Mainly cuz my interest is just up again...

I was NOT meaning to leave it for as long as I wound up....was just a pretty epic summer followed by a busy spring.

Once my heads back in it, I'm just as prone to over maintaining as the next guy.

I totally agree though, would be cool to see just how long a tank could go before you start to see any significant negative impacts.


I just wanted something that would allow me to enjoy when I can but not die off when I can't or don't.

I ran my 55 as no skimmer / sump / dosing with softies and lps and I eventually stopped doing waterchanges because nitrates and phosphates where always at zero and things where growing , had the best zoa growth out of any tank I had and didn't do a water change for over a year . I did have tons of live rock and flow and fed sparingly and that seemed to keep things in line . And whern`t there supposed to be pics?

Brought my t5i into the office today and loaded some pics...

These were taken right after the glass was cleaned, just before I did the first WC in 6-7 months.

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps2kdusg7i.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...pstnvjq9rc.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psf8mhk9pb.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psgyrdmgp1.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps0hxbwbsz.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psqyt4qcdz.jpg

And a few I took after I'd played with the camera a bit and added some inhabitants.

You can see in the first pic here how the algae was on the glass.
I leave 1 pane that way as a source of food and breeding for copepods.

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...pskrqvzwby.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...pshgqrdjtc.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psuxzzhpyl.jpg

That clown goby looks a little scrawny, is it eating? If you were in Calgary I would bring you an acro for it to munch on, if nothing else.

But otherwise the tank looks great.

I got it from King Eds for free.

Completely emaciated and pasty white.

Have been feeding him Selcon/Arctipods which he's crazy about.

He's also not adverse to eating the gorg you see it sitting on.

Thanks for the offer though. :wink:

I am sure it would love an SPS to munch on...problem is that you need a good sized one in order to mitigate the effects of it's feeding and most SPS would have 0 chance in this system.

He's on week 3 since I brought him home, I'm hoping he'll start to color up soon.

This pic was taken the day he was put in there....he looks fatter now but still very pale.

Softy tanks are a bit different than say LPS tanks when it comes to water changes and regular maintenance schedule, you can get away with quite a bit in my experience with softies but if you ever get into SPS and you think you can get away with it, you will be regretting it pretty darn quick.

Sorry to jump in on your thread, I just want to clarify it for anyone who are just starting out in this hobby and possibly take this thread the wrong way.

Other than 'shrooms and a kenya tree and the Tyree toadstool, there aren't many softies in here.

Plate Coral, Several Frogspawns and a torch...there are some porites in there....which are in fact SPS...they were the organism I was most concerned about but even they still grew.

In my experience, most LPS do just fine in nigh nutrient environments.

I had just posted in the post above yours that most SPS would have 0 chance in this system as well.

It's also mentioned a couple times in other posts above...give it a read.

Definitely never hurts to state to obvious though...especially if you're concerned with newbies reading this thread.

Nice and simple tank , looks good.

Only a few pieces here and there I missed, I would still consider that for the most part a softies tank, easy peasy.

LPS will do okay in high nutrient levels for certain amount of time but if you want them to keep amazing colors and have it spawn babies, I would still recommend some water changes.

Everyone is different in this hobby so if nice and easy is what you are looking for than all the power to you.

Your tank looks pretty good , as long as you enjoy it, that's all it matters.