Ever just want to give it all up?

I'm no SPS expert I would have no idea about auto piloting your tank with them in there. I just have one SPS added about a week ago but after testing water I don't need to dose anything yet. All I have in my tank at the moment are softies.

I am using Seachem Reef Salt and it works wonders maybe a new salt will help.

 

I agree with both comments. I love salt water especially now that it's running, the tank is healthy and I can see coral growing. I wanted to throw in the towl many times however I wasnt going to let defeat beat me...I am sure my wife would love for me to quit but I can't...its my Zin.

 

That's a great photo, looks more like euphyllia ancora(hammer coral), but i could very well be wrong and it may just be euphyllia divisa, my frogspawn is euphyllia paradivisa , and i was looking at a euphyllia divisa the other day but it was $80 and i couldn't afford it.

Luckily my clown only does that behavior in the evenings. a lot of people say it's not beneficial for the host frogspawn, but have you seen any negative effects such as polyp extension or deflation while your clown molests the euphyllia? it's very hypnotizing to watch, and that's just one of the many great rewards you get for owning a reef tank. this thread has kind of helped put the negative thoughts in a secret compartment and just be a little more patient with MYSELF, stop getting anxious about the dosing regiment and stop dosing, and then besides adding top-off water and feeding once a day, i'm going to let my tank be for a few weeks just to see what happens.

algae problems have been so minimal lately i've been feeding more and more each time just to fatten my fish up and grow some algae for my poor CuC, they always act like they are starving because I have zero algae growth minus the green film algae that grows on the glass.

 

+1 This is how I'm feeling

 

No problems at all, during the day the thing is huge! I bought it with 3 heads and it was 2-3 inches fully open, now it is at least 9 heads and gets 6-8 inches during the day. The clown fish will feed it! Here's a better picture.

 

Send me a link to see pics of your tank. Also, maybe you should make it a FOWLR tank.

 

Very beautiful specimen but I'm definitely thinking Euphyllia ancora, and not Euphyllia divisa - look at the tips they are slightly oval shaped which is exactly like mine.

I JUST took this shot, you can barely see my Blue Sympodium growing in the background(top of picture behind my half dead SPS), its a small frag but fairly uncommon and it's growing very well(never glued it to the rock)

You can also see my Flametail Blenny saying, "Hello!" It's so amazing how well my six-line, occy clown, and flametail get along. Sometimes they will all swim right on top of each other in a funky school of misfits. They all have great personalities and get along very well especially during feeding time

 

29g Biocube LED w/ Fuge & RKL+

Definitel FOWLR one day, I really want a puffer tank in the future, I think I could do it as a reef tank, but i'd have to keep up with my CuC since puffers will be eating them to death

 

I go through phases where I lose interest. I usually fall in love with something for a month and then forget about it. When I started doing aquariums I thought it would be one of those things but I've been in it for 6 months now, I don't see it ending any time soon.

 

Been there, which is why I am a huge proponent of making things as easy as possible. More comments about this below

If you're manually dosing, invest in a dosing pump ASAP. It is one of the most tedious and unrewarding aspects of tank maintenance. Heck, even cleaning the skimmer is better (something about cleaning out all that muck means you're getting it out of the tank).

Different strokes for different folks. When people come over and they aren't interested in my tanks I just shrug my shoulders and move on. But then there are the people that come over JUST TO SEE MY TANKS and I get engergized.

This is always the biggest PITA which is why it's imperative to find ways to make it as easy as possible. Some things to consider:

- Set up your water change apparatus away from the tank - out of sight, out of mind - and use long hoses attached to pumps to get water to the tank/drain - OR - put your water change tank on a wheeled furniture mover and wheel it/new salt water to the the tank for changes.

- Set up your RO/DI so you can turn it on and forget it (by having an overflow to a drain so if/when you forget about it, it doesn't flood)

- Put a small mark on the tank so you know where to drain it to.

- Use a bucket for new salt and mark it so you know exactly how much salt to use in your water change tank each time. This eliminates the need to do adjustments to the salinity after mixing. Just fill the water change tank to a mark with RO/DI water, fill the salt bucket to a mark with salt, dump in and mix.

- Alternately, plumb your water change apparatus INTO YOUR TANK SYSTEM. I did this on my last tank and it worked great. See link below.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/10-minute-water-change-68204.html

Get those set then forget about it - with the exception of feeding

Take out the variables through automation.

Can't get around the skimmer and glass, but I don't clean anything else on a regular basis. Make the skimmer cleaning as easy as possible (e.g. skimmer as accessible as possible) - maybe put the sump in a separate cabinet next to the tank for better access.

Simplify this too. I feed Rod's food almost exclusively and then target feed a couple times a week with a soup made up of Zoo/Phyto and a bunch of other stuff.