My 110 Gallon Experiment

[Slocke]

Fish Review 8:

Court Jester Goby
Koumansetta rainfordi

Appearance:
9/10
Much more beautiful than I expected with lots of fine details on its fins.

Personality and Aggression:
9/10
No aggression and is quite funny with its digging as its too small to move much more than a couple grains at a time. Great all around fish without the cons of a larger sand-sifting goby.

Care:
10/10
Easy as can be! Got them captive bred from biota so they were already on easier foods.

Overall:
+1 for captive bred
10.3

 

[Idech]

Are you testing your nitrates ? With that much food, I wonder how high they are.

 

[Slocke]

Are you testing your nitrates ? With that much food, I wonder how high they are.

I need to upgrade test kits (API) but about 5 ppm. My LPS seem to do better than my "dirty water" loving softies so I'm fairly confident my nutrients are low. Also my bubble Algea issue has seemed to disappear though I still get some Algea on my glass that and Coraline are my only Algea growth.
Need to get a better nitrate test and a phosphate but I hate spending money on boring things.

I blast my refugium of Cheeto and caulpera with a ton of light so that's my secret (if indeed it is working).

 

[Slocke]

Fish Review 9:

Blue Mandarins (bred pair)
Synchiropus splendidus

Appearance:
10/10
A strange and wonderful fish. It reminds me of both a frog and a fairy at the same time frog because of the skin and the hopping and a fairy for the way it hovers with its little fins when swimming.

Personality and Aggression:
10/10
The funniest and most perfect little fish. Especially cute when together; they will circle each other then hop off in some direction. Cute and strange.

Care:
5/10
I have no idea. They've doubled in size so I must be doing something right but since they eat things so small I can't see its hard to tell if they get enough. But so far so good, though it is costing me a lot. Biota does make it easier.

Overall:
+1 for captive bred
9.3

 

[Slocke]

Fish Review 10:

Midas Blenny
Ecsenius midas

Appearance:
8/10
Mine still hasn't regained its full color and is still a little underweight but it is still a very pretty fish. Edit: Looks much healthier now.

Personality and Aggression:
10/10
I really like this fish. It was an impulse buy to replace my wrasse and it wasn't in great condition at the fish store but it is a very active fish and a very attractive swimmer. Also no aggression shown which is nice as I do have firefish.

Care:
10/10
Super easy. Eats well and everything. Does like a little bit of vegetables and some nice holes to hide in.

Overall:
9.3

 

[Slocke]

Fish Review 11:

Royal Gramma
Gramma loreto

Appearance:
8/10
I wasn't expecting it to be as pretty as it is bu the lines around the eye and the transition in the middle from yellow to purple is also very pretty.

Personality and Aggression:
5/10
Fun little fish with no aggression. Not particularly exciting but certainly a good addition.
Edit: Now attacks any new fish quite viciously for a few hours unfortunately.

Care:
10/10
Super easy. Eats well and everything. One of the easiest fish in the hobby.

Overall:
7.7

 

[Slocke]

Fish Review 12:

Longnose Hawkfish
Oxycirrhites typus

Appearance:
7/10
A handsome fish. Doesn't have the flashiest colors but makes up for it with an interesting body plan and a cool sharpness not often seen in saltwater fish.

Personality and Aggression:
9/10
Funny and interesting. Loves to sit on the top of my rock scape and watch its kingdom. No aggression so far.

Care:
8/10
Only eats frozen Mysis and brine so far and was a little picky about its perch at first but is otherwise very easy.

Overall:
8.0

 

[MarsReefer]

Love the reviews. Looking at a lot of similar fish for my tank.

 

[Slocke]

Love the reviews. Looking at a lot of similar fish for my tank.

Thanks.
They’ve all worked out well. Probably going to hold off adding more fish as I’m out of ideas. Maybe anthias or try again with a wrasse but otherwise I’m worried about anything else. Love to add an angel or tang but not sure they’re worth the risk.

 

[Slocke]

Update:

Added in the last couple weeks.
-first LPS coral (2 stylophora, 2 birds nest, plating Montipora, freak hair pavona)
-A very cool nepthea (most expensive livestock in my tank now)

- red tuxedo urchin
-red and pink RFA
-first mushroom (orange recordia)
-checkerboard wrasse

Also added a fake rock shelf for more coral space

Very excited about the new wrasse but also worried about how it will get on. It was immediately examined by the melanarus. It did eat but then dove into the sand yet to be seen again. It is also known to get big (up to 11") and potentially aggressive. I love wrasse but they're also so unpredictable.

 

[Jedi1199]

I am curious about the lights. In my experience, led strip lights (I used an orbit marine 48" over my 55 for a short time) are severely underpowered for most corals.

At 24" tall, your lights have quite a distance to punch through to reach the bottom. Have you tested your PAR levels around your tank? The softies and zoas don't need as much light as some others, but I can say from my own observation that better lights will produce healthier and more robust corals. When I upgraded to my current lights my tank exploded in growth.

 

[Slocke]

I am curious about the lights. In my experience, led strip lights (I used an orbit marine 48" over my 55 for a short time) are severely underpowered for most corals.

At 24" tall, your lights have quite a distance to punch through to reach the bottom. Have you tested your PAR levels around your tank? The softies and zoas don't need as much light as some others, but I can say from my own observation that better lights will produce healthier and more robust corals. When I upgraded to my current lights my tank exploded in growth.

I’m also concerned about that. I have not tested par. I use two strips, the 46 and the 59W.
Some of my corals have grown disappointingly slowly, the toadstool and Xenia most notably. Though others on the bottom have exploded in growth, some of my Zoas there. I’ve also had one coral start to bleach, a blasto I’ve now moved into the sand on the dark side of my tank (it looks better now).
I love the customization features and the fact that they attach to the sides of my tank so I don’t have to worry about mounting them however the cost and the lack of power are definitely the downsides.

 

[Jedi1199]

I’m also concerned about that. I have not tested par. I use two strips, the 46 and the 59W.
Some of my corals have grown disappointingly slowly, the toadstool and Xenia most notably. Though others on the bottom have exploded in growth, some of my Zoas there. I’ve also had one coral start to bleach, a blasto I’ve now moved into the sand on the dark side of my tank (it looks better now).
I love the customization features and the fact that they attach to the sides of my tank so I don’t have to worry about mounting them however the cost and the lack of power are definitely the downsides.

Ok, so I admit that I am a bit biased here. I LOVE my Kessil lights. I know there are other brands out there and they may or may not be even better. Since my own experience is with the Kessils, that is what I will comment on.

For my 55 I have run through several different lighting options:

I started out with the Orbit marine strip. Good controls, really low power. Points for mounting directly on tank rim.

From there I moved on to 3 Wills 165s Good light, enough punch, but only 2 channels and zero controllability, 2 simple dials, white and blue, no ability to ramp up and down, no built in timer, nothing. To mount these, you either need to purchase a separate mounting hardware kit, or find a way to hang them from the included wire hanging mounts.

Then I found the SmartFarm 95w. They have the controls that I wanted, but lack the punch to reach the bottom. Corals survived, but nothing impressive, also any SPS corals bleached and died within days to a couple weeks even at the very top of the tank. Mounting hardware for these is also less than impressive.

Now I run the Kessil A360x tuna blues over my tank. Full controllability, multiple colors, phone app, moon phase, and enough punch to bee seen from space!! (almost lol) The mounting hardware is solid and works on both rimmed and rimless tanks. I have the gooseneck mounts which do not have the ability to hide the cables. The 90* brackets are slightly more expensive but DO hide all the wires. With the optional WIFI dongle, you can run these lights from your phone, or the dedicated controller is available but I have no experience with that myself.

For your tank, I would suggest 3 of these to get the illumination you want for what you are trying to grow. Figure about $1700 for the full setup, lights, mounts and the controller or Dongle.

 

[Slocke]

Now I run the Kessil A360x tuna blues over my tank. Full controllability, multiple colors, phone app, moon phase, and enough punch to bee seen from space!! (almost lol) The mounting hardware is solid and works on both rimmed and rimless tanks. I have the gooseneck mounts which do not have the ability to hide the cables. The 90* brackets are slightly more expensive but DO hide all the wires. With the optional WIFI dongle, you can run these lights from your phone, or the dedicated controller is available but I have no experience with that myself.

For your tank, I would suggest 3 of these to get the illumination you want for what you are trying to grow. Figure about $1700 for the full setup, lights, mounts and the controller or Dongle.

Wow!
That's an incredible light but also a lot of money. At the moment I like how my corals look, with the exception of the blasto they all look healthier or bigger than they did at the LFS. That certainly is the sort of light I hope to be able to get in the future but I'm a ways away from that. Especially with my addiction to adding random livestock every week.

Thanks for the advice though. I looked at your build and it looks like I can learn a lot from your journey as we have similar tanks.

 

[Jedi1199]

Wow!
That's an incredible light but also a lot of money. At the moment I like how my corals look, with the exception of the blasto they all look healthier or bigger than they did at the LFS. That certainly is the sort of light I hope to be able to get in the future but I'm a ways away from that. Especially with my addiction to adding random livestock every week.

Thanks for the advice though. I looked at your build and it looks like I can learn a lot from your journey as we have similar tanks.

Haha Yes they are VERY expensive, but in my opinion, worth every penny!! I am completely sold on Kessil lights and unless something that proves itself to be FAR superior comes along, I will be using them for the foreseeable future. (I just bought 2 more for my upcoming 135 build).

 

[Slocke]

Update:
Additions:
Just two: a pink aquaculture goniopora and a tiny emerald crab.

Problems:
Have had some problems since adding the Hortelanus wrasse just over a week ago.
1. Aggression/timidity:
-My Melanarus wrasse has been very aggressive to the Hortelanus and the later only emerges from the sand very occasionally.
-One of the two firefish has become terrified of everything but especially my Midas. The other is still being brave though.

2. Return of the uglies?: I've suddenly noticed my tank is looking a bit ugly. I've had some Coraline Algea take root on my powerbeads and pump but at the same time a minor outbreak of turf Algea. The urchin has really cleaned up where ever it goes but is sticking to a few rocks. On top of that my water has become worryingly full of particles in the water column and many of my rocks appear dusty. I think this may be down to the large amount of frozen and live pods I've added for my mandarins or because I didn't wash the new ceramic media I added to my filtration and me removing some of my mechanical filtration.

Changes:
I'm making some changes to better control nutrients. Mainly I'm reducing feeding; going from 3 cubes to 2 and feeding far fewer flakes. I'm also stopping feeding live baby brine shrimp. To compensate I've added a variety of pods and have restarted adding phytoplankton to the tank. Also started adding Red Seas AB+ and am planning on getting 'All for Reef' soon. Ive also added a phosphate reducer to my filtration and increased the intensity of my refugium lights. Hopefully this will decrease my nutrients while still providing enough for my fishy friends.

News:
Starting another tank! Got a 45 gallon (3'x1'x2') for free from a friend. Its rather beat up but will work for now on one of my dreams. An eel tank! It needed a massive scrub down, new sealant, and new equipment but its close to ready for aquascaping and filling. I've also spent quite a while making it escape proof. My plan is to start with a banded snake eel and then maybe a snowflake. I think one of my wrasse may have to move there too for reasons mentioned above. But very excited, I've always loved moray eels and sea snakes; a banded snake eel is neither but is somewhere in between. (no not genetically or taxonomically but you know what I mean.)

 

[Slocke]

Second Tank!!

Its an old beat up tank but I've worked a while refurbishing it. I'm purposefully keeping the rockscape minimal as what I'm adding will hopefully love the open sand.

 

[Slocke]

I've got a banded snake eel!!!
Anyone who's been on here recently probably knows that it wasn't the easy introduction I was hoping for and its still not at full health nor have I seen it eat yet. However it's looking a lot better now.

In other news I managed to catch the melanarus wrasse and put in my hospital tank. This allowed the Hortulanus out who preceded to terrorize many fish in my tank. I spent two days trying to catch but thanks to poor trap design I failed. So after a lot of thought I decide to put the melanarus back in the main tank in a isolation box as it wasn't eating and was obviously stressed in the small tank. After several hours I released into the tank and it ran for the sand. Guess I'll see tomorrow whether the bullying will continue.

 

[Slocke]

Fish Review 13: (the first bad one)
*My "reviews are based on my own limited experience with usually only one specimen

Hotrulanus Wrasse
Halichoeres hortulanus
I don't usually go into depth on my experience with a fish but to explain my ratings for this fish I think I should. I bought this fish because I like wrasse, it looked healthy, and everything except its full size size suggested to me it would fit into my tank well. It has been my only true regret of a fish and an absolute nightmare. Thus the numbers below.

(Can't even be bothered to take my own picture)

Appearance:
3/10 - I liked it at first but its one of too many yellow fish in my tank and by far the least spectacular. The face does not match the body aesthetically either.

Personality and Aggression:
1/10
What a .... bully. When first added it was harassed by my melanarus. So I took the melanarus out temporarily. It then preceeded to terrorize my tank. May have killed my little hawkfish, a peppermint shrimp, and a hermit crab and definitely attacked my firefish into almost full-time hiding and seemed to also enjoy going after the royal gramma, the clownfish, and even kept my foxface scared. What a monster!

Care:
7/10 (same as melanarus)
Very easy for me as I overfeed and have breeding pods but for someone who is more busy this thing could be a handful. It needs to eat a little a lot so should be fed many times a day. Rumors that it will kill your inverts if not fed enough times a day abound. Also may outcompete other pod eating fish.

Overall:
3.7

 

[Slocke]

Invert Review 3:

All the Snails

Astrea
Cerith
Conch
Margaritta
Mexican (giant) turbo
Nassarius
Trochus



Appearance: (not that that matters much for CUC)
3/10 -Astrea: often covered in hair Algea
5/10 -Cerith: hardly notice them
7/10 -Conch: weird but I like that
4/10 -Margaritta: look tarnished
6/10 -Mexican (giant) turbo: coraline Algea magnets
6/10 -Nassarius: kinda creepy but very cool
8/10 -Trochus: actually quite pretty shells

Effectiveness:
4/10 -Astrea: medium snail does medium work. Nothing special.
5/10 -Cerith: Good for the small crevices other snails can't reach.
3/10 -Conch: Sometimes it will come out for a few weeks and do a lot of clean-up work but usually does nothing but sit in one corner.
2/10 -Margaritta: Good at dying to hermit crabs, falling on back, etc; not much else
10/10 -Mexican (giant) turbo: Can clean thick Algea off of a whole rock or piece of equipment in a few hours. Absolute workhorses.
8/10 -Nassarius: Good for the sand and breed readily in my tanks.
7/10 -Trochus: Good for sand and rocks but lose to hermit crabs.


Care: (How often do I have to flip them/ how often are they hermit crab food or housing)
4/10 -Astrea: Sometimes/sometimes
6/10 -Cerith: Never/often
10/10 -Conch: Never/never
1/10 -Margaritta: Far too often/ sometimes
9/10 -Mexican (giant) turbo: Once/never
10/10 -Nassarius: Never/never
7/10 -Trochus: Never/often

Overall:
Astrea - 3.7
Cerith - 5.3
Conch - 6.7
Margaritta - 2.3
Mexican (giant) turbo - 8.3
Nassarius - 8.0
Trochus - 7.3