Reefer 300XL 65 gallon

Ro Bow

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New build thread for my currently 9-10 month old 65 gallon tank. Going through various algae blooms still, happening for 7 months. Took an algae sample to the lfs (saltwater city WA) and they confirmed both bryopsis and Green hair algae. Bought a mexican turbo and 2 black and white striped turbo's, as well as 25 blue legged hermit crabs. I'm combining these with the use of Flucanzola treatment which I am starting today.

Livestock:
25 blue legged hermit crabs
4 turbo snails (already had one before getting 3 more)
2 occ. clownfish
2 PJ cardinals
1 tomini tang
1 YWG with a pistol shrimp friend
1 massive (10") xenia
1 leather coral ("2) that never opens
1 feather duster
 
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Ro Bow

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1660242373922.png

GHA:
1660242411052.png
1660242432005.png

1660242455112.png
 
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Forgot to mention - I dosed the fluconazole and forgot to turn off my skimmer after the flucanazole was in my system for 3 hours. I put the flux in the DT, so I was hopeful it would still do its job but it didn't. I'll try it again soon hopefully.
1662174004467.png

This is my tank at its peak stage a month or so ago. GHA has grown more now, but its under control (more or less) and I think its slowly receding. Still, its grown more than the picture above but less than this one below.
1662174166110.png
 
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And I got some new additions to the tank a few weeks ago too - a sand sifting star fish with 2 limbs in-tact, who is doing great so far and is super cute, and a few more turbo snails (1 Mexican and 2 Striped) to help with algae control. The only deaths I've ever had were the diamond goby in the bottom picture in the post above (he jumped out of the tank and fell 15 feet into a room below (living area), a nudibranch who got shredded in my powerhead (reef wave 45), and a sea urchin who got stressed and died because of a sudden 10F temp drop. The tank is now 1.5 years old
 

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Forgot to mention - I dosed the fluconazole and forgot to turn off my skimmer after the flucanazole was in my system for 3 hours. I put the flux in the DT, so I was hopeful it would still do its job but it didn't. I'll try it again soon hopefully.
1662174004467.png

This is my tank at its peak stage a month or so ago. GHA has grown more now, but its under control (more or less) and I think its slowly receding. Still, its grown more than the picture above but less than this one below.
1662174166110.png
I have the same tank and my jungle was worse then yours shows. I never added harsh chemicals treatment for it. I focused on maintaining my parameters. I diversified my cleaning crew with turbos and urchins. Lots of manual removal and raised my magnesium to 1500. I had briopsis and GHA. All gone is less then a month. You can win the battle but you have to focus on parameters and not band aid fixes.
 

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And I got some new additions to the tank a few weeks ago too - a sand sifting star fish with 2 limbs in-tact, who is doing great so far and is super cute, and a few more turbo snails (1 Mexican and 2 Striped) to help with algae control. The only deaths I've ever had were the diamond goby in the bottom picture in the post above (he jumped out of the tank and fell 15 feet into a room below (living area), a nudibranch who got shredded in my powerhead (reef wave 45), and a sea urchin who got stressed and died because of a sudden 10F temp drop. The tank is now 1.5 years old
Are you seeing good coraline growth at 1.5 years? My tank is 1.6 so we started the same tank at basically the same time.
 

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Message me if you want to compare notes since we have the same set up and tank age. I can share what works for me and can learn from you too.
 
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@Lavey29 i got my sea sifting sea star without 2 legs, and a few days ago i saw my pygmy skunk cleaner shrimp cleaning the star a few days ago. Now today i notice my star fish has all legs severed. my tank stock list is very peaceful, so i don't know who could have done it. I'll post the fish below. The star can't move much, and because he is the size of a quarter, I'm worried he will die. I'm asking you for advice since you have a sea star as your profile picture lol. If you don't know it's fine I'm just curious. Here's a picture of the star fish.
IMG_20220903_153148555.jpg
 
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Here's my fish stock list:

2 occelaris clowns (both very docile)

1 ywg who's like 2 inches long and is scared of floating algae so i doubt he could hurt him

2 Pajama cardinals (also docile, they kind of just float in the water column watching, and don't go near the sand bed. Never seen them being aggressive in any way.

1 tomini tang (she's very bashful and timid, and is herbivorous so i don't think shed do it.

Prime suspects:

Pygmy skunk cleaner shrimp - he is nice but lately he's been cleaning the star like i mentioned. I didn't see him do anything else to it

Hermit crabs (blue legged) - i saw them near it and have read horror stories of them killing starfish and stuff but i don't know.
 
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Here's my fish stock list:

2 occelaris clowns (both very docile)

1 ywg who's like 2 inches long and is scared of floating algae so i doubt he could hurt him

2 Pajama cardinals (also docile, they kind of just float in the water column watching, and don't go near the sand bed. Never seen them being aggressive in any way.

1 tomini tang (she's very bashful and timid, and is herbivorous so i don't think shed do it.

Prime suspects:

Pygmy skunk cleaner shrimp - he is nice but lately he's been cleaning the star like i mentioned. I didn't see him do anything else to it

Hermit crabs (blue legged) - i saw them near it and have read horror stories of them killing starfish and stuff but i don't know.
Wait i just googled something and it turns out apparently starfish can/will shed their limbs to avoid danger - do you think this could be the case? Thanks
 

Lavey29

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Wait i just googled something and it turns out apparently starfish can/will shed their limbs to avoid danger - do you think this could be the case? Thanks
It's possible but not likely. Sand sifters are difficult animals to keep alive. They literally eat all the microfauna and detritus in your sandbed. I've been told also they lose limbs when malnourished. I would try feeding small pieces of shrimp or cut up silverside. Only people with deep sand beds and very established tanks have been successful. Your starfish is different then mine.
 
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It's possible but not likely. Sand sifters are difficult animals to keep alive. They literally eat all the microfauna and detritus in your sandbed. I've been told also they lose limbs when malnourished. I would try feeding small pieces of shrimp or cut up silverside. Only people with deep sand beds and very established tanks have been successful. Your starfish is different then mine.
My sand bed is 5" on 1 side of the tank and "1 on the other. He hangs out on the 5" side mostly. Also, thank you for the advice. By the way the starfish was an accidental purchase - the lfs thought i said i wanted it even though I just asked for the price, and then while purchasing other equipment and livestock the starfish was there - i told them i didn't want it but my family wanted it so they bought it.
 
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I did a little research on them and got a bit doubtful because i read, like you said that they are difficult to keep. Sadly my lfs doesn't accept refunds for inverts so i kept him.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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