Steely's 40 breeder

[steely185]

I had my timer crap out on me last night so I'm running four bulbs for the day. Bonus time came so I'm debating on throwing a controller on the tank to give some flexibility and lose some timers.

[steely185]

I think I may hold out on the controller for now but not 100% on that right now. I am considering switching up my light schedule to see if I can tweek my results.

 

Contemplating the following schedule:

 

two blue plus on: 10am-12pm

two blue plus, kz fiji purple, super actinic on: 12pm-8pm

two blue plus on: 2pm-7pm

two blue plus on: 8pm-915pm

 

this will give me the following:

2hrs of two bulbs, 2hrs of 4 bulbs, 5hrs of 6 bulbs, 2hrs of 4 bulbs, followed by ~1 hr of 2 bulbs

 

I currently run 2 bulbs from 10am-8pm and the other 4 bulbs (for a total of 6) from 12pm-9pm

 

My hopes is this will be a slower build up to full light intensity and less time at full strength. If I see any negative change in my corals I will switch back to the current setup. I miss zoas in my main display and would love to have them thrive under my light like my sps do under it.

[steely185]

Picked up this cool little maxima from a local reefer on the way home tonight. It's in the 3-4" range. I'll post a pic in my tank tomorrow. Larger and cheaper than the LFS, gotta love it. This is what it looked like in one of his tanks.

 

[bruce922]

I would love to have some of the different corals that you have, nice tank!

[steely185]

Thanks bruce, it's been a fun ride with this tank and the fruits of my labor are starting to pay off. I tried for a good variety and great color in my coral purchases.

[timdanger]

Picked up this cool little maxima from a local reefer on the way home tonight. It's in the 3-4" range. I'll post a pic in my tank tomorrow. Larger and cheaper than the LFS, gotta love it. This is what it looked like in one of his tanks.

 

 

wow! nice! who'd you get that from?

 

i've been thinking about a clam...

[steely185]

I picked it up off of Ben. You can find him over on Richmond Reefers, he's not on reef central anymore. He lives out near brandermill and posts on craigslist from time to time. Check him out because he has some good stuff and even better prices.

[bdare]

Bravo! Nice tank! You'll be making a lot of frags when that puppy grows out!

[steely185]

Updated clam shot:

 

 

 

[steely185]

 

[bringman]

Sweet tank. Love the SPS attached to the back wall. This make me want to have a bigger tank.

[steely185]

Thanks. The aqua-mags are great for attaching frags on the back or sides. You can always move it if you don't like where you have it.

[OClownsandNanos]

Really an awesome breeder, Steely. Just a few questions: Which salt mix were you using when you weren't dosing in the beginning, yet still getting growth out of your SPS? And exactly how far apart are you keeping your acans? Four inches or so from each other? More or less than that? (I've got some acans coming in the next week so want to know how close I can get them without warfare.)

 

You've done an awesome job on this tank and I love your new clam additions. They are sexy cool. I see you've got a fairy wrasse too . . . I think I should look a little more into them. Pretty, pretty fish.

[steely185]

Really an awesome breeder, Steely. Just a few questions: Which salt mix were you using when you weren't dosing in the beginning, yet still getting growth out of your SPS? And exactly how far apart are you keeping your acans? Four inches or so from each other? More or less than that? (I've got some acans coming in the next week so want to know how close I can get them without warfare.)

 

You've done an awesome job on this tank and I love your new clam additions. They are sexy cool. I see you've got a fairy wrasse too . . . I think I should look a little more into them. Pretty, pretty fish.

 

 

Thanks. I was using Instant Ocean and I still use it. I've only used one other salt and that was reef crystals. I only used one bag before switching back. I didn't notice any differences when using either salt.

 

I keep most of my Acans a couple inches apart. I have had one of my Acans munch on two other acans during the night before so I recommend giving them some space. The good thing about acans is that they grow quickly and even more quickly when fed. The two heads or so of each that were eaten/dissolved have grown back.

 

Definately check into the fairy wrasses. I love my lubbock's fairy wrasse. He's very brightly colored and is out everyday now.

 

I love the color on the clams but they are calcium whores. Since adding the two clams my Calcium has dropped from 420 to ~380-400 ppm. I am currently debating on whether to dose more kalk or take the plunge and go 2 part.

[OClownsandNanos]

Thanks Steely, I'm using Reef Crystals so I guess I just have to keep monitoring my levels to see if I eventually need to dose. It does make sense that the clams would need a lot of calcium - I'm trying to keep from dosing (if possible) so I guess I'll just be eyeing them wistfully from your and others' tanks for the time being.

[steely185]

I knew the clams would eat up plenty of calcium so it wasn't all that unexpected. You will probably be fine without dosing for some time. I have a heavy sps tank and the clams are just that little extra push.

[steely185]

Calcium is back in line now. Added a capful of sea chem reef complete (liquid calcium) and my calcium is back up to 440ppm tonight. KH is at 11 so all is in check. I'll check it in a couple of days to see how much it drops and how often I need to add some.

[timdanger]

heya -- just wanted to let you know that Atlantis has some awesome stuff in right now. I was there last night and kicking myself for having already spent through my "coral budget" for the month.

 

2" frags of pokerstar monti, superman monti (though the superman is a little faded-looking) for $50; 2.5-3" frags of pearlberry for $80, nice 2" ora ice tort for $80; 2" ora bird of paradise for $80; a few great looking chalices/echinos/scolys/etc. for very good prices. they also fragged a couple pieces off of that awesome turquoise acro that marvin has in his display tank (they are calling it "Atlantis Teal Acro").

 

I wish i could buy some of this stuff -- but i figure, if i can't have it, might as well help someone i know get it!

[steely185]

Thanks for the heads up Tim. I stopped in there and had seen most of what you were talking about. I'm pretty packed at the moment so I don't see making any additions to my 40 for now.

 

If you go on reefcentral, I recommend checking out some frags that ruhyanuff (he's local) has for sale. I've bought from him in the past and he has some great stuff. He's got 2"+ frags of most ORA corals and others for $25 a piece.

[timdanger]

Thanks for the heads up Tim. I stopped in there and had seen most of what you were talking about. I'm pretty packed at the moment so I don't see making any additions to my 40 for now.

 

If you go on reefcentral, I recommend checking out some frags that ruhyanuff (he's local) has for sale. I've bought from him in the past and he has some great stuff. He's got 2"+ frags of most ORA corals and others for $25 a piece.

 

nice -- thanks for the referral!

[steely185]

Well got some bad new today. I came home and found a coral of mine that has acropora eating flat worms.

 

Here's some pics of their eggs:

 

 

 

I qt'd this and another piece just to be safe. I dipped both in revive for about an hour and a half with k2 flowing in the bucket. I scraped all the eggs away with an exacto before soaking it. I'll repeat this every couple of days until I feel comfortable returning this to my display. I'm going to keep a close eye on all my coral and periodically dip all acros over the next couple of weeks.

[timdanger]

ack. not good! very unfortunate.

 

i guess they say everyone gets them sooner or later...

 

how are your corals attached in your display such that you can remove them for QT? all of mine are epoxied to rocks. i'm going to have to remove the one that arrived bleached from ATL, so i was just curious as to how you do it. do you think the epoxy will just pull off with pressure?

[steely185]

Most of my corals are attached to the rockwork with epoxy but not all. Some fit into crevices in the rockwork. The two corals I removed were attached to smaller rocks that are easy to remove. Corals that are attached with epoxy are pretty easy to remove when a little pressure is applied.

 

I've beat the montipora eating nudibranchs before so I can beat these little bastards.

[OClownsandNanos]

Ugh that does not sound fun, Steely. But I'm sure you will win! Good luck with your battle with those icky, ugly flatworms. Are you also going to use FWE to get rid of them?

[steely185]

No fwe yet. Prolonged dips (hour or more) in revive after manually removing any eggs. Basting the corals in the display periodically to look for dislodged flatworms.