Rick's 40 gallon breeder

[Sm51498]

Mangroves have always tempted me, the idea of running a small biotope tank next to the reef is alluring. What a cool picture!

 

[Steadyreef42]

Mangroves have always tempted me, the idea of running a small biotope tank next to the reef is alluring. What a cool picture!

Thanks! The new leaves have this very pretty red tinge to them.

 

[Steadyreef42]

Broke up and fragged some mini colonies of blue-eyed blondie, punk rocker , and king Midas zoas . 2 days in and all are still alive . Hopefully in a couple of months I can trade them for different zoas. As I'm am always lacking reefing funds maybe this can bring some more variety to my tank. Knock on wood everything seems to be going well with the reef other than some turf algea that my turbos nibble on when they are in the mood :)

 

[Steadyreef42]

After looking back on my thread I realized that if I made frags to trade will I spread dinoflagellates to someone else's tank. I have had no visual dinos for a few weeks . Defiantly don't wanna have somebody have a problem

 

[Paul87]

After looking back on my thread I realized that if I made frags to trade will I spread dinoflagellates to someone else's tank. I have had no visual dinos for a few weeks . Defiantly don't wanna have somebody have a problem

I doubt it. Depends on the system parameters it's going into. I've bought frags with dino's on the plugs, and it died off in my tank. Same with green hair algae too, but I would be cautious with some algae.

 

[Steadyreef42]

I doubt it. Depends on the system parameters it's going into. I've bought frags with dino's on the plugs, and it died off in my tank. Same with green hair algae too, but I would be cautious with some algae.

Thank you for the advice. I believe my parameters were out of wack when I started to see them.

 

[Kap18512]

Looks nice. What did you do with all that room between your sump and your DT?

 

[Steadyreef42]

Looks nice. What did you do with all that room between your sump and your DT?

Thank you. I use it for electrical . I have it pretty messy at the time but it's nice to keep it out of sight

 

[Steadyreef42]

Side shot with phone pressed to glass. Bird nest coral showing almost daily noticeable growth! Even a small nub of it that I bumped off and epoxied to rubble rock is sprouting limbs. All corals growing and looking healthy. However, noticing bubble algea inbetween a couple of zoas:(. Had to be in the tank awhile since nothing new has been introduced in some time . Taking the good with the bad . :) Knocking on wood that nothing bad happens

 

[Neon Jungle]

I also pickup up a 40 from the sale. Awesome build bro !

 

[Steadyreef42]

I also pickup up a 40 from the sale. Awesome build bro !

Thanks! The awesome part about the 40s are the dimensions and how versatile they are. To be able to pick one up for 40 bucks is so sweet

 

[Steadyreef42]

Added a couple of torches. Having a bit of turf algea here and there. Tried pulling out as much as I can but some is really in there. Got and emerald crab which I've seen eat it but not really making a dent. Overall still very happy with my reef:)

 

[Sm51498]

Coming along nicely! I too am having a bit of turf algae issues. I added a coral beauty and he picks at it constantly. hopefully he'll make a dent. on past tanks adding a herbivore and keeping up with physical removal eventually solved it, so just keep it up!

 

[Steadyreef42]

Coming along nicely! I too am having a bit of turf algae issues. I added a coral beauty and he picks at it constantly. hopefully he'll make a dent. on past tanks adding a herbivore and keeping up with physical removal eventually solved it, so just keep it up!

Lol . My lfs had a 50 percent off sale last weekend and i got a lawnmower blenny for 10 bucks. He grazes the rock right past it. I hope he develops a taste for it at some point.

I'm thinking about trying that vibrant liquid aquarium cleaner I've seen on the boards hmmmm the life of a reefer

 

[Sm51498]

I've never been much for bottles to fix my problems but it looks like people are having success with it. I tell myself that I just need to get my corals growing and stay on top of it and it all just hits a tipping point. I'm giving it a couple months lol.

 

[Steadyreef42]

Low on funds but needed to scrape corraline and algae all along the bottom of the glass right above the sand bed where the mag float couldn't reach so I rigged a razor scraper with free materials around the house. Old debit card, 3/4 pvc and razor blade Made this using a regular hand saw. I definitely had to be careful not to cut myself badly during the process! What a difference! I was so used to it looking crappy now it looks like a new tank.

 

[Steadyreef42]

I have also started to dose regular h202 peroxide from the drug store (controversial I know) to help remove this turf algea that has been driving me nuts. I've been manually pulling as much as I can and now I hope to dissolve as much of the turf algea as I can to achieve that look I've been wanting of super clean rock. I also plan to finally begin a steady biweekly water change schedule and reduce feeding to every other day. I've been in the habit of taking the approach of not testing and not performing water changes . After reading about successful reefers who hardly change water or test I'm still hopeful I can attain the goal of very low maintenance reef. However constantly worrying about if I need to replenish trace elements has been a pain for sure. So I foresee many 8 gallon water changes in the future lol. I believe my tank has looked as nice as it does without looking horrible due to heavy skimming and running a refugium for nutrient export . Hopefully with h2o2 dosing and water changes the turf algae will disappear soon.

I've been adding 30ml of h202 twice a day for the past three days. This may seem a like a lot but I've been closely monitoring all livestock and everything other that zoas closing for a moment look great and uneffected . The algea is dying down and turning white so I foresee it dissolving away soon.

 

[Steadyreef42]

New fuge light!! Also I bought a used brs reactor with the cobalt pump for 40 bucks ! Came with phosguard and marine land carbon free. My turf algae is almost completely gone.!!!! I'm also dosing vibrant liquid cleaner

 

[Steadyreef42]

I ditched the h202 dosing as my corals were taking a hit.

Don't know if my turf algea loss can be attributed to my phosguard in a reactor or my vibrant dosing or both but my tank is stellar compared to what it was. Still have some spots here and there but I'll take that any day

 

[Sm51498]

That is looking stellar! Just have to get time to grow.