FNG Build - 75g mixed

[Judson_f]

More zoa showing up tomorrow from Jason fox - most of these are opening up and looking good besides for just a few! Mushroom is looking a LOT better too. I think it was my light being on too much. Gonna do some more cleaning real quick then target feed these guys some Red Sea coral energy ab+
I’m gonna give it a week or so to make sure everything stays good/in check then order a pre QT captive bred/raised small yellow tang and that will most likely be the end of the fish I add to this tank!

 

[Judson_f]

Also - if anyone recognizes this type of algae and wants to lend their 2 cents on more methods of control that would be appreciated. Still very much a novice lol it can be seen in almost all of the last few photos I’ve posted … lol

 

[Judson_f]

WOAH. Can somebody help confirm if I’m crazy or not!? I realized I had a pic in this thread of my shroom when I first got it … so I put it next to a newer pic for comparison and realized something seems to be growing on the back of the shroom frag??? Am I losing my mind or is this another coral that hitched a ride on the frag??
algae ID & whatever the heck is on this frag ID would be AWESOME please and thank you. Posting both old & today so people can see for comparison as well … I want to believe it’s another coral

 

[ElementReefer]

Can you get a closer pic, perhaps from the top?

 

[Judson_f]

Can you get a closer pic, perhaps from the top?

… coralline maybe? I have no idea

 

[ElementReefer]

Yeah could be a bit of plating coralline algae. I don’t see any polyps extended so I doubt it’s a bonus coral. If it were a coral, perhaps some kind of chalice?

I say coralline.

 

[Judson_f]

Yeah could be a bit of plating coralline algae. I don’t see any polyps extended so I doubt it’s a bonus coral. If it were a coral, perhaps some kind of chalice?

I say coralline.

I appreciate your opinion regardless! I got the shroom from cultivated reef so I looked through what they sell and didn’t see anything that looked close enough to this so, I think you’re right on coralline. Either way it’s awesome to see good things happening in this thing! Lol

 

[Judson_f]

new zoa’s came in today, they were starting to open up within an hour!!

 

[Judson_f]

so, little update. As you can tell by the very first pic I ever posted I didn’t even realize how important or how much a “thing” aquascaping really is. After a long day of working with what I had and working around what’s already in my tank I’m very pleased to say it’s a LOT better. Still not 100% finished and I still wouldn’t even call it great. At all. But it’s 1,000x times better than it was in my opinion will post a pic tomorrow when the lights are back on.

Clowns have become extremely territorial biting at my hands - surprisingly hard - every time I have to go in the tank.

Shroom is still doing good. Super slow grow still - with the still questionable plating coralline growing behind it.

Some random eh zoa’s from the nearest LFS (2 hours away) are doing the best. Actually saw a new polyp get created over the last two weeks so that was really cool and exciting.

JF mango cooler zoas are doing great but not reproducing yet. Look awesome though.

JF burning blossom & sonic flare zoas are surviving. They def don’t look great but aren’t getting worse either. With the new arrangement I’m going to try & find somewhere to move them & see if they’re happier.

To go along with the new scape and to help deadspots and things I’ve picked up on I’m going to order a nicer powerhead tonight or tomorrow & finally invest in the reef tests like alkalinity and all that since I have a few corals now. To include a JF toadstool & a monti arriving tomorrow. Only got them because the monti was on sale for 9$ so had to try it & then added the toadstool to make the shipping charge worth it. Lol hoping the clowns take the toadstool for whenever I add the yellow tang coming in the future.

Slowly but surely this tank will get to look nice lol in the meantime just being patient & trying to keep it healthy and fight nuisance algae with a toothbrush lol

My daughter loves it tho! Will not let me feed the fish without saying “up! Up! Up!” And she even learned the words fish, coral, and some sub-two year old variant of shals (snails) lol

 

[Judson_f]

Old rock setup vs new

 

[Judson_f]

Just some tank/update pics with the young corals. Mushroom very slow growth, and sunset monti first in the tank next to a couple days later.

 

[Judson_f]

Moved the whole tank 30 min to the new house! Everything survived!!! Whaaat lol monti cap broke in half but I just glued it to another rock … we’ll see if they both grow. Oh & scopas tang was added about a month ago. Idk if he’s in any of these pics, he’s healthy and cool

 

[Judson_f]

MAIN reason I posted update tho. I haven’t started working on the tank yet - BUT - I have a 220 waiting to be set up and installed in the new home - Saving money for equipment however - in the meantime - I made this. And I’m so excited for my next water change.

 

[Judson_f]

looking at old photos of my tank is downright embarrassing. But hey ya learn as ya go. Attaching the best pic of any coral I’ve ever gotten lol JF mango coolers under my day time lights

Also PC rainbow frag is finally encrusting a base & monti’s are finally growing. A basic orange cap I got about 2 months? ago has grown out almost .5” around all edges - I’ve got the hang of everything now & and am decently good at it but also not really trying too hard on this tank anymore as the upgrade is within a couple weeks & don’t want to sink more and more money into all the rookie mistakes I made about this tank.

Also bubble algae has become an issue if anyone has advice for that. Nitrate & phosphate control prove difficult with a canister - it seems no matter what I do (I clean canister every 1-2 weeks) I reset them. ULN after cleaning that slowly build up over a week or two til I have an algae growth issue then clean again and back ti ULN. I’ve resigned to not much I can do about that little build up to clean swing from 20ppm nitrates back to 1-5ppm

 

[Judson_f]

Here’s a little growth sequence of the mango’s from being coral clueless upon receipt - to figuring out how to run a tank & get them to grow lol

 

[ElementReefer]

I dumped my canister for, ultimately, a Tunze 9012. Incredibly easy to service, quiet, and nutrients have been very stable since. It’s also powerful enough to run in a bigger tank with a sump, if I ever get one.

Zoas lookin good. Just wait, they will really take off now that they’re happy.

 

[Judson_f]

I dumped my canister for, ultimately, a Tunze 9012. Incredibly easy to service, quiet, and nutrients have been very stable since. It’s also powerful enough to run in a bigger tank with a sump, if I ever get one.

Zoas lookin good. Just wait, they will really take off now that they’re happy.

Are you serious? That’s such an insane coincidence because I bought one of those that showed up a couple days ago - but never opened it because can’t decide on returning to save money since I’m upgrading anyways. I’ve been so torn over it lol def doing it now. Super worth it compared to the swing & dang canister maintenance IMO. Idc if it’s temporary LOL - the ultimate plan would be to keep both tanks anyways so long as the wife doesn’t say anything lol

 

[Judson_f]

I need to start another thread for bigger tank lol guess I’m just waiting til I’m ACTUALLY about to start it. Here’s some pics of the sanded & repainted/re finished 220 stand. Wife chose a very light & pretty off blue. She seems to finally be getting more down with the fish tanks! Lol! Here’s to hoping more of HER decisions with it make her like it more lol

Need to figure out what I’m gonna do for cabinet doors next. Sliding barn would be ugly - but center brace w/ two even size doors .. I feel like two 25ish inch cabinet doors would be really big doors lol and the asymmetry of 3 would drive me nuts. S

 

[ElementReefer]

So the 220 is going to have a sump yeah? I would plan out the sump and plumbing to your liking, and then design the cabinet doors and rest of the structure around that.

The Tunze 9012 will definitely get you started on a 220, but only with a light bioload. As you stock up a tank that big you will eventually upgrade.

 

[Judson_f]

So the 220 is going to have a sump yeah? I would plan out the sump and plumbing to your liking, and then design the cabinet doors and rest of the structure around that.

The Tunze 9012 will definitely get you started on a 220, but only with a light bioload. As you stock up a tank that big you will eventually upgrade.

Yes, big custom sump came with it. I'll throw a pic of that up too when i get out of work. But good point on going function first then aesthetic lol

And I meant for this 75 with that skimmer! lol Thinking of disconecting that dang canister once and for all - hooking up that skimmer on it - and seeing how it does with just that like you said you did on your 75. I will have the 220 saturday july 15 to start setting up. I'm going to transfer my fish to a QT (ich) ASAP so bioload will be MUCH lighter in 75, and run it fallowless for 70+ days while fish QT & 220 finishes cycling (going to start cycling as much rock as i can tonight)

so realistically i will have the 220 and 75 running at the same time. 75 will just revert to coral only while 220 will be FOWLR for a little bit. then after i'm passed the ich life cycle in the 75 i will start moving corals over to 220 with the ultimate goal of breaking down 75 fully, selling whatever won't be used anymore, and re-purposing other gear to set up a frag tank/coral quarantine tank.