Softie dominate tank

Austin456

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After my biocube 14 sprang a slow leak I decided to upgrade and purchased a biocube 29. I slowly added dry rock on top of the existing rock that was in the biocube 14. Once everything was nice and how I wanted it I realized I was behind the time and needed to upgrade my lighting. I bought a cheap light that did nothing for my corals and made it flush with the hood by drilling a square to match the lights footprint. Once I realized this light was stupid I bit the bullet and bought a new AI prime 16 hd which dramatically changed my tank and I actually noticed after month of coral die off and no growth my Kenya tree frag was growing and opening more than it had before. Furthermore, I had to remove hood to make room for the light which actually made my tank look better. For the filtration upgrade I bought a bashsea mano sump that fit under my stand at Reef a Palooza NY. I hard plumed it to a eshops nano HOB overflow that fit in the third chamber. I forget what return pump I use but it was a tight fit due to the return chamber have a small foot print, I used tubing as plumping for the return. For a while I did have a fuge but the cheato died off an caused me algae issues, I believe this was due to low nutrients for the cheato to feed since I few fish and little waste. I added cheato grow but that increased the algae issue. Everything seems to run fine with little issues on water change I have yet to add a new coral/fish/invert due to the acclimation process and I haven’t had time to make water to replace what I take off. I have recently added tigger pods which seem to either hid in the marine pure block that I have through my sump or got eaten by amphipods that hitchhiked in on a coral. I believe they ate some but not all. I will be adding apex pods as well as feeding phytofeast. I also added a pod hotel I received as a gift, I haven’t noticed any change in pod population although I only added the pods yesterday. As per live stock I have
- clown fish
- yellow watchman goby
- three snails
- blue tuxedo urchin ( my favorite )
- Kenya tree ( as well as frags that were taken from the mother colony)
- zoa frag
- leather finger coral
- nuclear green pallys
- feather duster
- green star polyp frag
- pulsing xienia
-toadstool
- a mushroom frag
- and a torch coral
I also added a mp10wqd ecotech pump
The flow and light upgrade really seem to have changed the way I reef, my corals seem to have really grown to a significant size from what I bought them at. I’ll attach photos of my tank from oldest to newest. I’ll also add photos of some tank inhabitants

6BC77205-C6F5-4415-9753-24FDF1090FD5.jpeg 1950AE58-D274-4DB7-85A9-7A759E07655A.jpeg 3014ED9B-E644-493B-9768-925430DF5C61.jpeg EB4BD42D-6612-4D61-9FC2-3AA3DB85E0F7.jpeg CE396FBE-DC77-4E12-B67D-5CDD5C02729C.jpeg 929D4C19-A10B-4AD9-94B9-52BAB1232D91.jpeg 1F6C27AC-1E30-4CC2-A843-F9370878B5DB.jpeg 7671BC4F-87E4-4A8D-AFDF-3A88592675B2.jpeg E8A2A702-1B87-424D-8FBF-31A39730E31F.jpeg 821FD07E-0A36-4680-B119-32A4D603F9BE.jpeg 61A8E495-774E-4432-B279-1DEDE52D5D9A.jpeg 6F2C7CA3-0AE2-4BD1-B06F-9D4BB47F34D5.jpeg 28B1251B-F0A3-4727-8C8D-85379740156F.jpeg 933E8C4B-70BB-43B5-AA22-4A791526606B.jpeg C6E8AACF-3999-4A6A-A3CA-25AA44FC51EA.jpeg 8F380ED7-DB17-41CB-B859-B60138CBA474.jpeg
 
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Austin456

Austin456

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Just added apex pods and after seeing how tiny they are I turned my return pump of to give them time to settle. I only see a couple every now and then so I’m hoping there just hiding and are populating, I don’t believe the tigger pods made it because I only saw about three moving around and a couple just sitting on the bottom of the sump ( I’m assuming dead). I’m hoping that adding these two types of pods will populate my sump. I will continue to introduce pods occasionally, any type of information on properly introducing pods into a sump/tank to insure success would be helpful
 
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Austin456

Austin456

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Update: the blue tuxedo Urchin died and a head of the torch coral receded, I suspect something occurred over the weekend while I was away, I’m testing my water now, salinity was normal too
 

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Any reason you went with another biocube and added a sump to it vs drilling a tank for a slim external overflow?

How long has the larger biocube been set up?
 
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Austin456

Austin456

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Any reason you went with another biocube and added a sump to it vs drilling a tank for a slim external overflow?

How long has the larger biocube been set up?
I’m still relatively new in the hobby and I wanted a all in one tank to keep thigh simple but as I got more experience in keeping coral and fish I decided a sump would be in my best interest, it allowed for more filtration. As for drilling, the tank was already set up when I added the overflow so drilling would have been difficult and unnecessary. I understand that drilling would have been a more sturdy option but the HOB is working nicely and I have not had any downside. The larger biocube has been set up for what I belive would be a year or a year and a half. Although the sand and some rock with a majority of filtration was transferred from the tank before it. I do envy tanks that are rimless with built in over flow but, I’m happy with what I got
 
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Austin456

Austin456

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Added a couple new frags of zoas and a large colony, everything’s seems to be doing well other than a specific zoa froag that is attached to a mussel. My Kenya tree has been dropping frags like crazy and I ended up give some away. I also added a single toad stool frag that was neglected at my LFS it’s currently doing fine and getting the attention it deserves. I feed the mussel phyto feast and feed copepods every once and a while to my fish. I still have a small bio load because I don’t have a QT tank and don’t want to risk killing my other fish. I have also been playing around with my flow to run it in just right. I also changed my light schedule for the better. Tank is looking good and I’m keeping up with weekly water changes.
 
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Austin456

Austin456

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Did some rearranging in my tank and it looks better, all the corals look fine except for the zoa colony on the mussel haven’t been doing well. I don’t know what’s wrong with them, I’ve dipped them multiple times and they still don’t open. I also bought a large zoa coly but it started closing and when I dipped I noticed zoa eating nuties on them so I brushed. As mush as I could off and placed back in my tank, it has been recovering and there is no sign of anymore ( nock on wood ). It’s been opening up nicely but there are remains of where they have been ( zoas with no color). Everything looks good with the exception of dinos, I’ve been growing algae on the glass to compare them but it doesn’t look like it’s doing much. I disturb the sand to limit it’s time to grow, is this a bad idea? I’ve also set up a QT tank in a spare room so I can add more fish and increase the bio load which hopefully would help grow more algae to starv the dinos
 

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

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 73 37.8%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 66 34.2%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 13.0%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 14.5%
  • Other.

    Votes: 1 0.5%
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