The 40 Breeder Mixed Reef

[Dempsey941]

Well before we get into the 40 Breeder it has been a privilege to care for nearly 2 years now, I figure I should start with my original baby the 20 High, and the story of my decision process of selecting a new tank and the transition from one tank to another.



This was my 20 high reef tank first started in September of 2016 and was officially integrated into the 40 Breeder in February of 2018.

-July 2017-
After the passing of my dear friend Harry I was introduced to the two most ridiculous animals I have ever met, Fred and Barney.

-September 2017-
Preliminary research had begun on potential upgrade sizes for my small piece of the ocean the choices were between a JBJ 45, 40 Breeder, and Red Sea Reefer 170. Quickly the Red Sea Reefer was removed due to cost concerns and the fact that it was the smallest option of the three. I had been inspired by several reefing videos on the JBJ 45 and was almost certain to acquire one due to how elegant it looks. However, after more research I decided that I wanted the extra length of the 40 Breeder so that my fish options could be enhanced.
This left the 40 Breeder as the winner.

 

[Dempsey941]

-November 2017-
The first piece I collected was the 40 Breeder itself. One dollar per gallon sale later I had the tank and the stand up and ready to go.

Black Friday sales allowed me to collect other pieces:
Fiji Cube 40Breeder AIO Box* - 3/10 Would not recommend this product
hydor heater* - 5/10 Meh, you can if you want to, but better options are there.
hydor slim skim protein skimmer* - 5/10 See above.
2 jebao powerheads – 9/10 Would recommend these pumps.
tunze ATO unit – 9/10 Would recommend.

*Equipment has since been removed/replaced in/by July 2019*
I ordered 50 pounds of dry rock from ReefCleaners and got to work aquascaping. Now I am by no means an artist with rockwork I read some information making a good scape and to avoid the “rock wall” look, but I did not mind it, and was content with the arrangement.

-Holiday Season 2017/2018-
The tank cycled nicely, and I was in the beginning stages of starting a stock list for the 40 Breeder. I really wanted a Flame Angel, just because they have become a symbol of the hobby. However, I really wanted this tank to become a mixed reef one day, and the fear of a flame angel nipping my nice corals was a concern and was eventually removed from the stocking list.
Original Stock List:
2x Occ. Clowns
1x Royal Gramma
1x Shimp Goby w/ Pistol Shrimp
1x Bangaii Cardinal
1x Tailspot Blenny
1x Yellow Wrasse
1x ??? (Originally Flame Angel)
I already possessed the Occ. Clowns and I began searching for the other members of my reef tank.
My LFS was having issues getting a Royal gramma in stock through their wholesaler so I turned to liveaquaria and procured one and a yasha goby w/ a pistol shrimp and had them delivered to my home.



The gramma took to the tank like a fish to water. The goby however died shortly after arriving in my care and now there was a pistol shrimp roaming around somewhere in my set up. A replacement yasha goby was procured from the LFS and managed to find the pistol shrimp and they lived behind my AIO box.






After letting the tank mature for a few weeks/months I finished moving the coral from my 20 High into the 40 Breeder. And would sell the 20 High on craigslist to make room for my desk.

 

[PugsAndFish]

What's wrong with the Fiji Cube AIO box?

 

[Dempsey941]

-February-April 2018-
During these months I began to add to my coral collection and received many corals from Vivid Aquariums. They were very good at shipping healthy specimen and I still have several of the pieces I originally ordered from them. Namely some pink zipper and dragon eye zoas, and a duncan coral. I also collected by far one of the most beautiful pieces of my tank a Green Toadstool from my LFS. This piece is by far the best coral I have purchased due to its resilience and beauty.


FTS Circa Feb 2018

-March 2018-
How about a check in with Fred and Barney? Both are 1 year old and have taken up the positions of aquarium supervisors. It’s a tough job and not everyone is qualified to do it, but these two are naturals.

-June 2018-
This month is has some changes.
Current Stock:
2x Occ. Clowns - LFS
1x Royal Gramma - LiveAquaria
1x Yasha Shrimp Goby#2w/pistol shrimp – LFS/LiveAquaria
1x Yellow Wrasse – LiveAquaria
1x Bangaii Cardinal - LiveAquaria
1x Ruby Longfin Fairy Wrasse – LFS

Prerescape

By this point in time I have become fed up with the Fiji Cube 40 Breeder AIO Box. It had been a pain in my side for months, and quite frankly it never really worked the way I expected it to. I could never get the return pump to stop completely draining the return chamber no matter how much water was in the tank, even to the point of overflowing the box itself. Operator error is almost certainly in play here, but still … itz gotz to go.

So a rescape of the reef was under way. At some point during the process the Ruby Wrasse Evil-Knievel-ed out of the tank and met his demise. A heart breaker.
Unfortunately, I do not have any photos post rescape until October 2018, but we will get to that further down the line.

 

[Dempsey941]

What's wrong with the Fiji Cube AIO box?

No matter how much water I put in the aquarium the return pump would always drain the return chamber till it was empty even on the lowest setting for the pump provided. It was probably something i was doing wrong, but YMMV.

 

[Dempsey941]

[July 2018 – January 2019]
Two-week hiatus on Cape Cod, first time I had left the reef alone since the move, and I was slightly nervous about how things would go. Everyone did splendid and work began on reinventing the reef tank.
First things to go the Hydor heater and the Hydor Protein Skimmer. Just was not cutting it for me, quality products just weren’t enough for me anymore.
The heater was replaced with a Cobalt NeoTherm, and the Hydor Skimmer was replaced with the Aquamaxx 1.5 HOB Protein Skimmer.

Ill take a moment here to talk about these items:
The Cobalt Heater was amazing, the led temperature gauge was super accurate and easy to read, and it was black, so you hardly notice it on the background, which made my OCD not flare up. 8/10 would recommend this product.
Notice how I said “was” … we’ll get to it in a minute.

The Aquamaxx 1.5 HOB Skimmer – this guy does some work, easily the second-best equipment purchase I have made for this tank. Pulls out a lot of gunk and keeps on going. Maintenance is kind of a pain because I must unplug it and pull it out from behind the aquarium, but it is worth all the crap this guy pulls out. 10/10 would recommend this skimmer to anyone.

Let’s have a quick run down on everything involving this tank, as we celebrate the 40 Breeder’s 1-year birthday.



Parts:
40 Breeder Aquarium – 10/10
40 Breeder Stand – 10/10
2x AI Prime HD – one white and one black – shipping issue with MarineDepot, makes my OCD flare when I think about them. – 10/10
Cobalt 200 Watt Neotherm Heater – 9/10
2x Jebao PP4 wave makers – 9/10
Aquamaxx 1.5 HOB Protein Skimmer – This guy is a beast. - 10/10
50 pounds of Dry Rock - ReefCleaners – 9/10
~ 50 pounds of Caribsea Live Sand – 10/10

Livestock:
2x Occ. Clowns - LFS
1x Royal Gramma – LiveAquaria
1x Yasha goby # 2 w/ Pistol Shrimp – LFS/LiveAquaria
1x Yellow Wrasse – LiveAquaria
1x Bangaii Cardinal – LiveAquaria
1x TailSpot Blenny – LiveAquaria
1x McCosker’s Flasher Wrasse – LiveAquaria
Various Cleanup crew from ReefCleaners

Coral (From Left to Right as best as I can):
Yellow Polyps
Green Indo Torch – Sold to me under that name, cannot say for certain if accurate.
Frogspawns
Green Finger Leather – rescued from the back tank of the LFS for $20
Green Duncan
Two sticks of Green Birds nest
Red and green Aussie Lord Acans
Green Toadstool Leather
Radioactive green zoas
Pink Zippers – not pictured, but they are there.

Things of note: You can see the beginnings of dinos, this was remedied using a reef flux treatment. They did return about six months later but after a second treatment of reef flux I have not seen any sign of them.

-February 2019-
Attended my first frag swap during this month and picked up some sweet frags. I also highly under invested in my initial capital for this event and the next time around I’ll have to bring more cash.
I also expanded my sps collection with some JF Green Goblin anacropora, bubblegum digi, montipora setosa, red monti cap, and a purple bird’s nest. These acquired from my LFS and a combination of live sales here on R2R

That cool cobalt heater I mentioned before? It went kaput one night in the off position it has since been replaced with a Jager Heater, which has preformed wonderfully while I await a replacement from Cobalt. (July 2019 and still no word yet).

 

[Dempsey941]

-Spring 2019-
Euphyllia garden growing nicely.

Happy Birthday To Me

-Summer 2019-

Reef looking strong. I have now actually started making my own RO/DI water instead of buying from the LFS. So my monthly water costs drop from $80 a month to < $20, however I do not visit my LFS as often as did, which is a good and a bad thing.

 

[Dempsey941]

Weekly Update # 1: If I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do it right dangit.

I figure this is as good of place as any to talk about what has happened to the reef during the past week. It may also chronicle my slow dissent into madness, but thats okay.

FTS

Tank Specs:
40 Breeder
2x AI Prime HD
Aquamaxx HOB 1.5 Protein Skimmer
Tunze ATO
ApexEL
Jager 200 Watt Heater

Current Stocking:
2x Occ. Clownfish - formally named "Mama Clown" and "Male Clown"
Royal Gramma - "Purple Guy"
Yellow Not-so-coris Wrassse - "Yellow Guy"
Mcoskers Flasher Wrasse - "The Red Guy"
Bangaii Cardinal - "Stripes"
Tailspot Blenny - "Blenny"
Orange Spotted Shrimp Goby - "The White Guy"

Test Results:
ALK - 10.2DKH
CALC - 448PPM
MAG - 1485PPM


A change in the standard lineup. For what ever reason the yasha goby who previously was matched with a pistol shrimp decided that he wanted no part in living with the shrimp. After getting the crap beat out of him for 2 weeks I managed to scoop him out and traded him in the LFS for the Orange Spotted Goby. The Orange Spotted Goby is much more robust, and quickly made friends with the pistol shrimp. He found his place in the pecking order at meal time and has settled in quite nicely.

Traveled to the LFS that is a little farther away and saw this beautiful thing.

Picture does not do it justice, a real epic piece about the size of a baseball.

At my standard LFS along with the yasha goby I traded in 20 Green Birdsnest frags for $150 in trade credit. Purchased some poly filter and saw a stunning coral beauty in one of the holding tanks; however I really am too much of a chicken to add a dwarf angel to my set up, so I passed.

In other news, the AC in the second floor of my home has pretty much died. The plummer says I have a leak in the refrigerant and should have it fixed hopefully in a few days.

I think that about sums up everything for this week. Feel free to leave a comment or a question and I will get back to you.

 

[Dempsey941]

Weekly Tank Up Date #2: Someone is MIA, LiveAquaria Order, and NoPox Dosing Begins

Tank Specs:
40 Breeder
2x AI Prime HD
Aquamaxx HOB 1.5 Protein Skimmer
Tunze ATO
ApexEL
Jager 200 Watt Heater

Current Stocking:
2x Occ. Clownfish - formally named "Mama Clown" and "Male Clown"
Royal Gramma - "Purple Guy"
Yellow Not-so-coris Wrassse - "Yellow Guy"
Mcoskers Flasher Wrasse - "The Red Guy"
Bangaii Cardinal - "Stripes"
Tailspot Blenny - "Blenny" -------- MIA
Orange Spotted Shrimp Goby - "The White Guy"

Test Results:
ALK - 10.4DKH
CALC - 450PPM
MAG - 1485PPM


Yet another week goes by on the reef and for the most part it has been not-so-smooth sailing. The Tailspot blenny has gone missing and I cannot find him anywhere. I fear he has fallen and the clean up crew did their job and cleaned up.

I took some time to inventory my current clean up crew stocking and realize my snails have gotten a bit low. I was originally going to place an order with ReefCleaners who I have always purchased my cleanup crew from, however, I really wanted to get some trochus snails and ReefCleaners did not have any in stock. So I turned to LiveAquaria and made up an order of snails, hermits, and a couple of emerald crabs for my bubble algae problem.

The order arrived just before 10:30 am and When I opened the box and had that dead thing smell hit me square in the face. All in all, I lost all but 2 of the scarlett hermits, all the nerites, and half of the nassarius snails I ordered. Roughly a third of my order was DOA. LiveAquaria responded to my request a couple of hours later and I was given a store credit on the DOA for a future order. I am not a 100% what/when my next order will be, but its nice that they gave me some credit.

A minor hair algae outbreak as well as my tests for nitrates and phosphates tells me I need to start some carbon dosing. I purchased a bottle of NoPox with my LFS store credit and have been starting with a daily dose of 2.5ml. The plan is to keep that dose for the next week or so, then up it to 3.5 or 4 ml if needed. for the most part my corals seem unaffected by the dosing with exception of my octospawn who has closed up 80 percent, but it looks like it is trying to split. I will continue to monitor my nitrate levels and phosphates and go from there.

The local Reef organization is hold a frag swap in the beginning of September and I plan to attend and purchase some new additions, primarily a high end torch coral, and maybe some more zoanthids.

As all ways if you have any questions feel free to leave them and I will get back to you.

 

[Dempsey941]

Weekly Tank Update #3: Cashing Out the Credit

Tank Specs:
40 Breeder
2x AI Prime HD
Aquamaxx HOB 1.5 Protein Skimmer
Tunze ATO
ApexEL
Jager 200 Watt Heater

Current Stocking:
2x Occ. Clownfish - formally named "Mama Clown" and "Male Clown"
Royal Gramma - "Purple Guy"
Yellow Not-so-coris Wrasse - "Yellow Guy"
Mcoskers Flasher Wrasse - "The Red Guy"
Bangaii Cardinal - "Stripes"
Orange Spotted Shrimp Goby - "The White Guy"

Life Stuff:

So my school has started back up again, and so I have once again returned to my beloved classroom with my students in the hope that I may help them learn something new every day. In so doing I have unfortunately forgotten to take a FTS for the week, but this partial shot of the toad stool should do for now.


Newest Additions:

I have gone ahead and spent what remained of my store credit with my LFS, and purchased two new hammers to add to my euphyllia garden.

The one on the left was called an Emerald Hammer and has a really nice shade of green/blue which looks quite nice under the LEDs. The one of the right is a bi color hammer it has purple tips and an almost green/yellowish stem coloring which I though was rather interesting. For the time being they will sit on the sand bed until I can figure a way to position them on my rock structure with the other frogspawns and hammer.


Dosing News:

The NOPOX dosing has had an effect on my nitrates which is excellent for now they seem to hover around 10ppm which is much better than the 30~40ppm I had before. I have also noticed my phosphates are creeping lower, granted I have also let up on the feedings quite a bit.

After noticing a slight increase in my alk I have decided to lower my dosing regiment of the ESV Bionic 2 part from 10mls a day to about 8 mls a day.


Relocation News:

I have temporarily moved my octospawn which has been not opening fully the past month-or-so toward the back corner where it is receiving less flow and lower light. I have also given it a dip in some Seachem ReefDip just in case of a bacterial infection.

During the weekly water change I unfortunately hit my JF Green Goblin colony and broke it into a couple of pieces. I took the frags and slapped them on some plugs and just replanted them back on the rock work, and have created a small forest of the anacropora, which should be interesting to watch it grow.


Standing Credit:

I have ended up with about $40 in credit to LiveAquaria for my losses on the latest order and am in the beginning phases of looking at a potential replacement for the Tailspot blenny which I have inconclusively decided has died.


Potential Additions:

At first I considered another tailspot or perhaps a Midas blenny, or even a fanged blenny, but I am now thinking I might replace with a hawk fish. I originally was thinking a long nose hawk, just cause it is such a unique looking addition, but now I am looking at a flame hawk due to their unique derpyness, which suits my other inhabitants.


New Thoughts and Local News:

I am also looking into changing up some of my rock work by adding some pieces of caribsea Tonga branch to my current rock work and using one or two pieces to serve as zoa/paly gardens. This however is way down the line and probably wont happen till the winter or even next spring.

The local marine club is hosting a frag swap near my home in a couple of weeks and I plan on attending as i continue to search for more quality pieces to add to my current collection. Primarily some sort of indo torch, but i might also be on the look for some other pieces perhaps my first taste at an acropora? or some other sps pieces.

As always thank you for taking a read through my build, and should you have questions feel free to post and I will respond when possible.

 

[Oba97]

How have you like the 2 AI Primes? I am cycling my 40B now and was going to use 2 myself. I already have one so just need to get one more.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Great build @Dempsey941.

 

[Dempsey941]

How have you like the 2 AI Primes? I am cycling my 40B now and was going to use 2 myself. I already have one so just need to get one more.

They work fabulously. I did originally have them evenly placed over the tank, but I have shifted the one right maybe 2 inches so it hits my beachbum monti on the a frag rack better. It kinda has made some shade in the middle but really only a duncan and some acans are directly in the middle, so it works out.

 

[Dempsey941]

Great build @Dempsey941.

Thanks, much appreciated!

 

[Dempsey941]

Weekly Tank Update #4: Nothing of Significance and yet....

FTS

Tank Specs:
40 Breeder
2x AI Prime HD
Aquamaxx HOB 1.5 Protein Skimmer
Tunze ATO
ApexEL
Jager 200 Watt Heater

Current Stocking:
2x Occ. Clownfish - formally named "Mama Clown" and "Male Clown"
Royal Gramma - "Purple Guy"
Yellow Not-so-coris Wrasse - "Yellow Guy"
Mcoskers Flasher Wrasse - "The Red Guy"
Bangaii Cardinal - "Stripes"
Orange Spotted Shrimp Goby - "The White Guy"

Latest Testing Results:
Salinity: 1.025
Ph: ~8
Alk: 9.6
Calc: 430
Mag: 1470
Phos: .64
No3: ~5

Dosing Updates:

Still on the hunt for proper amount of 2 part dosing to keep my levels somewhat stable, but I know its somewhere between 1 and 2TSP just not quite sure yet. Since I am still manally dosing this is a somewhat tedious process, but soon enough I'll stop being a scrooge and buy a DOS to pair with my current APEX system. The no NOPOX dosing is continuing with no issues and i have noticed the small amounts of green hair algae I had is starting to disappear. I am still dosing about 2.5 mls, but I may bump it up just a half ml or so and see if there is any difference.

Relocation News:

I have trimmed my green birds waaaaay back. I must have removed a good 6 inches of birdsnest from my rock work. An honestly I am okay with it the birds nest really kinda grew into a giant clump of branches and only like 25% of the coral was actually getting any light or flow. so now I have 2 or 3 2 inch pieces back on the rock work and the rest were either fragged out and are currently healing or have also been disposed of (most because there was not living tissue left on them. I had a frag of Gatorade Zoas fall my rock work and they currently back on a plug on the frag rack waiting for me to reattach them.

The hammers from last weeks post have graduated from the sand bed to the Euphy Garden however in order to make room I did have to trim up one of frogspawns. The frogspawn that was fragged was basically split between a half that had been dead long before it came to me that had one good head on it the other half which has 8-10 full heads. Simply enough I just lopped off the good head from the bad half and threw it on a frag plug and it no sits on the sand bed waiting for the next trip to the lfs for more trade credit. The Octospawn has definitely recovered from what ever issue plague it after a dip in iodine. It has returned to its previous location near the Euphy Garden

To no fault of my own the large purple/brown birdsnest near the top of my rock work fell off its perch and broke apart. This was a blessing in disguise. I really did not like its placement or it in general. Presently it sits on a frag rack until I decide what to do with it.

Notable Losses:

Something went off on a frag of green montipora I had on a frag rack and it started to slime like there was no tomorrow, probably because there was no tomorrow for it. The morning after I noticed the slime the monti had completely bleached out on me. A sizable water change was preformed and the coral remains were removed from the tank and disposed.

Notable Additions:

Not at this time, still waiting for the local frag swap in a couple of weeks for any new additions.


Rambling Thoughts:

Well now I've done it, all that talk last week of making a zoa garden on a piece of branch rock has really got my mind on the move towards a total rescape. I must resist these urges but the idea of using some caribsea life rock shapes and branches and base rock really has my mind flowing on how i could turn this "wall of rock" into a real nice stretch of reef. Still this is something that will take weeks if not months to fully game plan it out since it would most likely be a total re haul of the rock work and possibly the sand bed.

I am 98% certain the next livestock option for this tank is going to be a long-nose hawkfish. There was one at the LFS as well as a flame hawk and quite honestly I fell in love with the long-nose.

My emerald crab additions have really started going to town on my rocks and i have noticed a significant drop in the number of bubble algae I see, so my plan is working. It is absolutely fascinating watching these guys pick at rock work I have even watch them pick in-between the polyps of my acans and zoas/palys and pull out left over food or algae.

The orange spotted goby had taken a liking to watching me at my desk while I work, or maybe he is staring at pellet food container on my desk, but still very fun to see him out and about.

The Yellow Wrasse has really become more adventurous this week, usually he just swims on the far side of the tank near the Euphy Garden, but now he is swimming all over scanning the rock work for pods and what not.

Well I think that is enough rambling for this week I will leave you with some newish photos of the reef from the past week. Should you have any comments questions or concerns do not be afraid to ask.

 

[Dempsey941]

Side Note to Week 4:

You can see in the FTS another tank across the room from it. It is my African cichlid aquarium with a baker's dozen of pseudotropheus saulosi. Forgive the diatom algae, we are still growing out of it.

 

[Dempsey941]

Weekly Tank Update #5: An Unexpected Surprise!

FTS

Tank Specs:
40 Breeder
2x AI Prime HD
Aquamaxx HOB 1.5 Protein Skimmer
Tunze ATO
ApexEL
*200Watt Cobalt NeoTherm* NEW

Current Stocking:
2x Occ. Clownfish - formally named "Mama Clown" and "Male Clown"
Royal Gramma - "Purple Guy"
Yellow Not-so-coris Wrasse - "Yellow Guy"
Mcoskers Flasher Wrasse - "The Red Guy"
Bangaii Cardinal - "Stripes"
Orange Spotted Shrimp Goby - "The White Guy"

Latest Testing Results:
Salinity: 1.025
Ph: ~8
Alk: 9.4
Calc: 425
Mag: 1470
Phos: .64
No3: ~5


An Unexpected Deilvery:

So I have been waiting patiently for Cobalt Aquatics to send me a replacement heater for the one that died on me last February and when I came home from work today I found a package from cobalt on my doorstep! and of course inside was my new heater!

Relocation News:

The purple torch which had been on my sand bed for an extended period of time has been moved up next to the indo torch on the rock work, it seems quite content there and I took note that it now has 4 heads as opposed to the 2 when I purchased it at the local frag shop a year ago. The frogspawn frag I made last week has taken the torches spot on the sand bed until further notice.

Rambling Thoughts:

This week is a short update just because I am in preparation for the local frag swap, and it is time for the first round of tests for my classes this week so I am just trying to keep my mental ship afloat with my students and everything else in my aquariums.

I have decided however that I will not make any adjustments to the scape until an eventual upgrade when I move, probably in a couple of years, still working on all the details. I figure its just best to let this take run itself and then I can start with a blank canvas later on.

I have however done a lot of cleaning in the room where my tanks live and have created a nice section of dresser which could hold a new tank. I am only like 30 seconds deep into this thought however and really hasn't developed into anything interesting. Frag Tank? Softy only tank? Maybe Ill try my hand at an anemone? Who knows; to many ideas and not enough compute cycles to process them until after these tests get finished, and graded (yikes).

Here are a couple of other pics from the reef from this week. As always comments, questions, and concerns are more than welcome and I am happy to answer them.

 

[Dempsey941]

Weekly Tank Update #6: Frag Show Goodies

No FTS this week.

Tank Specs:
40 Breeder
2x AI Prime HD
Aquamaxx HOB 1.5 Protein Skimmer
Tunze ATO
ApexEL
200Watt Cobalt NeoTherm

Current Stocking:
2x Occ. Clownfish - formally named "Mama Clown" and "Male Clown"
Royal Gramma - "Purple Guy"
Yellow Not-so-coris Wrasse - "Yellow Guy"
Mcoskers Flasher Wrasse - "The Red Guy"
Bangaii Cardinal - "Stripes"
Orange Spotted Shrimp Goby - "The White Guy"

Latest Testing Results:
Salinity: 1.025
Ph: ~8
Alk: 9.2
Calc: 420
Mag: 1440
Phos: .62
No3: ~5


Notable Additions:

The DFWMAS Frag swap was this past weekend and was a lot of fun to attend and pick up some new additions to my reef. There were maybe 15/16 vendors in total and it was good fun to talk to people about the reefing hobby. I picked up a total of 7 new frags.

Mandarin Zoas

TriColor Torch

Hornet Zoas (I forget if they are rainbows)

Space Monster Zoas?

I also picked up a frag of firework cloves, but I do not have a good photo of them yet.

All in all I was very content with my purchases, but on the over all I was kinda disappointed with the over selection this year. After talking to some of the vendors they said that they were at MACNA the weekend prior and were also going to Aquashella in a couple of weeks so it was kinda slim pickins right now.

Rambling Thoughts Time:

So I think I have decided to go with a frag tank in the space I cleared up last week in the fish room. Leaning towards a 15 or 20 long and using it to grow out some zoas and lps while I let my main display handle the sps dosing.

Well that's all I've got for this week here are some other shots of the reef from the week. Comments Questions Concerns are more than welcome!

 

[Dempsey941]

Weekly Tank Update #7: Narrow Victories

FTS:

Tank Specs:
40 Breeder
2x AI Prime HD
Aquamaxx HOB 1.5 Protein Skimmer
Tunze ATO
ApexEL
200Watt Cobalt NeoTherm

Current Stocking:
2x Occ. Clownfish - formally named "Mama Clown" and "Male Clown"
Royal Gramma - "Purple Guy"
Yellow Not-so-coris Wrasse - "Yellow Guy"
Mcoskers Flasher Wrasse - "The Red Guy"
Bangaii Cardinal - "Stripes"
Orange Spotted Shrimp Goby - "The White Guy"

Latest Testing Results:
Salinity: 1.025
Ph: ~8
Alk: 9.3
Calc: 430
Mag: 1440
Phos: .48
No3: ~5

Life Stuff/Contest Victory:

So it took nearly all my memes to win the @WWC meme contest this past weekend (thanks to everyone who voted! and thanks to WWC for hosting). That was by far the closest election I had to be a part of since the triple recount for student body present my senior year. Any-whose it was a lot of fun to see all those memes and some of the really sweet corals WWC had on sale. I have ordered from WWC once before and they did not disappoint then and I highly doubt they will this time. In fact here is a shot of the corals I got the last time I ordered from them +- a Year.

Some Fruitloops, haunted forest, egg yokes, rastas, pink gobstopper????, and there was a frag of fire and ice, but they went the way of the dodo due to a hair algae outbreak.

Ramblings and Other Things:

I have also purchased a used AI Prime HD in black from @twerdine92 and look forward to that to come in the mail, and replace the white AI Prime which I currently have.

That White AI Prime will be the primary light on my a frag tank that I am currently collecting supplies for, so it should be a good time. Right now the plan is to collect everything that I don't already have (new heater, egg crate, some rock, powerhead, ato) and when petco has their next dollar per gallon sale I will scoop up a 20 long and get that bad boy up and running to cycle. I am pretty pumped up for this whole experience which always happens when I get to set up a new tank, and now that you and I are having these weekly chats it will be a good way for me to document everyone's growth.

For right now, I'm thinking that I might just add a sixline wrasse and maybe one other fish in this frag tank purely for coral food/pest control. Maybe that cranky bangaii cardinal can move over and I can finally put some cleaner shrimp back in my main display!

Alright well I have kept your time for long enough this week so I will drop a couple of extra photos from this week and as all ways comments questions and concerns are welcome!

 

[Dempsey941]

Weekly Tank update #8: A Golden Opportunity

Half FTS

Tank Specs:
40 Breeder
2x AI Prime HD
Aquamaxx HOB 1.5 Protein Skimmer
Tunze ATO
ApexEL
200Watt Cobalt NeoTherm

Current Stocking:
2x Occ. Clownfish - formally named "Mama Clown" and "Male Clown"
Royal Gramma - "Purple Guy"
Yellow Not-so-coris Wrasse - "Yellow Guy"
Mcoskers Flasher Wrasse - "The Red Guy"
Bangaii Cardinal - "Stripes"
Orange Spotted Shrimp Goby - "The White Guy"

Latest Testing Results:
Salinity: 1.025
Ph: ~8
Alk: 10
Calc: 428
Mag: 1440
Phos: .55
No3: ~2

WWC Gold Club Breakdown:

Package containing my WWC Gold Club prize came in this morning huzzah!

Quick breakdown of everything in the box:
T-Shirt:

Mug

Buttons and stickers and polypbooster sample

Coral List:

Everyone of the corals in the box came in well packaged and looked very healthy straight from the beginning.

A quick dip in some Seachem ReefDip.

This was kinda not needed WWC has some really clean tanks and they really make sure these frags are super clean before shipping them out, but everyone gets dipped no exceptions! Any way the really funny part of the whole thing was last night I was just watching the WWC ebay auctions roll through and I actually saw some WWC Super Star Zoas, and a frag of cherry garcia floating around and was thinking "those are some sweet looking frags" and so fate must have been in my favor because they both ended up in my box.

Now why am I dipping the finger leather? Well to be honest, I have no idea. It just always seems that every few months I give him a bath in some iodine and he seems to really enjoy that. From my understanding leathers do enjoy a healthy supply of iodine, so he is welcome to sit in the "dip box" when I have new additions or is looking kinda frumpy.

To no one's surprise once my lights clicked on this afternoon everyone opened up quite nicely, was unable to get a good pic of the superstars so I will try again and post it up next week.

Burning Lepto

24K Lepto

Cherry Garcia Chalice

LA Lakers Zoas

Other Life Stuff:
Well now the school year is in full swing and my particular high school has started their homecoming festivities. So it has been some level of struggle to keep the kids on task whilst they are gossiping about dresses and dates and other things. However the tank is on the rise and is going great i have seen noticeable growth on many of my pieces and that has me all excited about the future for me in this hobby.

I have made a great stride towards that future, but that will have to wait till next week. As per usual here are some extra photos from the reef this week hope you have a good one and feel free to leave me any questions or comments! I always enjoy talking shop, with people.