Electrobes' sumpless 40Br

[Electrobes]

With kiddo asleep I have some time to mention some changes with the tank.. and lapses:

- The tank has been fairly untouched for about two months. I remembered to refill the auto top off... but I definitely cut it close. While the tank didn't look 100% on the tank walls and equipment, the corals and rock actually seemed to be doing alright.

- Yesterday I finally got the time to do a proper clean up and water change. I also placed the remaining sps corals I got a while ago onto the rocks.

- The AC 110, Phosban reactor (Which always got clogged within days of replacing carbon), and all other equipment were taken out to be cleaned. Holy poop it was bad... everything was caked in tank funk of all sorts. The worst was inside the AC110... I mean it was like an inch of tank funk!

- I cleaned the tank walls, the vortechs, and the Tunze 9002 skimmer (That lies inside the AC 110).

- Did a 5G water changes removing any funk inside the tank.

- I put everything back but the phosban reactor. I've decide to try using it once a month for 2-3 days, if I feel the tank needs it.

- The test levels kinda surprised me.. they've always been thru the roof, but since changing to Red Sea salt.. things are getting back to normal slowly.
- 7 dKH
- 600ppm Calcium (yeah it was higher before.. much higher)
- 1470ppm Magnesium (also super higher before)

- The corals and the tank in general look very happy. Here's hoping this continues... and to better video! ;)

 

[Electrobes]

12-15-11 Pics and updates

Just did a water change and thought I would snap some pics. Sorry for hazy water... didn't have much time and only correction I used was "I'm feeling lucky" on Picasa.

Goal all this time was to make and keep a KISS tank... and thankfully my tank has really become bullet proof to either my stupidity and/or lack of attention.

Equipment:

- 4 X 24w HO T5's (2 X Aquablue Specials and 2 X Blue Plus)
- AC 110 (HOB Sump)
- Tunze 9002 (In HOB Sump)
- Heating element with Temp controller (Ranco)
- 2 X Vortech MP10's (Both recently put on Long wave mode and one is put on night mode at 7pm)
- Battery back up for one of the Vortechs
- pH monitor
- Tunze motor ATO using my DIY set up (I use Pickling Lime.. about one tsp per gallon)

Maintenance:
- 5G water change once a week (This includes bastering the tank, letting it settle and then sucking it up)
- Feed Reef Pearls once a week (Recently started)
- Dose capful of Iodide once a week (To help bleaching of some SPS that I screwed up)
- Feed Spectrum Pellets once a day
- Tech M (Keeping it high while battling Bryopsis (It worked, now just watching out for possible return))

Interesting Notes on Tank:
- Calcium is always high, regardless of salts and/or lack of pickling lime used. But the Caps love it so I won't change anything.
- Bryopsis seems defeated but I am always wary and keep Mag high for this reason.
- Freaking Torch is throwing babies everywhere and they are successfully planting themselves all over the tank. Not sure if I like this or not.
- Zoos do well in the very beginning and then start dying off. They never fully die off. Thinking it might be an illness or parasite but am just not sure. I just stay away from Zoos nowadays.

Some pics!

 

[Electrobes]

 

[Electrobes]

 

[Chris L]

Wow i really like it!! I love my 40b also :)

 

[Electrobes]

Here's a pic of one of my rocks (That I make) after about 6-8 months in the tank. Again sorry for the hazy shot.

 

[Electrobes]

Wow i really like it!! I love my 40b also :)

Thanks Chris!

 

[Electrobes]

Major equipment changes!

Well everything in the tank is doing very well! I've had a slight issue, and I naturally overreacted. I spoted a single aptasia on the underside of a rock. This is the second aptasia I've spotted ion the course of about 3 months or so. The first aptasia got completely kalked into the rock. This second aptasia.. well I panicked and took the corals off of the rock and tossed the smaller rock. I had an ulterior motive... I wanted to save the frogspawn from being basically consumed by the much larger torch. That, and the old rock was one of two not of the rock I make for my business. Funny enough, it was one of the original prototypes I made.. and ultimately decided against as it was too heavy (mainly because of the dolomite).

Anyway, I replaced that old rock with two new pieces to essentially make all corals happy.

Equipment changes!

- My AC110 and Tunze 9002 skimmer will be replaced with an Aerofuge (Medium). I was looking for a small but a deal came up and I just couldn't pass it up. This Aerofuge off of ebay is a Class A second.. fancy words for saying it has superficial blemishes that didn't qualify for retail sale. Though I was looking for a small, the seller (And ebay entirely) only had two mediums for sale... at $255.00 with free shipping!!! The aeroforce sklimmer alone is $200 bucks! I snagged it today and am waiting impatiently for it. The main reason why I was even looking for a replacement is this: The micro-bubbles just seemed to be interfering a lot with the livestock. It's been getting worse as of late... and I am just sick of seeing these bubbles. On top of making the corals angry, it makes day time viewing of the tank miserable. I did not get the light for the fuge section... I don't like it. If I choose to get a refugium down the road.. I'll rig up something better than what CPR offers... it's just too bulky for what it is. I can not wait until it goes on the tank!

- I will be buying one of Luke's (reef filtration, a sponsor here) 120w 18K LED fixtures! I will have to completely modify my current canopy to fit this light, but man I am excited about it! I currently have 4 X 24w T5's.. which I think is just not enough true power for the tank. The LED's will be a long and slow acclimation.. but man I am looking forward to getting those lights to the corals. Above all, I believe the sps will be most appreciative. I don't have many, and I have no intentions of adding any more corals to the tank... but I think all the corals would like more light than what I currently had.

So with the new year.. comes a new tank... equipment-wise!

 

[Electrobes]

Received and installed Aerofuge (medium) and some FTS

I got the Aerofuge in sooner than I thought I would. I've installed it and my initial impression is "I love it". As I mentioned earlier, I went looking for a small, but the deal on a medium I just couldn't pass up. I got what's called a second class A product, meaning it wasn't pretty enough to sell at retail, but the structure and function are totally intact. Honestly, I have no idea what superficial ugliness it has, it's a brand new product with zero flaws, that I could find.

After mixing up new water to fill it, I installed it and it's huge! At 23 inches long, it eats up a lot of space in terms of HOB, but I find it completely worth it! The skimmer is already pulling out funk and the microbubbles aren't bad at all, and this is only the break in period. I'm really looking forward to seeing this thing in action over the course of the next two weeks. Now all I need is for Luke at reeffiltration to get in some new LED fixtures in!

Since I had the camera out briefly, I took some shots. you'll see the two new smaller rocks I've added to save some of the corals from the Torch. The tank looks weird with brand new rocks in it, but give it a month or two and it'll finally blend into the rest of the rockscape.

 

[skinz78]

Looking great Christian, I love that Ric rock!

 

[Electrobes]

Looking great Christian, I love that Ric rock!

Thanks man! I really can't wait to get the LED's on this tank. My acrylic light holder for it should be coming soon... kills me that Luke is out of stock till mid-January. Oh well, least the Aerofuge went on without a hitch. :)

 

[UCedumacasion]

Love the tank! 40r is my favorite small size (and definitely shape) for tanks. I've had mine for like 7 years

 

[Electrobes]

Love the tank! 40r is my favorite small size (and definitely shape) for tanks. I've had mine for like 7 years

lol! Out of sheer coincidence I'm just about in my 7-8th (Least I think, man I am getting old) year of a 40Br. :bigsmile:

 

[Electrobes]

The light build is done!

Well, I finally got my new LED's up and here's how I did it:


The lid of the canopy had to come off first.

Whole canopy is gone!

The bottom part of the canopy needed to be repainted black so as not to blind passersby with reflected light (It used to be white paint).

 

[Electrobes]

More!

Started thinking about how to make the hanger.. using conduit:

Then I tried this:

Finally decided on this:

And here's it finished!

 

[Electrobes]

The LED light you see, by the way, is Reeffiltration's (Luke) 120w 18K fixture.

 

[Electrobes]

A couple of minor projects for the tank coming ahead.

1. I have a nice black acrylic panel that was scrap, but it's perfect to hide the background equipment. It's 36.5'' X 3.9''.. literally perfect for the canopy to hide the aerofuge and wires. Definitely looking forward to this.

2. I have a nice auto fish feeder that I just installed into the canopy, but has no food. When I tested it with food, the food did not sink.. at all. This obviously will not do. I am going to install a food circle thingie so that they'll eventually sink.

3. I need to either buy or build a skimmer box for the aerofuge. I am getting surface muck again (Since the AC110 was taken out). It ain't pretty but ironically helps right now because of my new lighting (It filters out some of it.. so it doesn't fry the corals).

I am hoping to do these projects sometime this next week. I'll try to take photos of the fun.

 

[Electrobes]

I forgot to mention I also need to tie the light wires together, for a cleaner look, and that frag rack in the tank was to hold up that monti frag up higher when I had weaker lights. Now that my new light is set up I can get rid of it.

I also really need to razor the tank, my OCD alarm is getting louder, and we wouldn't want that. ;)

 

[dh350twin]

VERY nice 40 breeder!

 

[Electrobes]

Two mini reef projects out of the way!

I got my surface skimmer made and done. The aerofuge feed pump is in it:

Had to seal off the holes where the suction cups used to go:

I tried magnets in epoxy, it failed. Just a lot of frustration and bad luck on my part.. then this idea worked perfectly as I needed a decent gap for the feed pump to fit in the surface skimmer:

The other mini project I needed was a mounted feeding station under the pellet feeder. The pellets were staying on top and not sinking, and then would get sucked up by the surface skimmer. I didn't want it to be seen so I removed the suction cup and mounted it to the lip of the tank:

Voila.. almost there!