Mid-century 25g IM lagoon. Appx 14 months old

[Cichlid Dad]

Will do. These updates and the folks following along are what keep me going when I'm discouraged.

I can deal with people knowing when things aren't quite right and need some attention. But I can't let people think I'm a quiter. It's not in my DNA. By posting, it keeps me in it so nobody will see a quiter. They will see a winner who doesn't flinch, puts his shoulder down and sticks it to a linebacker.

You saw my new setup earlier, I know the uglies maybe coming for me. I added TBS live rock and sand, 20 pounds each. So hopefully it will pass me, or at least be short lived.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

You saw my new setup earlier, I know the uglies maybe coming for me. I added TBS live rock and sand, 20 pounds each. So hopefully it will pass me, or at least be short lived.

Be careful. I did the same and thought my uglies were long past. After all I saw diatoms, green hair, then even dinos. They didn't last long. A month or so total for everything. I got a bit cocky and nature dropped it's hammer on my tank.

Every thing is still looking pretty happy in here. I did move my pink tip palletta to a more mature set up as it was starting to bleach from the tip back and from the growth edge back.

Your new rig is gonna be nice. In another year and a half, your tank and hopefully mine will be looking very nice.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I made fish food tonight. I wasn't gonna post about. But I found a krill in with the mysis.

First, making fish food. I mix 50% mysis and 50% a mixture of calnis, plankton, brine shrimp, chopped garlic nori, and two droppers full of selcon to moisten the nori.

After it's all melted down I spread it into these tiny silicone cube trays.and refreeze with a piece of press and seal on the exposed side to serve as a lid and stop freezer burn.

Everyone in the tank loves it. Feeding response is fantastic from corals and fish alike. I give one cube a day.

These are the trays:
Upgrade Silicone Mini Ice Cube Trays, 2 Pack 320 Small Ice Cube Molds, Easier to Release, Crushed Ice for Chilling Drinks, Whiskey, Cocktail, Flexible Stackable for Freezer https://a.co/d/bGHq6Pw


Anyhow, I found a krill and thought, Ethan Hawkfish will love this. I tossed it in and the chalk bass went after it like a stinky chartreuse and watermelon jig. He's been swimming with this krill sticking out of his mouth for 2 hours now.

No I'm not worried. He will get it down eventually. It's almost there.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Chalk bass got his krill down and is still doing great.

I haven't been able to eradicate planaria. I've been wanting a McCoskers wrasse. Seems like the perfect excuse. I'm doing a lot.of travelling in the next couple of weeks and I don't want to QT so I'm buying from Dr. Reef. There was a mix up the first time I ordered from him. The make-up round of stock they sent me was extremely healthy and good looking.

They get a second chance.

But I'm excited for a flasher wrasse. Other than the chalk bass, it's a pretty good looking crew for a small tank. Purple firefish, flame hawkfish, McCoskers wrasse, and the chalk bass. Maybe I should have bought a black cap instead of the chalk bass.

If anyone reads this, would a Midas Blenny work with this crew?

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Chalk bass got his krill down and is still doing great.

I haven't been able to eradicate planaria. I've been wanting a McCoskers wrasse. Seems like the perfect excuse. I'm doing a lot.of travelling in the next couple of weeks and I don't want to QT so I'm buying from Dr. Reef. There was a mix up the first time I ordered from him. The make-up round of stock they sent me was extremely healthy and good looking.

They get a second chance.

But I'm excited for a flasher wrasse. Other than the chalk bass, it's a pretty good looking crew for a small tank. Purple firefish, flame hawkfish, McCoskers wrasse, and the chalk bass. Maybe I should have bought a black cap instead of the chalk bass.

If anyone reads this, would a Midas Blenny work with this crew?

I have a hawk fish, luner wrasse and lawnmower Blenny. The Blenny stays to itself and don't get bullied in my reef if that helps

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I had greed hair algae that served as a habitat for dinos. The more green hair the more dinos. Originally I was gonna dose silica. I started it but couldn't find really clear instructions on dosing or testing. So, I started the Dr. Tim's dino treatment today.

Middle of last week I got my nitrates to 10, phos to .1 by turning on my algae scrubber and skimmer full time instead of alternating 12 hour cycles.

This morning at lights out. I turned off my skimmer and scrubber, then dosed Re-fresh and covered the tank up...

I hope this works.

Why didn't I ever get dinos back in the day? Why are they a guarantee now. Almost as certain as diatoms now.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

During my 3 day blackout and Dr Tim's dino treatment. My purple firefish vanished while the tank was covered. Strange. Anyhow, I bought a GBTA to put in with my clown in her tank. Without a firefish, I'm putting the nem and the clown in with the chalk bass and Ethan. Maybe I can finally shut down the 14 gal and concentrate on this lagoon.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

A little bit of growth and a photo bomb from Ethan.

The Dr. Tim's dino treatment worked, so far. So now I have some green hair algea. I'm not complaining. Hopefully the algae scrubber can get moving now.

I tried an aurora goby, he jumped through the cover. It has 3/8" squares.

I have a McCoskers wrasse on the way with a green bulb anemone and a 24k leptoseris. Once the nem is settled, and the McCoskers jumps to his death or gets comfy. I'm gonna try the clown in here one last time.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

A little bit of growth and a photo bomb from Ethan.

The Dr. Tim's dino treatment worked, so far. So now I have some green hair algea. I'm not complaining. Hopefully the algae scrubber can get moving now.

I tried an aurora goby, he jumped through the cover. It has 3/8" squares.

I have a McCoskers wrasse on the way with a green bulb anemone and a 24k leptoseris. Once the nem is settled, and the McCoskers jumps to his death or gets comfy. I'm gonna try the clown in here one last time.

Looking good

 

[BensReef22]

Does the Kamoer ATO have any backup auto shutoff mechanism? I read your suggestion of using a timer to turn it on for a minute three times a day, definitely gonna give that a shot. But I read somewhere that the red probe just sets off an alarm if triggered, but doesnt shut the pump off. Is this true, if so it scares me that there is no backup if im not home.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Does the Kamoer ATO have any backup auto shutoff mechanism? I read your suggestion of using a timer to turn it on for a minute three times a day, definitely gonna give that a shot. But I read somewhere that the red probe just sets off an alarm if triggered, but doesnt shut the pump off. Is this true, if so it scares me that there is no backup if im not home.

I have two and both shut off the pump when it alarms. I am only speaking about the ATO One 2. I don't know about the previous version.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Tanks not looking too awful, I have some algea. I'm learning not to care about it. It's way better than dinos and stays mostly on my gravel. I almost lost my Miami Orchid while I was doing a dino treatment. But what didn't die is coloring up. I'm sure it has a long road to recovery.

I started this tank as an upgrade for my almost 7 year old clownfish. She's mean, really mean. Because she is so mean I had to keep her in her old mixed reef. I'm gonna try boxing her in with a nem for a week. Hopefully get her and the nem aquainted.

Her anemone is due in on Friday along with a 24k lepto, and a McCoskers wrasse. I figured I may as well start trying to make them all pals now.

And since Ethan is saying hello,

I can't wait for this algea scrubber to work. If it ever will. So far it hasn't done its job.

 

[SliceGolfer]

I found your thread when searching for ReefBreeders lights. A fun read for sure! Good luck on your tank journey!

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I found your thread when searching for ReefBreeders lights. A fun read for sure! Good luck on your tank journey!

I appreciate that. Oh man do I have an update for sure. That firefish you read about ended up in my rear chambers. Now my tank is absolutely loaded with fish.

My clown is working out great in here. The McCoskers wrasse is loving it. Then I found the firefish, it had been missing about 2 months.


As to the lights, if you don't mind setting them and not tinkering, they are fantastic. But I suspect you'd be getting the ones with app control which I don't have. In regards to the spectrum and power, they are great. Part of that is because I have it on a small tank. But 16 inches above my water and they mix near perfectly. I have 525-550 at the water surface.
425-475 about 2-4 inches down, and at the gravel 10" away I am north of 250 on the edges and the corners around 200. I have the old version so programming them is a pain in the tail.

Here is the captured/rescued fire fish in a acclimation box

I'm starting to get some good growth and colors on the montis and varied growth rates on the acros/anacropora but with good colors and polyp extinction. But I have battled back and forth between dinos and algae for a few months now. It feels like it's finally winding down and becoming manageable.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Long story short my little tank was peaceful for a few months. Chalk Bass, flame hawk, fire fish. I added my old clown, bad move. She beat up everyone. So I moved her to her own tank ( Bedside mixed reef nano ). Then my hawkfish beat up my chalk bass. The hawkfish went to Bio-reef in Jacksonville FL.

A few days later I noticed that my new flasher wrasse was kind of hiding at dinner time I noticed a big bite out of his tail. The only fish capable was the chalk bass. I watched and saw him chasing. A $15 chalk bass does not have permission to beat up a wrasse. It took me a couple of tries. He was impossible to net. But I caught him by feeding inside of an acclimation box turned 90°. When he went in, I closed the lid.

A little over 3 inches long, he's getting bagged up today along with a free ride to Bio-reef. I'll probably come home with a shrimp goby of some sort.

I spent two weeks away from home on holiday vacation. While I was gone, my AFR doser tube clogged with build up. My alk dropped to 7.2, cal to 370, mag 1330. The nitrates 7, phos .1(ish). I have a couple of white tips on my Valhalla. My pink tip palletta also turned white on the tips and growth edge. I really hope to save them. Just the tips, about 2 mm of white.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Big Update. I'm 5 weeks short of a year from the day I filled it.

The most exciting part is that my Alpheus Armatus (Carribean Snapping Shrimp) hosted my non-bubbleing GBTA. I have been trying to get a photo of it. However, He is not a big fan of cameras, or me.

(Beetleguise)Flatworms, ya hate'em (Beetleguise), so do I. I have been fighting them since I made an E-bay coral purchase. I tried Salifert Flatworm Exit. I couldn't have followed the instructions any closer. It nuked my Miami orchid staghorn, Pink Tip Paletta, almost killed my Valhalla. Everything else stagnated for a bit, lost some luster, but didn't die back or bleach. However, Through manual removal methods as fancy as "smoosh it on the glass" and "syphon it out with an airline", as well as gravel vacuuming regularly I have decimated the flatworm population. Pods big and small are the predominant glass inhabitant now.

Here is a shot of my Hydnophora with a macro lens. No flatworms on the glass. I know there are still some in there.

During my green hair algea battle I stripped the nutrients out of the tank. Hello cyano. Dr. Tims Cyano treatment schedule has almost beat it back all the way. Just a tiny bit at the front glass and my conch eats it daily. nitrates are back up to 5 ppm and phos is <.1

Here are a couple more shots of growth. I've been dosing about 1dkh/day for the last 6 months. but about 3 weeks ago I noticed I'm having to dose more by hand to play catch up. So I am currently increasing my AFR dose. If my math is right, I am using 1 dkh/day more than I was previously dosing. Still gonna raise it sorta slow. .25 dkh/every couple of days.

Excuse my Stump of a Valhala up there top left. I had to cut all the damage from the flatworm exit. There wasnt much left. But there was a little tissue and its coming back pretty well.

My favorite piece, no Idea what this Monti is called.

And a couple of super blues

You may notice it is almost fishless. I got it down to a Yellow Coris Wrasse and a pink spot goby. Coris Wrasse vanished about 2 months ago on tank cleaning night. Not sure what I am gonna do here. Maybe just the goby and pick up carribean redspotted hawkfish.

 

[Amber.]

Big Update. I'm 5 weeks short of a year from the day I filled it.

The most exciting part is that my Alpheus Armatus (Carribean Snapping Shrimp) hosted my non-bubbleing GBTA. I have been trying to get a photo of it. However, He is not a big fan of cameras, or me.

(Beetleguise)Flatworms, ya hate'em (Beetleguise), so do I. I have been fighting them since I made an E-bay coral purchase. I tried Salifert Flatworm Exit. I couldn't have followed the instructions any closer. It nuked my Miami orchid staghorn, Pink Tip Paletta, almost killed my Valhalla. Everything else stagnated for a bit, lost some luster, but didn't die back or bleach. However, Through manual removal methods as fancy as "smoosh it on the glass" and "syphon it out with an airline", as well as gravel vacuuming regularly I have decimated the flatworm population. Pods big and small are the predominant glass inhabitant now.

Here is a shot of my Hydnophora with a macro lens. No flatworms on the glass. I know there are still some in there.

During my green hair algea battle I stripped the nutrients out of the tank. Hello cyano. Dr. Tims Cyano treatment schedule has almost beat it back all the way. Just a tiny bit at the front glass and my conch eats it daily. nitrates are back up to 5 ppm and phos is <.1

Here are a couple more shots of growth. I've been dosing about 1dkh/day for the last 6 months. but about 3 weeks ago I noticed I'm having to dose more by hand to play catch up. So I am currently increasing my AFR dose. If my math is right, I am using 1 dkh/day more than I was previously dosing. Still gonna raise it sorta slow. .25 dkh/every couple of days.

Excuse my Stump of a Valhala up there top left. I had to cut all the damage from the flatworm exit. There wasnt much left. But there was a little tissue and its coming back pretty well.

My favorite piece, no Idea what this Monti is called.

And a couple of super blues

You may notice it is almost fishless. I got it down to a Yellow Coris Wrasse and a pink spot goby. Coris Wrasse vanished about 2 months ago on tank cleaning night. Not sure what I am gonna do here. Maybe just the goby and pick up carribean redspotted hawkfish.

I remember commenting in this thread last year - it’s wild that it’s already been a year. Your thread inspired me to pick up my own lagoon 25. I am so very excited to start this adventure again the right way.

I want to apologize for your losses. You can never go wrong with a hawkish - they are so fascinating to watch! Your coral has grown in beautifully too!

If you could personally start over again from the beginning, what would you have done differently?

What are your plans going forward?

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I remember commenting in this thread last year - it’s wild that it’s already been a year. Your thread inspired me to pick up my own lagoon 25. I am so very excited to start this adventure again the right way.

I want to apologize for your losses. You can never go wrong with a hawkish - they are so fascinating to watch! Your coral has grown in beautifully too!

If you could personally start over again from the beginning, what would you have done differently?

What are your plans going forward?

Different fish choices for sure. Continually trying to get my clown into this tank, or trying over and over to get a wrasse in there hasn't worked out. I need a real lesson on fish behavior. I thought that the width of the tank format would help keep flasher wrasses it didn't. They jump out, even with a lid. my clown never cooled out and killed a couple fire fish. She is back in her 15 gallon cube now.

I also would have skipped the purchase of an algae scrubber. In 9 months it barely grew a single tuft of algae. As you can see my tank didn't have problems growing algae. The scrubber already broke. Complete waste of money.

The one thing I really wanted to do that I wasn't able to stick to was a more natural approach to problems. Predation of unwanted inhabitants, bacteria vs chemicals, patience vs money and haste.

Haste caught me with flatworms. Wrasses we're jumping out, no predation. So I broke my first rule and went with a chemical to kill them. It killed a few and 3 acros. I still have flat worms. Please dip your corals.

But mostly I'm happy with the way it's gone. My opinion of the ice cap nano k1 skimmer has changed, it's way better than I initially felt.

One thing worth noting so far has been about real ocean sand. You don't skip over all the bad stuff, it's just way easier to manage and you get through it faster vs bagged retail sand. You find more hitchhikers good and bad, I've seen algae forms that I didn't know existed.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I remember commenting in this thread last year - it’s wild that it’s already been a year. Your thread inspired me to pick up my own lagoon 25. I am so very excited to start this adventure again the right way.

I want to apologize for your losses. You can never go wrong with a hawkish - they are so fascinating to watch! Your coral has grown in beautifully too!

If you could personally start over again from the beginning, what would you have done differently?

What are your plans going forward?

First off, super sorry I missed your post. You took the time to reply to my thread and I didn't do good there. So apologies for sure.

All the fish loss has been odd. But I almost feel like its just the shallow nature of the lagoon 25 combined with a few skittish fish choices that maybe I shouldn't have made. But for sure I'd have passed on the more exotic looking species in favor of more sedentary fish.

As far as changes other than that. The algae scrubber never worked. Total waste of money. I also would have used the bubble magus mini q instead of the ice cap k1 nano. The ice cap feels cheaper and has a bigger foot print than the bubble magus. Both are quality and work well.

As far as future plans, this thank is absolutely stuffed for a nano. I have corals everywhere. I am in full blown maintenance and stability mode now. Maybe in a year I'll fill in some empty spaces. But I'm not sure I'll have any empty space at that point.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I currently have only one fish in here. A fair sized pink streak goby. I also have a green BTA, fire shrimp and a snapping shrimp.

I still have my mean old clown in another tank.

Please raise your hand if you think I should give her a try with the goby. I really want to shut her tank down.