The Shamana Reef Tank

[TLueken1]

Long story short. I have been meaning to get a tank up and running again for sometime (5yrs). Went through so many ideas, and so many candidate tanks. I finally did it. So, here it is.

Background (mine)

I have had 2 reef tanks in the past. First tank was during high school. Went well until vacation. Mi Madre didn't do top offs. Heater exploded. Welcome home. Second tank was during "College". My life started to get hectic. Tore down the tank. Laid in hibernation ever since.

 

I'm back now. Hopefully, for good.

 

Background (not mine)

Black Krylon Fusion

 

Hard Goods

Standard 10g Tank

Finnex 100W Submersible Heater

Hipargero Aqua Knight LED Light

Penguin PRO 175 HOB

 

Soft Goods

Roughly 8lbs Ocean Direct LS

8lbs Dry Rock from LFS

1lbs of LR Rubble from LFS (3 pieces in display, the rest in HOB)

 

Livestock

Blue Leg Hermit

Supposed to be a Red Leg Hermit

Astrea Snail

Cerith Snail

Yellowtail Damsel

 

Other Livestock

Green Star Polyps

 

 

 

 

 

[WV Reefer]

16 minutes ago, TLueken1 said:

Long story short. I have been meaning to get a tank up and running again for sometime (5yrs). Went through so many ideas, and so many candidate tanks. I finally did it. So, here it is.

Background (mine)

I have had 2 reef tanks in the past. First tank was during high school. Went well until vacation. Mi Madre didn't do top offs. Heater exploded. Welcome home. Second tank was during "College". My life started to get hectic. Tore down the tank. Laid in hibernation ever since.

 

I'm back now. Hopefully, for good.

 

Background (not mine)

Black Krylon Fusion

 

Hard Goods

Standard 10g Tank

Finnex 100W Submersible Heater

Hipargero Aqua Knight LED Light

Penguin PRO 175 HOB

 

Soft Goods

Roughly 8lbs Ocean Direct LS

8lbs Dry Rock from LFS

1lbs of LR Rubble from LFS (3 pieces in display, the rest in HOB)

 

Livestock

Blue Leg Hermit

Supposed to be a Red Leg Hermit

Astrea Snail

Cerith Snail

Yellowtail Damsel

 

Other Livestock

Green Star Polyps

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome back to reefing.
Looks good so far. 😊

[Christopher Marks]

Welcome back @TLueken1! Looks like you're off to a great start. What are you plans for the livestock, any particular coral have your attention?

[TLueken1]

Happy Sunday ya'll! Hopefully your morning went smoother than mine. Luckily, I have pool league in an hour, so I can get my frustration out there.

 

Getting ready to do my water change and a quick clean up. I have this weird algae formation going on. It's on the glass, but it is growing like shooting stars. It starts at one point then slowly spreads wider, but it gets thinner. Like over spray from painting. My guess is it is just a normal green algae, just growing weird due to light and flow. Figured I would ask to be sure.

 

 

My next area of concern is this dang white spot on Sirius's dorsal fin. My... let me rephrase... the GF's Yellow-tail Damsel, named Sirius, has this white spot. When we first got him, we thought it might have been some food that got spiked. He ate immediately after being introduced to our tank. Besides a case of "Where the hell am I?", he is doing just fine. After a week, the spot hasn't grown, hasn't spread, hasn't done anything. It doesn't seem to be a part of him because it flaps in the waves. Any opinions? If I could get him to stop being a fish I could get a better photo.

 

 

As for longer term plans of this tank. I was in the process of getting a 20H all set up and ready to get wet. Recently incurred some new expenses, so I put that on slow-mo for now. I set this 10G up real quick to get back in the swing of things. The 20H needs drilled, internal and external overflows, and a sump. Working on the canopy as well, when I get some time. I have the stand built. It looks 1000x better than my current stand. That was just 4x4, 1x6, and 5 minutes. Can't expect too much.

 

I am gonna focus on some easy corals at the moment. Really just looking for color diversity, biodiversity, and minimal feeding and attention. Zoas, shrooms, really looking for a couple pieces to grow up, not out. Any suggestions will be great. Coral research hasn't been top priority at the moment.

Other livestock is however. GF thinks Sirius needs a fish friend. I am torn between a shrimp or a fish. She liked a black and white damsel at the LFS. 4 Stripe IIRC? I was thinking a neon goby, or yellow clown goby. I have heard horror stories of damsels in general being asshats in the reef tank. Other's have no issues. Might just play it by ear. Tank will be doubling in size soon though. Hoping a few months.

 

 

[TLueken1]

Hey ya'll. I hope everyone is having a wonderful 4th.

Did some research. I believe the spot on Sirius's tail to be Lymphocystis. The spot hasn't grown. Doesn't seem to be bothering him. The only "treatment" I read about is vitamin enriched food and high water quality. We are kinda stuck with it at the moment being the tank is still new.

My astrea snail has a shotgun rider with him. Looks like a slipper snail. Thing hasn't moved though.

Battling diatoms, film, and hair at the moment. Thinking I need to beef up my CUC. Currently the cerith and one hermit are MIA. Really need that other hermit at the moment. One of the two ate a golf ball sized piece of hair algae off the GSP in 20 minutes. I was shocked! The GHA isn't bad at the moment. I am comfortable with the amount in there. Any more and I might have a fit. The diatoms and film cover my glass really quickly. We are talking in a couple hours the glass is foggy. Reducing light schedule while decreasing the whites. Decreasing feeding amounts, and switched to a pure protein diet. My thinking was any food with a form of algae in it, will feed the film algae even more.

Water seems cloudy as well. Threw in a cartridge in my HOB. Thinking some carbon might help my situation.

Coraline spots have showed up all over my rock, atleast I hope thats what it is.

Noticed another unknown in my tank. Hard to describe. Fuzzy, white in color, not fully opaque. It is growing on my rock, a patch the size of a quarter maybe. Would love to get a pic, but due to clarity issues the picture wouldn't help at all. And speaking of rock, the LR Rubble I threw in the HOB. I picked out the pieces with the most life and put them in the display. The rest is in the HOB. Would lack of light lead to a significant amount of die off that I should be concerned about?
 

Happy Independence Day! Be safe!

[TLueken1]

Been a rough couple of weeks. Not for the tank. For me. Went to the lake, again. Then went camping this weekend. Had a blast. Did some fishing. The tank did great while I was gone on the weekends. Time for an update.
 

I went to the LFS and purchased a mushroom polyp. It was a little over quarter size, and for any pool players on here, it was Simonis tourney blue color. Now it has turned a darker blue and doubled in size. Thinking light difference? Frag tank at LFS was very blue to the eye. My tank is slightly blue.

Also purchased a Nass. Snail (Straight Monster), a bumble bee, another Astrea snail, and a Peppermint Shrimp. The shrimp was small (my preference) and he hid in a little cave for a few days before disappearing. Well, I found him a few days later. At least pieces of him. Pretty sure that was him.

Running the carbon and switching to a protein only feed has helped tremendously with the film algae. Still having some brown film on the glass, but it doesn't grow as quick.

 

Next on the list is to get some more pics up, another coral or two (trying to average one or two a month), a media bag for the LR rubble in the HOB, and possibly a orange skunk clownfish? Anyone have any experience with them? LFS had some labeled as Irian Jaya which I just read is a captive-bred line.

Hope y'all have a good week!