When an OCD couple gets a reef tank

Joined
21 May 2014
Posts
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Location
Cape Town
Hi Everyone

My other half and I tend to be nitpickers when it comes to our tanks,and this would prove to be our downfall. We briefly kept a small FOWLR (read maroon clown and puffer) and lots of bathwater tanks.
So after moving to CPT in April and becoming relatively settled in we bought a 2nd hand Juwel 180 that had plumbing and everything, filled it with water, stepped back, looked and decided it could be closer to the wall, lets just move it 1cm, but it has wheels so just give it a little nudge.......

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Ok very bad idea, off with the wheels, and a week later with a new back panel we moved it to a different part of the house. Refilled and added our first pieces of semi liverock yay!
18th of June

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From here the scaping wars start ,between me, myself and I, and my other half. None of us ever being happy more than a few days. I think part of the problem was the we bought a bunch of cheap bulky liverock without knowing any better.

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Got our first cleanup crew on the 2/07 2 hermits and 3 snails!!! Also our first "coral" a very nice pumping xenia, which through the coming weeks gave all the members on the group a headache because I was panicking like a new parent.

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Then along came a friendly helping hand, one that tried to save our scape with the less than great rock to work with, who gave us a few mushrooms and another rock with a pincushion to try and keep us distracted and our hands out of the tank.

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07/07 Got a cleaner shrimp and all seems well
Lasted all of 2 days, got some macroalgae (read start of a new "brilliant idea")

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09/07 Got our first fishies! A purple firefish and a red firefish.
12/07 Got another fishy! Purple dottyback
13/07 True perculas! Must have them!!!........you see where all this quick stocking is going?
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No more fishies. Shrimps are fine
Very depressed, self blame and more comfort eating

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Threats of hands being chopped off if it touches the water again and my second reef meet had given the tank some time to recover and settle. Going a bit overboard with the macroalgae perhaps. Custom LED light being made.

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08/08 Took a chance again, and my other half was tired of listening to me moan about wanting clownfish, we got two young ones. More zoas and other easy things have been added (and moved around, and moved around again) Using temporary T5 lights while waiting for the others.

02/09 We got our stunning LED lights!

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To be continued
 
A lot less rescaping was done , but issues involving stocking persisted. With clownfish being swopped out and traded until I finally calmed down and was happy.

Further dates are not that significant

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The day I got my baby elegance, very unhappy with being moved.
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Next morning looking a bit better
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lasted a long time before I got bored and my mentor had to rescape the chaos I caused when I tried to do it myself on 04/10
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And then just a variety of pics

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Rubbish lazy and fat lawnmower blenny has stopped working and just sits like some government workers. Doesn't even mow the lawn anymore, I do it myself.

The two clown gobies are super sweet often lounging in the pincushion or the elegance.

And my daft clownfish are trying to host anything and everything, from the elegance to mushrooms to even the gsp. Will have to make a plan.

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More pics will be taken soon enough.

Livestock
1 Percula Clown
1 Misbar Darwin Ocellaris Clown
2 Green Clown Gobies
1 Purple Firefish
1 Red Firefish
1 Lawnmower blenny
1 Cleaner shrimp
1 Fire shrimp
1 Peppermint shrimp
1 Emerald crab
3 Hermits
A bunch of snails
 
I enjoy all the macro algae, i can't wait to have a refugium full of macro algaes and macro/micro life. will probably be my favourite part of this hobby.

Congrats on the tank.
 
Awesome tank,
But you are very brave putting in Mirco algae in your DT... :whistling:

They can be really invasive and a nightmare to get rid off once they start over taking the tank...
 
Everybody has been warning me about the macroalgae since I added them the first time. :m03: luckily we haven't had trouble. We have in the sump and against the back panel. Think we are keeping it nicely under control.
 
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