McPuff
New member
Very true. Here in SE Michigan winter isn't very pleasant. :0)
McPuff's new 300 (transfer from 120)
- Thread starter McPuff
- Start date
Very true. Here in SE Michigan winter isn't very pleasant. :0)
McPuff
New member
It's been just over a month since the last angel update... I like to see these progressions so I hope you do too.
The annularis is now the second largest fish in the tank, only behind the lieutenant tang. I've had him for 10 months and he's grown from 1.5" to about 7" long (close to 1" wide) in that time. Pattern is nearly 100% adult now. Pic is not great but this guy doesn't stop moving! :0)
The blueface has been in the DT for over a month and is definitely gaining confidence. He's been relegated to this corner by the annularis but he doesn't get his butt kicked anymore. Starting to venture a little further away from the safety spot, especially at meal time. Juvenile stripes are still quite evident but the background is changing to adult. Face and fin color (yellow) is really starting to come in. Past experience tells me that it will take about a year to change completely.
The size difference between the angels is not optimal. This isn't what I had planned but they were available at separate times and the annularis grew WAY faster than I thought it would. So far it's working ok but I'm always watching the big guy.
Wondering out loud if buying a coral beauty (want one anyway) would help to ease some aggression on the blueface...
The annularis is now the second largest fish in the tank, only behind the lieutenant tang. I've had him for 10 months and he's grown from 1.5" to about 7" long (close to 1" wide) in that time. Pattern is nearly 100% adult now. Pic is not great but this guy doesn't stop moving! :0)
The blueface has been in the DT for over a month and is definitely gaining confidence. He's been relegated to this corner by the annularis but he doesn't get his butt kicked anymore. Starting to venture a little further away from the safety spot, especially at meal time. Juvenile stripes are still quite evident but the background is changing to adult. Face and fin color (yellow) is really starting to come in. Past experience tells me that it will take about a year to change completely.
The size difference between the angels is not optimal. This isn't what I had planned but they were available at separate times and the annularis grew WAY faster than I thought it would. So far it's working ok but I'm always watching the big guy.
Wondering out loud if buying a coral beauty (want one anyway) would help to ease some aggression on the blueface...
McPuff
New member
Small updates for those still following...
FISH
I actually bought 3 fish about a month ago: royal gramma, tailspot blenny, arc eye hawkfish. Both went through 12 day TTM, and are still in QT at least until the weekend. I've put them through Prazipro and am finishing up the metro/kanaplex food treatments today and Saturday. After that I'll be fully confident in placing them into the DT.
The blenny is awesome. I've always loved those things... tailspot, bi-color, etc. I made a cluster of barnacles and he is ALWAYS in there, popping in and out all the time. It's terrific. I may be able to simply pick up the whole thing and move him into the DT.
I'm a little worried about the hawkfish since I already have a caribbean spotted in the DT. But in such a large tank with so many nooks and crannies I do think it'll be fine. The gramma should also really like the structure. Even in QT, they seem to really do well with the rocks present. Still, it's always amazing when the fish go into DT and you see their real personalities come out. Maybe that means the DT is a pleasant place to live?? :0)
The humu trigger is doing really well in the lagoon. Growing pretty fast (for a trigger) and the color is really nice! Always thought the humus looked like they were painted... probably why they are called "Picasso" triggers. Has been my favorite fish since I first saw one around age 13. It's really fun to have one in a top-down system as well. He comes out whenever I go to the lagoon. Very cool fish.
As you may have seen, I made the difficult decision to sell the Annularis. He is just so much bigger than the blueface and aggression has picked up in the last coupe weeks. It is sad because I've had him since 1.5" juvenile. He is definitely King of the tank now. Such a fast progression! Found a great new home for him... just a matter of catching him at this point. Won't be fun. The new question becomes, what angel will I get to "replace" the annularis? Haven't really given it much thought. French are one of my favorites but they simply get too big, even for a 300. Ideally, it would be a non-Pomacanthus due to intra-genera aggression. I'm open to suggestions. Will almost certainly get a pygmy (not cherub!) angel... likely a coral beauty. We shall see.
NUTRIENTS
I bought some "sponge excel" to see if silica dosing would help limit Algae growth. Dosed for about two weeks and definitely saw an increase in diatoms, particularly on the glass. It does seem to have reduced some other forms of Algae. Has been about a week since I ceased silica dosing and I can already see the reduction in diatoms, though in the lagoon it's a bit delayed. May also try vodka dosing to see how well that works. Makes me a little more nervous though and I have to ensure that my skimmer is really working well. If you have experience with vodka dosing, please do share how effective it was/is.
May also try to add another cucumber (have 2) and/or sand sifting star (have 1.5). Have manually stirred the sand before but it's something you really have to be careful doing. Last year I ended up with a plague of calothrix which took a couple months of rock scrubbing and water changes to remidy. Also had a small outbreak of bryopsis which I treated using fluconazole (which is expensive). Granted, travel and lack of cleaning my pumps was another factor in those outbreaks... but it's still something that needs to be done carefully.
Enough rambling, hope that my experiences can help someone else.
FISH
I actually bought 3 fish about a month ago: royal gramma, tailspot blenny, arc eye hawkfish. Both went through 12 day TTM, and are still in QT at least until the weekend. I've put them through Prazipro and am finishing up the metro/kanaplex food treatments today and Saturday. After that I'll be fully confident in placing them into the DT.
The blenny is awesome. I've always loved those things... tailspot, bi-color, etc. I made a cluster of barnacles and he is ALWAYS in there, popping in and out all the time. It's terrific. I may be able to simply pick up the whole thing and move him into the DT.
I'm a little worried about the hawkfish since I already have a caribbean spotted in the DT. But in such a large tank with so many nooks and crannies I do think it'll be fine. The gramma should also really like the structure. Even in QT, they seem to really do well with the rocks present. Still, it's always amazing when the fish go into DT and you see their real personalities come out. Maybe that means the DT is a pleasant place to live?? :0)
The humu trigger is doing really well in the lagoon. Growing pretty fast (for a trigger) and the color is really nice! Always thought the humus looked like they were painted... probably why they are called "Picasso" triggers. Has been my favorite fish since I first saw one around age 13. It's really fun to have one in a top-down system as well. He comes out whenever I go to the lagoon. Very cool fish.
As you may have seen, I made the difficult decision to sell the Annularis. He is just so much bigger than the blueface and aggression has picked up in the last coupe weeks. It is sad because I've had him since 1.5" juvenile. He is definitely King of the tank now. Such a fast progression! Found a great new home for him... just a matter of catching him at this point. Won't be fun. The new question becomes, what angel will I get to "replace" the annularis? Haven't really given it much thought. French are one of my favorites but they simply get too big, even for a 300. Ideally, it would be a non-Pomacanthus due to intra-genera aggression. I'm open to suggestions. Will almost certainly get a pygmy (not cherub!) angel... likely a coral beauty. We shall see.
NUTRIENTS
I bought some "sponge excel" to see if silica dosing would help limit Algae growth. Dosed for about two weeks and definitely saw an increase in diatoms, particularly on the glass. It does seem to have reduced some other forms of Algae. Has been about a week since I ceased silica dosing and I can already see the reduction in diatoms, though in the lagoon it's a bit delayed. May also try vodka dosing to see how well that works. Makes me a little more nervous though and I have to ensure that my skimmer is really working well. If you have experience with vodka dosing, please do share how effective it was/is.
May also try to add another cucumber (have 2) and/or sand sifting star (have 1.5). Have manually stirred the sand before but it's something you really have to be careful doing. Last year I ended up with a plague of calothrix which took a couple months of rock scrubbing and water changes to remidy. Also had a small outbreak of bryopsis which I treated using fluconazole (which is expensive). Granted, travel and lack of cleaning my pumps was another factor in those outbreaks... but it's still something that needs to be done carefully.
Enough rambling, hope that my experiences can help someone else.
I'm still following!
Congrats on the new fish. Bummer you have to sell your Annularis, but kudos to you for seeing it and taking action. As I read, I was thinking maybe a pygmy angel would work. Coral Beauty is a great choice. Also take a look at the Bicolor and Eibli. There is also a mimic eibli tang that is gorgeous. Having both would be pretty cool!
My experience with carbon dosing didn't go well. Cyanobacteria! Without a skimmer, I was hoping to feed filter feeders instead. I don't think I had enough, and I don't think my tank was mature enough. It hadn't reached the one year mark. I wish you better luck.
Now, how about a nice, full tank shot!
Congrats on the new fish. Bummer you have to sell your Annularis, but kudos to you for seeing it and taking action. As I read, I was thinking maybe a pygmy angel would work. Coral Beauty is a great choice. Also take a look at the Bicolor and Eibli. There is also a mimic eibli tang that is gorgeous. Having both would be pretty cool!
My experience with carbon dosing didn't go well. Cyanobacteria! Without a skimmer, I was hoping to feed filter feeders instead. I don't think I had enough, and I don't think my tank was mature enough. It hadn't reached the one year mark. I wish you better luck.
Now, how about a nice, full tank shot!
McPuff
New member
Thanks Michael! I'll get that FTS ASAP. :0)
You point out a very big reason why I'm hesitant to dose vodka. But I may do it anyway. I'm not afraid of Chemi clean. :0)
As for the pygmy angel... it's going to happen. I've had the Eibli before and it was awesome. It's definitely on my list of potentials. Bi-color are cool. I've had one in the past and now have a weird feeling about them. There have been a couple coral beauties at my LFS which were amazing in color. They came from A & M aquatic which is actually not far away from me in Michigan. Anyway, it was very purple and had incredible color even in the tail. That got me thinking about getting one. A golden (C. aurantia) would be pretty amazing but I don't want to spend that kind of money.
Yeah, it's a bummer about the annularis as he's kind of been my little buddy for 11 months. Now I feel that way about the blueface. He's so much smaller and still needs some TLC. And the blueface has always been my favorite angel since I first saw them in a book from the Shedd Aquarium. Once I realized that people had those in their tanks, I knew I had to have one some day. This guy is my 6th I believe (unfortunately, 4 of them died in QT or tank crash; argh!). Here's a list of angels that come to mind as potential (juvenile) replacements:
Navarchus/blue girdled - never had; probably too close to blueface
French - Had one, LOVED IT... but these really do get TOO BIG even for a 300 (I'm more leavel-headed about this now!)
Emperor - Had one. These are always so eye catching; could be a winner
Passer/king - Never had; Intrigued
Asfur - never had; love the colors; supposed to have nice personality
Maculosis - same as above but slightly less hardy?? I remember a thread about them here on RC.
Anyway, I could probably trim this down to Asfur, Emperor, or Passer. Anyone have any anecdotes about their fish that will help me here? I know the emperor are bulletproof and believe the same is true about the Passer. Haven't seen many Asfur available, nor in other aquarists tanks. Would love to hear more about these.
Ha ha! I don't know if you remember my three month battle with cyano, but I finally gave up and got some chemi-clean. For carbon dosing I used vinegar. It's waaaaaaay cheaper than vodka. There are pros and cons to both, I think. I guess if you already have some vodka around the house, you could share a drink with your tank…
I haven't kept the Bicolor, but was considering it as a Rocky Beauty stand-in. Why do you feel weird about them? I've seen some of the purpler/bluer Coral Beauties and they are stunning. What can you tell me about Eiblis? Did they get along well in a community? Any problem behaviors?
So, you are determined to have more than one full-sized Angel in the same tank? Sounds risky, but if it can be done, you'll pull it off. Personally, I'd be happy to have one plus a pygmy. Getting two that are as different in size, shape, color and diet, and then introducing at the same time, is the best I can come up with. I have no experience with large angels.
I look forward to hearing what you end up doing!
I haven't kept the Bicolor, but was considering it as a Rocky Beauty stand-in. Why do you feel weird about them? I've seen some of the purpler/bluer Coral Beauties and they are stunning. What can you tell me about Eiblis? Did they get along well in a community? Any problem behaviors?
So, you are determined to have more than one full-sized Angel in the same tank? Sounds risky, but if it can be done, you'll pull it off. Personally, I'd be happy to have one plus a pygmy. Getting two that are as different in size, shape, color and diet, and then introducing at the same time, is the best I can come up with. I have no experience with large angels.
I look forward to hearing what you end up doing!
McPuff
New member
Just caught the annularis a few minutes ago... it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be... thankfully!
I'll certainly keep you posted on which angel(s) I decide to buy.
Michael, the eibli was very good in terms of community... until I tried to add a second (flame) pygmy angel. It went nuts on that thing. Otherwise, it was a really happy, gentle little fish. :0)
The bicolor I had never touched any food. Granted, this was over 20 years ago and I was not as adept at fish keeping. So I'm sure it would be fine. Most people say that are very hardy and they certainly do look good!
I'll certainly keep you posted on which angel(s) I decide to buy.
Michael, the eibli was very good in terms of community... until I tried to add a second (flame) pygmy angel. It went nuts on that thing. Otherwise, it was a really happy, gentle little fish. :0)
The bicolor I had never touched any food. Granted, this was over 20 years ago and I was not as adept at fish keeping. So I'm sure it would be fine. Most people say that are very hardy and they certainly do look good!
I love it when catching a fish goes easily. It's such a relief!
Thanks for sharing your experience with the eibli and bicolor. I'd love to get a pygmy angel in my tank eventually. It would need to not devour my macros, though some trimming would be nice. The eibli sounds like a good community member.
Thanks for sharing your experience with the eibli and bicolor. I'd love to get a pygmy angel in my tank eventually. It would need to not devour my macros, though some trimming would be nice. The eibli sounds like a good community member.
McPuff
New member
Within an hour of the annularis removal, the blueface was out and about through the tank. Such a good thing to see since he was basically trapped in a corner for a couple months. He is still a bit shy but I'm sure he's still waiting for the big annularis to come around a corner and bite him!
If I'm going to get another large angel it will need to happen pretty soon so this guy doesn't get too comfortable in there. :0) Although... small/juvenile blueface aren't very aggressive in my experience. The adults certainly can be, but they don't grow nearly as fast as the annularis. Time to see what my LFS can get in the next few weeks.
QT tank is going to be available soon as well... I can put the tailspot, arceye, and gramma into the DT whenever I have the time... hopefully tonight!
If I'm going to get another large angel it will need to happen pretty soon so this guy doesn't get too comfortable in there. :0) Although... small/juvenile blueface aren't very aggressive in my experience. The adults certainly can be, but they don't grow nearly as fast as the annularis. Time to see what my LFS can get in the next few weeks.
QT tank is going to be available soon as well... I can put the tailspot, arceye, and gramma into the DT whenever I have the time... hopefully tonight!
McPuff
New member
Added the royal gramma, tailspot blenny, and arc eye hawkfish on Saturday. All are doing very well.
I was slightly worried that the caribbean spotted hawkfish may be aggressive toward the arc eye (slightly smaller). They came face to face at one point while I was watching... not even the slightest bad vibe. More like, "hey, what's up bud?" And then they swam about. :0)
The gramma hid for the first day but was out and about the second... eating food.
Tailspot blenny stayed in his barnacle the first few hours. I have no idea where he went after that. Probably won't see him very often. Assuming he's doing fine in the DT though. Was fat and happy upon entry.
Have already inquired about new angel at the LFS. Likely deciding between passer, asfur, and maculosis. Will also add a coral beauty or perhaps another pygmy species. Looking forward to it!
I was slightly worried that the caribbean spotted hawkfish may be aggressive toward the arc eye (slightly smaller). They came face to face at one point while I was watching... not even the slightest bad vibe. More like, "hey, what's up bud?" And then they swam about. :0)
The gramma hid for the first day but was out and about the second... eating food.
Tailspot blenny stayed in his barnacle the first few hours. I have no idea where he went after that. Probably won't see him very often. Assuming he's doing fine in the DT though. Was fat and happy upon entry.
Have already inquired about new angel at the LFS. Likely deciding between passer, asfur, and maculosis. Will also add a coral beauty or perhaps another pygmy species. Looking forward to it!
McPuff
New member
It's been a month since my last update! Hmm... a few things:
- The new fish are all doing really well. The tailspot blenny comes out mostly at feeding time. I love to see that fish. May have to get more blennies!
- I chopped out almost the entire colony of sour apple birdsnest. It was HUGE... just barely fit in a 5 gallon bucket. There is still a small colony left over. I must have fragged the colony 20 times in 2 years and it still got massive. Such a cool coral though so I couldn't get rid of it entirely. I've actually sold the colony several times and always kept a small frag. I just love how it looks but it was crowding and shading other corals way too much. Was able to put a few corals in the massive space opened up - good size colony of tricolor validia, frag of 20k lokani, and I also moved my pink stylo into this spot. Showing close-up of this area below. Updated FTS also below. Next change will be removing the red/orange cap so I have more real estate for branching corals (1-2 more).
- Tunze sent me a flow rectifier for my 6150 stream 3. This is pretty awesome! It's just a vortex that takes the rotating current and makes the flow laminar. Really increases the flowthrough in a VERY noticeable way. Holy cow! If you have a stream 3 and a 6' (+) tank, you need to get the flow rectifier. I'm considering getting a second and only powering the tank with those 2 pumps. That's how good they are. Before upgrading the pump I was getting a protein slick on the far end of the tank despite having 2 x 6105s and the stream 3 moving water. Now, the slick is completely gone. I expect my skimmer to pull more gunk now. Water clarity should also improve once the fine sediment is removed from the water column. The corals should also respond quite nicely.
- Flooded my basement! Ok, that's a bit dramatic. Here's the full story... I added the flow rectifier to the 6150 last night, awesome. This morning I was coming downstairs at 4:30 am to work out. On my way past the basement stairs I hear a noise that just isn't right. Listen more... way too much water noise! ***?! I head down and don't see anything wrong with my tank. Look at the sump and it's got about 1/3 the water it should. Unplug the return pump. Look in the display again. The stream 3 is now pointing up at a 45 deg angle and sloshing water all over, and obviously some of it going out of the tank! Figure about 8-10 gallons of saltwater spilled on the carpet. Argh!! So I didn't end up working out but spent 2 hours cleaning up saltwater instead. :0) Thankfully there were only a couple small spots that were saturated. It was hard to get much with the shop vac so mostly I used towels to soak it up. Now there are fans all around. Good thing is that it's dry winter here in Michigan instead of humid summer. That'll help quite a bit. The water was never "piling up" so the walls are fine. Really gonna need to make sure the inside of the stand dries out fully though as it's almost entirely closed and somewhat inaccessible.
Aftermath - reduced the power on the stream 3 to pulse between 75% (instead of 100%) and about 40%. It still moves a LOT of water but hopefully not enough to move itself again. I may move it to the overflow so it stays put even with stronger flow (1/4" acrylic vs 1/2" glass). If I get a second, it'll definitely go on the overflow (opposite sides) and that should result in some pretty wicked flow.
- The new fish are all doing really well. The tailspot blenny comes out mostly at feeding time. I love to see that fish. May have to get more blennies!
- I chopped out almost the entire colony of sour apple birdsnest. It was HUGE... just barely fit in a 5 gallon bucket. There is still a small colony left over. I must have fragged the colony 20 times in 2 years and it still got massive. Such a cool coral though so I couldn't get rid of it entirely. I've actually sold the colony several times and always kept a small frag. I just love how it looks but it was crowding and shading other corals way too much. Was able to put a few corals in the massive space opened up - good size colony of tricolor validia, frag of 20k lokani, and I also moved my pink stylo into this spot. Showing close-up of this area below. Updated FTS also below. Next change will be removing the red/orange cap so I have more real estate for branching corals (1-2 more).
- Tunze sent me a flow rectifier for my 6150 stream 3. This is pretty awesome! It's just a vortex that takes the rotating current and makes the flow laminar. Really increases the flowthrough in a VERY noticeable way. Holy cow! If you have a stream 3 and a 6' (+) tank, you need to get the flow rectifier. I'm considering getting a second and only powering the tank with those 2 pumps. That's how good they are. Before upgrading the pump I was getting a protein slick on the far end of the tank despite having 2 x 6105s and the stream 3 moving water. Now, the slick is completely gone. I expect my skimmer to pull more gunk now. Water clarity should also improve once the fine sediment is removed from the water column. The corals should also respond quite nicely.
- Flooded my basement! Ok, that's a bit dramatic. Here's the full story... I added the flow rectifier to the 6150 last night, awesome. This morning I was coming downstairs at 4:30 am to work out. On my way past the basement stairs I hear a noise that just isn't right. Listen more... way too much water noise! ***?! I head down and don't see anything wrong with my tank. Look at the sump and it's got about 1/3 the water it should. Unplug the return pump. Look in the display again. The stream 3 is now pointing up at a 45 deg angle and sloshing water all over, and obviously some of it going out of the tank! Figure about 8-10 gallons of saltwater spilled on the carpet. Argh!! So I didn't end up working out but spent 2 hours cleaning up saltwater instead. :0) Thankfully there were only a couple small spots that were saturated. It was hard to get much with the shop vac so mostly I used towels to soak it up. Now there are fans all around. Good thing is that it's dry winter here in Michigan instead of humid summer. That'll help quite a bit. The water was never "piling up" so the walls are fine. Really gonna need to make sure the inside of the stand dries out fully though as it's almost entirely closed and somewhat inaccessible.
Aftermath - reduced the power on the stream 3 to pulse between 75% (instead of 100%) and about 40%. It still moves a LOT of water but hopefully not enough to move itself again. I may move it to the overflow so it stays put even with stronger flow (1/4" acrylic vs 1/2" glass). If I get a second, it'll definitely go on the overflow (opposite sides) and that should result in some pretty wicked flow.
Wow, your corals are really filling in! Looks great, McPuff. Nice work.
I'm glad to hear your incident wasn't too bad. So, the cleanup becomes the workout! 4:30, that's impressive! Also that rectifier sounds impressive.
I'm glad to hear your incident wasn't too bad. So, the cleanup becomes the workout! 4:30, that's impressive! Also that rectifier sounds impressive.
McPuff
New member
Thanks Michael. A few fans have the carpet quite dry now, just a day later. Still have to check under the stand and makes sure it's all good. I'll leave the fans for another day just to make sure.
The stream 3 would have been a good choice for your tank... there is even a "rock" to hide it. But the way you have your wavebox is pretty awesome and that will also work really well.
I had no idea the rectifier would make such a drastic difference. Really impressed with it. Will likely buy another one and operate on just two pumps. Now if I could only find a good option to reduce the number of light fixtures (have 9 currently!)...
Good to hear it's mostly all cleaned up! I've had a few horror stories over the years!
I've seen those Tunze rocks for powerheads. Pretty cool.
I'm still piddling around with my wave box. One limitation with my setup is that I can't raise or lower it's height in the tank. So I have to manipulate the tank water height instead. I may need to shave down the top of the fake wall in front of it to get better flow into the top, without introducing air into it.
That's a lot of lights! That may be LED's biggest limitation - it's cost per square foot of lighted area. The colors and operating costs are nice though!
I've seen those Tunze rocks for powerheads. Pretty cool.
I'm still piddling around with my wave box. One limitation with my setup is that I can't raise or lower it's height in the tank. So I have to manipulate the tank water height instead. I may need to shave down the top of the fake wall in front of it to get better flow into the top, without introducing air into it.
That's a lot of lights! That may be LED's biggest limitation - it's cost per square foot of lighted area. The colors and operating costs are nice though!
McPuff
New member
I ripped out the orange capricornis to open up some space for additional branching corals. The Plymouth swap was just on Sunday so it gave me reason to make the change. Found a few really nice mini colonies and can't wait for them to put on a little growth, though I guess I should just make sure they survive first! So far they are looking great.. and unique!
Close up of the changed area.
Close up of the changed area.
McPuff
New member
Thanks Ed! I removed a few more corals and ended up with some frags. The idaho grape is now in the lagoon and no longer in the DT. It was taking up too much valuable real estate. :0)
I realized that I now have 20 fish which is more marine fish than I've ever had at one time. Planning to add 3-5 azure damsels just to increase activity. They are passive as well so there shouldn't be any problems. After that I'll probably be done adding fish unless I decide to get a puffer or another trigger...
That must be a wild realization to come to, that you probably shouldn't add any more fish to a 300 gallon tank! So much of aquarium keeping is adding and building up. It's an odd feeling to have to stop.
I'm actually kind of envious! All the research and shopping can get tedious. Now you can kick back and enjoy your handiwork!
What do you think will be your focus going forward? Adding corals? System tweaks? Relaxing?
I'm actually kind of envious! All the research and shopping can get tedious. Now you can kick back and enjoy your handiwork!
What do you think will be your focus going forward? Adding corals? System tweaks? Relaxing?
McPuff
New member
I think I could add more fish if I really wanted to... but I don't want to get to (or past!) a tipping point where I'm struggling with nutrients. I know my tangs and angel will still get much larger and that is basically the same as continually adding more small fish. So I think you have to plan ahead for this if you want to be successful. To be honest, it is kind of stressful adding new fish. All of the QT, then the acclimation, then the worry over interactions. It takes about 3 months for that whole process. I have a nice peaceful (mostly) assemblage at this point and it is just too nice to watch. I'd hate to mess it up (as I've done before) and add stress to something that is supposed to reduce stress.
As for my focus going forward. I'll add some corals here and there. Still have some real estate and there's a huge coral swap in about 10 days. :0) I don't think I'll remove any more for a while but I'll have to prune some for sure. Other than that, I'm basically on maintenance mode. About 20 min per day of small tank chores and that's really all it takes. Considering a peristaltic pump for the Ca reactor but otherwise no real changes to the system. It's nice to be able to just sit and watch.
Oh, there is one project I did start... the stand and canopy. I really didn't like either when I purchased the setup. The stand was covered in FRP so I removed that. It had one door so I actually cut a second. I have skinned the stand in 1/4" plywood to hide the glue that attached the FRP. It also evens out the doorways as one was larger and offset. Now they are identical. I'll paint the stand, add trim at the top and bottom, and then I'm going to add 4 hanging doors using heavy duty picture hangers. It will look more like a "normal" stand at that point (shaker style). Once that is complete, I'll work on a solution for the canopy. It's just been a frame so far and there is a lot of light spill because of it. My plan is to add trim to the base, then create removable panels that will resemble canopy doors. I want them fully removable so I don't lose any access to the tank itself. I'm working through solutions in my mind but I do like the idea of those picture hangers here too. Seems more robust and reliable than magnets.
This was always going to be a winter project and I'm glad I'm finally getting to it. It should transform the whole thing into more of a showpiece. And by closing off the canopy it'll make the inside of the tank really stand out! I'm looking forward to that. I've got some work to do... but I have a plan so it feels like the heavy lifting is done already. :0)
