Demonsori's 2-ft tank

[demonsori]

Found some courage to post a few pictures of my simple 2 ft tank...

Many thanks to all who shared their knowledge and frags ard here...

Taking things slow due to the plenty of livestock lost due to impulsive purchases or noob-ness...mostly buying before checking suitablility for my chiller-less tank ( cooled only with fan maintaining temp 27-29 degrees...

Also, posting these pics as memories....haiz...

...NOT DECOMMING !! UPGRADING !! haha...this marine tank has made me forgo my previous freshwater setups to focus more on marine ! NEw 3 by 1.5 by 1.5 feet tank coming next WED !!

First up-- cycling the tank almost 2 yrs ago....

Intentionally had the rock bottom facing up the 1st week to try to protect the coralline algae on the desired surface...After which I learned from you guys here that lights are unnecessary during cycling

[demonsori]

First livestock (as expected as most of you might think for a noob)-- purchased the very next day of setting up...

--brown/tan/greenish yuma

--pink cauliflower

[demonsori]

1st SIN-- Green BTA in unchilled tank ( survived for more than a yr, shrinking and fading till it just disappeared ), lucky that I didn't get a tank crash....

1st FISH-- 2 pink skunk clowns, liked something not so commonly kept by others (though commonly available). Figured its peach colour will stand out among the corals I'd have later rather than orange perculas or bright red maroons/ tomatoes...

...how often do you get your clownfish sleeping in its host anemone the 1st night ??

[teebs]

So these are the pics of your tank taken 2 years ago...Still the same now or already decom the tank and waiting for new tank setup?

[demonsori]

So these are the pics of your tank taken 2 years ago...Still the same now or already decom the tank and waiting for new tank setup?

will slowly add on to this 2 ft tank thread my other pictures...this tank still running now...

simple shrooms and zoas onlyno gems ...but they're blooming and growing...frags n rocks purchased making my tank very cramp now... check back later ??

fast forward slightly to the "worst thing" (maybe not so bad cos nv ever crash before) that happened to my tank...1st ever major hair algae outbreak...2 crocea clams died due to attack from more than 30 pyramid snails...checked the clams before addin to tank but seems my tank already harboured them before clam addition...worst thing was that i was away for the 1st 3 days after I added the clams...my red sea prizm skimmer was also made to work overtime...luckily no harm to all other livestock..still see a pyramid snail occasionally though..

an electric blue hermit bought from Henry did a very beautiful job...helped by 3 successive days of 30% WC daily...

[demonsori]

The hero ?? No doubt the 3 daily WC helped but deifinitely saw him munching away at the algae for weeks, even those slightly browned ones due to nutrient reduction... it made sure the whole tank was cleared of hair algae though...

then again, I started finding many empty turbo snail shells lying around...and caught it one night feasting on a live snail (and my cleaner shrimp trying to either rescue the snail or join in the feast?? ) ! guess it had enough of a vegetarian diet and needed some meat !

After deciding to add a sand dollar a few months later, decided that snails do a better job of cleaning diatoms in places my magnetic algae cleaner cant reach. So the sand dollar went in, along with more turbos, and the electric blue hermit was sold off...the tank lacked a sparkle of blue somehow after that...miss it...

[jackywongto]

After deciding to add a sand dollar a few months later, decided that snails do a better job of cleaning diatoms in places my magnetic algae cleaner cant reach. So the sand dollar went in, along with more turbos, and the electric blue hermit was sold off...the tank lacked a sparkle of blue somehow after that...miss it...

Yeah... very nice hermit....

Think I will get one for my nano.

[MOssrope]

its natural hermit crabs will hit on snails. They are scavengers and will eat anything but as for snails they get both shell and meat. The shell your hermit had (which is a turbo snail shell could conclude it for u)

I have turbos and hermits too. Somehow the snails stick to the walls and are pretty strong enough to make the hermit unable to flip them over.

Just bringing this up cause you seem discouraged with hermit crabs.

Some pointers:

1) Hermits do better in pairs ( to quarrel with each other and leave others alone)

2) leave empty shells larger than their current shells for them to swap homes

3) have enough food for the hermits.

Mines doing fine together but should one day the snails go weak with lesser food they will be toys for the hermits.

I would put snails in my refugium area where my light is switched on longer. They are just test driving the hermits in my main tank now.

[demonsori]

its natural hermit crabs will hit on snails. They are scavengers and will eat anything but as for snails they get both shell and meat. The shell your hermit had (which is a turbo snail shell could conclude it for u)

I have turbos and hermits too. Somehow the snails stick to the walls and are pretty strong enough to make the hermit unable to flip them over.

Just bringing this up cause you seem discouraged with hermit crabs.

Some pointers:

1) Hermits do better in pairs ( to quarrel with each other and leave others alone)

2) leave empty shells larger than their current shells for them to swap homes

3) have enough food for the hermits.

Mines doing fine together but should one day the snails go weak with lesser food they will be toys for the hermits.

I would put snails in my refugium area where my light is switched on longer. They are just test driving the hermits in my main tank now.

not giving up on it...juz that its size(a med-large by reef safe hermit standards) and appetite for live snails outweighs my preference for turbo snails in my tank... if i had a refugium would very like to keep it ...it has enough food but just cant bear the temptation when a silly turbo falls off a rock and struggling to right itself... it can even be munching on a julian sprung seaweed and drop it and attack the upside down turbo...just that my previous 2 feet by 1 feet tank too confined and the chances of the hermit meeting an overturned snail is so high...currently still have blue-eyed hermit... shells wise i have over 40 empty shells that it could use ...all left over from his snacking...plenty larger than needed but its just the fresh meat its after...

i totally trust this electric blue hermit with all corals i ever kept...its real gentle even when picking food off polyps...just turns to hungry devil when facing snails...

[demonsori]

simple shrooms corner.....

[demonsori]

...bleached sps after the day the cooling fan broke down... happened to be the month of highest temp in singapore weather this yr.... once it started, there was no turning back...

and last look at last bit of sps struggling to survive...managed to keep it one more week before it was totally gone..backing off sps for now unless i get a reliable and trusty chiller or multiple fans....

[demonsori]

jam-packed tank...the sign that i need a bigger tank...