Update 7/29/25
The tank has been maturing nicely. I added some additional corals from the frag swap, all still in line with the goal of not purchasing any.
Biggest change has been with my fish. The Blue Tang is out. He was a food hog, and was bullying/nipping at my favorite fish, so he had to go.
Shortly after, Eric messaged me that he had recently rescued a yellow tang, and graciously offered it to me.
Truthfully it was not looking the best when he received it; very pale with fins badly nipped. Proud to say that it has since made a full recovery. I do not know how old it is, but the dorsal fin tells me it’s not a young fish.
I agree that the frag plug holders look a bit goofy, but they’ve done a decent job so far. I have about 5 more to add eventually.
Lighting:
I have a ReefLed 90 and Kessil ready to go on the tank. I just need to figure out how I want to get them up. I would actually like to secure their mounts to the wall behind the tank, but there’s only a few inches to play with and I won’t get a drill back there. Hanging will probably be the best option. Once I get more light I can start putting Acros lower in the tank.
Issues:
-Turf Algae. I added an urchin to try tacking the algae, but it doesn’t touch it. Next step is going to be a few additional turbo snails, and then my last resort will be a sea hare.
-Alk stability. With the huge chalice and the new SPS I’ve been adding, I haven’t found the stability point yet for my dosing. I’m supplementing additional as needed with 2-part, and am looking to significantly downsize my chalice to reduce uptake.
-Zoas. They still melt almost immediately upon being added to the tank. At this point I feel like it has to be something bacterial.
