Red Sea reefer 250 - Mixed reef!

InvaderJim · Oct 25, 2020

Glad to see you didn't give up. Im jealous of that duncan colony.

Chrille26 · Oct 26, 2020

InvaderJim said:
Glad to see you didn't give up. Im jealous of that duncan colony.

Thanks! Yeah thats the only coral who has been healthy and growing throughout it all so he is a real warrior!

Chrille26 · Oct 26, 2020

Dang this shroom is really looking awesome today with the long blue polyps and the green base.

ID-Reefer · Oct 27, 2020

It can be a rough hobby! I got out of it for about 9 years due to a few reasons but one was due to some die off of corals/fish after a few years of great success. It can be depressing. Looking back I know I wasn't doing all I could to keep things stable. Im hoping this time (im in the middle of a build with a 240g. system) by using more automated systems and keeping things more consistent that Ill have the success without the crashes.

It seems like your temps have caused or at least played a role in some of your problems. Have you considered a chiller? Were you able to eradicate the flat worms? I had to deal with them in the past too.. Flat worms and bubble algae were my only real nemesis.

Anyway, enjoyed your thread and appreciated your honesty/transparency with what you were dealing with. Others can learn as much from problems as they can from great success. Your tank was really nice and appears to be headed back! I wish you great luck.

Chrille26 · Oct 27, 2020

ID-Reefer said:
It can be a rough hobby! I got out of it for about 9 years due to a few reasons but one was due to some die off of corals/fish after a couple a few years of great success. It can be depressing. Looking back I know I wasn't doing all I could to keep things stable. Im hoping this time (im in the middle of a build with a 240g. system) by using more automated systems and keeping things more consistent that Ill have the success without the crashes.

It seems like your temps have caused or at least played a role in some of your problems. Have you considered a chiller? Were you able to eradicate the flat worms? I had to deal with them in the past too.. Flat worms and bubble algae were my only real nemesis.

Anyway, enjoyed your thread and appreciated your honesty/transparency with what you were dealing with. Others can learn as much from problems as they can from great success. Your tank was really nice and appears to be headed back! I wish you great luck.

Thank you!
And I know exactly what you mean. We spend money and time to care for living creatures, so to see them die really kills the motivation. I could only imagine having the same thing happen to a tank that has been up for several years.

The only thing I did for the flatworms was to remove the refugium. I havent seen any in my display, I think mainly because of my yellow Coris wrasse constantly hunting around the rockwork.

The temp is absolutely a major cause for the crash, but a chiller is probobly overkill here in Sweden, the few months of heat can be mitigated with fans and frozen bottles. My heater is having to work the rest of the year.

Bubble algae and dinos have been my biggest fights yet in this hobby, I am more or less free of both now, but I see the occational bubble here and there but not the infestation it used to be!

Chrille26 · Oct 30, 2020

K.I.S.S
As in Keep It Simple Stupid, a rule I live by right now! Bought another very basic but colourful coral today, a Japanese Kenya tree, or neon green Kenya tree. Placed it high on top as a centerpiece for now.

The frag super shriveled up and mad:

I dont trust this lfs, so removed the fragplug and did a long, thorough dip, and it payed off. Removed quite a few diffrent critters and what looked like a nudibranch.

Chrille26 · Nov 1, 2020

Wouldnt be my reef if there werent a setback!

My new Kenya tree decided to dettach from the small stone it was attached to and drift away, landing behind one of my base rocks at the bottom.

Some digging and cursing later and the really upset frag is set in a shotglass filled with rubble. Hope it attaches soon.

Chrille26 · Nov 3, 2020

Time for some biodiversity!
Recieved 900 ml of Copepods and two strains of Phytoplankton.
Poured most of the pods into my liverock/bioball rubble in the sump, but also poured a couple of bags straight into the display. Think I overdid it?

Pics dont show just how crazy many pods popping around in the DT right now.

And all bags in and streamers still off, podexplosion!

Also added the first dose of Phyto to kick things off!

Chrille26 · Nov 7, 2020

Floating some new bags today!
Bubble tip Anemone and a orange Rhodactis.

Chrille26 · Nov 7, 2020

Hopefully the BTA will stay put where I placed it, found a nice crevice for it with decent light and flow.
The Rhodactis is still closed up after being dipped, and also because I put it a bit too close to my Black clowns Duncan so it got tailwhipped a few times.

Chrille26 · Nov 8, 2020

And today!
The Anemone wandered a short disance to a more sheltered spot, not too bad so wont bother it.
The shroom is fully open looking good.

Chrille26 · Nov 9, 2020

Aaand today, BTA on the loose, still not bothering anything so will let it do its thing. Hope it finds a spot soon before someone gets hurt.

josephxsxn · Nov 9, 2020

How do you like your DD Jumpguard?

Nice tank.

Chrille26 · Nov 9, 2020

josephxsxn said:
How do you like your DD Jumpguard?

Nice tank.

Thanks!
It has worked great! Atleast once a week there is a fish that jumps and gets saved by the net.
Unfortunatly it doesnt wrap around the overflow, so I had to create plastic lids on the sides at the back.
But other then that it is good.
Easy to assemble too.

Chrille26 · Nov 11, 2020

Still doing two water changes a week to stay on top of nutrients and water quality. Also changing filtersocks twice a week right now. Things are moving along nicely at the moment.

My neon green Kenya tree is still working on setting his foot but still appears happy and healthy. He lives in a glass at the back in low current.

My Bubbletip seems to have found his home, he hasnt moved for two days now. But he has really blown up, he didnt appear so large in the lfs so hope he doesnt grow too fast now!

Chrille26 · Nov 14, 2020

Some daylight pics:

Chrille26 · Nov 14, 2020

And some bluelight shots:

Chrille26 · Nov 26, 2020

Grabbed two new frags today. A Caliendrum and a Setosa. Took some quick photos before lights out!

Noticed the brittlestar while acclimating. It went into the reef.

Setosa

Caliendrum

Fts

Side

Other side

Chrille26 · Nov 29, 2020

Bubbletip appears to have found its spot, its been still for over a week and it looks happy.

My favorite coral, my Duncan who survived swings, a crash, lack of care and two Clowns who keeps snuggling with it.

Chrille26 · Dec 6, 2020

Had to rehome my Foxface due to size. I got it to rid my tank of bubble algae and other nuisance algae and it did a great job. But it outgrew my tank and it also nipped at my soft corals.
NEVER MAKING THAT MISTAKE AGAIN! dont get fish that wont be able to stay forever. Its a pain in the... to try and catch these type of fish in crowded tanks, it makes a mess.

Anyway here are the two replacements:

A sailfin Blenny, I will do my best to make it eat Nori.