My 40B

[dutch27]

Thought I'd toss up some of the photos of my 40B from the old board. I go back and forth on keeping this thing up, algae and now aiptasia get frustrating. I haven't been able to find peppermint shrimp locally in 4-6 weeks of looking, so my aiptasia are now large and I fear I won't be able to recover from it, short of a file fish. The aiptasia bother me more than the algae. I find algae always self-corrects with enough time and consistent water changes. I have one aiptasia starting to burn a Red Planet, so I think it may time to take some rocks out and start hitting some of these things with kalk paste at my next WC.

FTS

My original idea for this tank was flowy LPS and zoas, but I couldn't help but add SPS. I haven't had a new addition in terms of coral in ages, I like to just let what I have grow. I'm considering switching gears and going with bubble tips for the clowns. However, I love that duncan and don't want to risk a BTA killing it. That thing is around 50 polyps.

I'm running an ATI 4-bulb T5 setup (2x blue+, 1x coral+, 1x purple+), an older MP10 and a Jebao something, the smallest one. Trying to keep it simple. At some point I may swap the MP10 for another Jebao. Next bulb swap I'm probably going 3x blue+ 1x purple.

Only fish are 2 clowns and a lawnmower blenny.

 

[nine9d]

Bro, get Berghia Nudibranchs from Reeftown for the aiptasia. Myself and another reefer friend was considering on doing a group buy with them. I also have been reading up on Vibrant for the algae issue. it's worth a read bud. Keep the reef alive!

 

[dutch27]

Hm, Vibrant looks to be effective. I ordered up a bottle, we'll see what happens.

I've considered Berghia in the past, but they seem to get expensive and take several months. I'm going to start in the short term with some kalk paste to try to take out the bigger ones, I have a couple that are big enough to practically be show pieces, lol. Not sure anything would eat those.

 

[nine9d]

Yeah, nuke the big ones and go from there. I plan to do that and order some Berghia still. There's lots of info on them our there and I think they can be effective.

 

[TTTony]

I added a small file fish to my 26 bow front, that was covered in aptasisa , it ate every one in a few weeks,I have transferred it over to my 75 fish tank.

 

[dutch27]

I worry that a file fish will starve to death once it runs out of aiptasia, do you notice it eating other stuff?

 

[taz_12777]

What about adding a copper band?

 

[meir]

What about adding a copper band?

Same problem, also lower survival rates

 

[dutch27]

Same problem, also lower survival rates

I had success with one from Diver's Den in an old 120g, it was my favorite fish in the tank, ate aiptasia and frozen. That said, difficulty of keeping them aside, I also don't know that I'm comfortable putting one in a 40B, that's not a large footprint for a fish that may get to 8".

 

[nine9d]

Agree, but I would still kalk them and get the nudi's. Plus, you get to say nudi's, lol!

 

[TTTony]

My file fish is doing great eating pellets , krill and , squid with the bigger tank mates.

 

[meir]

I had success with one from Diver's Den in an old 120g, it was my favorite fish in the tank, ate aiptasia and frozen. That said, difficulty of keeping them aside, I also don't know that I'm comfortable putting one in a 40B, that's not a large footprint for a fish that may get to 8".

Yeah, exactly not for a 40b

 

[mets17127]

The nudis die once the aiptasia is gone for sure. A file fish at least has a chance of acclimation to prepared foods. Petco (I know, I know) often sells them advertised as coming from the farm eating aiptasia. Catch them on shipment day and get it in the bag.

 

[dutch27]

I'm at the end of my 2nd week of Vibrant dosing. I'm doing the recommended 1ml per 10g, but twice a week, based on some threads I've read. So far, it seems to be working. Last week's WC the algae pulled off the rocks much easier, as of today the hair algae looks thinner/looser, and some is visibly dying from the tip down. I'm always a little worried about bottled bacteria products being snake oil, but so far this is looking to be viable. We'll see how it goes over the next few weeks.

Nuked a couple of the worst Aiptasia, I love watching those things melt. Even took out a few of those big dumb vermetids as well that were irritating some corals. I may go on another killing spree at the next WC, lol.

 

[Papi Sanchez]

I just went thru the dreaded aiptisa eat myself over the last 3 months started with aptisa x works ok then I hit them with the wand still had west more than yo should ordered a bunch of nudis from salty underground and after 3 weeks I'm cleaned out best way to go in my opinion

 

[dutch27]

A little update on the Vibrant. Feels like I've hit a turning point where the algae isn't just easier to remove, but doesn't come back nearly as much between water changes. A lawnmower blenny I added awhile back seems to be keeping the (bare) bottom of the tank in pretty great shape as well. Might be the most shy fish I've ever seen.

Ordered up two new Jebao's, PP-8's. After putting my current one onto a wave setting for the first time after a 3-4 years of ownership, it decided to stop working correctly. I thought it had stopped working complete, ordered two new ones, got the shipping email, and it turned back on, lol. Assuming this one keeps running I should be able to link all three up and have them work together.

 

[nine9d]

I've noticed that Vibrant does really help in clearing up some algae's. I am just dosing once a week right now, I have some bubble algae that I want to get rid of, but haven't moved to the twice a week dosing yet. I think I'm just on my third week right now. How long has this tank been up? Also, do you have an updated pic since treating with Vibrant?

 

[dutch27]

This tank has been up for two years, I think. Some of the rock came from a previous 20g that was 1-1.5 yrs old, and the rest was quarried rock from FL. TBH, I've convinced myself my algae issues are from using quarried rock, as I never had these issues with a tank that used harvested live rock. If I ever start another tank I'm going to use harvested rock, or do an acid bath of the rock to burn off the surface layers to try and reduce/eliminate phosphate leeching.

I don't have progress photos unfortunately. The largest difference right now is the algae on the back glass, and in a couple of spots on the rocks, but my HA has been pretty prolific. The most annoying patch is one that hides a Red Dragon acro when it gets long. It's tough to remove without risking an accidental frag.

 

[nine9d]

Well if you do accidentally frag it, you have my number.

What are you running for GFO? And how good are you at changing out the media?

 

[dutch27]

I gave up on GFO awhile ago. Without a sump it's way too much of a PITA. The Two Little Fishies reactor was a nightmare to change media, it leaked every time I put it back together and didn't come apart easy. Then I tried the BRS reactor, but that one leaked at the hose attachment points no matter what I did, so I took the GFO offline after that one failed, I was too frustrated. Without a sump to put the leaky reactors into, it just wasn't worth it. I've consider trying to run an HOB with a bag of GFO in it, but I don't know that it would be terribly effective.

I don't get how hard it is for these companies to make decent HOB reactors for the stuff. The other issue was fitting a supply pump in the display. I was using a maxijet, and if it was in any way restricted it was very loud.