M&C 20G Red Sea Max Nano - 1.5 year update

[M&C]

Pictures turned out better than usual today, just using a yellow filter on an iPhone XS Max and playing with the AI Prime light settings.

 

 

[M&C]

Managed to get a nice picture of our pink-streaked wrasse today as well. He hangs out on the scolymia a lot.

 

[Wonderboy]

Great shots! Scolymia is looking killer!

[Reefscape]

Lovely setup! 👍

[Reefjunkye]

Beautiful tank mate!! 

[kimberbee]

Looks great!!

[DNR88]

That's such a cute fish! 😄

[M&C]

Thank you all! Finally settled on light settings I like for picture taking, so hopefully more nice pictures like these to come 😊

[Matteo]

Nice tank mate! 

[M&C]

Hmm, looks like our orange clownfish decided to move into the duncan colony. Anyone have experience with something like this? Does it mean they're not a true pair if they're not hosted by the same coral?

 

In other news, UPS sucks. Ordered some corals for Saturday delivery and got an update saying I wasn't home and that my package would be available for pickup from a UPS place on MONDAY. Really? Why do you think I got Saturday delivery? Maybe because I'd be HOME FROM WORK WAITING FOR THE PACKAGE ALL DAY? So not only did their driver lie for whatever reason, their customer service has been atrocious. Still making multiple phone calls to see if there's anyway I can pick the package up somewhere before the end of the day and I keep getting the runaround. The weather is nice here but I doubt SPS can make it 3 days in a shipping box. 

[M&C]

Things are pretty much firing on all cylinders right now. Lots of new encrusting growth on the acros and montis, colors are developing nicely on a few newer frags, and coralline algae keeps popping up all over the rocks. Still ticked about UPS messing up their shipment over the weekend but Aqua SD customer service has been excellent and it's looking like they'll help us out. I think our next goal is to add another fish, probably after Thanksgiving sometime. Our original plan was to add a helfrichi firefish and yellow watchman goby, but there are so many other great options! Bangaii cardinals and royal grammas are also high on the list.

 

11/12/19 FTS:

 

 

[TerribleLobster]

Looks great, I'm impressed the sand is so clean too! What nitrate level are you aiming for in the tank?

[M&C]

6 minutes ago, TerribleLobster said:

Looks great, I'm impressed the sand is so clean too! What nitrate level are you aiming for in the tank?

 

Thank you! I do stir up the sand every week during water changes to keep it clean. As far as nitrates go, we're aiming for 5-10ppm. It's been stuck at 2.5ppm since the beginning, so hopefully the addition of a new fish in a month or so will bump it up a bit. 

[Elizabeth94]

I really love your choice in corals! Once it fills out its going to be even more awesome. Having all your corals on the rock and not the sand gives a much cleaner look imo. Im going to have a hard time doing that this time around. 
 

Beautiful!

[M&C]

1 hour ago, Elizabeth94 said:

I really love your choice in corals! Once it fills out its going to be even more awesome. Having all your corals on the rock and not the sand gives a much cleaner look imo. Im going to have a hard time doing that this time around. 
 

Beautiful!

Thanks for the kind words! It is hard to keep corals off the sand, simply because there are so many we want and not enough room on the rocks. I do love the negative space though, I feel like it keeps the overall look more balanced and cleaner as you said. 

[olig]

Following, I really like the look of your tank. How do you find your corals cope with being hosted by clowns? My clowns always cause the corals they go in to retract which worries me it's not great for the corals 

[M&C]

2 hours ago, olig said:

Following, I really like the look of your tank. How do you find your corals cope with being hosted by clowns? My clowns always cause the corals they go in to retract which worries me it's not great for the corals 

There must be some amount of luck honestly. If I really had to guess I’d say the coral‘s size and general health has a lot to do with it as well. The torch never showed any issues, and the duncan was a little mad the first few days but went back to normal after that. 

[M&C]

Side-shot Sunday? This is quickly becoming my favorite view.

 

New additions this weekend. If you couldn't already tell, I love micromussa colonies 😍

 

 

Got a great deal on this RMF last dragon acro at my LFS, couldn't pass it up!

 

After doing nothing for a couple months the setosa is encrusting like crazy! Colors are popping on most of the other acros as well.

 

Mummy eye chalice

[Matteo]

Nice! I had just snagged a mummy eye. Had to have it, so fricken florescent. Tanks is looking b e a utiful! 

 

I think you need a single high end scoly or clam right in that corner 😉 granted the clean look is really nice too

[M&C]

Tried some top down shots and really like how they turned out. I think my favorite part of these is just how well the teal highlights come out on the oregon tort. It's SO BLUE!! Also that pink hammer coral is seriously starting to outgrow that back corner, I think we underestimated how much space it would take up. We're probably going to switch things up in that section of the tank in the near future, but still working out the details. 

 

[Matteo]

That's the good stuff right there ^^^ 

[blizzardscout2]

Looking good! Your pictures are fantastic. Everything is looking really great, keep up the good work. 

[M&C]

55 minutes ago, blizzardscout2 said:

Looking good! Your pictures are fantastic. Everything is looking really great, keep up the good work. 

Thanks! I don’t think they’re as good as some of the amazing pictures I see on here, but it’s pretty cool what can be done with a phone camera and cheap filter lens. 

[M&C]

Well here's to the first big hurdle. Newish walt disney frag RTN'd overnight and I have no idea why. All parameters checked out except for magnesium being a little low at 1260. Everything else looks happy. Oh well.

[Matteo]

2 minutes ago, M&C said:

Well here's to the first big hurdle. Newish walt disney frag RTN'd overnight and I have no idea why. All parameters checked out except for magnesium being a little low at 1260. Everything else looks happy. Oh well.

Pics or it didn't happen