Hi All!
I've been on here for awhile and decided it's finally time to create a tank thread. I won't bore you with a back story on how I got into the hobby or when I setup my first tank yada, yada so I'll just skip right to my current tank. I have a RSR 425XL that's been running for almost 2 years. l started the tank with 60Ibs of cherry primo live rock from Live Rock n Reef and 20lbs or so of CaribSea life rock arches. I planned on having wrasses that bury so my sand is a nice mix of Fiji pink and Special grade.
Here are a few pics of its humble beginnings....
Several different macro algae popped up all over the live rock within a few weeks. One of my favorite things about setting up a reef tank is watching your live rock come to life!
Every time I get gulf live rock I get some cirolanid isopod hitchhickers. This time was no exception, but I was able to remove most of them daily in my filter socks. However, about 4 months in I had a large isopod attach itself to my H. chrysus (aka yellow wrasse) but I was able to manually remove the isopod from her. I never saw another one after that, thankfully! This guy was also a hitchhiker that came in as a tiny fella but quickly grew and had a taste for ricordea. His name is Sump Crab.
The ugly phase.... Around this time I got tired of the macro algae invasion so I picked up a Kole tang.
Despite the Kole tang's best efforts, all he managed to do was rip the algae into pieces which clogged up my MP40s and spread the algae throughout the tank. I ended up removing the Kole tang. The pink macro in this pic was really pretty and it loved being in the flow of my MP40.
After the Kole tang was gone I picked up a Copperband. Even though she had a voracious appetite she kept losing weight to what I suspect was internal parasites. I pulled her into QT a few times and tried oral metronidazole in her food (I must've had the dose right bc she wouldn't eat it) and 4 rounds of prazi, but sadly she eventually withered away
And of course here are a few early pics of some of my wrasses!
P. attenuatus (aka diamond tail flasher), C. jordani (aka flame wrasse), C. exquisitus (aka exquisite wrasse), H. biocellatus (aka red-lined wrasse) and M. negrosensis (aka black leopard)
My tank no longer has all of this macro algae. I ended up adding 3 mexican turbo snails - Larry, Curly and Moe. They ate all of it.
Thanks for looking! More to come....
