Journal Salty Fingers

[shangman]

Thanks Nathan!

They are Doryrhamphus excisus. Would 100% keep again. So chill, hardy and beautiful!

Gotta get a pair of those... ADC never seems have to more than one though even when requested!

The mandarin is doing well... one day I will manage a photo, but he is very illusive and only appears for a few seconds every few days. Thinking of trying to get a female mandarin to keep him company, sods law they'll both live at the back still!

 

[Courtneybst]

Gotta get a pair of those... ADC never seems have to more than one though even when requested!

The mandarin is doing well... one day I will manage a photo, but he is very illusive and only appears for a few seconds every few days. Thinking of trying to get a female mandarin to keep him company, sods law they'll both live at the back still!

That's strange, I wonder why that is!

Good to hear 🙂 I was most worried about the mandarin of all the creatures. He was quite bold and open when I first got him but I noticed once the macroalgae got denser he became recluse.

 

[Courtneybst]

Mini Peninsula​

Fast forward to January and I decided to end the Shizuku experiment early. Not that it wasn't working, but the desire to have more substantial marine creatures is just far too great. The experiment wasn't a failure though. I discovered that the Shizuku can in fact hold water without exploding and can support a tiny marine ecosystem. You should also always cross check your refractometer with another hobbyist or an aquarium shop. Turns out the one I bought was buggered and gave me very inaccurate readings, even after calibration. My salinity was sitting at 1.040!



As for the new tank, my rules were that it had to be big enough to allow me to keep some more interesting creatures but not so big that it became a burden. I wasn't interested in buying a new stand, light or filter so whatever option I went with had to work with the equipment I already had.

I didn't intend for this tank to be a peninsula but after seeing it and asking a few people the decision was unanimous.



Once again I intend for this tank to be macroalgae dominated, with a few easy corals. I'm hoping the last two years of reefing will help me swerve some of the beginner mistakes and make for a smoother ride this time. Some of the mitigation I took;

• Used cultured rock and live sand instead of dry rock and dry sand. I think this is crucial to having an easier start. You can obviously still have problems but they may not be as severe.
• I started the 'festering' period in October and without any lighting. This was to allow bacterial populations to grow and the cycle to get going without nuisance algae.
• I seeded it with additional rock from well-established and healthy existing tanks.
• I added live Tigger pods to the system and will let them fester some more before adding fish.

There is still going to be an adjustment period whilst I figure out how much light I need and how to balance it with the natural light coming from the window. That's all part of the ride!