1 year tank update

Hi All!

Just wanted to share with you what has happened over the course of my tank's first anniversary. To be honest, I haven't had too many problems as I have received more than a bunch of valuable tips, ideas and suggestions from the members of 3Reef. Thanks again!

The only losses I have had are:

• Goby beaten to death by my maniac six-line wrasse
• 3-headed Acan frag that vanished to skeleton overnight
• 2 Zoanthid colonies that were completely covered by GSP

What has impressed me is:

• Growth rate of pulsing Xenia. I started off with less that 1/4 that what I have today. I had to cut some off the other day and flush it. It was sad, but my LFS does not accept trade in's and I don't have anybody to give it away to.
• Growth rate of GSP. Mine has grown on everything.
• Number and variety of critters that just seem to appear by magic (worms, crabs, starfish and the almost microscopic shrimp-like creatures whose name I always forget and I have by the thousands)
• The love I have developed for stony corals (although I own few). I always thought that softies were better looking but I have changed my mind.
• The importance of flow. I cant get enough I have 4 nano koralias plus the return pump moving nozzles.
• The coolest hitchhiker I have ever seen.

I also:

• Decided to stop cleaning the back of the tank. It was a pain and I truly believe critters benefit from all the life growing there (although I loved the white background).

It's incredible how our tanks change over a short period of time. I had completely forgotten how my tank looked a few months back, when I originally set it up:

Day 1:



5 months:



1 year:



A few close-ups taken today:

This is my favourite frag now, my red Monti that doubled it's size in 5 months. Xenia somehow got to this rock, and I think I should scrape it off before it moves to the Monti:



This green mushroom colony started off as 1 piece. I now have 9 'shrooms living side by side. I have read that when mushrooms split it is because they are actually unhappy, but I have never been convinced by that theory.



This is my GSP colony. It has now moved to all neighboring rocks.



Well, no questions for today, I only wanted to share this with you guys.

Cheers!

 

This is very cool! Thanks for sharing! Your tank is lovely!

 

+1 on the very cool comment. Do you have any thoughts on things you did that worked out especially well? I would love to add to the variety of corals in my tank.

 

Not really Saw, I guess that the basics just worked for me: very very slow introduction of additional organisms (1 month apart for each specimen), religious water change schedule (20% every 2 weeks) and patience. If I could take back time, I would have isolated GSP and Xenia from neighboring rocks though. The only thought that comes to my mind is to follow instinct and common sense. We have millions of resources available, and I don't mean to diminish the value of that, but sometimes common sense brings the desired results.


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Really nice timeline. Thank you for sharing. Tank looks really good.

 

That's great progress. Stony corals eventually get us all.

 

That's great progress. Stony corals eventually get us all.

 

Beautiful tank