My humble SPS journey - Shallow 80g

[joshky]

Updated FTS for you guys.

Thanks for looking.

[joshky]

Small little update, wanted to get pics of three of them for documentary reasons and decided to take a couple more shots.

This piece just keeps getting better and better, I'm loving the sky blue color.

This is #5 from the pack from Adam, it's finally starting to color up.

I'm really starting to love this piece again

I'm thinking this piece may be turning light pink with yellow tips, pic doesn't show it so well but we'll see.... It's been a pain getting this piece to color up, this color combo would be much appreciated from brown.

[joshky]

Some new pics, hope you all enjoy!

Neon green monti before I placed it today

Ornate Leopard Wrasse

Melanurus Wrasse

Duncan colony, a bit smaller than a football (American).

[mystersyster]

How do your wrasses get along? I want to get another wrasse, I have a Melanurus as well.

[joshky]

How do your wrasses get along? I want to get another wrasse, I have a Melanurus as well.

 

I have seven wrasses in my aquarium currently and they get along fine, there's some minor chasing at times but it's nothing to worry about. The most dominant wrasse in my system is the Cirrhilabrus lyukyuensis, he'll chase almost all the wrasses besides the Melanurus. I think like harems etc. wrasses form a hierarchy and the chasing is just for submission, but certain wrasses are more aggressive than other's so it's really important which ones you put in your tank.

[joshky]

A fishy update, my tank has gone pretty wrasse dominate...

Katherine's Fairy Wrasse - Absolutely a stunning species! When this wrasse flashes it seriously leaves me in awe.

Ornate Leopard Wrasse

Potter's Leopard Wrasse

Solon's Fairy Wrasse

Yellowfin Flasher Wrasse

Scribbled Rabbit Fish

Lets see some current FTS of your beauty! And the sump too! I'm a big sump fan

Here's an updated photo of my sump area, yeah it's kind of a mess. That shelf the doser is on is supposed to be temporary, but I've been lazy.

[Tamberav]

 

Here's an updated photo of my sump area, yeah it's kind of a mess. That shelf the doser is on is supposed to be temporary, but I've been lazy.

 

 

 

beautiful fish. I am so confused on how your sump looks like a mess, if that is a mess, than I am in trouble.

[ninjamyst]

great update! i need to get me some leopard wrasse! how are they with kicking up sand over your corals?

[blizzardscout2]

 

 

beautiful fish. I am so confused on how your sump looks like a mess, if that is a mess, than I am in trouble.

 

 

Yeah no kidding!

 

Those wrasses are fantastic! I am glad to know they get along well in your tank. I am sure having 80 gallons of room is helpful. You may have peaked my interest in doing the same. That Melanurus Wrasse is gorgeous. My son loves blue, so maybe this is my first purchase after an upgrade. That Green Monti is fluffy.

[joshky]

 

 

beautiful fish. I am so confused on how your sump looks like a mess, if that is a mess, than I am in trouble.

 

Haha well I have some ideas on organizing it better. Thanks!

 

great update! i need to get me some leopard wrasse! how are they with kicking up sand over your corals?

 

Thank you!

 

It happens sometimes, not something that would deter me from owning them. Most LPS can shake sand off and my SPS are too high for that to be an issue.

 

 

 

Yeah no kidding!

 

Those wrasses are fantastic! I am glad to know they get along well in your tank. I am sure having 80 gallons of room is helpful. You may have peaked my interest in doing the same. That Melanurus Wrasse is gorgeous. My son loves blue, so maybe this is my first purchase after an upgrade. That Green Monti is fluffy.

 

Melanurus wrasses are beautiful, especially large males, I have had no issues with mine other than he likes to swim against the glass a lot. 80 gallons definitely helps diffuse tension, there's still some chasing that goes on and adding new wrasses right now can be really stressful for everyone (including myself). I'll probably add two more wrasses and be done with that, probably a Anampses spp. and a Splendid Pintail Fairy Wrasse.

[RollaJase]

Sump looks super clean and I really like the selection of wrasses. I've been looking at a Solorensis wrasse also to add with my Melanurus and Secretive wrasses. I fear that a 55G is just a tad too small though so I may just hold off.

[joshky]

Sump looks super clean and I really like the selection of wrasses. I've been looking at a Solorensis wrasse also to add with my Melanurus and Secretive wrasses. I fear that a 55G is just a tad too small though so I may just hold off.

 

Thanks buddy. I think a Solon's will probably be fine in your 55g, but that's just my opinion.

[RollaJase]

 

Thanks buddy. I think a Solon's will probably be fine in your 55g, but that's just my opinion.

I think I may have to rethink my stocking plans then .

[blizzardscout2]

You definitely have good taste, those two are just as beautiful.

[joshky]

I think I may have to rethink my stocking plans then .

 

Haha

 

You definitely have good taste, those two are just as beautiful.

 

Thanks. I think I might need an acclimation box for future wrasses, I have the one from melevs reef but it's too bulky for my shallow tank.

[joshky]

Small picture update on some acros

BC Ultimate Table

Oregon Tort

Pink Lemonade

[joshky]

Well my tank is going through some issues, nothing too concerning just my acros have been consistently paling and I'm having a decent amount of cyano growth on sand and rocks. The cyano is bottoming out my nutrients, both Nitrate (Salifert) and Phosphate (Hanna ULR) are reading 0, I've mostly been sitting back and just keeping up the status quo as this is still a fairly young tank and I don't want to make any knee jerk reactions; but I have started to dose KZ Sponge Power in the hopes of some of my sponges, tunicates, and sea squirts from the TBS live rock would return and help me make a biological shift.

I got in some other things from Amazon recently as well, some more sand, matrix, and an Eheim Quick Vac Pro. If you're like me you probably just laughed about that last one, but after using it to suck detritus out of my sump I'm sold. I love the thing, it's so easy to use and clean and does a great job, it can even be used in shallow sand beds with larger sand granules.

I didn't feel comfortable about this next change in my reef, but I mustered up the courage to do something I've been thinking about doing for a while now. I didn't want to do it because of the issues my tank was already facing, but if I had waited acros may have encrusted too much and I may have never done it, so.....

I'm trying to source a nice healthy Heteractis magnifica for the top of the right rock structure, I thought I could have a reef without one but I really miss my brother's old mags and with my tank slowly coming into maturation I feel like the time has come. It may take a little while to find the right one, but I'm really excited to have a spot ready when I do find one.

That's about it for now, thanks for reading.

[dropped]

Awesome looking tank!

[joshky]

Awesome looking tank!

 

Thanks, appreciate it.

[ninjamyst]

Love the new FTS! I bought one of those vacs before, a generic no brand one. Awesome when it worked. Died on me after two uses. I am sure the eheim one is much better quality. If yours hold up, I will grab one too

[RollaJase]

Tank is looking beautiful, maturing very nicely.

[joshky]

Love the new FTS! I bought one of those vacs before, a generic no brand one. Awesome when it worked. Died on me after two uses. I am sure the eheim one is much better quality. If yours hold up, I will grab one too

 

Thank you! Hopefully the Eheim one will last, I mainly bought it to keep detritus from settling too much in the sump, maybe I will skip using it to siphon the sand so it'll lessen the chances of it dying on me. I can just stir the sand up when I do a WC anyways.

 

Tank is looking beautiful, maturing very nicely.

 

Thanks man, really appreciate it.

[Arkayology]

Nice tank. You are getting some really nice colors out of your corals.

[joshky]

Nice tank. You are getting some really nice colors out of your corals.

 

Some are doing great, wish the other's would get the memo. Thank you.

[joshky]

New addition, perfect for the top right structure of the new aquascape, a Heteractis magnifica.

I bought the mag on Thursday and it deflated for the first time on Sunday which is when I started my course of 400mg Sulfamethoxazole/80mg Trimethoprim every night after lights out. I will continue to administer this until Friday and if the deflation doesn't stop I'll probably switch to 250mg of Ciprofloxacin.

Here's a photo of it in my hospital tank