Smartwater's Mixed Reef

[smartwater101]

The Great Crash of 2017


In Dec/Jan this 160 crashed pretty hard. Everything in the tank died within a matter of days.

Slacking on water changes, siphoning the sand, changing out the RODI filter media, and then kicking up the ticking time-bomb that is detritus build up… I forget everything, as it was a while ago, but there were a lot of things I let go south. So many fish. So much coral....

I’m having trouble finding pics from around this time but just imagine an 8 foot wall of hair algae come Jan/Feb, after the full crash.

“Old Tank Syndrome” kicked in fast and I decided it was time to get back to a proper maintenance schedule a tank like this deserves. So here goes.

Somehow the LT anemone managed to survive along with a pajama and a red hawkfish. The vast majority of the hair algae had already been removed in late Feb but my phosphates were still too high so it continued to grow. The Hawkfish was banished to the sump for picking on shrimp. He got moved to the 70g cube.

 

[smartwater101]

PALYTOXIN!

I poisoned myself and my dog! After "The Great Crash of 2017", I spent hours cleaning off hair algae and throwing it into a bucket. A gooey mess off a large zoa/poly colony, that i thought was long gone, was part of the gunk I was, unknowingly, pulling up. I dumped the bucket in the tub, used the showerhead to wash it down. Boom. Poison mist.

Emergency Vet. Emergency Room. Not fun.


That’s the TDLR. You can read more about my experience HERE

 

[lonelyfloat]

Following! This looks really cool! How many clown gobies would you recommend for a 75 gallon? I saw you have 20 lol.

 

[smartwater101]

Following! This looks really cool! How many clown gobies would you recommend for a 75 gallon? I saw you have 20 lol.

I keep Masked gobies (and similar.) I no longer keep clown gobies. IMO, Clown gobies aren't a great idea if you plan to have SPS corals. I went years without issues... until I did. Clown gobies will do one of two things: 1) nip at corals in order to get the coral to slime, and the goby eats the slime. Or 2) They will clear the underside of branches to lay their eggs. It sucks to see a new frag getting picked on and I eventually built a fish trap (from a kritter keeper) to finally catch both of the pairs I was keeping. (All I had to do was put an SPS colony in there and they went right to it.)


I like fish even smaller than clown gobies. I'm not sure how many is appropriate for a 75 but I imagine it would be A LOT. They are pretty peaceful and its really cool watching them hover and dart around. From my experience, they tend to separate into smaller groups ~8 or so. But no aggression between the groups. They're great because no matter where you look there is a bit of movement around the rocks. Really makes the reef feel alive.

Here are several option if you like tiny fish:

Masked Goby

Red Spot

Red Stripe

Gold Neon Eviota

Red Neon Eviota

 

[lonelyfloat]

I keep Masked gobies (and similar.) I no longer keep clown gobies. IMO, Clown gobies aren't a great idea if you plan to have SPS corals. I went years without issues... until I did. Clown gobies will do one of two things: 1) nip at corals in order to get the coral to slime, and the goby eats the slime. Or 2) They will clear the underside of branches to lay their eggs. It sucks to see a new frag getting picked on and I eventually built a fish trap (from a kritter keeper) to finally catch both of the pairs I was keeping. (All I had to do was put an SPS colony in there and they went right to it.)


I like fish even smaller than clown gobies. I'm not sure how many is appropriate for a 75 but I imagine it would be A LOT. They are pretty peaceful and its really cool watching them hover and dart around. From my experience, they tend to separate into smaller groups ~8 or so. But no aggression between the groups. They're great because no matter where you look there is a bit of movement around the rocks. Really makes the reef feel alive.

Here are several option if you like tiny fish:

Masked Goby

Red Spot

Red Stripe

Gold Neon Eviota

Red Neon Eviota

Interesting. I will have to do some research then.

 

[lonelyfloat]

Have you kept the Red Neon Evoita Goby? Would they get picked on by more aggressive fish such as a Valentini puffer or clownfish? Also are they aggressive towards each other?

 

[smartwater101]

I have my Clowns and Eviota/Masked in a small temp-tank at the moment, and there is no agression even in the very small space.

Puffers I have no idea, Ive never kept one before.

EDIT:

I usually have a couple pairs of the, more common, Neon/Cleaner gobies. They get a little bigger than the others. I have seen a lot of aggression, but only at first. And only towards each other, not the other gobies. But things seem to settle out after a short while.

 

[smartwater101]

2018 (Another bunch of photos lost. Will edit if I manage to find some.)


So 2018 was all about basic maintenance. Just getting back to the slow n steady routine and keeping things happy and healthy. Considering the large crash, slow n steady was a priority. No corals added. Just fish and keeping up with the water-change schedule.


I redid the plumbing several times in order to get things organized, add some media reactor and just save myself some space for maintenance.


I also finally got a 44g Brute. I don’t have a lot of space in my apartment but this has been SO much better than moving 5 gallon jugs back n forth. And having the ability to do larger water changes it sooo nice.


I also set the 70g back up. I want eels again! And I’ve always wanted a Catalufa Soldier fish.

Feeding the eels and catalufa:



And after a couple months, I remember why I broke the tank down in the first place. Holy crap the electric bill was nutz! Soooo… down it comes again. Only this time I make sure to sell the thing so I’m not tempted to set it up again.


Another reason I broke it down was ICP tests kept showing metal in the tank. I still have no idea what this was from, but after taking a magnet through the sand I continued to find A LOT of small shards of metal:

Meanwhile in the main DT:

May:

Sept:

Anemone has recovered quite well. It’s only 3/4 the size it used to be (not the 2’ monster it was) but still looks great. And still my favorite thing in the tank!

 

[lonelyfloat]

2018 (Another bunch of photos lost. Will edit if I manage to find some.)


So 2018 was all about basic maintenance. Just getting back to the slow n steady routine and keeping things happy and healthy. Considering the large crash, slow n steady was a priority. No corals added. Just fish and keeping up with the water-change schedule.


I redid the plumbing several times in order to get things organized, add some media reactor and just save myself some space for maintenance.


I also finally got a 44g Brute. I don’t have a lot of space in my apartment but this has been SO much better than moving 5 gallon jugs back n forth. And having the ability to do larger water changes it sooo nice.


I also set the 70g back up. I want eels again! And I’ve always wanted a Catalufa Soldier fish.

Feeding the eels and catalufa:



And after a couple months, I remember why I broke the tank down in the first place. Holy crap the electric bill was nutz! Soooo… down it comes again. Only this time I make sure to sell the thing so I’m not tempted to set it up again.


Another reason I broke it down was ICP tests kept showing metal in the tank. I still have no idea what this was from, but after taking a magnet through the sand I continued to find A LOT of small shards of metal:

Meanwhile in the main DT:

May:

Sept:

Anemone has recovered quite well. It’s only 3/4 the size it used to be (not the 2’ monster it was) but still looks great. And still my favorite thing in the tank!

Looking good! I did decide to get some Red Neon Eviota at some point btw, thanks for your help!

 

[smartwater101]

FULL TANK SHOT 2018:

 

[smartwater101]

2019


Oh boy. This year….


I went absolutely ham this year, upgrading just about every piece of equipment. In fact, I think the UV sterilizer was the only thing that didn’t get swapped out. This is where the onslaught of photos begin. Prepare yourself lol

 

[flsalty]

Hitchhiking Upside Down Jellyfish. I built a circular tank by heating some acrylic but it never quite worked as I hoped it would. So I left him in the tank. He lived for a couple years before he disappeared completely.

Nice tank! I have a question. Did the upside down jellyfish swim around a lot?

 

[smartwater101]

Nice tank! I have a question. Did the upside down jellyfish swim around a lot?

Thanks!

It was swimming most of the time. It was 10 years ago so i don't fully recall, but I don't remember it resting much.

 

[ramona]

2019


Oh boy. This year….


I went absolutely ham this year, upgrading just about every piece of equipment. In fact, I think the UV sterilizer was the only thing that didn’t get swapped out. This is where the onslaught of photos begin. Prepare yourself lol

Where are the photos?

 

[najer]

What a journey and honestly told, following.

 

[smartwater101]

Been a long time since I've updated (couple years behind at this point) but I'll get around to it at some point! Been a rough 12 months, as I'm sure many of you have felt.
Hope everyone is staying safe!

 

[smartwater101]

I had to say goodbye to Sagan, my best friend of almost 7 years. He had just turned 10 a few weeks ago, but unfortunately took a turn for the worse because of intestinal cancer. He held strong the last few weeks but I didn’t want his discomfort to turn into pain, so I made the decision to let him go. Not gonna lie, I’m an absolute mess.
He was unlike any dog I’d ever seen. He had a unique kind of situational and social awareness that I’ll never forget. He really was the sweetest little dude ever.
Goodbye buddy. You were a good boy.

 

[ramona]

Handsome boy, RIP!