Restarting my 80 gallon reef tank

[Vetekli]

Greetings! I read this forum quite a lot but this is my first thread. I started my first reef tank 6 years ago. I would say i was moderatly successful, made a lot of mistakes but also learned alot.

However i haven't had much time or interest in the aquarium lately so decided to do a restart. However, it took over six months from the time I emptied the aquarium (moved few fish and coral I wanted to keep to another temporarily) until it is up and running again.

The aquarium is a 300 liter /80 gallon optiwhite made by a company here in sweden and its on a stand from Juwel. Has no sump so all equipment is in the tank. However, I will build something similar to an acrylic sump that I will have in the tank, a similar solution to what is usually called AIO, although mine will be able to be lifted out of the aquarium. Will try to make it as minimal as possible.

Haven't really decided what to have in the tank yet. Always wanted an anemone with clowns, either a magnifica, crispa or malu. There will probably be a large anemone and some suitable corals. I have tried to make a more thought out scape, it took a long time to divide the rocks and glue them together into something a little more interesting. Maybe it doesn't look so natural, but I'm still quite happy.

In terms of fish, I have thought about the following.



2 clowns
1 Wrasse Iridis
1 Wrasse Leopard blue star
1 goby or mandarin
1 flasher wrasse
1 royal gramma
1 or 2 pajama cardinal



Will mainly post updates in the form of short videos. Here is the tank cycled and with one pajama cardinal as the first fish.

 

[luis angel]

hope you can keep posting updates, many people here with a lot of knowledge who can help you in the process of starting over

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[Vetekli]

Video above was actually a week old. I have added one pajama since then and a macro algea (red ogo). Hoping it will help with nutrient export. I can see some type of brown uglies but i actually feel like it decreased already compared to how it was a few days ago. I also added a bunch of pods.

From today.

 

[Vetekli]

Fragged and added a gorgonian from my temporary holding tank (dont want to transfer anything from rock) and also some blue sympodium. Just added some dove snails and some ceriths are in there as well (hiding in the sand now). The red ogo macro is growing really fast. Also clowns are in.

 

[Vetekli]

Ugly phase has started, i have lots of algea/diatoms whatever it is. Will start cleaning and adding more cleanup crew (in QT atm). Added a few coral, seem to be doing well. Also an anemone heteractis malu, but it doesnt seem happy. I think my light might be too much since it shrinks when the lights go on and then it lets go. Also added more fish since last update, a flasher wrasse and a royal gramma.

 

[Vetekli]

Tank has now been up 3 months. I have recently had quite a lot of problems. First a bad outbreak of cyano, i think it started after i vacuumed some of the sand. I tried to remove it by hand but it came back. I moved over my wedge sea hare but that guy didnt eat the cyano at all. Didnt have enough time and energy to continue so i used red slime remover. Cyano was gone but after that i got a bad bacteria bloom. I have never had one before so it was a new experience for me. The water was really hazy and it didnt get better even though i waited a few days. So i used UV and carbon and now the water is clear again.

Added a scroll coral and a ornate leopard wrasse. The wrasse was really small so i was worried that he would be bullied by the flasher wrasse but he doesnt care. I did use an acclimation box that i built myself for about a week.

 

[Vetekli]

New eavning shot of the tank, not that much has happened in the last two months. I did add some more corals, pink birdsnest, more stylophora milka frags, more of the same purple gorg and a neon green sinularia. I do see some nice coral growth, especially the neon green birdsnest. I do still have quite alot of hair algea but i try to remove some and my sea hare eats alot, so i hope it will disappear in the long run.

Im thinking about adding more fish, either goby firefish or a captive bred mandarin (splendidus) or maybe both. On the big rock to the left i was planning to have a big anemone, but im not so sure anymore since i dont want to risk any of my fish being eaten. Im thinking maybe a yellow fiji sarco instead, or possibly an island of hammers or something.

Water is a bit cloudy since i cleaned the glass right before filming this.

 

[Vetekli]

So i got myself both a firefish goby and a mandarin goby (splendidus). Both are in QT tubs right now (only for observation). The mandarin i got ate Mysis at the fish store so thats why i decided to get him. I soon realized that he is extremely skinny though, he has an indent where his stomach is.

I did get him to eat Mysis on the second day but the thing is he eats maybe two or three mysis then no more. After those first few he still seems interested when i give him more, he checks them out but then "nah" and swims away. Pretty frustrating but maybe hes full? I dont know for sure. If i come back an hour later he will eat a few again. I know they are said to have small stomachs but i´ve seen clips on YT of them eating way more than just a few.

Im kind of worried im not feeding him enough. 3 days in a week i can only feed him before and after work, which means 1 time before i leave and like 3 times before bedtime. The other 4 days i try to feed him as many times as possible but it varies between 3 - 6 times a day.

I did try adding quite alot of pods but i did not see him hunt that much and it seemed like they were just gone after a few days.

Here is a video of him eating some mysis.

 

[Vetekli]

The mandarin seems to be doing well. He is still thin but slightly less so i think. I try to feed him as much as i can. Funny little guy, looks up at me when i come with the turkey blaster. Eats Mysis and sometimes pellets by mistake at least ( i mix them in).

I feel a bit bad though because i didnt pay as much attention to the firefish goby. He was hiding alot and jumped like crazy when i lift the lid. So i left him alone, just fed him. But i reslized he was always hiding now breathing heavy so i understood that there was ammonia in the water. I had not done a wc. So i did that now and he seems better. Hes out swimming now but breathes really fast. Hope its just light damage that can heal.

 

[Vetekli]

Starting to think getting the fire goby was a mistake, hes hiding again and its hard to feed him since he wont come out. Whenever do something in his tub he jumps like crazy.

 

[Vetekli]

So things have really gone to hell with the tank the last few weeks. The mandarin died, i think it was of starvation. I bought loads of pods but i never really saw him hunt much. He did eat some mysis, but despite my best efforts he stayed thin.

When i was trying to build a pod population i dosed quite a lot of live phyto and i think thats what started big problems. I already had low nutrients and then i had zero readings on both no3 and po4. My corals went really bleak, i noticed my tubinaria was dying and something brown snot-like started spreading in the sandbed and on my hair algea. I just confirmed that its dinos.

Most of my tubinaria and some of my birdsnest have died. I´ve started to dose nutrients and will try to remove the dinos and turn on my UV and see how things go.