Husker 40 Breeder SPS tank

revhtree · Jan 25, 2017

Gonna fill in nicely!

revsgirl · Jan 25, 2017

Nice!

Husker · Jan 29, 2017

Thanks folks. We have so many locals with great frags available to trade for some of the equipment I have sitting around or to buy for cheap. Things are finally starting to grow. Actually it seems to improve if I leave my skimmer off for a few days and don't change my water for a few weeks. I am going back to every 2 week water changes and ramping up my lights to a slightly longer schedule. Now that everything is dialed in hopefully this improves growth.

Husker · Feb 12, 2017

I changed up the aquascape a bit to create more negative space and have 3 channels for everything to grow towards filling in. The stag-ish acros are on the right side int he lower region and the more cluster frags are on the left.

After this picture I swapped out my other gyre for an MP10. I am now running an MP40 and an MP10. I like the ability to generate more random flow to stir up junk with the MPs, and the gyre are a pain in the butt to clean. Otherwise, great pumps.

This rock has some cool stuff growing in. The Grape Juice in the top center is really taking off and starting to color up. The cali tort is kind of taking over, but I really like the three tones it is showing. I don't remember the name of the orange/yellow and green sunset-ish mille just below the cali tort, but it came from Voodoo Corals originally. I got a frag from a local guy. Battle Corals Crimson Bliss is the pink and green/yellow thing at the bottom. It is really starting to show some good color. I really am liking the pink lemonade colors, too. At the top is a Shades of Fall from BC. It still looks like a purple dud, but I have only had it for a couple months.

Blue stag was one of the first frags I got. I almost nuked it a few times with new-to-SPS mistakes. It has been really forgiving.

Jason Fox Sour Twist Acro. Finally starting to get some neat colors. It stayed just green for a while. I think it could maybe use a little more light. I have mine toward the edge of the tank.

Husker · Feb 12, 2017

Top down of the left side of the tank for the water change.

Tokash23 · Mar 28, 2017

Husker said:
Update: The noise of my Mag7 was bugging me, so I decided to see if I could dismantle the return pump plumbing and replace it with a Sicce. I can't recommend this pump enough. It is silent. I could hear my mag pump as I was walking down the basement toward my tank. Now, the only thing I hear on my tank is the slight hum of my gyres when I am next to the tank.

A local was unloading some SPS, so I picked up some cheap colonies: ORA frogskin and a cali tort. Also got a neat unnamed rainbow mille frag that has a lot of potential.

I also got a new camera and lenses (photography is another hobby, but I had some outdated gear and so I wasn't shooting much recently).

Which sicce pump did you get? I am setting up my own 40 breeder and also got the mag 7, i did a test run with some tap water the other day and that sucker has quite a hum to it so i think ill return it before i get everything setup and try something else. Nice looking tank by the way

Husker · Mar 28, 2017

Thanks!

I got the Sicce Silent 3.0 (714 GPH). I also connected it to about a foot of silicone tubing from BRS before going into the hard plumbing. Those two changes made the return pump silent.

Unfortunately, it also made me notice the noise from my MP10/40 and from my skimmer.

Tokash23 · Mar 28, 2017

That's the exact one im looking at glad to hear its nice and quiet. I may have to do something similar for my plumbing seeing as how i have everything already set up for the mag 7 which sucks but better now then when everything is setup and running.

Husker · Mar 28, 2017

I changed mine out when everything was up and running. It wasn't too difficult. It would be much easier before you fill the tank.

Husker · Jun 6, 2017

Here are a couple update photos as this tank is coming toward the end of its life. I had all the intentions of just keeping the 40 breeder SPS to get back in, but after it seemed like we are in our permanent house I decided it was a good time to plan my dream setup. I will be transferring many of the colonies over to the new tank, but not all of them.

These photos are a few weeks old, still:

I'm really impressed with the color the Vivid Rainbow is getting, finally. I hope it doesn't lose it all in the move.

revhtree · Jun 6, 2017

Nice!

jsker · Jun 6, 2017

The corals look great, I can only imagine how well they will look in your dream system

Reef man 89 · Jun 6, 2017

Stunning!! Beautiful tank!

justingraham · Jun 6, 2017

What's the dream tank???

Husker · Jun 6, 2017

Thanks, all. SPS was definitely a learning curve. I lost a bunch of beauties along the way. A couple weeks ago my corals must have hit a growth spurt and my alk dropped to 5 dKH. A couple colonies took a bit hit, but it looks like they might be coming back.

The "dream setup" is a 5'x2'x2' starfire peninsula (link in signature: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/husker-150g-peninsula-display-refugium.308800/#post-3793847) with a connected 55 gallon macroalgae/soft coral display refugium. I love the SPS but have a soft spot for soft corals and macroalgae. I'm excited to be able to have both setups plumbed together.

Husker · Jun 13, 2017

A bit of a cyano outbreak, and some remnants of an alk drop a few weeks ago. Otherwise everything isn't too bad.

Pink Floyd is finally starting to do something.

This BC Dream Sequence Mille has taken a beating. I have done everything in my power to kill it, but it is still barely hanging on. One of my first SPS frags that suffered "new-to-SPS-syndrome."

Sahin · Jun 13, 2017

Very very nice. What do you feed the fish and corals daily? Do you dose any supplements for the corals?

Husker · Jun 13, 2017

Sahin said:
Very very nice. What do you feed the fish and corals daily? Do you dose any supplements for the corals?

Why thank you. This is nothing compared to your tanks, but I'm hoping to move more towards that direction with the next tank after learning from this mistakes with this one. I really only feed my home made blend (octopus, squid, mysis, bloodworms, nori, clams, brine shrimp). I feed anywhere between once and twice a day. I usually cut down when there starts to be a little algae. I have kalkwasser in the ATO and dose calcium/alkalinity (as of the last few weeks). The majority of this tank was simply kalk in the ATO. I don't dose anything else or feed the corals.

My dKH was stable at 7.5 for several months and so I stopped checking. A couple months ago, my coral growth must have hit the max of my ATO/Kalkwasser, and I checked dKH at 5.6. That is when I decided to start dosing, and my coral color is still recovering from this incident. As you can see, some are very pale with limited polyp extension. It seems I never am taking photos when they are the healthiest..hah.

Daniel@R2R · Jun 14, 2017

Husker said:
A bit of a cyano outbreak, and some remnants of an alk drop a few weeks ago. Otherwise everything isn't too bad.

Pink Floyd is finally starting to do something.

This BC Dream Sequence Mille has taken a beating. I have done everything in my power to kill it, but it is still barely hanging on. One of my first SPS frags that suffered "new-to-SPS-syndrome."

Looking great!