28G JBJ - unique build?

[Magellan]

I am still fairly new to the saltwater world, but I have been around fish most of my life and had a couple of years of freshwater experience under my belt before I started a saltwater tank. With my first attempt, I have mostly kept things as simple as possible, with a fish oriented setup that I never intended to keep many corals in. I did a lot of research before I started, and had very dubious expectations about the success I might have, especially without spending much on equipment. My girlfriend gave me an old AIO tank that came with everything I needed to get started, and I immediately got it set up! It had the old metal halide bulb in the hood, with this giant ballast that looked like it could charge a Tesla. My LFS assured me that this would in fact grow corals, “but I would want to invest in LEDs if i stayed in the hobby”. So far, my only investment in the light has been to get a blue tinted Phoenix bulb for $40, and I couldn’t be happier and neither could my corals. I get this natural blue shimmer that really makes my corals pop. For filtration I run Purigen, Carbon, and Phosguard in the back, plus a few biomedia spheres I found room for. I don’t run a skimmer, but I do clean the filter floss every couple of days. I have a live sand bed and plenty of rock (originally dry), with a very unique shape for a tank this size. I have never had any problems with alk, ph, nitrates...and other than one tiny damsel that died as soon as I brought it home from the store, no fish deaths! I have a blue damsel, a pair of clowns (I assume mated at this point but haven’t seen eggs yet), a 6 line and a lawnmower blenny. I see a lot of other posts on here about several of those species causing problems, but I rarely see even the slightest bit of aggression. I have had the tank since early February this year, and all my original inhabitants are still alive and thriving. There was a green Paly that stowed away on my sea urchin that I noticed was growing, so I figured why not and started adding corals. Now I have a birds nest, 2 hammers, a large Goni, Kenya leather, mushroom, zoas/acans, some gsp and a Monti. I credit the fish success to the large structure that mostly divides the tank in half, they have lots of shade and plenty of places to hide/don’t have to stare at each other all day. But my corals are doing great! Like, really great. I broadcast feed a tiny dose of reef roids 4-5x a week, and manually dose supplements for the corals. Other than that, water changes and I don’t touch anything else.

So, my question! What sort of problems should I expect/watch for long term? I realize that I am not doing things in a way that would make much sense to a modern reefer, and using very old equipment. However, I’m really pleased with my results so far. I have gotten a variety of corals to see what would have success and what wouldn’t, but they have all done well. Is it the metal halide light? Everything began as a tiny frag except the Goni (which is growing like mad!).

 

[JumboShrimp]

My point of view: You are having fun and keeping your tank’s inhabitants alive. No time to turn pessimistic now— just keep up the good work