First time reefer, second chance reef (Fluval Flex 15 build)

[silly_blenny]

Long time no update! I'm just getting to other side of a long period of bad tank maintenance. Mushrooms have been thriving (including the yuma!) and our OG clownfish is still going strong, along with two sexy shrimp. Lost one of the RFAs and the neon goby.

The main challenge of the last year has been trying (and failing) to keep up with bubble algae. I wasn't able to keep up with manual removal and things got totally overwhelming. I picked up a couple of pitho crabs last week and they've already made a significant dent.

Today, I also did a piece of tank maintenance that I had been neglecting for months: cleaning the return pump! I noticed that flow seemed way too low, and of course the return pump was clogged with gunk. Need to set a calendar notification for that piece of maintenance for sure.

Don't have any tank pics to share right now, but I did get a really cool video of a baby bristleworm under dissecting microscope I picked up.

 

[silly_blenny]

Managed to move my mama Yuma shroom to a rock island. Hopefully she stays on it! I had her in a mushroom cage with rubble rock for about two weeks before supergluing the rubble to a bigger piece of rock. In the background you can see a couple of the orange discos and neon green rhodactis.

 

[silly_blenny]

Tank shot after adding three more RFAs. So far they’ve stayed where I initially placed them!

The pitho crabs have done incredible work removing the bubble algae, and I’ve started to feed nori every 2-3 days to keep them happy.

I’m really pleased with how the tank is running right now, and hope to keep things stable. Eventually I would like to add more shrooms!

 

[silly_blenny]

Couldn't resist adding three more shrooms and they seem to be doing well: a licksplitter bounce, JF Raunchy Red bounce, and Mardi Gras bounce.

I was worried that I had been too rough with the dip for the raunchy red and the mardis gras since they had expelled some of their mesenteric filaments, but after 48 hours, the filaments look fully retracted and the corals are open and colored up nicely. Took a little longer than I thought, but glad I just sat and waited it out instead of doing too much.