Llorgon Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 For those who have lost the spark for the hobby, how did you get it back? Life has kinda kicked my butt the last 6 months or so and my 2 tanks were kind of left to their own devices outside of daily feeding, ato top off and the rare water change. One tank is now pretty overgrown with pulsing Xenia and the other has some cyano issues, but neither took a big hit. Life is finally starting to get back on track and I am trying to get the interest in the tanks back. I feel like the best way to do that is to switch things up and maybe get a focus for each tank. My 75g is mostly softy with some lps and a couple sps IM 25 has some large Kenya trees and a hammer. I don't love or hate either tank, they are both kinda meh to me. I'm looking for suggestions on how to spice things up! My first thought is to leave the 75g as a simple low maintenance softy tank and the 25g turns into something more elaborate? I love euphyllia, but they seem to be pretty hot and miss for me, I seem to be able to grow acans, toadstool and Xenia pretty consistently. 1 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 I'm having the same issue. My nano's just sitting there and collecting GHA. I just feed the fish/inverts and dose daily, but my interest is borderline. I, too, am looking for that 'spark'. 😞 1 Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 I think we all go through periods where we either lose interest or lack the time (or money) to do things how we would like to. Your 75 gallon tank is sweet, it just needs a little cleanup to be something you can be really proud of. And sometimes editing and/or re-aquascaping can renew interest. Another option for people with multiple tanks, is to consolidate down to one tank, which you can put more time into. I'd consider selling off the smaller tank (transferring whatever you like into the larger tank), then take the money and buy a couple more nice fish for that big tank. Corals are beautiful, but fish make a tank more interesting. With one tank, there is less maintenance, testing, dosing, feeding, etc. It's cheaper, there will be less clutter, and maybe you'll feel a little less obligated to maintain them all. You might even start to look forward to working on your tank again. Just my two cents. 5 3 Quote Link to comment
mcarroll Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 12 hours ago, Llorgon said: I'm looking for suggestions on how to spice things up! 12 hours ago, Llorgon said: One tank is now pretty overgrown with pulsing Xenia Seems like selling all that Xenia (maybe along with the rocks it is on) would get you started with a BANG. $$ from selling frags. Space to fill in the tank. An excuse to buy some live rock. Win-win-win...and that was just off the top of my head....probably more benefits than I stated. 12 hours ago, Llorgon said: IM 25 has some large Kenya trees and a hammer. Same idea here – frag and/or trade those Kenya trees whole. Opens up space, makes you $$ and gives you room to do something new! I know you said you like your tanks, but if there's anything that IS a turnoff about your current systems – something that's too hard, or otherwise needs an adjustment – then now is the time to switch things up in that direction too. Maybe it's time to get a long hose and pump to make those water changes easier, for example. (Just an idea....make some more!) I also like @seabass's idea of combining the tanks into one, if it sounds good to you too. Once those large corals are gone, there should be plenty of room. 2 Quote Link to comment
empresto Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 I was feeling the same way a little over a year ago. Then the reno contest came along (thanks @seabass )and I thought that might do it. You can check out where I started and where it ended up here: Amazing what pruning can do! Good for the garden and the tank. The tank was way healthier after that and has been way more interesting because there's more to look at. I've been more engaged because I like how it looks and want to keep it that way. Even though I added a couple frags since, I think I broke even on the reno because I got ~$60 store credit for the coral I pruned. The tank today, salt creep and all (always good to share the occasional picture of what the tank looks like without cleaning everything). 5 Quote Link to comment
Staticmoves Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Hmmmm...... shave the corals, as stated into frags and sell or store credit if possible. get rubber made container going with pump to keep rock live..... coral free..... strip down tanks, complete clean, inspect, reseal. same with equipment. then start anew slowly, maybe in a newer direction. LPS SPS? maybe.... I find the research of a new direction helps keep things fresh, weather it's gear you buy during the new venture or DIY depending on budget. and If your handy, the DIY may actually be more therapeutic. From the cheap seats..... my 2 cents...... Following... 2 Quote Link to comment
Llorgon Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 10 hours ago, seabass said: I think we all go through periods where we either lose interest or lack the time (or money) to do things how we would like to. Your 75 gallon tank is sweet, it just needs a little cleanup to be something you can be really proud of. And sometimes editing and/or re-aquascaping can renew interest. Thanks. It's been a struggle, but it's the best that tank has looked in a long time. I swear the tank is cursed with all the issues I have had with it over the years. It's definitely in need of some TLC and pruning of the xenia! Hmmm I never gave re-aquascaping much thought. A few of the rocks are stuck together with the few surviving SPS. I just assumed it would be more work than it's worth. But it's something I should give some thought to. I think some new corals, maybe some fish and getting rid of some of the xenia could do wonders on the tank. 10 hours ago, seabass said: Another option for people with multiple tanks, is to consolidate down to one tank, which you can put more time into. I'd consider selling off the smaller tank (transferring whatever you like into the larger tank), then take the money and buy a couple more nice fish for that big tank. Corals are beautiful, but fish make a tank more interesting. With one tank, there is less maintenance, testing, dosing, feeding, etc. It's cheaper, there will be less clutter, and maybe you'll feel a little less obligated to maintain them all. You might even start to look forward to working on your tank again. Just my two cents. I have thought about this quite a bit. The only reason I haven't consolidated into one tank is the 25g has the first 2 fish I bought(clowns) and I also have a pair of clowns in the 75g. How big of a tank do I need for 2 pairs of clowns?!... I doubt I have the room for the size of tank needed. 2 hours ago, mcarroll said: Seems like selling all that Xenia (maybe along with the rocks it is on) would get you started with a BANG. $$ from selling frags. Space to fill in the tank. An excuse to buy some live rock. Win-win-win...and that was just off the top of my head....probably more benefits than I stated. I tried. No one wants any xenia. I think I got rid of a few small pieces to some people new to the hobby and that's it. Plus they were just starting out so I just gave them some freebie pieces... I mean I have so much. I might be able to sell it with the liverock since a few of the liverock pieces have some SPS growing on it. 2 hours ago, mcarroll said: Same idea here – frag and/or trade those Kenya trees whole. Opens up space, makes you $$ and gives you room to do something new! That was my original plan. I got the rocks cheap from a LFS because of the giant kenya trees. My original plan was to get the tank going with the kenya trees and then sell them or maybe cut them and move them to the 75g. I tried selling them or trading for other corals, but other than someone wanting a frag, I had no takers. I'm in a smaller town with 1.5 LFS so there's not a ton of reefers around. Most are into high end stuff and treat this as a side business to make money. It might also be the reason for some of my lack of interest. When I started the hobby, I lived in a bigger city, lots of people to meet with, buy cheap frags from, sometimes even free if they wanted to get rid of them and having a few good LFS. Now, everyone here sells frags for the same as retail, the one dedicated LFS is small and quite expensive so pretty much everything has to be shipped. 2 hours ago, mcarroll said: I know you said you like your tanks, but if there's anything that IS a turnoff about your current systems – something that's too hard, or otherwise needs an adjustment – then now is the time to switch things up in that direction too. Maybe it's time to get a long hose and pump to make those water changes easier, for example. (Just an idea....make some more!) That's a good way of thinking about it. I guess for the things that bug me about the tanks 75g: The stand is a pain to work in I always feel like the flow is "off" The Apex is a bit of a pain, it feels very clunky and the probes, at least for temp were always off. Wave engine has started to randomly lose connection and the pumps will restart. No idea why, but it's been going on for months. Sometimes it will be weeks without it happening, but it goes through times of doing it multiple times a day. Having both wave engine and Apex is a bit of a pain. I should have picked one or the other. Soooo much aiptasia. I need more fish, critters, interesting life in the tank I feel like the tank is cursed with all the issues I have had. Nothing has really ever thrived in any iteration of this tank. The lid I have for the tank is egg crate, the long nose hawk still found a way to jump out... I dislike the redsea alk, cal powder. It's a pain to mix, there is always a bunch of sediment or stuff that doesn't mix. 25g: I have an old radion light that only connects to the web app, light works fine, but it's a bit of a pain if I ever want to change the light settings. The bubble magnus doser is a bit of a pain compared with the red sea doser I have on the 75g, but again not a huge annoyance. I'm not a fan of the AIO style The skimmer I have is pretty useless I need more fish, critters, interesting life in the tank aiptasia, but more manageable than the 75g I dislike the redsea alk, cal powder. It's a pain to mix, there is always a bunch of sediment or stuff that doesn't mix. 2 hours ago, mcarroll said: I also like @seabass's idea of combining the tanks into one, if it sounds good to you too. Once those large corals are gone, there should be plenty of room. ya, the thought has crossed my mind. I have a paid of clowns in each tank. Which is why I haven't done that yet. With some reorganization of my office, I could fit a 6ft long tank, but I doubt that would be enough for 2 pairs of clowns. Maybe I do sell one pair and just have the one tank. 2 hours ago, empresto said: I was feeling the same way a little over a year ago. Then the reno contest came along (thanks @seabass )and I thought that might do it. You can check out where I started and where it ended up here: Amazing what pruning can do! Good for the garden and the tank. The tank was way healthier after that and has been way more interesting because there's more to look at. I've been more engaged because I like how it looks and want to keep it that way. Even though I added a couple frags since, I think I broke even on the reno because I got ~$60 store credit for the coral I pruned. The tank today, salt creep and all (always good to share the occasional picture of what the tank looks like without cleaning everything). The tanks looks awesome! Well done! Maybe I do need to enter a contest here to give me the motivation to get things going again. I definitely need to prune both tanks. Unfortunately, I don't have a LFS to give anything too. 1 hour ago, Staticmoves said: Hmmmm...... shave the corals, as stated into frags and sell or store credit if possible. get rubber made container going with pump to keep rock live..... coral free..... strip down tanks, complete clean, inspect, reseal. same with equipment. then start anew slowly, maybe in a newer direction. LPS SPS? maybe.... I find the research of a new direction helps keep things fresh, weather it's gear you buy during the new venture or DIY depending on budget. and If your handy, the DIY may actually be more therapeutic. From the cheap seats..... my 2 cents...... Following... I think the new direction is really what I need. I restarted the 25g in June I think it was then my wife and I both lost our jobs in July and it's just kind of sat there. I'm not handy... at all, but I'd like to be so maybe trying some DIY would be a good idea! What I have been playing around with is the thought of removing the Apex from the 75g and going all in with the wave engine since I like that I don't have to use all the power banks. Keep the 75g as the softy tank, low maintenance, colourful and has lots of movement. Everyone loves the xenia even though it's taking over. And then try and add some more fish and various critters. Since the 25g is in my office and I see it for 8hrs everyday, maybe have it be my more complicated tank. Maybe do an acan tank since I know I can grow them and I enjoy the feeding them aspect. Or try bare bottom, maybe try and get something to carpet the bottom of the tank instead of haivng sand. I dunno, I would need to come up with a good direction for that tank. euphyllia? - I love them, but they never seem to do well long term for me. They go 1 -> 3 heads, die back to one head, then grow to 5+ heads then slowly die all together, it's a pattern at this point. Anemone tank? - never had one, but they always look cool and I can feed them. SPS? one single giant coral? macro algae tank? 1 Quote Link to comment
geekreef_05 Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Add more fish. Look at that 75 gallon just begging for a new fish! Quote Link to comment
mcarroll Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 33 minutes ago, Llorgon said: I have thought about this quite a bit. The only reason I haven't consolidated into one tank is the 25g has the first 2 fish I bought(clowns) and I also have a pair of clowns in the 75g. How big of a tank do I need for 2 pairs of clowns?!... I doubt I have the room for the size of tank needed. Do some searches for threads with actual experiences from folks who've done two (or more) pairs in one tank. Worth the time IMO because in theory a 75G ought to be fine. Pairs of clowns tend to consolidate their territory down to smaller area than singles. I know I'd feel ambivalent about doing the combination of those pairs too if I was in your shoes, but I think it would be worth researching a bit. You might be able to pull it off just fine. A six foot tank has the same territorial equations at work for the fish, BTW....a pair only "needs" about 10 gallons of space out of the overall reef....and "technically" a 75G already has plenty of extra space. IMO there's always a bit more risk to adding multiple fish to a system vs adding just one. IMO this is probably as risky or less than just adding two new random fish to the 75G...just for perspective. 46 minutes ago, Llorgon said: I tried. No one wants any xenia. I think I got rid of a few small pieces to some people new to the hobby and that's it. Plus they were just starting out so I just gave them some freebie pieces... I mean I have so much. I might be able to sell it with the liverock since a few of the liverock pieces have some SPS growing on it. Well I guess nobody is getting rich from selling Xenia...and maybe there's no demand for "frags". I do think selling the rock along with the Xenia might be a faster/better sale. (With or without SPS.) 53 minutes ago, Llorgon said: 75g: The stand is a pain to work in Can't make it any bigger, but can you add (eg) lights or organization to make it a little better? Either of those could be pretty cool projects or quick-fix type things. 53 minutes ago, Llorgon said: I always feel like the flow is "off" Hm....seems like that would be worth pursuing with a little vigor. Same thing would irritate the **** out of me. If you want to deal with it online, the topic may even be worth its own thread. 👍 Could be that your flow is responsible for a lot of the "meh" about your tank. 53 minutes ago, Llorgon said: The Apex is a bit of a pain, it feels very clunky and the probes, at least for temp were always off. Wave engine has started to randomly lose connection and the pumps will restart. No idea why, but it's been going on for months. Sometimes it will be weeks without it happening, but it goes through times of doing it multiple times a day. Having both wave engine and Apex is a bit of a pain. I should have picked one or the other. This is not a strong testimonial for automation on your system. It can definitely be a liability if it isn't working properly and you don't/can't/won't fix it. 53 minutes ago, Llorgon said: Soooo much aiptasia. I need more fish, critters, interesting life in the tank Gotta hit them with (eg) Aiptasia X on a daily basis. Could be fun/productive to add a bunch of peppermint shrimp to the tank. As long as you feed them once the Aiptasia are gone they're a pretty sure-fire solution. (ONE shrimp is not...."a bunch".). Don't think you have any corals they'd bother, but do a review in that direction before adding them. Less fun, but still productive, you could INSTEAD add some Berghia nudibranchs...quite expensive, but the only risk are the high cost and that maybe they won't work (eg get eaten before they reproduce). Fun, if not productive, adding OTHER invert oddballs is a fun way to stock up most tanks. 53 minutes ago, Llorgon said: I feel like the tank is cursed with all the issues I have had. Nothing has really ever thrived in any iteration of this tank. What's your favorite coral out of everything you're growing so far? Is at least that one coral thriving? 53 minutes ago, Llorgon said: The lid I have for the tank is egg crate, the long nose hawk still found a way to jump out... 😬 Not unheard of for this fish. Wrasses are also VERY accurate in their escape attempts. Stronger flow at the water surface and the top layer of water generally may add another discouraging factor to prevent jumping. 53 minutes ago, Llorgon said: I dislike the redsea alk, cal powder. It's a pain to mix, there is always a bunch of sediment or stuff that doesn't mix. Well that's your low-hanging fruit – switch to something nicer (whatever that means to you) TODAY. So many options. AFR if you want to feel like you're "in". ESV if you want to be old-school (still the gold standard IMO). DIY Recipe #1 or #2 if you want to save some bucks, or get further into the chemistry. That's just to hit three of the categories you have to pick from.....SO many good products/methods. Calcium reactor!!!!! Pick what's BEST for YOU. 🙂 1 hour ago, Llorgon said: 25g: I have an old radion light that only connects to the web app, light works fine, but it's a bit of a pain if I ever want to change the light settings. Do you mean temporary changes like for taking pictures or something? (Generally you wouldn't make changes, assuming it's set up how you want it.) 1 hour ago, Llorgon said: The bubble magnus doser is a bit of a pain compared with the red sea doser I have on the 75g, but again not a huge annoyance. I'm not a fan of the AIO style The skimmer I have is pretty useless I need more fish, critters, interesting life in the tank aiptasia, but more manageable than the 75g I dislike the redsea alk, cal powder. It's a pain to mix, there is always a bunch of sediment or stuff that doesn't mix. To me this all kind shouts "don't need this tank". I could be wrong. But if you think that sounds right, then I think I'm among those suggesting that you consolidate this tank's contents (that you wanna keep) along with your $ and effort into the 75G....or the 125G you replace it with. 🙂 (If you were really considering it, Petsmart's 125G systems are not drilled, but they ARE crazy cheap even when not on sale. I'm running one of these with a Tunze Reefpack 500 for skimmer+filter+ATO as well as two 6105 pumps for flow.) 3 hours ago, Llorgon said: With some reorganization of my office, I could fit a 6ft long tank, but I doubt that would be enough for 2 pairs of clowns. Maybe I do sell one pair and just have the one tank. I think in that large of a tank it would be a reasonably safe gambit (as mentioned above). If you do some thread searching you'll see that LOTS of folks try it, but most of them are in a little tank...find folks doing it in larger tanks and see how it actually went for them. I even think it's probably a worthy gambit in the 75G, but as common as it is for people to try, you shouldn't take just my word for it - look up old threads. 👍 3 hours ago, Llorgon said: What I have been playing around with is the thought of removing the Apex from the 75g and going all in with the wave engine since I like that I don't have to use all the power banks. Keep the 75g as the softy tank, low maintenance, colourful and has lots of movement. Everyone loves the xenia even though it's taking over. And then try and add some more fish and various critters. I like everything about that plan if it all sounds good to you!! 🙂 Xenia tanks ARE beautiful...just not particularly "in". 🤷♂️ (Just don't go bonkers with fish, if you decide to add more....more fish = higher maintenance and less margin for error.) Simpler = Better most of the time. 3 hours ago, Llorgon said: Since the 25g is in my office and I see it for 8hrs everyday, maybe have it be my more complicated tank. Maybe do an acan tank since I know I can grow them and I enjoy the feeding them aspect. Didn't know the use-case for this tank, so forget anything I said about getting rid of it. Just make it better – cross everything off the list of things that bother you about it. 👍 Since the tank is "in your face" inverts like shrimp or crabs might be even more engaging than corals...and not so high maintenance as fish. Some of the options you listed tend to be high- or very-high maintenance....to me it sounds like you'd be best served by going with an option that keeps things low maintenance. 1 Quote Link to comment
Llorgon Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 20 hours ago, geekreef_05 said: Add more fish. Look at that 75 gallon just begging for a new fish! I definitely need more fish. I only have 4! Any recommendations? 19 hours ago, mcarroll said: Do some searches for threads with actual experiences from folks who've done two (or more) pairs in one tank. Worth the time IMO because in theory a 75G ought to be fine. Pairs of clowns tend to consolidate their territory down to smaller area than singles. I know I'd feel ambivalent about doing the combination of those pairs too if I was in your shoes, but I think it would be worth researching a bit. You might be able to pull it off just fine. A six foot tank has the same territorial equations at work for the fish, BTW....a pair only "needs" about 10 gallons of space out of the overall reef....and "technically" a 75G already has plenty of extra space. IMO there's always a bit more risk to adding multiple fish to a system vs adding just one. IMO this is probably as risky or less than just adding two new random fish to the 75G...just for perspective. I did some digging into this yesterday. It seems hit and miss, some have success others say they kill each other. The ones in the 25g are much older and still bigger than the ones in the 75g. The ones in the 75g also seem to use the full space to swim around. 19 hours ago, mcarroll said: Well I guess nobody is getting rich from selling Xenia...and maybe there's no demand for "frags". I do think selling the rock along with the Xenia might be a faster/better sale. (With or without SPS.) Sadly no. I did find a couple people interested in some pieces and maybe a trade for other soft coral, so hopefully I can give them a lot of it for their $5! 19 hours ago, mcarroll said: Can't make it any bigger, but can you add (eg) lights or organization to make it a little better? Either of those could be pretty cool projects or quick-fix type things. I'm ok for lights and I have kept it pretty minimal. It's mostly a space thing. And that was my fault since I built the thing. 19 hours ago, mcarroll said: Hm....seems like that would be worth pursuing with a little vigor. Same thing would irritate the **** out of me. If you want to deal with it online, the topic may even be worth its own thread. 👍 Could be that your flow is responsible for a lot of the "meh" about your tank. Good idea. I should do that and see if my feelings are correct or not. I have a gyre that I bought and haven't used yet because I wasn't really sure where to put it. 19 hours ago, mcarroll said: This is not a strong testimonial for automation on your system. It can definitely be a liability if it isn't working properly and you don't/can't/won't fix it. Agreed. I bought the Apex thinking cool I can automate so much and then the Apex itself felt very clunky to automate with, probes and the like were never accurate, accessories were really expensive and the ones I did buy, like the ATO seemed poorly built / broken from new and not durable. I also had issues with it staying connected to Fusion. And it always seems to be a pain to get it back online. So definitely a don't / won't fix. But I really should! I might try again while doing my water change. I bought the wave engine to save space with power bricks. I really don't need both. I could probably sell the Apex and move everything to Wave engine for cheaper. I had all these grand automation ideas and then they just never came to be. 19 hours ago, mcarroll said: Gotta hit them with (eg) Aiptasia X on a daily basis. Could be fun/productive to add a bunch of peppermint shrimp to the tank. As long as you feed them once the Aiptasia are gone they're a pretty sure-fire solution. (ONE shrimp is not...."a bunch".). Don't think you have any corals they'd bother, but do a review in that direction before adding them. Around Dec I did a week of daily Aiptasia X... it had minimal effect. I have had good luck with peppermint shrimp on a 10g tank I had. How many would you say is a bunch. I would think 2-3? 19 hours ago, mcarroll said: Less fun, but still productive, you could INSTEAD add some Berghia nudibranchs...quite expensive, but the only risk are the high cost and that maybe they won't work (eg get eaten before they reproduce). Nudis are super expensive locally and not super cheap online in Canada when you account for shipping. I tried 2 I got for free from another reefer awhile ago and the clowns went after them pretty quick. 19 hours ago, mcarroll said: Fun, if not productive, adding OTHER invert oddballs is a fun way to stock up most tanks. I like this idea. I think it would be a great way of adding some interesting diversity to both tanks. 19 hours ago, mcarroll said: What's your favorite coral out of everything you're growing so far? Is at least that one coral thriving? Hmm I would say my favourite coral in the 75g is the toadstool. It has been doing pretty well, it has dropped a couple baby toadstools too. After that it would be the acans which have not been growing at all. In the 25g my favourite is my hammer, it hasn't been growing at all either. 19 hours ago, mcarroll said: 😬 Not unheard of for this fish. Wrasses are also VERY accurate in their escape attempts. Stronger flow at the water surface and the top layer of water generally may add another discouraging factor to prevent jumping. Well that's your low-hanging fruit – switch to something nicer (whatever that means to you) TODAY. So many options. AFR if you want to feel like you're "in". ESV if you want to be old-school (still the gold standard IMO). DIY Recipe #1 or #2 if you want to save some bucks, or get further into the chemistry. That's just to hit three of the categories you have to pick from.....SO many good products/methods. Calcium reactor!!!!! Pick what's BEST for YOU. 🙂 I know this says a lot about where I am with the tanks, but I have some B-ionic that I bought awhile ago, but I haven't made the switch yet. You're right this is the easiest switch to make. I will do it this weekend! 19 hours ago, mcarroll said: Do you mean temporary changes like for taking pictures or something? (Generally you wouldn't make changes, assuming it's set up how you want it.) More so if I want to update it for daylight saving(I don't bother) or if I change up the tank and want to change the light settings. 19 hours ago, mcarroll said: To me this all kind shouts "don't need this tank". I could be wrong. But if you think that sounds right, then I think I'm among those suggesting that you consolidate this tank's contents (that you wanna keep) along with your $ and effort into the 75G....or the 125G you replace it with. 🙂 (If you were really considering it, Petsmart's 125G systems are not drilled, but they ARE crazy cheap even when not on sale. I'm running one of these with a Tunze Reefpack 500 for skimmer+filter+ATO as well as two 6105 pumps for flow.) The consolidating of tanks is more of a "I probably could" thought at this point. The original plan was to consolidate into one tank when we bought the house, but that didn't end up happening. So I have to rethink things. 19 hours ago, mcarroll said: I think in that large of a tank it would be a reasonably safe gambit (as mentioned above). If you do some thread searching you'll see that LOTS of folks try it, but most of them are in a little tank...find folks doing it in larger tanks and see how it actually went for them. I even think it's probably a worthy gambit in the 75G, but as common as it is for people to try, you shouldn't take just my word for it - look up old threads. 👍 I like everything about that plan if it all sounds good to you!! 🙂 Xenia tanks ARE beautiful...just not particularly "in". 🤷♂️ (Just don't go bonkers with fish, if you decide to add more....more fish = higher maintenance and less margin for error.) Simpler = Better most of the time. Didn't know the use-case for this tank, so forget anything I said about getting rid of it. Just make it better – cross everything off the list of things that bother you about it. 👍 Since the tank is "in your face" inverts like shrimp or crabs might be even more engaging than corals...and not so high maintenance as fish. No, you're original thought is right. There isn't really a big use case for the 25g. I bought it for when we moved to have a tank setup to throw all the fish and corals in until the 75g got setup again, but that ended up taking a bit over a year and by that time the 25g was the only successful tank I have ever had. Both tanks went downhill at around the same time so they are both in a similar limbo state. I do like the invert ideas. Right now the clowns sit in the kenya trees mostly all day and I have a royal gramma that only comes out for food. It would be nice to see some more life and little things going on in the tank! 19 hours ago, mcarroll said: Some of the options you listed tend to be high- or very-high maintenance....to me it sounds like you'd be best served by going with an option that keeps things low maintenance. Very true. I think I have settled on the 75g being the low maintenance softy tank. I am really leaning towards the 25g being an acan dominant tank. I had a good collection of them in the tank before it crashed, so I know I can grow them and they grow well in the tank. Pair that with a few more fish and some interesting inverts and other critters. I think it could be a nice colourful tank! Quote Link to comment
mcarroll Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 5 hours ago, Llorgon said: I did some digging into this yesterday. It seems hit and miss, some have success others say they kill each other. The ones in the 25g are much older and still bigger than the ones in the 75g. The ones in the 75g also seem to use the full space to swim around. Sorry if this was covered already, but what other fish are in with the clown pairs in each tank? 5 hours ago, Llorgon said: I had all these grand automation ideas and then they just never came to be. It's cool to have ideas, and it's OK that some don't work out. It's also OK to sell that stuff and move on. 🙂 Consolidating to one sounds like it makes sense! 5 hours ago, Llorgon said: I have had good luck with peppermint shrimp on a 10g tank I had. How many would you say is a bunch. I would think 2-3? Depends... 1) on how easy you can add more and 2) how likely they will be to hide/come out (any potential shrimp predators will affect this). But in general I'd start with more than 2-3 if you're trying to eliminate an outbreak like this – especially if you're talking about the 75G. Maybe 10X that amount....but (if possible) you can work up to that number. Thing to consider is that they will probably scavenge the tank before they start in on the polyps....and a small number of shrimp might just get by on fish leftovers and stealing food from the corals and never get to the aiptasia. (A good idea to stop target feeding corals while the shrimp are at work IMO.) Quote Link to comment
Sturgi_0225 Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 I just went through this and for me the spark returned once I started the tank maintenance back up. Start small, do a simple WC and clean up then do another the next weekend. then look into cutting back and fragging some corals 1 Quote Link to comment
Llorgon Posted February 10 Author Share Posted February 10 2 hours ago, mcarroll said: Sorry if this was covered already, but what other fish are in with the clown pairs in each tank? 75g: 2 clowns 1 yellow tang 1 yellow eye kole tang 25g 2 clowns 1 royal Gramma 2 hours ago, mcarroll said: It's cool to have ideas, and it's OK that some don't work out. It's also OK to sell that stuff and move on. 🙂 Consolidating to one sounds like it makes sense! Very true! I will probably end up selling the Apex. 2 hours ago, mcarroll said: Depends... 1) on how easy you can add more and 2) how likely they will be to hide/come out (any potential shrimp predators will affect this). I think the tank could easily support 3 shrimp at least from an obvious hiding spot wise. Getting them can be tricky. Last time I looked which was maybe last spring? I couldn't find them in stock anywhere. Now, I think I could easily get at least 3. 2 hours ago, mcarroll said: But in general I'd start with more than 2-3 if you're trying to eliminate an outbreak like this – especially if you're talking about the 75G. Maybe 10X that amount....but (if possible) you can work up to that number. I don't think it would be possible or cost effective to get that many shrimp! 2 hours ago, mcarroll said: Thing to consider is that they will probably scavenge the tank before they start in on the polyps....and a small number of shrimp might just get by on fish leftovers and stealing food from the corals and never get to the aiptasia. (A good idea to stop target feeding corals while the shrimp are at work IMO.) That's a good point. I would definitely stop the coral feeding until they started making dents in the aptasia population. 26 minutes ago, Sturgi_0225 said: I just went through this and for me the spark returned once I started the tank maintenance back up. Start small, do a simple WC and clean up then do another the next weekend. then look into cutting back and fragging some corals I'll be honest, this is pretty sound advice. Just doing stuff with the tank again has me much more into it than before. 1 Quote Link to comment
Lingwendil Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 My 40 breeder has nothing but one Royal gramma , snails, and some feral star polypls in it. i slowly lost everything due to neglect (home life has been in shambles, work has benn nuts, etc) and I just recently started maintenance on it again. I think taking a different approach to a new routine can help revitalise your interest, and setting aside a few minutes a day to specifically look at it, tweak it, etc can help. 2 Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 On 2/9/2024 at 1:53 PM, Llorgon said: I think I have settled on the 75g being the low maintenance softy tank. I am really leaning towards the 25g being an acan dominant tank. I had a good collection of them in the tank before it crashed, so I know I can grow them and they grow well in the tank. Pair that with a few more fish and some interesting inverts and other critters. I think it could be a nice colourful tank! This sounds like a good plan to me. 1 Quote Link to comment
eaa Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 I having the same issues, life kind of hectic in the past 6 months and all of my tank was neglected. I finally came to realization of what my hobby is. Finally i gave 1 of my tank to my fellow reefer to continue the journey. Right now i'm only maintaining 1 tank and the inhabitant change to softies and my love for bta. Slowly but sure the tank's condition is getting better. 2 Quote Link to comment
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