My Lil Fluval

August 27, 2017

Hmm wonder if something is leaching phosphates? They could read artificially low due to being used up by the algae.

August 27, 2017

2 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Hmm wonder if something is leaching phosphates? They could read artificially low due to being used up by the algae.

Likely. I'll be changing my Poly Filter more often. It's super cheap for the use I get from it.

August 27, 2017

My clown got a friend! Since my water has been testing normal I went ahead and picked up a Purple Firefish. He/she is beautiful! He immediately found a hole deep in the rock when I turned my head and for a while I thought he had free willy'd. He poked his head out when I fed the clown and ate quite a bit himself.

I also picked up one of these amazing palys:

August 29, 2017

On 8/27/2017 at 5:43 PM, KNelson said:

My clown got a friend! Since my water has been testing normal I went ahead and picked up a Purple Firefish. He/she is beautiful! He immediately found a hole deep in the rock when I turned my head and for a while I thought he had free willy'd. He poked his head out when I fed the clown and ate quite a bit himself.

I also picked up one of these amazing palys:

I love grandis palys so much! I have three varieties so far. :lol: Not overkill in a pico, right?

Oh, and the firefish is gorgeous!

August 29, 2017

1 hour ago, Lula_Mae said:

I love grandis palys so much! I have three varieties so far. Not overkill in a pico, right?

Oh, and the firefish is gorgeous!

Noway! So cool! Ill definitely get more when I see them.

He/she is! And so fun to watch too!

August 29, 2017

28 minutes ago, KNelson said:

Noway! So cool! Ill definitely get more when I see them.

He/she is! And so fun to watch too!

Only one is green, the other two are tannish and white (with almost a blue hue to the white). One also has hints of green under the right light.

October 1, 2017

State - of - the - Tank

Updated original post to include new additions and recent departures. Of note - sand-sifting starfish and cespitularia. The starfish is really freaking cool. I sold the conch because he was getting too big and knocking over corals. The starfish is doing a wonderful job of keeping the sand shiny and free of left-overs. The cespitularia is not so happy. Included are pictures of when it first went into the tank and a current one. I've moved it a couple of times to try to find a spot he'll like. Any advice?

The fish are seemingly happy. The clown is a super picky eater. I've had to purchase garlic extract to get him to eat anything besides brine. I only feed them once a day, but ensure they eat until they are full.

I am still dealing with the ickys, but it looks like it's very slowly getting better. I've started changing the poly filter (1x2" pieces) 3/week and feeding less and it looks to be helping. Its still so green in there and a bit of fuzzy brown has popped up.

All of the corals that I've had over a month (besides the mushrooms) have grown with the exception of the favia and branching hammer. The duncan just started sprouting new heads and the stylo has started splitting all 3 branches and is growing another.

(Edit: Trashed old pics)

April 15, 2018

Wow, a lot has happened in the past 7 months - I've lost a few corals, most of my inverts, my clown decided to commit suicide, and I've sold some corals too. I've added a peppermint shrimp and a few corals.

I've finally gotten my phosphates under control with D+D Rowaphos and I'm trying to get my dKH up slowly using Seachem Reef Builder. Most everything that is in the tank now has grown quite well - the duncan that started with 1 head now has 6, paly grandis has 2 new polyps, green palys are taking over a rock, stylo has easily doubled in size, I've even had a shroom multiply on its own.

I still have a few areas that need life, but I am at the point that I feel comfortable being picky. I'm looking for different colors, more movement (I really like euphyllias), maybe something a little different.

I think I've matured a little as a reefer, I have stopped testing everything all the time and, with the exception of phos and dKH, only test when it looks like something may be wrong. I test those 2 twice a week so I can keep them steady. I'll add in ammonia testing starting this week. I use the Aquarium Note app to keep track of my livestock and scheduled maintenance and am religious when it comes to the maintenance. In this small tank the is almost no room for error.

I occasionally regret my choices (like when I'm scraping the glass through a 5"x7" hole in the top of the aquarium) and I'm sure I'll rue the day I bought it (like when I finally buy a house and have to try to pry apart the rocks I fused together with Aquastik and Water Weld so I can remove them through that same hole). I do so enjoy it's beauty though and I have plans for it once I've moved the current inhabitants to a (much) larger home.

It's been 2 months since the death of Little Bastard (my clown) and I think I'm ready to replace him. I tried to get a black barred circus goby from Live Aquaria with no success, but they now have one in the Divers Den. I'd also like to add a citron goby. Would they be ok together? I know the black barred is a hider and the citron could be more in the water column. I think I'd take a citron over the black barred with the possibility of adding a clown later, I just really liked my designer clown and my LFS told me that the company that bred them closed down. I don't want a normal clown and I can't fit anything larger in this tank.

April 15, 2018

I updated the OP to show current inhabitants. I know my CUC seems a little sparse, but I have a couple hundred or so baby snails from the many spawns prior to the adult's deaths and they are doing a fine job.

I had to rearrange a few things as the torch got WAY larger than ASD staff said it would... I guess it's happier in its news home than its old one. It stung my duncan and 2 rics. I also got rid of my large pulsing xenia island in favor of a smaller one (I had some loose polyps and no super glue so they are contained in the shot glass till tomorrow). I think I want a very large island when I get a very large tank, I absolutely love the way they move. I will also have lots more euphyllia, too. And shrooms. Bright, bubbly, fuzzy shrooms. Maybe some different colored star polyps as well.

July 1, 2018

Wow, 1 year! So many purchases, sales, deaths... I updated the first post to show my current inhabitants. 3 fish, a few snails, a cool teeny shrimp, tons of corals! I do love the softies.

The death of my super cute clown did make me really sad, but he was a bully to my purple firefish and now that beauty is out of his cave quite a bit. He doesn't swim around, but at least I get to see him and he comes out when I put my face up to the glass. The 2 goby additions are great! The citron swims around a lot and perches in the most odd places. When I turn the pumps and powerheads off at feeding time he's always waiting for me at the water's surface, blowing bubbles. He's very curious. The circus goby is (fortunately) more active during the day than he should be. He doesn't swim around a lot, but he does move to a new hangout - sometimes hanging with the firefish (who has become quite tolerable of the 2 new fish). My bongo shrimp is sooooooooo cute! I started a thread in the invertebrate section titled "Where's Waldo" because he's so tiny I have a hard time finding him.

I've been very fortunate to not have any major issues with this PITA tank (knocks on wood). While quite beautiful, it is difficult to do anything other than water changes and detritus removal from the sand bed. I have to get on a step ladder and get my whole arm in the tank to clean the glass because I have to hold the scraper in my hand, as in it can't be attached to the holder or extender. I am still trying to find out where all my phosphates are coming from as my test proved it's not my water or storage method. So I have a few strands of GHA that I can't pull because I can't get to them and my jerk snails won't eat them when I do manage to snag one and place it in a location with the algae. Blah. But if that's my only "big" issue, I'll take it! My softies may get unhappy for a bit, but I'm actively trying to keep my phosphates under 0.01 till that crap is gone. I'm also constantly low alkalinity (comes with the tank) and I've been testing near daily to find out how much to dose (I purchased the Brightwell Reef Code A and B).

Hmm, what else... This has been a great experience! Looking to the future, when I (finally) get a house I plan to move to a (much, much) larger tank. Something at least 100g. Maybe an aio. I don't plan on doing a lot of sps, I like movement. I told my husband that we'll be dropping at least 3 grand on a new tank 🤣 I'll move all my current creatures to their new, much more spacious home and eventually turn this tank into a SoCal biotope. Catalina gobies, spanish shawl nudibranchs, local macro algae. Besides the water temp, it should be a super easy tank.

Thank you all for all the assistance you've provided over the past year! Books and research are great and are a necessity before starting a hobby like this, but nothing beats the decades of experience on this forum!