Tank is looking pretty full now, rock is mostly covered between the coralline and the corals filling in. The anthias school together most of the day near the top of the rockwork, real skittish still if I walk by too fast. Yellow tang has claimed a corner and chases off anything that gets too close to it, kind of funny to watch honestly. Firefish goby still shy, mostly hovers near his little hole and dives in if anything moves too fast. Good to just sit and watch this tank for a while, forgot how relaxing that is.
Update shotPhoto Date
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algae phase
Getting some hair algae on the rocks and a bit of green spot on the glass, plus brown diatom patches still lingering on the sand in spots. Not thrilled about it but I know its part of the process this early on. Been thinking about adding some nassarius snails to help with the sand and detritus, might grab a few this week. Corals are still small but growing, coralline is just starting to show up on the rock which is nice to see even with the algae going on.
Algae phase, working on itPhoto Date
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not empty anymore
Added the yellow tang today, first fish in the tank. Tank feels completely different now, like it actually has a purpose instead of just being a box of rock and water. Watched him explore every nook for like an hour, kept losing him behind the rockwork then he'd pop back out. Going to give him time before adding anything else.
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two weeks in
Rock has this light brown film on it now, kind of dusty looking, diatoms I'm guessing since its still cycling. Water is crystal clear though which is nice. No fish yet, just bare rock doing its early tank thing. Hard to just sit back and be patient but I know this is normal for this stage.
Cycling, still sparsePhoto Date
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got her filled up finally
Water's in, filter's running, wavemaker doing its job. Staring at an empty tank with no fish or coral in it is rough, I know its only been a few days but I already want to add stuff. Gotta let it cycle first though. Checking parameters way more than I need to at this point probably.
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dry start
Got the rock stacked today, no water in yet. Spent a while moving pieces around trying to get some height in the back without it looking like a wall. Wanted a couple of caves for the anthias eventually and an open sandbed up front so the tang has room to swim. Pretty happy with how it turned out, might tweak one piece tomorrow before I commit to it.
