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My 40b sized patch of an Indo Pacific rubble pile


rkb

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Hello everyone- I thought I would share what I have been working on. This is my forty breeder that I upgraded to from my 29 last winter. Over the past several months things have settled in and matured nicely and I have reached a stage where I thought I would let you see the tank in a bit more detail than the occasional posted pic.

 

This is how I got my idea for the tank- Back in the 90's I purchased John Tullock's book- "Natural Reef Aquariums". In it was some good info for the time and some great photos. In the Indo Pacific section was were I found my inspiration for my aquascaping. Basically I guess it is a rubble pile where the SPS, LPS, clams and everything else is growing together. To get this look I both allowed my colonies to grow into each other and used fast growing non caustic soft corals to grow in and around the LR, clams and colonies. Softies such as GSP and anthelia do quite well in this endeavor. As an additional background in aquascaping, I spent many years studying and maintaining Japanese- Zen Buddhist style freshwater tanks. In these systems attention is paid to natural groupings in nature rather than a European style tank where everything is staged. Believe me, this is much easier to do in a planted tank than with ridged materials of a reef system.

 

This photo is from "Natural Reef Aquariums" by John Tullock and was my driving inspiration.

 

photo-131.jpg

 

And this is what I created-

photo-113.jpg

 

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Specifics-

40g Breeder

20g sump

Vertex IN100 Skimmer

2 X 150w Heaters

Mag 5 and Rio1100 return pumps

JBJ Arctica 1/10th HP chiller fed by the Mag5.

2 X Phosban 150s- one with GFO the other with Chemi Pure

 

Controllers-

JBJ ATO

ReefKeeper Lite

 

Lighting-

2 X 150w 14K Phoenix HQIs

4 X 39w T5s- 3 ATI Blue+s and 1 Fiji Purple.

Photoperiod- 8hrs of T5s, 6hrs of Metal Halide.

 

Circulation-

2 X Koralia 1s

1 Koralia Nano

1 EcoTech MP10 on random reef crest mode.

 

Dosing-

40ml of ESV B-Ionic two part daily

ESV Mg as needed.

aspartic acid once every 10 days- one Salivert spoonful dissolved in RO water.

 

Params (Salifert)

Specific Gravity- 1.026 on my refractometer calibrated with 53.0mS calibration fluid.

Temp- 78-80

PH- 8.3

dKH- 8.5

Ca- 420

Mg- 1400

 

Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate-0

 

Source water-

Kent Marine Hi-S RO/DI unit with added DI stage, inline TDS meters and flush kit.

Inline TDS meters show product water at zero. I also test my product water with a HM COM100 TDS meter that is far superior to the inline versions as it both calibrates to water temp and is accurate to 0.1 TDS vs 1.0 on the inline meter. The COM100 is set at PPM442 and indicates the product water at 0.2TDS, which is excellent.

 

Salt mix is Reef Crystals.

 

Thanks for any comments or suggestions.

 

Russell

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Very nice write up, thank you for sharing it. The tank is wonderful looking.

Thank you for your kind words, it is a constant work in progress. With the relative small volume I am reaching the stage where I need to start pruning.

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:o

NICE

 

What is aspartic acid and why are you dosing it?

Vitamin C?

Thanks!

 

Aspartic acid is a specific amino acid that is necessary for the formation of calcium carbonate. This dosing is still in it's experimental stage but sound studies have shown that it is this amino acid that is essential in the formation of stony corals.

 

Since dosing began I have notice an elevated rate of growth on all my SPS, colors remain the same and I cannot tell a difference in the growth rate of the clams.

 

I was not satisfied with commercially prepared AA mixes as I had know idea what the contents were. A great example of this is the Zeovit AAs. After much conversation on RC's Chemistry forum I decided to follow what a few others have tried and it is the aspartic acid. I purchase it from an online herbal supplement store in a powdered form.

 

This is very powerful stuff so extreme caution is suggested- a very little goes a long way. It is my understanding from the chemists on RC that this is a form of carbon dosing not unlike vodka, sugar or vinegar.

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very nice!

Thanks fishdaddy and I noticed you added me to your list of member's tanks- that's very cool of you!

 

wow, very nice. i hope mine looks that good one day :D

 

I appreciate your positive words daniel!

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+1, great job!

Thanks Patrick!

 

 

Hey all, I've been thinking about automating my dosing. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

Russell

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New CLAM!

 

got this maxima yesterday- my photo skills are rubbish especially the whole white balance thing- but the mantel color is a dark purple with brilliant blue spots and streaks.

photo-132.jpg

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skimlessinseattle
Thanks Patrick!

 

 

Hey all, I've been thinking about automating my dosing. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

Russell

I don't currently automate my dosing, but I am also looking into this. So far, the best option I've seen is peristaltic dosing pumps run on timers - delivery volume is accurate and precise.

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Tank is looking great.

 

Many people here have run a DIY air lifter set up on timers to dose 2 part. There is a sticky in the DIY forum.

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Tank is looking great.

 

Many people here have run a DIY air lifter set up on timers to dose 2 part. There is a sticky in the DIY forum.

Thanks, I'll check it out. Right now I'm dosing 40ml of both alk and ca each morning. It is working fine but if I could score a reliable and fairly inexpensive automated system I think it could be a good thing. Plus- who doesn't like cool gadget!!

 

 

 

 

Great looking breeder. Great mixed reef.

Thanks!!

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