My 10+ year tank

ravenmore · 04/29/2014, 06:25 PM

Hi all,

I probably shouldn't post this because my tank still looks like crap. I had some stuff going on and also kind of lost my passion for the reefering, er, I mean the reef keeping hobby for a while.

I honestly flat out neglected my tank for some time. Water changes were few and far between, and I totally quit putting in any additives - you know even things like calcium and buffer.

My tank was very forgiving though. It actually thrived on the 'neglect', although it had two things helping out. One was that I had a 30 gallon tank acting as a fuge that is lit around the clock. Two was that I kept up with feedings and top offs of course. I did little more than that for probably a couple of years.

An astonishing thing happened - my corals thrived, and actually grew fairly rapidly. Yes my corals seemed super happy with my staying out of their business I guess.

I was feeding both the corals and the fish Formula 1 pellets. Everything in the tank loves them. My toadstool leather had incredible extension of its polyps - maybe up to 5 inches. My closed brain coral and hammer grew like crazy.

One bad thing did pop up - aptaisia. I'm nuking the little bastards now with kalk paste and getting rid of them slowly. I think it will take a while. Fortunately most of the corals in my tank can out sting them and kind of keep them at bay.

Anyway, here's a few really bad pics. I might break out the full frame DSLR tonight and take some better ones.

Rabbit! (and no - that is not ich. He gets crap on himself all the time)

I've cleared about half this colony of orange zoos of aptasia. You can see some of the yellow sponge that grows all throughout my tank as well.

Bad photo of the toadstool I was talking about. It used to extend its polyps much more - seemed to shorten them up once I started adding buffer again.

My brain coral stinging the crap out of my green and orange zoos. Need to do something about this soon. When I set the tank up the brain coral was a few inches away from the zoos which are on tonga branch rock. Now they are right against each other.

Brains!

ravenmore · 04/29/2014, 06:29 PM

Oh and I just added the LED's and Jabao (sp?) pump.

100%hydrophylic · 04/29/2014, 06:37 PM

That hammer is impressive. And it looks like your shrooms didnt mind the lack of water changes one bit

. Is keeping the light on a fuge 24/7 ideal? A while back I read some things suggesting otherwise, but i don't really know.

ravenmore · 04/29/2014, 06:42 PM

I don't know what is 'suggested' but it seems to work for me.

ravenmore · 04/29/2014, 08:34 PM

Ok grabbed a couple of pics with the D600. Much better.

ravenmore · 05/07/2014, 07:11 PM

Thought I'd add some top down views tonight.

Well got the palys in focus:

Feeding the Formula 1 pellets:

ravenmore · 05/07/2014, 08:32 PM

Ooops one more - didn't like the tank lights reflected initially.

chicagoreefer20 · 05/07/2014, 08:41 PM

Lovely!! Sometimes a bit of neglect is good

SS_Sean · 05/07/2014, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicagoreefer20

Lovely!! Sometimes a bit of neglect is good

A bit?? Two years of no water changes and his tank is on fire!

ravenmore · 05/08/2014, 03:28 AM

Thanks all - yeah the tank kind of ran itself for a while.

Most of my corals aren't too hard to keep though plus most of them have been in my aquarium for a looooong time. The hammer is one of the first corals I ever got. That brain coral has to be getting up there too.

Since I discovered they all like those pellets though their growth has been extraordinary. I'm starting to have issues with them competing. Good example is the colorful zoos right above the closed brain. They were several inches from the brain when I put them in but the brain coral is now touching them. Trying to figure out what to do with them. They are on a piece of tonga branch rock. I was thinking of trying to cut or break the rock somehow and moving them elsewhere. I also need to do a 'shroom purge soon.

ReEfErAdDiCt86 · 05/08/2014, 03:37 AM

Wow maybe I'll stop doing anything to my tank lol Looking great. Love those blue shrooms everywhere. Looks very natural

Sugar Magnolia · 05/08/2014, 05:13 AM

Very nice!

Moort82 · 05/08/2014, 06:00 AM

Nice to see some mature corals.

ReeferBill · 05/08/2014, 06:10 AM

How long to get that size on your frogspawn ? Awesome rabbitfish!

ReeferBill · 05/08/2014, 06:11 AM

O yeah I love the green pearl bubble also!

ravenmore · 05/08/2014, 06:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReeferBill

How long to get that size on your frogspawn ? Awesome rabbitfish!

I've had that hammer for over 10 years - probably closer to 15. It didn't grow much until the past 2-3 years though when I started feeding it the Formula 1 pellets. I'd tried feeding it before but couldn't find anything it would eat. I need to frag it soon. It's getting to be almost the width of the tank. There are branches on the bottom now that aren't getting much light either as they are shaded by the growth from the top.

The brain coral is the same way - it didn't grow much until I started feeding it. Now it's double to tripled it's size in 2-3 years. In the last pic you can kind of see where it has started growing over the surrounding rocks.

ravenmore · 05/08/2014, 06:35 AM

Oh and I love that rabbitfish. Scribbled rabbits are the best IMO. Super hardy, super friendly, and a good looking fish. Also it's really really good at keeping any unwanted algae out of the main tank. Only downside is it's a frisky eater and will steal food from the corals in a heart beat.

Metal Man 1221 · 05/08/2014, 09:03 AM

Impressive. Interesting choice of colors on your LEDs.

HumbleFish · 05/08/2014, 09:19 AM

Very nice!

ravenmore · 05/08/2014, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metal Man 1221

Impressive. Interesting choice of colors on your LEDs.

Thanks the light is a full spectrum version of a manufactured light I purchased from Amazon. I haven't had them long but they seem to be doing a good job so far.

Paul B · 05/08/2014, 11:34 AM

Looks pretty healthy to me.

Metal Man 1221 · 05/08/2014, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ravenmore

Thanks the light is a full spectrum version of a manufactured light I purchased from Amazon. I haven't had them long but they seem to be doing a good job so far.

You mentioned that you just recently added them. How long ago was that? What were your running before?

ravenmore · 05/08/2014, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metal Man 1221

You mentioned that you just recently added them. How long ago was that? What were your running before?

Only about a month. I was running dual 150 watt halides before with a rather warm color temp. I’d have to look and see what brand bulbs, but the bulbs needed to be replaced badly. I’ve been wanting to make the jump to LED’s so I decided to put the cost of the new bulbs towards the new lights. So far there are only two differences I can see. One is the new lights are a lot bluer when both the blue and full spectrum channels are turned all the way up. I can of course make it less blue by dimming the blue channel. I also like that each channel has its own power cord so I can put each channel on separate timers to create moonlight effects. The 2nd difference is that the mushrooms in the corners of the tank were stretching a bit to the light on the old fixture and are not doing that now with the new lights (of course that could be because the bulbs were old in the halide fixture.)

There is a 3rd difference I guess in that the new lights are a lot quieter and cooler.

Metal Man 1221 · 05/08/2014, 01:41 PM

Very interesting. I'm still not convinced that LEDs will replace my T5s. The biggest reason I can think of for switching is no more bulb replacements!

That and lower energy costs.

ahmed_iAM · 05/08/2014, 02:07 PM

I get algae outbreaks too often from my LEDs, going back to halides with actinic LED supplements. May get back to LEDs in a couple years when the spectrum is improved.

04/29/2014, 06:25 PM	#1
ravenmore Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Austin TX Posts: 1,590	My 10+ year tank Hi all, I probably shouldn't post this because my tank still looks like crap. I had some stuff going on and also kind of lost my passion for the reefering, er, I mean the reef keeping hobby for a while. I honestly flat out neglected my tank for some time. Water changes were few and far between, and I totally quit putting in any additives - you know even things like calcium and buffer. My tank was very forgiving though. It actually thrived on the 'neglect', although it had two things helping out. One was that I had a 30 gallon tank acting as a fuge that is lit around the clock. Two was that I kept up with feedings and top offs of course. I did little more than that for probably a couple of years. An astonishing thing happened - my corals thrived, and actually grew fairly rapidly. Yes my corals seemed super happy with my staying out of their business I guess. I was feeding both the corals and the fish Formula 1 pellets. Everything in the tank loves them. My toadstool leather had incredible extension of its polyps - maybe up to 5 inches. My closed brain coral and hammer grew like crazy. One bad thing did pop up - aptaisia. I'm nuking the little bastards now with kalk paste and getting rid of them slowly. I think it will take a while. Fortunately most of the corals in my tank can out sting them and kind of keep them at bay. Anyway, here's a few really bad pics. I might break out the full frame DSLR tonight and take some better ones. Rabbit! (and no - that is not ich. He gets crap on himself all the time) I've cleared about half this colony of orange zoos of aptasia. You can see some of the yellow sponge that grows all throughout my tank as well. Bad photo of the toadstool I was talking about. It used to extend its polyps much more - seemed to shorten them up once I started adding buffer again. My brain coral stinging the crap out of my green and orange zoos. Need to do something about this soon. When I set the tank up the brain coral was a few inches away from the zoos which are on tonga branch rock. Now they are right against each other. Brains! __________________ Mean people are like slinkys. They're really not worth much but still are entertaining to watch tumble down the stairs. Current Tank Info: 75 gallon reef tank in progress Last edited by ravenmore; 04/29/2014 at 06:31 PM.

04/29/2014, 06:29 PM	#2
ravenmore Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Austin TX Posts: 1,590	Oh and I just added the LED's and Jabao (sp?) pump. __________________ Mean people are like slinkys. They're really not worth much but still are entertaining to watch tumble down the stairs. Current Tank Info: 75 gallon reef tank in progress

04/29/2014, 06:37 PM	#3
100%hydrophylic Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: GA Posts: 1,636	That hammer is impressive. And it looks like your shrooms didnt mind the lack of water changes one bit . Is keeping the light on a fuge 24/7 ideal? A while back I read some things suggesting otherwise, but i don't really know. __________________ :) Current Tank Info: 75g mixed reef, 28g nano SPS

04/29/2014, 06:42 PM	#4
ravenmore Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Austin TX Posts: 1,590	I don't know what is 'suggested' but it seems to work for me. __________________ Mean people are like slinkys. They're really not worth much but still are entertaining to watch tumble down the stairs. Current Tank Info: 75 gallon reef tank in progress

04/29/2014, 08:34 PM	#5
ravenmore Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Austin TX Posts: 1,590	Ok grabbed a couple of pics with the D600. Much better. __________________ Mean people are like slinkys. They're really not worth much but still are entertaining to watch tumble down the stairs. Current Tank Info: 75 gallon reef tank in progress

05/07/2014, 07:11 PM	#6
ravenmore Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Austin TX Posts: 1,590	Thought I'd add some top down views tonight. Well got the palys in focus: Feeding the Formula 1 pellets: __________________ Mean people are like slinkys. They're really not worth much but still are entertaining to watch tumble down the stairs. Current Tank Info: 75 gallon reef tank in progress

05/07/2014, 08:32 PM	#7
ravenmore Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Austin TX Posts: 1,590	Ooops one more - didn't like the tank lights reflected initially. __________________ Mean people are like slinkys. They're really not worth much but still are entertaining to watch tumble down the stairs. Current Tank Info: 75 gallon reef tank in progress

05/07/2014, 08:41 PM	#8
chicagoreefer20 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 199	Lovely!! Sometimes a bit of neglect is good

05/08/2014, 03:28 AM	#10
ravenmore Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Austin TX Posts: 1,590	Thanks all - yeah the tank kind of ran itself for a while. Most of my corals aren't too hard to keep though plus most of them have been in my aquarium for a looooong time. The hammer is one of the first corals I ever got. That brain coral has to be getting up there too. Since I discovered they all like those pellets though their growth has been extraordinary. I'm starting to have issues with them competing. Good example is the colorful zoos right above the closed brain. They were several inches from the brain when I put them in but the brain coral is now touching them. Trying to figure out what to do with them. They are on a piece of tonga branch rock. I was thinking of trying to cut or break the rock somehow and moving them elsewhere. I also need to do a 'shroom purge soon. __________________ Mean people are like slinkys. They're really not worth much but still are entertaining to watch tumble down the stairs. Current Tank Info: 75 gallon reef tank in progress

05/08/2014, 03:37 AM	#11
ReEfErAdDiCt86 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: San Diego CA Posts: 60	Wow maybe I'll stop doing anything to my tank lol Looking great. Love those blue shrooms everywhere. Looks very natural

05/08/2014, 05:13 AM	#12
Sugar Magnolia Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Northern VA Posts: 17,691	Very nice! __________________ Adrienne The only thing to fear is fear itself....and spiders.

05/08/2014, 06:00 AM	#13
Moort82 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Norfolk, England Posts: 1,576	Nice to see some mature corals.

05/08/2014, 06:10 AM	#14
ReeferBill Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 1,906	How long to get that size on your frogspawn ? Awesome rabbitfish! __________________ I never realized I had to be a Chemist and a Marine Biologist to maintain a Reef Aquarium!

05/08/2014, 06:11 AM	#15
ReeferBill Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 1,906	O yeah I love the green pearl bubble also! __________________ I never realized I had to be a Chemist and a Marine Biologist to maintain a Reef Aquarium!

05/08/2014, 06:35 AM	#17
ravenmore Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Austin TX Posts: 1,590	Oh and I love that rabbitfish. Scribbled rabbits are the best IMO. Super hardy, super friendly, and a good looking fish. Also it's really really good at keeping any unwanted algae out of the main tank. Only downside is it's a frisky eater and will steal food from the corals in a heart beat. __________________ Mean people are like slinkys. They're really not worth much but still are entertaining to watch tumble down the stairs. Current Tank Info: 75 gallon reef tank in progress

05/08/2014, 09:03 AM	#18
Metal Man 1221 FMMAS Executive Director Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Fargo ND Posts: 1,504	Impressive. Interesting choice of colors on your LEDs. __________________ "My advise is, always look at their aquarium before you take their advise. Because alot of people give advise and they havnt got a clue" ~David Saxby~ "Only after the last tree's cut and the last river poisoned only after the last fish is caught will you find that money cannot be eaten" ~Lamb of God~ Current Tank Info: 125g DT, 45g sump ---- 57g Illuminata, custom sump

05/08/2014, 09:19 AM	#19
HumbleFish Moved On Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 4,757	Very nice!

05/08/2014, 11:34 AM	#21
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	Looks pretty healthy to me. __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

05/08/2014, 01:41 PM	#24
Metal Man 1221 FMMAS Executive Director Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Fargo ND Posts: 1,504	Very interesting. I'm still not convinced that LEDs will replace my T5s. The biggest reason I can think of for switching is no more bulb replacements! That and lower energy costs. __________________ "My advise is, always look at their aquarium before you take their advise. Because alot of people give advise and they havnt got a clue" ~David Saxby~ "Only after the last tree's cut and the last river poisoned only after the last fish is caught will you find that money cannot be eaten" ~Lamb of God~ Current Tank Info: 125g DT, 45g sump ---- 57g Illuminata, custom sump

05/08/2014, 02:07 PM	#25
ahmed_iAM Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 419	I get algae outbreaks too often from my LEDs, going back to halides with actinic LED supplements. May get back to LEDs in a couple years when the spectrum is improved.