Gabe's Great 40B Build

[gabrieltackitt]

Nice! I just evicted my pair of clowns to my frag tank, I just got an ORA black zombie clown. I should of just got the pair but, I’ll grab him a buddy later

The pair I’m looking at at the LFS are a Grade A pair of Picasso’s, he’s had them about two months now, but there have been a few fish die in the same tank so I’m wanting to observe them for a bit more before I pull the trigger too

 

[gabrieltackitt]

I just started planning a second build, already. Its for my Mother-In-Law(to be).

Check it out here:

Nano Build - The MIL Build

UPDATED: April 19, 2020 Check out my main build thread here. Build Start: TBA Tank Wet: TBA BUILD TIME: TBA WET TIME: TBA TABLE OF CONTENTS: The Beginning: 2: Backstory 3: Planning It All Out

www.reef2reef.com

 

[alimac122]

UPDATED: April 19, 2020



Build Start: March 21, 2020
Tank Wet: April 17, 2020

BUILD TIME: 4 weeks
WET TIME: 2 days



TABLE OF CONTENTS:

The Beginning:
2: START OF IT ALL
3: Week 1
4: Week 2
5: Overflow Plumbing
13: Return Plumbing
15: Leak Check #1
17: Planning a mobile RODI/SW station
18: Week 3
24: So I got a box of rocks..
26: Aquascapes Pt. 2
31: The Return of the Return (Plumbing)
41: Final Aquascape?
55: I've fallen a bit behind.
56: It's ALIVE..

Other Threads about this build:
Thoughts on Drilled Returns vs Over the Rim Return Pipes

QT Filtration Discussion

Discussion on Aquascape

Nano Reef Build I'm working on:
The MIL Build

Thats A LOT of sand. Be cautious of that being a sink for nutrients.

 

[gabrieltackitt]

Thats A LOT of sand. Be cautious of that being a sink for nutrients.

I think it ended up being about 55 lbs of sand, I know it is more than most people do but I plan on having a fairly good size CUC and staying on top of keeping it clean. Maintenance like that helps keep me zen.

 

[alimac122]

I think it ended up being about 55 lbs of sand, I know it is more than most people do but I plan on having a fairly good size CUC and staying on top of keeping it clean. Maintenance like that helps keep me zen.

Just make sure you can get to all the sand. Coming from experience and dealing with annoxic sand before. It ain't pretty. If you accidentally vac some out over time, dont beat yourself up.

 

[gabrieltackitt]

So I know it has been a bit since I've updated, but still just cycling the tank for now. Light is supposed to be here tomorrow with mail. I'll take pics when I get it installed and working. My fish QT is almost cycled now, and I'll be adding my first few residents soon for them to get ready to go in. I think I've decided against the Picasso clowns for now, the fiancé isn't huge into fish and I am hoping a pair of bright orange cute lil Percula's can maybe start winning her over.

 

[Sltloser]

I think it ended up being about 55 lbs of sand, I know it is more than most people do but I plan on having a fairly good size CUC and staying on top of keeping it clean. Maintenance like that helps keep me zen.

I would highly recommend reading Sandbed s
secrets by Ron Shimek. As long as the sandbed is properly stocked (copepods/amphipods/different worms species/etc.) the sandbed should work as a phenomenal method for nutrient export.

 

[gabrieltackitt]

I would highly recommend reading Sandbed s
secrets by Ron Shimek. As long as the sandbed is properly stocked (copepods/amphipods/different worms species/etc.) the sandbed should work as a phenomenal method for nutrient export.

I will give it a look! Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[gabrieltackitt]

So I know it has been a while since my last update, but my phone broke last week and I am currently waiting on a replacement from Apple, but they’ve been dragging their feet. I suspect they are reluctant to have to send me a new phone for free because they are having difficulty in getting new shipments from China right now and may be running low on inventory.

Anyways, I received the Ai Prime that I will be starting with for a light and will be receiving a few small coral frags in the mail that I got for really cheap from a live sale that will be going into quarantine for 76 days. During that time I am also planning on buying my first fishes, a pair of clowns, and QT’ing them to prep them for introduction.

I also finally got everything else I need ordered from @Bulk Reef Supply so hopefully that will be the last of the money I need to spend on equipment for a bit thankfully.

I will update with pictures once I get my phone back, hopefully soon.

 

[gabrieltackitt]

First Residents

Got the frags from @Zoanthids today and into QT they went. Don’t have a lens kit yet so forgive the color.(Saving up them BRS points to hopefully get it free soon..

The Zoa heads aren’t very happy in this pic. They had fallen over a few minutes before from me moving the bucket, but they are cool looking and had way more heads than I thought I was getting. It’s hard to see in the pic but there is one big polyp and 3-5 small polyps, Was only expecting the one large polyp. Also got a JF Raja Rampage Chalice (smaller chalice in the pic). @Zoanthids threw in the space invader chalice as will for free which I wasn’t expecting at all. They both greened up fairly quickly and appear to be doing quite well so far.

The frags will stay in QT for a full 76 days before I move them to their permanent homes, haven’t quite settled on where I’m going to put them in the tank yet.

I also picked up a pair of clownfish yesterday evening and into QT they went. They both appear to be doing fairly well. They have already started eating some NLS pellets the LFS guy recommended for them. I plan to observe for a week then do a round of therapeutic copper/Metro followed by Prazi as recommended by @Humblefish in his numerous threads about QT. Here they are:

Hopefully my fish photography skills improve, it is quite difficult to get a not blurry photo of clowns since they never stop moving. I believe they have mostly decided who’s who as far as dominance goes, the darker colored one has declared the PVC elbow as it’s territory and won’t let the other one come in/near it, So hopefully they’ll pair successfully.

 

[gabrieltackitt]

My First Mistake..

plan has been to quarantine everything properly and not allow any kind of disease into my tank but I foolishly made a mistake today. I have separate pipettes and droppers fOr everything and keep everything separate normally but as I was testing Salinity today I accidentally used the coral QT on the main tank, and I know that I was probably fine and probably hadn’t actually contaminated anything over into the DT but I don’t want to take any chances whatsoever so it will be sitting fallow for 76 days now. I went ahead and just moved all of the frags from the Coral/Invert QT into the DT since it will be sitting fallow anyways. The corals were all dipped before they went into QT and I went ahead and gave them another thorough rinse before placing them so that should have gotten rid of any other pests.

I guess the clowns will be spending a little more time in their QT, but oh well. They were already going to spend 60ish days in there so what’s an extra two weeks. They are eating very well on the NLS Thera A pellets, and I bought some frozen Mysis to supplement every once in a while. I suppose I will have to grind them up somehow though, I don’t think my clowns can eat a whole frozen Mysis shrimp yet.

Here is an FTS after I moved the frags, I realized I also hadn’t posted one since adding the light either

 

[Sltloser]

Looking good! The possible cross contamination is a bummer, like you said the odds were incredibly small that you cross contaminated but better to be on the safe side.

I chop up my mysis with a knife like I would garlic or an onion. It keeps it in small enough pieces for my firefish/rainford's goby/small green banded gobies. I think it would work perfectly for those guys!

 

[gabrieltackitt]

Looking good! The possible cross contamination is a bummer, like you said the odds were incredibly small that you cross contaminated but better to be on the safe side.

I chop up my mysis with a knife like I would garlic or an onion. It keeps it in small enough pieces for my firefish/rainford's goby/small green banded gobies. I think it would work perfectly for those guys!

Yeah, I realized it as soon as I did it and I just wanted to hit myself. Definitely not a mistake I will likely make again.

Thanks for that suggestion, I will definitely try that tomorrow at feeding time for the lil guys.

 

[gabrieltackitt]

Big update coming tomorrow, but for now here are a few pics of some of my recent livestock additions.

Space invader Chalice, this frag broke during acclimation, so I actually ended up with two frags if both of them end up living.

Nightmare 2.0 Zoas, not sure where I’m going to put these yet

Generic Hammer, was ticked because I just moved it but it’s very pretty opened up, I like that it isn’t fluorescent like a lot of the other stuff.

I think this is a hammer? But I’m not really sure? It doesn’t look anything like the other hammer pictured above, almost actually looks like a mini torch or something.

That’s all for now, will post the update tomorrow afternoon sometime.

 

[gabrieltackitt]

Here’s some more pics, probably another day before I can do a full update.

Hammer

Also a hammer?

Space Invader Chalice

JF Raja Rampage Chalice

Second piece of Raja Rampage

Frags of Nightmare 2.0

Nightmare 2.0 that I just attached to the rocks tonight.

 

[gabrieltackitt]

BIG UPDATE TIME

So it has been quite a while since I updated last. It has been a busy few weeks, I installed the skimmer in my sump, added a few powerheads, got the light set up.

I bought a used Reef Octopus esSence 130, its been breaking in for the last few days, I can get it to pull a good skim some but it hasn’t been consistent yet, hopefully it’ll be broken in soon.

I bought an Aqamai KPs as primary flow but I think it is going to be too small overall. I think I’m going to add a KPm where the KPs is now currently, and possibly move the KPs to the other side and add a little more crossflow. I have also been having a bit of trouble getting it to connect to my home WiFi but have been working with Aqamai Support and they have been very helpful.

The AI Prime I got looks great over the top of the tank but it has a lot of shadowing, I think I may add a second or possibly replace it with a pair of Kessil A160s or 360s, whatever I can find used for a good deal.

I will be starting my Refugium soon as I am seeing a consistent level of nitrate and phosphate creation from feeding the few corals I have so far.

Wednesday has become tank day so I will post an update of parameters and things when I test tomorrow.

Back to Table Of Contents

 

[gabrieltackitt]

My testing methods

So I feel like my testing methods are a little different than some. Having a science background, I have approached my testing methods with a clinical perspective. I take a sample directly from the tank using a sterilized sample cup, then fill a second sterile cup with pure RODI. I then perform the tests and record everything on a chart. Here are a few pics of the process and the chart that I use.

 

[gabrieltackitt]

Updated FTS:

Added a second Ai Prime HD to the tank, has much better more even coverage now.

Pair of clowns finished QT a few days ago and went into the tank finally. They promptly decided to host the top left corner of the tank instead of anywhere near the rock work or anything else and now refuse to leave for more than a minute or so.

Looking forward to starting on the next batch of inhabitants in QT soon. Most likely going to be a Bengaii Cardinal or three.But may also end up being a watchman goby of some sort to pair with a shrimp if I could ever find one.

 

[gabrieltackitt]

Fish Stocking Plans

Trying to finalize my stocking plans for my tank
Currently planning:

Ocellaris Clown Pair (already QTd and in the DT)
2-3 Bengaii Cardinals
Yellow Watchman Goby + Pistol Shrimp
Royal Gramma
Mandarin Dragonet
Cleaner Shrimp


Going to post the list in the Fish forum and see if anyone has any suggestions for it.

Edit: Posted Here

 

[Sltloser]

I think that looks like a good stocking list, I've currently got 7 fish in my 40 breeder (display being smaller than yours). It doesn't seem like too much for my tank and you've done a good job and parsing out their habitats.

Have you purchased any pods (amphipods/copepods) to start seeding the tank with? I would highly recommend doing this before you put too many other fish in the aquarium. Feeding phytoplankton and small particulate coral food will allow them a few weeks to set up a good breeding population before anything predatory towards them ends up in the aquarium. This will also help long term in your mandarin care, I'm at ~4 months with my aquarium and I would be more than comfortable adding a mandarin, I have pods coming out of my ears right now haha.