FLIPbmw's 40 Breeder

[FLIPbmw]

Been a while since I updated, but some latest stuff.

 

I recently took in a 3 stripe damsel that my friend had to get rid of.

I got a few more corals thick montipora, zoanthids and ricordeas but that's nothing compared to what I lost when I left on vacation.

 

DEAD ON RETURN:

NEW Green/Green acropora

OLD Purple tip acropora

OLD Pink miliepora (sp)

Non pulsing Xenia

15 various SPS frags

5 soft coral frags

 

Now, I'm not exactly sure what the cause is, but I suspect it had to do with my Vodka dosing suddenly being cut off for the week. It's quite sad, but the tank looked at it's peak before I left.

 

 

I also picked up a ReefkeeperLite while I was gone. I have it set on for temperature control, heater + fan for cooling. I have the other 2 outlets for my MJ for the wavemaker mode. It works pretty neatly and I have a clean install on my cabinet. Only downside is that I need to get more PC4 (powerbars), in order to have a total clean setup, but they cost quite a bit at 90 a piece.

[FLIPbmw]

new FTS

[sammy113]

Holly GSP! That looks fantastic!

[nebthet]

Oh my... you just gave me some inspirtation for my tank.

[FLIPbmw]

I just replaced two of my 10k bulbs with an ATI Aquablue and Blue+. These bulbs together make an awesome pair and give a nice crisp 14,000k look. I will have to replace my other bulbs with another set of ATI.

[FLIPbmw]

Looking to upgrade to a TEK 4x39 fixture in the near future!

 

Alk is low and has been low for quite some time. Coral growth also seems a bit slow and colours a bit faded on my monticaps. Going to do some aggressive balancing this week.

 

Here are some pictures of some of my colonies.

[FLIPbmw]

FTS

[FLIPbmw]

New addition to my tank!

 

XL Feather duster

Spiny Gorgonian Yellow w/white-pink'ish polyps

 

I ended up pruning my gorgonian because it had too many arms and looked like a mess. Here are some of the frags I made with the snippings.

[FLIPbmw]

I picked up a red monticap. I kept the nicest piece to myself and then fragged up the rest of it. I have over a dozen frags growing out now! (No pics, but see video)

 

I've been feeding my tank a lot as well as doing more than avg water changes. Everything seems fine except that I have noticed my lovely pink zoo rock wither away. It started with a cluster of 5 polyps looking bad, then it spread to the whole colony. It's probably just one of those phases where they die off and come back... at least that is what I am hoping for.

 

VIDEO: 6 minutes long

[FLIPbmw]

Some pictures of my corals

 

Picture 5 is the pink zoo's that I am losing on my colony.

[FLIPbmw]

I'm doing a lot of research and reading up on the Vortech MP10. I should be placing my order tonight. I know a lot of people run MP20's in most tanks greater than 40gal, but they also ramp down the speed. I'm looking at running the mp10 to it's potential and not looking to pay for upgrade ability.

 

***Just put the order for an Mp10!, let's hope it lives up to its name.***

[FLIPbmw]

Picked up some green bullseye mushrooms, green racing stripe mushroom, a couple of ricordeas and what looks to be a small frag darth vader paly!

 

Still waiting on delivery for my Vortech. Probably by the 23rd it will be in. Hope it gets redirected.

[FLIPbmw]

I picked up a new acropora. I broke the colony into bits and it fits nicely on my sps mountain!

 

Still waiting on resolving my vortech pump issue. *sigh*. soon soon.

[falln_star]

^ that acro looks amazing

[xplicit]

I wish I found your thread earlier and talked you into the mp20 instead of the mp10. Sure you have to tune it down but its not by much. Overtime the propeller slows down and I have to turn it up or give it a vinegar bath. With the mp10 I think you'll be doing it very often.

[FLIPbmw]

Well, we will see how the pump holds up. I have SPS to 1 side and soft on the other, so I think I will be fine. My tank is scaped a good way for water flow movement. Most important this is that I get my pump! It wasn't shipped to the address that I requested and getting in touch with the people where the package was dropped isn't easy at all!!!

[FLIPbmw]

I just picked this box up... gee did I order lights for my BMW?

 

Let's take a look inside

 

Dunn dunn dunnn! It's here!!!!!!!!!!!

 

and holy damn, it's smaller than I imagined!

 

All of the parts that it came with

 

and this sucker in my tank, boy is it really small.

 

 

First impressions: When I saw the cube box, I was actually surprised. I know it had to come with a driver box and a bunch of misc stuff, but I didn't expect it all to fit into one tiny box. When I first opened it to reveal the pump, I was just blown away by it's ....petit size!

 

Everything was very simple to setup but I was contemplating which side to put it on. The left side with my sps and clean pane, or the right side with softies and the dirty window. After testing both sides and noticing very little difference (actually, I did not like the way my corals were getting blown from placing it on the left side), I just made a clean spot for it on the soft side and set her in.

 

Modes: It has really neat modes, but like some people that keep the water level to the rim, the short pulse to get a nice wave motion will be useless. I will be mainly on reefcrest mode (yellow).

 

Noise: Yes the big debate. My tank setup is completely silent when my skimmer is not running with koralia 1's seio, and mj's as pumps. One in a while you may get some vibrating from the mj or seio but it's usually a snail or the powercoard causing the problem.

 

MP10- You do hear the motor turning and wining if your head is turned towards the pump, it is not THAT silent at low. When you start to kick it up, i'd say it's very quiet from a viewing distance of 5ft at 50% and under. At viewing distance, 100% might be intolerable. I have mine set what looks like 80-90% and this is the point where it's sound blends in with my overflow sound, my return pump, skimmer, etc.

 

The outside housing does get hot and creates that whirl noise but it shouldn't be an issue for most people with a lot of equipment and gadgets.

 

FLOW: The other big debate. This tiny guy pushes a lot of water. at 100% everything gets blown away, at 50% it does struggle towards the opposite end, mostly because of my mountain rockwork. With it at 80-90%, there is a lot of flow but the opposite end does suffer a bit as I tracked the detritus movements in the water column. But if you look at where my corals are placed, the whole SPS mountain receives their dose of flow, but the drop off to the left and just over my brain maze, it is very soft to the point detritus will build up on my brain. Only time will tell and I'll adjust the pump or location.

 

MP10 or MP20. Yes a lot of people mentioned the MP20 to me and to other 40br individuals. With a price difference of ~100 would it be worth it? Personally, even if the pump pushed more water, it is still coming from 1 source. I would rather buy 2 MP10's to hit the right spots in my tank than to blast the whole tank with a lot of flow.

 

But here is some advice;

at 100% and at 3feet length of tank, there is flow everywhere. At 50% it can reach about 2.5 feet with below avg flow. Running at under 50% on a 3ft tank, flow will suffer.

 

Running at my 80-90% I am happy and so is my tank. Sound/flow is the right spot. Tolerance wise... this is the max I will go and so my pump's capability ends here.

 

To get really good flow from a 1 source powerhead, keep the edges/corners of your aquarium free of rock, ie try keep the rock piled up towards the center of your tank. After removing some powerheads in my tank that was causing some shielding of flow, it moved much better!

[FLIPbmw]

Here is an evening shot

[Kamao]

Love that GSP! How long did it take to spread that much on the backwall?

[FLIPbmw]

Love that GSP! How long did it take to spread that much on the backwall?

 

I think it's been about 2 years, but I have propagated from the wall a few times before deciding I wanted it to take over the back wall. I also have pink star polyps growing on the right wall.

 

**I managed to set my shortpulse and get a slight wave, it's nothing dramatic but it is cool**

[FLIPbmw]

Picked up an orange acan and purple/green favia. The favia looks more like a mini acan, so not really sure on what it really is. Pics to come soon!

[FLIPbmw]

[FLIPbmw]

Updated pictures

[adam87]

Nice pictures. Your tank is really nice.

[Mojorizn]

Turned out pretty darn good.

 

I use a different overflow system, also a DIY. Simple, cheap, silent and effective.

 

Running 2x150W HM + 2x39W T5's + MP20 @ 100% on Lagoon mode.

 

Nice job on your tank....

 

best-o-luck