What to do now?

[kelloggreef]

As some of you knew, my wife was about to pop with our first child at the last tour of tanks at our house this past January. Since then im the proud father of our son Mattox. As everything is great with my wife and new son, the tank went on the back burner. I had a phosphate spike and lost All of my sps,gsp,ysp,xenia, along with most of my acans. After being so upset about the loss of corals the tank really started to go down hill. Its a sorry excuse but I was so busy being a new dad I didnt put the time into the tank that was needed. My brother came by monday(90GALLONS4ME) and helped me clean the tank up and throw away all the skelletons.. Now, im faced with what to do next. I'm thinking of getting some Angel fish and doing away with the corals. I still have some acans, leathers and duncans that are to pretty to let fish eat. Anybody want to trade corals for Angels? I love this hobby and dont want to get out but I think fish would be easier to handle then corals at this time in my life. The tank is doing great but looks empty what should I do?

 

[gnashty]

You are probably better off selling the acans and purchasing the angels seperately. although a few people here have both FOWLR and Reef you would probably get it done faster that way.

you just opened yourself up to all kind of awesome fish! what size tank is it?

 

[jcusmarine]

First of all, belated congrats on your Son. My daughter is now just over six months and it is awesome being a parent.

Anyways, on the the topic at hand. I say this without knowing anything about your current setup. If your family get a lot of enjoyment out of the tank and you still want to be in the hobby, then I would recommend automating and controlling your system. I hustled to setup my new system before my daughter came along and have everything on auto except water changes - it has helped a ton! It has been especially valuable using the Bubble Magus Auto doser for Ca, Alk & Mg - once you dial in everything stays so stable. The control system replaces evaporated water and controls all my components effectively. The extra expense is always worth it if you calculate risk mitigation and are serious about maintaining a system for many years, but the up front costs are daunting to many.

If that is not possible, you could always downsize to a smaller tank. I can't tell you how great it is performing weekly 5 gallon water changes.

So for me, a combination of automation and a smaller system that is more managable has worked so far. Who knows, catastrophy happens in the hobby and maybe I will run into issues also - I just don't have time between work and being a dad to fiddle with the tank daily like I used to back in the day. I am saving funds for a future addition to the system for automated water change.....

Hope you stay in!

 

[kelloggreef]

The tank is a 210g and it takes care of its self for the most part. I think the phosphate spike came from over feeding. I have lots of bigger fish that require lots of food. I have a pair of crosshatch triggers and a huge sailfin that will eat a whole sheet of nori in 10 seconds. I have a majestic and flame angel that I have not seen pick coral so thats whats tempting me to just do a fowlr tank. But I would miss the zoas and acans

 

[jcusmarine]

I would miss corals also. It sounds like you have a nice system...FOWLR may be the easier option, I have no idea.

Are you running GFO?

 

[kelloggreef]

No im not. and congrats on your daughter.

 

[jcusmarine]

kelloggreef;577245 wrote: No im not. and congrats on your daughter.

Thanks man.

So, a couple of directions you can go. Possibly add a reactor and run GFO for Phosphate control or go FOWLR for awhile and see how it goes....

Another possibly controversial option may be to add a reactor for solid carbon pellets. I run this method, but the jury is still out and like any method there are competing results. I have had no problems with this addition FWIW.

It is so difficult in this hobby as someone may swear that one thing failed and it could be something different unless it is an obvious hardware or husbandry error.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cr500_af]

If you decide to restock with any corals from before, I have blue Anthelia and GSP that you gave me when I first joined and set up my tank. You are certainly welcome to a healthy chunk back if you have any attachment to stuff from your</em> specific colonies... I know some people are attached to corals that way.