Bars' reefing adventure

[Bars]

The tank is doing fantastic. The algae is gone (except for a bit of gha on the return nozzles and background) and corals look great. I'm seeing serious growth on a few monti caps I picked up not too long ago. One of them I picked up a week ago and was completely brown. It's already turned into a vague green color.

I've also placed another rock structure on top of the main one. This hides the huge powerhead behind it from the front of the tank and I've got some space for a few sps frags:

Placed a few monti caps, orange digi, green hirsuta and a chalice on the back of the rockscape. I'm hoping these will all grow out nicely and eventually hide the powerheads near the bottom.

I also picked up these guys:


There's so much orange/green/red that I wanted something blue. They stand out beautifully against the black background and in addition have made all the wrasses less nervous when standing in front of or walking by the tank. As far as them killing each other off eventually I'm reading mixed things. I'm hoping that multiple feedings and the presence of the more dominant wrasses will keep them at bay.

 

[Dj City]

Good luv with the chtomis. I've always had bad luck with them. Start of with 5 and they kill each other.

Love the Timor Wrasse.

 

[Bars]

Good luv with the chtomis. I've always had bad luck with them. Start of with 5 and they kill each other.

Love the Timor Wrasse.

Yup, I know it's a risk. I'm hoping I'll have better luck lol.

The timor is great, probably my favorite fish right now. It's a snail murderer as well, even tried to eat my large conch.

 

[Bars]

Update time!


Overall I'm very happy how the tank's progressing. I had some sort of a battle with cyano that wouldn't go away, even in very high flow areas. I realized some of my bulbs probably were 1.5+ years old. Replaced them with fresh bulbs and I haven't seen cyano since.

I've been adding some new corals as well. Mainly zoas and other softies. Also added a nice 20ish headed duncan and a few sps frags. Everything's doing great with lots of new growth

 

[Bars]

Picture time I've started feeding Vitalis LPS pellets, as my Trachyphyllias and Acans have their feeders out 24/7. Spot feeding frozen is such a pain in the butt and results in the fish stealing everything. So far I'm amazed by their feeding response with the pellets. They do eat them very slowly, but within in a minute or 2 they have the pellets completely ''trapped''.

So apparently these are snakelock anemones! AFAIK they shouldn't be suitable for a reef tank due to the higher temperature. I've got these from another reefer and they have been thriving. These are 6 or 7 all bundled together. I started with just 1 a few months ago. The fun part is they don't seem to walk! They only move an inch or 2 after they've split.

 

[Bars]

Big fish are out, small fish are in! All the big guys went to a bigger home, except for the uncatchable cleaner wrasse and the shrimp goby. The goby doesn't do much, is pretty, has a little shrimp friend and would be impossible to catch anyway. I still want the cleaner out, but I don't see that happening any time soon...

The news guys! A pair of orchid dottyback/Pseudochromis fridmani:

Absolutely gorgeous little fish. I was debating between a pair of these or a harem of black caps. The price difference drove me towards the dottyback, despite not liking them that much on the pictures. They are so much better looking in person though! Bright purple/pink or a very pretty dark purple/blueish color, depending how the light hits them. They are constantly swimming together, hoping to see some breeding soon

I've also added the unthinkable; a bunch of damsels! 3 talbot damsels and 3 azures.

The talbots are just adorable and also very pretty in person. They all have their own little territory and occasionally spar with each other. Adding the azures didn't go so well. My resident azure damsel didn't like them at all. I was hopeful adding 6 damsels would spread the aggression, but he completely beat up the 2 larger azures. Resident damsel is rehomed, one of the new ones injured both eyes and is - hopefully - recovering in the sump. Although I'm unsure if he'll make it. The biggest of the bunch also got beat up pretty badly, but he's recovering nicely and seems to have paired up with the smallest azure. They are pretty mellow with each other and even swim together from time to time.

Next week I'll be adding a beautiful coral beauty. I phased out most of my lps, so not too worried about nipping. Last addition will be a nice fairy wrasse in a few months. Something with a lot of red that can deal with my now high aggression stocking. Still leaning towards a social wrasse.

 

[i cant think]

Big fish are out, small fish are in! All the big guys went to a bigger home, except for the uncatchable cleaner wrasse and the shrimp goby. The goby doesn't do much, is pretty, has a little shrimp friend and would be impossible to catch anyway. I still want the cleaner out, but I don't see that happening any time soon...

The news guys! A pair of orchid dottyback/Pseudochromis fridmani:

Absolutely gorgeous little fish. I was debating between a pair of these or a harem of black caps. The price difference drove me towards the dottyback, despite not liking them that much on the pictures. They are so much better looking in person though! Bright purple/pink or a very pretty dark purple/blueish color, depending how the light hits them. They are constantly swimming together, hoping to see some breeding soon

I've also added the unthinkable; a bunch of damsels! 3 talbot damsels and 3 azures.

The talbots are just adorable and also very pretty in person. They all have their own little territory and occasionally spar with each other. Adding the azures didn't go so well. My resident azure damsel didn't like them at all. I was hopeful adding 6 damsels would spread the aggression, but he completely beat up the 2 larger azures. Resident damsel is rehomed, one of the new ones injured both eyes and is - hopefully - recovering in the sump. Although I'm unsure if he'll make it. The biggest of the bunch also got beat up pretty badly, but he's recovering nicely and seems to have paired up with the smallest azure. They are pretty mellow with each other and even swim together from time to time.

Next week I'll be adding a beautiful coral beauty. I phased out most of my lps, so not too worried about nipping. Last addition will be a nice fairy wrasse in a few months. Something with a lot of red that can deal with my now high aggression stocking. Still leaning towards a social wrasse.

I love the tabolts! Any plans for things like a clam or spongodes?

 

[Bars]

I love the tabolts! Any plans for things like a clam or spongodes?

Yeah they're awesome. Although they don't group together like chromis, they're fairly peaceful and so much fun to watch. Never thought a damsel would be my favorite fish in the tank lol.

No plans for adding clams or sponges. I do have some nice sponge growth on the rocks, which will probably end up being dinner unfortunately. I was debating between a nice clam and a dwarf angel. Eventually decided to skip the clam, since they look best viewed from above and not so much when viewed from the side.

 

[Bars]

Buddy of mine is temporarily shutting his tank down and gave me all his corals. Unfortunately a few of them are in very rough shape. Couple of torches, a hammer and frogspawn that look ok or are on the verge of death. The elegance is totally fine and looks amazing, so are the zoas and other softies. I put the euphyllia in low flow low light spots, hoping they pull through. The hammer and 2 of the torches might survive. One of the torches and the frogspawn however barely have any tissue left.

Anyway... I thought my tank was full. Apparently I could shove even more corals in!

Barely any tissue, but what's left is extending fine!

Hammer doesn't look too bad but can definitely improve a lot:

 

[SaltyT]

You have a very nice tank! I’m better at keeping fish than I am corals so I enjoy seeing nice reef tanks like yours.

This coral looks awesome, what is it?

 

[i cant think]

You have a very nice tank! I’m better at keeping fish than I am corals so I enjoy seeing nice reef tanks like yours.

This coral looks awesome, what is it?

It’s a ricordea yuma that’s gained bounce/been “bounced”, Its very similar to a rock of bounce Yuma ricordea in my tank.

 

[Bars]

You have a very nice tank! I’m better at keeping fish than I am corals so I enjoy seeing nice reef tanks like yours.

This coral looks awesome, what is it?

Thanks! Your tank looks great too! What you lack in corals you make up with some gorgeous fish

It's indeed a bounce yuma. I've got another one that's more orange and is slightly less bubbly, behind the zoas:

The close up pic is my buddy's yuma that I'm babysitting.

 

[Bars]

It’s a ricordea yuma that’s gained bounce/been “bounced”, Its very similar to a rock of bounce Yuma ricordea in my tank.

How quick do yours grow? I've had mine for almost a year, perhaps even more than a year already, but it hasn't split yet.

 

[SaltyT]

Thanks! Your tank looks great too! What you lack in corals you make up with some gorgeous fish

Thank you!

 

[SaltyT]

How are you guys getting your yumas to bounce?

 

[Bars]

I have no idea. I think these were already ''bounced'' when we got them. Neither us or the seller even knew what they were, got them for real cheap too (think it was like 20 bucks each).

 

[i cant think]

How quick do yours grow? I've had mine for almost a year, perhaps even more than a year already, but it hasn't split yet.

I will say there’s over 8 polyps and most of them are Atleast 4 inches across. I’ve kept it in this tank for 2 years and it spread to 3 polyps at the 5th month then the 1 year mark made it get to about 5 polyps and now it’s at Atleast 10 if not 15 polyps over two rocks (One rock in my nano one rock in my main tank).

So I’d say it’s about 1 new head appears every week to a month. I cant count EVERY polyp since there are new baby heads under the adults but I can say for sure it grows MUCH faster than blue mushrooms and florida ricordeas.

 

[i cant think]

How are you guys getting your yumas to bounce?

I have found Current is a GREAT way to bounce them. My 4’ tank’s mixed flow is what I think is bouncing them because in my nano they aren’t bounced and are regular Yumas (I hope to get the answer soon, when I dose AB+ in my nano). I will add the rock in my nano is from the same specimen the ones in the 4’ are from.

 

[SaltyT]

I have found Current is a GREAT way to bounce them. My 4’ tank’s mixed flow is what I think is bouncing them because in my nano they aren’t bounced and are regular Yumas (I hope to get the answer soon, when I dose AB+ in my nano). I will add the rock in my nano is from the same specimen the ones in the 4’ are from.

It looks like you have them pretty high up on the rock work, maybe the higher PAR is contributing too? My yuma is down low by the sand in lower flow. I should move it up. Thanks!

 

[i cant think]

It looks like you have them pretty high up on the rock work, maybe the higher PAR is contributing too? My yuma is down low by the sand in lower flow. I should move it up. Thanks!

Possibly!! It definitely isn’t low down haha but neither is the one in my Nano, I’d love to know if that works though