....THE BEST AND WORST OF TIMES....THAT FIRST YEAR.....

Lousybreed · Mar 30, 2018

Adam this is a good post to keep us grounded. I am transitioning from a 70 to a 250 and I worry that I will have some new tank syndrome with the move. Fingers crossed.

ReefInskeep · Mar 31, 2018

thewasho said:
Im lucky that i live just down the road to a coral collector/aquaculture in australia, this frag is 3rd generation captivity from a mother colony on the great barrier reef, top photo is the day i glued it down, bottom photo is 14 days growth since accliamating

14 days?! What’s your secret sauce? lol Impressive growth! Imagine starting out with a healthy, chunky little colony helps quite a bit.

It’s frustrating when most of the frags in the U.S. now are ½” to ¾”. Starting with such small nuggets of SPS seems to prolong the agony/fear. I’d rather pay a little more to get larger frags, or better yet, find vendors that supply chunky frags at reasonable prices. Adam seems to do the best he can to supply frags that aren’t absurdly tiny, generally. I really despise vendors that charge out the bunghole for 1/8”-1/4” micro-frags. I refuse to support anyone that does that. Or anyone that calls a 1” frag a “mini-colony.” LOL

lucky42032 · Mar 31, 2018

Nothing better than seeing that little 1/2” frag turn into a beautiful 1” multi-branch frag that is fully encrusted

Definitely agree with Rakie though and I find myself being guilty of this some times. The rush of getting something new, finding the perfect spot, and getting it mounted sometimes make you over look the beauty already in the tank.

Battlecorals · Mar 31, 2018

lucky42032 said:
Nothing better than seeing that little 1/2” frag turn into a beautiful 1” multi-branch frag that is fully encrusted
Definitely agree with Rakie though and I find myself being guilty of this some times. The rush of getting something new, finding the perfect spot, and getting it mounted sometimes make you over look the beauty already in the tank.

so true, so true. not a whole lot different than shiny new toy sometimes lol

Haggisman14 · Apr 2, 2018

Battlecorals said:
That sucks man would a wrasse or two help with those? how did you go about treating them?

So far i've done two treatments of PraziPro in the tank which seemd to on the whole treat the issue. I think what I need to do now (as I still see this dang polyclads on my torch, is break the piece off from my rock, and do a dip all by itself in a bowl of some tank water and PraziPro. That way whatever polyclads fall off the torch, stay out of the tank, and don't have a chance to re-attach.

Here's hoping!

Nht · Apr 3, 2018

Good write up Adam. But let me ask you how does one overcome that new tank syndrome of the first year? I am upgrading to a bigger tank soon and this write up actually is making me nervous lol. I don’t want to wait a year for my tank to start thriving. Anything I can do or take from my old tank to help the new one mature faster??

Battlecorals · Apr 3, 2018

Nht said:
Good write up Adam. But let me ask you how does one overcome that new tank syndrome of the first year? I am upgrading to a bigger tank soon and this write up actually is making me nervous lol. I don’t want to wait a year for my tank to start thriving. Anything I can do or take from my old tank to help the new one mature faster??

Well the thing is, what I'm talking about isn't really new tank kind of stuff at all. It's more about the idea that no matter how established your tank is, The first year with a frag is going to be the slowest by far. Its just the nature of frags. But in your case, a transfer or upgrade will speed up the new tank process a bit if you are reusing the rock and such from the old system for sure.

I have set up satellite systems using rock and water from my main that didn't skip a beat. had sps in them immediately and they did great from day one. But having said that, full transfer can be really hard on sps colonies. Do you plan on tearing down and reseting up, all in one day, or will you have the new system set up and running first and transfer as you are able to? This can also make a huge difference on weather things will go well or not.

Morecoral · Apr 3, 2018

I have to move in 2 months, luckily only 10 miles and I have a nuvo 20 with some sps I just started this year. The tank is 2 years old. Kind of stressed on if all my new sticks will be ok. In my mind it's going to go smooth, but I know it's going to probably kill some stuff. At least it's only 20 gallons so I'm going to reuse 15 gallons and have an extra 15 on hand. All the sticks are on one tall rock and 2 zoa rocks on each side. Blah I'm just worried. Is the risk of teardown and moving and setup in one day too much?

Nht · Apr 3, 2018

My plan was to move the existing tank to a different corner of the house and then setup the new tank and let it cycle and mature. Unfortunately I’m not able to use the old live rock as I have every pest on there including bubble algae, aptasia and this green I identified cousin of aptasia so I want to start fresh on this new tank and be more careful. I’m not a noob just a little anxious and careless sometimes [emoji12]

I think I will be able to use some of the sand from the old tank though but I know using old live rock will sped up the maturing process much quicker and easier. I’m open to suggestions but if I’m hijacking your thread I apologize in advance lol

Battlecorals · Oct 16, 2018

Nht said:
My plan was to move the existing tank to a different corner of the house and then setup the new tank and let it cycle and mature. Unfortunately I’m not able to use the old live rock as I have every pest on there including bubble algae, aptasia and this green I identified cousin of aptasia so I want to start fresh on this new tank and be more careful. I’m not a noob just a little anxious and careless sometimes [emoji12]

I think I will be able to use some of the sand from the old tank though but I know using old live rock will sped up the maturing process much quicker and easier. I’m open to suggestions but if I’m hijacking your thread I apologize in advance lol

Hi there,

Been a bit since your post, thought id check in and see how things went

Z3speed4me · Oct 16, 2018

The idea of watching the little nugget grow up to a "colony" is definitely a love/hate relationship. Especially when that new piece wasn't a cheap one! You want it to grow because every little bit of encrusting or new little branch means it's that much closer to the point of not randomly or quickly going south.

The part I am most terrified about is migrating all of my stuff to a new tank in a few weeks; scared even with moving tons of existing rock with grown out pieces on it, and using some of these magic bacteria potions and adding some existing sand to seed that things won't be stable or matured enough to keep everything alive! UGHHH honestly I have anxiety thinking about it...

volivier · Oct 16, 2018

I'm getting ready to move my 220 gallon 4 hours, already have a new pack paid for and waiting till I'm ready at the new house. Praying I don't loose very many of my corals in the move.
Any idea's on moving your tank are welcome!

Morecoral · Oct 16, 2018

Whew, that's a relief I'm not the only one that it takes a year to get a frag to show sign of life

Battlecorals · Mar 21, 2019

Morecoral said:
Whew, that's a relief I'm not the only one that it takes a year to get a frag to show sign of life

I've had stuff go dormant on me for years for years, before finally showing a glimmer of hope in a teeny new growth tip.

Bpb · Mar 21, 2019

I get this totally. My “system” is 8 years mature, once an sps reaches probably the 4-5” several dozen branch size they grow at a nuisance pace. Which I’ll prune and cull just to keep them shaped. I’ve even culled entire colonies when I couldn’t give them away. But put a 1” or less fresh cut in, and it’s excruciating. They take a year to cover the stinking plug and sprout a single new coralite.

JMM744 · Mar 21, 2019

Glad I am not the only one who stares at those frags relentlessly waiting to see growth. Just upgraded from a 70 to a 120 but the system is in pretty good shape so things should keep right on moving now.
Still, with all the encouragement to get growing it can be frustrating.
Glad I have my 180 with fish to watch and enjoy!! I have a couple from Adam that are about 8-10 months now and finally really making branches and encrusting.
Nice write up sir!!
Jim

Bpb · Mar 21, 2019

It’s funny. Of the 6 acros I’ve gotten from Adam, the two he said online that Gave him the biggest fits with dormancy and necrosis are the two that took off immediately and are approaching “colony” size in 8 months from single branch. The rest have just now covered the plugs and sprouted a few new coralites