Moonstream's late-to-the-party 29g AGA build

[Brooklyngal]

In December of 2010, after about four months of use, I decided to scrap my NC24, tired of the bryopsis that had managed to grow rampant in the tank, and tired of the noise it was making in my room. Unwilling to give up having a second nano, I decided to setup the old 29 which had once played host to my very first saltwater aquarium. I brought it up, put it on an old stand I had, and started planning. After a few weeks, I started ordering equipment, with a setup budget of a little over $500. It saw water in late January, and as soon as the cycle finished I moved over a bunch corals from my BC29. I'm running pretty much the same setup now as I was then, save for a larger filter and removing one of the two strip lights I had over it (went from four T5 bulbs to two) to put it over my other tank. As the tank nears its first birthday, I've decided to start a proper thread for it. I'll be updating- hopefully- every week or two, since I'm planning to start actually adding things to my tanks, instead of just neglecting them, lol.

 

Livestock

• Pair of B&W Occy Clowns (female jumped, male died suddenly several months later)
  
• Blackcap Tiger Jawfish (did well for about two weeks, and then suddenly disappeared, suspected work of the hermit)
  
• second Yellowtail Damsel (disappeared a few weeks after addition)
  
• Pajama Cardinal (sat penned in a corner by the damsel for a week; removed to my 20H)
  
• Yellowtail Damsel- "Buzz"
  
• Sixline Wrasse- "Humbug" ('Humbee')
  
• Longnose Hawkfish- "Lattice" ('Lattie')
  
• Coral Beauty Angel
  
• Electric Blue Legged Hermit (the sole survivor of three I got in a trade)
  

 

Equipment

• Current 30" 2X24watt T5HO Fixture
  
• Current 24" 2X24watt T5HO Fixture (removed for use on another tank)
  
• In-tank Refugium (removed because it took up too much space in the tank)
  
• Penguin Biowheel Filter 350gph (minus the biowheel)
  
• Koralia 1 pump
  
• Marineland 100watt heater
  
• small Azzo-brand Powerhead
  
• mix of Marco Rocks Key Largo rocks, and Premium Aquatics Fiji Premium
  
• about 1.5-2" of Seafloor Special Grade Reef Sand
  

 

Current FTS (11/22)

[Brooklyngal]

I wanted to keep the first post free of clutter, so I decided to put the recount in a second post

 

I started first with dry Key Largo base rock from Marco Rocks, and a 2.5-3.5" bed of Special Grade Reef Sand (FTS from 01/29/10)

 

then the evil Cyano made its move on my sweet virgin tank (FTS from 02/05/10)

 

and I battled it away (and added my first few corals from the BC29) (FTS from 03/01/10)

 

I decided to move the tank to another room (living room to dining room) and added a pair of B&W clowns (FTS from 03/03/10)

 

I added some macro-life to the 'fuge, re-scaped the tank (FTS from 04/21/10)

 

I then proceeded to make my first order from Reef Hot Spot (also my first order from an on-line vendor other than Live Aquaria), which was less than impressive being that I lost over half of what I got from them in a matter of weeks (added a pair of YT damsels, patch of anthelia, and a green monti, plus a clown, cardinal and leather that were added to my other tank) (FTS from 5/01/10)

 

In the five months that have passed since then, I lost both B&W clowns, the female jumped while I was away at camp, and the male died suddenly and for no apparent reason. Of the pair of damsels I added, the smaller one disappeared after about two weeks, never to be seen or heard from again. I moved the Anthelia into my other tank, where it nearly tripled in size, and the monti wasted away over a period of a few months (all other SPS in the tank were fine). About a month ago, now, I added a Blackcap Tiger Jawfish and a Pajama Cardinal to the tank; I ended up having to pull the cardinal thanks to the damsels aggression, and the jawfish did fine for about three weeks, and then dissapeared. then, last week, I added a Coral Beauty, Longnose Hawk, and Sixline Wrasse, all of which have settled in well and have been eating heartily.

 

the most recent FTS I have is from 11/22, I'll work on getting an updated one tomorrow, though.

 

Its hard for me to grasp that its been nearly a year since water first touched this tank. I've suffered through several algae outbreaks, periods of time where lack of water changes left me with bleached, unhappy corals, and months of having an ugly tank that was more an eyes-sore than the center-piece I'd envisioned at its start. Now? I can't say its there, yet, but I can surely say that its close. It finally is starting to look like a reef tank instead of just a box of water. Planned holiday additions are: gorgs, rics, zoas and a flower nem, plus the possible addition of one more fish, towards the end of the month if ever.

[Dnic]

Cool same tank as me!

[Mr. Microscope]

Neat tank! Can we see some closeup shots of some of your livestock? I'd love to see the crab. Do you have any future plans for stocking? Any directions you'd like to take the tank in year two?

[Brooklyngal]

I'll have to clean up the tank tomorrow and try to get up some new pictures- its filling out nicely; the porcelain crab never re-appeared after acclimation, unfortunately. I added a pink spotted watchman goby, who was doing well for a while before it jumped over new years, found him dead and dry on the floor when I came home. I also added a grape coral, a duncan coral, and a green torch coral from LA's DD. the grape coral did okay for about a week, and then the flesh melted off of it. the duncan lasted a week longer, then fell into the sand while I was away, and died soon after. the torch coral got brown jelly, and I managed to save two of the 5/6 heads, which are now flouishing. the rest of the corals and all the fish (YT damsel, longnose hawk, coral beauty, sixline) are doing very well.

 

on the other hand, its looking much like this tank will be going into a 40br with my 20H, since I'd be grateful of the extra stability, room for a HOB skimmer, and only having to worry about one tank.