What was your GREATEST tank victory in 2018?

[revhtree]

Well 2018 has come and almost gone!

Now is the time we can reflect back on our reefing year. I am sure, like me, you have had plenty of things happen that were not so good but also things that you know you did right or just went really well. With that in mind I would like to propose the following question:

What was your GREATEST tank victory in 2018?

Tell us and explain if you will to help others in 2019!

Beautiful reef image via @Bacon505

 

[Crabs McJones]

Started 2 part dosing, and quit dosing all the other unnecessary chemicals, and my sps growth took off

Switched to a brand new Apex

and as soon as my parts come in, going to start auto dosing with the Apex DOS

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Can't beat winning a Red Sea 525 XL... hoping 2019 is good to it.

 

[RobZilla04]

Victory here. I start with some issues that lingered from 2017 (STN & nutrient instability) which I tackled pretty well through 2018. Stability is key and I was able to achieve that this year. Automated dosing was dialed in along with going back to simple basics. Water changes, good husbandry, and more flow coupled with lighting upgrades has led to increased growth. Overall health of the system was achieved and what a difference a mature (3 year) tank makes toward long term success!

 

[saltyhog]

I voted yes and no. I've never had any major struggles with any of my tanks. This year brought an end to that with dinos (ostreopsis) at the first of the year. I successfully fought it off with dosing nitrates and phosphates plus manual removal but it took about 6-8 weeks. For several months after that my tank was a wasteland. It would not support any coral..even zoas. I ran carbon, did water changes and about 3 months ago everything started to return to normal. The tank is a fraction of what it was a short time ago but SPS growth and color is great and it's actually fun again to peruse the coral web sites for colorful sticks!

 

[DaneGer21]

Wife and I purchased a new home and went from an in-wall custom 90gal at the old house that was 9.5yrs old, to custom 220gal at the new house. Still a work in progress for the “final touches” but she’s up and running with the main equipment.

We didn’t lose a single fish or coral during the entire process!

Things to consider...
Have extra hands on deck
Have 2-3x the water than you thought
Have plenty of buckets/totes/trash cans
Keep towels nearby
Give yourself the WHOLE day, or two
Drive slow so you don’t soak your car, haha

Pic 1 - Our old house, old tank.
Pic 2 - New house, new tank is running!
Pic 3 - Just a favorite of my wife at “sunset”.

 

[ZoWhat]

Things to consider...
Have extra hands on deck
Have 2-3x the water than you thought
Have plenty of buckets/totes/trash cans
Keep towels nearby
Give yourself the WHOLE day, or two
Drive slow so you don’t soak your car, haha

Dont forget.... having a wife that doesnt resent you for having a reef tank in the first place, lol

 

[scchase]

Finally completing the beast
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/1100g-ish-plywood-build.448409/

 

[DaneGer21]

Oops...double post...

 

[Abhishek]

Does becoming a reef squad member counts ?

If so , that’s the greatest victory for me followed by closely my acros surviving while I was gone for 50 days .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Coralreefer1]

Bought roughly 40 different kinds of Paly’s and Zoanthids in the past few months and with feeding Reef Roids and Vibrance, they are popping off babies like crazy. On average 1-2 per week with some of them, however, everyone has produced at least one.

 

[ihavecrabs]

Started 2 part dosing, and quit dosing all the other unnecessary chemicals, and my sps growth took off

Switched to a brand new Apex

and as soon as my parts come in, going to start auto dosing with the Apex DOS

I did the same thing.. Great minds/crabs think alike !!

After starting the tank in January, this was my growth on one of my favorite SPS for the last few months.

2-Part dosing with ATI Essentials via Apex Dos
Alk monitoring via KHG monitor

 

[ZoWhat]

WWC 14hr Live Sale this past CyberMonday.

Scored $50-$80 zoas for $20-$30

So awesome

 

[Sea MunnKey]

This year was especially busy traveling to the Scandinavian countries, Hawaii, Miami, Pittsburgh and have to be thankful to my Tunze ATO and no mishap plus no dead corals. Corals are multiplying and growing healthy. I'm very Thankful

 

[madweazl]

Despite buying a new home which required moving the tank...

a county water main blowing up, under our driveway the day after we moved in...

and a magnet severely corroding in the sump a few months later...

we made it through the year without losing any of our acroporas. Some took a major hit and started to STN, some just lost a little color, and others showed no stress at all. For whatever reason, the purples and blues were hit the hardest hit with the exception of a Cali tort. that showed no signs of stress.

Today

 

[Porpoise Hork]

For me it's been a year. After nearly a year of slowly piecing everything together, I finally got my 75g up and running in June. I then I went to war against a dino outbreak in two tanks simultaneously and beat them in both my 75g and 20g tanks.

Went from this.

To this...

To what it looks like now

 

[Hausser]

For most of 2018 I did not have a tank running. I finally have my tank up and cycled. Redsea reefer 450 with a custom built stand by myself.

 

[sp1187]

The Good.

The Bad

 

[4FordFamily]

This steal of a deal and build. Without a doubt the most triumphant year for me in this hobby!

It’s been harder than usual with uronema and bacterial infections hammering my quarantine fish but we’ve gotten through it together!

@HotRocks I owe it all to you buddy, thanks!

Fish coming in January!

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/4fordfamilys-500g-10-foot-in-wall-tank-featuring-hotrocks.473870/

 

[AdamNC]

Worst. Year. Every. So far.

I attempted to upgrade from a sumpless 29 gallon to a 40br with a sump and all was going fairly good until Hurricane Michael hit us in the Carolinas. 3 days no power, no backup batteries or generator. I’ve lost about 80% of my coral and 3 fish. Slowly and I do mean slowly I think the deaths have stopped. Levels are steady but the tank is still not consuming any Alk or Ca. And it’s starting to consume a small amount of Mg at least.