Felicia's 40B Mixed-Reef Predator Tank

BigAlspets · Jun 2, 2016

Amazing looking aquarium. Congrats!

FeliciaLynn · Jun 4, 2016

revhtree said:
Gorgeous!

metrokat said:
Congrats on the graduation, tank is looking great Felicia.

120reefkeeper said:
Love it!

cnseekatz said:
Looks amazing!

rarelyseriousb said:
This tank has inspired me to set my tank back up.

Chrisfish said:
Congratulations!! I always love when you update your thread!!

rayn said:
Congrats on the Dr! Tank, beautiful as always!

BigAlspets said:
Amazing looking aquarium. Congrats!

Thanks so much everyone! I'm glad you all enjoyed that quick full tank photo! I've got the rest of the photos that I promised finally ready, so here comes a huge photo update

kevensquint said:
Nice, what's your method to keep nutrients down while feeding predators?

Thanks! I do frequent water changes (usually 10 gallons per week) as well as running a good skimmer and biopellets in a reactor.

FeliciaLynn · Jun 4, 2016

Ok, so I finally got around to sorting through all those photos I took a few nights ago. Here they are!

Let's start with another quick FTS.

IMG_4584 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Ok next, some coral shots.

IMG_4214 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4212 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

This gorgonian is really growing. The two stubby little branches are brand new growth.

IMG_4192 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4171 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4169 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4165 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4163 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4145 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4097 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

I was trying really hard to get a decent shot of the Tomini tang because she's been doing really well, but she just moves too dang fast! Here are a bunch of the mediocre photos I was able to get of her.

IMG_4543 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4529 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4512 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4478 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4338 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4258 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4094 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Falkor was being quite the ham as usual. He loves to pose for photos!

IMG_4405 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4321 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4284 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4087 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4070 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

FeliciaLynn · Jun 4, 2016

Here are a couple shots of the clowns in their BTA palace.

IMG_4450 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4400 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4389 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Draco was also being a huge ham as usual.

IMG_4335 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4318 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4253 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4220 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4159 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4121 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

The antennata is shy sometimes, but she was out and about for photos this time

Mushu was the one being the lurker this time around.

IMG_4426 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4373 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4205 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4103 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

FeliciaLynn · Jun 4, 2016

Since most of the fish were out being photogenic, I also got a bunch of fun shots with several of the fish together.

IMG_4545 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4501 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4418 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4282 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4277 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4271 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4218 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4110 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4107 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

FeliciaLynn · Jun 4, 2016

Oh, and if you notice that the derasa is gaping a bit in these photos, I'm aware of the issue. Its been acting like something is aggravating it lately, but the other two clams are perfectly healthy. The derasa is still light and touch responsive and it opens everyday, so I think its ok, just a bit annoyed. I ended up rearranging the clams to move it to a slighlty different spot and its seems to be doing a bit better now. I'm thinking the big green nepthea might have been irritating it. This tank is getting to the point where everything is so grown in that corals are touching and irritating each other at times.

metrokat · Jun 5, 2016

You know a photo dump isn't complete without a picture of Lily.....

revhtree · Jun 6, 2016

I seriously love the Eel!

FeliciaLynn · Jun 7, 2016

revhtree said:
I seriously love the Eel!

He seems to be everyone's favorite! He's got quite the personality

FeliciaLynn · Jun 7, 2016

metrokat said:
You know a photo dump isn't complete without a picture of Lily.....

Ok, I'll post some Lily photos for you! For those of you that don't know, I have an adorable cat named Lily.

IMG_3291 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3286 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3374 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3402 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3704 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3696 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3926 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3928 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

FeliciaLynn · Jun 13, 2016

Mini Update

Marine Depot was awesome enough to give me a special coupon code for letting them feature my tank in one of their videos. I just got around to using it to place an order for my dosing supplements. All stocked up now. Thanks to Marine Depot!

IMG_4762 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

revhtree · Jun 13, 2016

Coolio!

FeliciaLynn · Jun 14, 2016

Its that time again...

Time to make another batch of my homemade predator food blend!

This blend has silversides, scallops, salmon, squid, and prawns. Now its in the freezer getting frozen into serving-sized cubes.

IMG_4772 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_4773 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

revhtree · Jun 15, 2016

Looks.....yummy...

FeliciaLynn · Jun 15, 2016

revhtree said:
Looks.....yummy...

I know, right?! Other than the silversides, I have to resist the urge to eat all the food myself instead of making fish food. The seafood market I go to is this really awesome Japanese fish market and they also stock all the Japanese groceries. While I was there I also got myself some sashimi hamachi and salmon and made myself a sushi rice bowl with sashimi, avocado, and spicy mayonnaise sauce. Yummy! Me and the fish got to eat well

rholguin · Jun 17, 2016

Just read through your entire thread. A excellent read. Love the corals, but your lion's are just amazing.

FeliciaLynn · Jun 18, 2016

rholguin said:
Just read through your entire thread. A excellent read. Love the corals, but your lion's are just amazing.

Wow! You read the whole thing?! Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah the lionfish are really the star of my tank, but of course I love having a natural reef, so its fun to focus on both the corals and the fish this time around. Thank you for the complements!

How about a photo and video update? I'm out of town taking a nice vacation, so I left the tank with the tank sitters. I wanted to get the tank SUPER clean before I left so that it could do a bit of extra time without maintenance while I'm gone. I couldn't pass up the chance to take some photos of the really clean tank, so I snapped a few photos and took some video clips for you guys. I took these in the morning time, so unfortunately there are quite a few reflections, but hopefully you still enjoy the photos. Also, the lionfish didn't make an appearance because they generally become active in the early evening through into the night. However, you may notice a new addition to the tank. Who knows what it is?

FTS June 15, 2016 (ignore the glare/reflection)

IMG_4799 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

I don't ever really do bluer light photography, so I figured I'd give it a shot!

IMG_4783 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Left side

IMG_4893 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Middle

IMG_4899 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Right side

IMG_4889 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Tomini tang and clams

IMG_4872 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

You may notice that the derasa is looking very bleached. I believe I figured out what happened. I did a bunch of reading and it seems that clams most commonly expel their zooxanthellae because of light issues or a spike in temperature. Well I'm definitely not having light issues because absolutely nothing has changed in the last year on that front. However, we had some abnormally warm weather and my tank spiked to 82-83 degrees several days over a couple week period. Everything else was fine, but about that time is when the derasa bleached. It must be a bit more sensitive to temperature spikes than the squamosas. Once I figured out this was the likely culprit, I bought a clip on fan and installed it over my sump to help with evaporative cooling to keep the temperature more stable in case of any more hot weather. Over the last week or so, the derasa has been looking much better, so I think I've got this problem solved. It will just take a while for the derasa to regain its coloration. Its always a learning experience in this hobby!

Ok, so did anyone spot the new addition? I'll give you a chance to go back and look before I reveal the answer...

I picked up a big super male melanarus wrasse! He's so pretty! I've been itching to get another wrasse, but didn't want to risk it because the leopard wrasse I had a while back got eaten by Mushu (the fu manchu lionfish). I thought the leopard was big enough, but nope! Mushu is a big guy and can eat some huge fish. Anyways, most of the wrasses sold at the local stores come in as 1.5-2" juveniles and I never see any big adult wrasses that wouldn't be lionfish food. However, I was lucky enough to go to my local store the day after another customer traded in his adult supermale melanarus. He's huge so there's no way he's going to be lion food. He settled in very well and is a super chill fish. I really love the color and movement from wrasses and they serve such a utilitarian purpose by eating any pests introduced into the aquarium before they become a big issue. I have a bunch of harmless little critters like worms and snails that are starting to breed out of control to the point of being a nuisance, so I wanted a wrasse to keep the populations under control. Melanarus wrasses are known to be good at this job, so hopefully he'll munch on some tiny critters

Isn't he cute?

IMG_4849 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Look at those nice supermale colors on his face!

IMG_4870 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Also, since the tank is currently being watched by tanksitters, I wanted to show the preparations for leaving the tank. Here's a shot of my living room with all the supplies laid out and my WiFi camera set up to watch the tank. The buckets are stocked with RODI water for refilling the ATO reservoir and there's 10 gallons of mixed and heated saltwater in a bin next to the tank. One of my tanksitters is going to do a water change for me halfway through my trip. I've never had anyone but me do a water change on my tank before, so this will be a first! Luckily the tanksitter does aquarium maintenance for a living so it should be a cakewalk for him

IMG_4776 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Also, its nice that I can check on the tank myself with my WiFi camera. Here's a quick screenshot from checking in on the tank yesterday evening.

IMG_4909 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr