The Bluegrass Reef

[Wrassenaround]

That’s great to hear! What’s the fish stock at now?

I'm currently at
2 Gladiator DaVinci Clowns
2 Blue Reef Chromis (Pair)
1 Melanurus Wrasse
1 Solorensis Fairy Wrasse
1 Blue Sided Fairy Wrasse
1 Blue Eye Kole Tang
1 Male Lyretail Anthias
1 Swissguard Basslet

 

[Wrassenaround]

With all of the Labor Day sales going on this weekend I currently have a TCK Master Torch and a UC Dippin Dots mini colony on the way. I'm trying to get a few more sticks from TCK in their auctions and also debating on if I should get some Mystery SPS from Top Shelf Aquatics.

 

[Wrassenaround]

So here's my haul from the @TCK Corals Labor Day sale. Really excited to add some higher end acros since the last time I added some my tank wasn't quite ready for them yet.

UC Dippin Dots

RRC Rainbow Splice

TCK Wildcard

Jason Fox Solar Flare

TCK Master Torch

I also ordered some branching Moroccan rock to get my Acros exposed to more light and open flow.
The piece I ordered will look something like this from Premium Aquatics. I plan on breaking some pieces off to have multiple areas with 500+ Par.

 

[Wrassenaround]

My package from TCK Corals arrived today and man was it legit. These corals have so much color. Not only that but all of them are HUGE and if not completely mostly encrusted over the plug. The first time I've ordered multiple pieces at once from them and I'm thoroughly impressed.

From left to right.
JF Solar Flare, TCK Wildcard, RRC Rainbow Splice, UC Dippin Dots (note polyps are facing light)

Once my branching rock arrives later today I'll get the rock pieces in the tank and hopefully glue down the frags tomorrow and let them do their thing!

 

[Wrassenaround]

Update Time
Sooooooo I've changed a few things in the tank.

In an effort to get some more height on the left side of my tank I added some branching rock. However I didn't like the way it looked and it also didn't give me the right "position" to secure my newly acquired SPS.
So I decided flip the rock upside down and utilize a small natural peak that was hidden on the back side. This gave me more height while looking much more natural.

I also added branching rock to the right side of the tank for my acros and once their color darkens a little it will look very natural. The frags have enough space to encrust along with lots of light and flow. With the addition of my 5th torch I can officially say I have a torch garden of many colors.

I have started a second treatment of Fluconazole to hopefully fully eradicate my Bryopsis issues. In addition to that I am also starting to dose magnesium as I have seen that higher Mag levels can help fight against nuisance algae. Ive never doses Mag, just replenished it during water changes. Also looking at adding more sand in the near future as I have involuntarily removed a decent amount of it in the last year.

Here's a few pictures from yesterday of the current state of the tank.

 

[Wrassenaround]

Well it has been a minute on an update so why not close out 2023 with a doozy!

Since September I have added a Desjardini Sailfin Tang and a Flame Angel. Unfortunately I lost my Lyretail Anthias as for some reason it decided to stay in a cave and not come out very often.

I did a Chemiclean treatment to get rid of my Cyano problems that were creeping up and keeping my sand bed green. I also added about 15 additional pounds of CaribSea Fiji Pink live sand as over the last 2 years I have inadvertently removed a lot through water changes.

All of my SPS from TCK corals I got a few months ago slowly withered away. (Acros apparently isn't my thing) So I'm now going to only focus on LPS, Softies and the occasional Monti as I do have good success with them. However, this week I have coral orders from @TopShelfAquatics & @Queen City Corals arriving with Zoas, mushrooms, acans and torches.

THE FISH:

I don't really have goof photos of each yet as they are both camera shy still.

New Corals Incoming:
I actually had the chance to visit Queen City Corals in person and I was very impressed with the accurate representation of their corals in person compared to photos online. They are very healthy, fluffy and vibrant. So much so that I purchased 3 torches and an acan frag.

**Photo Taken in Person**

**Online Photos**

I ordered these during the Black Friday Sale from TSA.

Chemiclean and Additional Sand:
No before and after photos of the cyano as it wasn't super bad or noticeable.
Over time I have removed a good amount of sand. I decided to add some back since I have multiple wrasses and want to add more along with the tank just starting to look bland and some bare spots appearing under the rocks where fish move the sand around.

When I set the tank up in June of 2021

Today before, during and after adding more sand

While making this update I actually realized how much sand I really have lost from when I set the tank up initially. Sometime in January I may actually add even more.

Overall the tank is doing well, corals are happy and growing, fish get along, levels are stable and algae is virtually non existent. As for 2024, I'm going to continue to do what I'm going, add some corals here and there but mainly stay on the hunt for the fish on my wish list (first post in this thread). I may add one of the AI Orbit wave makers as I see them getting great reviews coupled with me already having a Nero 3 & 5.

 

[Wrassenaround]

A FTS with an orange lens coupled with some close ups of the corals.

 

[Queen City Corals]

Well it has been a minute on an update so why not close out 2023 with a doozy!

Since September I have added a Desjardini Sailfin Tang and a Flame Angel. Unfortunately I lost my Lyretail Anthias as for some reason it decided to stay in a cave and not come out very often.

I did a Chemiclean treatment to get rid of my Cyano problems that were creeping up and keeping my sand bed green. I also added about 15 additional pounds of CaribSea Fiji Pink live sand as over the last 2 years I have inadvertently removed a lot through water changes.

All of my SPS from TCK corals I got a few months ago slowly withered away. (Acros apparently isn't my thing) So I'm now going to only focus on LPS, Softies and the occasional Monti as I do have good success with them. However, this week I have coral orders from @TopShelfAquatics & @Queen City Corals arriving with Zoas, mushrooms, acans and torches.

THE FISH:

I don't really have goof photos of each yet as they are both camera shy still.

New Corals Incoming:
I actually had the chance to visit Queen City Corals in person and I was very impressed with the accurate representation of their corals in person compared to photos online. They are very healthy, fluffy and vibrant. So much so that I purchased 3 torches and an acan frag.

**Photo Taken in Person**

**Online Photos**

I ordered these during the Black Friday Sale from TSA.

Chemiclean and Additional Sand:
No before and after photos of the cyano as it wasn't super bad or noticeable.
Over time I have removed a good amount of sand. I decided to add some back since I have multiple wrasses and want to add more along with the tank just starting to look bland and some bare spots appearing under the rocks where fish move the sand around.

When I set the tank up in June of 2021

Today before, during and after adding more sand

While making this update I actually realized how much sand I really have lost from when I set the tank up initially. Sometime in January I may actually add even more.

Overall the tank is doing well, corals are happy and growing, fish get along, levels are stable and algae is virtually non existent. As for 2024, I'm going to continue to do what I'm going, add some corals here and there but mainly stay on the hunt for the fish on my wish list (first post in this thread). I may add one of the AI Orbit wave makers as I see them getting great reviews coupled with me already having a Nero 3 & 5.

Thank you! I'm glad you were able to make it to the shop. The tank is looking really good, I love seeing customers' tanks get filled up and can't wait to see the fantastic pieces you are getting growing and thriving in your tank!

 

[Wrassenaround]

Some Christmas Eve Eye Candy

 

[Wrassenaround]

A Christmas Day full tank shot

 

[Wrassenaround]

Alrighty, so my LFS has a tank raised Lemon Peel Angel that is about the size of a penny. I want to get it because want a lemon peel and why not a tank raised one right?

I would need to get an acclimation box because it would most certainly succumb to my other fish in my tank until they got used to it.
I need some recommendations on boxes.

 

[Wrassenaround]

 

[Wrassenaround]

It's been a while since I have posted a full livestock list with fish and coral so here it is! I'm pretty much maxed out IMO on coral space. I may be getting 3 more wrasses this week but that is TBD. I will share an update on them when they arrive if I do get them. Just know that they are all a different genus.

Fish Stock list and wish list-
2 Gladiator DaVinci Clowns
1 Blue Reef Chromis
1 Solorensis Fairy Wrasse
1 Blue Sided Fairy Wrasse
1 Blue Eye Kole Tang
1 Desjardini Sail Fin Tang
1 Flame Angel
1 Swissguard Basslet
Various Clean Up Crew


Existing Corals and wish list-
LPS -
2 Bicolor Hammer colonies (20+ heads each)
Teal Green Hammer colony (15+ heads)
TSA Blow Torch (5+ Mouths)
TSA Blue Tip Torch (5+ Mouths)
TCK Master Torch (2 heads)
QCC Soul Reaper Torch
QCC 24k Indo Gold Torch (3 heads)
1 LRO Dragon Soul Torch
1 LRO Pot of Gold Torch
1 WWC Stellaria Chalice
Blue Tip Elegance (5+ mouths)
6 Micromussa/Acan Frags & Mini Colonies
CandyCane Colony (tennis ball size)
TCK Paint Splatter Chalice

SPS-
RRC Rainbow Splice
TSA Nuclear Fusion Montipora
TCK Rainbow roads Montipora
Jason Fox Aquaman Montipora
WWC Kung Pao Montipora

Softies-
Rainbow Incenerator Zoa
Dream Inceptor Zoa
Scrambled Eggs Zoa
TSA Rainbow Spectrum Zoa
TSA Golden Temple Zoa
ECC Eagle Eye Zoa
Bam Bam Zoa
Circus Freak Zoa
Rainbow Ricordea (X3)
Neon Green Finger Leather

 

[Wrassenaround]

So I woke up to something pretty awesome this morning. If I think what I saw was right then my elegance coral was spawning! A bunch of little white spheres floating around the tank out of nowhere and they were coming from the elegance.
This is the first time I have had anything like this happen in my tank. Super pumped. Maybe in a few months I'll a tiny elegance pop up somewhere.

I have videos but I've never been able to post any on here for some reason. They never finish uploading so suggestions are VERY welcome.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

So I woke up to something pretty awesome this morning. If I think what I saw was right then my elegance coral was spawning! A bunch of little white spheres floating around the tank out of nowhere and they were coming from the elegance.
This is the first time I have had anything like this happen in my tank. Super pumped. Maybe in a few months I'll a tiny elegance pop up somewhere.

I have videos but I've never been able to post any on here for some reason. They never finish uploading so suggestions are VERY welcome.

I know some people convert the videos into GIFs and that works, others will just make a youtube link and that works as well

 

[Wrassenaround]

Eclipse Day Update
On Thursday of last week I received a long awaited order from Reef Beauties. I've been wanting to order some more wrasses as I've only had 2 for the longest time. IMO wrasses are the most colorful and useful fish in the hobby.
I ordered a Timor, Naoko and a Carpenters Flasher (Surprise at the end)

All fish arrived in a very well labeled box, however there was only one heat pack in the box. The water temperature was 68 degrees in each bag. The fish arrived in rough shape. I immediately began acclimation and added to the tank once completed.
Reef Beauties has been great to work with while placing the order to confirm size and availability given they update their inventory nearly every day.
I shared multiple photos of the box with the lack of heat pack along with pictures of the water temperature and fish of course.

The Carpenter and Timor wrasse have flawlessly adjusted to the tank and are eating and actively swimming around as if they've been apart of the crew since Day 1. Unfortunately the Naoko did not make it. Once again Reef Beauties has been outstanding to work with and issued me credit within 15 minutes of informing them of the death with a photo.
I will definitely order again and highly recommend despite the lack of 2 heat packs.

I have since been informed that my Carpenter wrasse is actually a Flavianalis, (its much more colorful than a Carpenteri & also arguably rarer and harder to find)
It has been relatively hard to snap a pic of but I managed to get one of him and the timor.

A few more tank shots. Everything is thriving and growing very quickly. I'm probably going to have to start fragging a few pieces.

 

[Wrassenaround]

A Full Tank Shot to cap off the update -

 

[Wrassenaround]

So for those of you who've followed this since day one have known that I have not had the best luck with SPS, Acros to be specific. I have since given up on trying to keep them....or have I

I visited a fellow hobbyist's tank today and he has branched off into the SPS realm of reefing and so far has been pretty successful with it. A lot of his pieces are from @WWC whom I have not ordered directly from but have some pieces in my tank. I am intrigued how some of their "Vics Picks" have the actual par amount they receive which makes me optimistic that I would have a higher chance of success. I have ordered some from @TopShelfAquatics which I'm open to doing again.

I am thinking about getting some Acros from @TCK Corals as they have their weekly auctions and can get some major deals on there.

What would be 2-4 pieces that I should look out for that you guys think would look good in my current tank (doesn't matter the price)
If its pricy I'll look for a good substitute....that is if I like it

This Golden Dragon on WWC is catching my eye right now but at $150 before shipping it is on the high end of my budget per piece. I realize it's a large piece with a lot of growth spots but I'm not trying to spend a lot given my lack of success in the past.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

A Full Tank Shot to cap off the update -

Wow this is such a great reef! Beautiful!

 

[Wrassenaround]

Wow this is such a great reef! Beautiful!

Thank you! I've been wanting to try and get more people to see it because its come a long way in 2 years. Hopefully this could help.