sushiboss
Community Member
First 6 months has been a rollercoaster but the tank seems to be cruising at the moment.
Stock list
1 flamehawk
1 yellow tang
1 tomini tang
1 sailfin tang
1 magnificent foxface
1 possum wrasse
1 pintail wrasse super
Pair of clowns
1 yellow watchman goby with pistol pair
1 starry blenny
1 aiptasia eating filefish
Huge cleanup crew of mostly turbos and urchins
2 maxima clams
Various corals from sps to leathers and everything in between
Tank 4-2-2”
Just a basic setup with only a protein skimmer and filter cups that I change weekly.
Super basic build. Bought everything to originally setup including dosers but ended up not even setting them up and just being lazy with weekly monitoring of everything except alk (which I test and dose all week long when needed to hold at 8)
Originally started with 3 xr15s. Par was good but rather than increasing the power outage of my xr15s to increase par I added an AI blade glow for higher par and overall spectrum.
Just normal return pumps and 2mp40s for flow. That’s it.
Tank has consistently held its nutrients quite low below 18 nitrates at all time. I seeded the tank originally from my first ever reef tank and some various bio balls from my trusted lfs tanks.
First 6 months was filled with the usual new tank blues. Cyano hair algae fish aggression and deaths due to user error.
Over the last 4 months I added the pintail wrasse, sailfin tang, tomini, and magnificent foxface at the same time and partioned a large portion of my tank in half to reduce aggression. My yellow tang was originally a nightmare but it worked.
After 4 days the fish figured out how to cross barriers and there was very small battles that occurred but it didn’t last.
Last fish added was the filefish which I thought would for sure be best to death but I had a horrible aiptasia problem and f aiptasia only increased my problem.
The first 3 weeks I expected to find a dead filefish but oddly enough no one cared about him. The only fish that occasionally are chased by the tangs are the pintail wrasse and the flame hawk (my yellow tang has an odd obsession with the flame hawk and if he comes near him while he’s eating he follows him around and if he doesn’t move the tang pecks him). Originally the filefish did not eat aiptasia but over the last month I can’t seem to find any aiptasia.
The tank is in harmony which is crazy after the first 6 months of hell.
Corals have been going strong.
The only thing I’m currently battling is hair algae but as the tank ages I’m winning that battle more and more. It’s almost completely gone.
I’d like to say I’d eventually part ways with my sailfin tang as he was never intended as a permanent guest due to size of the tank but my nutrients are under control and I’ve seem to finally obtain peace in my tank.
Just wanted to share my experience. Happy reefing and have a happy holiday season!
Stock list
1 flamehawk
1 yellow tang
1 tomini tang
1 sailfin tang
1 magnificent foxface
1 possum wrasse
1 pintail wrasse super
Pair of clowns
1 yellow watchman goby with pistol pair
1 starry blenny
1 aiptasia eating filefish
Huge cleanup crew of mostly turbos and urchins
2 maxima clams
Various corals from sps to leathers and everything in between
Tank 4-2-2”
Just a basic setup with only a protein skimmer and filter cups that I change weekly.
Super basic build. Bought everything to originally setup including dosers but ended up not even setting them up and just being lazy with weekly monitoring of everything except alk (which I test and dose all week long when needed to hold at 8)
Originally started with 3 xr15s. Par was good but rather than increasing the power outage of my xr15s to increase par I added an AI blade glow for higher par and overall spectrum.
Just normal return pumps and 2mp40s for flow. That’s it.
Tank has consistently held its nutrients quite low below 18 nitrates at all time. I seeded the tank originally from my first ever reef tank and some various bio balls from my trusted lfs tanks.
First 6 months was filled with the usual new tank blues. Cyano hair algae fish aggression and deaths due to user error.
Over the last 4 months I added the pintail wrasse, sailfin tang, tomini, and magnificent foxface at the same time and partioned a large portion of my tank in half to reduce aggression. My yellow tang was originally a nightmare but it worked.
After 4 days the fish figured out how to cross barriers and there was very small battles that occurred but it didn’t last.
Last fish added was the filefish which I thought would for sure be best to death but I had a horrible aiptasia problem and f aiptasia only increased my problem.
The first 3 weeks I expected to find a dead filefish but oddly enough no one cared about him. The only fish that occasionally are chased by the tangs are the pintail wrasse and the flame hawk (my yellow tang has an odd obsession with the flame hawk and if he comes near him while he’s eating he follows him around and if he doesn’t move the tang pecks him). Originally the filefish did not eat aiptasia but over the last month I can’t seem to find any aiptasia.
The tank is in harmony which is crazy after the first 6 months of hell.
Corals have been going strong.
The only thing I’m currently battling is hair algae but as the tank ages I’m winning that battle more and more. It’s almost completely gone.
I’d like to say I’d eventually part ways with my sailfin tang as he was never intended as a permanent guest due to size of the tank but my nutrients are under control and I’ve seem to finally obtain peace in my tank.
Just wanted to share my experience. Happy reefing and have a happy holiday season!
