40b with DIY AIO

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

Going to try and actually keep this tank build updated. We will see if that actually happens though! The first bit of this is copied over from the Atlanta Reef Club forums, to save some time.

Tank: I traded a local reefer some frags for this 40b with what looks like a DIY AIO siliconed into the back. It cleaned up nicely for a used tank.

Stand: I couldn’t find anything local, within reason, so I ordered This one off Amazon. It’s sturdy enough, and will allow me to set my little Eshopps Deskmate back up underneath it, once everything is moved over and settled in.

Lighting: this won’t be ideal to start. I’ll be using an AI Prime 16 HD on one side, and a Kessil a80 Tuna Blue on the other. I have a second 16 HD but it’s on my bedroom tank (that is starting to fill in) and I don’t want to downgrade it to the Kessil. I’ll have the higher light demanding corals on the side with the AI and the less demanding ones on the side with the Kessil. I do plan to replace both with something better suited for this size of a tank, so if anyone has anything available please lmk!

Filtration: super simple to start with just a return pump with double RFG nozzles, filter pads cut to fit the DIY “filter cup”. I have tons of rubble/sponges/bio balls/etc for biological filtration that will be going into the various back chambers. Maybe one day I’ll have the extra money to get a roller mat or nano skinner.

Water movement: just a single jebao slw for now. Will most likely be adding something else once I figure out how things will flow once fully set up and filled with corals and frag racks.

This was what it looked like before adding in 30lbs of live sand I picked up from someone else, who had been curing tons of it for other projects of his. With the ~30lbs of live sand I added in and all of the live rock from the tank I broke down, I was able to completely skip the cycling phase.

This is what the tank first looked like, before cleaning it up.

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

Feb 14:

I had everything ready to make the move, and started the process at 10am. I was able to mix the last bit of water and add it in before having to leave for work. This is what things looked like before I had to take off.

During the move I noticed the orchid dottyback I had purchased 3 days previously, had a massive wound and was missing its entire tail. My best guess is the employee at the LFS damaged it while catching it, because it was fine at the store. I must have missed it when I first added it into my WB 25, but when I caught it to move into this tank I noticed the damage. I wasn’t super hopeful since my schedule wasn’t going to allow me to give it specialized treatment but still had my fingers crossed for the fish my 3.5 year old had just picked out.

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

Feb 22:
Not ideal, but it’s working! Everything in the tank is happy so far, other than 1 hammer that was recently moved in from my bedroom. The badly injured dottyback is just about fully recovered, which is a huge relief after not seeing it for over 4 days after adding it into the tank.

I need to find a way to mount the big Duncan colony onto the rock structure it’s next to, and get it up off the sand bed. I think I’m going to have to use some coral putty to do that though, as it’s too big for just super glue at this point.

A few shots from around the tank yesterday and today, after figuring out manual white balancing finally:

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

Feb 26:

I got some coral putty and mounted the Duncan right next to where it was. Now that it’s up off the sandbed, I’m hoping those lower heads will bounce back. Neither clown was really interested in the Duncan yesterday after I moved it. They were in it this morning though, so it didn’t take them long.

Having more space is allowing me to try and get some of my 3”-4” mushrooms to come off the frag plugs/rubble they are holding onto and refusing to let go of. This one is so close to starting the move onto the tile.

The Nuclear Sunset disco is almost fully onto the printed tile it’s sitting on, and I just moved my giant, green, hairy mushroom onto a 4” tile to start the process.

The only 2 things not doing well in here currently, are hammers that came from my bedroom tank. Where I think my sexy shrimp have been picking at them. I’m hoping they will be able to recover in a larger, more stable (my kitten can’t mess with this tank like he can the others) environment.

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

FTS as of yesterday. I was able to mount all of my original SPS to the rock structure, and picked up another piece (grafted contraband digi) along with made some more frags of Forrest fire digi. Since this picture, I moved the skittles bomb cyphastrea onto the back wall to let it try and take over the AIO compartment.

Here are some recent (within the last week) of a few things in here. These were quickly taken, so far from my best work.

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

I wasn’t able to attend my local reef club’s first meeting of the year on the 1st of the month, but a good friend was able to attend. He won a $50 gift card to an LFS, and gave it to me as a thanks for taking care of his office tanks whenever he’s out of town. I used it to purchase this guy, and 1 other disco, to add to my mushroom collection.

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

I made 1 frag of each of my Rainbow Stylo, Purple Stylo, and Birdsnest this evening.

 

[BristleWormHater]

I made 1 frag of each of my Rainbow Stylo, Purple Stylo, and Birdsnest this evening.

Those are nice little frags!

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

Newest acquisition. Had a few auctions sell locally so I decided to use some of that money to bid on something myself. Picked up this little guy for $12, it was listed as an “unknown acro”. It’s my first attempt at a non-beginner SPS, so fingers crossed

 

[stE25wy14]

what camera do u use? these photos r amazing!!

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

I mounted

what camera do u use? these photos r amazing!!

Just an Olympus TG-5 in microscope mode, slight post done in Lightroom. I picked the camera up used for $200 1.5-2 years ago with under 200 shutter clicks on it. It’s been a blast learning and using, especially now that I have the manual white balance dialed in. The camera is waterproof down to 15m without any additional housing, so it goes into my tank and allows for photos I couldn’t otherwise get with a standard body+lens set up.

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

All the beginner sps frags were looking nice and fluffy this evening. The big forest fire digi frag in the back is up for auction on local forums that end tomorrow. Once it’s gone I’ll make another frag of something.

My pulsing Xenia colony that’s shoved in the corner has been thriving, and is maxed out on the rock it’s on.

My Duncan colony is much happier being off the sandbed. The larger clown loves it, while the little one splits time between the Duncan colony and a large, green hairy mushroom it started hosting.

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

My soon to be 4 year old helped me feed the tanks this evening. I love how much interest my little girl shows in my tanks and the inhabitants. Hopefully she will want one of her own soon.

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

I have a couple different frags of this Echinopora lamellosa (blue chalice) in different spots in this tank, and this particular piece is exploding with new growth compared to the others. It was actually stung by the Cherry Garcia chalice I have, and lost quite a bit of flesh. Couldn’t tell by looking at these pics of it though!

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

A few shots from yesterday around the tank.

And randomly, the green hairy mushroom I have had a massive hole in the middle of it. Wasn’t like that the night before.

Best working theory currently is that it was trying to split, and the little snowflake clown that hosts it over-stressed it. It spent half of yesterday wriggling around in the poor shroom.

It’s the only thing in there not actively recovering (2 hammers my sexy shrimp stressed out in my bedroom tank) or showing crazy new growth. Hopefully it’s able to recover

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

My mother Nuclear Sunset disco finally crawled off the original frag tile and completely onto the 3D printed tile. She left behind 6 babies in the process. I’m going to let the main 4 get a bit bigger before fragging and selling locally, hopefully they are ready in a few more weeks.

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

This poor blue chalice… I woke up yesterday morning to a bunch of flesh barely hanging on. I used a small baster to gently blow off what I could. This is the second time it has been stung by a “true” chalice, and lost a good chunk of flesh. I’m going to have to move all of my frags of this blue chalice to one spot away from the other chalices, to keep this from happening again.

My green hairy mushroom that was a donut a few days ago, appears to be splitting. I’ve never seen one split like this, so it has been interesting to watch.

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

One of my blue leg hermits just spawned and I was able to catch it! These things are tiny. Even in microscope mode, my TG-5 had a hard time capturing them. The red in the pictures is a small frag of red Sawblade macro algae, to give a little perspective.

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

Double checked this morning, and there’s full separation on the mushroom. It appears that the stress of a clown hosting while splitting coupled with how large the mushroom was to begin with, made it appear as a giant donut for a few days.

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

2 weeks in with this acro, and so far so good! The red has gotten a bit darker and spread onto the base, along with more polyps on the base.