Build for my 75 Gallon Mixed Reef...first attempt since 1995.

[tbaum101]

I started off with doing the aquascape with a basic idea in mind. I like the arched look but still wanted it to be a solid structure and mimic a natural rock formation as much as possible. I wanted the animals to feel at home. I focused on the biome from the ground up. I used 5 bags of wet live sand from Carib-Sea 4 boxes or dry rock and about 20 pounds of live rock. I put water in it on Christmas Day 2023

 

[skey44]

Love the azure damsels. Looks great!

 

[tbaum101]

I really wanted to focus on the ground up approach. I know everyone says you can't do this but I put in a serpant star, a sand sifting star and 8 turbo snails and 8 blue and red legged hermit crabs. I also put in Tiger Pods. I began feeding Brine Shrimp and Mysis at this point to get the cycle going and grow some nutrients going to give the cleanup crew something to eat. I also cranked the lights 24/7 for the first week. I did this a little different. But again, I wanted to make sure the biome was jump started.

 

[tbaum101]

Every 2 weeks for the first 2 months I dosed a bottle of copopods. The tank cycled inside of 2 weeks from water going in. The Live Sand with the live rock and the biome I kept focusing on really seemed to be working. I always used the water from the bags of whatever I bought from my LFS to add to what I had. I the bought 2 Oscelaris Clown Fish and 2 Blue and Yellow Damsels to really start it up along with some Red Oigo Macro Algae.

 

[tbaum101]

I kept buying Live Rock every visit to my LFS. I got my 1st corals and a Diamond Goby within the first month. At this point I still hadn't gone through any "Ugly Phase" and no diatoms to speak of. I was feeling pretty good so far.

 

[tbaum101]

I kept going within that 1st month. I really tried to get fish for a purpose. Most everything had a working job to do. The exception to that would probably be my Fire Goby but they seem to keep in the rocks and I really.wanted a rock dweller and I dig the long dorsal fin....and of course...I added more Copopods. Then I bought a small school of Blue Chromis. I got 5 of them at once time from the same tank at one of my LFS. I had read all the stories but I really wanted to see that blue school swimming around. I kept feeding heavy as I had from the beginning. Full bellies lessen aggression and I still have all 5 of them now 6 months later.

 

[tbaum101]

Going into my second month I was officially hooked on this hobby. I was into it in college in the mid 90's but so little was known and there was even less shared. Back then I had my clove polyps expand to the rock from the frag and I was STOKED...after a year..But things are different now. The selection of fish and corals was blowing my mind and I never fail to collect whatever I'm into. It could be said that I collect collections. At this point I picked up a 48" Aqua Sky from Fluval and used it in addition to the cheapo LED strip that came with the tank. I also had a Hygger Wave Maker. I wanted to spend my money on critters and couldn't figure out why some wave makers were so expensive. Honestly I still haven't figured that one out.

 

[tbaum101]

At this point I was really happy and things were going...Ahem...Swimmingly. Corals were happy. Fish were happy.

 

[tbaum101]

Never let it be said that I dip my toes in lightly or lack confidence in my abilities or ability to learn and retain info. By the end of my second month I was positive in my ability to handle some SPS. Montys and a small Acro frag were on the menu. As if that wasn't enough, an Ice Man Chalace Coral seemed within my abilities as well. And did I mention I bought a mandarin Goby as well? I thought it was fine with all of the pods I had been dosing religiously at this point. And honestly...On that one I wasn't wrong. He did great.

 

[tbaum101]

One day at the end of month 2, I had some kind of eggs laid across my stove pipe polyps. Still never knew what they were from. I thought it was one of the coolest things I had ever seen and gave me such an amazing feeling. My goal had been to provide as natural of a feeling to my pets as possible. What's a better sign of that than reproduction? This only fed my ego and spurred me on.

 

[stoned-reefer83]

One day at the end of month 2, I had some kind of eggs laid across my stove pipe polyps. Still never knew what they were from. I thought it was one of the coolest things I had ever seen and gave me such an amazing feeling. My goal had been to provide as natural of a feeling to my pets as possible. What's a better sign of that than reproduction? This only fed my ego and spurred me on.

So I'm fairly new on R2R, still trying to figure out how to navigate my way through this forum lol
Seeing your tank gives me hope and inspiration. I can't wait till mine starts to sustain life!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

So I'm fairly new on R2R, still trying to figure out how to navigate my way through this forum lol
Seeing your tank gives me hope and inspiration. I can't wait till mine starts to sustain life!

If you ever need help navigating and figuring out to use the forum better Just message me or use this thread https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tips-for-getting-the-most-from-the-reef2reef-forum.542664/ (a little dated but still has helpful info)

 

[tbaum101]

So here I was...Eggs from a mystery critter, coral seemingly happy, fish, snails, crabs, macro algae, copopods...everything seemed happy. I ordered more coral. Why not? I had figured out what eluded so many others right? I was feeding heavy and everything are as much as they could. I was really proud of the fact that all 5 Chromis were still not killing each other mafia style and my coral was coming out to say hello. Growth rings were showing on my Monty Cap, Trachy was puffing up more than ever. I really focused on having the right (or what I thought was) amount of flow. I tested twice a week and everything was stable. Looking back I want to go back in time and punch me in the face a little.

 

[tbaum101]

At this point I was on a coral buying spree. I'm from a little town and while I love my LFS locally and the one 45 minutes away, I decided to go to the big city an hour and a half and see what all they had. I wasn't disappointed. There were several stores and honestly, they were so much cheaper. I found the one coral I had wanted from day one and figured I was ready...An Elegance. I bought several pieces that day along with some Phyto and even more Tiggerpods. Got home and place the coral and dosed the new stuff in the tank like I had done many times before. I was going into my 4th month and hadn't so much as hit a snag in the road. I was sure I had found the secret sauce. Keeping it natural as I could, feeding as much as they'll eat, finding a natural solution to whatever came up.

 

[tbaum101]

The next morning I woke up and went straight to the tank. I wanted to see all my new reef babies and how they were doing after their first night in the tank. I'll never forget this morning. I ended up calling in to work to try to save what was left. I had a mass bleaching event. I still don't know what actually went wrong. I didn't keep the phyto cold on the long drive back and it smelled funny when I dosed it...Was it that? Bad batch maybe? Was it the pods? Was there something in there? I run an Emperor HOB filter and a wavemaker for flow. I changed out the filter religiously but no skimmer at all. I tested the water and my Phosphates were over 2PPM and my Nitrates spiked. I had dead fish, dead snails, dead coral...My elegance looked like a green taco. There was coral flesh floating everywhere. I drained as much water as I dared at the time. I ordered an Octo HOB Skimmer and another light. I got a Fluval Marine 3.0 to go with my Aquasky. The next days were long. I did a 50% water change 3 more times that week and things kept dying but the kill rate had slowed now. All of the material was in the rocks and it kept causing nutrient spikes and it just rolled. Finally I drained 99% of the water out, leaving just a skim over the sand. I sifted through the sand and got out any chunks of whatever was left. Put it all back and prayed like I haven't done since my last final my senior year in college. I was all but starting over. Only my Zoas, Elegance, Kenya Tree and some polyps....maybe a few other things made it. I killed stuff that they say you can't kill. Zenias, Candy Canes, GSP....ALL DEAD. I lost about 30 pieces in total and some great fish. Just when I got it all settled and things seemed ok...Just to rub salt water in the wound....My favorite fish, My Mandarin, decided he wanted out. I found him on the back of the tank looking like Mandarin Jerky one morning. This was my Coralpocalypse.

 

[tbaum101]

RIP my Trachy

 

[tbaum101]

So I'm fairly new on R2R, still trying to figure out how to navigate my way through this forum lol
Seeing your tank gives me hope and inspiration. I can't wait till mine starts to sustain life!

Im glad. I'm writing all this so others can learn both from my successes and my glaring failures. I think if I'd have just done a thing or two differently, I wouldn't have had my Coralpocalypse. Stay with it and watch everything. Learn how your tank reacts to everything you do. Study each piece of coral and each fish. That helps you stave off problems while they're still new and hopefully manageable. Happy Reefing.

 

[stoned-reefer83]

The next morning I woke up and went straight to the tank. I wanted to see all my new reef babies and how they were doing after their first night in the tank. I'll never forget this morning. I ended up calling in to work to try to save what was left. I had a mass bleaching event. I still don't know what actually went wrong. I didn't keep the phyto cold on the long drive back and it smelled funny when I dosed it...Was it that? Bad batch maybe? Was it the pods? Was there something in there? I run an Emperor HOB filter and a wavemaker for flow. I changed out the filter religiously but no skimmer at all. I tested the water and my Phosphates were over 2PPM and my Nitrates spiked. I had dead fish, dead snails, dead coral...My elegance looked like a green taco. There was coral flesh floating everywhere. I drained as much water as I dared at the time. I ordered an Octo HOB Skimmer and another light. I got a Fluval Marine 3.0 to go with my Aquasky. The next days were long. I did a 50% water change 3 more times that week and things kept dying but the kill rate had slowed now. All of the material was in the rocks and it kept causing nutrient spikes and it just rolled. Finally I drained 99% of the water out, leaving just a skim over the sand. I sifted through the sand and got out any chunks of whatever was left. Put it all back and prayed like I haven't done since my last final my senior year in college. I was all but starting over. Only my Zoas, Elegance, Kenya Tree and some polyps....maybe a few other things made it. I killed stuff that they say you can't kill. Zenias, Candy Canes, GSP....ALL DEAD. I lost about 30 pieces in total and some great fish. Just when I got it all settled and things seemed ok...Just to rub salt water in the wound....My favorite fish, My Mandarin, decided he wanted out. I found him on the back of the tank looking like Mandarin Jerky one morning. This was my Coralpocalypse.

Good morning! I hate reading that this happened, and so fast! As I was reading your post, and thinking back to our chat a few days ago I was just wondering....
I remember you said that you had used aragonite sand? Could that might have been trapping to much detritus in the substrate? Did you have many sand sisters or was you able to manually stir the substrate every once in a while? If not, could one of your fish had stired up enough at once to possibly release harmful gasses into your tank to causing such a spike in nutrients? I'm not sure even if what I'm saying is factual, but could it had been a possibility?

 

[tbaum101]

Good morning! I hate reading that this happened, and so fast! As I was reading your post, and thinking back to our chat a few days ago I was just wondering....
I remember you said that you had used aragonite sand? Could that might have been trapping to much detritus in the substrate? Did you have many sand sisters or was you able to manually stir the substrate every once in a while? If not, could one of your fish had stired up enough at once to possibly release harmful gasses into your tank to causing such a spike in nutrients? I'm not sure even if what I'm saying is factual, but could it had been a possibility?

Looking back and after A LOT of thought about it. It could have been one of two things. Contaminated Phyto or Copopods or when I added that stuff l, was teetering on the brink of too much organic material in the water column and the addition of that just sent it over the edge. I got that HOB skimmer you were talking about and I was shocked at the crud it pulls out. I just had no idea. And I began heavy feeding from day one. The water was never what I would consider crystal clear...Not like it us now. While I had a good biological bed of bacteria for the age of my tank, it still wasn't mature and definitely not as diverse as I would have required. People talk about seasoned tanks and their benefits. I believe there's a reason new tanks can't grow Acros easily. I think there is a world of things going on in our tanks that we just don't know about. Relationships between the micro and macro that despite me doing everything I had heard, I just lacked the foundation needed and pushed it over the brink. Since I got the skimmer it has been night and day. The water is much more clear...Things are growing rapidly. I believe that was the issue or at least the bigger part of the puzzle. Other than the light, it's all that's changed equipment-wise.