koden's 32gallon m-tank

[Quash]

Damn, those are some really sexy pics. I met some people on the street today, and the guy has a 180 at home, we talked saltwater tanks for a while. Man Im so jealous. I really cant wait to get something started, those fish look great. Actinics really bring out some madd flourescent colours in everything. Tank is looking great. Im onto finals here, hopefully after them I'll gang up on your 82.

 

That is if im not breaking like a mofo for 3 weeks

[kinetic]

Damn, those are some really sexy pics. I met some people on the street today, and the guy has a 180 at home, we talked saltwater tanks for a while. Man Im so jealous. I really cant wait to get something started, those fish look great. Actinics really bring out some madd flourescent colours in everything. Tank is looking great. Im onto finals here, hopefully after them I'll gang up on your 82.

 

That is if im not breaking like a mofo for 3 weeks

 

 

goodluck on your finals =)

 

 

I'm planning the next phase for my 32gallon. It looks like I'm not getting enough flow to the front of the tank. I'm probably going to hook up my SCWD finally and do a closed loop with another 780GPH pump. I'll have intakes and returns all up above the tank, so no drilling. May look uglier, but heck, who cares. I need ideas on where the pump should be located, intakes, etc.

 

I'm planning on two intakes, two outputs T'd to two more, making four total. Two in the front two corners, two in the back two corners. After that I may change the return from sump into a vertical spray bar.

 

I may be swapping out my lighting for a 250watt hqi that I have bought for my 82 gallon. The 82 wont' be setup for some time, so maybe the 250watt will be run for awhile over the 32g we'll see.

[Sebea]

Hey Koden, I saw the pic of your xenia in the reefslides on RC. Congrats!

[kidphc]

How's the hammer doing? Is it starting to gain back its color?

[kinetic]

How's the hammer doing? Is it starting to gain back its color?

 

the hammer is doing well... not much color still. Looks awesome without though! Very florescent blue. It's opening a lot larger now. I'll post some pix soon.

 

Hey Koden, I saw the pic of your xenia in the reefslides on RC. Congrats!

 

thanks aaron! it's a small picture but I guess bertoni used it =)

 

Since then my xenia has split to 4 trunks and is moving up the rock! that thing is great. everyone who comes to my house loves that coral more than any other!

[kinetic]

Just bought these:

 

I bought a Yuma from pookstreet for the 5.6g tank. I'm going to keep it in my 32 gallon for now, but this will hopefully be one of the main rics / centerpieces of the tank:

 

 

Think it will do well under 36 watt PC's?

 

Also got frags from these two colonies:

 

 

 

I will also grow them out in my 32 gallon before throwing them into the 5.6g.

[kinetic]

A couple new corals:

 

 

 

 

and I put my acro back on the rock instead of in the basket... keeping an eye out for the piece of crap flame...

 

[steelreef]

NICE YUMA!!! How big is it??!!

[kinetic]

NICE YUMA!!! How big is it??!!

 

it has a 4.5 centimeter diameter. So 1.25 inch or so diameter. It's one of my favorite corals now =) I got it from pookstreet.

[steelreef]

where do you live???????

[kinetic]

where do you live???????

 

antarctica

[angiefish]

koden, are you dosing anything at all or just h20 changes? btw, love how the color in your rocks (purple) came out over time! they were totally white when you got them.

[kinetic]

koden, are you dosing anything at all or just h20 changes? btw, love how the color in your rocks (purple) came out over time! they were totally white when you got them.

 

I'm not dosing anything, just water changes. Sometimes my Calcium level drops a bit, and then I'll dose a little bit of liquid calcium. My ALK is always right on the dot.

 

Thanks for the comments. They definately were white when I got them, and the coralline took over after about 2 months.

[steelreef]

antarctica

 

do you have a penguin????

[kinetic]

antarctica

 

do you have a penguin????

 

Lol that'd be sweet.

 

 

update

 

The emerald crab started picking at my green star polyp rock, but no worries, the rock is so full of them that he hasn't managed to graze them all down. Reading other threads, looks like these guys are super hardy and will grow like weeds.

 

My blastos are losing color, I think they're under too much lighting. So is my Yuma. I'll put them in a cave today.

 

I might not do my SCWD, it's just too much plumbing without drilling. I'm just going to get two maxijet 1200's and place them in the tank. Should be enough to stir the sand bed.

[Travis]

Hey Koden, Have you noticed the Flame Anglefish nipping any of your coral?

[kinetic]

Hey Koden, Have you noticed the Flame Anglefish nipping any of your coral?

 

hey travis,

 

yes he has >=( there are a couple posts early with me going nuts about it. His name is now "you piece of c r a p". He eats digitata clean, even of the tissue, and he nips my acropora but never seems to harm the tissue. Problem is, the acro doesn't have its polyps extended as much, so I'm afraid it won't get enough nutrient, but so far so good. He nips my sponge as well, but only rarely. He wont' touch xenia, softies, or LPS. He never nips my hammer, open brain, candy cane, zoanthids, gsp, blasto, yuma, floridas, mushrooms...

 

so I say he's only dangerous towards SPS =(

 

are you thinking of getting one? I highly recommend against them in a SPS dominated reef. Especially digitata. HE LOVES them.

[Travis]

Yeah, I was debating on whether to get a Flame or a Cherub...Looks like I'm getting the Cherub

[kinetic]

Yeah, I was debating on whether to get a Flame or a Cherub...Looks like I'm getting the Cherub

 

i heard cherubs nip as well. i think no particular species of centrogype except maybe coral beauties are any safer than any other angel. It has to do with the individual.

 

a cherub may be more destructive than a flame.

 

What I would do is buy the smallest flame or cherub you can find, preferably 1" - 1.5" in length, and introduce it to a QT tank. Feed it with veggie clibs and seaweed, as well as spirulina flakes and other flakes, as well as rocks with seaweed tied to it. It will learn (since it's small and young) that flakes and seaweed pieces are it's main food. If it's less used to picking corals for food in the wild, then you'll have a better chance. try it by putting an ugly don't care about SPS into the tank and watch if they go for it. Also make sure there's plenty of algae covered LR as well. This will "train" them or get them used to eating aquarium food rather than corals, and also will test how they act towards corals. Of course it's no guarantee, but it's a better method of "weening" the fish off corals.

 

so again, don't rule out the flame! In the future I may consider doing the above for my tank with a pair of flame angels. (my 82g)

[Travis]

Thanks for the Ideas. From what I have read, the Cherubs are mainly LPS nippers, and pay no attention to SPS. I have never heard of them nipping SPS.

[kinetic]

Thanks for the Ideas. From what I have read, the Cherubs are mainly LPS nippers, and pay no attention to SPS. I have never heard of them nipping SPS.

 

oh ok, well that's cool. I never heard of flames nipping SPS either =( but i was wrong.

[kinetic]

Some new pictures of my tank (ignore the red slime =P I get a bloom every three weeks, and it goes away fast)

 

These first are with my 14K Metal Halide DE HQI and 55watt PC Actinic

 

 

 

What is this macro algae? It just started growing on this rock in the highest flow area.

 

yuma and blasto and lavendar shroom

 

blasto again

 

a neat zoanthid rock I got

 

 

Actinic pictures:

 

blasto in actinic color

 

green star polyps w/ blue and pink centers

 

acro, chalice, macro algae

[kinetic]

I decided to not put in two maxi-jet 1200's to increase flow over my substrate. that's 40watts more!! instead I got a SEIO 620 or whatever the model is for the 600+ gph powerhead that only uses 8watts. I'll put that in the opposite corner to provide tons of flow over the substrate and I'll remove my spray bar and little 80gph via aqua.

 

the seio will be shipped tomorrow, should be here by thursday for me to put in. I'll let you guys know what position I find is the best =)

[kinetic]

two tips of my acropora started to STN. I cut the tips off to stop the STN. I believe it's because I have too much of a laminar flow hitting it. I will be, however, installing a SEIO 620 tonight. I hope this will rid me of crazy red slime building up on my sand everyday. I hope it will also make the flow more turbulent. Adding this will put my tank at almost 54x turnover! fun =)

 

My yuma opened all the way is now 3.5" in diameter o.O

 

Everything's doing great, except the spunge took a splungee.. It died unexpectantly... I believe it might have been because of the damn slime algae that started growing on it!

 

I will be trying chemi-clean soon. Anyone have any experience with chemi-clean?

[indiejason]

Hey Koden, thanks for all the info and updates in this journal- I just got a 32g m-tank for Christmas and this has been a sweet source of info and ideas. This is my first marine tank since I was a teenager, you should have seen me looking at all the parts from the protein skimmer with a puzzled look on my face! I ended up checking out the web for some good pics.

I've been really surprised at the quality of the Finnex tanks, well thought out and very adequate parts. Like you, I've upgraded the return pump and I plan on using the stock pump as a powerhead in the viewing tank.

Also, there have been a few changes in the stock m-tanks, thought they might interest you:

 

1) the overflow has been adjusted with 8 drilled holes (looks like 1/4 or 3/16) in the lower left corner entering the skimmer chamber...

 

2) the rear chambers have changed dimensions, the first chamber (skimmer) is now 10", the middle baffle is 2", and then the return chamber is 18"! So the lift tube from the return pump doesn't actually pass through the rain trays anymore (though they still have holes for them), it sits next to the trays. This seems pretty cool for the larger pump sizes, but now the fuge idea becomes a little more difficult- I'm thinking of just adding some acrylic and making it permanent, then shortening the trays and attaching them to an overflow from the fuge...

 

3) the skimmer has a different pump (I believe), an 800 and a return pump marked 1300a (not sure if these are the same or different)...