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Matt's 30g Rimless Half Circle


Deebo

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As this is my first post, please bare with me while I get used to the format and start to make this post a little more pretty. I will also hopefully be getting something better than an iPhone camera :happy:

 

Hi, I have a 30g rimless half circle tank and a 10 gallon DIY sump/refugium. 26"h 26"l with a 14.5" radius. I have 30 pounds of LR in my DT and about 8 pounds in my 'fuge. I started this about 3 weeks ago on Jan the 9th.

 

Current FTS: I will keep this updated with the most current one and add the previous to the bottom of the post.

Jan 31

FTSmar1.jpg

 

Lighting:

 

  • 2X Ecoxotic 12w panorama LEDs; one blue and one white.
  • 1 6w Ecoxotic White stunner strip (offset some of the blue)

Equipment:

 

  • Eshopps overflow box
  • Koralia 750 powerhead
  • Rio 2500 sump pump + Flotec float switch by tmrw hopefully.
  • DIY sump/fuge from $10 walmart 10g tank
  • Marineland Heater
  • Standard thermometer
  • API Reef Master Test Kit + Ammonia test kit + hydrometer
  • Marineland Canister filter (Not sure the best place to use this or if i should at all)
  • Aqualight Timer for day/night lighting settings

Water Quality:

 

  • 1.024 Salinity
  • 0 Ammonia
  • N/A Nitrite - should i buy the tester or not?
  • 5 Nitrate
  • 450 Calcium
  • 11dKH
  • 0 Phosphates

- Are there any other testers i really should get? Im assuming if I added anything I should definatly get a tester specifically for that.

 

Suppliments:

 

  • Brightwell Microbacter
  • Brightwell Reef Code A+B
  • PurpleUp

 

Current Inhabitants:

 

Coral: Help with the real names so I can change it and feel smarter!

 

Bird's Nest

2 Leathers

Armor of God and a Candy Apple Zoa

Star Polyps

Frogspawn

Grassy Coral

2 Shrooms

Red Crusting SPS

 

Red Banded Coral Shrimp "Pierre"

pierre.jpg

 

Spotted Mandarin "Coco Puff"

spotted_mandarin.jpg

 

+ scarlet hermit crab, 6 brown hermit crabs, 4 snails and 2 turbo snails as the clean up crew.

+ Tons of pods...

 

 

Future Plans:

 

  • Hide Zip-Ties! any advise/help? I was planning onf using them to mount more corals to the wall/columns. What would be a good coral to do this with?
  • Add lots more corals
  • Add a pair of black and white clownfish
  • Add a yellow tang. (Yes i know a bit big for my tank but its the only thing the girlfriend wants so since she is a big sponsor I have to keep her happy + her mom has a huge tank that we can put him if he gets big)

 

Please comment with any help, suggestions, or chastisement for getting a mandarin :)

 

Old Pics:

Jan 31

post-64206-1296519233_thumb.jpg

 

Jan 28th

Jan28FTS.jpg

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:welcome:

 

Ditch the tang plans. There is a lot of discussion about minimum tank size but I bet 99.99% of people on this forum will tell you a 30G crescent tank is not appropriate for that fish (even juveniles).

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Im trying to convince her to get something like a yellow clown goby. I hope more people tell her that as cute as a baby tang is, its not right to shove it into such a small tank.

 

When we started this tank, she said we had to name 2 things "Billy" and "Wanda" so i bought 2 scarlet hermit crabs and named them that... at first she was not thrilled but they seemed to grow on her since they were really the only guys in there other than the tiny hermits and some snails. Today i watched in HORROR as Wanda murdered Billy! She was devistated, but re-assured herself that she was getting the yellow tang so it would be ok.

 

This tank really was ment to be something we both did, and while im sure we both put in too much money, I've kinda taken over and put in corals. The tang is really the only thing shes wanted in the tank.

 

Anyone have some good ideas about a good substitute? Is there a small yellow angel that wont eat my coral and looks cute?

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Alright, I'll do my best to make sure that she finds something different.

 

Question for you guys! Where should i put my powerheads and how strong should it/they be? Im looking to get a vortech mp10 but im not sure if that should completly replace my koralian(ive seen the crazy wave vids) and of course where i should put it to best circulate the water?

 

Edit: I'm going to VividAquariums.com's location in LA today. Really excited about it. Has anyone been there and had good/bad experiences?

 

Ty all!

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Just got back from Vivid aquariums and got a few new additions to my little ocean. I will post some pics probably tmrw when everything wakes up.

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Vivids had a pretty sweet setup, lots of corals but kinda skimpy on fish selection. When i asked for advise he kinda slammed me with tons of Brightwell suppliments. I know they are a business so its thier job to sell me things i dont need but it would be nice to get some solid advise.

 

Thats the reason i registered here!

 

FTSjan30.jpg

 

Some of the new things are the neon brain in the upper left, combo of Rics to the right, Purple hammer red n green blastos and a bright orange monti in the mid. A set of orange/pink sum polyps in the bottom right cave.

 

I wasn't feeling to great when i got home last night so i made sure to acclimate well and put them into the tank, they really arn't anywhere special just yet.

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Hey guys, been doing my best not to touch and let this tank do its thing for a bit. Just a little update though i got my mp10 and have it settled in.

 

Question! Im getting alot of tiny white specks on my glass. They arnt pods but are def multiplying. The best description i can give are little while specks with tiny tentacles, maybe 4-5 for each. But ya allll over the glass.

 

post-64206-1296869555_thumb.jpg

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Nice looking tank :) It reminds me of my old 30 gallon hexagon tank.

There are a lot of nice yellow fish out there that would be suitable for a 30 gallon. I have a midas blenny and he is awesome! 30 gallon might be a shy too small for one, and they are a little aggressive.

Royal grammas are yellow and purple (what girl could resist!... I couldn't :) I love mine)

Yellow clown gobys are also super cute, always perching on stuff.

other yellow fish... Yellow watchman goby are sweet, Canary Blenny, There's a couple yellow dottybacks, Yellow Assessor

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Hey thanks Chyendra!

 

I really love your 45g Cube! Expecially that RBTA! with my tank still in baby phases ive really been weary about what i should be putting in there. How are the RBTA's to work with and any recommendations/suggestions? They just look amazing.

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Man! you did the no no and got a Mandarin Dragonet. I'm subscribing to this thread to see if it survives. My advice to you would be take it slow. When adding lovestock, try spacing them out between 2/3 weeks.

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RBTA are probably one of the easiest anemones to keep because they've been aquacultured for so long. My local reef club always has a few available that have split in their tanks.

That being said, all of the regular anemone advice applies. Anemones should only be added to a mature, stable, system, with high lighting (MH, T5HO, and strong LEDS) and should be acclimated slowly.

IMO I would caution people from adding them to a reef in anything smaller than a 40 gallon, simply because of their size and tendancy to wander. usually they are looking for the highest spot in the tank, closest to the lighting with a good spot to attach their foot. You're always taking a risk putting them in a tank with coral because they may decide to wander and sting other corals. Softies seem to bounce back better from stings than LPS or SPS. If you wanted a species only tank with RBTAs, you could probably keep it in a smaller tank. I would never put them in a tank with powerheads because of the risk they will wander into the powerhead and get chopped up... what a mess for your tank.

 

In my tank, I have my RBTA isolated on it's own rock, so it is less likely to wander, and sting other corals, but the risk is always there. I don't have any powerheads in my tank, only 2 return pipes for flow. The largest RBTA I've had had a 7" diameter plate, but I'm sure they can get bigger.

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Man! you did the no no and got a Mandarin Dragonet. I'm subscribing to this thread to see if it survives. My advice to you would be take it slow. When adding lovestock, try spacing them out between 2/3 weeks.

 

Ya ive halted everything for a bit and hopefully everything continues to work out. My mandarin was a bad choice, but while i may not have listened to any site about how early i should get one, i did a ton of research and followed this website religiously and fortunatly hes now eating frozen brine. Its pretty impressive to see him open his TINY mouth that wide lol.

 

Quick question about the mandarins though. I was reading somewhere about putting the brine into selcon(sp?) to increase their nutritional value; is this something i should be doing? The kind im using is "Fish Gum Drops Brine Shrimp" by SF bay brand.

 

Chyendra, I think those are just amazing looking, but i have to agree about it not rele being the right thing to put in my tank. In the future if i ever get something else bigger going, i will have a nice RBTA island all for himself. Maybe even have a nice little species tank with just one and a pair of clowns. Thanks for the reply!

 

Anyone know what these are? They are not pods but after looking around maybe baby feather dusters? They are little white specks all over my glass that i have to get off the front daily.

Whitespecks.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

2 Month Update!

 

FTS

FTSmar1.jpg

 

Pierre and my new maroon clown "Cabernet"

Cabernetandpierre.jpg

 

Potters Wrasse "Zues"-sorry its blurry, hes fast and i guess i didnt take enough shots of him.

Zuesmar1.jpg

 

Coco Puff

CocoPuffmar1.jpg

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