Sharkbait’s 40 Breeder Upgrade

[Sharkbait19]

Well, I returned from vacation, and the coral QT was in disarray. Apparently there was a power outage while I was gone, so I came home to many upset corals and VERY cloudy water. Thankfully there weren’t too many casualties, but certainly enough to be extremely frustrating upon return.

 

[Sharkbait19]

…aaand I’ve discovered that my peppermint shrimp likes himself some frogspawn…

Not only that, but my urchin did a good job cleaning the algae…a little too good of a job, that he munched away a little bit of my torch’s skeleton base.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Update FTS!
I totally forgot, I’ve been doing this for two years now!! I joined R2R back in 2020, on August 13th!! Can’t believe it’s been only two years—I’ve learned so much!! Here’s to many more years of reefing fun!

 

[jfoahs04]

Update FTS!
I totally forgot, I’ve been doing this for two years now!! I joined R2R back in 2020, on August 13th!! Can’t believe it’s been only two years—I’ve learned so much!! Here’s to many more years of reefing fun!

Looking good!

 

[Gungo]

Beautiful tank

 

[rmorris_14]

hey there FTS

Congrats on your Anniversary!

 

[Sharkbait19]

Thanks, everyone!!

 

[aSaltyKlown]

How are you liking the light? It seems to be doing well for what you have in the tank. Is that the 40 or 50-watt version?

 

[Sharkbait19]

How are you liking the light? It seems to be doing well for what you have in the tank. Is that the 40 or 50-watt version?

I’m pretty sure it’s the 50.
It could definitely be stronger, but it does the job for most corals. Coming off the fluval 13.5 stock light, it’s a pretty lateral move, a bit better. Much more customizable as far as color settings go though.
All in all, a good bargain light.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Update: New Corals!!

 

[rmorris_14]

Update: New Corals!!

Those are some awesome new additions. The green looking sponges in your second photo are sick too! Any idea how you go them? I'm starting to really get dig sponges. lol

 

[Sharkbait19]

Those are some awesome new additions. The green looking sponges in your second photo are sick too! Any idea how you go them? I'm starting to really get dig sponges. lol

Not sure, they just started popping up more and more frequently. My best guess is they came from a Yuma rock I got a while back. A lot of the cool hitchhikers seem to have come from that one.

 

[jk_s124]

Just got through most of your thread! You definitely have endured some iOS and downs! Everything really does look great though!

 

[Sharkbait19]

Thanks!
It’s been quite a while since I’ve given an update, hasn’t it?

The fish are still doing well—much better than before. The copper treatment is over, the ich is gone, and they’re all swimming and eating well. All except for the blenny. I’m not sure why, but he’s lost most of his appetite and is swimming weird—very similar to my Hawkfish. Hopefully I can resolve this mysterious problem before the blenny starves though.

My corals are in an okay state at the moment. Except for the euphyllias in quarantine, everything in the main tank are doing pretty good at the moment. The good thing is, I finally have the cause figured out. After more frequent testing, I’ve found patterns that indicate big problem. Having been using my well water for water changes, my tank phosphates have been sitting at rather dangerous levels for a while now (test instantly turns deep blue). This occurs both in the tank and straight out of the tap. While I initially thought that high phosphates just meant more algae, the more research I did, the more every problem I’ve ever had made sense. The reason my cleaner shrimp spontaneously die—high phosphates. The reason my lps tend to starve out—high phosphates. The reason my SPS has growth issues—high phosphates. So, I finally identified the problem, and am finally working at a solution. I’ve been doing plenty of water changes, now using RO water instead (I know, I probably should have done this from the very start, but never really thought much about it). I will also be using phosgard to pull out excess phosphates. Unfortunately, water changes will take longer now, as my RO system can only produce water so quickly. But, if it means getting out of this rough patch, I’ll deal with it.

As far as the quarantine tanks go, both the coral QT and the 20 gallon tank have had major phytoplankton blooms. While there seems to be no ill effect, I can’t see very far into the tanks, which makes observation much hardNot too sure how to solve this one—water changes don’t seem to cut it.

Sorry about the lengthy post, but I figured I’d share my findings and experiences

Here’s an update FTS—corals are already becoming colorful once more and are much more open!

and the QT tanks:

 

[Projects with Sam]

very festive tank! looks great!

 

[Sharkbait19]

While it’s a great thing that my anemone finally split, I’m not sure I like where the little one chose to take residence…

 

[rmorris_14]

While it’s a great thing that my anemone finally split, I’m not sure I like where the little one chose to take residence…

And this is why I don’t have an anemone

 

[Sharkbait19]

It’s been quite a while, but unfortunately I have bad news— Flounder the angelfish passed away. He never handled quarantine very well, and over the past few weeks, was slowly starving and deteriorating.
The shame is, the fallow period ended a week ago, and he was still alive and (somewhat) well. I was tempted to move him, but was going on vacation, so felt that it’d be best to wait until I returned. Why is it that the bad stuff always happens while I’m away?
This fish really meant a lot to me. Both the angel and the Hawkfish were exceptional and brought so much life and color to the tank. I feel really bad, because both deaths felt quite avoidable, had I taken the right steps.
I’ve experienced difficulty in quarantining before, but this time around was a nightmare. None of the fish have been doing particularly well, and there have been constant phytoplankton outbreaks that make observation next to impossible. At least the ich is gone and the rest of the fish will be healthy in the dt.
Rest in peace, Flounder. Truly a beautiful and amazing fish.

In other news, I’ve been hard at work battling phosphates in the tank, and unfortunately am currently at a standstill. Stony corals are all in quarantine until the tank is safe again. The fish are all returning tomorrow, though. I’m not sure how much longer the others will tolerate their current conditions. Hopefully over the next few months the 40B will be in working order and I can put this chaos behind me.

 

[JoJosReef]

It’s been quite a while, but unfortunately I have bad news— Flounder the angelfish passed away. He never handled quarantine very well, and over the past few weeks, was slowly starving and deteriorating.
The shame is, the fallow period ended a week ago, and he was still alive and (somewhat) well. I was tempted to move him, but was going on vacation, so felt that it’d be best to wait until I returned. Why is it that the bad stuff always happens while I’m away?
This fish really meant a lot to me. Both the angel and the Hawkfish were exceptional and brought so much life and color to the tank. I feel really bad, because both deaths felt quite avoidable, had I taken the right steps.
I’ve experienced difficulty in quarantining before, but this time around was a nightmare. None of the fish have been doing particularly well, and there have been constant phytoplankton outbreaks that make observation next to impossible. At least the ich is gone and the rest of the fish will be healthy in the dt.
Rest in peace, Flounder. Truly a beautiful and amazing fish.

In other news, I’ve been hard at work battling phosphates in the tank, and unfortunately am currently at a standstill. Stony corals are all in quarantine until the tank is safe again. The fish are all returning tomorrow, though. I’m not sure how much longer the others will tolerate their current conditions. Hopefully over the next few months the 40B will be in working order and I can put this chaos behind me.

Sorry for your loss Sharkbait. Chin up and keep at it! We're all learning together, here!

 

[Sharkbait19]

Well, a Black Friday sale prompted me to get a new coral beauty. While I normally don’t like to replace a fish immediately after its death, I just can’t imagine my tank without an angelfish. It might be my favorite reef fish! I just hope the new one is as well tamed as Flounder. Speaking of well tamed, I also picked up a six line wrasse—so you know, the complete opposite of well behaved. This should go well.. I can’t really think of much these days that Luxo won’t bully, so I need a fish that will give it back. Hopefully a six line won’t give back too much aggression, though. I also picked up a cristata torch, a favia, and a hammer coral, which went into the coral QT, and an rock flower nem, which went into the main tank.

And the fish are back in the tank!! They’re doing great, and the clowns are even testing out the BTA! The goby and pistol shrimp are finally paired, and this time it seems like they’re paired for good. Other times they simply hung out and then separated, but this time, they seem to stick together all the time and act like a true goby and shrimp pair.