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

[spectra]

how are you liking the nanobox? I've been thinking of switching my radion xr15w for a nanobox duo

 

I say do it......I had a XR15 and did not like it much. I now have a Tide over a IM10 and love the colors.

[vangvace]

Have you seen the sand bulldozed yet?

 

 

 

 

Seriously, though, one reason I wanted an overpowered LED light was so that I can crank up the blues without running out of power. Besides, I always thought those big coral vendors that sell those sweet acans don't use T5's either, they mostly use halides or big homebrew LEDs to avoid the cost of replacing T5 bulbs.

 

Don't confuse vendors with growers. Vendors want to move product quickly and how many aquaculture or keep frags for future resale? Battlecorals use all three types, Cherrycorals uses T5, unique seems to use a mix, and Pacific East grows out of a greenhouse! For me, I will likely go for a T5/led mix once I get to a 40B or bigger tank again... after I move and/or retire.

[vlangel]

I think Freckles is adorable. Life has been crazy since I got home from my vacation so I am just beginning to catch up a little with everyone's tanks.

[aviator300]

Your goby is so cute! My vote is to get rid of the hermits.. all of them. I know they have a place on the reef and a job to do but the blues i had decided that they would rather eat my snails steal there shells for a day or so then move onto the next one. I quickly said bad crabbies and traded them into the lfs

The only thing ive used hermits for was to feed my Mantis shrimp and he must have loved them by all the banging going on.

[dropped]

I think Nemo is adorable. Life has been crazy since I got home from my vacation so I am just beginning to catch up a little with everyone's tanks.

 

Couldn't help but notice you made a mistake in that post, ive fixed it for you

[aviator300]

I had to make another trip to the LFS today because I conveniently forgot to get frozen food when I was there yesterday. So of course I had to go to a different LFS so I could check out what they had too

 

I decided to get rid of the big ugly hermits that I had and replace them with a smaller number of little blue legs. The LFS had some really little ones at six for $10 so I snapped them up.

 

Here's one of the old, now retired hermits:

 

20160707-untitled-009-Edit.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

And the new, smaller, cuter, blue leg:

 

Blue Leg Hermit by TeenyReef, on Flickr

Name the YWG. My vote is Clarence.

[aviator300]

Mu scarlet red hermit murdered all my trochus and astrea snails for fun. Not cool. I may have to get blue legs soon.

After my hermits killed several larger Ceriths, I interviewed them but they just couldn't elaborate on the reason for the killings but it could have been just for fun I guess.

[aviator300]

 

I say do it......I had a XR15 and did not like it much. I now have a Tide over a IM10 and love the colors.

I've never been able to figure out how EcoTech gets away with charging so much for a single array light and then much more for a controller and a mounting system. Granted, Kessils originate from just one array but they are designed differently.

[vangvace]

I've never been able to figure out how EcoTech gets away with charging so much for a single array light and then much more for a controller and a mounting system. Granted, Kessils originate from just one array but they are designed differently.

 

Because they have a reputation for being premium.

[aviator300]

 

Because they have a reputation for being premium.

That they do, whether deserved or not.

[dropped]

That they do, whether deserved or not.

 

Put it this way, i have a Micmol and a XR30pro and the radion has 5 times the par on 50%.

[aviator300]

 

Put it this way, i have a Micmol and a XR30pro and the radion has 5 times the par on 50%.

Nothing against Radions but I prefer NanoBox myself. All the PAR I'd ever need but better color (IMHO) because of the Neutral and warm whites VS Radions Cool whites although Radion does try to make up for this by adding in some reds.

 

I've heard Radions use the cool whites because they can advertise a higher PAR rating by doing so and a lot of folks base their purchasing decisions on mostly the PAR rating.

 

This is just my opinion though and I'm sure there are many others.

[teenyreef]

I'm alive! I've been working crazy hours lately but my proposal is all turned in and I'm taking the next few days off for a family trip up to the Washington, DC area. I hope to catch up on N-R later.

 

In the meantime, here's a gratuitous dog picture to make up for my absence

 

Jasper:

20160704_192013.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

[ReefWeeds]

I'm alive! I've been working crazy hours lately but my proposal is all turned in and I'm taking the next few days off for a family trip up to the Washington, DC area. I hope to catch up on N-R later.

 

In the meantime, here's a gratuitous dog picture to make up for my absence

 

Jasper:

20160704_192013.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

he is just so cute.

[Bowen1022]

Just stopping in to say hello. Hope your trip was awesome and cant wait to see more progress on this tank!

[Merthynia]

I just can't believe so much has happened with your tanks while I've been away! I'm super excited about this new tank, and very bummed to hear about the old tank. I can't wait to see the paradise you turn this tank into though!

[spectra]

Teeny just needs to update us though he seems to post dog pics and no tank pics.........

[teenyreef]

Pics tomorrow! I had a long night tonight,and got the rest of the rocks mortared together with emarco mortar.

 

Also, I've been a little worried about the pistol shrimp, but when I had the water mostly drained out to do the mortar I could hear him clicking

[vangvace]

Excellent! Watch out for sand piles! I found an acan almost buried... twice today.

[teenyreef]

Excellent! Watch out for sand piles! I found an acan almost buried... twice today.

Yeah, that's why I was getting worried, I'd hadn't seen any sign of him including sand piles.

 

Last night, as soon as the water level got really low, I heard him snapping away. It sounded like he was under the deepest and biggest pile of rocks, but he was definitely there. As soon as I started putting water back in, he stopped. Go figure...

Have you seen the sand bulldozed yet?

 

 

 

Don't confuse vendors with growers. Vendors want to move product quickly and how many aquaculture or keep frags for future resale? Battlecorals use all three types, Cherrycorals uses T5, unique seems to use a mix, and Pacific East grows out of a greenhouse! For me, I will likely go for a T5/led mix once I get to a 40B or bigger tank again... after I move and/or retire.

That's great point, and good to know about the lights. I knew about PAE growing under natural sunlight, they are only a few hours from my place!

 

Ultimately I think I'll have a Nanobox T5/LED hybrid when I have a bigger tank.

Teeny just needs to update us though he seems to post dog pics and no tank pics.........

Just for that, here's another dog pic

20160717_132637.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

I just can't believe so much has happened with your tanks while I've been away! I'm super excited about this new tank, and very bummed to hear about the old tank. I can't wait to see the paradise you turn this tank into though!

Thanks, Martha! It's nice to have you back

Just stopping in to say hello. Hope your trip was awesome and cant wait to see more progress on this tank!

Thanks! Pictures coming up

Nothing against Radions but I prefer NanoBox myself. All the PAR I'd ever need but better color (IMHO) because of the Neutral and warm whites VS Radions Cool whites although Radion does try to make up for this by adding in some reds.

 

I've heard Radions use the cool whites because they can advertise a higher PAR rating by doing so and a lot of folks base their purchasing decisions on mostly the PAR rating.

 

This is just my opinion though and I'm sure there are many others.

That's pretty much what I heard too, and I can confirm that's the way my AI Hydra 26 is. It's not a bad light at all, and you can certainly grow all kinds of corals under it. Plus it has eight different channels, so you would think you could really dial in the color just the way it needs to be. But I never could get it to look even half as good as the Nanobox.

I think Freckles is adorable. Life has been crazy since I got home from my vacation so I am just beginning to catch up a little with everyone's tanks.

Thanks, Dawn, same here, ironically enough

I really love that new YWG! They are so cute and grumpy! Don't stress too much about the pistol shrimp. If they haven't paired with the goby, you won't really see them since they hide all the time. Once he discovers the goby, he should start coming out and being more confident. I bet he's just lurking.

 

Good choice to replace those hermits. I've had some of those other species before and they can get so big and ugly and mean. I love all hermit crabs, but not for a reef. I now stick to just blue legs and scarlet reef hermits.

Freckles definitely likes his little spot under the green monti cap, he stays there all the time, and is quite confident about swimming all over the open sand bed to chase down little pellets at feeding time. Unfortunately he hasn't found the shrimp yet. I've decided not to name the shrimp until they pair up

 

Crazy that it's cyanobacteria. I was reading some of that last weekend. We all have trouble fighting it in our tanks - imagine it covering the entire shoreline!

 

Agree with the cerith shells.

 

Yeah, my scarlet hermits have never done anything destructive. I somehow ended up with two hitchhiker blue leg hermits in my 66 - considering I dip everything, I have NO idea where they came from. And those two little hermits have eaten more snails in the past 4 months than anything else has.

Freckles is cute in such a grumpy way!

I think it has a lot to do with how big they are. I have a blue leg in my 10g that's never really grown much and doesn't bother anybody. I'm hoping these will be the same because they're very small.

 

Either way, I don't really mind if they eat snails. I always end up replenishing the snails every year or two anyway and they're really cheap from Reefcleaners.

[Elizabeth94]

Love the pups, but I agree with everyone else. Moar tank pics! Good luck with the hermits, I decided to keep my future tanks crab free. There was one hermit in particular that liked climbing on my flower pot coral I had a long time ago. I would pull him off, put in on the other side of the tank (30" away) and then within a few mins he was back at it again.

 

Needless to say he was banished to the sump, along with all his hermit buddies.

[Merthynia]

I'm glad to be back also. Where are the promised pictures? Haha

[teenyreef]

Love the pups, but I agree with everyone else. Moar tank pics! Good luck with the hermits, I decided to keep my future tanks crab free. There was one hermit in particular that liked climbing on my flower pot coral I had a long time ago. I would pull him off, put in on the other side of the tank (30" away) and then within a few mins he was back at it again.

 

Needless to say he was banished to the sump, along with all his hermit buddies.

Yeah, I've definitely seen both types in my tanks, too

I'm glad to be back also. Where are the promised pictures? Haha

OK, here they come!

 

When I got back from my mini-vacation, the diatoms were really going strong, so I'm encourgaged at how things are going. I did a ten gallon water change and vacuumed the sand when I drained the tank to do the emarco mortar, and I've started dosing some MB-7 just to keep things going strong. So far it looks pretty good with minimal algae growth.

 

Here's an FTS from today - 2016-07-17 IM40 FTS:

 

2016-07-17 IM40 FTS by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

Top Down:

 

2016-07-17 IM40 FTS by TeenyReef, on Flickr

[Elizabeth94]

Those monti frags are going to look really nice when they start to grow in. The purple, red/orange, and green combo is awesome.

[teenyreef]

I glued up a few frags, finally. Here are some monti caps, along with a blue plating sponge. I'm hoping the monti caps will grow together. There's also a tiny booger-sized frag of Idaho Grape monti cap but I think it might be STN'ing. You can just see it partially cut off on the right of this picture:

 

20160717-untitled-020-Edit.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr