125 Anemone Dominant Display

[MoparMike97]

Hey guys!

Well, I figured I'd start a thread to chronicle the progress of this tank. Definitely still going through the 'ugly' phase algae-wise, the scape/corals are kinda tossed in for the time being but everything has settled in and is starting to look decent again.

The goal for this tank is to have the scape be pretty much completely dominated by anemones (probably with some LPS mixed in) so the majority of the softies/gorgs will likely be removed. So far, the only Anemones in the system are 2 magnifica and a mertensii.

The large white tipped mag is a recent addition and unfortunately came in bleached, but it looks to be regaining some color. It's been hanging out low in the tank but I'm certain it will end up at the top of the rockwork once fully recovered.

The purple mag has been with me for 2 years now, it was purchased from LADD and was in bad shape on arrival. It actually made a quick recovery and has been basically bulletproof since, it survived 2 moves and a tank crash that killed every other living thing in the system. Not the most flashy anemone in terms of color, but probably my favorite animal in the tank.

And finally the mertens, another fairly recent addition

I'll try and update this thread regularly as the tank progresses!

Thanks for looking!

 

[lapin]

nice

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Very cool! What are your params like?

 

[MoparMike97]

Very cool! What are your params like?

Pretty much average reef parameters, 1.025-26 salinity, 8.2 PH, 8 DKH, ~350 ppm Calcium, 5 ppm Nitrate

 

[MoparMike97]

Well, just added another mag to the family! I've been looking for a green tip for a long time and Pacific East Aquaculture put one up for sale last week, so of course, I had to have it. Currently have it in the observation basket, sorry for the crappy photo but I had to share. This was taken about 1 hour after being added to the tank

Can't wait to see how it looks fully colored up and settled in!

 

[Reeferjunkie]

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

Very nice tank! Did you have to do any treatments for your mags when you first got them? Really looking forward to your updates on this tank!

 

[MoparMike97]

Very nice tank! Did you have to do any treatments for your mags when you first got them? Really looking forward to your updates on this tank!

I do keep a bottle of Cipro around, but I only treat if absolutely necessary. Clean water, stable parameters and patience has worked well for me (even with nems that arrived in awful condition). None of my current anemones have received any antibiotic treatment

Over my time in the hobby, I'm 0-6 on anemones that required Cipro, which is partially why I haven't used it in 3 or 4 years now. Typically, the anemones would show dramatic improvement in a sterile QT environment with antibiotic present but would crash within a day or two of being added to a display system. I don't know if those animals were already too damaged internally to recover or if the Cipro kills off some beneficial/symbiotic bacteria that further compromises the immune response and results in an animal that's even more susceptible to re-infection. Whatever the case, I've seen some amazing recoveries using Cipro, which is why I keep a fresh bottle around, but so far I can't say I've seen much success personally

Figured I'd also post an update of the new addition, 24 hours in and looking great!

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

@NemReefer13 Any updates on the new mag??

 

[Klyle]

Me likey

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Great looking tank.

Been watching for a nice mag locally. Yours look great.

 

[MoparMike97]

Well, I figured I'd post an update for those interested in this tank, unfortunately, it isn't good news.

On February 23, I recieved a shipment of goniopora frags from a well known online seller. Per my usual procedure, I dipped them in Revive, popped them off the plugs and added them to the display. Most opened up within a few hours but a few looked stressed out, which I didn't think much of considering they were just added. I checked the tank one more time before the lights went out and everything looked normal.

The next morning at about 7am I went up to feed the tank, and immediately noticed that two of the goni frags had obvious Brown Jelly Disease or RTN. I used a turkey baster to remove the slime and after looking at the frags decided to just pitch them, as they were pretty much goners by then anyway. Everything else looked great, so I fed the fish and left for work. Again, I really wasn't worried as I had random cases of BJD/RTN over the years, usually under similar circumstances (newly added frags/colonies) and never lost more than a few frags or a couple heads of euphyllia. You can probably guess where this is going...

I get home at about 7pm, walk up stairs and see the tank looks like its filled with milk... and pretty much knew what i was going to find. I lost the majority of my coral, the white tip mag, the green tip mag and basically all of my fish. The anemones were basically half dissovled piles of mush. I still can't believe that within twelve hours, the tank went from a beautiful reef to a slime covered hellscape.

I pulled anything that looked salvageable out of the tank and setup a large tote as a holding area. Amazingly, the original mag and the mertensii pulled through along with a few random corals.

Obviously, I was pretty disheartened by the whole mess and have been slowly been restocking the tank. Though I still plan to have several anemones, the tank will probably end up being more soft coral dominant than anemone dominant going forward.

And just so this isn't post isn't all negativity... my newest additions to the tank, a pair of 12 year old Cinnamon Clownfish and a purple base/white tip magnifica, both from my LFS.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

This is the things nightmares are made of.

I'm sorry for your losses.

 

[JonezNReef]

At least you kept with it. I had similar a few years back but lost everything and had to take a break for a few years.
The new Mag and clowns look good

 

[dvgyfresh]

BJD is scary stuff I’ve seen it on one of my rocks and killed the SPS/ zoas / nice sun coral sorry for your losses

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

So sorry for your loss @NemReefer13 . Never heard BJD acting so fast! Do you think it was something else? Hopefully we all can learn a thing or two from your loss.

 

[MoparMike97]

Another long overdue update on the tank

I must say, this summer has been by far the most frustrating period of time I've had in the hobby. The whole BJD/RTN event this spring kicked off a long string of issues. Despite doing a deep cleaning of the tank and stepping up the frequency and size of water changes, which initially seemed to have stabilized the tank, nutrients would continue to be an issue. First, went through a horrible hair algae outbreak, then cyanobacteria which was bad enough to warrant the use of ChemiClean. That fixed the cyano but opened the door for valonia to spread like wildfire. Fed up, I did large water changes and ran GFO and carbon to reign in the nutrients, which worked too well and caused a Dino outbreak.... *Facepalm*

At this point, realizing my overcorrection was causing issues, I took a step back and slowed down with everything. Went back to my normal water change schedule, upped the feeding and raised the temperature of the tank a few degrees, and the dinos just disappeared... After reading the horror stories of people struggling with them for months and months I was beyond happy to see them just disappear over the course of about a week. Manually removed most of the valonia and let my purple tang finish the job. The corals and nems started to recover and the tank actually looked presentable for the first time in months.

Here we are now, 2 months post dinos:

The OG purple mag and newer white tip, still not 100% but looking way better

And the mertens, which I had to move to my 14 biocube QT during the cyano phase after it wandered directly into one of the Nero 5's and got pretty well blended. I may end up setting up a nicer, showcase tank for it as the bommie it used to occupy in the 125 is now complely covered by softies.

If nothing else, my torture chamber of a aquarium proves that established anemones are basically bulletproof, even the supposedly 'impossible' species. I did pull the trigger on one of my holy grail nems, which should be arriving next week, super excited to get it. I'll be updating more frequently now that the tank isn't a disaster zone

 

[MoparMike97]

Here's the newest addition to the tank, a gorgeous red S. haddoni

I have wanted one of these since I saw photos of one years ago, but either the timing was never right or they were simply way out of my price range. I saw this specimen come up for sale on Corals.com for a fairly reasonable price (still by far the single most expensive reef critter I've ever purchased) and decided it was finally time to snag one. Came beautifully packaged and the animal was in perfect health, extremely sticky and responsive to touch. It's now been in the tank for just over 24 hours, hasn't moved from where I 'planted' it and looks to be settling in nicely! Of course, the male clown started dive bombing it as I was trying to take pics, so it partially retracted lol. Fully expanded it's about 11" across. I can't wait to watch this beauty grow!

 

[MoparMike97]

Added another nem to the tank, a beautiful H. aurora. I've always loved the striated tentacles on this species. Seems to be settling in nicely!

 

[OrionN]

Added another nem to the tank, a beautiful H. aurora. I've always loved the striated tentacles on this species. Seems to be settling in nicely!

That is a H. malu rather than a H. aurora
Here is a picture on the Net of the tentacles of a Malu