bt's 40B upgrade

[btmedic04]

The only way I’ve gotten videos to work here laying is to post them on YouTube and embed them.

Yeah, I just figured that out too lol. I fixed my previous post so the videos work now

 

[btmedic04]

Just wanted to share a couple updated top down shots. Pics were taken at about the half way mark on my lights ramp down with a polyp lab v2 filter

Full top down shot

Left side

Right side

Walt Disney encrusting

 

[TheWB]

Just wanted to share a couple updated top down shots. Pics were taken at about the half way mark on my lights ramp down with a polyp lab v2 filter

Full top down shot

Left side

Right side

Walt Disney encrusting

Looks great. I really like what you have done with the layout of the scape. The 40b really does have a nice footprint. My tank is 30 inches wide and I wish I had that extra 6 inches of width.

 

[btmedic04]

Looks great. I really like what you have done with the layout of the scape. The 40b really does have a nice footprint. My tank is 30 inches wide and I wish I had that extra 6 inches of width.

Thank you! Up until this tank, I had only had 12 inches of width and didnt realize how much nicer 18 inches is to work in. Eventually my next tank will be a 120 and I'm curious to see what can be done with a whole 2 feet of depth

 

[TheWB]

Thank you! Up until this tank, I had only had 12 inches of width and didnt realize how much nicer 18 inches is to work in. Eventually my next tank will be a 120 and I'm curious to see what can be done with a whole 2 feet of depth

I know what you mean. My footprint is 30 x 20 inches which is great but 36 x 20 or 36 x 24 would have opened up a lot more options. I like what I have but it’s possible I’ve caught a little bit of upgradeitis. That will not be happening though, at least not for a couple of years minimum. I’m looking forward to seeing how your corals grow in, keep taking those great pictures.

 

[btmedic04]

Curiosity got the better of me and this showed up today. More to come!

 

[btmedic04]

My ICP results came back in!
https://lab.atiaquaristik.com/share/70f078c17db408d75fae
Turns out my salinity is a touch low at 31.68 psu so I adjusted my refractometer, but I am debating between getting the hanna salinity checker or the Milwaukee digital refractometer. Which one should I go for?

Also, I have aluminum in my system at 79.71 µg/l but I kind of expected that because of the disintegrating marinepure plate in my sump. That will be coming out this weekend so hopefully that number drops by the next ICP test I send in.

Overall, I'm pretty proud of my results but there's always room for improvement!

 

[btmedic04]

I cut my first frags on friday, mostly zoas but I did cut a pink interstellar mushroom off of my rock for a friend. I cut the following:

GSP (for the 20L)
Utter chaos
Purple people eater (that was getting beat up by the frogspawn)
SunnyD/funnyD (not sure which it is)
Gold dust
And some bright red zoas that were in the middle of the gold dust zoas. I'll post a pic later so you can help me identify it.

I also picked up 3 torches and a duncan from the LFS today for $150. 1 green torch and 2 purples, one of which appears to have some orange lower down its tentacles. We'll see how they develop.

I'm quickly running out of room and am already dreaming of a bigger tank.... :p

Just some pics of angry frags. Will get better ones once everyone calms down

 

[btmedic04]

It's been a while since I've updated this thread but a lot has happened. First, everyone has gone back into the tank. No signs of any ich but I'll be keeping a close eye on things.

Secondly, I took advantage of the BRS gen4 radion clearance and picked up a third XR15, diffuser and rms bar. I now have super even light coverage and should be able to use these lights on a larger tank if I decide to upgrade in the future.

Thirdly, everything is growing rapidly, though I am still having issues keeping phosphates in the tank. I'm dosing up to 0.1ppm in the mornings and evenings. My nitrates have stayed steady around 5ppm.

Lastly, I've been seeing red planaria pop up and have done 3 doses of flatworm exit. I'm going to do another round next Wednesday and I'm going to add a wrasse to help control them as I'm not comfortable with continually blasting everything in FWE. I'm thinking a yellow corris wrasse but am open to any suggestions.

That's all for now folks but stay tuned!

 

[btmedic04]

I ended up adding a melanarus wrasse to control my flatworm population. So far everyone is getting along, though the yellow watchmen gobies dart to their cave when he passes by. I realise he will grow too large for this tank, but I have already planned a future upgrade to something in the 120 gallon range in the next year or so. If he gets too big or agression starts before then, i will rehome him.

I also added some more zoas and euphillia to this tank to hold until my nuvo 10 desktop build is ready for them.

That's all for now folks, enjoy the video of my tank!

 

[jnava19]

I ended up adding a melanarus wrasse to control my flatworm population. So far everyone is getting along, though the yellow watchmen gobies dart to their cave when he passes by. I realise he will grow too large for this tank, but I have already planned a future upgrade to something in the 120 gallon range in the next year or so. If he gets too big or agression starts before then, i will rehome him.

I also added some more zoas and euphillia to this tank to hold until my nuvo 10 desktop build is ready for them.

That's all for now folks, enjoy the video of my tank!

Looks Awesome!

 

[btmedic04]

Looks Awesome!

Thank you! I'll be sure to post an update this weekend! Things have grown a lot since my last pictures/video

 

[btmedic04]

Just wanted to give an update. Everything is going well in my 40b. I started dosing the new all in one red sea reef energy ab+ formula and I can honestly say that I've seen quite a bit of growth already. Even the candy cane that barely survived a kalkwasser accident in my other tank is regrowing and covering its skeleton again and my anacropora is growing like a weed.

My refugium is going nuts too, so I decided to stop dosing nopox to see if it and my skimmer alone could maintain my no3 and po4 with biweekly water changes and heavy feeding. It's not quite able to as by the second week, nitrates start to climb to the 10-20 range. With that said I've started dosing nopox again to maintain 5ppm nitrates.

All of my fish are fat and happy and getting along which makes me happy. The melanarus wrasse has done a fantastic job keeping the red planaria flatworms out of the display, though do see a few in the sump from time to time.

Anyway on to some daylight + gel filter photos. I'll post blues + gel filter later tonight

 

[btmedic04]

Tried to get some of the same pictures under blues + filter

 

[btmedic04]

Anothe round of weekend maintenance complete. This week I did a deep clean of my sump as detritus was building up and nitrates started to climb. This time I had a VCA mj vac attachment which made things a lot easier. I trimmed my chaeto and left about 1/4 of it in. There was enough removed that I had to add about a gallon of water back to account for displacement. All pumps and filtration devices got a good soaking in citric acid too. I also retired my finnex 200w heater with a BRS 200w heater + controller. The heating element is amazing but the controller has to earn my trust still. I will update on this later once some time passes.

Nothing else new is going on other than enjoying watching everything grow in

 

[Mindset]

BT - Just found your thread today - Thanks for sharing. I just started a 40 Breeder (In the ugly stage with 2 fish and no lights) and have learned a lot from what you shared. Your tank looks great! Thanks and keep it up.

 

[Reefpuck]

Tank looking good. What's your current fish list?

 

[btmedic04]

BT - Just found your thread today - Thanks for sharing. I just started a 40 Breeder (In the ugly stage with 2 fish and no lights) and have learned a lot from what you shared. Your tank looks great! Thanks and keep it up.

Thank you! I'm glad that I could help! If you decide to start a thread, let me know so I can follow along!

 

[btmedic04]

Tank looking good. What's your current fish list?

Thank you! My current fish list is as follows;
2x Black Ocellaris Clownfish
2x Yellow Watchmen Gobies
1x Royal Gramma
1x Juvenile Yellow Eye Kole Tang
1x Melanurus Wrasse

Everyone gets along and there is minimal aggression. I also feed heavily 2-3 times per day so I imagine that helps reduce the potential as well.

 

[wilsonline]

The tank is evolving nicely! Cool aquascape and SPS frags too.
I'm kind of doing something similar, but SPS doesn't seem to do well here. And I'm battling dinos. I did a blackout and they were gone for like 3 weeks, but it looks like it's coming back. It sucks bc my acros are showing good signs now.
Anyway, that ICP test may be something I have to try. I have a ton of marine pure balls, maybe I also have aluminum idk.
Also, I really want an anemone, but so many people told me not to bc of the sps frags. IDK. Have you had any accident?
And tridacna, but I can't find one nice looking blue maxima for a reasonable price.
Another thing I wish I had is a chaetomorfa refugium, but my sumpis tiny and full with the skimmer and the marine pure.
following!