75 Gallon Build

[+Grog]

Purple Milka Stylo as promised.   Just noticed it is starting to encrust the frag plug.   Decent growth since I got them a few weeks ago.

 

[+Grog]

Tank is coming along nicely.

Added a clown.  Cool colorations, almost all black with an orange snout.

The clown and the chromis did their jobs and have brought the angel and fox face out into view.     This may be it for livestock for the tank.   I may still add the fairy wrasse but I can go either way.

Angel is definitely destroying the macros.   There will not be any macro in a month.

Found some additional light bulb anemones, or curley que anemones.    Debating on removal.     Kinda don't want to tear out the rock work.   Blah.    Part of me is wondering if the galaxea will kill them. 

Pic of the new clown.

 

[Timfish]

I'll put $50 on the galaxia

[+Grog]

 

3 hours ago, Timfish said:

I'll put $50 on the galaxia

One of the hitchhikers was trying to worm in underneath the galaxea.  The hitchhiker doesn't look so good this am.   

And yes, i'm not-so-secretly rooting for the galaxea.    Kinda mean, but it saves me from having to deal with the nems.  😅

 

[+Grog]

Its official. I no longer have any macros in the 75G tank.   The Lemonpeel angel has single-handedly removed 100% of it in about two weeks.

At least I know what he likes to eat.  And at least it isn't eating corals. 

 

[+Grog]

New hitchhiker found.    Purple-ish crab with black tipped claws.    Black and white striped legs.   Very skittish.   Hard to photo as it is deep in the tank.

I'm observing for now.   Probably a bad actor, but I'm not worried as I have some serious crab-fu.

[Timfish]

Interesting, can't say I've ever seen one like that.  The two things I would look for are the back or last pair of legs and the shape of the claws.

 

If the back pair of legs are shaped like the other three pair and not wide and flat like a blue crab's back pair used for swimming it's not a fish preditor per se.

 

If the claws have flat or spoon shaped tips like and emerlad it's a herbivore.  If the claws are scissor like with flat edges that line up evenly (like a thin stripe hermit) it's also a hermit herbivore.

 

If the clwas are nobby and have pointy ends they're used for grabing and crusing and while not a preditor of fish like blue crabs they will be opportunistic if they corner a fish in a crevis or hole.

 

[+Grog]

Small black tips, kind of like emerald, but pointy.  If you've ever caught them at the coast, it looks like a mini rock crab.

Purpleish tho.

He likes meat.  He went nuts when the Rods Food went in.

[+Grog]

OK just fed the tank.  Didn't have my camera in my excitement.  LOL

His legs are all the same from what I can tell.  long and thin compared to the thick body.  Black and white alternating stripes.  End in points.   No paddle flippers in the back that I can see (like a blue crab would have).

Claws are big thick, and have small black tips.

I'll try to get a good shot tonight.  I think he has been laying low and now is getting hungry so coming out for the meaty foods.

Or maybe he helped the angelfish destroy the macros????

[Timfish]

SOunds like it's omnivorus.  At it's size it doesn't seem like it would be much of a threat to fish.

[+Grog]

Some excitement today!

Heard a noise from the living room.   Water noise.   That is never good.    A lot of water noise.   Wife and I both looked up.    Water draining over the top of the tank onto the floor.

OMG!

Run into the living room and shut off the power.     Then there was water gurgling from back siphoning in the ATO tank now.    Scoop some water out and dump in to a bucket.    All fine afeter that.

Cause?    A freaking snail on my ATO optical sensor.   OMG!

I picked his *** off and put him in a more appropriate space.

I'm so glad this happened today and not last weekend when I was out of town for four days.\

Now I need to figure out some shielding to put around the sensor.     Or maybe a float kill switch for high level fail safe.

NOTE:   This is a sumpless build.   No sump, so snails can access this sensor.   

Snail Wall 1.0 coming soon.

 

[Timfish]

Any issues yet with the corals from the drop in salinity?

[+Grog]

None.  The tank was almost full already.    I'd say a half gallon of water over flowed.   So not much change.  I caught it as it was happening.

I think I have some ideas for a solution.  I'll type them up later...

[+Grog]

New anemones. 

I can't resist nems...   Even though I told myself I wasn't adding them to this tank. 

 

[Timfish]

18 hours ago, Grog said:

New anemones. . . Even though I told myself I wasn't adding them to this tank. . .

I see you didn't learn anything from your old system!

[+Grog]

1 hour ago, Timfish said:

I see you didn't learn anything from your old system!

At least I didn't get a condy.

[Timfish]

😀👍

[+Grog]

Now those are some sweepers!   😍

Guessing 7"-7.5" extension, about double the size of the colony.

If anyone ever wondered about their sweepers.  Here ya go. 

This is Galaxea Town!

[Timfish]

Definitely a coral that wants it's own tank. 😕

[+Grog]

After I return from Iceland I'll do some rearranging in both tanks.   I'll move the green one closer to this one.   Free up some space on the middle right of the tank for other goodies.   

 

[+Grog]

This tank is now FOWLR.   (Except for the hitchhiker gulf corals and anemones which are NPS.)   Prepping for the 180-gallon upgrade.   All corals are back in the 40-breeder.   40-breeder will be my reef tank.     

Yes, it is overstocked.  Yes, the tang police may show up at any day.  This is all going to the 180 so them being in the 75 is temporary and way better than the small 20-gallon tanks they were in at the LFS.     Many of these additions were done to combat algae and it is working.  Algae is going away slowly but surely.

Nitrates got a little high with the heavy stocking and heavy feeding.    So, I've been VERY good about water changes at 10% weekly.   Nitrates coming down.    These guys eat like pigs.   This tank gets easily 4X the food than the 40-breeder.

Speaking of water changes, mixing the water is the worst part for me.  I can get both tanks done in 30 minutes!  No excuse to not do it.

Quick photo attached because everyone likes FTS.     No post-processing on the photo as I'm in a bit of a hurry.  Did manage to get the entire family in the shot though.  

Current Stocking List

Fish

• Lemon Peel Angel "Lemon"
• Foxface "Banana"
• Blue Green Chromis X5
• Black Clown
• Niger Trigger Red Toothed "Wrangler"
• Yellow Tailed Blue Tang
• Sailfin Tang
• Lawnmower Blenny

Inverts and Corals

• Peppermint Shrimp 5
• Various Hermits
• Blue Eyed Hermit 2
• Blue Knuckle Hermit 1
• CUC Snails 20
• Dwarf Cerith 30 ish
• Lightbulb Anemone (Hitchhiker)
• Berghia Nudibranch X6 (MIA, likely dead now the aptasia is gone.   If anyone knows how to catch them, let me know and I'll rehome.)
• Donkey Dung Sea Cucumber
• Black Urchins X3
• Red Mantis Shrimp
• Giant Knobby Creeper Snail

[Timfish]

Considering how big some of those fish will get your 180 is nicely stocked already.    A blonde naso might be a good addition and I've always liked the Heniochus and Yellow Pyramid Buterfly combo if you're adding more after you get the 180 up and running.  Some wrasses would be good too.

[+Grog]

This thread is about done as the 75 is getting upgraded next week.

Battling some serious hair algae right now due to the heavy fish stocking.   (Zero coral in this tank other than one rogue anemone.)

So, I got a pair of sea hares.   They are fist sized.  Way larger than I expected.   Cool mouths and antennas, oddly cute.   

Hope they do their jobs!

These things are surprisingly fast.   They get around in the tank.   Maybe that is why they are called sea hares?   

[+Grog]

Tank being shut down.   This is my final update on this thread.  All livestock is going into the Heavy Build next Saturday.   Also, I've added a final FTS of this build.   And yeah, the hair algae is bad.   Ongoing issue but I'm dealing with it.  I'm ok with sharing the bad pictures and not just the good stuff. 

[Timfish]

Bad pics are good!     In a few months once the ecosystem stabalizes in your "Heavy" build the before and after pics will help show how things can improve.