Custom 40 Breeder AIO

[TheWB]

O I almost forgot to mention that I picked up 2 more frags on Friday. A local fish store was having a Friday the 13th sale where select frags were only $13. I was just going to pick up water buuutttt I couldn't pass that up.

Dragon soul favia (has a little algae growth on it):

And a random green acro (mother colony looked good):

I have a Dragon Soul Favia as well. It’s a great looking coral but hasn’t been the fastest grower
in my tank. What has made mine perk up though is fine particulate feedings.

 

[Sltloser]

Love the build! How do you like the fuge light? I've got the same light on my marine giant hermit crab tank but have never tried to grow anything with it. Also you mentioned possibly adding a skimmer to your return section. If the water level fluctuates that could affect skimmer performance.

Thank you, I'm happy you're enjoying it! So far so good with the fuge light, I'm noticing new blades of seagrass every 2-3 days (not always new shoots from the roots). It seems the manatee grass likes it as well!

You are absolutely right, as of now I have a breakout box connected to a float switch for ATO which will hopefully keep the water level steady enough if a skimmer is needed. As of now I have 0 nitrates and approximately 0.2 PO4. It seems NO3 is the limiting nutrient right now so I'll continue to feed to help bring the PO4 back down.

 

[Sltloser]

I have a Dragon Soul Favia as well. It’s a great looking coral but hasn’t been the fastest grower
in my tank. What has made mine perk up though is fine particulate feedings.

Yeah favites are not the quickest growers which I like for smaller tanks. I've found the same thing, mine loves the freeze dried rotifers I feed it!

 

[Sltloser]

I am practicing social distancing, but I needed to stock up on some RO water and food if (but most likely when) things get shut down. This little guy grabbed my attention and I figured it was about time to add a little flair to the tank

 

[Sltloser]

Well I figure it's time for an update! The tank overall is doing well, I've been battling a little bit of an algae outbreak but besides that everything is looking good.



Interestingly my phosphates started to increase while my nitrates have bottomed out at 0. I'm not sure why nitrogen has been the limiting nutrient. I recently added PhosGuard to help bring down the phosphate levels and increased feeding to help elevate the nitrates.

A few things have been added since last time. Now time for everybody's favorite....pictures!!

Trimma Cana (pygmy candy cane goby) this isn't my picture, it's quite shy so it has been a task trying to get a picture of it.


Tridacna Maxima (with Red/Blue Favites in the back)


I've also found these small slugs reproducing in the aquarium. They have quite the appetite for algae and have helped to keep the aquarium clean. I think they're Bulla ampulla (http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/bullampu)




The chalice is also looking more robust!



A feeding regime has been put into place so I remember to keep everyone happy!



And finally....the seagrass. It seems to be growing well, however some epiphytic algae has started growing on it. I worry that it may be out competing the seagrass so I've been using a net to manually remove it. I think a small powerhead and lowering phosphates will help to cut back on the amount of growth that occurs over the week.

 

[Sltloser]

Things are continuing to trend in the right direction, my pod population in the tank continues to grow exponentially and the snails are cruising through the algae.

Day shot

Dusk

Rainfords goby

Most of the corals seem to be doing well. The red tabling acropora had bleached a little so I decided to move it further down in the tank, I think it may have been getting more light than it was used to.

WWC Blue and Red Favia

WWC Red Acro

WWC Gold Pavona

Random Acro

Cool time lapse of the JF Raja Rampage Chalice. It had to move positions from the original spot (a turbo knocked him over).

It looks like growth is occuring, which is exciting to see!
(Left to right: 3/8, 3/22, 4/5)

Dragons Soul Favia

I've found egg sacks from the Bulla ampulla slugs, they're pretty awesome!

I've also got a few fish on order so stay tuned!

 

[Sltloser]

Well I just couldn't keep myself from getting some fish to hang out in the water column, I really enjoy this trio and they look great in the aquarium! It's dusk tonight but I thought I would try to snap a few decent pictures as the lights wind down.

The Dragon's Soul favia is continuing to morph, I'm excited to see what it looks like when it grows out. Maybe a reverse Dragon's Soul!? It seems like the red is only present around the mouth, and fades back out to green as you get further away from it.

The clam is looking great, it's moved itself so that the incurrent siphon is directed toward the water flow wrapping around the island.

I also got an order from IPSF (Indo Pacific Sea Farms) the other week, it was a great boost to my invertebrate population and sandbed. I highly recommend them for sandbed critters, I've order from them in the past and they always deliver! I picked up their wondermud, mini brittle stars, mama mia worms (aka spaghetti worms), and a sea cucumber (he has been hiding since I added him to the tank...ughh). I added 3/4 of the wondermud to the fuge area, and 1/4 to the display, the sand created a little bit of a storm so I lost track of how much I was putting in, I meant to do a 50/50 split but here we are.

They also threw in a free blasto frag!

A few FTS to end the night. I cannot seem to figure out what is wrong with the red acro, the bleaching has increased since moving it closer to the sand bed so I thought I would try closer to the light. It didn't have polyps open when I bought it, and I haven't seen any since it has been in the tank. I wonder if shipping to reefstock and being in the show aquariums for a few days stressed it out? Then the newer tank didn't do it any favors in getting it's health back? I've been spot feeding freeze dried rotifers in hopes that it will turn around, but we shall see where it ends up!

 

[Sltloser]

Some very exciting news (in my opinion haha), the seagrass has finally started to grow rhizomitously! I found my first new stalk a few nights ago, and it continues to grow each day.

 

[Ef4life]

Nice build, I really like your stand and canopy setup.

 

[Sltloser]

Nice build, I really like your stand and canopy setup.

Thank you! It's a simple 2x4 stand skinned in 1/4" laminated plywood. The canopy is 1x6 screwed/glued together. The only thing I wish I would have done differently was used 2x2 for the canopy instead of 1x2. The canopy sags jjjuuuuusstt enough that my perfectionist side notices it haha.

 

[nasotang]

Creative setup and like seeing the meticulous workmanship.

 

[Sltloser]

Creative setup and like seeing the meticulous workmanship.

Thank you, I appreciate it!

 

[Sltloser]

Well someone new was added and the past 5 days have looked mostly like this ...

Because of a certain new tank mate..

But I think they finally found a permanent spot..

Blue spotted jawfish are one of my favorites. Live aquaria had an awesome special on them and I couldn't pass it up. I also ordered an ORA shark nose goby, but I haven't seen it since I first put it in . I was hoping after a few days I'd see some movement around the aquarium, but it's a no go so far unfortunately. If I don't see it at 7 days I'll see if they're willing to give me store credit towards something else from them.

The tank in general, and seagrass bed specifically has also taken a major turn for the better! I think I'm finally past the fleshy algae faze, I have noticed a significant decrease in fleshy algae around the aquarium and in the seagrass bed. I was getting a lot of epiphytic algae growing on the seagrass blades, and I was worrying it would out compete the seagrass for light so I was manually removing it each night for a while. I then tried a small powerheads to see if lack of flow was the issue, but that did not seem to help much.

I forgot to remove anything over the weekend and thought the seagrass would be coated in algae. It turns out a new species of pod has made its way into the refugium area! (I'm guessing they came in with my IPSF wondermud!)

They have completed decimated the epiphytic algae and the "fuge" hasn't looked better! (Side note: I did add a few snails for glass cleaning duties.

This little rhizomitous shoot has been growing like a weed

Edit: I tested nutrients this weekend; nitrates were at 0.2 and phosphates were at 0.1.

I had been having issues with higher phosphates 0.25 and undetectable nitrates. I purchased some phosphate remover and upped feeding. It appeared that nitrogen was the limiting nutrient so I thought I could remove some of the phosphate while increasing nitrate (which would also lower phosphates). It appears to be working, my tests 2 weeks prior were nitrates 0 and phosphates 0.25.

I'm currently feeding mysis shrimp 2x a day and alternating coral/invert feeding days with 10mL of phytoplankton at night and the following day 1 small scoop of freeze dried rotifers

 

[gabrieltackitt]

Where did you get the acrylic for this? I would like to possibly do something similar for my Mother in law

 

[Sltloser]

Where did you get the acrylic for this? I would like to possibly do something similar for my Mother in law

I had it cut by an acrylic shop in town. I mocked up the drawings for what I needed (overflow tooth size, bulkhead hole, etc.) And they laser cut it for me. If you don't have an all in 1 acrylic shop I would suggest buying the acrylic online or from somewhere close, and then finding a manufacturing shop that has a laser cutter to create what you need! (If you have more questions on set up/dimensions feel free to PM me and I can get you the files I made)

 

[Sltloser]

Things continue to do well im the aquarium. My jawfish managed to either induce a bacterial bloom or put so much particulate in the water column I couldn't tell the difference. I ended up adding a UV serializer for a day and have filter floss running to clear things up. It's finally getting back to normal!

Before

After

I also got to add a few new corals thanks to a friend! They really make the tank pop in my opinion.

Green trumpet (Caulastrea furcata)

Strawberry shortcake (Acropora sp.)

Red chalice (Echinophyllia sp.)

I've also seen quite a bit of growth and coloration changes in some of the corals I've had for a while.

(Bottom left and right side have fully grown onto the LR)

Dragon soul continues to change colors

A few good green banded goby shots. These guys have really started to settle in and become active all over the aquarium. I have a trio, and I highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys some smaller fish in the aquarium.

Finally, the seagrass bed is looking phenomenal. I'm seeing growth daily on leaves. But more importantly the sandbed continues to mature. The below pictures show how quickly sand bed colonization occurs when adding mature sand (in this case IPSF wondermud).

Aprill 11 (left) May 7 (right)

 

[TheWB]

Things continue to do well im the aquarium. My jawfish managed to either induce a bacterial bloom or put so much particulate in the water column I couldn't tell the difference. I ended up adding a UV serializer for a day and have filter floss running to clear things up. It's finally getting back to normal!

Before

After

I also got to add a few new corals thanks to a friend! They really make the tank pop in my opinion.

Green trumpet (Caulastrea furcata)

Strawberry shortcake (Acropora sp.)

Red chalice (Echinophyllia sp.)

I've also seen quite a bit of growth and coloration changes in some of the corals I've had for a while.

(Bottom left and right side have fully grown onto the LR)

Dragon soul continues to change colors

A few good green banded goby shots. These guys have really started to settle in and become active all over the aquarium. I have a trio, and I highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys some smaller fish in the aquarium.

Finally, the seagrass bed is looking phenomenal. I'm seeing growth daily on leaves. But more importantly the sandbed continues to mature. The below pictures show how quickly sand bed colonization occurs when adding mature sand (in this case IPSF wondermud).

Aprill 11 (left) May 7 (right)

Love the green banded gobies. Your tank is looking great.

 

[Kyl]

GREENBANDED GOBIES!

My favourite fish in the hobby, tiny little bundles of spunk, but seem to be so rare to find up here since ORA stopped breeding them.

 

[Sltloser]

Love the green banded gobies. Your tank is looking great.

Thank you, I appreciate the compliment! They are awesome little fish, I'm pretty happy with where it's at right now. Just a few more corals I'd like to add and I think it will go into heavy feeding/growth mode.

 

[Sltloser]

GREENBANDED GOBIES!

My favourite fish in the hobby, tiny little bundles of spunk, but seem to be so rare to find up here since ORA stopped breeding them.

I had never had them, or ordered them when working in aquarium stores but.....I might have to agree with you. They are awesome little fish! Now that they've completely settled in they're all over the tank all the time. I think 4-5 would be absolutely awesome to have in a 100+ gallon tank, their fast and jerky movement really catches your eye!