The Miracle MAX

[NotAPiscivore]

I had a flame angle that wouldn't leave more coral alone. Eventually it had to go. It was a beautiful fish too. It liked the coral better than all the nice algae strips I bought for it to graze on.

 

My thoughts exactly. If I just had softies in my tank, I'd be more of a risk taker. But I'd be devastated if it ended up nipping at my SPS and my blastos. Too bad though, she's a real beauty.

 

 

[animalmaster6]

Those are exactly the kind of fish I had in mind. Definitely a couple of triggers. One of my roommates has been begging for a niger trigger ever since he saw one at the LFS. He was amused by the name and hasn't stopped laughing about it ever since. A couple of butterflies, some kind of angel and maybe some kind of puffer or boxfish.

I don't recommend getting a boxfish. Too big of a risk!

 

Snowflake Eels are cool...

[el fabuloso]

I had a flame angle that wouldn't leave more coral alone. Eventually it had to go. It was a beautiful fish too. It liked the coral better than all the nice algae strips I bought for it to graze on.

Yeah, I'm over the angel. Besides it'll probably be a while before I add anything else in my tank. Give the fish I have now some time to settle.

 

Snowflake Eels are cool...

A snowflake eel would not be a bad idea. And a maroon clown. And a tang, only because I can.

[Weetabix7]

[el fabuloso]

[el fabuloso]

The Final Roundup

 

All the fish have finally settled in and no one's gone missing or have parts missing out of them. I've been wanting to replace the banggai and the purple firefish but seeing as to how this tank is starting to look like a rough inner city neighborhood, I knew that getting another banggai and a firefish would be problematic so instead I decided to recruit a couple of ruffians who can stand up for themselves:

 

 

 

They've been in the tank for a week now and have had no problem fitting in and taking their own spots. At first the flame hawk showed some aggression towards the sixline and chased him straight into a hole but that only lasted for a couple of hours and the sixline was out surveying the tank in no time.

 

The flame also tried to chase off the pseudo but she just turned around and stared him down. I was impressed and right there and then I knew that she would fit right in. She staked out an area around the mushrooms and pretty much gives everyone a free pass into her area except the sixline, which has pretty much learned to keep his nose out of her turf. But every now and then, he manages to trespass and chaos ensues.

 

 

Other than that, the sixline is pretty active and is always on the go. Although he's pretty friendly and personable, he's camera shy and fast so I haven't been able to take a good pic of him.

 

 

 

So this is pretty much the final roundup, which turned out to be a bit more aggressive than I would have wanted but so far so good.

 

The flame hawk playing peek-a-boo:

 

 

The hawk and the blenny chilling on the monti-mille:

 

[Weetabix7]

I love that last pic of the Flame Hawk and Blenny chilling out together.

[el fabuloso]

Ain't it cute? They do that all the time.

 

What worries me though is that the blenny is starting to develop a habit of hiding in the elephant ear.

[fewskillz]

Quite the little aggressive tank. Just needs a trigger and a lion!

[Lalani]

Sheesh, Aaron, they look great.

Question: Do you dose anything?

[el fabuloso]

Quite the little aggressive tank. Just needs a trigger and a lion!

I'm saving those for the 125g.

 

Sheesh, Aaron, they look great.

Question: Do you dose anything?

Thanks!

 

Just two-part dosing twice a day for alk and calcium.

[Lalani]

 

Just two-part dosing twice a day for alk and calcium.

Gracias.. I'm going to start that this weekend.

[animalmaster6]

Nice vicious tank!

 

It seems to have settled in and it looks great!

[spanko]

Hmmm...........frags of the LE SE fab-montimilli (el fabuloso pico combino) could command huge windfall profits me thinks.

[parishilton]

Your tank keeps getting better and better.

[AdriftQuasar]

Great tank!

 

I enjoy that we have similar husbandry techniques. If neglect is good enough for children, it's good enough for a reef tank.

[el fabuloso]

Nice vicious tank!

 

It seems to have settled in and it looks great!

Your tank keeps getting better and better.

Thanks! I'm really glad that I was able to turn this tank around.

 

Hmmm...........frags of the LE SE fab-montimilli (el fabuloso pico combino) could command huge windfall profits me thinks.

I just might if there's enough demand for it.

 

Great tank!

 

I enjoy that we have similar husbandry techniques. If neglect is good enough for children, it's good enough for a reef tank.

Thank you and yes, neglecting your tank every now and then helps it build character, IME.

 

 

So now that my fish list is complete, I'll be looking at stocking more corals and inverts. I was initially considering keeping a couple of skunk cleaners in this tank but now I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep shrimps in this tank at all.

 

As for corals, I definitely wanna get some more LPS. Some nice big pieces would be nice to fill up some of the empty spaces. I was thinking about possibly taking a stab at a BTA but I don't want to take my chance at something that's going to roam around the tank and sting everything in its path so I'm reconsidering the idea. A nice fluffy torch coral might make a good alternative though. Oh and zoas. I've never really been big on zoas before but I think a nice zoa garden would look great in this tank.

[Arkayology]

Go for the BTA!!! They really are not that bad as long as you plan for them and make sure things are mobile in your tank until it finds the sweet spot. I have 2 BTA in my 20H and have not lost one coral yet. I am considering getting another actually lol.

[el fabuloso]

Hmm... so you're saying it pretty much stayed within the same area you put it in?

[animalmaster6]

Your hawkfish would love you if you put some shrimp in there Feast for him.

 

How about a Purple Reef Lobster? They aren't too small.

[el fabuloso]

Now I'll have to cross off the flame hawk, sixline, pseudo and blenny from the fish list. This is the reason why.

 

[sango]

I don't get it. If the tank temperature didn't drop then what killed the fish? Lack of O2?

Edited March 4, 2010 by sango

[parishilton]

Hmm... so you're saying it pretty much stayed within the same area you put it in?

 

Yes, I would say. I have 2 in my bigger tank ( First I got one and then it split) and they never move to anywhere when they find their favorite spot.

 

here is one of mine

 

[animalmaster6]

I'm Sorry

[el fabuloso]

Yet Another New Beginning

 

Disasters are no stranger to the Miracle MAX (and its tank thread) but this tank never quits. After the big power outage that killed off most of the fish in the tank, it's now left with only a tomato clown and a chromis as life goes on. I found a good deal on a rose bubble tip anemone and decided to take the plunge and for my tomato clown, it was love at first sight.

 

 

 

He took to the anemone within an hour and they've been inseparable ever since.

 

I've had it for about two weeks now and so far it seems to be doing well. At first I was worried about getting one and have it wandering all over the tank and stinging everything in its path but this one has been pretty good at staying in one spot. That is until I had to completely drain the entire tank last night.

 

Let me jump back to three weeks ago. After venting on facebook about my power outage disaster, an old coworker commented about a lunare wrasse they're trying to get rid of. Apparently this wrasse had been menacing their 55g tank and need it needed a good home. I decided it was perfect for my 125g FOWLR so I jumped at the opportunity and took him in, except that the 125g wasn't quite ready yet. So I decided to house him temporarily in the MAX.

 

 

 

At five inches long, he's huge. Too huge for the MAX even and I felt bad watching it swim in circles. He was a pretty good guest and got along with the tomato clown and the chromis even though the reason he was given away in the first place was because he had eaten the eyes out of the clownfish he shared a tank with. He was completely fine until it was time for him to leave the tank. I tried setting different types of traps to get him out but none of them worked. I even tried getting him out at night with all the lights out.

 

Finally I decided that the only way to go was to drain the tank out completely. Seems like a foolproof idea except that he decided that he would rather die wedged between the rocks than to come out in the open so I ended up having tear down the tank completely and removed most of the corals and live rock just to get him out. The worst part was trying to get everything back exactly the way it was which which turned out to be next to impossible. Not to mention it ended up setting the anemone lose which I had marooned on a rock to keep it from wandering all over the tank.

 

The new rock work isn't bad and it's starting to grow on me but I feel like it lost some of the depth that it had before.

 

 

 

 

 

I had the anemone marooned on the rock where the toadstool is though I actually like where he's at now. I just hope he stays there.

 

 

And here's a bonus shot of the monti-mille to show just how much this thing has grown since it was moved over to this tank.