Himbo's Dragon Fantasy IM 40L AIO

[trophyhimbo]

post-summer updates, good and bad:

Good:

• Flame angelfish has been an incredible (and only) tank citizen for a couple months.
• Have not lost any corals yet and have a total of 21 now (softies and LPS)! Cannot wait until they grow out. Decided my favorite vendor is Top Shelf Aquatics because they always seem to give me larger/more numerous frags than expected, they recover from shipping fastest, and not as much weird stuff comes off during dipping.
• Flower anemones are SO pretty and weird and I want more.
• Inverts are the stars when people come over (mainly fire shrimp, conch, and crabs).
• Switched the beast of a UV sterilizer for the one Innovative Marine made for this AIO tank: https://www.innovative-marine.com/shop/AuqaShield™-11-Watt-UV-Sterilizer-Clarifier-Midsize-p184826964. The previous one kept malfunctioning and I kept coming back to spillage (which even caused my ATO to break). This new IM one is very convenient, self-contained, completely silent, and it has kept the dinos at bay. Would highly recommend.
• I've gotten really good at manually trimming and removing green hair algae during water changes and I feel very well equipped to handle lawn maintenance

Bad:

• Persistent GHA problem. At @JoJosReef suggestion I ripped, peroxided a bit to test out the method, but I don't think I got all of it so it just came back. Urchin died for an unknown reason before it could eradicate much. I can see the rest of the CUC munching away and I have been consistently manually trimming and pulling it off during every weekly or bi-weekly water change. I should be doing more WCs but have been away sporadically this summer... Dosed with FluxRx today and will report back in 2-3 weeks.
  • Note on this: Think a part of my problem was coral stocking too slowly and there was nothing to outcompete the GHA for nutrients? I tried SO hard to stick with the dragon theme, but there's not enough on point specimens haha Eventually caved and started buying stuff with a general fantasy theme ("Fantasy", "Warlock", "Angel", etc.")
  • Secondary note: guests/friends seem to actually LIKE the grassy rolling hills vibe Perhaps I'll lean into it and buy some saltwater guppies for that green freshwater look if the FluxRx doesn't work...
• While the flame angelfish and all non-urchin inverts have been doing swimmingly (ha), I have been struggling with fish stock. One wrasse hid away and died within 12 hours and the replacement wrasse was DOA. Will try one more time with another fairy wrasse, but do they just not ship well?? Starry blenny is on its way!

Current Tank Picture: reminder to future self to take pictures with coral polyps extended next time...

 

[JoJosReef]

post-summer updates, good and bad:

Good:

• Flame angelfish has been an incredible (and only) tank citizen for a couple months.
• Have not lost any corals yet and have a total of 21 now (softies and LPS)! Cannot wait until they grow out. Decided my favorite vendor is Top Shelf Aquatics because they always seem to give me larger/more numerous frags than expected, they recover from shipping fastest, and not as much weird stuff comes off during dipping.
• Flower anemones are SO pretty and weird and I want more.
• Inverts are the stars when people come over (mainly fire shrimp, conch, and crabs).
• Switched the beast of a UV sterilizer for the one Innovative Marine made for this AIO tank: https://www.innovative-marine.com/shop/AuqaShield™-11-Watt-UV-Sterilizer-Clarifier-Midsize-p184826964. The previous one kept malfunctioning and I kept coming back to spillage (which even caused my ATO to break). This new IM one is very convenient, self-contained, completely silent, and it has kept the dinos at bay. Would highly recommend.
• I've gotten really good at manually trimming and removing green hair algae during water changes and I feel very well equipped to handle lawn maintenance

Bad:

• Persistent GHA problem. At @JoJosReef suggestion I ripped, peroxided a bit to test out the method, but I don't think I got all of it so it just came back. Urchin died for an unknown reason before it could eradicate much. I can see the rest of the CUC munching away and I have been consistently manually trimming and pulling it off during every weekly or bi-weekly water change. I should be doing more WCs but have been away sporadically this summer... Dosed with FluxRx today and will report back in 2-3 weeks.
  • Note on this: Think a part of my problem was coral stocking too slowly and there was nothing to outcompete the GHA for nutrients? I tried SO hard to stick with the dragon theme, but there's not enough on point specimens haha Eventually caved and started buying stuff with a general fantasy theme ("Fantasy", "Warlock", "Angel", etc.")
  • Secondary note: guests/friends seem to actually LIKE the grassy rolling hills vibe Perhaps I'll lean into it and buy some saltwater guppies for that green freshwater look if the FluxRx doesn't work...
• While the flame angelfish and all non-urchin inverts have been doing swimmingly (ha), I have been struggling with fish stock. One wrasse hid away and died within 12 hours and the replacement wrasse was DOA. Will try one more time with another fairy wrasse, but do they just not ship well?? Starry blenny is on its way!

Current Tank Picture:

Glad to hear from you again!

GHA lawn maintenance is a long slog, almost a rite of passage it seems. Flux Rx is going to make it all wispy white and go away, but GHA comes back very easily. Do you have any turbos? They do very well keeping the GHA down once it's gone and just starting to sprout back up. Tux urchin is great, too, but they are very sensitive to changes in water conditions. Salinity or nitrate spikes (I don't know about alkalinity, maybe?) can make them lose their spines and die quickly. Dinos is the big problem once GHA disappears. New real estate for them. Amphidinium is the real terror. I like the concept of adding real reef rock covered in coraline during Flux treatment so that the coraline has an opportunity to take off. It's a 6 week treatment, so if you add a good dose of coraline + biodiversity and up the Alk/Ca (I increased AFR dosing), the coraline might take over. Also a good time to increase the coral and get them eating up all the nutrients! Macros are toast, though. They don't survive Flux. You might want to get on my frag pack list--will ship out frag packs as I make them for just shipping costs. Can add some spitfire zoas, radioactive dragon eyes, king midas (gotta have a castle for the dragons to attack!), maybe magicians (gotta have someone defending the castle!) and maybe some stony corals. Slow process, but I occasionally need to trim!

 

[trophyhimbo]

Glad to hear from you again!

GHA lawn maintenance is a long slog, almost a rite of passage it seems. Flux Rx is going to make it all wispy white and go away, but GHA comes back very easily. Do you have any turbos? They do very well keeping the GHA down once it's gone and just starting to sprout back up. Tux urchin is great, too, but they are very sensitive to changes in water conditions. Salinity or nitrate spikes (I don't know about alkalinity, maybe?) can make them lose their spines and die quickly. Dinos is the big problem once GHA disappears. New real estate for them. Amphidinium is the real terror. I like the concept of adding real reef rock covered in coraline during Flux treatment so that the coraline has an opportunity to take off. It's a 6 week treatment, so if you add a good dose of coraline + biodiversity and up the Alk/Ca (I increased AFR dosing), the coraline might take over. Also a good time to increase the coral and get them eating up all the nutrients! Macros are toast, though. They don't survive Flux. You might want to get on my frag pack list--will ship out frag packs as I make them for just shipping costs. Can add some spitfire zoas, radioactive dragon eyes, king midas (gotta have a castle for the dragons to attack!), maybe magicians (gotta have someone defending the castle!) and maybe some stony corals. Slow process, but I occasionally need to trim!

Based on my luck, I'll probably have to deal with those amphidinium things too!

I'll try another tux urchin. The most recent CUC pack I ordered from Reef Cleaners had a couple turbos in there and they seem pretty happy. I do not have any more macroalgae in the tank, the GHA actually strangled out the dragon's breath at some point. I added the Aquabiomics live reef rubble and live reef sand to the tank about a month ago and there are plenty of coralline-covered bits in there. I actually do see spots of purple and pink and red popping up on my rocks nowadays. Since there's no more live reef rubble in stock, I could add another dose of ARC Reef pink/purple coralline in a bottle?

How much coral should I have in this size tank? Just as many as possible before overcrowding? I am hoping to leave some room for a few SPS in the far far future but I guess those just grow vertically... Anyways count me in for a frag pack!

QQ: Do zoas migrate? Some of the specimens I have seem to be dispersing off their frag plugs onto the rocks and some of them are staying as clusters. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[JoJosReef]

Based on my luck, I'll probably have to deal with those amphidinium things too!

I'll try another tux urchin. The most recent CUC pack I ordered from Reef Cleaners had a couple turbos in there and they seem pretty happy. I do not have any more macroalgae in the tank, the GHA actually strangled out the dragon's breath at some point. I added the Aquabiomics live reef rubble and live reef sand to the tank about a month ago and there are plenty of coralline-covered bits in there. I actually do see spots of purple and pink and red popping up on my rocks nowadays. Since there's no more live reef rubble in stock, I could add another dose of ARC Reef pink/purple coralline in a bottle?

How much coral should I have in this size tank? Just as many as possible before overcrowding? I am hoping to leave some room for a few SPS in the far far future but I guess those just grow vertically... Anyways count me in for a frag pack!

QQ: Do zoas migrate? Some of the specimens I have seem to be dispersing off their frag plugs onto the rocks and some of them are staying as clusters. Am I doing something wrong?

I'm skeptical about the bottled stuff, and sound like you have all you need in the tank. I think the coraline just needs Alk/Ca, light and open real estate, which you'll have soon once the Flux knocks out the GHA.

For Zoas/palys, my experience is it entirely depends on the specimen. I have a purple/green zoa that grows really nicely in a dome shape. But my nuclear death green palys spread everywhere and even mat across sand to get to the next rock. I've never noticed one "release" itself to go float off elsewhere, but I guess we can't rule that out! Zoa management is a field of its own.

For SPS, seems like you also need to plan on their growth patterns. Look at my stylo and goldenrod anacro:

Very nearly touching.

Thought they would grow more like this:

Instead, they did this:

I like them both a lot, so probably going to have to move the goldenrod to the left somehow (without breaking it).

I think "easy" SPS helps a lot too. They eat up nutrients when they grow well. Birdsnest, stylos, etc.

 

[Blopple]

post-summer updates, good and bad:

Good:

• Flame angelfish has been an incredible (and only) tank citizen for a couple months.
• Have not lost any corals yet and have a total of 21 now (softies and LPS)! Cannot wait until they grow out. Decided my favorite vendor is Top Shelf Aquatics because they always seem to give me larger/more numerous frags than expected, they recover from shipping fastest, and not as much weird stuff comes off during dipping.
• Flower anemones are SO pretty and weird and I want more.
• Inverts are the stars when people come over (mainly fire shrimp, conch, and crabs).
• Switched the beast of a UV sterilizer for the one Innovative Marine made for this AIO tank: https://www.innovative-marine.com/shop/AuqaShield™-11-Watt-UV-Sterilizer-Clarifier-Midsize-p184826964. The previous one kept malfunctioning and I kept coming back to spillage (which even caused my ATO to break). This new IM one is very convenient, self-contained, completely silent, and it has kept the dinos at bay. Would highly recommend.
• I've gotten really good at manually trimming and removing green hair algae during water changes and I feel very well equipped to handle lawn maintenance

Bad:

• Persistent GHA problem. At @JoJosReef suggestion I ripped, peroxided a bit to test out the method, but I don't think I got all of it so it just came back. Urchin died for an unknown reason before it could eradicate much. I can see the rest of the CUC munching away and I have been consistently manually trimming and pulling it off during every weekly or bi-weekly water change. I should be doing more WCs but have been away sporadically this summer... Dosed with FluxRx today and will report back in 2-3 weeks.
  • Note on this: Think a part of my problem was coral stocking too slowly and there was nothing to outcompete the GHA for nutrients? I tried SO hard to stick with the dragon theme, but there's not enough on point specimens haha Eventually caved and started buying stuff with a general fantasy theme ("Fantasy", "Warlock", "Angel", etc.")
  • Secondary note: guests/friends seem to actually LIKE the grassy rolling hills vibe Perhaps I'll lean into it and buy some saltwater guppies for that green freshwater look if the FluxRx doesn't work...
• While the flame angelfish and all non-urchin inverts have been doing swimmingly (ha), I have been struggling with fish stock. One wrasse hid away and died within 12 hours and the replacement wrasse was DOA. Will try one more time with another fairy wrasse, but do they just not ship well?? Starry blenny is on its way!

Current Tank Picture: reminder to future self to take pictures with coral polyps extended next time...

Himbo! Good to see you're still at it!

The angel is a looker, and smack dab in the middle of the shot too. Love it! Glad to see a bunch of coral in there too, that's definitely gotta help with the battle against the GHA, and pretty too.

Dinos are a relatively big fear of mine since I hear they can be a real pain, but it seems like you KOed them with relative ease, nice!

Fish are tough, man. For a while there I felt like every time I would add a new fish another one would die. I might give an acclimation box a chance with new additions. If that flame has been in there all alone for a while I'd guess there's a good chance he'd be a bit of a bully with new additions, especially with more delicate fish like wrasse.

Keep on keepin' on. Your tank is still one of my favorites to follow. I'm sure we could all do with more frequent updates, but it sounds like you've been a busy guy outside of the tank as well!

 

[trophyhimbo]

Himbo! Good to see you're still at it!

The angel is a looker, and smack dab in the middle of the shot too. Love it! Glad to see a bunch of coral in there too, that's definitely gotta help with the battle against the GHA, and pretty too.

Dinos are a relatively big fear of mine since I hear they can be a real pain, but it seems like you KOed them with relative ease, nice!

Fish are tough, man. For a while there I felt like every time I would add a new fish another one would die. I might give an acclimation box a chance with new additions. If that flame has been in there all alone for a while I'd guess there's a good chance he'd be a bit of a bully with new additions, especially with more delicate fish like wrasse.

Keep on keepin' on. Your tank is still one of my favorites to follow. I'm sure we could all do with more frequent updates, but it sounds like you've been a busy guy outside of the tank as well!

Still at it!! This is not one adventure I feel I can just drop haha I'm hoping now that summer's done I can spend more time fiddling with the tank and post more.

I have been jealously following along your build thread and seeing your spectacular updates! You've got got the blue(?) thumb. Love reading about your fish experiences, since I can't seem to get them to work quite yet.

I started off with some serious dinos and honestly they were not as frustrating as this hair algae... If you do get the same dino species, UV neutralized the problem no sweat. Highly recommend the IM one and it slips in neatly into one of the AIO back compartments.

Now time to buy more corals haha

 

[trophyhimbo]

A bit over one month since last update and I am very pleased to say the dragon fantasy tank is FINALLY on the right track!!!

The fluconazole (Flux Rx) worked some serious magic. Most of the GHA just dissolved away. Whatever is left is either becoming weak enough to scrub away with a toothbrush, is not growing at all, or is becoming snacks for the snails, hermit crabs, and urchin. (The tuxedo urchin I received even came with its own zoa hat!) I cannot believe how well this one shot worked. No unintended side effects either. As another benefit, all the corals are SO happy right now.

Could not have been easier to apply either. All it took was dosing the appropriate amount and not touching anything for 4 weeks, except refilling the ATO. I left the treatment in a bit longer than recommended before a 20% water change just out of sheer laziness and curiosity. Has anyone heard of any bad effects from keeping a low dose of FluxRx incorporated into my regular water changes from now on?

Tank has two new inhabitants: starry blenny and multicolor lubbock's fairy wrasse!

• Starry blenny has easily made himself at home and flits from rock perch to rock perch. This guy is such a weird fish. He's just calmly observing everything from different angles and occasionally chomps on algae. We've named him "Moo Cow".
• Got a fairy wrasse to survive the shipping process! This was my third (and was going to be final) attempt. This one has been staying hidden a lot since introduced 2 weeks ago, but over the last couple days has been swimming about the open water. Not sure what he's eating, but looks healthy whenever spotted and can swim circles around the angelfish.
• The flame angelfish is surprisingly not very territorial, even having been alone in the tank for a couple months. He's always up front in the daytime but has definitely gotten more beggy...

I really want to add some SPS because that's where all the dragon names are! Should I just bite the bullet and see what happens, or is it too soon? Lots of purple spots on the rock, which I am assuming is coralline algae. I do not have a dosing system and am unsure what to even test on a regular basis. I have the Hanna monitors but none of the routine...

Photos:

FTS

Starry Blenny

Left side close up

Budding Zoa Garden

 

[JoJosReef]

Nice thing about Flux is that it gives the coraline a fighting chance to start spreading. When you up the dosing of supplements like All for Reef, the coraline really takes off. It seems to consume a lot, though, so wouldn't be surprised if you keep increasing doses of supplements as it grows. Need a pic of that lubbocki!

 

[Blopple]

A bit over one month since last update and I am very pleased to say the dragon fantasy tank is FINALLY on the right track!!!

The fluconazole (Flux Rx) worked some serious magic. Most of the GHA just dissolved away. Whatever is left is either becoming weak enough to scrub away with a toothbrush, is not growing at all, or is becoming snacks for the snails, hermit crabs, and urchin. (The tuxedo urchin I received even came with its own zoa hat!) I cannot believe how well this one shot worked. No unintended side effects either. As another benefit, all the corals are SO happy right now.

Could not have been easier to apply either. All it took was dosing the appropriate amount and not touching anything for 4 weeks, except refilling the ATO. I left the treatment in a bit longer than recommended before a 20% water change just out of sheer laziness and curiosity. Has anyone heard of any bad effects from keeping a low dose of FluxRx incorporated into my regular water changes from now on?

Tank has two new inhabitants: starry blenny and multicolor lubbock's fairy wrasse!

• Starry blenny has easily made himself at home and flits from rock perch to rock perch. This guy is such a weird fish. He's just calmly observing everything from different angles and occasionally chomps on algae. We've named him "Moo Cow".
• Got a fairy wrasse to survive the shipping process! This was my third (and was going to be final) attempt. This one has been staying hidden a lot since introduced 2 weeks ago, but over the last couple days has been swimming about the open water. Not sure what he's eating, but looks healthy whenever spotted and can swim circles around the angelfish.
• The flame angelfish is surprisingly not very territorial, even having been alone in the tank for a couple months. He's always up front in the daytime but has definitely gotten more beggy...

I really want to add some SPS because that's where all the dragon names are! Should I just bite the bullet and see what happens, or is it too soon? Lots of purple spots on the rock, which I am assuming is coralline algae. I do not have a dosing system and am unsure what to even test on a regular basis. I have the Hanna monitors but none of the routine...

Photos:

FTS

Starry Blenny

Left side close up

Budding Zoa Garden

WOW! What a huge difference! It looks incredible. Glad to hear the flux worked out for the GHA. I'm quite jealous of all your coraline. I still don't have any yet except for a trochus snail that is covered haha.

The starry blenny is adorable!

I'd just give some easy SPS a shot. I've got two montis and a birdsnest. So far they haven't been any more challenging than anything else as long as you watch the water.

 

[trophyhimbo]

Fairy wrasse somehow got partially into my MP10, got its fins all cut up and body wrapped around the powerhead, and unfortunately succumbed to injuries within 30 minutes of dislodging... I don't think wrasses were meant to be for this tank

On the bright side, took advantage of TSA's pre-black friday sale this weekend and getting a bunch more corals including my first SPS!! So excited. Rearranged corals a bit to accommodate, hope they don't get too upset.

Any suggestions for a showstopper organism for the middle of the tank on top of that large empty middle rock lead up to the arch? I'm thinking a clam (potentially problematic with the flame angelfish)... would I need another dedicated center light for it? Or maybe a super high end coral? Or a bubbletip anemone?? (although those might move away from the middle haha)

 

[Blopple]

Fairy wrasse somehow got partially into my MP10, got its fins all cut up and body wrapped around the powerhead, and unfortunately succumbed to injuries within 30 minutes of dislodging... I don't think wrasses were meant to be for this tank

On the bright side, took advantage of TSA's pre-black friday sale this weekend and getting a bunch more corals including my first SPS!! So excited. Rearranged corals a bit to accommodate, hope they don't get too upset.

Any suggestions for a showstopper organism for the middle of the tank on top of that large empty middle rock lead up to the arch? I'm thinking a clam (potentially problematic with the flame angelfish)... would I need another dedicated center light for it? Or maybe a super high end coral? Or a bubbletip anemone?? (although those might move away from the middle haha)

Sorry to hear that! Fish have been a struggle for me too. I just want them to live and thrive!

A clam would be awesome, but I'd be worried about the angel too. A torch garden would be cool, and there are some crazy high end ones out there too.

More pics!

 

[trophyhimbo]

Got my Black Friday corals in! They're small but it's a start! Got my first SPS in there so I expect I'll need to start testing parameters regularly. Light currently maxes out at around 100PAR at the top, so will be ramping up about 10%/week over the next 4-5 weeks.

Happy to report GHA is under control and coralline algae is spreading around. Starting to see bubbles forming on some rock surfaces now that I got back into regular weekly water changes. Part of me is hoping it's small dino colonies so that I can instead just let nutrients accumulate and decrease water change frequency hahaha

I am partially regretting having such a high rock formation. The middle arch looks pretty IMO, but I can't put anything on top of it... any suggestions? I'm thinking of throwing some more dragon's breath macroalgae as background now that the FluxRx is being diluted down.

Any suggestions for corals that require tons of bright light but don't grow vertically to put on top of my high rocks? They'd have to be hardy enough to withstand the water line dipping during water changes.

@JoJosReef do you have a recommended dosing system for the 40L?

@Blopple I'm watching how your clam does while these new additions are settling in. I want one for myself to put on that central rock platform! Thinking of moving my lights closer together to create a super high light area in the middle. Also where did you get your flower anemones? I want more...

Full Tank Shot

Starry Blenny and Flame Angelfish swim around a lot and largely ignore each other even when they bump into one another. Fat and happy little guys.

Can't wait until this zoa garden fills in! They've been consistently happy

 

[JoJosReef]

Any doser should work. I am switching to a Simplicity doser because I don't want wifi/app dosing anymore, just a machine that pumps the same amount all the time. If I had to start over, I might consider the Red Sea dosers, since I understand they are quite good. DoS is just too much $$$ for a peristaltic pump, which is what it is, but some people swear by it.

I am only using AFR and making a bold assumption that everything is fine

 

[Blopple]

Got my Black Friday corals in! They're small but it's a start! Got my first SPS in there so I expect I'll need to start testing parameters regularly. Light currently maxes out at around 100PAR at the top, so will be ramping up about 10%/week over the next 4-5 weeks.

Happy to report GHA is under control and coralline algae is spreading around. Starting to see bubbles forming on some rock surfaces now that I got back into regular weekly water changes. Part of me is hoping it's small dino colonies so that I can instead just let nutrients accumulate and decrease water change frequency hahaha

I am partially regretting having such a high rock formation. The middle arch looks pretty IMO, but I can't put anything on top of it... any suggestions? I'm thinking of throwing some more dragon's breath macroalgae as background now that the FluxRx is being diluted down.

Any suggestions for corals that require tons of bright light but don't grow vertically to put on top of my high rocks? They'd have to be hardy enough to withstand the water line dipping during water changes.

@JoJosReef do you have a recommended dosing system for the 40L?

@Blopple I'm watching how your clam does while these new additions are settling in. I want one for myself to put on that central rock platform! Thinking of moving my lights closer together to create a super high light area in the middle. Also where did you get your flower anemones? I want more...

Full Tank Shot

Starry Blenny and Flame Angelfish swim around a lot and largely ignore each other even when they bump into one another. Fat and happy little guys.

Can't wait until this zoa garden fills in! They've been consistently happy

Tank is looking awesome. Love the pic of the blenny looking super lazy and fat in the zoa garden. I'm still shocked by how quickly your tank improved from that crazy GHA issue!

I'm anxious about the clam. I've wanted one, but I am a bit concerned that I won't have enough light. It seems happy for now though. The RFAs were from Hellfire Frags I believe. They were doing a deal where it was like 10 for 100 or something. They're nice, but there are a few that are very similar. Might have to look into doing some RFA trading at some point haha. They've also been like the easiest things in the tank which is nice.

 

[JoJosReef]

Tank is looking awesome. Love the pic of the blenny looking super lazy and fat in the zoa garden. I'm still shocked by how quickly your tank improved from that crazy GHA issue!

I'm anxious about the clam. I've wanted one, but I am a bit concerned that I won't have enough light. It seems happy for now though. The RFAs were from Hellfire Frags I believe. They were doing a deal where it was like 10 for 100 or something. They're nice, but there are a few that are very similar. Might have to look into doing some RFA trading at some point haha. They've also been like the easiest things in the tank which is nice.

I was looking at Hellfire myself, but I already have 7, so 17 seemed like a bit overboard. Makes sense they'd have some similar ones. Apart from the primo RFAs with splatters and zebras, most are common variants: red skirt/blue-green face, blue-green skirt/red face, red-on-red, orange skirts, green-on-green... I'd still be up for a bright red-on-red, though!

Clams are one of the most rewarding livestock in the hobby imo, but also a source of anxiety. "Why did it turn itself?" "Is that a pinched mantle?" "Is it geting enough light?" Here's some inspiration:

James Fatherree's online photo albums of giant clam species (free).

Hello everyone, I've posted over 700 photos of giant clams in some free online photo albums, and I'll be posting more in the future. Take a look if you're interested: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jameswfatherree/albums James :)

www.reef2reef.com

James Fatherree's Giant Clam ID videos.

Hello all, I've been working on some ID videos for the common species of giant clams and have most of them done. I should have maxima and noae finished up soon. Here's a link to the playlist on YouTube: I hope these are helpful! Cheers, James

www.reef2reef.com

@trophyhimbo grats on the zoa garden! If only I could get mine onto rocks, haha.

 

[trophyhimbo]

Tank is looking awesome. Love the pic of the blenny looking super lazy and fat in the zoa garden. I'm still shocked by how quickly your tank improved from that crazy GHA issue!

I'm anxious about the clam. I've wanted one, but I am a bit concerned that I won't have enough light. It seems happy for now though. The RFAs were from Hellfire Frags I believe. They were doing a deal where it was like 10 for 100 or something. They're nice, but there are a few that are very similar. Might have to look into doing some RFA trading at some point haha. They've also been like the easiest things in the tank which is nice.

I know right? Flux Rx was a magic wand! I am anxious about what's going to pop up in its place though haha

Family's been hounding me on what I want for the holidays... now I can point them to some pretty anemones!!

It seems like specific zoa variants like their plugs and are just growing into one big ball and others are migrating off their plugs and onto the rockwork, making more of a blanket. I'm excited to see how it evolves

Time to start monitoring alk, calcium, and magnesium for the next few weeks and see if I even need a doser. May be able to get away with just water changes since these few things are pretty small. Will all the corals die if they don't have enough of those parameters or will they just stop growing?

 

[tbrown]

Time to start monitoring alk, calcium, and magnesium for the next few weeks and see if I even need a doser. May be able to get away with just water changes since these few things are pretty small. Will all the corals die if they don't have enough of those parameters or will they just stop growing?

Some will die, some will stop growing. It is also dependent upon the phosphates and nitrates in your tank.

Low/no phosphates and high alk can kill corals.

Without alkalinity/calcium/magnesium, the stony corals won't grow.

 

[Blopple]

How're we coming along?

 

[trophyhimbo]

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

• 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.

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!

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!

 

[JoJosReef]

Great to see an update! I imagine the coral growth will pick up when everything matures a bit more. It's like an inflection point when the corals/nems/macros start taking up a lot of nutrient, helping with algae maintenance. Perhaps a turbo or two would help knock out the GHA? They are machines. Once the GHA is shortened, they make quick work of it.

You'll want to start measuring ALK and dosing with those clams. They need a lot of Ca and have this bad tendency to suddenly die on you if they've been going without one or more of their essentials for a while. Beautiful and reactive one day, gaping the next and cleaned up by CUC the following. Sometimes it's hard to tell what was the cause, but it can be a nutrient deficiency going back weeks or months. ... to be continued, kids are tearing up the house.