100Litre / 26Gal Shallow Softie Journal

[HDG]

Hi Everyone,

Might as well get a journal kicked off - I have a few aquariums laying around so this might be the first of a few!

This is my first reef reboot in maybe 5 years, I have a new obsession with running a low tech reef and seeing what can be achieved, and boxes of equipment waiting to be used again! The stock will be largely soft species of coral, Morphs, Zoas, Leathers in order to keep demands low. I do want to have a nice selection of fish, namely 2 clowns, a tang and a wrasse. I love Royal Grammas as well be don't want to overwhelm the system - The Tang may substitute for a blenny... Fish are to be confirmed as the tank settles in.

First filled 10/10/2021

Aquarium:
~100 Litres / 26 Gallons, measuring 91cm x 38cm x 30cm / ~36" x 15" x 12"

Equipment:
I have a simple 10litre R/O reservoir connected to an AUTOAQUA Smart ATO, this feeds into the internal overflow which houses a black sponge and bio media to buffer the lack of liverock. The internal sump moves ~600lph through it. AI Nero 3 setup with a daytime/nighttime split for the programming. Which is a fairly gentle random setting - Max 40% daytime, Max 25% nighttime - Both with 10% min. Currently, I am running a basic full spectrum LED light from another system - I have a great Illumagic Blaze which will replace this, but I need to find my light brackets... At this time I would love to avoid a skimmer, as I am changing 25%+ water each week - Which is Natural seawater. No heater is required currently, the tank naturally fluctuates from 23.5c overnight to 24.5c during the day - Come winter I will throw one in.

Liverock is well, dead rock, from my last reef I shut down - I Kept the rocks in a dry and sealed bucket all this time. But I have used a bacteria seeding system + a weekly booster from Reef Revolution. Pro-Bio Blast x 2 drops after each water change.

Current stock:
3 x Red/Orange Morph
1 x Purple Morph
1 x Green & Brown Rhodactis
1 x Fluffy Green Morph
1 x Elegance Coral

Current FTS 22/Oct/2021:

 

[blaxsun]

Off to a good start!

 

[HDG]

Over the weekend I stopped into a few LFS's around me. Managed to find some nice additions. 1 x Rasta frag, 1 x People Eater frag, 1 x Darth Maul/Explosion frag + the first fish 1 x Male Oblique lined Dottyback, 1 x Melanurus Wrasse

I've also managed to find my light bracket, so the much better Illumagic Blaze is now mounted over the aquarium with far better spectrum control.

I've adjusted the aquascape slightly to provide some more spaces to place frags & hiding spaces for the dotty back as well - I am awaiting a polyp lab lense to capture some images of the corals so for now, another FTS update - 24/Oct/2021

I came across the Red Sea DIY net covers - I think this will be a great investment as I hope to keep some fairly expensive fish and losing any would be horrible! For the fish and the wallet.

 

[HDG]

Have spotted some very small flatworms on the fluffy morph, so will be treating the tank this week. Just need to get a little extra water on hand and some carbon for the clean-up. In lieu of this impending bioload spike, I have started running my Tunze 9002 to get it dialled in.

Added: 1 x Trochus snail, 1 x Turbo snail to help with the algae that are starting to grow. I've also added an incredibly small Saddleback puffer & pair of Percula Clowns. The wrasse I think has exited the aquarium... Haven't seen it for a few days but I also can't find any evidence it jumped so the jury is out on this for now. New corals include 1 x Superman Rhodatics, 1 x blue/green velvet morph, 2 x Wagon wheel morph

I also upgraded my phone, to the new Pixel 6 Pro, and I've been twisting its arm to get nicer photos of the coral before my lens filters arrive - It's impressive how well it's managing.

Updated FTS - 01/11/2021

I dunked the phone in as well to grab a few closer shots of the corals

 

[HDG]

I have continued to adjust the aquascape and recently acquired a frag rack - Which I am really excited to make use of. The plan is to flesh out the colonies on each frag - half them then transfer to the aquascape.

I picked up a few more Zoa's last weekend as well - and I am continuing to use the skimmer as it has settled in and running quietly enough. An Ehiem heater has found its way in, it has been fairly sticky here in Brisbane and with the de-humidify setting running on the airconditioning I have seen the tank temperature drop sharply as it is right in the flow of air. Evaporative cooling 101 lessons for me...

I removed the fluffy morph and dipped it, as the flatworms it was dealing with seemed to be present only on this frag. I also dipped the Elegance coral which had a few on the coral as well. These came from the same store, so I will be a little cautious from now on. Dipping all that I add!

Some updated photos & FTS. Interestingly my camera app seems to be "Learning" the lighting and doing a much better job at automatically adjusting to the deeper blue. I've also been trying to see what magic the optical zoom can produce... not bad for a camera phone.

FTS 08 / Nov / 2021