Time to post my long journey trying to be a reefer

[Stephen8169301]

August 29th 2023

August 10th 2023

August 1st 2023

July 11th 2023

July 8th 2023

June 13th 2023

June 7th 2023

May 23rd 2023

Current tank 2023:
Tank: 33 long
Skimmer: Aquamaxx 1.5 hob skimmer
Filter: Coralife
Lights: smatfarms
Coral: mixed reef
Fish: citron goby, purple belly wrasse, banggai cardinal, yellow watchman goby and a gladiator clownfish
Salt: instant reef crystals

The Fish:

THE STORY:

So when I first started out (July 2022) I was a little misinformed by my local fish store I thought it was as simple as fill up the tank with sea water and rock bam I’m done at the time I did not truly understand and i ended up getting a skunk clown pair a rbta and diamond goby and cleaner shrimp with a standard HOB filter a heater and a light that was meant for fresh water all within two months I truly had no idea. the tank was a 10gal half moon

After like 2 months my skunk clowns ended up dying and my diamond goby then diamond went first then my clowns so I just did a water change and for a month I just had a cleaner shrimp and a bta i did not put anymore fish in tank cause I new it was too small.

 

[Stephen8169301]

After just running the half moon I decided I needed fish so I did a used 20 gal high tank did a full swap took tank water sand and everything over to new tank my sand wasn’t that old so I just reused old still used the 20gal hob filter got a powerhead and a heater and my reef light from the 10 gal swapped over the cleaner and bta

I ended up getting a maroon clownfish and Diamond goby i ran this tank for a about 5 months then noticed it had salt Creep at the seam and needed a new tank fast

 

[Stephen8169301]

In October of 2022 I went tank shopping and found the 33 long style tank and just loved it bought the petco metal stand and put it together and did another tank swap finally my last one for now lol swapped over clown and goby bta and skunk

my setup in October

tank: 33long
Lights: smat farm led and the a029 old on from my 10gal
Filtration: coralife hob skimmer and filter all in one
Wave maker: basic one off Amazon

 

[Stephen8169301]

So after a a month or so my goby died and I only had the maroon clown I decided to add banggai cardnials to my tank one ended up dying not long after I still have one of them to this day

 

[Stephen8169301]

I ended up getting my first coral in November pulsing Xenia

November 2022:

April 2023: current

 

[Fort Salty]

Nice looking tank! I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of your corals and your CUC. I like your clown; I think they call that a Lightning Maroon?

I got my set up used as well, and I thankfully have not needed to replace my tank yet (started October 2022). Nice work sticking through the difficulties and coming out on top.

FS

 

[Stephen8169301]

Nice looking tank! I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of your corals and your CUC. I like your clown; I think they call that a Lightning Maroon?

I got my set up used as well, and I thankfully have not needed to replace my tank yet (started October 2022). Nice work sticking through the difficulties and coming out on top.

FS

Thank you yeah it was tuff because I was trying to do it the cheap way and spend as little as possible it bit me in the end yes it’s a lighting maroon unfortunately passed away the used tank I got was in a shed from family that was in there for 10+ years so I had it coming lol

 

[Stephen8169301]

So after my first coral was added I came across a guy on Facebook giving away free Kenya and added it to my tank in December of 2022

Dec of 2022:

April of 2023:

 

[Stephen8169301]

The next coral in the line up that I added was a gsp and an acan coral at the time I had no idea that I had an acan I didn’t even no what to do with it I actually got a file fish and that decided to peck at it and my maroon clown he went back to the fish store I for sure thought it was a goner but I stuck with it and learned that they eat mysis and started feeding once a week. I gave that gsp away and no longer have that one

January of 2023:

April of 2023:

 

[Stephen8169301]

The next corals added to my tank was a toad stool and frogspawn the frogspawn was purchased at lfs and the toadstool i got from a local reefer with a green hairy mushroom but unfortunately got sucked up in my hob filter

Jan of 2023:

Current
April of 2022: sorry for blues

 

[Stephen8169301]

So after awhile I decided to add some more rock I started with this cave like structure but it felt a little unsafe so I move them and made a cave In the corner that my cleaner shrimp had chosen to be his

 

[MaxSc]

Nice tank! Those corals look like they’re growing in nicely

 

[Stephen8169301]

Nice tank! Those corals look like they’re growing in nicely

Yeah it’s crazy I looked back on it and it’s only been a few months on the growth and it just wowed me

 

[blecki]

I remember when the original lightning maroon sold at auction to a breeder for like 10k, and now they are starter fish. You're going to love the way that guy will change as he ages.

 

[Stephen8169301]

I remember when the original lightning maroon sold at auction to a breeder for like 10k, and now they are starter fish. You're going to love the way that guy will change as he ages.

Really? That’s crazy! Yeah unfortunately he is gone have no idea why he passed I think stress as I will get into that later he was a really cool looking fish

 

[Stephen8169301]

After I added new rock obviously I needed more corals I picked up from a local reefer and some from lfs the zombie zoas did not make it
In this photo:
Zombie zoas/bam bam zoas/nepthea/cabbage coral/gsp/Duncan
Some other encrusting Zoa thing

Jan of 2023:

April of 2023:

 

[blecki]

Yeah unfortunately he is gone have no idea why he passed I think stress as I will get into that later he was a really cool looking fish

Oof. Sorry to hear that.

 

[Stephen8169301]

So after a little time I found a guy on R2R giving away a citron goby, birds nest coral and a small monti i after adding my goby not long after maybe a week my lighting maroon died of an unknown cause

April of 2023:

 

[GatorGreg]

reefin ain’t easy. That’s for sure

 

[Stephen8169301]

reefin ain’t easy. That’s for sure

Nah especially first starting out not knowing a thing all the stress but now being 1 year in it’s definitely a lot more easy