Tank just made it to its 1 year birthday!

[Tonycass12]

My waterbox frag 55.2 hit 1 year old yesterday. This tank has come a very long way in one year and not without some hard times. Dinos, aptasia, vermatid snails, fish and coral losses and finally some success. I cant say this enough to anyone starting a tank to wait on hard corals for as long as you can, make sure you have a good coralline algae coverage and a big pod population. I hate to think about it but issues with adding corals early then having reoccurring dino outbreaks probably cost me 600-1000$ is losses along with pests coming in on corals and getting a foothold. My tank finally leveled out around the 8 month mark and coral growth finally started taking off. I see changes in my faster growing corals almost daily now.

Goals for This next year are to continue keeping up on testing and keeping everything stable. I would like to add a frag/growout tank into the system as well.

Here are some shots of the tank from the day it was filled to today with a couple in-between photos mixed in.

New sump vs old sump

Couple of random shots from this last year.

clown goby

Our acro crab hiding in what turned into a green birdsnest thats in the front of the more recent full tank shots

My first dino outbreak that killed 70% of my corals

Our dogs love watching the tank almost as much as I do.

 

[flyfisher2]

Congrats on making it through the first year!

 

[Reef_prop88]

congrats! Looks great!

 

[ZoWhat]

Congrats!

You can now add coral!!
Lololololololololol

 

[G Santana]

Congrats, it's a great feeling hitting that milestone

 

[Acros]

Congratulations! Wishing you a dino free second year.

 

[TnFishwater98]

My waterbox frag 55.2 hit 1 year old yesterday. This tank has come a very long way in one year and not without some hard times. Dinos, aptasia, vermatid snails, fish and coral losses and finally some success. I cant say this enough to anyone starting a tank to wait on hard corals for as long as you can, make sure you have a good coralline algae coverage and a big pod population. I hate to think about it but issues with adding corals early then having reoccurring dino outbreaks probably cost me 600-1000$ is losses along with pests coming in on corals and getting a foothold. My tank finally leveled out around the 8 month mark and coral growth finally started taking off. I see changes in my faster growing corals almost daily now.

Goals for This next year are to continue keeping up on testing and keeping everything stable. I would like to add a frag/growout tank into the system as well.

Here are some shots of the tank from the day it was filled to today with a couple in-between photos mixed in.

New sump vs old sump

Couple of random shots from this last year.

clown goby

Our acro crab hiding in what turned into a green birdsnest thats in the front of the more recent full tank shots

My first dino outbreak that killed 70% of my corals

Our dogs love watching the tank almost as much as I do.

Looks like the aquarium has its own flatscreen in the first pic….Looking good!

 

[Noxsolaris]

Congrats!! Can’t wait to hit my year mark. Hopefully without some of the pains you had to go through. Your tank is beautiful.

 

[EricR]

Happy Belated Birthday! (just ran across this thread)
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you're more diligent with your maintenance than I (...looks really clean,,, you can actually see through your glass) -- good job.

 

[Tonycass12]

Happy Belated Birthday! (just ran across this thread)
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you're more diligent with your maintenance than I (...looks really clean,,, you can actually see through your glass) -- good job.

Thanks! I feel like the tank is just coasting right now. Clean the glass 1 or 2 times a week and do a 15-20gallon waterchange every weekend.

 

[EricR]

Thanks! I feel like the tank is just coasting right now. Clean the glass 1 or 2 times a week and do a 15-20gallon waterchange every weekend.

EVERY weekend? That's crazy talk!
...just kidding,,, I shoot for every 2 weeks and hopefully at least get in 2 per month.
Keep up the good work...

 

[Tonycass12]

EVERY weekend? That's crazy talk!
...just kidding,,, I shoot for every 2 weeks and hopefully at least get in 2 per month.
Keep up the good work...

I slowed down to every 2 weeks then was doing once a month and I noticed a big difference in growth rate. So I moved back to every weekend and if I miss one every now and then its no big deal. I mix 40gallons at a time so I already have the water mixed for almost a whole month worth of waterchanges.

Added bonus the nuisance algae I do deal with seams to be kept at bay with more frequent waterchanges. Im seeing what everyone means about "heavy in, heavy out"

 

[Lavey29]

Congrats on your one year success. You mentioned aptasia nuisance. What remedy worked best for you?

 

[Tonycass12]

Congrats on your one year success. You mentioned aptasia nuisance. What remedy worked best for you?

berghia nudibranch. They can take some time to get after them but I was free of aptasia for a good while. Ive had some recently pop up in my sand so ill probably order some more in the spring. luckily they haven't become an issue again yet and I noticed with the high flow in my tank the nudibranch dont like venturing off the rockwork.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Happy Birthday. And +1 on the berghias wiped my aiptasia out. Reeftown owners name is Jeff. Positive exp

 

[markwayts]

My waterbox frag 55.2 hit 1 year old yesterday. This tank has come a very long way in one year and not without some hard times. Dinos, aptasia, vermatid snails, fish and coral losses and finally some success. I cant say this enough to anyone starting a tank to wait on hard corals for as long as you can, make sure you have a good coralline algae coverage and a big pod population. I hate to think about it but issues with adding corals early then having reoccurring dino outbreaks probably cost me 600-1000$ is losses along with pests coming in on corals and getting a foothold. My tank finally leveled out around the 8 month mark and coral growth finally started taking off. I see changes in my faster growing corals almost daily now.

Goals for This next year are to continue keeping up on testing and keeping everything stable. I would like to add a frag/growout tank into the system as well.

Here are some shots of the tank from the day it was filled to today with a couple in-between photos mixed in.

New sump vs old sump

Couple of random shots from this last year.

clown goby

Our acro crab hiding in what turned into a green birdsnest thats in the front of the more recent full tank shots

My first dino outbreak that killed 70% of my corals

Our dogs love watching the tank almost as much as I do.

Looking good man.If you only lost 1000 on dead corals you are doing better than I did when I started. the biggest advantage you have over me is this forum, youtube, and all the knowledge from the entire reefing community at your fingertips. Keep learning and happy reefing!

 

[Tonycass12]

Happy Birthday. And +1 on the berghias wiped my aiptasia out. Reeftown owners name is Jeff. Positive exp

+1 I got mine from Jeff as well

 

[sfin52]

My waterbox frag 55.2 hit 1 year old yesterday. This tank has come a very long way in one year and not without some hard times. Dinos, aptasia, vermatid snails, fish and coral losses and finally some success. I cant say this enough to anyone starting a tank to wait on hard corals for as long as you can, make sure you have a good coralline algae coverage and a big pod population. I hate to think about it but issues with adding corals early then having reoccurring dino outbreaks probably cost me 600-1000$ is losses along with pests coming in on corals and getting a foothold. My tank finally leveled out around the 8 month mark and coral growth finally started taking off. I see changes in my faster growing corals almost daily now.

Goals for This next year are to continue keeping up on testing and keeping everything stable. I would like to add a frag/growout tank into the system as well.

Here are some shots of the tank from the day it was filled to today with a couple in-between photos mixed in.

New sump vs old sump

Couple of random shots from this last year.

clown goby

Our acro crab hiding in what turned into a green birdsnest thats in the front of the more recent full tank shots

My first dino outbreak that killed 70% of my corals

Our dogs love watching the tank almost as much as I do.

Congrats

 

[GHOSTLY]

Looking really nice! Congrats!