Extra Salty 365 acroholic fuge

[This guy is extra salty]

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

So uh.....nice OTHER TANK you got there..... 

[debbeach13]

Wait - what? I thought you were down to one tank.

[This guy is extra salty]

3 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Wait - what? I thought you were down to one tank.

 

15 hours ago, The Rainy Day Aquarium said:

So uh.....nice OTHER TANK you got there..... 

Quarantine tank, doesn’t count as a tank.

🤫

[debbeach13]

Doesn't count with who?

Seems like a pretty good size and filling up with coral. Just giving you a hard time. It is ok to give us some details. If you get some free time. Oh and a front view photo.

[This guy is extra salty]

I started a thread for the quarantine 

 

 

[This guy is extra salty]

Well I have been noticing my tricolor stag has been having STN along with another acropora... and I caught an emerald crab going to town on the flesh and polyps. I caught the little chit red clawed now he has been moved to the QT. 🤬 debating on flushing said little chit

[This guy is extra salty]

He is currently in jail

lived too much of that “pinch life” on that carapace crew

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Smh. It's looking like crab legs for dinner. 😔

[This guy is extra salty]

5 hours ago, The Rainy Day Aquarium said:

Smh. It's looking like crab legs for dinner. 😔

No I’m not that cruel but I’m still pissed. 
It’s in the gauntlet, since it escaped jail. 

It will now be picking fights with bristle worms in the return section

[debbeach13]

Glad you were able to remove it. Do you like the corals might recover?

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Haha just kidding 😉 I'm sorry to hear about the damage that has been inflicted, hopefully the coral will recover. Lol, but it looks like you have the cousin of the infamous "Bad Crab" in @kimberbee 's tank.

[kimberbee]

2 hours ago, The Rainy Day Aquarium said:

but it looks like you have the cousin of the infamous "Bad Crab" in @kimberbee 's tank.

Who is still alive, just to spite me. It's basically been in a jar with no heat or flow for most of the year. 

 

@This guy is extra salty hopefully your crab was easy to catch and doesn't try to escape his cell!

[This guy is extra salty]

6 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Glad you were able to remove it. Do you like the corals might recover?

It’s possible, I’ll have to check them over the next few days. 
 

2 hours ago, kimberbee said:

Who is still alive, just to spite me. It's basically been in a jar with no heat or flow for most of the year. 

 

@This guy is extra salty hopefully your crab was easy to catch and doesn't try to escape his cell!

i caught it chowing down, I wanted to see why two healthy colonies were randomly STN then stop and start back up again. So I went investigating with a flashlight and snatched it up with long tweezers.

[This guy is extra salty]

So this is the end result of the crabs 🦀 damage, the (center) acro is still having some STN issues and the tricolor (bottom right)  has normalized today (hopefully) 

[This guy is extra salty]

FTS 1/3/2021

From the QT

[This guy is extra salty]

Mangrove Monday 

[This guy is extra salty]

FTS 1/22/21

 

as y’all can tell, I had to remove the T5’s and the light rack. The mangroves are getting too tall and I am having to use gardening training wire to bend them away from the light. Everything is growing quite ridiculously especially all of the macro algae. but I have noticed that my magnesium levels have been extremely low because of my Montipora’s seem very dull and faded. I do a biweekly water change of 5 gallons and I have been dosing about one or 2 mL of magnesium daily. I know it’s getting close to the contest end I’ll try to keep up with doing more updates.

[kimberbee]

The tank looks great, especially the mangroves.

 

Just make sure you get your summary and FTS done by the end of the month. Though you've already posted shots for January, so technically you're covered there. 😆

[This guy is extra salty]

“Start” 3/7/2020 (got wet)

 

FTS 1/25/2021

 

Well this tank has had a bunch of ups and downs let lone being moved twice last year. 
the “Acro-Fuge” being a SPS dominant tank with the flair of having macro algae for nutrient export has helped it become a Ultra low maintenance tank. The mangroves have shown the most noticeable growth since I just recently had to remove the additional T5 light rack so they can grow straight (up)

the original inhabitant (pistol shrimp) is still in there I hear it from time to time freaking me out cause it sounds like plastic is breaking or being snapped. It has a murderous streak for bristle worms and has taken the life of “York” the black clown fish. Pepe and Moo are still enjoying the anemone and only leave it when it’s feeding time (morning/night) but the seem to like the caulerpa forest that surrounds the anemone. As for “Gary” the sole chromis is still a derp and tries to snuggle the anemone cause it thinks it’s a clownfish.  Last week I added a bicolor blenny (no name yet) that seem to keeping some of the nuisance algae at bay but loves to perch on my rainbow gonipora (irritating it all the time) but it keeps the sweeper tentacles from going nuts. Lastly coral, from start to finish I only lost 4 corals over the past year. Two were cause of a bad crab (tossed into return pump chamber) one acropora fell into the anemone and STN over a week (I thought it would’ve stopped but I should’ve fragged off pieces)  and the last one was a mystery RTN (meteor shower cyphastrea) I was stumped since all of the other acros were having significant growth. 
 

I didn’t really have a maintenance schedule or much of a dosing regimen I primarily used Kalk+2 in my 18g ATO container which I filled biweekly. I would add 20ml of replenish(Brightwell aquatics)  every Sunday. And I would add 20 drops of coral aminos (Brightwell aquatics) the following Monday. I would skip dosing whenever I did a biweekly/monthly water change (5gallons)

whenever I did remember to do it (or if something wasn’t looking right)

 

I would have to say the tank was a easy keeper. I am definitely going to keep the tank running well after the contest is over since it is my Son’s tank. It was built with him in mind so the maintenance is extremely low (so I can watch him not the tank) another thing is that I literally DIY’d everything on this setup minus the return pump, heaters, lights, and ATO.  I enjoyed building this tank, stand, and media/light rack. Basically without the need to buy anything (besides heaters) cause I used equipment that already had laying around. I may be frugal but I definitely built something to last that I will never give up. 

[debbeach13]

Congratulations on making it to the end. Low maintenance tanks are the best! I think you should be in the running for DYI. Good luck.

[This guy is extra salty]

The acrofuge needed an new light for the mangroves, I think it’s high enough for growth.

 

maybe they’ll start growing straight instead of all weird like🤷‍♂️

[kimberbee]

I like the wiggly mangrove look!! 

 

Good luck!!

[This guy is extra salty]

18 hours ago, kimberbee said:

I like the wiggly mangrove look!! 

 

Good luck!!

Lol yea I have training wire on them now but they still look goofy AF

 

 

[This guy is extra salty]

FTS 2/1/2021