Fallow period is over!

[Chef Tommy]

Ok that was not a fun event in the beginning but pretty neat outcome! I qt a kole tang & 2 barred foxface together and now they hang out together all day.

There are many more caves than I realized when I was looking for them last night too! Lol

I ended up resetting the rocks and like the look much better.

Looking to pickup 2 clowns, cleaner wrasse, & mandarin next. During the fallow period I added pods and dosed phytoplankton and they exploded after a few weeks. It's unbelievable the amount of pods in there and the refugium. I did remove the socks from time to time which possibly helped and now the socks are off completely as I switched over to Triton.

I also changed the sandbed to a finer grain. Originally it was crushed coral which trapped so much gunk! It was absurd the amount of stuff trapped after only 3 months. I ended up using special grade from brs and love it!

In the end going fallow allowed me to look at my reef differently and make some big changes which I'm much happier with. It also allowed me to focus on my corals and add some sps finally from Jason Fox and WWC.

The other great outcome is having a qt running constantly so there is always a hospital just in case. I used an old nuvo 10 but will upgrade to a 29 aqueon in a few weeks.

I made my fallow period exciting which allowed me to not ignore things.

On another note, I have an extra 20l sump now free to a good home in New Orleans. Message me if you are interested.

Happy reef keeping everyone!

 

[Mr. Limpid]

I'm not trying to ran on your parade. Cleaner wrasse can be a nuisance to your other fish and can actually nip at them, unless you just like their looks. Also cant tell from picture, do you have a top, because wrasses will jump. The Mandarin, I suggest purchasing one that is tank raised that accepts other foods besides pods. I do believe they are cool fish but a Mandarin (that is not tanked raised) needs a 100gal. tank that is 1 year old fully established with no competitions for the pods to survive. By the way nice looking tank, love the smell of new salt water.

 

[Chef Tommy]

Not raining over here! Love the input from other reefers Mr Limpid, thanks a bunch!
I do not have a canopy so great input. The tank is only at 7 months and the rocks are becoming natural looking finally too. I added 10 pounds of pukani as well to add a different texture to the structures.

 

[Jesterrace]

I'm not trying to ran on your parade. Cleaner wrasse can be a nuisance to your other fish and can actually nip at them, unless you just like their looks. Also cant tell from picture, do you have a top, because wrasses will jump. The Mandarin, I suggest purchasing one that is tank raised that accepts other foods besides pods. I do believe they are cool fish but a Mandarin (that is not tanked raised) needs a 100gal. tank that is 1 year old fully established with no competitions for the pods to survive. By the way nice looking tank, love the smell of new salt water.

That and they tend not to last. A Melanurus Wrasse would be far more colorful and a better tank mate overall.

 

[mic209]

Do you have coral/invert QT? Ich cysts can come in on frag plugs, snail shells, etc. I did a 90 day fallow period also, and started fish QT and prophylactic treat all fish, but don’t have a coral/invert QT so tank eventually got ich again.

 

[Chef Tommy]

Do you have coral/invert QT? Ich cysts can come in on frag plugs, snail shells, etc. I did a 90 day fallow period also, and started fish QT and prophylactic treat all fish, but don’t have a coral/invert QT so tank eventually got ich again.

I plan on adding a second qt but used the display as a qt for the corals I added.