thirdchild's ultramegasuperslow 40g breeder (6/24/12 - 3/21/15)

[thirdchild]

I took more action against the algae. I realigned the MP10s so they blow at different levels across the scape two weeks ago.

 

Then I fiddled with the lighting for the radions and turned off the green led completely few days ago. Suppose to be like the settings Vivid is using for their experiment with an additional dawn dusk effect. You can download my version here.

 

Finally I moved the carbon and gfo into media reactors last weekend.

 

There are now spots of purple coraline is taking the place of algae on the tops of the live rock. Hopefully I'll see reduction in the thickest algae growing in crevices.

[thirdchild]

Got a new picasso percula during Thanksgiving. He seems a little pale though compared to the onyx though. I hope it doesn't mean I've just done something silly.

 

Left side

 

Right side... bought him because of the freckle.

[thirdchild]

Finally swam together a little. It's interesting how the onyx is a redder orange than the picasso.

 

And a updated FTS

[Spirofucci]

Cute little clown! Are ya gonna call him Spot??? lol

[thirdchild]

Cute little clown! Are ya gonna call him Spot??? lol

 

Why yes. Yes I am

[Deleted User 4]

Looks good man. May I ask where you bought these two clowns from?

[thirdchild]

Looks good man. May I ask where you bought these two clowns from?

 

Thanks!

 

The onyx came from kmaintl here on the forums. Came very healthy and Ed is also good to work with.

 

The picasso came from a local vendor. But when I picked him up, he was unexpectedly thin and pale. So I'm not going recommend him.

 

If the picasso passes away, I'm totally talking to Ed again to see if he's got spares.

[HVani]

Try feeding the picasso cyclopeeze. It really colored up my true perc and they seem to love it.

 

 

Before

 

 

[kmaintl]

Great addition to your Onyx. Again, I'm biased on the Onyx. LoL Try soaking your food in garlic & selcon to see if it will stimulate more aggressive eating. The Picasso definitely was a rescue as it is super thin. That's really good of you to try to save the Picasso.

 

Left side

[thirdchild]

Try feeding the picasso cyclopeeze. It really colored up my true perc and they seem to love it.

 

Nice growth and color on your clowns. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll buy some frozen cyclopeeze at the LFS after work today.

 

Great addition to your Onyx. Again, I'm biased on the Onyx. LoL Try soaking your food in garlic & selcon to see if it will stimulate more aggressive eating. The Picasso definitely was a rescue as it is super thin. That's really good of you to try to save the Picasso.

 

I couldn't get a pic but from the front, he has sunken cheeks and a sunken belly! He's too cute to die. Anyways, I think I've got some selcon. Have to see if it's expired and try it today.

[thirdchild]

Spot's doing better after two weeks of heavy feeding. Now he's more normal and enthusiastic about eating. I think it's safe to cut back to a meal a day.

 

Onyx is a little chunky now though. Lol

 

And here's a new roommate

 

The other addition, the tailspot blenny, is hiding in the rocks of course.

[d'Espresso]

Wow, this tank is off the chain! Love your scape and your acans. Nice new roommate you got there. i am a big fan of all cardinals fish. lol

[thirdchild]

Wow, this tank is off the chain! Love your scape and your acans. Nice new roommate you got there. i am a big fan of all cardinals fish. lol

 

Aww thanks! Huge compliment cause I like your scape the best. Your original 40b and other great member tanks are the reason why I had to go with the 40b.

 

--

Small update. I think I need to give up and get a tripod one of these days. Now that the algae isn't super horrible, it's not so embarrassing to zoom in.

 

[Spirofucci]

So nice! For sure future TOTM!!!!!

[d'Espresso]

+1 on Future TOTM. Will this tank be a mixed tank or LPS, SPS, or softies?

[thirdchild]

So nice! For sure future TOTM!!!!!

 

Haha, something to work towards. I'd settle for less algae and more growth

 

+1 on Future TOTM. Will this tank be a mixed tank or LPS, SPS, or softies?

 

Mixed. I want to go with more SPS this time but my new frags keep dying. Plus I'm not too good about dosing.

[thirdchild]

Well I couldn't pass this guy up; it's a Limbaughi Chromi. Active swimmer, seems peaceful and blue!

 

It's only been a week since I added the banggai and tailspot. Hope nothing happens when I'm on a short business trip.

[thirdchild]

Nothing much going on. The McCosker jumped through my eggcrate and turned into jerky a couple of weeks ago. Upgraded the pump for my media reactors too, so the algae I've been struggling with is slowly improving again after a long slump.

 

Hoping I see a more dramatic change if I rehome my banggai cardinal

I did take a picture with some nice colors today too...

 

[thirdchild]

The tank really got out of hand when I had to travel more than usual these last couple of months :-(

 

I peroxide dipped the two worse rocks. Now I think it's beginning to slowly improve, but i felt understaffed. Just added snails, emerald crabs, chitons and another urchin to the current cleanup crew to combat this mess. Bleh.

 

[thirdchild]

Ok, definitely some improvement over the last week. The chitons cleaned the nooks and crannies. Then 2 chitons suddenly died. Not sure why. In addition to the new crew, I also rearranged the pumps to blow current around the rocks and that's helping with the weird brown algae.

 

Not sure why the BTA shrunk and stopped eating though :-(

 

 

And here's a shot of the clowns, just because....

[thirdchild]

The tank feels much cleaner now.

 

So here are some misc pics.

 

 

I also caught my pistol shrimp grabbing a snack yesterday.... fish poo! Hahaha

 

And the video is over here.

[thirdchild]

Boy, my tank will be officially 1 year old in 9 more days! Just noticed. Have to say I don't think the tank began really settling in until after 6 months or so. The color started coming back after I went to the Radion Vivid Color settings or whatever they call it. Pictures or it didn't happen...

 

 

I also finally added a ATO last week and it's been awesome not to top off every morning too. Oh and the pistol shrimp mysteriously lost it's pistol. I think it might have lost against the big emerald crab.

[thirdchild]

Some new pics...

 

I rearrange my scape a little to reduce the current around my pectinia. I'll post a new FTS when the glare isn't so bad.

 

The BTA split into like 3 or 4 guys yesterday night.

 

Noticed some white and a couple of red speckles on the Jawbreaker which is cool. It refuses to grow bigger though, haha.

 

And some nice pics of my duncans and acans.

 

[RollaJase]

Great shots, your tank looks amazing.

[thirdchild]

Thanks!

 

I just have to figure out why my sps isn't doing so well.