Well it's been over a year since my last update, but as I've been dealing with some minor crisis I figure now is the best time to update the build log... Now some story time;
From October 2023 through early August 2024 the tank was doing great - I added some of my favorite corals; lots of euphylia, some torches, an RBTA, more mushrooms, etc. These frags grew out beautifully. The livestock has remained the same, and I don't foresee any changes. to that.
Now comes the reckoning; in mid August I started seeing some die off... I couldn't pinpoint it to anything as parameters were doing great... Then I saw my emerald crab going after a hammer colony. I moved it back into the sump and thought everything was great. Well, travel for work really took off and the tank was pretty heavily neglected from August through early October; I would do water changes when I was able to, but I was seeing pretty heavy alk swings. Nothing that couldn't have been recovered from, but I lost a few of the hammers, my entire duncan (15+ heads), and 2 of my torches.
Then October rolled around... I got married and went on my honeymoon. Which was amazing, I'll drop some pics when I'm able to. We got married in northern Italy in the Dolomites at Lago di Braies. Beautiful place, highly recommend it. Followed by a honeymoon through Modena, Florence, and Rome. Amazing trip and I'd be happy to share some pics if there's any interest.
Now that brings us to the return home.. In my absence I had someone house sitting for which I am very grateful, but they broke basically all of the rules of the tank I discussed them. They overfed pellets (I mean nearly an entire container of NLS pellets and 2 full packages of frozen mysis... I was gone 2.5 weeks, and there's only 5 fish in the tank (2 clowns, a yellow tang, a swissguard, and a goby). They also admitted to putting their hands into the tank with scented lotion hands. The skimmer overflowed and was draining into the tank for an unknown period of time. Just a whole combination of things... I lost most of the corals, all that is remaining is 3 or 4 of a heads of an 8 head hammer colony, a branching GSP that is (hopefully) going to pull through, a couple of mushrooms, some of the zoas, and a coral that looks like asparagus but I can't recall the name. All of the fish survived, but I did lose my cleaner shrimp.
Alkalinity plummeted to the floor, nitrates were through the roof, etc. The silver lining is that it solved my Xenia problem.
Now comes time for the rebuild. I am working on getting parameters back to stable and don't intend on adding anything new to the tank for the foreseeable future. I'd like to see everything get back to health, grow out a bit again, then revisit the tank goals.
Nothing but a set back, while I'm sad by the corals the fish are the ones that really mean the world to me. Knowing that they're healthy (and seem VERY happy) is what makes me happy. The coral can be replaced, but their personalities are what make this whole investment worth it.
If you made it this far, stay tuned. I'll be using this as my journal for the next few months as things get back to a better place. Cheers to all!
