CV's 75g noobie tank and now upgrade to 240g

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boacvh

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So this week is my one year mark.
It has been noticeable for some successes and some failures.
Biggest success? Zoas, they have grown from small frags into full colonies.
The worse failure? it was attributable to increase in alk consumption due to coralline and me being away on vacation. Lost many corals, but all my fish are fine.
Halfway through the year I got an ich scare. But I have to say after using the polyplab medic it has been either eradicated or completely managed. Haven’t seen a single white spot since then, so for now, claiming victory on that one.
All in all, I believe more successes than failures and I am pretty happy with my tank so far and still feel addicted to this. (although now I need way more corals. And more fish. And many new larger tanks :)).

I couldn’t have made it this far without the help of R2R and the endless pages of information and advice I have found here, so thank you everybody. (Special thanks to @NY_Caveman for following my build thread :):))

Below are some pictures at my 1 year mark. Please, feel free to criticize, comment, recommend anything and also tell me anything I should know for year 2.
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Well. Newest update is I decided to take the plunge and get a controller. Took me a lot of time to do research but decided to go with the Apex in the end. I would say the deciding factor was the size of the support community and the fact I am a total noob, so want as much information out there on it as I can get.
Confess installing it and callibrating the probes was very easy and I was up and running in no time, but mounting it in such a confined space was a total PITA. Here is the end result for now, will change a few things later perhaps.
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Struggling with my alk lately. Coraline has exploded and my kalk in my ato isn't keeping up anymore. Started dosing 2 part to complement. Went from 9.6 to 8.7 in a week. Any advice here from experts to adjust to my new uptake? Should I expect consumption to be increased permanently from now on or is this just temporary while Coraline grows?

This issue has been getting worse and worse. I doubled my kalk in my ato but then started to get high PH so I have dialed that back. Manually dosing 2 part now. My alk consumption is 1 to 1.5 in a day. Is that normal? In any case, I decided to get a doser so I can get back some stability. Decided on the DOS and the brightwell 2 part since it's the one my LFS carries. Any better suggestions? I will keep updating as I install the doser and start to get results
 
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Hmmmm actually looking closer at the pictures it looks like I might have a hitch hiker. Anyone can Id what this is? Here is a closeup. Looks like a couple antennas, or maybe just some algae filaments. I'll have to take a closer look tomorrow when the lights are on.

IMG_20191009_200542.jpg
 
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When I got this Coral, it was a purple/brownish torch I got for 5 bucks at my lfs. And as it has started to grow more I am now seeing some yellow greenish streaks on its tentacles that make it look spectacular. Here is a before and after pictures, can't believe I was so lucky!

IMG_20190210_184705.jpg IMG_20191014_102612.jpg
 
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Well. Today I decided to frag a Coral for the first time. Some zoas that are overtaking one of my rocks. Have been watching tons of videos on how to do it, but unfortunately, it's on a rock I can't take out, so I will have to do it in tank. Very scared right now with the whole zoa and palytoxin, but I think I have all the precautions, so hopefully nothing happens and I can do it succesfully. Here is a top down picture, the idea is to trim the red zoas a bit.

IMG_20191014_155141.jpg
 
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Well. Today I decided to frag a Coral for the first time. Some zoas that are overtaking one of my rocks. Have been watching tons of videos on how to do it, but unfortunately, it's on a rock I can't take out, so I will have to do it in tank. Very scared right now with the whole zoa and palytoxin, but I think I have all the precautions, so hopefully nothing happens and I can do it succesfully. Here is a top down picture, the idea is to trim the red zoas a bit.

IMG_20191014_155141.jpg

So, I am here. Didn't die or get sick. So I guess I did something right on my first zoa fragging adventure. The amount of slime the zoas release when I tried to get under them I have to say is considerable, made me a bit scared I would nuke the tank or something like that. I did a big water change and ran brand new GAC when done to be on the safe side. As for the frags, it was a partial failure. I succesfully removed 15-20 polyps from the rocks of which probably 4 or 6 actually ended up on frags, the rest were destroyed during removal :(. I'll have to get much better at this, but I guess it will come with practice.
 
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This Coral has grown into an absolute monster in just 8 months! Much larger than my hands now. One of my wife's favorites. Here is the before and after.

MVIMG_20191027_204438.jpg IMG-20190204-WA0002.jpg
 
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Some more progress pictures. Playing with the camera at night now. Most looking good. (My fragtober fest WWC silver blasto never opened though, I think I am going to stick with my LFS for now)

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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: 80 38.5%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 69 33.2%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 26 12.5%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 31 14.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 2 1.0%
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