I usually update this thread once a month but I will twice this month. I started this "build" thread in June 2017. Really the tank was reset September / October 2016. I moved into my house September 2016 and in some ways it's scary to think I've been here almost 2 years but on a day to day basis it feels like forever. I recently compiled this video about rural reef keeping. When I say it's closing in on 2 years here it feels crazy, but when I talk about the corals I got 6 weeks ago, that feels like 2 years ago...
besides the struggles and successes I've had there is some cool drone footage showing just how isolated of an area I live in.
As for the actual tank other then the fact the big maricultured acro I got 6 weeks ago is dying a slow death in my frag tank everything is doing well. The other new pieces I got at the same time are all growing noticeably. I will shoot a may update video on the tank soon but for now here are a couple of comparison photos. I started doing at least a monthly photo session on my reef may 14th 2017 so all these comparison pictures are exactly 1 year apart. Some stuff has really grown, others not so much. The first 6 months + was just keeping things alive. I was really upset about the losses and broken tank, and the last 1 year plus things have been thriving. In another 6 months to a year I will probably have this tank where I want it to be.
Frogspawn hasn't really changed much in a year.
2 weeks ago I got 4 frags off this piece that is the same size as it was a year ago, but there are also 2 colonies BIGGER then the original + I've gotten about 10 small frags of it.
The biggest 2 changes are these 2
I have moved some things over the last year, but last year I was able to take a picture of my elegance coral from the side. Can't do that anymore..
Long term I think I want to add a tiny bit more flow, a bit more light. Either increase to 4 Kessils or just add 2 more blackboxes (I have one between 2 Kessils on the sps side). I would like more sps but it's a challenge in a softy dominated tank. In the summer I hope to cut back some of the softies. I have about 100 kenya tree frags that I can hopefully get rid of. Even if I got $2 each for them I'd be thrilled.
besides the struggles and successes I've had there is some cool drone footage showing just how isolated of an area I live in.
As for the actual tank other then the fact the big maricultured acro I got 6 weeks ago is dying a slow death in my frag tank everything is doing well. The other new pieces I got at the same time are all growing noticeably. I will shoot a may update video on the tank soon but for now here are a couple of comparison photos. I started doing at least a monthly photo session on my reef may 14th 2017 so all these comparison pictures are exactly 1 year apart. Some stuff has really grown, others not so much. The first 6 months + was just keeping things alive. I was really upset about the losses and broken tank, and the last 1 year plus things have been thriving. In another 6 months to a year I will probably have this tank where I want it to be.
Frogspawn hasn't really changed much in a year.
2 weeks ago I got 4 frags off this piece that is the same size as it was a year ago, but there are also 2 colonies BIGGER then the original + I've gotten about 10 small frags of it.
The biggest 2 changes are these 2
I have moved some things over the last year, but last year I was able to take a picture of my elegance coral from the side. Can't do that anymore..
Long term I think I want to add a tiny bit more flow, a bit more light. Either increase to 4 Kessils or just add 2 more blackboxes (I have one between 2 Kessils on the sps side). I would like more sps but it's a challenge in a softy dominated tank. In the summer I hope to cut back some of the softies. I have about 100 kenya tree frags that I can hopefully get rid of. Even if I got $2 each for them I'd be thrilled.