This is a pretty sleek little AIO. It’s the smallest reef I’ve ever owned (and I’ve never had a “big” one) and I can definitely feel the constraint when it comes to the rock work. But I’ve also never had a reef where the coral growth has taken off so quickly. This is a very new reef (just under 2 months), but it’s acting more mature than any other I’ve had at this point. I don’t know if that’s experience, live rock, the natural sea water, or some combination of everything, but I like it.
My big challenge is algae. Diatoms came and went quickly. I had some bubble algae on a pice of live rock from the start which spread a little and has since been reduced down to near nothing (with some effort). Honestly, I don’t hate the bubble algae as long as it doesn’t take over. Finally, I had a round of hair algae on the sand bed. That’s now largely receded. I attribute that to operator error. I have about 10 gallons of actual water volume and I’ve always been an over feeder. 10 gallons can’t compensate for the over feeding like a large system can. Nitrates and phosphates never read high, but that’s probably because the algae was consuming it. I dialed back the feeding, started changing out my filter fiber every two days (instead of weekly), and manually removed as much as possible. It’s mostly gone now - lesson learned. I haven’t seen any aiptasia since I removed the section of rock where the colony was growing. I’m hopeful, but it’ll be awhile before I feel confident about it.
In addition to my Tailspot Blenny, I now also have a small DaVinci clown. It’s tank raised and has a Nemo fin on its right side (or “starboard” since this is marine?). It makes him a little extra wiggly (which my fiancée loves), but he manages more than just fine. He eats like a pig. My favorite thing is that the the blenny seems to have taken to the little guy. I was worried about aggression (blenny was there first), but they are always hanging out together, they eat together, and even sleep together. The blenny had a few spots in the rocks where it used to sleep/hide. The clown took up residence by the thermometer in the back of the tank. Well, now the blenny sleeps next to him, “hiding” (not very well) behind the thermometer too. I had always said I’ll get a 3rd fish (likely a second clown), but 2 may be just fine.
Some photos:
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