75GL Growing Reef - Lots Of Pix

[CJBROWN]

I got signed onto the forum back when I was building this tank over a year ago. Guess I haven't posted since. So here's what's been going on since starting this thing.


Just starting up here:

About 3 months old here...

Now about 18 months running. Coral is taking over.

 

[LVE]

Looks good.

 

[Steven R]

Nice looks like the xenia got away on you a bit..

 

[justjosh012]

I think that xenia looks great right now, just hope you can keep it in check.

 

[wysiwyg]

nice looking tank

 

[CJBROWN]

Yeah, I guess I'm gonna have to get in there with a scissors or something because that xenia doesn't just pull off the rocks. The zonanths just grew from frags and have spread all over he base rock.
Any other ideas on controlling the runaway pink stuff?

 

[revsgirl]

Your reef is beautiful!!

 

[CJBROWN]

Hmmm...stopped by for a visit...

Tank has been up continuously now since April 2011. Same yellow tang still going strong, as are the mated clowns - they're still spawning every couple of months.

Thank has been very easy to maintain. I pretty much do nothing but clean filters, change out 5gl every couple of weeks, and monitor salinity. Everything else is on it's own.

Red Reef Coral salt mix in RODI water, kalkwasser in the top-off water, and a bubblemagus skimmer. I add nothing else.

I have a little too much algae growth, but I get lazy about water changes and adding kalk to the top-off bucket. My guess is that phosphates have accumulated over the years. Crushed coral sand gets sucked up and replaced about once a year - seems there's a lot of phosphate build up. This will usually kill all the accumulated algae on the tank sides, but it persists on the live rock. Live corals have spread throughout the entire base rock.

 

[Tahoe61]

The 5 year update!!!!

Awesome that the tank is still going strong. Watching that Xenia must be hypnotizing.

 

[CJBROWN]

The clowns adapt to it like an anemone. LOL
They even sleep in it - they look like they're dead, lying vertical, motionless, it's amazing. The female - the larger of the two - is very aggressive. She bites my hand and arm the whole time I'm reaching in cleaning. I doubt they would take to more fish added - I don't do anything with the population, just let it be. No stress = happy life.

 

[CJBROWN]

This pic is about 6 months old, off my iphone. Interesting how the corals have completely taken over compared to pics up thread.

Here you can see the substrate has gotten really overgrown with algae. It was later all sucked out and replaced with new crushed coral. I maintain about a half inch or less of substrate.