Mr_Knightley's 210 gallon acro and anemone dominant build!

Mr_Knightley

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This is the journey my 220g aquarium went through from november 2018 to now. Please follow along for updates!
 
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Mr_Knightley

Mr_Knightley

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Here is setup day! We bought the tank from a dude who had bought a puppy from us a few years prior, so we trusted him to tell the truth. it was a Marineland 220g tank, and he gave us all the rocks, snails, corals and equipment along with it!

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Mr_Knightley

Mr_Knightley

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A few weeks later, both of the support beams through the middle snapped, and after a call with the people who installed it, we left the tank alone. 3 days later, the night before thanksgiving 2018. I had gone to my brother's house to spend the night, and I was told by my sister that "oh, mom said your tank cracked. She's coming to get you."
The people who stayed home that night saved all they could, and we kept all livestock in buckets for a few days until the new tank arrived. thankfully no fish had been added as of yet.

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Mr_Knightley

Mr_Knightley

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We kept the livestock in an old 25g tank after we got it established, and our LFS awesomely held all of my surviving large peices of corals for me. we also got some fish.

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Mr_Knightley

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Here's a funny story: One day in june 2019 I bought a big ol' red serpent star. I lost track of it and the next day, my huge LTA was throwing it up! This was the only time I had ever seen or heard of anemones eating echinoderms. Too bad it was a 70$ echinoderm.

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Mr_Knightley

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The first one is from june 2019, the second two are from august. My LTA had decided to jump into a pump, so I kept it in my fuge to heal up and had just put it back in.

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Mr_Knightley

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October, the old AI sols that came with the tank had given out and we had ordered in some Hydra 52s, and since the 64 had just came out, I got them at a discount of $350 each!
I had also received an order of plants and sand dollars from a place in florida. BTW, sand dollars are some of the coolest CUCs that you can get! They do a great job cleaning, they are just very finicky about food. After the concentrations of detritus start falling, you have to supplement them heavily. Not for everyone, but I had fun with them.

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Mr_Knightley

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Little update!

So in the past few weeks, a lot has gone down. Sadly i do not have any pictures, but I will soon!

In early February, my LTA decided to jump into a powerhead again, luckily I had just gotten Gyres for the tank so the damage was minimal, only losing a couple tentacles. Then a=the next day, he did it again and lost ALL of his tentacles. I was mortified, but he didn't seem to care at all. I dipped him and tried to feed him, but he refused. Fast forward to now, he has recovered all of his tentacles, and is almost done with recovery.
Peace is currently going on in my tank, but i hope to get some more fish for the tank soon, so we'll see how it goes. lol

Livestock list, because i forgot to make one before:
Fish:
2 Occelaris clowns
1 Chocolate tang
1 sailfin tang
1 Orangelined tang
2 Scissortail dartfish
2 Zebra dartfish
1 cleaner wrasse
1 PJ cardinal

Inverts:
2+ Tigertail cukes
3 Pin urchins
1 Longspine
2 Peppermint shrimp
Lots of hermits, lots of snails.
1 GBTA
1 huge LTA

I'll keep you guys posted on the tank, some super huge things comin' down soon!
Good day, happy reefing and God bless!
 
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Mr_Knightley

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as far as livestock I am looking at a lot of the same. do you expect any issue with the urchins or shirmps eating your corals?

I have experienced a few incidents, but only with the urchins, and even then only because the corals were in their path. I personally do not mind losing a tiny patch of coral every now and again, because urchins are jut so sweet diggity cool.
On the other hand, the peppermint shrimp are cool, but I'm not sure if I'll get more when they eventually get eaten. On the plus side, I don't have aiptasia lol
 
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Mr_Knightley

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So an update:
Yesterday I went to my LFS with $2000 and a mission: Find acanthophyllias!
I had been eyeing a Sargassum trigger for that last few weeks, and when I saw he was still there I had to jump on it! I ended up getting a red & green show quality acantho for $600, the trigger for $160, another acantho for $198 that I got at a discount because it was damaged, and a colony of nice green rhodactis with white bounces for $160!
So overall I spent $1200 in one day... Plus roughly half of my soul and sanity ;Dead
In all seriousness though, I feel kind of sick after spending so much at one time, but a looking at that acantho and the new trigger really makes up for it all!
I'll update with pics later on today or tomorrow, I'll be doing some work on the aquascape tonight.
God bless you all!
 

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Wow......and I complained spending $300 cash on some old dry rock lol (got close to 200lbs though).

I get buyers remorse after almost every single purchase. Usually 12-24 hours later when its WAY too late :p. 95% of the time it is un-justified of course.

Livestock is tough though, so much rides on keeping things perfect, and when you spend $600 on a single piece......lets just say I have spent less on cars I still drive.
 
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Mr_Knightley

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Hey guys!
Sorry, pic are coming. Having trouble with my camera, and really haven't had much time to take pictures anyway.

So an update. I put in an order with @AquaSD a few days ago, I bought 3 nice acanthophyllias. (I know, I'm addicted to this coral lol) So they arrived on thursday, along with a really big frag of Alveopora! Sadly the smallest of them did not make, it, it just never opened up. I think it may have been mechanical damage during shipping, and of course I had JUST ran out of iodine, so I couldn't dip them (which I do with every new coral).
My garden is now at 4, with the sick one I rescued not looking to hot either... But yesterday it was doing pretty groovy, so I think it'll be good.
I recently ordered some fish from my LFS, patiently waiting for COVID hype to die down so my LFS can actually get shipments again. Just imagine being in a retail buisness, getting all of your stock from wholesalers, and having almost all of them shut down? I'm going to try to support them as much as I can in these times of overhyped flu.
I promise I'll post pictures either today or tomorrow, I want to try and get my settings optimised.
Well good day, stay safe, thanks for reading and following along!
God bless you all, have a nice day!
 
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Mr_Knightley

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Excuse the salt drips.
Here is the new trigger (no name yet), and some general tank shots, as well as some pin urchin chaos.
Enjoy, and God bless you guys!

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A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 72 38.1%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 63 33.3%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 13.2%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 14.8%
  • Other.

    Votes: 1 0.5%
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