Blopple
Active Member
Been following along since the beginning, gotta have an update every once in a while at least!dang it's been a while since updating this, time really flies! @Blopple thanks for the prompt haha
My overall approach to reefing has changed since this started a year ago and hanging out at my LFS. First and foremost, recognizing my own shortcomings and fitting in tank care-dedicated habits with the rest of my life instead of the other way around. Been following along what everyone else is doing and noticed I am FAR too lazy when it comes to monitoring parameters and having to rely solely on the AIO rear compartments can limit the amount of equipment fiddling.
Because of these reasons, I adopted a "let's throw things in there and see what thrives with my personal routine" mentality. Thankfully, been sticking to the easier things so haven't lost too many specimens but while the corals are definitely alive and slowly growing, they are not taking off haha
Fish --> No troubles at all. They like the auto-feeder veggie/carnivore mixed pellets twice a day plus a daily half-block of frozen mysis. They are all thriving and besides the firefish and cardinalfish I lost at the beginning of the hobby, these have been with me for months now all peacefully co-existing.
- Flame Angelfish --> Still fat and happy. Likes to eat the blenny's poop. Calmly does laps around the rockwork and picks at surfaces. Has caused zero issues with coral but sometimes steals their food. Definitely the eye-catcher.
- Starry Blenny --> Even fatter and happier. Has found the most random places to hang out around the tank. Very entertaining to watch swim and hop from perch to perch to chill.
- Multicolor Lubbock Fairy Wrasse --> The fastest and most active swimmer in the tank. I catch it literally surfing in front of the MP10 propellers throwing itself into the currents. It's the one fish that seems to "play".
- Royal Gramma (Fairy Basslet) --> Kinda shy but very pretty. Seems to find spot for the day and swims around there darting in and out of its hidey-holes. Can't wait until it gets bigger!
- Mandarin dragonet --> One of the reasons I started this tank and I got finally one! It's tiny for now, but seems like a very curious but bold hunter and is SO CUTE. Does not give a single flying fart about anything that's going on around it and is constantly hopping or floating from place to place pecking at rocks. It's fun to imagine things from its small perspective.
Inverts --> Not counting corals, these have all been seriously thriving. They add a bit of intrigue to the tank that people appreciate, I think.
- Clams --> I think because I keep the water a bit dirtier, these guys are "happy as a clam". Picked a random larger one up from my LFS and a crocea from Dr Reef. They've attached to my rocks and oriented themselves towards the MP10s and are open and stable. Nothing gives them trouble in the tank so far, and they close up readily when a fish or my hand passes over them. Very pretty and I honestly want more!
- Hermit Crabs --> Scarlett leg hermit crab thrived TOO much. Got pretty big, changed shells many times, and started eating my corals
I believe it took out a beautiful scoly and parts of my acantho before I caught it and even scared my dragonet a couple times! This murder hobo has been rehomed to the LFS. The other CUC smaller hermit crabs aren't bothering anything as far as I can tell.
- Fire Shrimp --> Comes right out front when I feed the tank and eats whatever falls to the ground. Molts regularly but mostly stays in the back waiting for fish to come by. Seeing it out is nice treat.
- Blue Tuxedo Urchin --> Just chugs right along! Picks up stuff to wear. We're debating on purchasing some 3D printed hats for it...
Corals --> I realized my husbandry habits are not conducive to all corals preferences, but a couple seem to be doing pretty well! For future additions, I may just stick with the types I know can thrive in here and the collection will grow in that way... Highlights below
- Euphyllia --> Hammer is surviving, but I cannot keep the long-tentacled torches alive for longer than a month or two. I'm not going to try these anymore...
- Acantho --> It's crazy how big this is getting. Even after the hermit crab took a couple chunks out of it, it's still inflating during the data and is a fricking monster. I did not realize how big these things got when they're happy. Picked up from LFS and is green and orange.
- Pectinia --> Recent addition but I think it looks really cool. I can't tell if it's happy or not yet...
- Mushrooms --> These are growing a lot... Very hardy apparently haha They're also migrating. I like them!
- Elegance --> Picked this up from the LFS and it just keeps spreading out in the back right corner! Just couldn't pass it up
- Zoas --> Slowly but surely moving all around the zoa area! I feel like I could make them grow faster if I took better care of the water, but so far so good!
- Chalices --> Can't get these to thrive no matter how many cheap frags I throw in there...
Don't mind the skull, it was covered in this grassy-like coral that I am hoping will encrust into the surrounding rock then will return the skull to LFS. I think it's lepto?
Issues
My assumption is if I were to take this to the next level, I would do more monitoring of magnesium, alkalinity, and calcium (which I'll probably have to start doing for the clams) and incorporating some sort of dosing system. With the limited space, what do you guys think I should put in the back chambers? One has got to be the filter sock and I currently have a UV sterilizer in another one. UV can probably go at this time since the dinos are under control, so I'm open to suggestions!
- Went through some BAD green hair algae. Cut this back with another dose of fluconazole, which then led to cyano and then dinos. Cyano was cleared easy enough, then went a full month without any water changes and got nitrates to ~3ppm and phosphates up to 0.20ppm. Now doing a bi-weekly water change and definitely have some random growth, but not overtaken by dinos anymore! LFS said I could borrow a juvenile yellow tang for a few months if the current GHA was bothering me and return once it gets too big. Debating taking them up on this... Thoughts?
- Started dosing Microbacter7 a few weeks ago and it seems to be keeping a lot of over-growth of problem things at bay. Really noticed this helping out with the dino outbreak I had after the fluconazole. Things seem MUCH more balanced now. Back to growing some GHA, but it's much less than before.
- No skimmer still... Any recommendations? I was thinking of the IM Midsize one, but there are some pretty bad reviews on its pump and noise.
- Have some of those disposable activated carbon bags in the filter sock running, changing them out once a month. Unclear if this is doing anything.
All in all... things are going. No spectacular coral success but also no issues with the more complex, larger animals and learning more every day about what kind of happy environment I can maintain. I'll take what I can get!
Really impressed with your fish success. The flame angel is still gorgeous, and I love mandarins, but I'm not sure I have a big enough pod system for one.
Crazy how tanks differ. I'm really jealous the clams are working for you. They are so pretty and really really interesting animals, but it I just had a terrible experience with them. I now have a tiny clam shell sitting on the bookshelf next to the tank
I have a skimmer, the bubble magus miniq, and I'm honestly not sure it helps a ton. I also might just not have it dialed in very well. If I was looking to add something else to my AIO chamber I'd probably look into the nano roller mats. I haven't heard much about them, but it seems like people are loving the full size roller mats. If there's a good one that would fit that's what I would do.
