OP
OP
FrontRangeReefer
Active Member
I can’t believe it’s been more than a year since j last updated my build thread (and almost exactly 2.5 years since I started the tank), but I figured it was time to post an update.
The past year has been chock full of ups and downs (mostly ups) with my tank. Overall, the tank has stabilized greatly over the past year. Sometime in January 2023, I swapped out a return pump to an AQQA AC model. I really didn’t even have a reason to do so other than the fact that I had one laying around unused and considered it an “upgrade” from the Nyos Viper 3.0 that had been installed from the beginning. The AQQA worked flawlessly for about a month, until I got home from a weekend trip to discover a nearly apocalyptic scene - the AQQA pump motor had seized ceasing return flow to my display. The water temperature in my display got down to 63 degrees, which sadly prompted the loss of my tailspot blenny, royal gramma, original male clownfish, and a few small corals. Amazingly, my robust female clown, YWG, and pistol shrimp survived along with almost all of the coral. I immediately swapped the AQQA pump setup out for the original, trusty Nyos Viper and got things flowing again. I quickly learned two important lessons: (1) Don’t change things unless absolutely necessary, and (2) Always keep a backup on hand.
In the weeks after the pump failure, I added a new boyfriend for my female clown. She immediately took to liking him. Also, in an effort to minimize bioload, I did not end up replacing the tailspot blenny or royal gramma…maybe someday.
Since then, I have really just let the tank do its thing with very minimal intervention. I have made no further changes to equipment. The most significant change to note was a change from traditional 2-part dosing to 1-part Tropic Marin All For Reef. All the corals have really flourished - I see new heads/growth on most coral almost weekly. Since low maintenance is the goal, I have gotten to the point where I don’t even have a routine testing regimen. I do a 10% w/c once a month concomitant with removal of any small areas of nuisance algae (extremely minimal) and cleaning the sandbed surface. All in all, the tank has been on auto-pilot and has never been happier or healthier.
Updated Shots:
(and some with the blues)
I’ll try to post additional updates more frequently!
The past year has been chock full of ups and downs (mostly ups) with my tank. Overall, the tank has stabilized greatly over the past year. Sometime in January 2023, I swapped out a return pump to an AQQA AC model. I really didn’t even have a reason to do so other than the fact that I had one laying around unused and considered it an “upgrade” from the Nyos Viper 3.0 that had been installed from the beginning. The AQQA worked flawlessly for about a month, until I got home from a weekend trip to discover a nearly apocalyptic scene - the AQQA pump motor had seized ceasing return flow to my display. The water temperature in my display got down to 63 degrees, which sadly prompted the loss of my tailspot blenny, royal gramma, original male clownfish, and a few small corals. Amazingly, my robust female clown, YWG, and pistol shrimp survived along with almost all of the coral. I immediately swapped the AQQA pump setup out for the original, trusty Nyos Viper and got things flowing again. I quickly learned two important lessons: (1) Don’t change things unless absolutely necessary, and (2) Always keep a backup on hand.
In the weeks after the pump failure, I added a new boyfriend for my female clown. She immediately took to liking him. Also, in an effort to minimize bioload, I did not end up replacing the tailspot blenny or royal gramma…maybe someday.
Since then, I have really just let the tank do its thing with very minimal intervention. I have made no further changes to equipment. The most significant change to note was a change from traditional 2-part dosing to 1-part Tropic Marin All For Reef. All the corals have really flourished - I see new heads/growth on most coral almost weekly. Since low maintenance is the goal, I have gotten to the point where I don’t even have a routine testing regimen. I do a 10% w/c once a month concomitant with removal of any small areas of nuisance algae (extremely minimal) and cleaning the sandbed surface. All in all, the tank has been on auto-pilot and has never been happier or healthier.
Updated Shots:
(and some with the blues)
I’ll try to post additional updates more frequently!
