40B Fixer Up!

[Andrewalex11]

So, unfortunately, my return pump burned out, and I saw it coming...considering I had to smack the thing to get it going after a feeding! I have a new one on the way and it should be here Monday night.

On a side note, I bought a TDS meter and tested my tap water against my RO/DI water.

Here are the stats:

Tap Water: 123ppm
RO/DI: 0ppm

The unit being used is a 50GPD AquaticLife RO Buddy, with DI cartridge add-on.

 

[Andrewalex11]

I guess we can call this an Amazon Update! when I announce some new parts, gadgets, or equipment for the tank to let everyone know whats going to be coming up next!

I'm ordering some Fiji Pink Sand dry, around 40lbs. I might actually make a short video of how I will add the sand to the tank while it is full in case anyone is wondering how I go about doing it.

Also another cool update: POD OUTBREAK

I came home today to a really stable looking tank, I thought it was weird how I had a ton of calcified spots all over my glass so soon. With a further look under a magnifying glass, it turned out to be a massive population of pods both in the DT and Sump! I'll try and take some pictures soon to share. This is good news for me specifically because I've always wanted a Mandarin but never could get a stable pod population to feel comfortable enough to get one.
With that being said I'm going to get sand and build my baffled sump for a refugium ASAP now to create a good stable environment for these guys so I can keep it going!

 

[Andrewalex11]

It's been a while since I've given an update on my tank due to personal reasons, but no matter! I am ready to start updating my tank threads again. I'm really excited because 2019 is going to be a great new year and I figured instead of making another thread and leave this one in the depths of time to rot away I'm going to resurrect it from the grave and keep going where we left off!

I'll be taking some pictures tomorrow when the lights are on to make my first entry of 2019!

 

[Andrewalex11]

So I unfortunately lost my oldest fish of about 3 years to a jumping incident while I was away on vacation the other week. I had planned on coming home much sooner but due to me getting ill I wound up staying away longer and I assume there was probably some tension in the tank from lack of food. While loosing my oldest buddy was a fairly upsetting experience reality set in really quick when I looked back to how aggressive of a fish it was. No clownfish, damsel, or firefish ever stood a chance in my tank, in fact I think the fight he picked the day of his death was with a scopas tang.

My wife understandably upset because of how bare the tank looked with lack of fish, corals, and inverts we sought out an adventure to the LFS to shop around and came across a nice selection of clown fish to start a new with our bully-free tank. She immediately pointed out the nicest pair in the store, it was a paired up set of Black Ice clownfish. The guy at the LFS who seemed to not really pay attention to literally anything that went on with this particular shipment of fish wound up pricing BOTH the fish as a pair at $45. I know nothing about the fancy clownfish game but I jumped on that deal and came to find out later on that it was totally worth it.

Photo during a mysis shrimp feeding:

The best part was both were eating like crazy in the store, and just because I happened to be bringing them home at my normal feeding time wound up surprising me with not even bothering to find some shelter and took part in the feeding frenzy. They are totally paired up and sleep on top of one and other every night!

I want to include a coral shot too since the trachy is doing amazing:

 

[Andrewalex11]

I need to upgrade my filtration situation desperately in this tank, I'm thinking of going with this kit to transform my 20L into an adjustable height sump.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/REFUGIUM-K...068f1ba6:m:m8ENBjpdWC5vE8trVKffAAQ:rk:14:pf:0

I'm hoping to add over the course of the next few months:

- Chateo
- IM Media reactor
- Not totally sure about a skimmer yet (if I even want one)

I'll use my old orbit marine pro 18'' for a refug light with only channel 1 (white) enabled.

 

[Andrewalex11]

I just bought the sump kit, not that particular one though it had too many bells and whistles to it that I did not need so I felt as though it was worth it to get the slightly cheaper one. It's basically the same thing without the water-level adjustment option. It should be here Feb 6 - 14 so stay tuned for an update around then when I drain, clean, and install baffles into the 20L sump.

 

[Andrewalex11]

Some tank updates while I wait for the sump kit to arrive here in just a few weeks.

I’ve changed my methods a bit with supplements for the tank. First I added kalkwasser to the ATO, and second I’m dosing Aqua Vitro fuel to hopefully get these corals looking as healthy and colorful as I possibly can! I usually like Brightwell’s coral amino but this is cheaper and I’ve seen first hand some success with it so why not.

Fruit-loops and bambams are looking great!

Acid wash hammer is popping off new heads as well

You may notice some green stars that I put in the rockwork hoping that it will turn into a nice filler!

Also we have a new Green BTA that went in yesterday kind of moved all over the place and is super happy now but unfortunately it is on the backside of the rockwork (there is plenty of light back there so it’s not hiding)

In the bottom right you can see it’s bubbles popping out.

And I’ve almost forgot that I ordered some more dry rock offline as well to finally get my aqua-scape finished. So that will be a fun project and hopefully enable me to move that BTA to the front where I can actually see it.

That’s all for now !

 

[Andrewalex11]

Corals, anemones, clownfish, aquascaping, and sump refurbishment.. so much is going on!

I came home today from the LFS after picking up these two wonderful pieces of SPS corals!

When my wife noticed that our largest of the two new black ice clowns was flopping around in our green BTA !! I was so excited considering I truly left fate up to wether my clowns would ever host anything in the tank.

I’ve also gotten around to doing a re-aquascaping by adding around 10lbs of dry rock. Here is a before and after from the day I added it to today.

Before:

After:

I also got my sump kit a bit early so hopefully I’ll be installing this in a few days and getting a refugium up and running!

 

[OutsideBrian]

Looks good! I just purchased one of the eBay kits too.

 

[Andrewalex11]

Looks good! I just purchased one of the eBay kits too.

Thanks man! I’m probably going to be installing mine tomorrow I’ll write a little review on this thread to let you know how it goes!

 

[Andrewalex11]

So as a short review for anyone thinking about getting a sump kit off eBay:

The instructions were simple and actually had a nice leniency to place the baffles where or how you see fit. That was pretty nice because I have a very long heater so I was able to size it up nicely for all my equipment!

The only shortcoming of this kit was the fact that the baffles were actually too wide to fit inside the tank properly, but I fixed this by shaving off some length with my dremel. Not a big deal as I placed the shaved down sides towards the back where they are not visible.

All in all this sump is working nicely, the flow is great, and there is nice quiet angle slits on the weir teeth so no noise at all!

I have to re-plumb the drains to the new filter sock holes but that will be a job for later this week. This was a project and a half for me draining and cleaning this 20L out properly to install the baffles.

Here’s a few shots from earlier!

I have a current USA orbit marine pro lighting the refugium area of the sump.

 

[Andrewalex11]

Upcoming schedule for work on the 40B

(1) Get some chaeto in this refugium, I am enticed by @AlgaeBarn 's selection and free shipping so I'll probably be getting some from there along with sea lettuce to grow for fresh Tang snacks!
(2) Re-plumb the drains into the filter sock holes
(3) Undecided between DIY or store bought but I want to get a media reactor running
(4) Get a fragging kit, because my zoanthids are crusting over to the dark side of the rocks
(5) Get my SurfBox back up and running in my sump, for this I'll need to purchase a better analog BNC pH board and probe.

I've started and instagram for this tank check it out at @andrewsreef !