How much has your reef grown in 2019? What about you as a reefer?

[BirdGuy21]

1. Percentage wise how much do you think your reef has grown in size?

My reef hit the one year mark in November, so not exactly a full year of growth. The tank was pretty stagnant for a few months, but within the last couple of months I’ve done a bunch of upgrades and livestock changes. Can’t really call it growth, as most of the corals are new-except the Montipora, that’s starting to encrust already. But if you count coral additions I’d say it’s grown 30% from its previously empty state.


2. What do you attribute the success or lack of success in your reef growing this year?

Once I started to nail down my husbandry routine is when the tank started to take off. Getting nutrients under control through water changes and completely reconfiguring my filtration. Plus tons of research. Upgrading my skimmer, pump, gyre, and lights did not hurt either.

3. How have YOU grown as a reef hobbyist and what would you say to help others from what you've learned?

Definitely. Sometimes it pays to really consider the needs of your specific tank. My filtration was set up in a way that I thought was perfect, using products everyone loves. Taking the time to get to know my rank though I realized my setup was actually causing more problems than it was helping to solve. Research then apply what you learn to your tank. Everyone’s mileage varies. What works for someone else might not work for you. And don’t underestimate the value of a consistent maintenance routine.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I've had great success over the year in growth, estimated 30%-40%.

December 2018

Now

Also since August of this year:

Now:

I continue to maintain a weekly maintenance schedule and I contribute the growth to stability in water parameters, upgrading my diodes with new ones in my light fixtures and overall husbandry.

I'm always on the forum helping others.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Just shows- WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES !!!

 

[bubblemytip]

1. Yes
2. Strong diffuse lighting and stable water
3. For sps, strong flow, strong lights, consistent water, and quality equipment. Save up and be patient. Test your water! Look into the DSR method and understand its principles - can use them to your advantage with any reef.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

My tank coasted along for most of 2019 being basically neglected. I ran it as a FOWLR primarily because of being demotivated. I finally started adding coral again at the end of this year, so instead of focusing on 2019, I'll raise a glass to 2020

 

[intricate_reefer]

2019 has been a good year for me. I re-entered the hobby with a 30g build. I feel like I have been quite successfully. I think I owe a lot of that success to the reef2reef community. This forum is great and is a wealth of knowledge. BRS and the Ask BRS FB group is also a great resource. Lastly a mentor I can go to with questions.

I filled up my tank quick, it’s hard to judge growth but I would say at least 100%+ Lol. I say this because pretty much all my corals have doubled in size some many times that.

My advice to other reefers would be to have patience and don’t panic when things happen. Read, read, then read some more. Ask questions and find a mentor. I have found someone that I look up to that is an experienced reefer who I can bounce questions and ideas off of. This is a invaluable resource. Hope everyone enjoys your holiday.

January 14 started cycle

Today 12/23

 

[Jcagle09]

1. Percentage wise how much do you think your reef has grown in size? I would say 100% because I started the year out with 0 tanks lol. And I'm ending the year with one up and running and the beginnings of a second.

2. What do you attribute the success or lack of success in your reef growing this year? I will definitely contribute my success to the wwonderful people in here and my friends that I have met locally.

3. How have YOU grown as a reef hobbyist and what would you say to help others from what you've learned? I've grown tremendously in just a few short months. Learning about cycling and different corals and their needs. As far as helping others, you can learn all you need to know here in this forum. All you have to do is just ask.

This is my tank the first of November 2019

This is my tank December 22nd 2019

This is my project that I am going to start a build thread very soon. I bought it used so a little refurbishing to do, plus some upgrades.

 

[Wolfman238]

Jan 7th to Dec 23 ya don't relize how much its changed till you start comparing side by side pics

 

[Reefasaurus X]

I'm never very happy. That would mean no coral losses .... 2019 was not that! There's always some kind of challenge. Measure of the reefer is how well you handle it/them.

1. Percentage wise how much do you think your reef has grown in size? 10% 30% 50% -10% -30%

Somewhere between 10 and 30%

2. What do you attribute the success or lack of success in your reef growing this year?

Stability, judgement and prudence.

3. How have YOU grown as a reef hobbyist and what would you say to help others from what you've learned?

Been keeping reefs since 1995 (ish). Not sure I learned anything 'new' in 2019. By 'best' advice for the novice reefers is to identify a handful of credible experts to 'follow'.

BONUS FOR SHARING BEFORE AND AFTER PICS!

Tank grew a lot faster in year 1 (2018) than year 2 (2019), but that is OK because it's FULL.

 

[Reefasaurus X]

I went with somewhat because the corals have grown a lot but it has become a pain to maintain. Because of the growth, I have to go in and do a lot more trimming and that has become cumbersome. I've also had to completely remove some corals

1. Growth has been very high (few hundred percent for most I guess) but many of them were quite small a year ago (dont think I've added any corals since the 2018 pic).

2. I don't really mess with it. The tank has adequate lighting and flow but I think water changes make success simple (I change 15-20 gallons almost every weekend though I do miss some). The only thing I add to the tank is BRS 2-part (pharma grade) and LRS Reef Frenzy for the fish. I used Instant Ocean exclusively until mid September when I switched to Tropic Marin Pro to see if I could tell the difference. Outside of my wallet, I've noticed no difference in the health or color of any coral. On the plus side, it mixes up around 7.3 dKh for me which is right where I like to keep alkalinity. It's nice not having to use muriatic acid to lower the dKh but it certainly isn't worth twice as much money for that convenience over IO either.

3. Don't know that I've learned anything this year that is responsible for any success; just applying what I've learned over the years.

29 Dec 2018

9 Nov 2019

Nice tank!!

 

[Charles Washington]

A lot can happen in a year! So what about us and our reef tanks? How much or how little has your reef grown? Let's talk about that today so please answer these questions!

1. Percentage wise how much do you think your reef has grown in size? 10% 30% 50% -10% -30%

2. What do you attribute the success or lack of success in your reef growing this year?

3. How have YOU grown as a reef hobbyist and what would you say to help others from what you've learned?

BONUS FOR SHARING BEFORE AND AFTER PICS!

image via @Fauna Marin

My reef tank has grown tremendously over the past year and ready to go into a bigger size....When i first started in 2016 i was really afraid but excited to see my live rock take off in my reef tank....It was showing so much sign of life and the Tang fish was loving hidden in it......I was so excited about the anome but for some reason they kept dying off.....So still studing the tank .....

 

[Charles Washington]

A lot can happen in a year! So what about us and our reef tanks? How much or how little has your reef grown? Let's talk about that today so please answer these questions!

1. Percentage wise how much do you think your reef has grown in size? 10% 30% 50% -10% -30%

2. What do you attribute the success or lack of success in your reef growing this year?

3. How have YOU grown as a reef hobbyist and what would you say to help others from what you've learned?

BONUS FOR SHARING BEFORE AND AFTER PICS!

image via @Fauna Marin

Well considering I started this year. I’d say I’ve grown quite a bit! And I’m very happy I did start. But I can’t stop lol.

the first fts is October 25th? And I don’t have another but here are some of my corals currently! For a while I had a bad case of the tank uglies. Dino’s everywhere. Then one day they all went away magically and here I am. I’m not sure what happened but I raised my alk and I added my first coral a gsp frag. Now uglies are gone.


I know my photos aren’t the best but I’m still trying to figure out the best way to take pics of these corals! My camera doesn’t like the lens

Your Photo are Beautiful I admire your salt water tank and like your live anome all your colors are vibrant and striveful....keep up the good work.

 

[Charles Washington]

All your salt water tanks are showing great signs of striving life.....

 

[BrokeReefer]

Dec 2018-2019