A Young Interstice

[Leoito]

 

Equipment

Aquarium: Fluval Evo 13.5 
Lighting: HIPARGERO Aqua Knight 30W LED Light Tide Plus M
Flow: Stock pump ( GPH) and a Sicce Voyager Nano 1000 (270 GPH)

Heating/Cooling: Aqueon 100W Heater 
Filter Media: 

• First Chamber (in descending order): filter floss, purigen empty slot, some yellow sponge padding, and the included Fluval biological media. 
• Second Chamber: 1L of Seachem Matrix in a media bag 

Salt: Instant Ocean Sea Salt Reef Crystals Reef Salt

Hardscape:

• ~10-11 pounds of MarcoRocks Reef Saver Dry Rock; still have some leftover since I received around 14 pounds originally.
• ~1 pound of live rock from LFS for seeding the tank.
• Some (long dry) seashell fragments, sand dollar fragments, and snail shells for variety.

Substrate: CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade (10 lb.)

Stand: Secondhand metal university desk, but extremely stable; covered top with an Innovative Marine DIY self leveling mat.

 

Maintenance 

• Water change of ~4-5 gallons (weekly)
• Remove pump and powerhead; scrape off bulk of buildup and rinse pump internal filter (~3 weeks)
• Change filter floss whenever it looks dirty (typically every 3-4 days or after heavy feeding) 
• Clean glass w/ razor blade scraper or mag-float if needed 

 

Feeding and Supplements:

• 10mL of OceanMagik (daily)
• pinch of crushed up Omega One Super Color NutriDiet Marine flakes (every other day)
• 3-4 spirulina and/or shrimp pellets (every other day)
• small portion of Hikari mysis shrimp (weekly)
• half quarter half a capful of FritzZyme 9 from an 8 oz. bottle (weekly)
•  blend of coral foods (reef-roids, coralific delite, mysis shrimp leftovers, etc.) (~1.5 weeks)
• various foods to get the cycle going and test what fish/inverts like (i.e. spirulina pellets, tropical flakes, micro pellets, mysis shrimp, etc.)

Stocking

Fish

• Pink-Streaked (or Cryptic) Wrasse (Pseudocheilinops ataenia)
• BIOTA Court Jester (or Rainford's) Goby (Koumansetta rainfordi) MIA
• Orange Spotted Goby (Amblyeleotris guttata) Managed to leap out of tank through netting 😞

Motile Inverts

• (potentially two) Randall's Pistol Shrimp (Alpheus randalli)
• Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis)
• Clean-Up Crew (CUC)
  • 1 Scarlet Hermit Crab (Paguristes cadenati)
  • 3 Blue Eyed(?) Hermit Crabs
  • 3 Florida Ceriths (Cerithium sp.)
  • Many Dwarf Ceriths (Cerithium sp.)
  • 2 Zig Zag Periwinkles
  • 1/2 Marginella Snails (Prunum apicinum)
  • 1 Nassarius Vibex
  • 3 Nerite Snails

Sessile Inverts

•  

Coral/Sponge/Macroalgae

• Soft
  • Green Star Polyps (Pachyclavularia sp.)
  • Red Sea Pom Pom Xenia (Xenia sp.)
  • 'Dipping Dots' Mushroom Coral (Actinodiscus sp.)
  • Superman Mushroom 
  • Superman Rhodactis (Rhodactis sp.)
  • Green Rhodactis (Rhodactis sp.)
  • Orange Ricordea (Ricordea florida)
• LPS
  • Red Australian Blastomussa Wellsi (Blastomussa wellsi)
  • Neon Goniastrea (Goniastrea sp.)
  • 'Rainbow Glitter' Favia (Favia sp.)
  • ARC 'Allstar' Favia (Favia sp.)
  • Purple Branching Hammer Coral (Euphyllia ancora)
  • Green Tip Branching Hammer Coral (Euphyllia sp.)
  • Gold Branching Hammer Coral (Euphyllia sp.)
  • 'Orange Juice' Echinata ()
  • ARC 'Bottom Dweller' Echinata Acan ()
  • ARC 'Agent Orange' Acan (Micromussa lordhowensis)
• SPS
  • Blue Pocillopora/Bird's Nest Coral? (Seriatopora hystrix)
• Sponge
  • Photosynthetic Red Plating Sponge (Collospongia sp.)
  • Photosynthetic Blue Plating Sponge (Collospongia sp.) MIA
• Macroalgae
  • Chaeto (Chaetomorpha linum)

 

 

(These are planned to be stocked in the future and are thus tentative at best; 1 is while the tank is fairly young, 2 is for a more settled in tank, and 3 is for an established tank)

Motile Inverts

• Porcelain Anemone Crab (2) (Neopetrolisthes ohshimai)

Sessile Inverts

• Crocea Clam (3) (Tridacna crocea)
• Feather Duster(s) (2)

Coral/Sponge/Macroalgae

• Pipe Organ Coral (2)
• Candy Cane Coral (branching) (2)
• A Species of Photosynthetic Gorgonian (1-2)
• Blue Hypnea Macroalgae (1-2) (Hypnea pannosa)
• Less likely, but maybe...
  • Duncans (2-3)

 

I've been wanting to get into nano reefs for quite awhile now at this point (earliest evidence I can find is a Google doc with livestock back from 2015, with one of the choices being a flaming prawn goby 😅). However, because of money, time, and probably what would have become a lack of commitment, I never got into the hobby. Fast forward to 2 years ago, when I got randomly re-interested in the nano reef hobby, my attention was redirected in another direction: the nano planted tank hobby. Ultimately, this was probably a step in the right direction given that I got to learn the cycling process, stocking limits, and other basic concepts in a more forgiving setup. 

After 2 years, four tanks (a Fluval Spec V, Fluval Spec III, Dennerle 2.5 gallon "pond", and now Fluval Flex 9 this past January; I still run all four tanks, with the addition of the Fluval Evo 13.5 now being welcomed to the family), a number of different successes and failures (plants melting, finally creating a stable colony of carbon rili shrimp, blue-green algae problems, trying and succeeding/failing at aquascapes to varying degrees, etc.), the pandemic, and some drifting thoughts at finals lead me to reconvene on the idea of making a nano reef tank. Now, the Fluval Evo 13.5 provides me with what I hope to be my first branch off into the reef-keeping hobby. 

I'm currently dubbing this tank "A Young Interstice" for its prominent gap in the rock work, an interstice just being "an intervening space, especially a very small one."
Hoping to (eventually) upgrade this title to "A Mature Interstice" and then "An Old Interstice", but those are both a long ways off. 😉 

Start Date: 6/14/2020

More updates to come.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Leoito

[Leoito]

For future reference, here's some pictures of the tank's initial developments. 

 

6/13/2020 (Hardscape put into place, tank filled later in the day.)

 

6/14/2020 (First full day of the tank running; lights kept off most of the time)

[Leoito]

Current look of the tank as of 6/16/2020

[Leoito]

Some things I wanted to mention: 

• As you might have seen in the pictures of the tank on 6/13/2020, I took inspiration 😉 and made my own DIY media basket for the Evo 13.5 using eggcrate and zipties. Not running any chemical filtration as of present, but I might add some PhosGuard and/or Purigen as my needs change. 
• While I won't be using an ATO to begin with, I am planning on adding a "WuyouChy Auto Top Off", which is essentially just a stand/clip that sits on the rim of the tank and gravity feeds fresh water from a bottle you screw into it. Reviews for it were/are good, so I'm hoping for the best. 
• I'm using a refractometer for testing the salinity of the water. I have some calibration fluid rated at 35 ppt, so I'll try and recalibrate the thing every once in awhile. Currently aiming to maintain a salinity around 1.024 to 1.025. 

Some questions in case anyone comes across this: 

• Are there any good, all-around reef supplements for a softy and LPS dominated reef (with maybe the exception of one "easy" SPS)? Would something like this even be needed if I'm doing weekly water changes?
• Would getting a DI attachment for my RO unit be worth it? My RO unit outputs water with a TDS of around 6-8 (according to my $20 TDS meter).

 

[Leoito]

6/20/2020  

• Added some more shell, sand dollar, and dry rock rubble to the tank.
• Added the aforementioned gravity fed auto top off after filling it with RO water; seems to be working well thus far. Appears to take around four days before it empties completely. 

 

6/21/2020

 

6/22/2020

• Removed the top inch or so of eggcrate so I could position the included overflow level changer(?) backwards into the filter floss. Worked out alright, but I had to tweak it a bit up and down such that the back chambers would still be decently full of water. On another note, it appears to be doing a good job at both skimming the surface of the water and forcing incoming water through the filter floss.

 

6/24/2020

• Moved the water level top off battle to the far side of the back chamber; little bit more out of the way now, especially if I ever add a light on a gooseneck stand. 
• Completed a ~3 gallon water change on Tuesday; I'll test the water parameters soon enough. Still continuing my daily regimen of adding various fish foods and half of a capful of FritzZyme 9. 

 

6/25/2020

• Removed the black hexagonal(?) pattern from the front and right side of the glass because (since the tank is on a stand that's somewhat low) it makes the tank look a tad smaller. It took a bit of time and razor blade scraper I had laying around for algae, but I'm decently pleased that it looks slightly taller to me in-person. 

 

[Leoito]

Was away on a trip last week; set the timer to have a 2 hour photo-period and the tank was "fed" a couple of times during that time, so hopefully some of the bacteria that I've been dosing is still doing well. I have continued my daily fish food and FritzZyme 9 application, but I reduced the amount of FritzZyme 9 since coming back.

 

7/7/2020

• Completed a ~4 gallon water change; using a 100W heater to keep the water temp. stable and a small air pump from Aquarium Co-Op to "mix" and aerate it before adding. 

 

7/10/2020

• LFS recently reopened with curbside pick-up only; picked up around a pound of live rock to really get some biodiversity established in the tank and hopefully ensuring that the other rocks will be seeded with life given enough time. I think the selection of chunks (given that it wasn't done in-person), both in shape and life present, are pretty good for what they could have been. 
• The little Coleman cooler (idea stolen from the Inappropriate Reefer on YouTube) at least kept any water from leaks under control this time around. Hoping that it also does a good job of keeping the temperature constant whenever I go to pick up some fish/inverts/coral.
• None of the algae and other potential life on the rocks I picked up looks like a potentially "bad" hitchhiker, but I might have to take a visit to the identification forum if something does arise.

 

 

 

[Leoito]

Moving Forward

• A goal of mine moving forward is to increase the biodiversity and bottom food levels (i.e. plankton, algaes, copepods, etc.), which, while I hope they've been greatly elevated from the bare-bones state the tank was in, may still be somewhat lacking.  
  • Maybe purchase a pound of premium live rock from Atlantic Reef Conversation (ARC)? Their website says they won't be reopening until August, so we'll see how things look at that point.
  • AlgaeBarn has a few interesting packs, such as the Poseidon’s Feast & OceanMagik (pods + phytoplankton). I was already considering picking up some blue hypnea macroalgae whenever it came back in stock, so perhaps that would be an opportune time to add a healthy dose of copepods and phytoplankton.
• Fish and corals are something I'm looking forward to in the near future, but the selection I might be able to get from my LFS is still up in the air. Because of this, the plans and order I wanted to add to the tank are likely to be rearranged. Nothing too crazy (no SPS to start off with or feather dusters in an immature tank), but I may have to take what I can get in some situations. Even with this in mind, whatever I decide on will still be something I'm comfortable with in the long term, at least nothing I'm more than likely to regret a couple months down the line.
  • Still hoping I can get a shrimp/goby pair and some Ricordea florida or other softy to start off with, but only time (or rather the LFS) will tell.

[Leoito]

7/17/2020

• Picked up a cryptic or pink-streaked wrasse (Pseudocheilinops ataenia); it's not the possum wrasse I originally planned for, but in terms of temperament and size, this little wrasse (unsure whether it's male or female) should fit the job quite well. It also happens to be quite cute, so I can't complain.
• I also picked up a Randall's pistol shrimp (Alpheus randalli). Went to the back of the tank and I haven't seem them in-person since—some occasional 'clicking' sounds and sandscape(?) changes gives me hope they're just busy digging underneath the left rock pile.
  • No shrimp goby for now, but hopefully soon.

Matching the temperature of the pink-streaked wrasse's bag; drip-acclimating the Randall's pistol shrimp.

 

The Randall's pistol shrimp is certainly tiny—ran the drip acclimation for around half an hour.   

 

Shot of the pink-streaked wrasse still in the bag—unsurprisingly skittish, even with the lights turned off.

 

7/18/2020

• Colonization of the dry rock is much more noticeable; color on the sandbed as well.
• Shifted the live rock around—a bit happier with the aquascape now. I'll still probably move things around in the future.

 

 

 

7/19/2020

• Was originally considering an AI Prime 16HD as an upgrade for the light, but I couldn't convince myself that spending ~$200 on a light and ~$40 for a stand was a good investment. So instead...

• I got a HIPARGERO LED light fixture off of Amazon. Not exactly the same as an AI Prime, but it should do the trick for much less (~$60)—or at least that's the hope.
  • After seeing it's performance in the Inappropriate Reefer's 10 gallon budget build, I'm more confident that it will do well for my selection of coral choices.
• Also purchased an Innovative Marine DIY SafeScreen mesh screen kit to go along with the light, something which will ideally stop any would-be escapees (unless they somehow manage to fit through the 1/4 inch netting).

 

 

 

First test of the light on full blue/actinic; it's fairly blue, but not this blue irl. 😉

 

 

 

Around full white and blue lights turned on—still not this blue in-person, including the blue lines in the sand. Maybe a yellow/orange camera filter is in order...

 

7/20/2020

• Tinkered around with the HIPARGERO light and managed to set it up peninsula-style, something which I took from an Amazon review of the light showing it off as such. Was less difficult than I thought it was going to be
• A brown algae, or perhaps diatoms, is really starting to appear on the rocks and glass. A clean-up crew might be in order.
• Besides trying Hikari micro pellets and flakes, both of which the wrasse has shown interest and eaten those that have floated by, I tried some frozen mysis shrimp today. The little guy/gal definitely ate some of it, but ran into issues with some of the larger pieces.

 

First shot I managed to capture of the pink-streaked wrasse. He/she has decided to set up camp underneath this ledge for the time being.

 

 

Weird lighting and blue light aside, the variety of algaes on this piece of live rock are interesting.

 

 

Screwed in two short wood screws into the the grills on the left side of the light; fairly easy to do if the screw is only slightly wider than the gaps.

 

Because of this unorthodox setup, the light was drooping on the right side. A small piece of black eggcrate underneath the screws (same stuff I used for the media basket) was enough to make it parallel with the tank once more.

 

 

 

Algae on the front glass; also a good view of the sand grain size.

 

Algae on the back glass.

 

I don't remember the area under this rock being this tunneled out. Maybe it's the work of the yet unseen pistol shrimp.

 

 

 

 

[BearTheSquare]

Super jealous of the pink streak wrasse, my lfs couldn’t source any right now so I threw a 6-line in my tank. Looks like the tank is coming along really well!

[Leoito]

4 minutes ago, BearTheSquare said:

Super jealous of the pink streak wrasse, my lfs couldn’t source any right now so I threw a 6-line in my tank. Looks like the tank is coming along really well!

Thanks for the kind words about its development 👍. My LFS only had one itself, so I'm glad I picked it up when it did; had to confirm the species with them because they had it listed as a "cryptic wrasse" on their site. That said, it has lived up to that common name thus far. How is the temperament of the six-line wrasse?

 

[BearTheSquare]

So far so good on the wrasse, but I know they get aggressive with age. I honestly don’t know how a pink streak would do with my clown being pretty aggressive already.

[Leoito]

My guess is that it would depend on the situation. If the wrasse was introduced first and/or had a fair number of hiding places, it may feel more comfortable exploring the rest of the tank even with an aggressive clown. Though, at the same time, it might make it a good deal harder to break it out of its shy nature.

[Ash1176]

Tank is looking good! Nice setup

[Leoito]

It's a been a bit since my last pics of the tank, but I have some big updates to go along with it. (I may have to split this post into two.)

 

7/23/2020

• A new phone camera has made its debut with these photos; they certainly look better than some previous photos for one reason or another.
• The pink-streaked wrasse (we'll call him/her M until I can figure out the sex) is exploring more of the tank and has decided the powerhead is a suitable hiding spot.
• I have a short video of the wrasse swimming about from this day, but I'll have to see about uploading to YouTube at a later time. 😉

Pink-streaked wrasse coming out from behind the rockwork.

 

7/24/2020

• Added a scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis) to the tank as the first step towards a proper clean-up crew. While he/she, like the pink-streaked wrasse, also likes to hang out underneath the overhang to the left, they've begun exploring the top of the rockscape and adding some well needed activity to the tank.
• Added the first corals to the tank, a frag of GSP and a frag of a red Australian Blastomussa wellsi; the first step towards calling this nano tank a nano reef tank. 😁
• Writing this a week or more out, this is around when I added a bag of purigen to the first chamber.

 

A frag of GSP and red Australian Blastomussa wellsi placed at the end of the tank. Somewhat easy to see the new heads forming on the blasto.

 

The first hiding spot of the scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp. They now prefer the overhang to the left.

 

Entrances (center of image) of the reclusive Randall's pistol shrimp. I've seen them coming out of the larger burrow when it was dark, but no direct visual evidence since.

 

7/25/2020

• Corals finally opened up and appear to be doing well thus far; I'll move them around later to see what parts of the tank they prefer.

 

 

 

[Leoito]

Bit of a delay, but continuing from the last post.

7/26/2020

• Frozen Hikari mysis test today; everything seemed to respond well, including the Blasto wellsi. Pink-streaked wrasse seemed to only spit out pieces at first (if they could even fit them in their mouth), but soon was happily pecking at a few as they drifted by the left side.

Frozen mysis shrimp floating about; GSP was closed because the lights had recently turned on.

 

Blasto wellsi enjoying a piece of mysis shrimp.

 

7/27/2020

• Snapped some pictures of the pink-streaked wrasse out and about. Since he/she only likes to travel far when I'm not next to the tank, these were taken at a distance, hence the lower quality images.

 

7/29/2020

• Performed a ~3 gallon water change; replaced the air stone I was using previously with a small pump salvaged from a hang-on-back filter.
• Algae growth throughout the tank is becoming more apparent.
• Moved the coral frags around to new locations to test compatibility.

 

 

 

 

 

Update on the pistol shrimp's burrows; this image also shows off the (presumably oxygen) bubbles that had begun to form on surfaces.

 

 

 

Ambient light only.

 

[Leoito]

8/1/2020

• Different types of algae (or cyanobacteria) becoming more distinct.

First cleaner shrimp shrimp molt.

 

 

 

 

New location for the GSP frag; hoping to let it grow over more of the coral skeleton.

 

8/3/2020

New coral heads are now visible. (Coral looks washed out, but I'm blaming that on light for this image.)

 

GSP appears to be doing alright; noticed it's receiving a nice, turbulent flow in its new position.

 

8/5/2020

• Performed a ~4 gallon water change.

8/10/2020

•  Unsure of the cause (change in nutrients in general, feeding, etc.), but the algae in the tank is beginning to look less vibrant, hopefully because it's dying back from less free nutrients.

 

Pink-streaked wrasse hiding near the center, next to the blinding blue light.

 

 

New head is getting bigger.

 

 

Bubbles and some debris, presumably both from algae, can be seen floating in the water column.

 

 

8/11/2020

• Another mysis shrimp feast today; Blasto wellsi was especially receiving.
• Algae still showing signs of die back; breaking up and lightening in color.

 

 

 

Most heads chowing down on mysis shrimp.

 

 

[Leoito]

Upcoming Additions

• Reef Cleaners order
  • clean up crew consisting of a variety of snails and hermit crabs
  • pods (adding to the bottom of the food chain)
• Pieces of the Ocean order
  • new fish
  • two new coral frags

[Leoito]

Almost two weeks since my last post, a tank taking shape (and color), and some changes to the plan.

8/13/2020

• Order from Reef Cleaners arrived; drip acclimated the lot (except the bag of pods) and added to the tank afterwards. Some additional empty snail shells were added as well, which the hermits thus far have seemed to appreciate.

A couple of nerites and a small hermit crab (in front).

 

Two scarlet hermit crabs (one with interesting coralline(?) growth on its shell).

 

Florida ceriths and other assorted, small snails.

 

FTS (unfortunately with some flake food in the water column)

 

8/15/2020

• CUC is beginning to make a noticeable impact on the algae cover of the tank.
• Performed a ~3 gallon water change.

Nerites hard at work cleaning algae off the front glass; eggs/larvae they lay down behind them can be seen.

 

 

Another shrimp molt.

 

8/17/2020

• Removed the GSP from its frag plug; stayed irritated for some time. Being bumped off into the substrate a couple times didn't help. 😅

 

Rare glimpse at one of the Marginella snails burrowed around the tank.

 

 

 

8/18/2020

• Pieces of the Ocean (POTO) auction orders arrived. The four new frags were treated with a light dip of ReVive and drip-acclimated.
  • @PiecesOfTheOcean.com Thank you for adding more color to the tank at a decent price point! The auctions were certainly tense, but enjoyable to participate in. 

Example of how the corals were packaged for shipping.

 

"Dipping dot" mushroom coral

 

Rainbow glitter favia

 

Firework clove polyps

 

Neon Goniastrea

 

 

[Tired]

Nice start, I like the scape. Algae coming along well! 

 

I'd stick with just one porcelain crab, assuming you mean the anemone crabs. They can be a bit feisty with each other. Unless you have two completely different areas of hosting candidates, they'd probably clash with each other. Now, I've read that anemone (white with spots) porcelain crabs and green porcelain crabs will tolerate each other, and I know greens will happily live in groups.

[Leoito]

8/19/2020

• Corals beginning to acclimate to tank; some light color changes in the favia and goniastrea.

 

 

 

 

 

GSP finally opening back up; it will be moved around again in the near future.

 

Nerite cleaning off the rightmost rock pile; still not sure what the red, stringy thing is in the bottom right of this image.

 

8/20/2020

 

 

 

GSP was finally superglued (gel form) to the dead coral piece; once again annoyed, but it recovers soon enough.

 

 

 

[Leoito]

27 minutes ago, Tired said:

Nice start, I like the scape. Algae coming along well! 

 

I'd stick with just one porcelain crab, assuming you mean the anemone crabs. They can be a bit feisty with each other. Unless you have two completely different areas of hosting candidates, they'd probably clash with each other. Now, I've read that anemone (white with spots) porcelain crabs and green porcelain crabs will tolerate each other, and I know greens will happily live in groups.

That's something I plan on keeping to—only one porcelain anemone crab for the tank (unless an exception arises). I still have to look more into what they can host; anemones that move around/get big are already disqualified 😅.

 

Here's an example where a pair didn't appear very territorial (towards each other at least).

 

 

[Tired]

That's likely a mated pair, which would explain the lack of territorial behavior. A mated pair of them would be pretty great to have. 

 

They'll host rock flower anemones, which are generally pretty well-behaved. People keep them in picos! They don't tend to wander much, don't get huge, and their sting isn't strong enough to kill corals if they do wander against something. Porcelain crabs may also host ricordea shrooms, and some will take up residence on fleshy things like open brain corals. Personally, with the anecdotal accounts that they don't really do well without a host, I wouldn't get one for a tank without a guaranteed host like a rock flower nem. Rock flowers are great to have anyway. They can get a good 4-6 inches across, but, unless heavily fed, it seems to take them a long time to get that big. Ultras seem to stay a bit smaller and grow a bit slower than their shallow-water, non-ultra relatives. 

They usually stay where you put them, and like to have their foot either jammed into a crevice, or between sand and a hard thing like a rock. They shouldn't eat any of your mobile life, as their sting isn't even strong enough to harm or kill amphipods. I don't know their exact lighting requirements, but if you can keep corals happy, you should have somewhere a RFA will like. Try not to buy a super teeny one if you intend to get a porcelain crab soon, the adults do a bit better with being trampled on. It may scrunch up a bit at first when the crab finds it, but will get used to being stepped on pretty quickly. Be sure to target-feed the crab occasionally, just in case it's needed. And make sure you get the white kind with the dots, not the striped kind, as the striped kind only sometimes hosts anemones.

[Leoito]

8/21/2020

• LiveAquaria order arrived today with animals from their California and Wisconsin facilities.
  • One new fish - a court jester or Rainford's goby (Koumansetta rainfordi) from Biota 😁
  • Three new coral frags

A frag of purple/blue and red photosynthetic sponge; this has been a livestock choice for awhile. When I saw what was essentially a 2 for 1 deal, I knew I had to add it.

 

Frag of purple/green hammer coral.

 

Frag of (believe it or not) Red Sea pom pom xenia; didn't look too great on day one, but it has recovered over time.

 

 

 

Goby's new hiding spot; he/she seems to like the underside of rocks more than the cliffs the wrasse and cleaner shrimp hang out under.

 

8/22/2020

Bubbles that formed in/under(?) the sponge, which I feared might cause damage to it. They have since dissipated.

 

Nerites making good progress on the top of the rockwork.

 

Court jester goby was also a fan of the interstice for a short period of time.

 

 

 

8/23/2020

• Moved new frags around to test their preferences.
• Some of the clove polyps begin to not open, leading to concern.
• Tested around with food types to see what the court jester goby might prefer; thus far, they've taken interest in mysis shrimp and pellets, but I've haven't actually seen them eat any of it. Hoping that they can adjusted onto a more prepared diet over time (especially given their captive-bred background), but they seem fine picking at rocks and sifting the sandbed for now.

 

 

 

 

 

8/24/2020

• Replaced around five gallons of tank water with new saltwater.

8/25/2020

• Removed a few of the frags from their plugs; moved the sponge to a new location (didn't look like it was getting enough flow).

 

 

Checkup on how some of the corals are looking:

The clove polyps are looking the worst of the bunch, and I'm not entirely sure what issue they're facing.

 

[debbeach13]

You got some really nice additions and placement. A little growth and this tank is going to be fantastic.

[Leoito]

15 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

You got some really nice additions and placement. A little growth and this tank is going to be fantastic.

Thank you for the praise, but some of the placement still needs a little ironing out 😏. For instance, I had to switch the favia and blasto around the other day because I noticed the favia sending out tentacles at night; none were touching, but I'd rather not let the blasto get stung in the future. But regardless, you have my appreciation for just checking out its progress.