rnd4's 40 Breeder (New April FTS)

[WorrBaller]

Hey! I have one of those crabs! I like the red, you don't see them too often. Great looking tank btw.

[rnd4]

Hey! I have one of those crabs! I like the red, you don't see them too often. Great looking tank btw.

 

I actually hadn't seen this guy since its third day in the tank, which was about a month ago. It was good to see him alive and kicking! I've never seen more than just the claw of our Emerald Crab sticking out of a hole in the rocks. Someday...

[JerseyChick]

Looks nice, I LOVE 40 breeders, I want one so badly but cant till I am in a new home/apartment. I would be a lil worried about the dinoflagettes(I think that is the crap growing all over everything) it could suffocate your corals. Maybe a few mexican turbo's and some pura nitrate lock?

[rnd4]

LI would be a lil worried about the dinoflagettes(I think that is the crap growing all over everything) it could suffocate your corals. Maybe a few mexican turbo's and some pura nitrate lock?

 

I added Purigen about 10 days ago and a pretty good sized clean-up crew last Tuesday or Wednesday. Previously I had been worried about having too large of a crew and starving them, but then what I had couldn't keep the algae in check. The expanded crew has already knocked out a considerable amount of ugly stuff, and I figure with a little more time/water changes they should be able to take care of it.

[meganistkrieg]

Your pictures are amazing - those are some happy corals! More FTS please?

[rnd4]

About 10 days ago my AC70 with chaeto overflowed overnight and made a bit of a mess behind the aquarium/in the stand. Up until this point things in the tank had been going well, but I was a little disappointed that the water always seemed to have a slight yellow tint to it.

 

Frustrated with the mess I had to clean up I removed all of the chaeto (put it in one of my 10g tank's chambers), gave the AC70 a thorough cleaning and replaced the chaeto with filter floss and some carbon (my other AC70 was (and still is) running Purigen and filter floss). My water has never been more clear! All of my tank parameters are still where they should be and nitrates haven't jumped.

 

If anything, I've noticed even less algae building up in the display tank after the cleaners have their go at it (previously it seemed like they'd mow an area down then it would regrow in about two days).

 

I think I'm done with chaeto in this tank for the time being. I'm still having some hair algae issues on about half of my live rock, but I've really noticed my clean-up crew starting to do their job (although a lot of the smaller snails seem to be dying...hermit crabs?). The chiton I got from ReefCleaners is by far the best algae eater in the tank. I also bought a conch from my LFS and it has done a remarkable job of keeping the substrate algae free, which was previously a problem for me.

 

I'll probably give the crew another month to see if they can start knocking off the rest of the hair algae before I think about adding any more algae eaters.

 

I haven't added anything else to the tank, except Maude the Royal Gramma went from QT to the display awhile back. Most of the soft corals moved over to the 10g when it was ready and I've actually noticed more growth there (zoas making more polyps faster) than they did in the 40g!

[rnd4]

A few new photos. Still fighting the algae.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rnd4]

I uploaded a video of our plate coral eating a frozen mysis shrimp this afternoon. I condensed it from ~7 minues down to 45 seconds so you can actually see movement!

 

[rnd4]

I haven't added anything to the tank in the past month plus. Things have been growing slowly but surely and I had a cyanobacteria outbreak a few weeks ago that was taken care of with a few water changes and feeding a lot less Cyclop-eeze.

 

I don't have plans to add any more fish anytime soon (currently have a clownfish, royal gramma and longnose hawkfish), but I wouldn't be adverse to adding a coral or two if I found some to my liking/in my price range.

 

Here are some photographs from this morning:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rnd4]

I came downstairs about 3 hours after lights off last night and found my plate coral in a state I had never seen before. It usually gets all puffy and puts out its tentacles, but last night was the first time it looked like a mini-volcano with an uneven margin.

 

[nanoreefsurf]

looks nice, i want to see more pics

[rnd4]

The system seems to be really healthy lately. Lots of stuff is popping up all over. I realized today that my birdsnest has grown a lot since I bought it ~4 months ago.

 

[rnd4]

After ~6 months I finally went to the second of two pet stores in town that sells coral. I should have gone there a long time ago! Not only is it only about 10 minutes away vs. 30 minutes for the other store, they also have more, healthier coral at lower prices!

 

I was thiiiiiiis close to buying some coral from Blue Zoo today with their free shipping deal, but decided to wait until we ran some errands. I decided to go down one road just for fun and came across this pet store. I picked up these three pieces (one of which I already split into two frags) for only $30! Very glad I didn't make that online order.

 

Mycedium sp. (This one was re-fragged by me. Mostly because part of the coral was not firmly attached and it tore during the drive home. Hopefully both pieces make it.)

 

 

Acropora sp.

 

 

Acanthastrea sp.

 

[Twinn]

Great pic's and video. I just found your tank and will be following.

[rnd4]

I tried to get a few better photos today. I also had to split up the Mycedium sp. a bit more after a hermit crab fell on it and tore it a bit more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Twinn]

What is that snail type thing on your rockwork?

[rnd4]

What is that snail type thing on your rockwork?

 

That is a fuzzy chiton from reefcleaners.org. By far the best algae eater in the tank! He cleaned a couple big rocks of hair algae more or less by himself in a few weeks.

[rnd4]

New Favia sp.

 

[rnd4]

When I bought my Favia on Thursday the LFS told me about a shipment of new corals they were expecting the next day. I couldn't make it in until Sunday, but they still had what I went back for...a molten lobo.

 

[rnd4]

Here's what the tank looked like on 31 July 2010:

 

And here's the tank this evening (11 November 2010):

 

Click on either of those photos to see a full-size version.

 

To be honest, everything is growing like crazy. The birds nest has gotten huge and so have two of its frags. The big Favia on the left has grown down onto the rock. The frogspawn on the right has made about ten little baby heads in the past couple weeks and all of the zoas/palys have been multiplying a lot. The Caulastrea is almost done splitting from one head into four. I'm really happy with the growth I've seen from SPS, LPS and softies.

 

The problem is I'm not really crazy about my aquascape. I really don't like having so many scattered frag plugs on the sand.

[rnd4]

The bright red coral in the lower center (Montipora sp.?) started to bleach a few days after I took the photo in my last post, so I moved it up and to the left (above the big Favia sp.). I didn't expect the metal halide to be so severe, but live and learn. The good news is that the bleaching stopped and the outer edges of the coral are still growing.

 

The only other new thing is I discovered a pretty large feather duster living below my big Favia sp. No clue how I was able to overlook it for the past ~5 months.

 

It's been nearly a month since I last added any coral...maybe I can convince the wife we should visit the LFS this weekend?

[rnd4]

I haven't been thrilled with my aquascape lately. I felt it was too far forward in the tank and that I didn't really have as much open space as I wanted. I'm a bit happier with the tank after today's re-working. Still not exactly what I really want, but I think this is about as good as I'm going to get it without pulling corals off their rocks.

 

 

I know all of the photos don't line up quite right in the photomerge, but I think the general layout of the tank is visible. I accidentally knocked off a few pieces of the big bird's nest on the left, so now I'm up to 4 little frags that have come from the mother colony. The thing just will not stop growing. I'm very pleased with it.

 

Here's the little guy that got bleached when I put him directly under the metal halide for a week. He's back to his normal healthy self, just with a big white bald spot now:

 

 

Several corals live in the lower left corner of the tank right now:

 

 

I wasn't super thrilled about the brown zoas on this rock, but I had to have the rock to get the three pink guys.

 

 

But it turns out that the brown guys aren't so bad when you look at them on their own:

 

 

I also bought this piece today to get the guys with the green center (down and to the left in this image):

 

 

This little colony spits off new polyps weekly:

 

 

And my beloved conch shell is still doing an admirable job of keeping the substrate clean:

 

[rnd4]

Haven't added anything in almost 2 months, but here's my current FTS:

 

[rnd4]

More photos of the inhabitants of my tank. Everything is growing pretty well except for my Mycedium sp. The plate coral moved on top of it one night and when I found it the next morning the Mycedium was pretty much down to one eye. Glad I fragged it before it got slimed!

 

King Clancy, the Longnose Hawkfish

 

 

 

The algae on the back of this Acan is giving me headaches. It won't die!

 

 

I'm guessing this worm has been here since the coral arrived in June 2010, but I never noticed it until November 2010 and it didn't poke out from underneath the coral until January 2011.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My first coral has finally split into 4 mouths! I bought it in May 2010 and I first noticed it splitting in August 2010.

 

[gutterguy]

Tank looks great. Really nice pics!!