the tank is 3 months old today, but I have a few pictures from the start so I'll start there. Here are the beginnings of it. It's a 90g with 40g sump. The first two pictures are coral skeletons that I brought back from the beach while on a couple cruises with my wife. The first is from grand Cayman and the second is from Cozumel, Mexico.
Went through a heck of a hair algae/bryopsis outbreak. If you look at the back glass you can really see it. This was before it got really bad. Lol I think the problem started from phosphate leaching out of the dry base rock.
I love the scape! Any fish yet? Hair algae is just a part of the maturation of a new tank. It will get better(as it obviously has) with good husbandry! Some people will acid wash their dry rock to remove phosphate but it's not necessary. If you run GFO eventually you will get down to the only source of phosphate being in the foods you use. That can take quite a while depending on the content in the dry rock. Great start!
It has taken a while for the algae to die off but it is finally about gone. The only fish in the tank is a lawnmower blenny. It will probably end up being a seahorse tank.
Right at 4 months with the tank. Found a little coralline algae starting to grow. I'm a little bit excited about it. The hair algae is also completely gone. Getting a few frags this coming weekend from John Carroll. The tank is finally coming together.
Hiya, Nice...my tank is done cycling and I've still got some hair algea. Snails are taking care of it. I have yet to add any fish or corals though. Kim/Benton, AR
1 1/2 month growth on birdsnest. Top picture is when I got it. It has over 4" of growth in a month and a half. Crazy lol 1 1/2month on sunset monti. Not much but a little growth 1 1/2 month on red moti cap quiet a bit of growth Roughly 2 1/2 months on green star polyps. They have really grown. 2 1/2 months on Kenya tree hasn't gotten any taller but has sure filled out The digitata and stellata have very little growth but enough that I can see it. Still waiting for them to take off.
Great job Michael.Don't be concerned about the slow growth on the Sunset monti, it's a slow grower for a monti. That birdsnest growth is amazing even for a coral that commonly grows fast!
Tank is coming along nicely. Getting some really good growth. I've went from 3 to 6 heads on my rastas in a month, the red monti cap is starting to take off as is the other corals. The third picture is my almost free frag rack with accidental frags. lol I have a friend with a small CNC laser and sent him a program for it and he cut it out of some scrap acrylic. Only thing it cost me was the suction cups.
Picked up a few new frags from John Carroll today. His tank always looks awesome, and the setup for his frag tank is really cool. If I ever get to the point of needing a frag tank I think that's the kind of setup that I would go with. Indo purple tip acro ORA scripts acro Green tip orange birds nest Purple rim monti cap. I glued this one to the back glass to see what it will do.
Tank is 7 months old. Bought another 50 pounds of dry rock to add to the tank. Bought a female mcCoskers wrasse this past Tuesday and I have a male going to be here tomorrow. The female was supposed to be ordered as a male but couldnt pass it up. Got it for $10. Lol
Tank is looking good Michael! Anxious to see what the monti does on the vertical surface. I would like to try something similar. It's likely that your female McCoskers will also turn in to a male. If it happens they will not tolerate each other at all. Wrasse don't pair like other fish do. They are all born female and develope a harem breeding situation with one male and several females.
It's looking like I don't have to worry about the mcCoskers. I have been trying to get a male for about 2 months from the LFS. 2 males have come in and both DOA. The female I added to the tank is MIA. I'm hoping she is just hiding but I'm starting to think she didn't survive. Think I'm going to give up on get anymore of them.
Hiya, Nice growth on the corals. I've got a green monti I put on the back of my tank today and can't wait to see what it does. Kim/Benton, AR
I have a Monti Hirsuta and a green Monti Cap on the glass. I have a Season's Greetings Monti on the overflow and a Sunset Monti on the return pipe. I have a purple Monti Cap that I don't know where to put.
