Thank you! I really appreciate you dropping by, and the kind words. Welcome to r2r. Never hesitate to reach out if I can help in any way!
Simply stunning John!New torches!
This was what I need to contrast with what I already had.
Nice work brother!1 year anniversary yesterday! I wasn't sure if I'd get here, but here we are! There's something about hitting that mark that makes you feel like a reefer.
Thanks my friend. That first year went pretty well, but I have to admit that I went through every ugly phase and every pest in the hobby. I think if we still love it after a year, there's a great change of long term success.
Appreciate it Keith. The yellow torches transformed the tank.
Thanks Keith, I always appreciate your kind words!
Welcome neighbor. From Mississippi too. Natchez. Reef to reef is the place to be.Hello everyone I'm John from South Mississippi and I'm finally making the jump into this wonderful hobby. I'm only new to reefing and corals, as I've had numerous successful freshwater and fowlr tanks in the past. This spring I purchased a 40 gallon recife cube AIO. (It remains to be seen whether or not that was a great idea). I was going to use it as a planted freshwater aquarium, but I've always wanted to keep corals, so here I go. My lfs basically told me to scrap the filtration media and the skimmer that it came with and now I'm unsure if this was my best option. Also, the water levels involving evaporation and adding water is a bit puzzling. But I'm going to keep it positive and keep asking questions. I will begin my build thread immediately. I already have my live rock, sand, and one pajama cardinal in the tank. I'm ready to move to the next step but I have a little more research left to do. Thanks for hanging in there with me and I can't wait to hear from everyone!
Here are a few pics. This is the default aquatop skyaqua light that came with the tank. It was fun to find out that it may not be the best light ever for LPS corals lol. At least the glass seems to be sufficient for holding water :)
Let me tell you all a little bit about my goals/plans for this build. I will try my hand at a few of the "lower risk" corals and work my way into LPS. Blastos, favites, leptastrea, euphyllia, trumpet, and a few others intrigue me the most. I plan to take it slow and respect the wildlife. I don't want anything to die because I failed to be a good steward of the hobby. That's what led me here. I'll humbly ask for your advice and suggestions while still being diligent on my end, continuing to learn and grow.
Equipment
40 gallon recife aio cube
Aquatop nano skimmer
The media containers filled with various filter media
Aquatop skyaqua led light
Powerhead that came with aquarium
Live rock about 30 to 35 lbs
40lbs fiji pink live sand
The aio area contains 4 vertical chambers behind a wall. Chamber one contained a long black sponge that ran a significant portion of the length of the chamber it was in. It is very long. LFS said to trash it and use filter floss to catch solids. Chamber two is for the protein skimmer. Told not to use it because it was no good. Lol.
Chamber three held 3 stacked plastic boxes filled with various media (nitrate and phosphate removing sponges, ceramic rings, and carbon infused sponges. (Also told to scrap it)
If I'm getting rid of all this, I wonder how I'll keep my tank stable. I'll definitely have to stay right on top of it
I plan on getting a new light and a filter media basket with filter floss to replace the large black sponge that came with the system.
Hey good to see you, my friend! I love your neck of the woods. You guys have some of the best food, history, and Deer hunting in the state. I appreciate you stopping by.
Great to hear John! I can’t wait to see the picture when that rock is completely cleared of those nasty buggers. Then we need to hook Joel up.@ReefEngineer Update on the berghia I bought:
I actually see berghia out and moving around I'd guess, 3 out of 5 nights. Last night there was a big one on my second largest aiptasia. This morning, it was gone. I only added 10 and Im seeing excellent results. Im hopeful. You can see the difference between pictures of the same spot.
#SmorgasbordFamily
Absolutely Kevin. I was amazed to see how quickly they started working. I went with fewer, but bigger berghia. They really don't seem to be intimidated by the big stalky aiptasia.
Oh that is amazing you can definitely see the difference. Looks like berghias are also learning to hide once the lights are on.@ReefEngineer Update on the berghia I bought:
I actually see berghia out and moving around I'd guess, 3 out of 5 nights. Last night there was a big one on my second largest aiptasia. This morning, it was gone. I only added 10 and Im seeing excellent results. Im hopeful. You can see the difference between pictures of the same spot.
#SmorgasbordFamily
Soon enough your berghias will be the size of these in the picture lol
Yes they are!
Wow! Lol, you're right. Look at the size of the ones in the video!
That makes sense, because that is the only GHA in the tank. The big aiptasia is covered in it. It makes sense that the aiptasia is the reason.
