Teenyreef's IM40 Not-So-Teeny Tank - August FTS

[Matteo]

I struggle with acans too. Favias no problem but acans meh. Moved both mine to way below and under some shade. Seem to be doing better but man they're recovery and growth is slow. 

 

Glad to see your's are recovering! 

 

[teenyreef]

7 hours ago, Matteo said:

I struggle with acans too. Favias no problem but acans meh. Moved both mine to way below and under some shade. Seem to be doing better but man they're recovery and growth is slow. 

 

Glad to see your's are recovering! 

 

I've always gone from "great" to "terrible" and then back again. When I get the lighting and nutrients just right, they color up beautifully. I can almost always to keep them puffy and happy, but usually only if I settle for blah orange colors. But the downturn in this tank almost did them in. The way they're coming back is a great sign that the tank is recovering.

 

It's funny how hard "beginner" corals like acans and zoas can be 🙄

[mitten_reef]

how's the recovery coming along on this tank?  

 

Also just want to carry these epic pics over to the new page. 😁 

On 5/29/2020 at 8:20 PM, teenyreef said:

Some coral updates!

 

WWC Yellowtips. Still not super colored up but definitely the fastest growing coral in the tank right now.

 

Leng sy monticap is a classic beauty and it now has that super cool blue growth edge.

 

The mysteriously closed-up duncans:

 

ORA Red Planet. One of the first to start getting proper color back.

 

ORA Pearlberry right next to the Red Planet.

 

California tort, almost recovered from burnt tips.

 

 

On 5/28/2020 at 4:29 PM, teenyreef said:

Things are definitely improving since I got rid of the frag racks and got the back circulation pump running again. I've been stirring the sand regularly and doing lots of water changes. Nitrates and phosphates are low but not undetectable (NO 4, PO 0.03). They were lower a few weeks ago so I dosed just a bit of nitrate, and things seem to be coloring back up again. There's still a lot of algae, but less than there was. 

 

I also got a snail bomb from Reefcleaners a few weeks ago. Unfrotunately, USPS took three days instead of the usual two for delivery, and not all of them survived. In particular, I haven't seen any of the hermit crabs out and about since putting them in. But enough snails survived to get a good start on the algae, and the emerald crab I got is also doing fine and munching away.

 

There are three problems I'm still watching:

1. The duncans closed up one day a couple weeks ago, and haven't opened since. No idea why.

2. Waiting for the acros to grow back over the burned tips where the algae is growing.

3. I still can't keep zoas on the sand bed. Hopefully regular sand stirring and better circulation will clear out whatever has been bothering them.

 

Here's the May FTS. No frag racks!

2020-05-26 IM40 FTS:

 

2020-05-26 IM40 Top Down:

 

 

On 6/1/2020 at 10:33 PM, teenyreef said:

I think the Oregon Tort had the worst burnt tips of all the acros (of course the slowest growing coral would get the worst burnt tips, sigh). But it's cool seeing how it's recovering.

 

This teeny neon green slimer has come all the way back from being just a spec of tissue to almost a decent frag size 🙂

 

 

The Bird of Paradise always grows like crazy. If you look carefully, you can see where it's growing into the WWC Yellowtips.

 

Speaking of crazy growth, I accidentally broke off a branch of the Red Planet a couple weeks ago. This closeup shows how quickly it started growing over the broken spot.

 

Jason Fox Brain Freeze. The color is coming back, and there aren't many burnt tips left at all.

 

 

 

[second_decimal]

What awesomeness !! @teenyreef 

 

ty @mitten_reef for bringing those pics back. 

[teenyreef]

9 hours ago, mitten_reef said:

how's the recovery coming along on this tank?  

 

Also just want to carry these epic pics over to the new page. 😁 

 

 

 

Thanks for checking in! The tank is holding steady. The clean up crew, especially the emerald crab, have done a good job of pretty much eliminating the algae. I've been fighting diatoms/algae/something on the surface of the sand bed for a few months now. Stirring up the sand bed gets rid of it for two or three days, then it comes back. I don't think its dinos since they don't come and go with the light. But it is annoying. Also, the duncans are still closed up, although they don't seem to be dying.

 

More pictures coming for the holiday weekend!

[teenyreef]

Hmmm...seems I missed the 4th of July holiday weekend pictures. I was too busy doing 4th of July stuff 

 

The tank has really started to do well again, finally. The duncans, which had been closed for months, started opening back up again, for absolutely no reason I can tell. But I'm not complaining. I also moved some zoas back in from the frag tank, and they are doing well after a week, which is another big change from the problems I had before, where pretty much everything on or near the sand bed was struggling.

 

In fact, it's getting time to start trimming back all the sps again, which is a great problem to have. Here are some pictures to capture what it looks like before I do a trim, probably some time next week.

 

2020-08-04 FTS:

 

2020-08-04 Top Down:

 

 

[Reefkid88]

Yikes,this thing is looking INSANE !!! 

[teenyreef]

10 minutes ago, Reefkid88 said:

Yikes,this thing is looking INSANE !!! 

Thanks! 

[teenyreef]

A few coral update pics...

JF Ice Breaker:

 

I'm not even sure what this one is anymore. I thought it was a tricolor valida that had died and has been coming back from a tiny fragment. But it doesn't look much like a tricolor, at least not yet. I'll just have to wait until it starts to branch out and gets some new growth color.

 

WWC yellowtips.

 

Duncans making a comeback 🙂

 

 

Some of the zoas back on the sand floor. The acans are slowly improving, too.

 

More zoas. 

 

I've gotten really tired of trimming the monticaps back so often, but they're so pretty I don't have the heart to get rid of them.

 

Up close with the monticaps. I love the little blue polyps on the leng sy.

 

 

[Reefkid88]

Outstanding man !!!!

[Pjanssen]

Thanks for sharing

[debbeach13]

Awesome as always. 

[lizzyann]

14 hours ago, teenyreef said:

I've gotten really tired of trimming the monticaps back so often, but they're so pretty I don't have the heart to get rid of them.

Same! And I've only trimmed mine once 😂😓

[JBM]

excellent coral pronz as always

[mfield16]

This is one epic tank. I am up to page 41, trying to use your tank as inspiration for a Fusion 40 I will be getting wet this weekend hopefully. 

[teenyreef]

On 9/4/2020 at 2:40 PM, mfield16 said:

This is one epic tank. I am up to page 41, trying to use your tank as inspiration for a Fusion 40 I will be getting wet this weekend hopefully. 

Thanks and good luck! If you have any questions, post them here and I'll try to answer more quickly than I responded to your first post 

[xiaoxiy]

The Leng Sy is a pretty monti. 

[Ross P.]

Just joined the nano-reef forum. Setting up an IM 40 myself (mixed reef, carib sea life rock, 2 MP 10s, Kessil 360 WE, etc.). 

 

Debating back and forth on skimmers (have an eShopps Nano and the Tunze 9004 around) and whether or not to run a small refugium with a Chaetomax 18W that I have around. Tempted by the gravity fed UV's by IM but limited space... 

 

This is going to be fun - and I'll have to read over your thread in full to get some ideas! Thanks for sharing all the beautiful images and ideas. 

[drgibby]

How are things going Teeny!  Have been missing the saltwater game for a while id like to say things are slowing down and ill be getting in soon but we have a baby coming any day now.   Corals look great as always!