First Reef Tank (40g)

[Bifferwine]

I would advise against adding another wrasse or a trio of anthias to a 40 gallon tank. It's just too small to accommodate those fish.

How about a pair of purple or red firefish? They're colorful and active.

 

[dcantucson]

Dean I would recommend waiting a while before getting another fish Let your tank settle down and make sure everything is okay. Often rushing things by getting a new fish can result in disaster. Watch you remaining stock and make sure everything is in line before adding new livestock.

 

[DeanG13]

Agreed on the waiting. Not in a huge rush to get another fish, just puttin it out there, trying to get some ideas.

Biff, not a huge fan of firefish ever since my room mate's disappeared in his tiny 10g biocube! How hardy are firefish, do you know?

 

[Bifferwine]

Firefish are pretty hardy, but they are prone to jumping. That's probably where your roommate's went!

 

[DeanG13]

New Pagoda, opened up nicely after only a couple hours.

Also got a star polyp frag, it's to the left.

(The quality of my pics have sucked thus far... iPhone camera isn't the greatest...Will post some real digital camera pics soon)

 

[Bifferwine]

I love the new pagoda! Great colors.

 

[DeanG13]

New Pics! Real Camera!

Full Shot:

Another:

Rare African Leopard Wrasse sighting:

One rock, couple different corals
(anyone know what the brown guy is towards the left??):

Pagoda against the green background of my wall:

Mushroom:

Zoas:

The Crew:

Newest addition:

Moonlight shot:

 

[Bifferwine]

Wow it's coming along really well! Everything looks really healthy.

 

[dcantucson]

Looks good Dean. Were you going to add more rock at some point?

 

[DeanG13]

Don't have any plans to add any more rock anytime soon Dcantucson. Although my tank looks fairly long (36"), it's not very wide (only about a foot). My plan was to keep rock off all the walls for easier cleaning and what not. Also I hope to add at least one more fish and given my tank isn't huge, I don't want to limit myself further.

Thanks for all the compliments!

 

[DeanG13]

Haven't updated in a while, so here it is.

Diamond Sand Sifting Goby- carpet death
African Leopard Wrasse- also passed away...
Pagoda Coral- found a new home :)

New additions:
Leather Toadstool
Longnose Hawkfish
Scooter Blenny
A few more sand sifting snails

I've noticed a recent bloom in reddish algae, first noticed a small amount a several weeks ago, but it had subsided after a water change. This most recent bloom comes about 2 weeks after a 10 gallon water change. You can see it in some of the pics.

Any info about the most recent additions is appreciated, here are some pics!

-Dean

 

[Bifferwine]

Oh wow. Sorry about your fish deaths! Any idea what happened to the wrasse? Everything else looks good though!

 

[DeanG13]

The wrasse was probably a poor choice for my tank from the start. He would spend most of the day under the sand and only come up once or twice daily to feed and poke around the tank. I went on vacation for two days and when I came back my CUC was already working on making his final arrangements. I waited about 2 weeks before adding first the hawkfish, then most recently the scooter blenny.

 

[rwynn]

Did you check your parameters recently? Nitrates maybe? Also is that area with the red junk getting proper flow?

 

[DeanG13]

Nitrates are at 10 ppm, everything else (phosphates, nitrites, ammonia) is negligable as well. It seems just the opposite rwynn, the red junk is popping up in the areas of high flow. Like right in front of my power head and on the tops of rocks. There is a circular flow in my tank, going from left to right in the front and from right to left in the back. I'll most likely end up scrubbing the red off if it gets any worse, followed by some syphoning and a water change. Anyone dissapprove?

 

[Bifferwine]

No disapproval here. Manually remove as much of it as possible. Remember, any of it that dies in the water will just re-release its nutrients.

 

[DeanG13]

Time for an update.

New light overhaul! I added some Current Nova Extremes (2 39W T5 HO 10k and 2 39W T5 HO Actinic) which I hung in addition to the Coralife Ballast I already had mounted on there.

Other stuff added:

Orange Starfish
Mammoth Rock-O-Mushrooms (about 24 individual shrooms on the entire rock)
Two P.J. Cardinals (just added this morning so still acclimation and thus not in any pics)

Dearly Departed:

Coral Banded Shrimp
Scooter Blenny




Hanging and Mounted Light Combo:

Just the right clearance:

Down Tank Shot:

Photogenic Clown:

Rock-O-Shrooms:

Again:

Starfish Trooper:

Almost FTS:

 

[laura-jean]

Nice tank! I just got the same starfish. I hear they are tricky to keep but it was only $12 at my LFS and I couldn't resist a challenge. :coolgleem

 

[Bifferwine]

Wow looking good! That's a really nice mushroom rock. Lots of different types on one rock.

 

[cageburn]

great work looks good, +1 that star is awsome, those shrooms are ssweet too