55long mto mixed

[rayadog]

Starting fresh with a “small” tank. 55gallon long and an old stand for 3 10 gallons.

Filled 4/3/2024 with Marcos maricultured man made rock and a mix of their dry rock (that consisted of base, blocks and shelf); more than 40#s total. I love their shelf rock. It has great texture, detail and variation. Because I used their live rock to seed and Fritz turbo, the tank cycled really quickly. The… aquascape leaves more to be desired from afar but it’s much more appreciable up close.

I tend to get ahead of myself and excited when it matters most in this hobby. I.e. I filled tank first, and tried to rush to get all the rock in to build my scape. I couldn’t even be bothered to take a second to glue/putty anything I settled. I was so jazzed about all the gorilla crabs, pistol shrimp, pods, stars, worms and whatever else at the time. Funny, right. Mind you, I hadn’t set up a tank in probably over 15 years. I think the ban on live rock was in 2008 and I started not long after and you could still find it in the trade. Setting up this new tank was pretty eye opening since man made dry and life rock really took off. I was glad and sad lol. The long hiatus after having a mature tank helped me forget about pests I hadn’t seen in a while.

 

[rayadog]

Anyways, that happened. None of the crabs survived thankfully, brittle stars too. A single pistol shrimp still has my thoughts…

This was the collecting detritus “seed” for the new tank. I actually forgot I had this video and the mono claw pistol shrimp looked really good here lol. Decent size starfish were quite mutilated and didn’t make it. That’s one thing the tank has got yet, asterinas, that my first tank did. Regardless, I was really happy with the life on my rock.

 

[rayadog]

Tiny little polychaete or something and various other life on rock. Corallines, sponges, colonial tunicates, tube worms, other algaes. Not long after adding the rock, we added maybe 3 blue leg hermit crabs. I dropped a couple pellets in initially and randomly later on. Lights were largely off except for a random photoperiod, based on if I remembered to switch on the ballasts, of 1, 2-4 hours on average (depending on when I got home or went to bed). Lights fixture was T5s but since the start I wanted to try LEDs. All media up to here is under T5s with half actinic/half daylight bulbs.

 

[rayadog]

S.O. was not briefed on the fact that we would have this tank empty for a month. Luckily with a large seed of rock and frit’z turbostart dolloped in occassionally the tank cycled in just over 20 days. I did forget I did seed repeatedly with a bottle of pods a couple times.

 

[rayadog]

Feb 25.

We added more inverts in styles that were even more appealing to watch. Mind you, every new thing that we added our popped up in the tank was a joy to my gf and it’s so fun to see other people experience and share in that. We both frequently sit too close to the tank a couple nights a week and point at the live entertainment. We have tiny feather dusters and one large one of different species come on the rock.

This day we added:
Anemone crab - has either molted (my vote) or died (her vote) given we saw his empty carapace but not him/her since a few days after adding

Porcelain crab - usually upside down a marco’s shelf rock filter feeding in the dark depths of the aquascape.

Banded “halloween” hermit - really cool but extra shells are not as plentiful

2 money cowries

And probably 6 more blue legs, 2 nasarrius and 3 astrea.

The designer cuc members were mostly sympathy votes for my gf barely being able to wait 20 days. I did not mention the patience and precaution we should exercise when she first thought it was a cool under taking.

 

[rayadog]

Also around this same time my replacement light and mounting kit arrived. I switched to a Reef Factory Reef Flare L light with wire hanging mounts. Without putting any thought into it… mounting wires is harder than I didn’t think of it to be. We have paneled ceiling over rafters in our basement where the tank is. It was quiet the hassle to find a minimally invasive beam and not booger up or replace any panels.

I didn’t understand immediately but, I thought the mounting was simple enough to figure out with no instructions. They provide you with 1 picture. If you look close at the details… it is clear what goes where.

 

[rayadog]

Next we added 2 clowns and some sbb corals. No patience. No QT. No add bioload slowly. It wasn’t the best but arguing over a fish tank isn’t worth it. Going to the fish store and not coming home with fish was taxing on my investors lol.

The ONLY reason we got fish was because I wanted to save a solor fairy wrasse that looked like a charity case. He, male, turned out to have basically an untreatable unknown neurological wrasse disease.

Once I opened the door to one fish I was doomed. I’m not a great rhetorician and she’s a lawyer.. But we have held off on anything else to date thankfully. We have a baby domino damsel in a pico I’m waiting to add until we add a few more tank mates. There will be a separate write up for that.

 

[rayadog]

Man I’m bad at documentation when it doesn’t count. The filter on this tank, since filling, is a hob marineland for 75 gallons. This tank was real piecemeal. I slowly acquired “enough” to start it over a long period of time. I have a hob skimmer without a powerhead that I’ve yet to add. I didn’t want to run it during cycling. Right before I got the new light, I had only had a cheapo power head, a small nano pump and freshly bought fluval CP3.

I basically acquired various things over time and my interest waned. But on the precipice of setup I decided to change out a few things and components no longer worked anyways.

Probably half way through short cycle, I swapped out all the powerheads/pumps for controllable powerheads. Currently running AI orbit 2 at 25% and nero 3 at 30%. The bigger AI orbit is basically front and center on the right short wall because I want a more laminar flow across the front front of the scape. The nero is tucked to provide flow behind the scape on the left wall. I love not having to unplug anything when maintenance/feeding/etc.

 

[rayadog]

The fairy wrasse survived almost a week. During which I was able to find a 40gal tall with a stand (on wheels!) for … 40$! I felt like a crook! It came with a basic led viewing light light nothing else. The intent was to make the wrasses life easier. The morning I found the tank, I didn’t have any water made. After work, picking up the tank, picking up a new heater and making water. The water temp did not rise fast enough for me to think I could comfortably add the wrasse without much shock. It was slowly climbing out of the 50’s and getting very late with work the next day. The wrasse had “bedded” down in an artificial cave we have in a corner of the display tank. Little did I know that was his final resting spot.

 

[rayadog]

Anyways flash forward to today and having a QT now, the clownfish are both in there being treated. Our naked ocellaris was displaying ich and the snowflake’s tailfin was kind of along the same line. The display tank will now remain fishless for a good several weeks and maybe give the oncoming uglies a reprieve.

Cost is a big thing, which is why everything’s been piecemeal. I didn’t really think I had the means for another tank (til I found such a used steal!), especially after spending a grand on my light fixture alone. That was a huge hit for me lol.

 

[rayadog]

Clownfish went in QT Wednesday 3/12. Also added a few more sbb corals the same night. Added some more inverts the weekend prior to quarantine. An extra halloween crab for viewing ease, thin stripe hermit, small turbo, a deresa and two pink lady urchins on Saturday 3/8. Coral additions from Wednesday 3/12 were sbb “green hulk” monti, a freebie “crazy grass” goni, and a “blue hammer” with 2 heads. Adding to the sbb “yellow hologram” hammer, “lava flow” and “golden glitter” acans.

I also added some red graciallara I had in my pico but after a few weeks it dies off where I glue it and doesn’t really take hold of course. We’ve spotted some halimeda popping up from or Marco’s rocks! And unfortunately are manually battling byropsis but after initial culling it doesn’t seem too bad. I cut my photo period up a bit to drastically reduce whites and reds halfway through the day. What I’m really worried about is some Dictyota sprouting… I tried manual removal and gravel vac but the angle it’s holdfast on the rock is, well, perfect. I’m waiting on better cleaning supplies because my LFS has been out of glass blades for eons. Those were my go to. There also maybe be a tinge of bubble algae that I picked at and someone else got at in a different spit.

 

[rayadog]

I haven’t glued anything yet… but I’m dreading/anticipating having to bolster my scape and finalize coral placements once every seems appropriate for a few weeks

 

[rayadog]

Also of recent. There’s been a ton of spaghetti worm action. My gf also spotted a bristleworm… no harm no foul yet, but I do hate them in numbers.

 

[rayadog]

My next plan is to get rid of the biowheel. I’m measuring door dimensions on the stand to see what kind of tank I can fit under there and plumb with an hob overflow box. Once I do that and swap out my power cord for a controllable one, I’ll be pretty happy with everything. I’ll need to swap/trade/buy a different skimmer rather than the hob I have sitting around.

Then the long game sets in and hopefully we have to upgrade in a few years

 

[rayadog]

Received two simultaneous live shipments for Corals.com and Top Shelf Aquatics corals on Wednesday 3/19.

x3 Cyphastrea (never kept these before)
mystery chalice (i have the name on a bag somewhere)
Green hulk monti
Seasons greetings monti
Photosynthetic plume gorgonian
Rainbow monti
Jf sweettooth monti
x2 war corals
Captain jerk palys
And Mystery zoas (have name on bag)

Was very pleased with everything. Kinda disappointed when I dipped, I only seemed to knock out harmless or beneficial things, amphipods. I’m used to my LFS where half the bag is air so opening full bags of water was messy. All in all good stock. Gorgonian didn’t ship well but was in the bag for longer than needed to be since I didn’t get home from work as soon as I wanted to.

 

[rayadog]

Also bothered to buy some collonista snails and micro brittle stars from top shelf as well.

 

[rayadog]

Swapped out the crappy LFS “clicky”/toggle up tiny pieces up for on/down for off” timer outlet for a 6 outlet wifi controllable strip on Saturday 3/22. Went to install ATO and I finally realized why rimless tanks might be better. The top off tube holder for the ATO barely sits on my rimmed tank, can’t tighten it. And the ATO (duetto 2) sensor can’t go higher than the rim obviously. I have the water level tucked high and flush with the rim and the biowheels because… I need the flush look and hate the sound. Will adjust level next water change.

 

[rayadog]

9/24/25 finally finished plumbing Bashea sump. 1” in, 3/4” out? Gates on either side. Redsea 250 roller (probably my favorite piece of equiptment). Bubble magus hidden behind door bracket. Standard floss and then into return compartment with new spot for ATO. Electrical needs tidied but all labelled.

 

[rayadog]

Money cowries get freaky at night (usually smooth mantles, mantles?)

 

[rayadog]

Mid July, added branching Cyphastrea and green Pocillopora. Doing well so far, no death, growth unsure as I didn’t take a t=0 picture
Growth pattern picture t=3 months
11/10/25