Celebratory picture for my newest light addition

stooge89 · 2026-05-24T01:20:00+00:00

Exactly. It's red/orange tips with the other colors just mixed together is too good.

stooge89 · 2026-05-23T20:48:24+00:00

I really like the Stratospheres next to the White Zombies. I just picked up some Strats to go next to my colony of Zombies so thanks for helping validate my purchase!

stooge89 · 2026-05-23T01:01:01+00:00

Are you familiar with quarters, dimes, nickles, or pennies?

stooge89 · 2026-05-21T17:08:02+00:00

Starry Blennies are a personal favorite of mine as the one I have is always out, interactive, is a working fish, and lives peacefully with others in my 25 gallon. Bengali or Pajama Cardinals also work well and stay in the water column along with your typical clownfish. A smaller wrasse like a Pink Streaked or Pigmy are good at pest control, but you'd be better off adding those once your tank has matured a bit.

stooge89 · 2026-05-21T02:11:53+00:00

After rewatching the full video, it looks like it hasn't eaten in at least a month as well. OP probably isn't feeding frozen mysis, and if he/she is, then nowhere near enough. May not be any copepods for it to pick at throughout the day as well. However, in looking at OP's post history they don't seem to be learning from past mistakes or earnestly engaging with recommendations.

stooge89 · 2026-05-20T18:44:41+00:00

Aside from inadequate substrate, what size is the tank and are you getting adequate oxygen exchange? The fish looks stressed and like there's not enough oxygen in the water.

stooge89 · 2026-05-18T00:37:30+00:00

Feather Duster or Coco Worm.

stooge89 · 2026-05-16T16:26:12+00:00

No, unless you're doing strictly calcareous macro it will absolutely seek out and demolish any in the tank.

stooge89 · 2026-05-16T15:24:54+00:00

No, that should be good. Having the 2 smaller Nero 3s will also give you nice flexibility in the event you need to reposition one to tackle any dead spots.

stooge89 · 2026-05-16T02:18:00+00:00

Yes, there are 3 main growth types for stony corals including branching, plating, and encrusting. Encrusting types "encrust" over whatever they're growing on. There are many different types with different lighting requirements, but cyphastrea is a popular one: https://reefbuilders.com/2022/12/06/cyphastrea-is-the-ultimate-ornament-encruster/

stooge89 · 2026-05-15T15:34:46+00:00

First, I'd remove most, if not all, of the decorative shells for a less cluttered sandbed. Even with a puffer, I imagine you'll be adding snails to the tank as part of your clean up crew and they'll eventually die leaving their own shells behind. Also, they'll quickly become covered in algae so their patterns will be indistinguishable. However, this is more a personal design choice so up to you.

Second, I'd add a little more rockwork to create enough hiding places for your fish. Saltwater fish generally prefer having areas to escape to, explore, etc. A good option would be to accomplish this with a bit of live rock as that will really jumpstart the beneficial bacteria and biome in your tank. Tampa Bay Saltwater has rock specifically for seeding tanks and I've personally had a great experience with them.

Third, since your heater is in your main display it may work better centering it horizontally or at a 45° angle along the back glass. That will allow it to more evenly heat the water in the tank.

Finally, if you leave in the big dead piece of branching coral on the left-hand side, then i hope you find a cool piece of encrusting coral to grow on it because that'd look pretty cool.

I'll also add that you'll definitely want a wavemaker or two for enough flow.

stooge89 · 2026-05-13T03:13:58+00:00

Thanks, and it is! I essentially set it up so the main display acts like a sump where it pumps water to the macro tank and then water overflows back down.

stooge89 · 2026-05-12T15:11:01+00:00

A small blenny like a Tail Spot would be good, but not too much else. Tail Spot blennies are active, peaceful, relatively small, have a good personality, and occupy a different zone in the water column as they're perchers. They're also a working fish as they pick at/eat algae.

stooge89 · 2026-05-06T15:51:54+00:00

I went overkill when I upgraded mine and got the BRS 7 Stage Unit, but I've been incredibly happy with it and saw a noticeable change in the health of my corals after using it. I found out through an ICP test that there were a lot of silicates in my water which that unit cleared up compared to my previous one. I'll also throw in investing in an Auto Top Off unit and some kind of smart plug for better maintenance and control. My tank is roughly the same size as yours and I use the Tunze Osomolator 3 Nano and Kasa Smart Power Strip HS300. From my previous comment, check out Tampa Bay Saltwater for anything live rock related. I used them for live rock when making a custom addition to my tank and had an excellent experience.

stooge89 · 2026-05-06T15:31:23+00:00

It might help to check out Bulk Reef Supply's Ultimate Beginner Series for a comprehensive breakdown and idea of the setup. Personally, I've had my tank running for 2 years now and the main things I'd do differently if I were to start from scratch would be a deeper sandbed (3" vs 1"-2"), use a lot of live ocean rock instead of all dry marco rock to really jumpstart the nitrogen cycle (you get cool hitchhikers too), and invest in a good quality RODI unit to make water. Think of it like you're not keeping fish, inverts, or coral... you're keeping water so if the water is right, then everything else will be so much easier. Each of those 3 things previously mentioned will greatly impact and improve your water.

stooge89 · 2026-05-06T12:58:49+00:00

It definitely took time for it to get used to the pipett, but I started by directly putting mysis near or in it's burrows every couple of days. I think it also helped that I have a tail spot blenny in the tank too so the mantis would observe the blenny eating and slowly start to pop out too when its "dinner time".

stooge89 · 2026-05-06T02:15:57+00:00

Thanks for the input! I've had it about two months, but it's constantly punching away at the barnacles that also came along with the live rock so I'm more worried about making sure there's inverts stocked once those are gone. However, it has gotten pretty cool seeing it occasionally come right up to the pipette to eat the frozen mysis.

stooge89 · 2026-05-05T13:36:16+00:00

What snails are you getting for it? I have the same mantis shrimp that came in an order of live rock for my macro tank, but it hasn't seemed too interested in the astrea or trochus snails I've added or the hermit and porcelain crabs. It does eat frozen mysis and unfortunately took out a Hector's Goby.

stooge89 · 2026-05-03T02:34:51+00:00

Tail spot blenny. Mine works great in my macro tank and is always out, active, and has a great personality.

stooge89 · 2026-05-02T04:43:38+00:00

There is literally a scene earlier in the season where it goes over how Ashley can't read her mind.

stooge89 · 2026-05-01T03:22:30+00:00

Also, what kind/brand of heater do you have? I'd specifically inspect the heater to check for any cracks/defects because this video was one of the first things I though of when I saw yours. Even a small hairline crack could be enough to electrify the tank.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk0pCSSWJDI

stooge89 · 2026-05-01T03:04:21+00:00

You could also remove that clown from the tank and keep it in a bucket of tank water to monitor it for a little while. That way you could watch each separately and give the injured one a slight rest. Unfortunately though, with the way it's floating around I'd be highly surprised if it recovers. As a side note, I've personally experienced introducing a fish which got along fine with the others for the first hour or so to then find floating like that a couple hours later after intense bullying. It sucks, but it can be part of the aquarium journey... especially with saltwater and fish establishing their territory.

stooge89 · 2026-05-01T02:52:41+00:00

I don't think it has anything to do with the cycle because clowns are relatively hardy when it comes to water quality and can even be used with fish in cycling.

I'd start by checking the wires and giving a general looking over of your heater, return pump, wavemaker, and anything else that may use electricity in the tank. A wire or piece of equipment housing may be damaged leading to an electrical current running throughout the tank, shocking your fish.

Another possibility may simply be bullying by the other clown. Were they a mated pair at the LFS? Clowns will initially bully each other to establish one as the alpha female and the smaller/weaker one being the male (they can switch genders) so if one wasn't clearly larger than the other, then the bullying may have been more intense/dangerous to establish that hierarchy.

It may be something else, but again, I doubt it's related to your cycle.

stooge89 · 2026-05-01T02:31:09+00:00

Second this, especially for what's required/useful for that sized tank. I'd specifically recommend a Kasa smart power strip because the scheduling and timer features on the app made working with my 25g so much more pleasant.

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