Another update. I will also addend a few things I have learned. Hopefully I can compile them into a sticky so people dont have to wade through this.
The tank is doing great. I have switched to mixing own supplement from dry; I had a lithium level issue again.
I dont do any water changes, but what that translates to realistically is having to be on top of parameters/ICP (although I dont get potential contaminants/error like doing water changes, you can get build up/depletion of elements) and a 100% water change yearly (due to something I didn't do right). In all honesty its not that bad, a 100% water change takes me 3-4 days of making/mixing/heating and an hour to do, as opposed to the time and effort of weekly/monthly water changes. The stuff I have issues with is usually trace elements building up (so far Ive goofed with K and Li because I didnt realize my supplements had this in it); everything else is pretty easy to handle so far, truly.. Occasionally I my salinity rises due to supplement use, so sometimes I swap out 5-10g of salt water/sump sludge for RO/DI. I keep my refugium clean by stirring it up every week or two.
I am getting excellent growth on pretty much everything except LPS/euphyllia.
My SPS are now fighting/overgrowing each other as you can see in some pics below
I dont really have much else to add. Fish are happy, coral are growing.
I did do a large trim today of my plating monti. And a lost a lot of structure/years of growth. I trimmed about 2-3 years of growth off of mine today, or a FULL 3L bucket. I am very sad and feel like what I did was wrong. I know it will grow back, but it wont be the same...the problem is whats left is the higher stuff, not the lower stuff. I am nervous to trim due to the amount of monti shape I lost. However, it was truly blocking flow to about 25% of the tank. But dang it was looking good. Cue 1 week of depression. This prompted some "advice" I had.
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If you plan on becoming a successful reef keeper, I highly recommend a mentor and listening to what they say. Much of this I was told before and while I am not sad, mad etc a lot of it was true.
Montipora will take over a successful tank. It grows fast. I personally love the plating structure. I was told this and ignored it. Encrusting montipora can only be killed by smothering and even then it will escape. Plating is the way to go.
Corals *will* grow. You really need to give 8-12" of space AT LEAST for any coral. Mine are running into each other and fighting, and a lot of it is untrimmable. It's a great problem to have, but I may lose some colonies. I have already fragged a few prepping for the mother colony to die.
Some corals are basically impossible to remove. Be on the lookout for this.
A coral this is fun when small may not be fun when large. My euphyllia was awesome at 50+ heads. It cut the **** out of my hand, would collapse if touched, sting the crap out of any neighbors and eventually I got rid of it because it just didnt play nice in a SPS tank. My LPS mushroom is so big and beefy it shades or crushes whatever it touches, I am convinced one day decided it didn't like the coral below and decided to lay on it killing the coral once a I noticed a day or two later.
Dragonsbreath coral will instantly shatter (at the base) if even brushed with large metal tools. trim with small pruning scissors or your hand
While I have great growth, it's confined to 75% of my specimens. The rest are plodding along or cant compete.
I cannot overemphasize the importance of a good, clean sump layout. Mine looks like a mess and I hate getting in there..
If I had to do it again, I would *highly* recommend against a mixed reef. LPS, SPS or softies only. It's too hard to meet all their needs.
A lot of this hobby really is just maintaining consistent parameters.
Do not buy online if you have a good LFS. I drive 90min to my LFS every few months, it's far better than ordering stuff weekly; I see it in person, no acclimation time, I can see the conditions its living/growing in, I can see the size I get, I can check if it's thriving. Stuff is damaged in shipping, it doesnt look the same as some oversaturated online photo...dont get me wrong I order online sometimes and sometimes I have to. But nothing beats in person. I would say my "hit rate" on good, living, long term coral that looks like what I bough for mail vs in person is probably 20% vs 80%
You really should but the largest tank you can. It's more work when it goes wrong, but if it gets up and running it looks great. The problem is the corals get too large once you are experienced. IMO smaller tanks can only hold a handful of colonies, or it else it looks like a frag tank. The other option is to grow stuff that grows together eg mushrooms or euphyllias
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My current plan was for last years to be a grow year, and this years to be a trim year. Well, I'll be trimming it slowly all year, making room for a few new corals hopefully around Reefapalooza time. And by few, I really mean few. Contrary to my own advice I'd really like an elegance coral in there, as well a Gigas clam. Ill probably skip the elegance.
My current plan for the tank is to:
Trim a little and add a few corals this year.
Keep it as is for another 5 years (a total of 10); at some point replumb it.
At year 10 covert it fully to SPS tank, softie tank, or dedicated magnfica tank
If more space is required in my home, it will be a 50g or 100g.
