Jackal's Nuvo EXT 50 Lagoon

[Jackal227]

The left side of the tank continues to fill in with the Acan and Zoa gardens looking good: 

Zoas are full: 

 

The new addition today is this beautiful little Maxima Clam:

Now if I can just get the crabs and snails to quit knocking it over long enough so it can attach.  I've currently got it propped up with some extra frag discs until it attaches 🤞.

 

The Urchin with his tophat:

 

The Hawkfish likes to perch next to the Anemone and stare at me: 

 

The Wrasses never quit moving and are hard to photograph but I got a decent shot of the Leopard showing the nice coloring on it:

 

Overall the tank is still doing well.  It'll be nice to see how things grow in over the next few months. 

 

September FTS (8 months):

 

Rare early morning shot under blues:

[Jackal227]

The tank is still chugging along.  Unfortunately the clam didn't survive.  I wasn't able to get it to attach, probably didn't help that the shrimp/crabs/urchin/snails would knock it over every couple hours. 

 

As the corals have been settling in well I bumped the lighting up 5% today to see if we can increase growth.  Everything else is still doing well.  Took some shots of the tank today. 

 

The BTA was looking nice showing off its bubbles:

 

I've been happy with the addition of the Damsels.  They are always active and as some nice color. 

 

The GSP is due for its bi-monthly trim.  It's pretty incredible that it can grow across the sandbed: 

 

The Utter Chaos Zoas have grown quickly and are becoming a favorite: 

 

The Blastomussa are popping out new heads: 

 

The Acans are always happy: 

 

The Bonsai is my oldest Acro and has grown into a nice colony: 

 

The Anacropora and Digitata have been slow going but are now starting to show growths: 

 

Starting to see growth out of the Setosa as well:

 

The Duncan is huge: 

 

I really like the color and texture on this Chalice:

 

FTS:

[Jackal227]

So far the lighting changes have been going well.  I haven't noticed any bad effects on the corals.  In another week I'll probably bump them another 5%.

 

The Inverts are always entertaining to watch: 

 

 

 

The new Cristata and Frogspawn corals have been doing well and growing.  The center of the tank from left to right:  

 

 

 

 

 

I also sent off my first ICP test for this tank.  The results were pretty uneventful but I guess that's a good thing: 

[Jackal227]

I haven't seen any adverse effects from upping the lighting so I increased another 5% today.  That puts them at 70% max now.

 

Everything is holding steady and still growing. 

 

My fastest grower by far is the Green Slimer.  I wish that they all grew as fast as this guy: 

 

My little Favia garden is filling in nicely.  The colors on these guys are great and they look great as they get big: 

 

 

The Chalices are starting to color up nicely as well.  The golden one is looking nicer now that it has the ring around the outside: 

 

 

The Anemone continues to grow.  Maybe it's time to introduce the new clowns to it: 

 

Current FTS (actually managed to get some fish in the picture):

[Jackal227]

Found one of the Acan frags that fell into the sand today.  While I was reglueing it onto the rock this Emerald Crab thought that it'd be funny to keep pinching my fingers:

Luckily he wasn't able to squeeze hard enough to do damage but it still gave me a little scare at first. 

 

He wasn't the only invert out today:

 

 

I also managed to get a couple decent fish pics as well:

 

 

[Jackal227]

Today's theme, Reds and Oranges around the tank: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jackal227]

Did a water change today and got a new top down shot of the tank: 

The top view really does a great job showing off the deep dimensions of the tank. 

 

I also got a nice pic of the PC Rainbow nub that I saved from RTN.  It's starting to grow outward now:

I hadn't noticed the pinks and purples from the front side.  I'm pretty excited to see this one grow out. 

 

After the water change I decided to move the new clown pair into the tank since they were done with their quarantine.  I picked up a 4" piece of PVC to see if I could direct them towards the Anemone:

 

Looks like a pretty straight shot: 

 

So I added the clowns and they dart right past the Anemone and found their home in the top corner of the tank 🙄. Black Phantom and Snowflake Clowns:

 

So now the tank is back to being fully stocked again. 

[Jackal227]

1st bit of warfare in the tank: 

Both the Hammer and Duncan have been growing quickly and the Hammer started stinging it.  The Leptoseris below it doesn't seem to mind but I had to remove the Duncan before it got damaged.  I moved the Duncan back into the Biocube for now.  It was over 20 heads 😲.  This frees up a large portion of the rockwork for something new.

 

Another large coral in the tank is the Bonsai Acro:

 

The Acans are always happy in this tank: 

 

 

The Myagi Tort has been slow to settle in but has now grown over the frag plug: 

 

It's not the most colorful coral but there's something about the Cristata that I enjoy: 

 

The hardest working member in the tank: 

[Jackal227]

Still holding steady with December FTS:

[Tamberav]

Tank looks great. I love the fish choices 🙂 

[Jackal227]

2 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Tank looks great. I love the fish choices 🙂 

Thank you!  The fish have really worked out well together.  

 

The Wrasses in particular offer lots of activity whether they are hunting pods or creating sandstorms there's always something going on. 

[Jackal227]

Well, the last two months have been rough for the tank.  I've been fighting STN on most of the acros in the tank and lost quite a few.

 

I'm still unsure of the cause but it may of started with an Alkalinity spike.  I sent off an ICP test which didn't reveal anything big.  I use the same water from this tank in my Biocube and there weren't any issues in that tank (no acros in that tank though).

 

After losing a couple acros I struggled a lot adjusting for the changes in consumption.  I eventually stopped dosing 2 part all together as things settled down.  I think the dosing fluctuations contributed to a longer period of STN.

 

Sadly I ended up losing quite a bit:  PC Rainbow, Green Slimer, Red Planet,  Anacropora, Monti Cap, Cristata, one Chalice, and one head on the Hammer colony. 

 

There's still quite a few survivors which is the silver lining.  Most of the LPS are doing well.  The Zoas are all well.  The Bonsai Acro, Myagi Tort, Unknown Green Acro, Digitatas, and Montipora Setosa have survived. 

 

Here's the current tank FTS:

 

There is still some healing that needs to happen but it appears that some stability has returned to the tank.  Some of the corals actually showed growth during this same period.

 

The Favias are turning into nice little colonies: 

 

The Acans are getting large: 

 

This Unknown Green Acro has actually been encrusting while the others struggled: 

 

The Anemone has grown quite a bit as well.   It's close to 6 inches across when spread out now: 

 

This guy never quits working: 

 

I noticed something moving between the Zoas today.  Looking closer it is a little bivalve that was opening and closing.  I don't know how long it's been there because the Zoas have been in the tank for a year now.  Maybe it's always been there and has now grown big enough to be noticed.  It's amazing that I've never seen it before: 

 

[Jackal227]

Even though the corals are going through their recovery the fish are happy and keep the tank interesting. 

 

Banggai cardinal always looking for mysis: 

 

I never get tired of watching the Leopard wrasse: 

 

The Damsels are always out and on display:

 

The yellow Wrasse is near impossible to photo as he never stops moving but is a joy to watch when he isn't busy digging up the sandbed looking for food: 

 

Might be the only fish that happily will pose for a photo, he's getting big: 

 

[Mr. Microscope]

Stunning and inspiring tank!  So many fun pieces.  I love all those acans.  Well done!

[Jackal227]

7 hours ago, Mr. Microscope said:

Stunning and inspiring tank!  So many fun pieces.  I love all those acans.  Well done!

Thank you!

[Jackal227]

During the water change today I took a couple top down shots.

 

The Zoas have really filled in nicely.  The Utter Chaos are spreading like crazy: 

 

Same with the Acans, they're starting to squeeze into each other:

 

The camera doesn't show off the true colors of the Anemone from the front side, but the top down captures it nicely: 

[banasophia]

Beautiful 🤩 

[Jackal227]

8 hours ago, banasophia said:

Beautiful 🤩 

Thank you.  The tank is starting to stabilize again. 

[Jackal227]

The tank is still doing well.  There's a bit of algae starting to grow but the good news is the Alkalinity consumption is going up again.  It's about time to turn the dosers back on as I'm finally seeing some growth again. 

 

FTS: