Not ready to give up, advice?

[Tango2]

Trying to figure out where to go with my tank and I'd love some recommendations. It's a well established reef that has been setup for over 10 years. It's been to hell and back over the years and doesn't have a whole lot going for it now. I'd love to get it back to "reef" status.

50 Gallon Cube (Rimless)
20ish gallon acrylic sump
Reef Octopus Skimmer
2 MP10s
Original Apex for automation
Kessil Light

One ocellaris clown (~8 years old)
Finger leather
Few mushrooms/zoas
Live Rock (30ish lbs)
Sand Bed (1-2" deep)

Aside from replenishing my cleanup crew and getting back on top of regular maintenance, how would you stock this tank? I've always felt limited by the size/shape of the tank. Thanks!

 

[FishyHotel]

Personally I really like LPS and have a ton of torches currently. They can be frustrating because they can die to brown jelly, but the movement is amazing to watch and having them split and grow is pretty exciting too. If you do go the torch route I suggest looking for large healthy flesh bands well below the tentacles if you can find one at a LFS or local seller. Often I have more problems with them if they come with a slim flesh band as they haven’t usually acclimated to aquarium lift yet. I have a number of hammers as well, and where they grow, I generally don’t find them as exciting to look at when I am just tank gazing. My favorite corals to watch have definitely been Acanthophyllia, but I’m not sure that they give enough of the reef feel by themselves.

If you are looking just for more color mushrooms or zoas can be fun and I have found to be pretty happy / low maintenance.

 

[FishyHotel]

Sorry I didn’t see you mentioned you had some mushrooms/zoas. I checked your profile I think you are in the same area as me. You should check out reef escape, they are super nice and you can check out their stock really easily from the side to make sure the LPS flesh bands are doing well because of their glass tanks if you are interested in going that route.

 

[Tango2]

Thanks for the reply. I haven’t heard of Reef Escape but will check them out. Blue Ribbon Koi is the closest place I know of and they have been ok in the past, but I’ll have to see how they compare.

How about fish? I had a diamond goby for a while that was awesome but he eventually found the tiny while in the cover I made and took a leap that didn’t end well. Seems like a lot of the smaller fish with character are also jumpers, and the larger fish I wish I could keep need a bigger tank.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I would make this is frag tank and start a larger reef. Increase the sump size to take the new tank and this tank. I would use your current rock to seed some additional Marco rock. I would get new sand and pick up 20 pounds of TAMPA BAY LIVE SAND to place on top of the new sand. You should be able to Skip a cycle.

 

[Tango2]

Sound advice, but don’t have a place for a second or larger tank at the moment. We hope to build a house in the next few years and hope to plan for that though.