CowTusks
Community Member
I started this tank in September of 2020. I’ve kept freshwater off and on throughout my life and figured it was time. I’ll post every step I can find pictures for.
This tank started as a home for my axolotls. A friend impulse bought a large salt water system second hand and convinced me it was much easier than it really was. I had always been hesitant about taking the leap into salt water in college for a reason but went against my better judgment. That said, I absolutely cut corners, made stupid mistakes and still am far from perfect.
Dimensions: 12x23x36 45 Gallon
I lost most of the other Aquarium Depot frags to hermit crabs throwing them and neglecting them afterwards. Hadn’t heard of superglue yet and had a putty that never has really worked for me. The mushrooms got bigger and bigger. One of the GSP was still spreading but ended up climbing over the green zoa and was moved. Still doing minimal water changes and intentionally leaving the algae on the back wall.
Added a sand sifter starfish at some point.
The Fire Fish went missing one day and never reappeared. Clean up crews work…
The original Purple Cespitularia frag plug broke free during the move.
I used this move as an excuse to go a little bigger. Purchased a 55 G secondhand for the new apartment.
The next morning, I woke up to salt water all over the floor. The new-to-me tank was leaking! Ran out to the store for silicon and any way to seal the leak. After a few failed attempts, I decided to just buy a new tank. This sucked since I was no longer saving any money by going second hand and could have invested more into the equipment.
Sounded great with me!
Then I came home and stayed up all night doing research. It definitely sounded awesome and unique but the fear of losing a fishy friend mixed with so many unknowns had me bringing it back first thing the next day. However, through that research I’ve deduced that an Epaulette is on the list ~15 years down the road.
Allen had good and bad days. My LFS had told me to just wait it out since I don't have a quarantine system.
I knew to watch BMC and CMB (named because its almost an inside out Coral Beauty) closely but there had been very minor signs of aggression. They had checked each other out and did some short sizing up but everything was smooth!
When I was there they had a beautiful male ruby red dragonet. Worked out because it was originally the fish I wanted to drive home but it had sold by the date of my drive.
My current priority is diagnosing/healing “Allen” (Yellow Belly). I’ve begun to suspect that he has HLLE or maybe even just scars from the ich. No other symptoms or spots on any other fish. I’ll edit in my disease forum once I get the photos and parameters I need. Could it be due to the activated carbon in the Penguin 375 filter pads?
“Recent Fella” (Ruby Red) has also been sitting in the back right corner for 3 days. His breathing is steady and he appears to swim fine. He just isn’t moving much at all which is very unusual. My suspicion was the salinity went to 1.028 due to neglecting a top off and clean. Hoping to see some improvements soon now that she's ship shape.
The firework clove has all but left it’s original plug and is climbing up and up. Been pulling its ‘vines’ off of the left Zoas. The Cespitularia had two stalks wither on the far right side but otherwise it appears as strong as ever. Even got 2 plugs out of it last month. The new gorgonia is closed after only being open for the first day or two. I’ve moved it into more direct flow and hope to see something soon.
Since upgrading the lights everything is much fuller looking but the algae on the grass has been annoying. I used to scrub it once a week but now it almost demands a daily swipe. Still in the acclimation mode for another week or so. I miss the warmer colors the Current gave me around lunch but am adapting to the hydras.
New Testing kits and better consistency with testing/water changes are something I need to establish. Currently just using my coals to check and testing salinity.
I am 100% open to any suggestions and tips for improving my reef. My goal with this is to be as transparent as I can be and learn as much as possible.
This tank started as a home for my axolotls. A friend impulse bought a large salt water system second hand and convinced me it was much easier than it really was. I had always been hesitant about taking the leap into salt water in college for a reason but went against my better judgment. That said, I absolutely cut corners, made stupid mistakes and still am far from perfect.
The Beginning
Dimensions: 12x23x36 45 Gallon
- Equipment:
- Tidal 55 Hang On
- Heater
- Power Head
- Orbit Marine 18-24” IC Loop
- Store Reef Water, Pink Fuji Sand, Live Rock
- Maintenance:
- Store Reef Water changes every 1-3 months
- Tap water top off with Prime
- 1x frozen cube daily. Alternated most trips to LFS
September 16, 2020
- Added Six-Line Wrasse “Weewee”
- Blue Legged Hermit “Harry”
September 20, 2022
- Added 1x Tube Anemone
- Added 2x Snowflake Extreme Clownfish "Mamma” + “OG Pappa”
September 29, 2020
- Added 1x Royal Gramma
- Added 1x Long Tentacle Plate (I believe)
October 3, 2020
- Added 1x Coral Beauty “BMC”
November 14, 2020
- Added 4x Orange Yuma
- Added 1x Green Zoa
November 24, 2020
- Added 1x Magnifica Anemone
February 1, 2021
- Lost 1x Snowflake Extreme Clownfish "OG Papa"
- Lost 1x Royal Gramma
- Lost 1x Magnifica Anemone
February 24, 2021
- Added 1x Sebae Anemone. This unfortunately withered away a few weeks after.
- Added 1x Snowflake Extreme Clownfish. Was alone at the LFS and I took a gamble.
- Added 1x Fire Fish
March 4, 2021
- 1x Purple Cespitularia
- 5x Green Star Polyp
- 2x Orange Crush Mushroom
- 2x Arctic Ice Palythoa
- 6x Mexican Red Leg Hermit
- 11x Nassarius Vibex Snail
- 10x Turbo Snail
Assorted Photos Between Dates
November 12, 2021
I slowed down a lot and took the time to learn and watch my tank. The cespitularia continued to spread like a weed. It was fine with me as the clowns host it and are a blast to watchI lost most of the other Aquarium Depot frags to hermit crabs throwing them and neglecting them afterwards. Hadn’t heard of superglue yet and had a putty that never has really worked for me. The mushrooms got bigger and bigger. One of the GSP was still spreading but ended up climbing over the green zoa and was moved. Still doing minimal water changes and intentionally leaving the algae on the back wall.
Added a sand sifter starfish at some point.
The Fire Fish went missing one day and never reappeared. Clean up crews work…
April 24, 2022
- Added 1x Green Mushroom Ricordea?
The Moving Saga
August 6, 2022
- Added 1x Mandarin Goby “New Guy”
- Added another small sand sifter starfish at some point before this.
The original Purple Cespitularia frag plug broke free during the move.
September 1, 2022
Yet another move to a temporary location while we waited for a new lease. Lost the tube anemone which got lost and buried in the sand. Never saw it again but did find small pieces of tentacles. Also I had trimmed back the Purple Cespitularia and tried to rubber band then down to a frag plug. With all of the moving commotion I didn’t do my best and they fell free and blew away.I used this move as an excuse to go a little bigger. Purchased a 55 G secondhand for the new apartment.
September 22-23, 2022
It was finally time to move the tank into our new apartment. I purchased more sand and had extra LFS reef water ready to go. Moved everyone in and it looked great! Obviously the sand was stirred up but the new size was exciting. Definitely more things to get over time but it was the beginning of the next stage. Somewhere around here the hang-on skimmer died.The next morning, I woke up to salt water all over the floor. The new-to-me tank was leaking! Ran out to the store for silicon and any way to seal the leak. After a few failed attempts, I decided to just buy a new tank. This sucked since I was no longer saving any money by going second hand and could have invested more into the equipment.
October 1, 2020
- Added 1x Yellow Belly Blue Tang “Allen”
- Added 3x Smaller Live Rocks
- Added 1x GSP Frag
- Added 1x $10 Yellow Button Paly
October 17, 2020
Aggression between the Coral Beauty “BMC” and Clowns was at an all time high. The clowns are always territorial of their Cespitularia but now they were both chasing each other much more. The Momma Clown would have a missing scale here or there, BMC had fin nips. I decided to rescape everything.
October 19, 2022
- Added 1x Blue Long Tentacle Anemone
- Added 1x Banded Cat Shark Egg
Sounded great with me!
Then I came home and stayed up all night doing research. It definitely sounded awesome and unique but the fear of losing a fishy friend mixed with so many unknowns had me bringing it back first thing the next day. However, through that research I’ve deduced that an Epaulette is on the list ~15 years down the road.
November 2, 2022
Aggression between BMC and the Clowns was still uncontrolled. Time to rescape again. Got another rock shortly after too.
November 5, 2022
- Added 1x Toadstool Leather
- Added 1x Pulsing Xenia
November 18, 2020
- Added 1x Firework Clove
- Added 10x Red-Legged Hermit Crabs
November 23, 2022
- Added 1x Peppermint Shrimp
December 30, 2022
- Added 1x Flameback Angel “CMB”
- Added 1x Green Singularia
Allen had good and bad days. My LFS had told me to just wait it out since I don't have a quarantine system.
I knew to watch BMC and CMB (named because its almost an inside out Coral Beauty) closely but there had been very minor signs of aggression. They had checked each other out and did some short sizing up but everything was smooth!
January 6, 2023
- Added 1x Ruby Red Dragonet “Recent Fella”
- Added 1x Anemone Crab
- Removed 1x Coral Beauty “BMC”
When I was there they had a beautiful male ruby red dragonet. Worked out because it was originally the fish I wanted to drive home but it had sold by the date of my drive.
January 19, 2023
- Added 2x AI Hydra 32HD
- Removed 1x Current Loop LED bar
January 29, 2023
- Added 1x Gorgonia
- Added 1x Asparagus Leather (my made up name)
Current Situation - February 5, 2023
My current priority is diagnosing/healing “Allen” (Yellow Belly). I’ve begun to suspect that he has HLLE or maybe even just scars from the ich. No other symptoms or spots on any other fish. I’ll edit in my disease forum once I get the photos and parameters I need. Could it be due to the activated carbon in the Penguin 375 filter pads?
“Recent Fella” (Ruby Red) has also been sitting in the back right corner for 3 days. His breathing is steady and he appears to swim fine. He just isn’t moving much at all which is very unusual. My suspicion was the salinity went to 1.028 due to neglecting a top off and clean. Hoping to see some improvements soon now that she's ship shape.
The firework clove has all but left it’s original plug and is climbing up and up. Been pulling its ‘vines’ off of the left Zoas. The Cespitularia had two stalks wither on the far right side but otherwise it appears as strong as ever. Even got 2 plugs out of it last month. The new gorgonia is closed after only being open for the first day or two. I’ve moved it into more direct flow and hope to see something soon.
Since upgrading the lights everything is much fuller looking but the algae on the grass has been annoying. I used to scrub it once a week but now it almost demands a daily swipe. Still in the acclimation mode for another week or so. I miss the warmer colors the Current gave me around lunch but am adapting to the hydras.
New Testing kits and better consistency with testing/water changes are something I need to establish. Currently just using my coals to check and testing salinity.
I’ve got a few things in mind for my next steps:
- Quarantine tank for Allen (and the future) depending on what people advise. I don’t plan to add any more fish but I do need to be prepared.
- Sump!!!! I’m sick of the space taken up by my hang-ons and how ugly they are.
- Begin a small macro algae refugium display that feeds into the main DT. Build up pods and other beneficial critters. Probably only get a longfin clownfish pair further down the road.
I am 100% open to any suggestions and tips for improving my reef. My goal with this is to be as transparent as I can be and learn as much as possible.
Last edited:
