My first reef tank JBJ 45

[GCL]

First off hello. I decided I should document my reef tank. This is my first saltwater aquarium and I set it up last year at the end of August. After some research I settled on the JBJ 45 AIO. I have been known to change hobbies so I didn’t want to invest too much in my first setup and I wanted something small enough that it wouldn’t be to difficult to move if necessary. I saw some people with this tank online who were having good results. Plus I figured I can always upgrade in the future.

This is the first pic I took after setup. I used the CaribSea sand and some “live rock” from the LFS. Half white and half purple, lol. I’m still not sure what I think about that.

Here is the tank now.

I’ve had a bit of an issue with hair algae lately. My nitrates and phosphates have crept up from heavy feeding and I get a little sunlight from the windows. I’m working on getting those numbers back down and hopefully getting some growth on my 2 acros which have not been encrusting yet. I’ve had a few minor hiccups lately with temp, salinity, and kalkwasser overdose but luckily nothing big. I would really like to add some more SPS but I’m waiting until I’m more confident and see success with the ones I have.

Thanks for looking. I will add some more pics and a breakdown of equipment and livestock.

 

[GCL]

Here is some closer up shots

 

[reef r madness]

Looks great.. What light are you using...

 

[Maacc]

Looking good, the jbj 45 was my return to the hobby after a 15 year break. I loved the tank and gave it to a friend in the keys who has it as his setup.

 

[GCL]

Looks great.. What light are you using...

Thanks. I’m using a black box light that I got from the LFS, but I think they got from EBay. It says “Lighttime Tunnel” on it. At some point I’d like to upgrade to something that can ramp up and down but for now it’s working ok.

 

[GCL]

Here is a quick rundown of what all I have going on here. My setup is pretty simple. I have the cheap LED and a couple powerheads, one Hydor and one SunSun ($5) and an Eheim heater. I also run the Tunze 9004 skimmer. I added the medium CPR hob refugium (3.5gal) in January and stocked it with Miracle Mud, marine pure balls and Chaeto.


Here is the fuge. I got a great deal but it needed some minor repairs. I think it actually makes a difference despite the size.

I add kalkwasser to the ato, and I started dosing Alk a few months ago once it started to drop. I also dose aminos every other day and feed a mix of coral food, mostly targeting the gonis and acans.



As far as fish, I have 3 chromis, a pair of occelaris clowns, and a watchman goby. Keeping it simple.


Inverts are cleaner shrimp, pistol shrimp, 3 sexy shrimp, emerald crab, strawberry crab, pom pom crab, fighting conch, and assorted snails and hermits. Almost forgot, also a tuxedo urchin and a feather duster worm. Lots of interesting things.

 

[ReeferReefer]

Looking good!

How do you like keeping those crabs?

I have always been interested in pom poms and stawberry. I have an emerald now.

 

[GCL]

Looking good!

How do you like keeping those crabs?

I have always been interested in pom poms and stawberry. I have an emerald now.

Thanks. I love the crabs, they all have different behaviors which are interesting to watch. I was a little worried adding the strawberry, which is the most recent addition, about everyone getting along and not picking at corals. But it’s been well behaved so far. The Pom Pom and strawberry crabs are pretty shy and spend much of the day hiding, but they are still fun to watch and are active. Once the lights turn off and the fish go to bed the crabs come out so there is something else to watch.

 

[GCL]

Update

I’m having a little bit of a battle with the hair algae still. It is growing pretty fast and encroaching on some zoos. I’ve been backing off on feeding, especially the dried coral foods. I checked my nitrates and phosphates and they had crept up to about double what I am used to seeing (~25and .2) so I’ve been doing some extra water changes as well to try and get things back in order. I also cleaned out one of the overflow sections with rock and media that had collected a ton of detritus and had never been cleaned, so I’m hoping that will help too. I’m hoping that those things, along with a small amount of PhosGuard will eventually bring things back to where I want, because manual removal of algae is getting old. I’m hoping this works before I consider using other chemical options.

On the brighter side, I can see growth at the base of both of my acros for the first time, so I’m excited about that. I’ve been looking at corals for months and planning out what I want to get to fill out the few remaining spaces in the tank. Here is my current list: Orange Passion, Pink Floyd, Rainbow Milli, Oregon Tort. And maybe Orange Setosa. At least that’s what I’m interested in at this point.

This is my newest addition. My other interstellar was the first expensive coral I ever bought and it has done great. Also I just really enjoy my little mushroom garden and the colors. I would like to add a bounce if I can find a decent deal.

This Sunfire Monti was my first SPS, the first coral I purchased online, and my most expensive coral so far. I’m really happy with how it has done and how it’s looking. I’ve debated fragging the top plate since it doesn’t have any of the green and it’s shading the largest green section. But I like how it looks and don’t want to mess it up. Here is a pic from when I first mounted it, right around New Years.

Also my JB mushroom, my second most expensive coral, dropped it’s first baby and has its first spot of green starting to come in. So that’s nice


And just a couple random shots from today

 

[GCL]

 

[GCL]

A quick tank update. I added a few corals yesterday. The green long-polyp toadstool and AOI zoas. I’m pretty excited about both. I was hoping the toadstool was the one with the green base and tentacles but it has a purplish base like my other toadstool. It’s still pretty cool and really stands out. The AOIs are zoos that I’ve been wanting for the unique color. My zoa rock is coming along and I have been working on slowly adding variety.

I also added 2 Berghia Nudis last week. The LFS had some and I’ve been hoping to get my hands on some for a while. I’d really like to be Aiptasia free, as it’s something I’ve been battling since the start of the tank. I’ve never had a huge outbreak, just small ones here and there I’ve been trying to fight with Aiptasia-X. They quickly went into the rock work and haven’t been seen since, but that’s kind of what I expected. Time will tell I guess.

Other than that things are going pretty well. I gave the rocks a scrub using a toothbrush yesterday to try and remove some hair algae. It’s been annoying but I feel like I’m finally starting to win the battle. Also the chaeto is starting to grow better so I’m hoping things are coming together. I am just coming up on 1year milestone and I’m really enjoying the hobby

 

[GCL]

A couple other things that I thought were cool. Yesterday right after scrubbing the rocks and doing a water change, the brittle stars all emerged from the rocks and climbed up to the tops of the corals to spawn. The urchin had spawned earlier in the week and the cleaner shrimp released eggs last week, so the corals should be getting a nice mixed diet I suppose. It was cool to see and I will try to add a video from my phone.

The other thing I’ve been excited about is my JB and green Interstellar mushrooms have been dropping babies. Also the JB finally has red and green spots coming in. Good stuff.

 

[neoGeorge]

Update

I’m having a little bit of a battle with the hair algae still. It is growing pretty fast and encroaching on some zoos. I’ve been backing off on feeding, especially the dried coral foods. I checked my nitrates and phosphates and they had crept up to about double what I am used to seeing (~25and .2) so I’ve been doing some extra water changes as well to try and get things back in order. I also cleaned out one of the overflow sections with rock and media that had collected a ton of detritus and had never been cleaned, so I’m hoping that will help too. I’m hoping that those things, along with a small amount of PhosGuard will eventually bring things back to where I want, because manual removal of algae is getting old. I’m hoping this works before I consider using other chemical options.

On the brighter side, I can see growth at the base of both of my acros for the first time, so I’m excited about that. I’ve been looking at corals for months and planning out what I want to get to fill out the few remaining spaces in the tank. Here is my current list: Orange Passion, Pink Floyd, Rainbow Milli, Oregon Tort. And maybe Orange Setosa. At least that’s what I’m interested in at this point.

This is my newest addition. My other interstellar was the first expensive coral I ever bought and it has done great. Also I just really enjoy my little mushroom garden and the colors. I would like to add a bounce if I can find a decent deal.

This Sunfire Monti was my first SPS, the first coral I purchased online, and my most expensive coral so far. I’m really happy with how it has done and how it’s looking. I’ve debated fragging the top plate since it doesn’t have any of the green and it’s shading the largest green section. But I like how it looks and don’t want to mess it up. Here is a pic from when I first mounted it, right around New Years.

Also my JB mushroom, my second most expensive coral, dropped it’s first baby and has its first spot of green starting to come in. So that’s nice


And just a couple random shots from today

Looking great! Where do you buy your corals?

 

[GCL]

Looking great! Where do you buy your corals?

I’ve acquired the corals locally and online. The last order I did was from Cherry Corals. I’ve tried several online vendors and a couple Ebay sellers and have had good luck so far. There is a LFS here where I prefer to buy my corals, but sometimes I find stuff online that he doesn’t have.

 

[GCL]

Today I decided to frag my Sunfire Monti. A plate that was all red was really shading out the part with the most green, so the red was really taking over. I had been considering it for a while and decided to go for it. Here is the before and after.

You can see where the top plate is shading out the green.

It looks like the green polyps are alive under there up to a point. I’m interested to see how it grows back and how fast and I will update.

I also picked up this frag. I want to mount some SPS among the zoas and on the sides of the red rock.

And lastly, today I added 2 more sexy shrimp, (now have 5) replaced my emerald crab that I recently lost, and added some more snails.

 

[reef r madness]

A couple other things that I thought were cool. Yesterday right after scrubbing the rocks and doing a water change, the brittle stars all emerged from the rocks and climbed up to the tops of the corals to spawn. The urchin had spawned earlier in the week and the cleaner shrimp released eggs last week, so the corals should be getting a nice mixed diet I suppose. It was cool to see and I will try to add a video from my phone.

The other thing I’ve been excited about is my JB and green Interstellar mushrooms have been dropping babies. Also the JB finally has red and green spots coming in. Good stuff.

Shrooms are looking good..

 

[tupes]

Tank looks great. I have the jbj 65 and love it. the refugium does make a difference. However you should look into the innovative marine cheatomaxx grow light. Depending on space check out the ACKE grow light on Amazon. I use both and the both do an excellent job. I use the IM light on my 65 for the back chamber I made into a cheato reactor, and the ACKE i use on a HOB filter I made into a refugium.

Please keep posting photos. Again everything looks great.

 

[GCL]

Shrooms are looking good..

Thanks! I’ve been confident with the shrooms and zoas. Like most beginners I’ve overfed often, so I think they’ve been happy with the conditions in my tank. Now I’m hoping to have luck with the SPS so I can add more of them.

 

[GCL]

Tank looks great. I have the jbj 65 and love it. the refugium does make a difference. However you should look into the innovative marine cheatomaxx grow light. Depending on space check out the ACKE grow light on Amazon. I use both and the both do an excellent job. I use the IM light on my 65 for the back chamber I made into a cheato reactor, and the ACKE i use on a HOB filter I made into a refugium.

Please keep posting photos. Again everything looks great.

Thanks for the feedback! I like your suggestion with the fuge light. I had really good chaeto growth for a month or so but it’s stalled a bit since then. I bought the fuge/light used so maybe if I replace that it will kickstart the growth. I will keep you updated, I appreciate the suggestions.

 

[GCL]

Just a couple things I wanted to add. I forgot to mention that last week I installed a Ranco temp controller. I had read a lot about heaters failing and liked this as an addition for peace of mind. I’m currently using it to control a fan blowing over the tank but plan on switching it to the heater when that becomes necessary.

I also added a few corals that I got at the reef club BBQ. Forrest fire digi and rainbow stag.

And this Acan. I’m hoping it keeps the yellow and pink. Some of my other acans have turned orange but I’m trying lower light.

I’m liking how things are looking with the new frags. I’m going to mount my other new acro and might move the one off the front rock, not sure yet.

Yesterday I had my first experience with coral aggression. I’ve had other corals touching before but never any stinging. Yesterday I woke up and noticed the conch, who is always pushing frags around, had pushed my little rhodactis into a big yuma.

The result was a half melted rhodactis. It looks like it’s recovering today and luckily it was from the $10 bin but it was a good warning to keep more on top of that. I had been letting stuff get pushed around and crowded so I’m going to try and do less of that.

I think this week is 1year since starting my tank and I’m happy with how the first year has gone. Fingers crossed for year 2!