First Reef Tank - IM Nuvo Fusion 40

[muzikalmatt]

Last night I did some rearranging of my equipment, getting almost everything under the tank in the stand. Once again I'm asking myself why I didn't do this sooner.

Before

After

 

[muzikalmatt]

I picked up a few new frags from my LFS over the weekend. I'm sticking with mostly softies still, but also grabbed a nice chunk of stylophora that I split into two pieces. (Honestly, I couldn't pass it up at $10 for the huge piece.) I had a lot of success growing stylo in this tank in the past before I started slacking on my maintenance, so I'm hoping for similar results now that I have my head back in the game.

Eagle Eye Zoas (still opening after dipping)

Rasta zoas

Stylophora Chunk #1 (I still need to clean off some of the leftover trash palys.)

Stylophora Chunk #2 (Not sure what I'll do with this one yet.)

 

[Susan Edwards]

super nice build thread and great tank! Awesome!

 

[muzikalmatt]

super nice build thread and great tank! Awesome!

Thank you so much! My passion for the tank has definitely been reignited and I'm already looking forward to the next build!

 

[muzikalmatt]

It's time for more upgrades! I recently added an AI Nero 3 powerhead to the tank to get more flow and yesterday I finished installing the Reefbrite XHO add-ons to my Kessil A360WE Tuna Blue. I have been wanting to add supplemental lighting to the tank for a while and finally pulled the trigger. I'm really digging these Reefbrites! Great spread and some added color pop for the corals. Check out the pics below!

With the Kessil turned off and the Reefbrites at their dimmest setting, it almost like moonlight. (Sorry, picture's a little blurry.)

 

[muzikalmatt]

Bought some frags and moved the frag rack to the side glass to give the frag rock up front some room. I've definitely been on a zoa kick lately but I also picked up a monticap and some firecracker clove polyps. So far the tank seems to be loving the additional flow and lighting!

 

[muzikalmatt]

Quick update! Soooo I couldn't help myself and hit up the LFS Black Friday sale! I picked up a few more frags even though I'm basically out of room in the tank. But, I have a solution in the works already started...

Here are some pics of the frags after acclimating to the tank.

Jason Fox Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseris

Splatter Hammer

Candy Cane

 

[muzikalmatt]

My tank gave me a free mushroom frag the other day! I was looking for a way to frag off some of the green hairy mushrooms that have taken over my rockwork and one just decided to try and grow onto the sand bed. Score!

Here you can see mushroom mountain and the little frag that popped off onto the sandbed. It was much larger at first but the pistol shrimp was trying to drag it into his burrow and made it shrink up.

You can see the foot latched onto a patch of sand which made for easy gluing.

Here it is right after gluing to the frag plug and putting it back in the tank.

Probably the easiest fragging session I've ever had.

 

[muzikalmatt]

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your holidays are happy and healthy!

 

[muzikalmatt]

This tank's third birthday was on the 5th, so I'm a little late celebrating. It has had it's ups and downs but I've learned so much over these three years and I'm excited to see where I can take it this year! With the tank running out of real estate, this year will be about pruning, fragging and curating the tank to achieve a more balanced aesthetic. I'm looking to prune back the mushrooms, establish a zoa garden on the front rock on the sandbed and add more SPS up top once I make some room.

 

[muzikalmatt]

I've been doing some pruning lately including slowly removing the Texas trash palys from the top rocks. I do as much as I can during my weekly water change but it's slow going and the mat is really thick. I'm hoping to be rid of them in another month or so. That way I can reclaim that top of the scape and start putting some nicer corals up there.

I also had another fragging session with the zoas that have taken over my frag rack. I really dig these yellow and purple ones.

I irritated the corals so the polyps would close up and I could see where to best cut the mat. Then I went at it with a razor blade.

Here is the frag plug removed from the rack right after cutting.

And a new frag plug put in its place to start the process all over again.

Here's the frag today. Polyps opening up nicely.

And the main colony is almost grown back onto the new plug.

Honestly this entire frag set up was an accident as I let these do is take over the frag rack. But it's been pretty convenient and I like the look of it when it's fully covered. It's like a floating zoa garden.

 

[muzikalmatt]

I moved some corals around recently and setup my zoa garden on the frag rock in the center of the tank. I have a few more zoa morphs I'm growing out on my frag racks which I'll add to the garden soon, but it's looking pretty good so far! Here are a few pics including a couple of other corals that are looking good since I moved them.

 

[muzikalmatt]

Took a few top down shots while doing a water change and some minor fragging last night. I really enjoy these views.

 

[muzikalmatt]

Good morning and Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! I haven't posted about this tank in almost a year now, so it's definitely time for an update! Admittedly, I haven't paid much attention to it over this past year as life has gotten in the way a bit. Luckily the tank has pretty much been on auto-pilot, but my lack of attention and maintenance did lead to some coral loss and some of the hardier corals taking over. (Looking at you mushrooms.)

The tank just hit its 4th birthday yesterday, so Happy Birthday to the IM40! It's gone through several changes over the years with respect to the look and the different corals that have come and gone, but overall I'm pretty happy with it. This was my first ever reef tank and I've learned so much, both by being insanely obsessive and attentive with it, and also just leaving it alone to do it's thing. As we move into the winter doldrums of January and February, I'm planning to be a lot more engaged with the tank and do a bit of curating and pruning of the corals. As you can see, the frag racks have become overgrown and I really need to remove some of the green hairy mushrooms at the top of the rockwork so I can reclaim that real estate for some nicer corals. I'm also planning to transfer some of the corals into my 10 gallon Bedroom Budget Build as it has plenty of real estate available.

Below are some recent pictures that show the tank in its current state. I'll try to post more in the coming days and weeks as I clean things up a bit. I'm looking forward to re-engaging with the tank and being a bit more active on the forums here again as well. So Happy New Year R2R and Happy Reefing!