My first reef tank.

[SeanMonster]

Sad day... One of my skunk cleaners died today. I have had it about a year. I am hoping it was just his age and not my parameters. Everything was in check but my phosphates showed up in my test. My other two shrimp are doing great as well as my fish and coral. I did have a dip in temperature two nights ago, the tank got 6 degrees below its normal 78. I thought that would have effected it before today. Is a year about the expected life of these guys in captivity?

Not sure. I can't seem to keep any shrimp alive for more than 6 months.

 

[Gregcoyote]

They are sensitive to swings especially in salinity.

 

[Ericwm]

Could it have been my phosphates. I replaced my phosgaurd just in case. I haven't kept up on replacing it since they were 0 for the longest time. I guess I should have been testing it more often.

 

[Gregcoyote]

A lot of folks have trouble keeping skunk cleaners alive for long. I think their natural lifespan is less than a couple of years. But some shrimp live longer, like my red fire shrimp.

 

[kdpuffer]

I've had my skunk cleaner for 1.5 years and he is fine. Little guy is a machine, he survived a transfer when I upgraded and the two crashes that practically wiped everything out. I better knock on wood here now.

 

[Ericwm]

I have had my hammer coral just over a year and was looking at some pictures of when it was new. It has made some drastic changes, it has much better color thanks to my LEDs. But most of all it has grown a ton, I am pretty happy with it.
A year ago...

And today...

Hard to believe it is even the same coral.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Nice to see them grow and prosper! Nice job.

 

[SeanMonster]

That's a gorgeous piece.

 

[Ericwm]

I am finally going to start battling my asterina star problem. This is my new addition

And here is what he is up against

He has already started and he hasn't been in more than 20 minutes.

Do they just gather them up and take them somewhere to eat? This guy is tiny, smaller than a quarter.

I hope that means he is hungry...

 

[Ericwm]

Been a while since an update on this tank. It is now my fowlr kinda. I moved all my coral except the Kenya tree to my 90g reef and also moved my shrimp and most of my fish. All that is left is my coral beauty and my new addition.

I just got my little valantini puffer today. He is so neat, he already ate some frozen krill.

This is the tank now.
It's not the prettiest but I plan on working on that. I'm thinking of adding some macro algae but am not sure yet. I think a more blue tint to the light will help. How do other people keep fowlr looking good?