75 gallon Fraggy Reef progression

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I started this so that I can have a place to track my tanks progression as I finally have a tank worth looking at. Hopefully, I can continue to take a video every month or two just to compare how everything has grown. Should be interesting.

This is a standard 75 gallon and its just over 3 months old. I have added about all I can for the time being (I do want to add a few more Rock Anemones to create a garden). Its currently running sumpless, but my next addition will be a HOB overflow so that I can hide some of this equipment. It didn't bother me at first, but now I find myself wishing I just bought a new tank instead of switching a fresh tank out for a reef. Anyway here it is in all its fragtastic glory. ;)

 
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Major setback today. My Diamond goby found an escape hatch in my cover, and I had some Goby jerky left on the floor by the time I found him. On top of that it seems I have an ich outbreak. Broke down all the rock work and caught all the remaining fish, and started copper treatment. Everyone looks pretty ticked off, coral fish and inverts. I took this as an opportunity to remove a big piece of rock that I just couldn't ever seem to get placed correctly and reworked my scape. Now I just need to remount a bunch of frags. Thinking I'll just mount a couple a day, but I'll give everyone a day or two to settle down before I start messing with the tank again.

Overall I know things will be better because of this, but I really didn't want to take on this type of task today. I'll have to get a pic up soon to show the new scape. If these guys don't make it through QT, I may just be done with fish in my reef. Ugh...so many frags to mount again.
 
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So here is the tank part way through the rescape. Lots of white rock (glowing blue in the video) showing again which really throws things off. I think I preferred the old scape, but I'm not upset with the way this turned out either. I have some rock rubble which I can use to blend the scape together a bit. Eventually that will be covered in zoas (hopefully) and should look pretty cool.
 
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So its been a few days and I finally have most of my corals mounted once again. The two biggest changes both stem from not having my Diamond Goby around anymore. The tank has much less particulate floating around the water column, and I'm no longer having to deal with digging out any buried corals along the bottom of my rockwork. I really liked the Goby, but I'm not quite sure I'll be replacing him. I guess it all depends on how clean the substrate stays. If I can keep it nice and white with a group of Nassarius snails then I definitly will not be getting a new goby.
 
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Eveything is mounted once again, and I've place some rubble in to smooth out what I though were some drastic angles. Now I just need to get some color on those rocks to even it out.

Heres a quick video:


And here are some blue light shots:

full tank1.jpg
green cyph.jpg
king midas1.jpg
purple hornets1.jpg
purple monsters_1.jpg
scrambled eggs1.jpg
torch1.jpg
utter chaos1.jpg
various colonies1.jpg
zoa1.jpg
 
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Its been just over a week since my tank went fallow. Pods are everywhere all day and all night. Probably going to try a Ruby Red Dragonet. Need to make sure my inverts keep the sand turned over first. If not, I'll go back to the Gobies...I'm not sure if my tank will support both a Goby and Dragonet.

I have a small CUC ordered from reef cleaners that will be arriving tomorrow. So that should add some more excitement back into the tank. Did a little algae removal myself and turned the sandbed a bit. Why does cleaning have to make such a mess of the tank?

Baffles for my sump will be ready on Friday so I'll have a nice little project going shortly. Still need to figure out which pump I'll be getting for the return, but I think I'm leaning towards the Varios 4 to match with the Eshopps PF800. Tired of cleaning out the canister filter all the time
 
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ok...lots has happened in the last week.

Nothing lived through QT except the Molly that was keeping the cycle going. In fact he looks great, meanwhile I lost my clown, blenny, and tang. That really sucks...think if ich ever springs up in my display again I'll try a management approach.

The clean up crew has decimated my algae problems. However without my Goby anymore, my sand just isn't as bright as it used to be. Are there any other good sand stirrers that don't build mountains out of sand?

Finally my sump is complete. That was a fun little project. Even though I'm quite messy with a silicone gun, I think it came out alright. It's a 20 gallon long with the baffle kit from Exotic Marine Systems. Just need to save a few $$$ for an overflow and return, and then I can plumb it in (which should be an interesting challenge for me).

sump1.jpg sump2.jpg
 
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Found my first baby Trochus snail this morning. Knew there had to be some showing up shortly based on how "busy" the big guys are. I have a decent enough CUC so maybe when there are more I can pass these guys along. I know they are pretty high up on the reefer wish list and they are not always available (especially around my parts).
 
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A few new changes to the stock list. My LFS was having a sale that I couldn't resist, and picked up a pair of Cinnamon clowns and a Leopard wrasse. The leopard was eating mysis at the LFS and I'm praying she continues in her new tank. So far she appears to mostly just be picking at the rocks and not really grabbing at anything I've added. She will follow some mysis that floats by, but hasn't really gone after it yet. On a positive note, she doesn't really hide much except at lights out. The clowns have been...well like clowns. The larger of the two seems to have taken a liking to my purple monsters. If anything I hope that might slow down their growth a bit. I'm a bit worried of them taking over as they have proven to be one of my faster growers. Pandoras hold that title and I think I need to rehome those, as I'm not fond of their color (although they are pretty cool under blues).
I really want to add a Midas Blenny, a Hectors Goby and maybe a couple more wrasses. I just wish I could find them locally instead of online. Anyway, here a quick video showing the new additions.
 

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ok...lots has happened in the last week.

Nothing lived through QT except the Molly that was keeping the cycle going. In fact he looks great, meanwhile I lost my clown, blenny, and tang. That really sucks...think if ich ever springs up in my display again I'll try a management approach.

The clean up crew has decimated my algae problems. However without my Goby anymore, my sand just isn't as bright as it used to be. Are there any other good sand stirrers that don't build mountains out of sand?

Finally my sump is complete. That was a fun little project. Even though I'm quite messy with a silicone gun, I think it came out alright. It's a 20 gallon long with the baffle kit from Exotic Marine Systems. Just need to save a few $$$ for an overflow and return, and then I can plumb it in (which should be an interesting challenge for me).

sump1.jpg sump2.jpg
Sorry to hear about your fish. I had a diamond goby that did the exact same thing. I've replaced him with a watchman goby, but not nearly as efficient in cleaning the sand as the diamond was. If I had to do it over again, i would get another diamond.
 
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Oh boy, so with everything else going on it looks like I may have Dinos starting to appear in my tank. Zoas are not fully opening, and brownish string algae is forming. I’m hardly running a super clean tank and I have readings for nitrates and phosphates so not sure what is causing this. I added some more flow and started a blackout, and did a thorough sand cleaning. Kinda sucks that I can’t go out, and now I can’t enjoy my hobby. Oh well...still have my freshwater tanks to play with.
 
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Wow, so its been about 6 months since I updated this thread. The dinos almost ended my reefing experience. I lost a few nice corals during the battle (a few zoa frags, a pink lemoade sps, thing anacropora, and it put a dent in a nice birdsnest that seems to be fighting back.) I think what may have been going on was that a bryopsis outbreak was consuming all the nutrients allowing the dinos to take hold. I ran a cycle of reef flux to tackle the bryopsis and the dinos just went away. That brought on the great cyano outbreak of 2020. It was growing all over the sand bed and in other lower flow areas in the tank. I kept clearing it away and finally that too has passed. All told it took about 4 months to reclaim the tank. Anyway, I just made it to the one year anniversary and took a quick video of how it looks now.

This is shortly after lights out so some of the corals are starting to go to sleep:
 
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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: 68 37.6%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 60 33.1%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 13.8%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 15.5%
  • Other.

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