mantz88's 40 gal Acrylic tank

[mantz88]

This is my first Saltwater tank, so here we go. Im new to the hobby so dont be too harsh if I make a mistake.

Equipment:
40 gal Clear for Life Tank
40lbs of live sand
30lbs of Dry Rock with 4 small live rocks
Marineland C-220 Canister Filter
Hydor KoraliaEvolution 850 pump
Marineland 24"-36" Reef Capable LED light with built in timer
Aquarium Furniture 50/65 gallon stand.

Nothing live in there yet. A couple raw shrimp have been to get the cycle going. Ammonia levels are up and hopefully soon will start dropping.

Here are a few pics.

The night after I poured the water in.


The tank is lit up better than the picture lets off. My only decent camera is my phone.





Blue lights with flash.



No flash

 

[mantz88]

Just ordered a Coralife Super Skimmer Needle Wheel Protein Skimmer.

 

[mantz88]

Came home this morning to find plenty of brown algae forming.

 

[mantz88]

 

[mantz88]

Put the skimmer in and a heater after I realized my temp was down at the 74 degree range. The Coralife Super Skimmer 65 has been kind of a hassle to set up. The way the top of my tank is built has not made things easy. I decided to modify my return line because I couldn't attach it to the tank properly or get the correct height for it to run efficiently. It is producing a lot of micro bubbles. I have read from other reviews this simmer will do that until in breaks in.

 

[mantz88]

Been a long while since I've posted, but who wants to see slowly changing tanks anyways?

The tank has fully cycled. I added another 10 pounds of rock. Had a pretty nasty case of hair algae. Clean up crew was put in about a month ago. They destroyed all that in about a week. Had a couple deaths of the clean up crew. 2 emerald crabs and a few Red Hermits.

My first fish was purchased last weekend. Coral beauty he is still pretty shy so its basically impossible to get a decent picture of him.

NOW ON TO THE PICS!

Please excuse the water spots on my tank. :squigglemouth:

This was still a couple of weeks before I added my clean up crew














This is a recent full tank shot.




Like I said he is practically impossible to get a picture of. When you get close with a camera he gets all shy.












My next progression is going to be getting a couple clownfish and finally my first coral.

 

[revhtree]

Looking good!

 

[iReef86]

Making great progress. Keep it up!

 

[mantz88]

Got some new additions yesterday.

 

[SmoothSmoke]

The tank is looking great man! Is that corraline on the rocks? If so, pretty fast growth!

 

[mantz88]

Been a while since an update. I have since gotten a platinum clown, a couple new corals, 2 reef breeders LEDs, and started building my refugium.

Platinum Clown

My reef breeders LEDs and my custom hanging kit I made from some conduit.

 

[mantz88]

My 10g refugium.

 

[mantz88]

Been a while since an update. Lots more coral since last time. I decided not to go with the refugium and just a normal sump. Really cleaned the tank up taking all that stuff out of the tank and into the sump.







































Before the sump was added and new aquascape.

 

[mantz88]

One of my larget growing corals. Started out with just 3 polyps.


My newest coral is my goniporia


Sump up and running




Most recent FTS need to take a better shot.


My most exciting thing is just recently my clown after almost a year has started hosting finally.

 

[Inkedreefer]

That clown looks awesome! The tank is looking really good. How do you like the reefbreeder lights?

 

[mantz88]

For the price I can't believe them. Great color and tons of light. I do have a lot of light spillage but I also run no canopy with 2 lights that could easily cover a much larger tank. If I had to pick something I don't like is that my dimmers are not marked, so it's kind of a crap shoot on weather or not both lights are set the same. I'm pretty sure their newer model lights have fixed that though.

 

[mantz88]

Pink Hallucinations


Scrambled eggs

 

[mantz88]

 

[mantz88]

Got a few newbies. Split tail angel.

Bubble tip

Finally changing the Crushed Coral to a real sand bed. Also some more of the new corals sitting in the new sand.