A College Fusion - SPS Dominated IM 25 Lagoon

[Fish_Wiz]

WE DEMAND PICS! Jk, great to hear the tank is trucking along. Looking forward to the updates.

[WindyCityReefer.]

2 hours ago, Fish_Wiz said:

WE DEMAND PICS! Jk, great to hear the tank is trucking along. Looking forward to the updates.

Ask and you shall receive! It was a busy week and did not grab as many photos as I would have liked. It takes a while to edit the photos as well as since capture them in a RAW format. Hope all is well, Wiz!

 

 

Walt Disney Encrusting nicely with a couple "nubs" starting! Still hoping I will be able to pull the same color as my OG Walt Disney from way back when. 

 

Super Fly chalice still hanging in there. You can see in the photo that it receded a little. But still holding its colors nicely. 

 

 

Unfortunately, my Melanarus wrasse jumped ship and my Starry blenny is MIA. At this point, the only residents in the tank are the Multicolor angel and the lone cleaner shrimp.. Might have to revisit some new tankmates. 

 

Did a water change this weekend and tested parameters. Alk was down to 6.7 dKh. I guess consumption has gone up tremendously. Upped my doser to 12mL of buffer from 10mL to help give it a subtle boost. 

 

Couple hardships I am currently facing:

• BUBBLE ALGAE - probably the most hated of all algae. It has taken over substantially. I tried using Vibrant aquarium cleaner, but it just messed with my nutrients a little too much and caused a lot of browning of acros. Thinking I might try some emerald crabs at this point or continue with manual removal. But this stuff literally clogs up my return.. 
• Shading from the stylo and digi - I am seriously considering removing the center island out of the tank and placing some smaller pieces of rock for more corals. Not only does the island piece shade most corals, but it also is unstable and balances on a couple neighboring rocks for support.
• Mixed reef woes - sadly it is hard to have a mixed reef where everything is happy. I feel that my chalices and LPS corals could be doing a lot better in a system with reduced water movement and lighting. Another consideration I am having is setting up the old IM 10 gallon. 

Overall, the tank is still kicking and I am enjoying it when I can. I know once my program ends and I have a more permanent residence I will be able to mess around with things a little more. I will try and get more photos this week of other acros! I still have the Homewrecker (still green only), RR Wolverine, ect.

[mitten_reef]

how are things around this tank these days?  

[WindyCityReefer.]

On 4/28/2021 at 9:33 AM, mitten_reef said:

how are things around this tank these days?  

Hey Rut! Hope all is well. Sorry for leaving you hanging. The notification never came through to my email.

 

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I finished my schooling and entered the “real world” last year. Life has been great! The bad news, the tank took a turn for the worse in the last 6 months of my program.

 

As you know, the bubble algae problem drove me crazy.. so I tried using Vibrant Aquarium Cleaner. It was the worst mistake I have ever made during my time in the hobby. I lost almost everything due to a Dino bloom. I tried everything to turn the tank around, but the Dino’s wouldn’t give in. I finally decided enough was enough and I took the tank down. 
 

I still have all the equipment and am planning a future build. Surprisingly, a few browned out SPS pieces and LPS made it and are currently in my father’s aquarium. 
 

Stay tuned for a future build thread!

[mitten_reef]

Sorry about the tank.  Glad you have a sort of a backup with your dad’s tank. 
look forward to when you got a new started up. 

[PJPS]

On 2/8/2020 at 9:31 PM, mitten_reef said:

I got a frag that looks like pink cadillac the last time I was at my LFS.  It sucks cuz the guy never remember what frags people brought in, or he himself brought in, so it's hard to get positive ID.  The brighter side, most of the acros at his place are pretty cheap ~$40 a frag for the ones with any decent colors on them.  

 

That blue matrix looks awesome!  oh and that ASD rainbow millie could probably use a little pruning 😉.  

$40 shit is how to get enough Acro mass in the tank to keep $pendier stuff.  I have cheaper/older aqucultured pieces for the most part.  I’m happy to pay more once for aquarium hardened pieces, rather than buy mariculture pieces, over and over until one lives.