105g Reef

[L.A.]

Hi all - I figured i'd post some photo's of my tank. Its a couple years old, however it crashed probably about a year a go now and it's been a slow process getting everything to cooperate and grow, with the exception of a couple survivors including my pink/blue spotted goby and his tiger pistol shrimp, the OG's of the tank. We're finally able to sustain SPS again and i'm about to do a re-scape within the next couple weeks with some new rocks to make more room.

The nice(r) side

sadly I don't have this bubble anymore and haven't seen one since

This guy's stressed, he's usually prettier

 

[143MPCo]

I had the same wrasse in the last picture... sadly he jump in between the screen netting and behind the tank, DOA when I found him (miss that little guy!).

Great looking system!

 

[L.A.]

I had the same wrasse in the last picture... sadly he jump in between the screen netting and behind the tank, DOA when I found him (miss that little guy!).

Great looking system!

Thanks! It's definitely shaping up, haha.

Yeah my red velvet jumped recently and it was a sad day, so I feel ya.

 

[revhtree]

Looks great!

 

[Deep_Six Corals]

Nice looking Tank! Let's hear about/see some of the guts of this thing. What lights are you running?

 

[L.A.]

Looks great!

Thank you!

Nice looking Tank! Let's hear about/see some of the guts of this thing. What lights are you running?

Thanks!

-2x AI Leds
-1x Vortech MP10
-1x Vortech MP40
-Skimz Monzter SM161, iirc
-40g sump
-Reef Octopus bio pellet reactor
-Bubble Magus Dosing pump (dosing Calcium & Kh)
-JBJ ATO
-Digital Aquatics Reefkeeper Lite

I think that's about everything

 

[Tahoe61]

Very nice tank. Great images.

 

[jsker]

That is a really nice come back setup. When the tank crashed, what was the cause? I system is about 5 months old and it would be good information of the dos and donuts in your experience

 

[L.A.]

Very nice tank. Great images.

Thank you, I need to get a better lens for my camera though. It looks like everyone has some nice macro lenses and i'm just working with a macro filter lens right now. I think i'm going to get a 35mm as the macro is a little too steep for my pockets right now.

 

[hatfielj]

Beautiful pics. You know what you're doing with your camera! Nice reef too.

 

[L.A.]

That is a really nice come back setup. When the tank crashed, what was the cause? I system is about 5 months old and it would be good information of the dos and donuts in your experience

HONESTLY.....it was a multitude of things and I probably still couldn't pinpoint an exact cause when it comes to all the coral loss. All of the fish we had (except the Goby who is immortal) died of velvet.

I initially noticed a fish had "ich" and then when it progressively got worse throughout the day and died we caught everyone and put them in the QT to treat. They all died within literally hours - 4 days (even then i'm not a pro and maybe it really was just ich and we caught it too late). I just wasn't paying much attention to them like I usually do and we had just introduced a new fish to the tank without quarantining

As far as the corals............our parameters were out of whack and we couldn't get them to stabilize. So basically it was something that should have been caught through testing/observation and warranted water changes, etc. but we didn't. So it was a very expensive and unfortunate learning experience.

You'll make mistakes, and you'll learn from them. Just keep reading, observe your tank, test your water, do water changes and enjoy it. The one thing I've learned is your tank will always tell you whats wrong if you look long enough. Sorry i'm not full of all this great wisdom, I wish I was! But you live and you learn right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And thank you for the kind words, it's definitely a work in progress but it's getting there

 

[L.A.]

Beautiful pics. You know what you're doing with your camera! Nice reef too.

Thank you! I'm much better with out of water photography but i'm learning!

 

[kschweer]

Tank looks great! Your photography is great too!

 

[L.A.]

Tank looks great! Your photography is great too!

Thank you!

 

[Jeffys]

Nice pics!

 

[L.A.]

For the past few weeks our copperband was in steady decline, slowly getting thinner and pacing the back glass of the tank periodically throughout the day. We tried every frozen food (so we thought) possible to get him to eat and nothing worked. The kitchen has felt more so like a science lab than normal, hatching brine to entice him to eat .. and we finally sourced blackworms, both of which he ignored. I was browsing a reefing magazine and came across an article specific to copperbands and ended up making a temporary feeding tube that we fill with cyclops. The plan is to go and get smaller pvc and something to weigh it down (open to suggestions) instead of having to shove it between rocks. In the week that we've had this in the tank our cbb has significantly improved and fattened up.

 

[L.A.]

Finally got around to re-scaping half of the tank so here's some progress pics..

The right side, which we added new rock and is seriously a vast improvement. You can't really tell but it has a nice slope to it to put corals on, rather than being straight up and down like the other side. Don't look too long though, or you'll go blind.

The left side which still needs some work.

FTS

It's coming along. I think I want to make more of a slope with the sand so its not so high on the glass in the front and make it a bit thicker in the back to give it a little more depth and not look so dirty in the front. We'll see if the powerheads cooperate though.

 

[L.A.]

Annnnnnd some random pictures from today

New rainbow monti (blurry, but is the prettiest shade of blue)

back of rainbow monti

Magnificent Foxface spines

Bejeweled Favia

one of about 10 baby yumas (nice flatworm -____-)

and new ORA Borealis (the pic doesnt do it justice)

 

[ethridge78]

Very nice

 

[guidedbyechoes]

Is that a scott's wrasse? I hear they don't play well with other fairy wrasse.