Picture dump alert!
6 months without an update! Things have gone super well! I didn't leave the hobby--just started learning things on my own.
Lots of good things. A few bad things.
Good:
Only lost a few coral (they were early on)
All fish and inverts are alive and thriving
Good growth on a lot of stuff
Found a consistent dosing schedule
Have eliminated water changes for the last 5 months and have found an acceptable equilibrium
Bad:
Really just aiptasia
Will be adding an aiptasia eating filefish soon. Also will be adding a yellow eye kole tang.
Notice that green octospawn I bought 7 months ago has gone from 1 head to 8 or 9
Also my elegance has nearly doubled in size--as has my green acan, punk rocker colony, and duncan. Yellow NPS gorg one of my friends suprised me with for christmas is even thriving. Super happy with the tank.
Installed some t5 retrofits 3 or 4 months back. Colors and growth have exploded. Bought a speckled bta that has since split and the 2 are both twice the size of the 1 I bought. Got a derasa clam 4 or 5 months ago that has doubled in size. Added quite a few acros that have almost encrusted their entire plugs.
My clowns have begun laying eggs! Also my yellow watchman has paired with his candycane pistol shrimp. I included a pic of their mound and the goby, but the pisto was shy today. Got a single head of gobstopper zoa that has now become a 10 head colony (cha-ching). Every single one of my fish now readily eat LRS, omega flake, and spectrum pellet food.
All-in-all I am super happy with how it's all going, and once I add the kole for hard to reach nominal hair algae and filefish for aiptasia, this tank will be truly complete aside from more SPS, euphilya, and the occasional mushroom.
The ricordea florida wishes the water was a little dirtier, but still looks pretty nice IMO.
