Jill's 14 gallon Biotopia

Ahruk · Sep 10, 2015

Hello Fellow Reefers,
I started this tank a little over a year ago. It was a used 14gallon biocube with old compact flourescents. When I first set it up it looked like this...

I have since upgraded to a kessil 350 and the tank has absolutely begun to flourish especially in the six months as all my corals began to take off. Here's what it looks like now (sorry for the mess, getting ready for the Bay Area Reefers Regional Frag Swap this weekend, also some things aren't very happy about all the fragging that's been going on)

Ahruk · Sep 10, 2015

More pictures of the Critters that inhabit my tank

steelheader.262 · Sep 10, 2015

Looks good, nice work!!

Ahruk · Sep 10, 2015

Thanks

It still needs a lot of time to grow and mature but I'm really happy with how it's coming along.

Ahruk · Sep 14, 2015

More close ups of my tank

Mikefallen13 · Sep 14, 2015

Beautiful tank! I have a 14 gal biocube too and I love it.

Tahoe61 · Sep 14, 2015

Awesome.

Ahruk · Sep 14, 2015

Thanks

Yep. I personally think it's the perfect size tank. Got some nice new additions from a swap on Saturday and can't wait for them to open so I can show them off

zoacrazy42 · Sep 15, 2015

Very nice!

Ahruk · Sep 16, 2015

Thanks

slowly building up my little zoa collection (mostly by stealing and taking castaways from the boyfriend-for some wierd reason I can't understand he doesn't care for gold mauls or lazor lemons).

Nelo · Sep 16, 2015

That's beautiful! How is the pom pom crab? Looks like you got a great specimen!

Ahruk · Sep 16, 2015

She's awesome, I've had her for over a year now (Got her last august). Probably the only things I ever bought without doing any research and man I'm glad I did. She's so fun to watch and try to find when she's hiding. I can almost always lure her out by feeding the tank (which is not most people's experience with these nocturnal crabs) so I feel especially grateful.

Nelo · Sep 17, 2015

Can you describe the care to get one to live so long!? How awesome!

Ahruk · Sep 17, 2015

Umm... I throw pellets in the tank once a day and frozen mysis and brine 1-3 times a week (~10-15 small pellets- maybe more I don't really keep track, Hikari S-my clownfish love this stuff, occassionally mix it up with other pellets we have lying around the house). Also I don't have a regular feeding schedule I just kinda feed the fish when I want to watch everything go wild. I dunno I think she's just unusually good at actually coming out during feedings to get her share of food. Sometimes she'll even come out during the day and guilt trip me into feeding the tank if I haven't already xD TBH I think I just got really really lucky.

Ahruk · Sep 19, 2015

Spent tonight cleaning up old frag plugs and staring at my tank which suddenly exploded (ok I exaggerate there's a patch) in hair algae while I was away for two days. /sigh... So ran out and picked 4 turbos which have done wonders in the past (personally I think the hair algae was a direct result of my turbo dying 2 weeks ago) and plan on doing 5 gallon water change tomorrow and manually removing what I can with a toothbrush. Anyway enough complaining here's some new cell phone pics.

Me Cleaning Frag Plugs:

Zoas from the Bay Area Reefers Frag Swap Last Weekend (By the way stupid cell phone turned all the yellow stuff green so some things are actually yellow in person):

Random Pictures of my tanks many inhabitants

One of my new turbos <3 Go Eat algae!!!

My handsome little fighting conch with my beautiful pompom crab watching over my acan

My favorite Zoas which don't photograph well, Gold Mauls, with my little clownfish photobombing

My beloved monti corner

AND FINALLY...

My new little blue tuxedo urchin refused to pick up any of the zoa frags I made for her All four of them she rejected for the empty hermit shells... /sigh Alas the best laid plans....

Ahruk · Sep 22, 2015

I'm really heartbroken today/kicking myself. Yesterday I messed up while doing a waterchange and killed my pompom crab. I know it sounds ridiculous but I feel like my cat or dog just died...

Tahoe61 · Sep 22, 2015

Just means you care, that is my judge of character. Are you sure it was not a molt?

Lessons in this hobby are learned, trust me.

zoacrazy42 · Sep 22, 2015

I can relate big downer to loose anything.. but how Tahoe said maybe molted and still there !

Ahruk · Sep 22, 2015

Yea 99% sure it wasn't a molt. Looked like it was carrying something (aka shriveled up anemones) in its claws and it weighed more then I imagine a molt would. Plus it didn't cave in under pressure.

Had my boyfriend bury it in my flower pot. Couldn't bear to look at any more but also didn't just want to throw her out with the trash or flush her down the toilet.

Definitely the hardest lesson I've had to learn which I suppose I should be grateful for but still ouch. I was really attached to her. She was one of the first things in my tank and its weird to even think about looking at my tank knowing she's not in there. Also I'm torn between this deep desire to replace her as quickly as possibly to make the hurt lessen and feeling guilty for just turning her into something inanimate that can easily be replaced. I know I'll never really be able replace her and I can't turn back the clock so now I just need to figure out how to go forward.