thirdchild's turtleslowspeed 40g breeder

[thirdchild]

Upgraded from a 24g JBJ to a 40g breeder this summer
So here are pics from the build...

 

[wysiwyg]

beautiful tank

 

[creefer]

Really nice set up! Is that a 20L sump?

 

[jaftica]

Very nice!

 

[Bry]

Nice tank!

 

[thirdchild]

Yes, it's the Petco special... I got a 40g and 20l during the $1/g sale. Then, things got out of hand. haha

Here it is today. I moved in my original livestock about a month ago. Now adding frags to fill in all that empty space...

 

[thirdchild]

I think looking just about all my sps during the upgrade made me a little anxious for replacements...

Added this interesting australian chalice from reefkoi on Sunday

Then added a sassy little tie dye yesterday

Today added brand new sps frags

Ultimate Frags Tricolor

Palmer's Blue Mille

Red Robin Stag

Purple Dragon Eyes

Tierra Del Fuego

 

[revhtree]

That seriously looks great! Congrats!

 

[revsgirl]

Looks great!

 

[thirdchild]

Boy I've had a rocky time since I last posted. I added a red spotted blenny which apparently gave my clown something and they both died. The deaths and not having enough media threw the water quality off and killed a bunch of my new frags after I tried dosing different things. So the tie-dye, the palmers and the purple dragon eyes are the only survivors.

Still working on the algae bloom, but now that things are coloring up... I'm adding new life to the tank!

Cquest Onyx Clownfish

And a Red BTA

So here's the current FTS

 

[james30ct]

Really nice rtba. Hopefully it wasn't ich that killed your fish. Do you run carbon?

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Sorry about your troubles. I love your RBTA!! The tank is looking very nice!!! :)

 

[thirdchild]

Really nice rtba. Hopefully it wasn't ich that killed your fish. Do you run carbon?

Thanks! I hope the RBTA grows. It's only about an 1" right now.

I hope it isn't ich! Whatever it is hasn't affected my 3y goby or the new clown. So I'm going to start stocking now.

I was using Chemipure Elite from my old nano. Then I realized I needed more media and switched to BRS ROX and GFO in a DIY basket. I'll get some reactors next probably and make better use of my media.

 

[thirdchild]

Sorry about your troubles. I love your RBTA!! The tank is looking very nice!!! :)

Thanks! Hopefully I've gotten past some starting pains

 

[thirdchild]

Now that the algae isn't super horrible, it's not so embarrassing to zoom in.

So here we are today.

And here is a progression over the last couple of months
Aug 2012

Sept 2012

Nov 2012

Dec 2012

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Your tank is looking great! It is great seeing how the tank has progressed.

 

[skinz78]

Looking good, love the progression shots. Keep the updates coming!

 

[thirdchild]

Well then I had to travel a bunch for work and the tank hit a rough patch with algae issues.

After adding more crew two weeks ago, I've got a handle on it. I think I'm ready to try adding a few things to the tank again!

 

[thirdchild]

Let's kick off the new year with some new pics! It's been like 7 months since my last post.... hit some ups and downs but the 2013 ended alright.

RBTA just split again, right around New Years

Yellow acans are growing, but the rainbow might be getting too much light now

Added some more acan frags to the family. Some are already growing!

My millepora and my encrusting montiporas have noticeably grown

Looking forward to seeing my new montipora caps grow. I've never had these before

Last but not least, my favorite coral is finally recovering from some tissue recession and the fungia keeps on trucking. LOL

All in all, pretty good few months after the new skimmer dialed in. I'm wondering if I should still try the wide angle lens and downgrade to one radion so I can upgrade it to a pro. Maybe I'll give up and get a tripod this year too for sharper pics too.

 

[thirdchild]

Alright, so I mailed one of my Gen1 to Ecotech last Friday to be upgraded to a Gen3 Pro for $275. If you have a Gen1, you have to mail it in for servicing. Only Gen2 folks get to DIY with a kit. So ultimately, had budget another $50 or so for shipping back and forth.

I started the upgrade by buying the upgrade form for $0 via the online store. Downloaded the form from the order confirmation. Filled out the form and mailed back the fixture and form. I recently added the wide angle lens and left it on the fixture to be serviced. The fixture arrived at Ecotech Monday. Ecotech called me Wednesday ready to ship. So the actual servicing went perfectly and it came back this Friday afternoon. Downtime was 1 week. I used my 2nd fixture to keep the lights on during downtime, haha.

So to quote some stats, I'm going from
Gen 1 with wide angle lens at 65% with a custom light scheme
• Cool White: 8 Cree XP-G (40W)
• Royal Blue: 10 Cree XP-E (30W)
• Blue: 8 Cree XP-E (24W)
• Green: 4 Cree XP-E (12W)
• Hyper Red: 4 Osram Oslon SSL (12W)

to
Gen3 Pro with wide angle lens at 45% with the Radiant Color scheme
• Cool White: 8 Cree XP-G2 (40W)
• Deep Blue: 8 Osram Oslon Square (40W )
• Blue: 8 Cree XP-E (24W)
• Green: 4 Cree XP-E (14W)
• Hyper Red: 4 Osram Oslon SSL (12W)
• Yellow: 2 Osram Oslon SSL (6W)
• Indigo: 4 SemiLEDs (10W)
• UV: 4 SemiLEDs (10W)

Coverage First Thoughts
I've only had the upgraded fixture on the tank a few hours but it is definitely capable of covering the entire tank. With a Gen1+lens, the sides were darker and I moved my coral towards the middle. Now I think I'll have no problems using all my space.

Color First Thoughts
Color is the main reason for my upgrade. I really wanted to see if I can bring back the richer reds I had in the past and I heard folks say coral were more colorful under Gen2. Glad I procrastinated and ended up with Gen3. Things are popping a lot under blues during dawn today and daytime looks more natural and less yellow. This seems weird considering the lights now have some yellow leds.

Anyways I'll use Radiant Color at 45% for the next 2 weeks and see what happens before I start trying to tweak things.

These pics were shot at different times of the day, but you can still tell how better the coverage is under the upgraded fixture.

Before

After (Ignore the sand/algae... my protein skimmer needed maintenance)

Also clowns are weird...