow a single clove polyp is casting in this picture.

I have a few more pictures to upload later today and a monthly video update as well. I always welcome constructive criticism, so if you have suggestions don't hold back!

 

[andrewkw]

Video update for the month :


A few more pics too :

 

[andrewkw]

I was just thinking I hadn't updated this thread in a while but didn't realize it had been this long. I missed updating in May and June - I like to document my main display at least once a month.

Anyway there have been some issues, but I think they've all basically been one offs. Wilsoni has severely bleached. I guess it is true these guys are hard to keep. It's still eating and puffy at least. Initially I thought it was for sure not going to last another week but that was a couple of weeks ago and seems to be slightly better. I have lowered the temp of my tank to 75-76 although with summer finally arriving it may still reach 77-78 on really hot days. I lost my female blue throat trigger. It appears she just got stuck in the rock. She used to hide almost all the time so I didn't think too much of not seeing her but eventually found her wedged into the rock work. If it was some kind of illness I would guess internal as all my other fish look great. I speculate this was just a fluke.

I lost my frogspawn without a known cause. Very unusual for me to lose a coral I've had for years. Overgrowth or a frag not taking off does happen, but this colony just didn't look right for some time and eventually bailed out. The hammer right beside it is sprouting tons of babies so who knows what the issue was. My alk did somewhat spike a bit but not significantly. Finally giant cabbage coral tore itself apart. Growing downhill it just weighted too much and split up. This knocked rock that has gonipora on it and somehow the goni managed to kill a chalice (big surprise) and candy cane (less of a surprise).

Despite all this bad stuff the tank looks surprising good. I've done a bunch of rearranging including finally moving my pocillipora which was resting directly against a leather. I have a few pieces to add to the tank and hope to pick up some new pieces next week too. Almost 3 years of living in the middle of no where and I still miss weekend trips to the fish stores as much as ever.

 

[andrewkw]

Just took some new pics as things are looking good tonight. Lately I have been doing a bunch of minor adjusting but I think most of that is done now. Added some new corals. By turning my big green leather last month I was able to fit in a hammer colony I've had in my frag tank for a while without cutting anything. I'm really hoping my pectinia coral starts taking off as it now has quite a few more mouths. It's sweepers just seem like they are getting longer and longer.

I added a few other frags including some pipe organ coral. Pretty interesting to have a soft coral with a skeleton. There is still a bit of glare from the sun but everything is open now. I'll post a video in the next week or so too.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I am loving all of this eye candy!

 

[andrewkw]

Just completed my monthly video :



Constructive critisim is always welcome! It's closing in on 3 years the reef has been setup at this house. It's been almost 13 since I got this tank. Still holding up well.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Just took some new pics as things are looking good tonight. Lately I have been doing a bunch of minor adjusting but I think most of that is done now. Added some new corals. By turning my big green leather last month I was able to fit in a hammer colony I've had in my frag tank for a while without cutting anything. I'm really hoping my pectinia coral starts taking off as it now has quite a few more mouths. It's sweepers just seem like they are getting longer and longer.

I added a few other frags including some pipe organ coral. Pretty interesting to have a soft coral with a skeleton. There is still a bit of glare from the sun but everything is open now. I'll post a video in the next week or so too.

Awesome, as usual, bro!

 

[andrewkw]

This guy is looking bigger and bigger. I gotta find some really old pictures. I know they probably grow at a painfully slow rate but I really feel like the skeleton has actually increased in size and it's not just puffier but actually bigger.

 

[andrewkw]

Other than my super expensive Wilsoni continuing it's slow decline towards death the tank is looking great this month. I've squeezed in a few more frags and everything is really filling in (soon to be growing into each other). I have actually had this tank since 2006, most of the live rock is from then too, there is even one coral from 2005 but the tank is approaching 3 years setup in it's current location. I did have a 180 for a couple of years but this tank has basically been going non stop other then that.

Soon it's actually going to get to the point where I have more room for fish then I do for coral. I do have 3 pajama cardinals in qt which almost certainly will end up in this tank. I do have other tanks so it's possible they could go elsewhere but I think they'll look nice in here.

Last picture is a new lepto. You'll note I've ramped it to the rock so it has an easier time growing. I also was very tempted to keep this tiny frag on a tile in my frag tank as it's easier to target feed in there, but then I'm just going to get a pancake shaped coral. While I do want to frag this in the future I'll give it the 1-2 years it needs to establish itself as a nice colony then when it covers the rock and starts encrusting to the glass below I'll star fragging it. Like this one :

Finally my monthly video showing the reef.



Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome! If you have ideas on how to make this tank better I want to hear them.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Other than my super expensive Wilsoni continuing it's slow decline towards death the tank is looking great this month. I've squeezed in a few more frags and everything is really filling in (soon to be growing into each other). I have actually had this tank since 2006, most of the live rock is from then too, there is even one coral from 2005 but the tank is approaching 3 years setup in it's current location. I did have a 180 for a couple of years but this tank has basically been going non stop other then that.

Soon it's actually going to get to the point where I have more room for fish then I do for coral. I do have 3 pajama cardinals in qt which almost certainly will end up in this tank. I do have other tanks so it's possible they could go elsewhere but I think they'll look nice in here.

Last picture is a new lepto. You'll note I've ramped it to the rock so it has an easier time growing. I also was very tempted to keep this tiny frag on a tile in my frag tank as it's easier to target feed in there, but then I'm just going to get a pancake shaped coral. While I do want to frag this in the future I'll give it the 1-2 years it needs to establish itself as a nice colony then when it covers the rock and starts encrusting to the glass below I'll star fragging it. Like this one :

Finally my monthly video showing the reef.



Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome! If you have ideas on how to make this tank better I want to hear them.

Reef is looking awesome, bro!

 

[Blutspitze]

Thanks very much for sharing the story of your tank. It's looking quite nice considering everything that you and it have been through. Very sorry to hear about all the losses, but what you do still have is looking amazing!

 

[andrewkw]

Thanks very much for sharing the story of your tank. It's looking quite nice considering everything that you and it have been through. Very sorry to hear about all the losses, but what you do still have is looking amazing!

Thanks. Most major losses are well in the past. This wilsoni is really a regrettable purchase though. Assuming a miracle does not happen I'll eventually replace it with a nice colony of something, probably a more conventional coral like a lord, or maybe a bowerbanki.

With the tank nearly full the main challenge will be carefully balancing everything. I feel like it's nearly at it's peak, but maintaining a peak is almost as challenging as getting there. If I was more satisfied in my location I'd be looking to upgrade this tank but I really don't want a new display in this house. I do keep adding frag tanks / satellite tanks though. So realistically this will be my main display for 1-2-3 more years hopefully more in the 1-2 range.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Nice variety of fish and healthy coral- looks fantastic !!