Dr. Felicia's Back to Basics IM14 - Retired 2/25/2020

[vlangel]

The clown pair are adorable.  I love firefish gobies too.  Hopefully everyone settles in and starts eating for you soon.  I always breathe a sigh of relief when I see my new fish eat.

[Pjanssen]

Looking great Felicia. Can't wait to see all the new corals set up. Clowns are adorable, I'm sure they will settle in. Hope the filefish starts eating for you soon. Maybe try some live brine to entice him? I keep checking KPA in hopes that they will be back in business soon as I'm ready  to add a couple more gorge to my tank as well. I love the spin stream too.

[gena]

9 hours ago, Felicia said:

Thank you, Gena!  I just love the movement that gorgonians add to a tank.  Its soothing to watch them swaying.  I especially like how they're moving now that I added the Spin Stream to the return.  The yellow sea whips are really pretty.  I haven't had one since the seahorse tank.  Maybe you could squeeze one in, but your little tank is looking pretty full.  I wonder if you go do a tiny one in a pico jar 

Thank you!  There's not too much in there just yet, but I'm happy with the gorgonians and the ricordea so far.  I need to find some ricordea of other colors now.  I especially want some orange and bright green ones.  I want to have a nice ricordea carpet in that area.  Its amazing how gorgonians are like instant reef.  You put them in and they make a big difference in how the tank looks!  This tank is pretty tiny, but I'm enjoying it and its nice dimensions for being small.  We'll see how long it takes me to stuff it full of corals.

Thank you!  I'm really enjoying this tank.   Gorgonians are definitely my favorite type of coral at this point.  I couldn't imagine having a tank without them now.

I probably won't add any gorgonians to my pico.  I don't think flow would be strong enough in there.  Eventually I'll get that yellow sea whip.  I'll have to do some rearranging to do it .

 

Your tank looks fantastic!  So  pretty!  Can't wait to see the  new corals in there too!!!

[Lisa166]

LOVING the clowns! 

Love the rest of the tank too, the movement is so nice! I hope you dont mind if I ask a few questions.. 

 

How many fishes and inverts do you have in there now? I am still wonderiin the process of figuring out what is normal for tanks.... 

 

I also just got two clowns. Do you know how to see if they are mated? I sort of adopted them from someone with a tankcrash, and all I know is that there are two. And they are pretty small. Heck, I don't even know what normal clown behaviour is :/

[Felicia]

13 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Such pretty clowns!  I just got a little misbar the other day myself, she's so cute!

Thank you, Lula!  I'm not super into designer clowns, but I'm liking these two.  I like that their markings aren't too crazy and its very cool that my friend bred them and I know their lineage and everything.  I've actually fed these two off and on over the last year or two when I've tank sat for my friend.  I actually distinctly remember the batch of babies that the Picasso is from because it was his first batch of Picasso babies.  Kind of fun that I got to watch them grow up.  Misbars are super cute!  That's fun that you got one as well.  My new little guy has a tiny white spot in the middle of where his stripe should be on one side and its adorable! 

11 hours ago, vlangel said:

The clown pair are adorable.  I love firefish gobies too.  Hopefully everyone settles in and starts eating for you soon.  I always breathe a sigh of relief when I see my new fish eat.

Thank you, Dawn!  They're pretty cute!  I will always love clownfish.  The YWG has settled in and is doing wonderfully!  He eats like a champ.  He just has decided to set up his burrow under the rocks in the back of the tank, which is a bit annoying because its hard to see him back there.  He's pretty outgoing though and does come out and move about the tank at times though.  The firefish is the one that's worrying me a bit just because she won't stay out in the open long enough to eat.  She seems super healthy, she's just super skittish.  New fish are always stressful until they settle in and start eating well.

10 hours ago, Pjanssen said:

Looking great Felicia. Can't wait to see all the new corals set up. Clowns are adorable, I'm sure they will settle in. Hope the filefish starts eating for you soon. Maybe try some live brine to entice him? I keep checking KPA in hopes that they will be back in business soon as I'm ready  to add a couple more gorge to my tank as well. I love the spin stream too.

Thank you!  The clowns are doing well today.  They're a bit spazzy, but don't seem nearly as stressed.  They're currently in the back left corner of the tank dancing up and down against the glass.  I think the new tank is just a little overwhelming compared to their dimly lit cube with a terra cotta pot.  I don't have any live food or even frozen food to offer, but I don't think that's really the issue.  The firefish was eating great at the store, she's just so shy that she won't come out long enough and then the other inhabitants eat all the food before she gets any.  With this tank, I'm sticking to easy to feed fish and just feeding pellets and flakes.  I have PE Mysis pellets (smallest size) and Ocean Nutrition Formula One flakes, which are both quality foods.  The firefish just needs to stop being so shy and come out with the rest of the fish to grab some food.  Hopefully she'll get less scared soon.

 

Yeah, I'm anxiously awaiting the reopening of KPA.  They're website says hopefully by the end of the month, so we shouldn't have too much longer to wait.  They're definitely one of the best sources for gorgonians.

 

I'm liking the Spin Stream too!  I like how the random flow moves the gorgonians more than just the single directional flow from the return.  Also, sand piling up drives me insane.  I'm way too OCD to have uneven sand.   My only complaint with the Spin Stream is that its a bit noisy, but luckily this tank is very quiet otherwise, so I can live with it.  If you're a few feet away from the tank, you don't hear it anymore.

7 hours ago, gena said:

I probably won't add any gorgonians to my pico.  I don't think flow would be strong enough in there.  Eventually I'll get that yellow sea whip.  I'll have to do some rearranging to do it .

 

Your tank looks fantastic!  So  pretty!  Can't wait to see the  new corals in there too!!!

Yeah, good point on the flow.  I was thinking lighting would be good enough, but I wasn't thinking about flow.  Option #2 is that you move a few things from the IM10 into the pico and make room in the IM10 for some new stuff!   Or you could always jump on the IM 14 bandwagon with me! 

 

Thank you, Gena!  I'm really pleased with how its coming together so far.  I'm working from home today and so I've been getting to enjoy the tank while I work.  The new corals are opening up more today, so I'll try to get photos of those this evening.  They're not 100% puffy, but getting there.  You'll have to help me pick out some more pretty corals at RAP next weekend.  I need more zoas!

5 hours ago, Lisa166 said:

LOVING the clowns! 

Love the rest of the tank too, the movement is so nice! I hope you dont mind if I ask a few questions.. 

 

How many fishes and inverts do you have in there now? I am still wonderiin the process of figuring out what is normal for tanks.... 

 

I also just got two clowns. Do you know how to see if they are mated? I sort of adopted them from someone with a tankcrash, and all I know is that there are two. And they are pretty small. Heck, I don't even know what normal clown behaviour is :/

Thank you!  Clowns are always so much fun!

 

Of course!  Questions are always welcome and are why I like Nano-Reef.  Its a wonderful resource and I've asked more than my fair share of questions over the years. 

 

For fish, there are currently 4, and I do not plan on adding any more.  4 fish is quite a few for a 14 gallon tank (really more like 11 gallons after displacement from the rock and sand), and some people would say not to do 4 fish in this size of tank.  Fish stocking is definitely an art and one you'll get more experience at after you've been in the hobby for a while.  Its really not about the number of fish...the whole inches of fish per gallon rule is one of my least favorite "rules" in this hobby.  Fish stocking has a lot more factors involved and is a lot more complex than just x inches of fish per x gallons.  Its about your system itself...how much filtration do you have?  How much bioload can you support?  How many hiding places are available in your tank?  What are its dimensions?  Is it a cube or a long rectangular shape that provides more swimming room?  Those factors then combine with the behaviors and needs of the specific fish.  As long as your tank can support the bioload from the fish, then the behavior of the fish is really the big question.  Does the fish need a lot of swimming room (i.e. wrasses, anthias, tangs) or is it a fish that perches (i.e. gobies and blennies) or hosts in one area (i.e. clownfish)?  Is the fish aggressive or peaceful?  How much territory does it need if its aggressive?  Does the fish burrow in sand?  Do you have enough sand to provide for its needs? And many other considerations.  Like I said, definitely not just a simple rule.  You'll notice that everyone seems to end up striking a different balance in terms of fish stocking in their particular system.

 

For inverts, I have some snails, a cleaner shrimp, and a porcelain crab right now.  I added a pistol shrimp with my yellow watchman goby, but that shrimp is still MIA, so I'm thinking he didn't survive.  I'll likely try to replace him soon.  Anyways, invert stocking is somewhat similar to fish stocking.  Its all about the specifics of your system and the needs of the inverts you add.  You also have to consider the fish you have because many of the larger, more aggressive fish will eat inverts.  With inverts, they generally don't affect the bioload too much, so you can usually add more of the small inverts than you can add fish.  You just have to make sure that they're all compatible with each other and that they have enough space.  You also need to consider food source.  A lot of the invertebrates will only eat one thing, such as algae.  If you have a small tank with little to no algae, you won't be able to support many algae eating snails.  Do your research on what each invert eats and make sure you or your tank environment can supply enough of that food source.

 

Clowns are generally easy peasy!  As long as you get two small ones, they will eventually pair up.  Generally clownfish will hang out in groups or pairs even before they become more of a true "mated" pair.  Clownfish start without a gender when they are small.  As they mature, they will all turn into males.  Then eventually, the most dominant of the pair or group will become the female.  If you're buying large, mature clownfish, it becomes trickier to pair them because you can't put two females together.  However as long as you get smaller, younger clownfish that are either sexless or male, they will pair up just fine.  Eventually as they grow, one will become the female.  You may see them fighting off and on until one establishes dominance.  In the past, I've always just gotten two small clownfish and let them pair up and then duke it out to determine which would be the female.  I said this new pair I got is more of a true "mated" pair because they've already been together for quite a long time and one has already established the dominant role.  They also are starting to dance, which means they may be getting close to beginning to lay eggs.

[Felicia]

Tank Update

Alright PSA for everyone that you should really be calibrating your refractometers.  I've been using my old refractometer since I set up this new tank, but I couldn't find my old bottle of calibration solution.  I probably accidentally tossed it when I purged a bunch of my excess tank "stuff".  Anyways, I used to check it regularly and it was never off calibration, so I just assumed it was fine.  I finally purchased some 35 ppt calibration fluid off Amazon when I was purchasing some other supplies and checked my refractometer last night.  Come to find out, it was off by quite a bit.  It was reading that my specific gravity was 1.025, but in reality it was 1.020.  Ugh!  At least I don't have any sensitive SPS or anything in this tank.  Luckily, I've been doing thorough acclimations of everything, so nothing has been the least bit bothered by the low salinity.  Now I just have to work on getting it raised over the next week or so.  I'm currently topping off with saltwater.  Point being, everything is fine, but don't get lazy and trust your equipment.  Calibration is a must!

[Felicia]

Alright, I got some photos of the new frags from Pacific East Aquaculture for you guys!

 

St. Thomas Mushroom

 

Long Polyp Toadstool

 

Green Capnella

 

Thick Finger Leather

 

Cespitularia and Green Toadstool

 

Blue Plating Sponge

 

And a quick FTS with the new corals.  I need to figure out spots for all of them, but for now they get to hang out on the sandbed on their plugs.

 

Also, some photos of the inhabitants!

Here's the new clown pair.  They're a bit out of focus because they just constantly move.  I need to practice my fish photo taking skills because I'm rusty!

 

 

 

The YWG is so wonderfully grumpy!  I love his grumpy little face! 

 

 

The firefish came out for a bit and I managed to get a good photo of her.  She seems to like the clownfish because she came out and hung out with them for a while.  I think she even managed to eat a bit of food.

 

Other Corals

I also wanted to post another photo of the purple frilly gorgonian (Psuedopterogorgia elisabethae).  Its gotten super fluffy!  This is a species of gorgonian that I haven't had before and I like its unique branch structure.

 

The beginnings of the ricordea garden is also making me really happy.  I need more and more colors! 

 

[Nano sapiens]

Yay!  Ricordia! 

[Lisa166]

Looking awesome and thank you so much for your answers! 

I haven't been able to find one good source which holds all info about (for example) coral stocking. So I'm trying to get bits of info here and there. But I still feel like I have no clue (even after years of research and already owning my tank 6 months) about stocking itself and how to create a beautiful balanced system. 

[Felicia]

1 hour ago, Nano sapiens said:

Yay!  Ricordia! 

I forgot how much I love them!  I can't believe I didn't have any in the 40B.  Looking forward to creating a nice carpet of them in this tank.  Where did you end up purchasing most of yours?  Aquatic Collection only has blue/teal color ones.  I want to find some nice bright orange/pink/yellow ones.

13 minutes ago, Lisa166 said:

Looking awesome and thank you so much for your answers! 

I haven't been able to find one good source which holds all info about (for example) coral stocking. So I'm trying to get bits of info here and there. But I still feel like I have no clue (even after years of research and already owning my tank 6 months) about stocking itself and how to create a beautiful balanced system. 

You're welcome!  Unfortunately, coral stocking is such a huge subject manner that its hard to sum up in one place.  I was just talking about this on Facebook with a old Nano-Reef friend.  It was pointed out how different the start of this tank is from my original 10 gallon reef 6 years ago.  I had no idea what I was doing and didn't really know much about coral stocking, so I just placed corals willy nilly all over.  Looking back on it now with 6 years of experience, it was a hot mess.  The corals thrived and did well, but the placement was haphazard and not the most aesthetically pleasing.  My advice is to ask questions as you go along and research each new type of coral that you buy/want to buy.  The art portion of placing corals and creating a balanced system really just comes with time and experience.  Part of it is just patience because it takes time for the tank to mature and the corals to grow and fill in.  Its also just about you acquiring the experience to know how the different corals will grow and how to place them.  A lot of this hobby is about art and design, which surprised me.  I'm an engineer/scientist and not very artistic.  I can't draw or paint to save my life, but the little bit of an artistic side that I do have gets to come out when I'm working on my tank and that's part of why I love this hobby. 

[Sharbuckle]

Wow. I was off NR for a few weeks and BAM! Your tank looks fantastic. We most certainly share a love for all things gorgonian. I'm up to 6 now and still need more haha. Great choices of coral and inhabitants. Jealous that your porcelain crab isn't shy, mine has been hiding for 3 years haha I see it on occasion. 

[Nano sapiens]

4 hours ago, Felicia said:

I forgot how much I love them!  I can't believe I didn't have any in the 40B.  Looking forward to creating a nice carpet of them in this tank.  Where did you end up purchasing most of yours?  Aquatic Collection only has blue/teal color ones.  I want to find some nice bright orange/pink/yellow ones.

Most of mine came from a Coralmorphologic 10-pack nine years ago and the rest are from a variety of sources.  

[kimberbee]

That frilly gorgonian looks so fluffy! I think i need to add that to my want list!

[Thunder Goose]

How are you managing to keep both gorgonians and ricordea? I've tried ricordea and they all seem to hate flow and run and hide.

 

Also, jelly of the St. Thomas. Mine died when my tank overheated during a heat wave this summer.

 

Love the fluffy gorgonian. I may have to add that to my collection.

[gena]

Everything looks  perfect .

 

Two places that come to mind for ricordea are Reefgardener and KPA.  I bet you'll find some at RAP next weekend too .  I can't wait to shop LOL.

[Felicia]

7 hours ago, Sharbuckle said:

Wow. I was off NR for a few weeks and BAM! Your tank looks fantastic. We most certainly share a love for all things gorgonian. I'm up to 6 now and still need more haha. Great choices of coral and inhabitants. Jealous that your porcelain crab isn't shy, mine has been hiding for 3 years haha I see it on occasion. 

Thank you! It's still got a long ways to go, but putting the gorgonians in there sure made it look much farther along. I still swear gorgonians are like instant reef. Glad you like it! Yeah I was surprised the porcelain crab has been so outgoing. Generally, small inverts like that are shy. The porcelain crabs I had in the past were the same as yours. I had them for years and I'd glimpse them once every couple months.  I'm hoping this one will eventually take up residence in the ricordeas.

7 hours ago, Nano sapiens said:

Most of mine came from a Coralmorphologic 10-pack nine years ago and the rest are from a variety of sources.  

I thought that might be where they were from. They had such awesome ricordea and gorgonians. It's too bad they don't sell retail anymore. Your ricordea are lovely!

6 hours ago, kimberbee said:

That frilly gorgonian looks so fluffy! I think i need to add that to my want list!

Yeah its an interesting one! Not a variety I've had before. Hopefully it does well long term. It seems happy since it's so fluffy.

6 hours ago, Thunder Goose said:

How are you managing to keep both gorgonians and ricordea? I've tried ricordea and they all seem to hate flow and run and hide.

 

Also, jelly of the St. Thomas. Mine died when my tank overheated during a heat wave this summer.

 

Love the fluffy gorgonian. I may have to add that to my collection.

I've never particularly noticed ricordea hating flow. I've had them get blown around by flow if they're just on the sandbed. These are all attached to small bits of rubble that I then glued to the rock so they wouldn't get pushed around. They're also somewhat sheltered down in that niche in the rock. So far they seem super happy. My flow isn't too crazy and I have it set up so the high flow areas are higher up in the tank.

 

Sorry to hear about your St. Thomas mushroom. If you're looking for a new one, Pacific East Aquaculture had some nice ones and they're on sale.

2 hours ago, gena said:

Everything looks  perfect .

 

Two places that come to mind for ricordea are Reefgardener and KPA.  I bet you'll find some at RAP next weekend too .  I can't wait to shop LOL.

Thank you, Gena!

 

Yeah I checked out ReefGardner and she has some nice ricordea. They're a bit pricey through when you figure in the shipping. Since I already want to order from KPA and plan to already par for shipping from them, I'm hoping to get some from them. I just hope they have some in stock once they reopen. I'm a bit worried about the reefs around there being a bit of a mess, so not sure how long it will take them to restock things.

 

RAP is a good idea! I was thinking I'd shop for zoas there but I bet I can find some nice ricordea too! You'll have to help me keep my eyes out for some! I need to make a shopping list like for groceries! 

[Lula_Mae]

I bought some pretty rics on ebay a while back, I think the seller name was Aquarium Art or something like that.  Shipping was ridiculous but they threw in a ton of baby rics so it balanced out.

[Felicia]

16 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

I bought some pretty rics on ebay a while back, I think the seller name was Aquarium Art or something like that.  Shipping was ridiculous but they threw in a ton of baby rics so it balanced out.

Thanks for the recommendation!  I'm going to see what I can snag at Reef-a-Palooza next weekend and then if I still need ricordea, I'll definitely check out the online recommendations!

[Felicia]

Tank Updates

1. The salinity is now up to 1.025 after topping off with saltwater.  Much better!
2. The firefish ate like a champ this evening!  She doesn't seem to be into the PE Pellets, so I got some Ocean Nutrition Formula One flakes for her and she took right to those.  Glad all the fish seem to have settled in.

 

Tank History

I set up my first ever saltwater tank on September 5, 2011, so I've been keeping reefs for a little over 6 years now.  As I've been setting up this tank, I've been thinking back on each of the tanks I've had during that time period.  I'm thinking it would be fun to go back through the history of my tanks.  So here we go!

 

1) Diver's Paradise - 10 Gallon - Established September 5, 2011 and Retired January 22, 2012

 

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I started this tank.  This was just a standard 10 gallon aquarium with an AquaClear 70 filter that I fuged modded and a SUPER cheap T5 light fixture.  I listened to the LFS and cycled it using damsels that I eventually traded back into the LFS.  I had no idea regarding the concept of scaping and just threw in some big chunks of live rock.  Also I used to pieces of non-porous landscaping rock as base rock because, again, clueless!  I'm amazed I didn't kill everything!  I did have a brooklynella outbreak that was brought into the tank my a little yellow clown goby.  I had my first experience with setting up a quarantine tank and letting the display run fallow for 6 weeks.  I actually used tap water the entire time I had this tank as well.  Never had any algae issues though, because luckily we have amazing tap water in Berkeley.  I also had no idea how to place corals at the time and just put them willy nilly all over the place.  Nevertheless, this tank got me hooked on the hobby and it only took 4.5 months for me to upgrade to a larger tank.

 

2) Diver's Paradise - 30 Gallon - Established January 17, 2012 and Retired February 25, 2014

 

I was totally hooked on the hobby and need more space for my coral addiction, so I took down my 37 gallon cichlid tank and set up a standard 30 gallon aquarium.  This was another all hang-on-back system with the AquaClear 70 fuge mod and a HOB skimmer.  I eventually removed the skimmer because I could never get it dialed in to not product crazy microbubbles.  I decided to take my first foray into LED lighting, but my budget was super tight (graduate student at the time).  I ended up getting a kit and made my own LED light fixture, which was a ton of fun.  It actually ended up being a pretty great light considering that it was cheap and DIY.  I saved up some money during the life of this tank and added some upgrades - an MP10, my first ATO system, and an RODI unit (I finally stopped using tap water!).  This tank actually did amazingly well considering how low tech it was.  It won TOTM here on Nano-Reef in July of 2013!  I really crammed this tank full of coral!  I hadn't narrowed in on what I liked most, but wanted a bit of everything.  I really learned a lot about the different corals by having this tank.  This tank sadly ended up crashing early in 2014 due to a wrasse that I purchased stirring up the 2 year old sandbed.

 

3) Diver's Pony Paradise - 30 Gallon - Established August 4, 2013 and Retired Winter of 2014

 

My foray into the keeping of multiple tanks began!  I also had a 10 gallon frag tank running for a while during this time period, so at one point I had 3 reef tanks.  While my 30 gallon mixed reef was still going strong, I decided I wanted to try my hand at keeping seahorses.  I purchased an old used Oceanic 30 gallon glass cube that I cleaned up and turned into a custom all-in-on system.  This was also my first experience with an AIO aquarium.  This tank is the tank that inspired my love of gorgonians, softies, and sponges.  I was limited to those types of corals/inhabitants with the seahorses, but I ended up falling in love with the look of the gorgonian/softy dominated tank.  At its prime, this tank held 4 captive bred seahorses that ate frozen PE mysis 2-3 times per day.  I loved this tank, but over time it because quite the maintenance hassle.  With the amount of food the seahorses had to eat, the filtration couldn't really keep up and I began to have issues with infections in the seahorses.  I was also fighting a really bad red planaria flatworm infestation in this tank.  This tank was eventually retired.  I learned the lesson that while it seems fun to set up multiple tanks, in the long term it gets exhausting to maintain them.  Since the retirement of this tank, I've stuck to just one reef tank at a time.

 

4) Diver's Paradise: The Sequel - 30 gallon - Established February 28, 2014 and Retired February 15, 2015

 

After the crash of the original Diver's Paradise, I decided to completely reboot the tank.  I transferred everything still living into a temporary tank that sat on my kitchen floor while I set up and cycled the re-build of the 30 gallon.  I set the tank back up using new live rock and sand and reused the same equipment.  In this tank I started to focus in on specific types of coral and was keeping a variety of fluffy LPS (euphyllias, elegance) and a variety of anemones (BTAs, tube anemones, and flower anemones).  In terms of fish stocking, this tank really started my love of wrasses.  Eventually, I ended up adding a little 5 gallon sump to this aquarium using a HOB overlow box.  I added a filter sock, media reactor, and skimmer to the sump.  I also ended up upgrading from my DIY LED fixture to a Maxspect Razor 27" 160 Watt fixture.  Unfortunately, this tank ended up crashing when I decided to take down the seahorse tank and move some of the gorgonians into this tank.  The seahorse tank had a flatworm infestation, so I dipped the gorgonians in Flatworm Exit before adding them to the tank.  Apparently gorgonians don't like Flatworm Exit because they all died rapidly and set off a chain in the tank that led to a crash.

 

5) Diver's Predator Paradise - 40 Gallon Breeder - Established February 15, 2015 and Retired January 29, 2017

 

After the crash of the last tank, I was about ready to throw in the towel, but I managed to pick myself back up and plan a new build.  I decided to upgrade the tank a bit to a 40 breeder to have a bit deeper tank to provide more scaping options (the 30 gallon was super narrow).  I also decided to drill the tank and hard plumb it with a 20 gallon long sump.  This was definitely my most technologically advances tank.  I learned a ton about designing and building a sump, drilling a tank, and plumbing.  It was a lot of fun to DIY so much of the build.  However, after it had been set up for a bit, I was still feeling very burned out and just uninspired.  I started doing a lot of research and thinking about what I could do to try something different and get myself re-inspired.  I ended up deciding to try the unique combination of a nano, mixed reef, predator tank.  I ended up stocking the tank with 3 dwarf lionfish, a snowflake eel, my first ever tang, a clownfish pair, and a super male melanurus wrasse.  I absolutely loved the fish combination in this tank.  I absolutely fell in love with the lionfish and my snowflake eel, Falkor.  They reignited my passion for the hobby and this tank really hit its stride.  I really think this tank was by far my greatest achievement in the hobby and I don't know that I can ever top it.  This tank was awarded TOTM here on N-R in December of 2015.  It ended up being featured in a Marine Depot Video and on the cover of Reef Hobbyist Magazine.  I was also invited to talk about this tank on an episode of Reef Threads podcast.  I loved this tank, but life got super busy with me finishing my PhD, writing my dissertation, and then starting a new job.  I was neglecting it and the predators began to get too large for the tank.  I had always planned to upgrade to a larger tank, but I was just so busy with life that I didn't have the energy to upgrade to a larger system.  I finally made the very hard decision to retire the tank and take a much needed break from the hobby.  I think I will always miss this tank and my predators, but I definitely needed a break.  After 6 months without a reef tank, I was able to come back re-energized to set up a smaller, simpler system to fit into my current lifestyle.

 

Anyways, that's the crazy long tour through my history in the hobby!  I was not expecting to write such a long post, but that was fun!  No worries if you don't want to read my rambling.  Just look at the pretty pictures! 

[Felicia]

The tank inhabitants were super active after feeding time this evening, so I decided to make a video.  Here it is!  P.S. - Make sure you change the quality setting to 1080p 

 

 

[Felicia]

And a few quick photos.

 

The firefish.

 

Lily watching the tank.

 

View from my couch.

[OldManSea]

2 hours ago, Felicia said:

Tank Updates

1. The salinity is now up to 1.025 after topping off with saltwater.  Much better!
2. The firefish ate like a champ this evening!  She doesn't seem to be into the PE Pellets, so I got some Ocean Nutrition Formula One flakes for her and she took right to those.  Glad all the fish seem to have settled in.

 

Tank History

I set up my first ever saltwater tank on September 5, 2011, so I've been keeping reefs for a little over 6 years now.  As I've been setting up this tank, I've been thinking back on each of the tanks I've had during that time period.  I'm thinking it would be fun to go back through the history of my tanks.  So here we go!

 

1) Diver's Paradise - 10 Gallon - Established September 5, 2011 and Retired January 22, 2012

 

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I started this tank.  This was just a standard 10 gallon aquarium with an AquaClear 70 filter that I fuged modded and a SUPER cheap T5 light fixture.  I listened to the LFS and cycled it using damsels that I eventually traded back into the LFS.  I had no idea regarding the concept of scaping and just threw in some big chunks of live rock.  Also I used to pieces of non-porous landscaping rock as base rock because, again, clueless!  I'm amazed I didn't kill everything!  I did have a brooklynella outbreak that was brought into the tank my a little yellow clown goby.  I had my first experience with setting up a quarantine tank and letting the display run fallow for 6 weeks.  I actually used tap water the entire time I had this tank as well.  Never had any algae issues though, because luckily we have amazing tap water in Berkeley.  I also had no idea how to place corals at the time and just put them willy nilly all over the place.  Nevertheless, this tank got me hooked on the hobby and it only took 4.5 months for me to upgrade to a larger tank.

 

2) Diver's Paradise - 30 Gallon - Established January 17, 2012 and Retired February 25, 2014

 

I was totally hooked on the hobby and need more space for my coral addiction, so I took down my 37 gallon cichlid tank and set up a standard 30 gallon aquarium.  This was another all hang-on-back system with the AquaClear 70 fuge mod and a HOB skimmer.  I eventually removed the skimmer because I could never get it dialed in to not product crazy microbubbles.  I decided to take my first foray into LED lighting, but my budget was super tight (graduate student at the time).  I ended up getting a kit and made my own LED light fixture, which was a ton of fun.  It actually ended up being a pretty great light considering that it was cheap and DIY.  I saved up some money during the life of this tank and added some upgrades - an MP10, my first ATO system, and an RODI unit (I finally stopped using tap water!).  This tank actually did amazingly well considering how low tech it was.  It won TOTM here on Nano-Reef in July of 2013!  I really crammed this tank full of coral!  I hadn't narrowed in on what I liked most, but wanted a bit of everything.  I really learned a lot about the different corals by having this tank.  This tank sadly ended up crashing early in 2014 due to a wrasse that I purchased stirring up the 2 year old sandbed.

 

3) Diver's Pony Paradise - 30 Gallon - Established August 4, 2013 and Retired Winter of 2014

 

My foray into the keeping of multiple tanks began!  I also had a 10 gallon frag tank running for a while during this time period, so at one point I had 3 reef tanks.  While my 30 gallon mixed reef was still going strong, I decided I wanted to try my hand at keeping seahorses.  I purchased an old used Oceanic 30 gallon glass cube that I cleaned up and turned into a custom all-in-on system.  This was also my first experience with an AIO aquarium.  This tank is the tank that inspired my love of gorgonians, softies, and sponges.  I was limited to those types of corals/inhabitants with the seahorses, but I ended up falling in love with the look of the gorgonian/softy dominated tank.  At its prime, this tank held 4 captive bred seahorses that ate frozen PE mysis 2-3 times per day.  I loved this tank, but over time it because quite the maintenance hassle.  With the amount of food the seahorses had to eat, the filtration couldn't really keep up and I began to have issues with infections in the seahorses.  I was also fighting a really bad red planaria flatworm infestation in this tank.  This tank was eventually retired.  I learned the lesson that while it seems fun to set up multiple tanks, in the long term it gets exhausting to maintain them.  Since the retirement of this tank, I've stuck to just one reef tank at a time.

 

4) Diver's Paradise: The Sequel - 30 gallon - Established February 28, 2014 and Retired February 15, 2015

 

After the crash of the original Diver's Paradise, I decided to completely reboot the tank.  I transferred everything still living into a temporary tank that sat on my kitchen floor while I set up and cycled the re-build of the 30 gallon.  I set the tank back up using new live rock and sand and reused the same equipment.  In this tank I started to focus in on specific types of coral and was keeping a variety of fluffy LPS (euphyllias, elegance) and a variety of anemones (BTAs, tube anemones, and flower anemones).  In terms of fish stocking, this tank really started my love of wrasses.  Eventually, I ended up adding a little 5 gallon sump to this aquarium using a HOB overlow box.  I added a filter sock, media reactor, and skimmer to the sump.  I also ended up upgrading from my DIY LED fixture to a Maxspect Razor 27" 160 Watt fixture.  Unfortunately, this tank ended up crashing when I decided to take down the seahorse tank and move some of the gorgonians into this tank.  The seahorse tank had a flatworm infestation, so I dipped the gorgonians in Flatworm Exit before adding them to the tank.  Apparently gorgonians don't like Flatworm Exit because they all died rapidly and set off a chain in the tank that led to a crash.

 

5) Diver's Predator Paradise - 40 Gallon Breeder - Established February 15, 2015 and Retired January 29, 2017

 

After the crash of the last tank, I was about ready to throw in the towel, but I managed to pick myself back up and plan a new build.  I decided to upgrade the tank a bit to a 40 breeder to have a bit deeper tank to provide more scaping options (the 30 gallon was super narrow).  I also decided to drill the tank and hard plumb it with a 20 gallon long sump.  This was definitely my most technologically advances tank.  I learned a ton about designing and building a sump, drilling a tank, and plumbing.  It was a lot of fun to DIY so much of the build.  However, after it had been set up for a bit, I was still feeling very burned out and just uninspired.  I started doing a lot of research and thinking about what I could do to try something different and get myself re-inspired.  I ended up deciding to try the unique combination of a nano, mixed reef, predator tank.  I ended up stocking the tank with 3 dwarf lionfish, a snowflake eel, my first ever tang, a clownfish pair, and a super male melanurus wrasse.  I absolutely loved the fish combination in this tank.  I absolutely fell in love with the lionfish and my snowflake eel, Falkor.  They reignited my passion for the hobby and this tank really hit its stride.  I really think this tank was by far my greatest achievement in the hobby and I don't know that I can ever top it.  This tank was awarded TOTM here on N-R in December of 2015.  It ended up being featured in a Marine Depot Video and on the cover of Reef Hobbyist Magazine.  I was also invited to talk about this tank on an episode of Reef Threads podcast.  I loved this tank, but life got super busy with me finishing my PhD, writing my dissertation, and then starting a new job.  I was neglecting it and the predators began to get too large for the tank.  I had always planned to upgrade to a larger tank, but I was just so busy with life that I didn't have the energy to upgrade to a larger system.  I finally made the very hard decision to retire the tank and take a much needed break from the hobby.  I think I will always miss this tank and my predators, but I definitely needed a break.  After 6 months without a reef tank, I was able to come back re-energized to set up a smaller, simpler system to fit into my current lifestyle.

 

Anyways, that's the crazy long tour through my history in the hobby!  I was not expecting to write such a long post, but that was fun!  No worries if you don't want to read my rambling.  Just look at the pretty pictures! 

Fascinating to see the illustrated history!

[gena]

Oh my gosh, how fun to see all of your tanks again .  I absolutely love them all but the seahorse tank is my favorite.  I just love those curly-q "gorgonians" .

 

Next week at this time we'll be at RAP

[Lula_Mae]

3 hours ago, gena said:

Oh my gosh, how fun to see all of your tanks again .  I absolutely love them all but the seahorse tank is my favorite.  I just love those curly-q "gorgonians" .

 

Next week at this time we'll be at RAP

Me too, I don't even know what they are called, but the spiral curly-q ones are so cool!

[Thunder Goose]

Those are Cirrhipathes aka wire corals. I've only seen them for sale at Archetype Aquariums. They are on my wish list! 

 

How'd they do for you, Dr. F?