OVERHAUL TIME! Any suggestions for rock work and/or inhabitants?

[pygo1]

This tank has been running for a few years with a few ups and downs. It’s kind of at a low point right now but I’m getting back into it, wanting to make it pretty and healthy again.

For the rockwork, I love having some tall rock, caves, etc. but for a 30gal long tank, I’ll always be limited on height, so I’m considering getting new rock(or breaking up the current stuff) to do more of a rubble pile toward the back, allowing space for leathers and other larger softies to grow upward.

For my current stock, I just have a single Mai Tai clown and a disappearing wrasse, along with a bunch of inverts(a very old pistol shrimp, 5-6 astrea, 1-2 trochus, and other misc snails and hermits).

Corals: 12ish head torch, large toadstool, 4 small leathers/toadstools, a few mushrooms, a few zoas, a trachy, a largeish goni, 1 head hammer, some branching gsp, a duncan, and some funky mystery chalice of sorts.


I’m mostly moving away from stony corals for now, but will probably keep most of the ones already in the tanks which isn’t much any more. I have a few ideas for coral, which will fill in with time.

If anyone has some fun suggestions for fish and inverts, I’m open to ideas! Ideally, non aggressive and easy to feed. I’m headed in the direction of low maintenance/care

 

[pygo1]

This tank really speaks to me. Softy dominated, most of the corals aren't anything TOO fancy/expensive. The corals dominate the scape, rather than the rockwork. I'm just not too sure how to go about achieving this kind of look with what I already have going. Also, holy coral warfare batman, I'd be worried about competition left and right lol, but it would be a cool tank to have if possible. BUT, I'm not totally set on it, I'm open to various suggestions

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Howdy! I don't think it would be a hard switch from where you are now to the goalpost tank.
For extra inspiration, check out Reef Builders' ancient video on the japanese Bonsai softy reef (at least I think that was the video?) and Sanjay Joshi's softy nano. Both are dominated by large colonies of softies & some little filler guys. Sanjay did his first water change after 23 years of his tank running beautifully, so it ticks the low maintenance box.

As for converting to the desired look, I would break down and homogenize the rockwork, a rubble pile as you said. Definitely add a serpent star or two to prevent detritus buildup and keep it well stirred deep in there, your pistol will help with that too. For warfare, a bag of carbon swapped monthly should take care of that easy peasy.
I would try and find a strain of green sinularia as a centerpiece coral, it's a wonderful fast grower that takes to most tanks fairly readily. I haven't seen it available for a little while, but then again I haven't been looking. Waving Hand anthelia is another really unique, hardy softy. Gorgonians would also be a great choice, purple ribbon would complement the pleasant pinks of the softies with corky finger would match them.

I'd also suggest tuning the lights to a whiter spectrum. many soft corals are found right at the water's surface in full spectrum light, plus the non-fluorescent softies look far better in white light anyways.

As for additional livestock...
what you have is good. I would add a pair of possum wrasses if it were my tank, or a pair of grammas. Both are semi-secretive fish that become bolder in a secure tank with plenty of cover.

Hope it helps! Good luck with the overhaul. I'm excited to see what you make of it.

 

[pygo1]

Howdy! I don't think it would be a hard switch from where you are now to the goalpost tank.
For extra inspiration, check out Reef Builders' ancient video on the japanese Bonsai softy reef (at least I think that was the video?) and Sanjay Joshi's softy nano. Both are dominated by large colonies of softies & some little filler guys. Sanjay did his first water change after 23 years of his tank running beautifully, so it ticks the low maintenance box.

As for converting to the desired look, I would break down and homogenize the rockwork, a rubble pile as you said. Definitely add a serpent star or two to prevent detritus buildup and keep it well stirred deep in there, your pistol will help with that too. For warfare, a bag of carbon swapped monthly should take care of that easy peasy.
I would try and find a strain of green sinularia as a centerpiece coral, it's a wonderful fast grower that takes to most tanks fairly readily. I haven't seen it available for a little while, but then again I haven't been looking. Waving Hand anthelia is another really unique, hardy softy. Gorgonians would also be a great choice, purple ribbon would complement the pleasant pinks of the softies with corky finger would match them.

I'd also suggest tuning the lights to a whiter spectrum. many soft corals are found right at the water's surface in full spectrum light, plus the non-fluorescent softies look far better in white light anyways.

As for additional livestock...
what you have is good. I would add a pair of possum wrasses if it were my tank, or a pair of grammas. Both are semi-secretive fish that become bolder in a secure tank with plenty of cover.

Hope it helps! Good luck with the overhaul. I'm excited to see what you make of it.

Thanks for the detailed response! That actually gives me a good bit of inspiration I’m already running a media reactor with carbon in it, so I’m good with the general toxins, I just worry about stings(but I know a lot of softies don’t sting hard, I’ve just historically kept a bunch of mean corals lol).

I’ll check out that reef bonsai video! I’ve seen the Sanjay vid(it was one of the ones that convinced me to get into salt water), maybe I should give it another watch.. I always really liked the low maintenance softy tanks, but when I was new to the hobby, I HAD to have a mixed reef and try growing every coral lol.

Your suggestions all sound awesome! I’ll definitely be tuning the lights a bit more, it’s on sundown mode right now, so it’s looking pretty blue, but that isn’t the usual look.

I hadn’t considered adding more wrasses to the tank, but I’ll certainly look into it! Otherwise, I friggin love grammas, their personalities are great, so that’s a solid idea.

Thanks again for the reply and I hope to update on the progress!

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Thanks for the detailed response! That actually gives me a good bit of inspiration I’m already running a media reactor with carbon in it, so I’m good with the general toxins, I just worry about stings(but I know a lot of softies don’t sting hard, I’ve just historically kept a bunch of mean corals lol).

I’ll check out that reef bonsai video! I’ve seen the Sanjay vid(it was one of the ones that convinced me to get into salt water), maybe I should give it another watch.. I always really liked the low maintenance softy tanks, but when I was new to the hobby, I HAD to have a mixed reef and try growing every coral lol.

Your suggestions all sound awesome! I’ll definitely be tuning the lights a bit more, it’s on sundown mode right now, so it’s looking pretty blue, but that isn’t the usual look.

I hadn’t considered adding more wrasses to the tank, but I’ll certainly look into it! Otherwise, I friggin love grammas, their personalities are great, so that’s a solid idea.

Thanks again for the reply and I hope to update on the progress!

Glad I could help! Definitely consider setting up a build thread, if for no other reason than as a personal log. Mine has saved my butt (or Ego Pygo if I'm going to be a nerd) countless times.

Every type of reef can be low maintenance if you try hard enough. I've been running mine on autopilot for the past year with heavy feeding & heavy CUC, I literally don't do anything but feed, scrape the glass and add AFR to my top off. It's all about the complexity of the environment you've got, the more biodiversity the better. Little weirdo creatures, sponges all add up to more stability if you feed enough.
Another inspiration I could give is @Paul B's amazing 40+ year old reef. His philosophy is what I try to replicate.

I'm not sure what disappearing wrasse temperaments are like, so a pair of possums may not work. All the more reason to do grammas lol

Were you perchance in the Reeftank Discord server? I think I remember your username.

 

[pygo1]

Glad I could help! Definitely consider setting up a build thread, if for no other reason than as a personal log. Mine has saved my butt (or Ego Pygo if I'm going to be a nerd) countless times.

Every type of reef can be low maintenance if you try hard enough. I've been running mine on autopilot for the past year with heavy feeding & heavy CUC, I literally don't do anything but feed, scrape the glass and add AFR to my top off. It's all about the complexity of the environment you've got, the more biodiversity the better. Little weirdo creatures, sponges all add up to more stability if you feed enough.
Another inspiration I could give is @Paul B's amazing 40+ year old reef. His philosophy is what I try to replicate.

I'm not sure what disappearing wrasse temperaments are like, so a pair of possums may not work. All the more reason to do grammas lol

Were you perchance in the Reeftank Discord server? I think I remember your username.

I definitely need to work on my build thread, it's been a long while since I updated it, she's really fallen from glory lol: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/pygos-im30l-build-thread.938669/


I've had mixed luck with my low maintenance approach in the past. I can get away with it for 6+ months, then something will inevitably get out of wack and it's a long battle back to stability(at least in my experience). Therefore, I figured EZ softy tank so I can forever forget about alkalinity(sorta). I'll prob never do xenia in this tank, but that stuff used to suck up my nutrients like no other in a different tank, so I figure having a softy dominant environment, some of the other stuff will eat up the nutrients as well.

I'm definitely all about diversity, which is probably why I'm in this mess lol. I used to work in the local harbor, so I'd dive around and collect various snails, limpets, sponges, macroalgae, bryozoans, brittle stars, and any other odd creature I thought the tank might be able to support. Some did better than others, it was definitely great having so many weird critters, but I've also introduced some huge pains in the butt this way as well lol.

My disappearing wrasse is SUPER easy going. He only has the clown to deal with, so maybe that's why, but he waits his turn to eat, isn't aggressive to any of the inverts except flatworms, all around a model citizen. But, I know some wrasses don't mix well so, probably still leaning toward grammas.

Also, yeah I've been around the discord server a long while lol. I haven't been active there(or r2r) in a bit though. seems like the discord is a bit quieter these days, so I'm coming here to hopefully reach a broader audience

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I definitely need to work on my build thread, it's been a long while since I updated it, she's really fallen from glory lol: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/pygos-im30l-build-thread.938669/


I've had mixed luck with my low maintenance approach in the past. I can get away with it for 6+ months, then something will inevitably get out of wack and it's a long battle back to stability(at least in my experience). Therefore, I figured EZ softy tank so I can forever forget about alkalinity(sorta). I'll prob never do xenia in this tank, but that stuff used to suck up my nutrients like no other in a different tank, so I figure having a softy dominant environment, some of the other stuff will eat up the nutrients as well.

I'm definitely all about diversity, which is probably why I'm in this mess lol. I used to work in the local harbor, so I'd dive around and collect various snails, limpets, sponges, macroalgae, bryozoans, brittle stars, and any other odd creature I thought the tank might be able to support. Some did better than others, it was definitely great having so many weird critters, but I've also introduced some huge pains in the butt this way as well lol.

My disappearing wrasse is SUPER easy going. He only has the clown to deal with, so maybe that's why, but he waits his turn to eat, isn't aggressive to any of the inverts except flatworms, all around a model citizen. But, I know some wrasses don't mix well so, probably still leaning toward grammas.

Also, yeah I've been around the discord server a long while lol. I haven't been active there(or r2r) in a bit though. seems like the discord is a bit quieter these days, so I'm coming here to hopefully reach a broader audience

I'd love to the updates on your build thread too!

 

[Mr_Knightley]

I definitely need to work on my build thread, it's been a long while since I updated it, she's really fallen from glory lol: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/pygos-im30l-build-thread.938669/


I've had mixed luck with my low maintenance approach in the past. I can get away with it for 6+ months, then something will inevitably get out of wack and it's a long battle back to stability(at least in my experience). Therefore, I figured EZ softy tank so I can forever forget about alkalinity(sorta). I'll prob never do xenia in this tank, but that stuff used to suck up my nutrients like no other in a different tank, so I figure having a softy dominant environment, some of the other stuff will eat up the nutrients as well.

I'm definitely all about diversity, which is probably why I'm in this mess lol. I used to work in the local harbor, so I'd dive around and collect various snails, limpets, sponges, macroalgae, bryozoans, brittle stars, and any other odd creature I thought the tank might be able to support. Some did better than others, it was definitely great having so many weird critters, but I've also introduced some huge pains in the butt this way as well lol.

My disappearing wrasse is SUPER easy going. He only has the clown to deal with, so maybe that's why, but he waits his turn to eat, isn't aggressive to any of the inverts except flatworms, all around a model citizen. But, I know some wrasses don't mix well so, probably still leaning toward grammas.

Also, yeah I've been around the discord server a long while lol. I haven't been active there(or r2r) in a bit though. seems like the discord is a bit quieter these days, so I'm coming here to hopefully reach a broader audience

I sometimes go down to St. Augustine FL where I can walk to the Intercoastal Waterway, and I harvest hermits and snails to replenish my stocks at home. I've tried sponges with mixed success, one did really well for a few months before I killed it and another is still rocking. Nothing beats the bacterial diversity of the ocean itself, that's for sure.

Good to hear about the wrasse! I'm not really a wrasse guy, so I'm always wary with them since some species can be very territorial.

Yeah I left the server a good 2-3 years ago, it got way too cliquey for me and some folks were getting out of hand. Glad to hear it's calmed down lol it's nice not to have another time sink though, I'd spend hours every day on there.

 

[pygo1]

I sometimes go down to St. Augustine FL where I can walk to the Intercoastal Waterway, and I harvest hermits and snails to replenish my stocks at home. I've tried sponges with mixed success, one did really well for a few months before I killed it and another is still rocking. Nothing beats the bacterial diversity of the ocean itself, that's for sure.

Good to hear about the wrasse! I'm not really a wrasse guy, so I'm always wary with them since some species can be very territorial.

Yeah I left the server a good 2-3 years ago, it got way too cliquey for me and some folks were getting out of hand. Glad to hear it's calmed down lol it's nice not to have another time sink though, I'd spend hours every day on there.

Yeah I really appreciated the diversity. I don’t dive there anymore, so my critters have dwindled, but I’d like to bring some back soon.

The wrasse was pure luck lol. I was looking for a different one and that was all the LFS had, but they said it’d be chill and after a quick google, I gave him a chance. It did a great job with my flatworm problem lol

& I feel you.. they ended up kicking the real problematic people, but it’s definitely cliquey. It’s good for showing off and occasional trades, but not the best for advice unfortunately. I wish it were more like my gardening discord lol

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Yeah I really appreciated the diversity. I don’t dive there anymore, so my critters have dwindled, but I’d like to bring some back soon.

The wrasse was pure luck lol. I was looking for a different one and that was all the LFS had, but they said it’d be chill and after a quick google, I gave him a chance. It did a great job with my flatworm problem lol

& I feel you.. they ended up kicking the real problematic people, but it’s definitely cliquey. It’s good for showing off and occasional trades, but not the best for advice unfortunately. I wish it were more like my gardening discord lol

That's surprising, considering it's a Pseudocheilinus! The other species in that genus are the worst actors of all wrassedom (sixline, eightline). Glad to hear he's a model citizen.

I think it's more of a demographic thing. The demographic of people using Discord in general tends to be younger kids or gamers, while an established forum is more likely to have older folk and non-techy types. Though gardening people are always nice, I've yet to meet a bad one lol
Is the guy who bred sea slugs still around? I remember he made a website, but I don't know if he's still doing it anymore. I wanted to order from him.

 

[pygo1]

That's surprising, considering it's a Pseudocheilinus! The other species in that genus are the worst actors of all wrassedom (sixline, eightline). Glad to hear he's a model citizen.

I think it's more of a demographic thing. The demographic of people using Discord in general tends to be younger kids or gamers, while an established forum is more likely to have older folk and non-techy types. Though gardening people are always nice, I've yet to meet a bad one lol
Is the guy who bred sea slugs still around? I remember he made a website, but I don't know if he's still doing it anymore. I wanted to order from him.

I was equally surprised with the wrasse after doing a little research on him haha.

Yeah it’s def a demographic thing. There’s some cool folks in there for sure, but as a whole it’s not always the most constructive/welcoming community.
I haven’t been active in there in a while, so I’m not sure if he is, but he was one of the cool ones! Lol traded some odd critters with him a couple times.

Back to the tank planning, I’m gonna start breaking up my rock later today probably. I’m trying to give myself an idea of future coral placement, but it’s been a while since I’ve done any research/coral buying. I have my LPS/SPS down, but am a little out of the loop on softies. Do you(or anyone seeing this post) have any good resources on coral placement/warfare? I have some ideas, but could use a refresher on who’s gonna get along and who won’t lol. I want the tank to end up relatively packed/grown in like the above example tank/Sanjay’s tank. I know I can search up individual corals as they come, but I’m curious if any resource exists containing a somewhat comprehensive guide/list.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

I wish I could help you there, I'm only just new getting into softies. All I know is that most of them can live in close proximity without much issue. Toadstools like their space though.
Hopefully others can chime in!