Since I haven’t posted anything resent regarding my tank progress I figured I’d resurrect this old thread and drop some photo updates basically from the very beginning until now the good the bad and the ugly.
Progress has been slow and additions few and far between but over the first year my fish stock list consisted of a pair of False Percs, 6 Green Chromis, 2 Green Clown Gobies 1 Yellow Tang and a few snails and crabs. I eventually added a couple Yellow Clown Gobies and a Blue Spot Watchman Goby, however the Blue Spot decided to go for a swim through the overflow and got beat up in the filter sock and the Yellow Clowns were picking the polyps off my Acroporas so they were banished to the sump.
At about 1 ½ years I added a Kole Tang to the mix however things didn’t go well between the Kole and the Yellow, they battled for a couple days while I plastered the tank with pictures of other tangs to help disperse the aggression however in the end I had a wicked Ich outbreak and the Kole tang died, and between the Ich and the subsequent attempt at quarantining the remaining fish all but 3 Chromis, and 1 Green Clown Goby survived.
In the past 3 months I have reintroduced a Yellow Tail blue Damsel and a Talbots Damsel (I think I may add a few more Talbots as they are a nicely coloured active fish with very little aggression) I also have a trio of Green Chromis to add to the existing three once they are a bit larger and able to compete. I have also added 3 Mexican Turbo snails to help out the other turbo snails, which have been there since the beginning, several scarlet leg hermits and nassarius snails, as well as a cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp (both shrimp were lost possibly due to crabs but not sure only one body was recovered).
Coral additions have been sporadic, but things have been growing faster now that parameters have settled down and Nitrates and Phosphates have been reduced to near zero, and the tank is looking fuller and more like a mixed reef than a diatom farm.
Over the past 2 years I have had only a few additions equipment wise and have kept things fairly basic. For the 1st 8 months my lighting consisted of a single 250 watt MH pendent sintered over the tank. After that I got the second pendant up and running with Phoenix bulbs in both and the lighting situation was vastly improved. The other addition that has really helped the Phosphate situation was the addition of a BRS dual reactor to run GFO and Carbon. I also dose vinegar daily to help keep thing in check. As far as supplements go I started dosing using the BRS bulk stuff for Ca, Alk and Mg, but have for the past 6 months been using Calcium Chloride deicing salt for my Ca and baked Backing Soda for Alk since I have to dose about 90 ml each per day to keep up. I also now have a 30 gal quarantine tank up and running for any new additions.
Here are some photos starting from the beginning:
Getto Reef Aug 2011
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7697788@N08/9196549365/
FTS Sept 17, 2011
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7697788@N08/9196554883/
FTS March 19, 2012
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7697788@N08/9196558513/
FTS Oct 30, 2012
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7697788@N08/9196567545/
FTS July 3, 2013
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7697788@N08/9206919772/
Green Monti March 19, 2012
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7697788@N08/9199363276/
Green monti July 3, 2013
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7697788@N08/9206933652/
Orange Acan March 19, 2012
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7697788@N08/9199361376/
Orange Acan July 3, 2013
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7697788@N08/9204146615/
Green Acro w/ Blue Tips Oct 30, 2012
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7697788@N08/9199358568/
Green Acro w/ Blue Tips July 3, 2013
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7697788@N08/9206923586/