Rwynn's 40g Reef Tank

[rwynn]

Just picked up my first coral(zoa colony) a fighting conch and 2k pods. Pics soon!

 

[rwynn]

So if yall haven't seen the other thread where I posted the amazing CL deal I've found I plan on going and picking it all up for 100$

2x 175w MH 2x T5 double actinics
Skimmer
125g Tank
Overflows
Pumps
Powerheads


I don't have the room to setup the 125g :(...though we went house shopping today so soon I will be starting a 125 thread.

I plan on using what I can(skimmer, pumps, etc) cleaning the rest and selling it. I should be able to get enough to completely outfit this tank with another 40lb of rock, a sump/fuge and add some awesome corals.

OH pictures of my first coral and my fighting conch! He is already at work cleaning like a pro and the zoas were opening up as I was putting them in the water.

I acclimated the zoas for 1hr by adding 1 baster full of tank water every 5 minutes. This was my first coral to acclimate so I googled it and sorta did what I generally found(everyone said to do it differently including no acclimation at all).

Hope everyone enjoys!

 

[rwynn]

Quick FTS while at home on lunch. Added a black background and it makes the tank look much better!

Also, my Zoa has mostly opned up, a few polyps are being stubborn, this is normal right?

 

[Bifferwine]

You know that chocolate chip star is not reef safe, right? It will nom nom nom on your corals.

Your zoas are looking really great -- it looks like they have pretty much settled in. Nice!

 

[rwynn]

Yes I am taking him to the LFS...I just forgot he was in there lol. Was planning on him being in the sump chillaxin by now(but no sump yet)

 

[rwynn]

I got lucky and remembered I had a water pump in my outdoor garden that was no longer being used, it happens to be strong enough and working for my sump...SO since that was the main thing I needed I might put it together this afternoon.

 

[Bifferwine]

Does it have metal parts? A lot of times pond and garden pumps have problems because they rust very easily. Also, they tend to put out a lot of heat. I'd run it in a trash can or something first and check the temp of the water to make sure it's not boiling the water (someone on here tried a Harbor Freight pond pump in their tank, and it heated the water up to 95 degrees or something crazy like that!)

 

[rwynn]

Hmmm, good call on that heat... But in my case it works perfectly, that and my MH keep the water closer to 80 and then at night the heater and the pump can do the same thing :) And I didn't see any metal, it was very similiar to the pump I had in the tank moving water but much stronger.

 

[rwynn]

Ok the CC is now in the sump and seems happy. I'll need halt flow and baffle this thing sometime this week so we can put some sand and Chaeto, a little rubble, and another 4k bottle of pods. I'll also move the heater and skimmer down as well.

 

[rwynn]

So today I went and got the pvc and acrylic for my overflow and sump. Pictures to come when I build it over the weekend.(I'll put it all in the DIY section as well)

I'm looking online for a good price on some Chaeto if I cannot find something uber cheap I'll make a run to SA next week sometime for the Chaeto, I need to get some good rubble rock and LS anyway.

I will also be hitting the various LFS in SA looking for some Toadstool Leather and a Ricordea if I can find any.

Anyone have any recommendations on either, and how are these two in comparison to keeping Zoa's. The Zoas I have are open and look happy, some even look to be splitting.

Everyone please pray for my family as we are having a baby boy tomorrow morning at 8am(inducing).(Pictures of course will be added lol)

 

[Bifferwine]

Leathers and ricordeas require similar care as the zoas -- and are just as easy to keep.

You can usually find chaeto on Ebay. I got my first bunch from Ebay for $5.

If you can't find any locally, let me know. I have tons and would be happy to send some to you!

Good luck tomorrow morning! Do you have a name picked out yet?

 

[rwynn]

Robert Malechi Wynn :) and thanks! The places online all sell the chaeto cheap, but the only place I've found with it in stock wants 45$ for shipping/handling for a 5$ algae lol. I'll let you know after my SA run this weekend.

 

[Bifferwine]

Okay. It usually ships fine in regular mail. It's not delicate like live corals or fish! I think most Ebay stores don't require overnight shipping. If you can't find anything, I'll send you a thermos full of it. I'm sending Alexander a thermos of it this week also.

 

[Ted]

They have cheeto at reefs2u and at aquarium designs. At AD you have to ask for it they will pull it right out of one of the fuges there. It is very good stuff the stuff I got online didnt last two weeks. Those are pretty much the only two shops I go to. Havent seen rics at r2u or I would already have some. At ad most of the corals seem a bit more expensive however I think they tend to try and get more unique stuff. I have bought almost all of my fish from ad. All but one of my corals have come from r2u They got a shipment in monday and I hope to get up there tomorrow to see what they got. I will let you know if they got rics if they did and I didnt buy them all then I will tell you. LOL I dont have that kind of money anyway but maybe I will get something.It has been a hard week. :D

 

[yote]

Now THATS a true reefer.Time for the newest family addition,you you building a new sump:D

But were hopeing and praying everything turns out like its supposed to.

 

[rwynn]

Now THATS a true reefer.Time for the newest family addition,you you building a new sump:D

But were hopeing and praying everything turns out like its supposed to.

Haha yeah, well my mother in law is here, and my parents are going to be here this weekend, I'll need to get some time away and kinda decompress after this so a quick run to SA for coral and chaeto will be a nice relaxer.

 

[Ted]

Didnt make it to r2u today. I will try tomorrow. Mother had a tank emergency. She has a freshwater 46 gal bow front. Her heater went out and she lost a fish and freaked. Anyway spent most of the day fixing her up. I went by pollys on pat booker dont bother. I wouldnt take anything from there for free. Tanks look like :pooh: corals all bleached looking was awful.

 

[rwynn]

Well, after the crazy busy weekend I have tabled the idea for my DIY overflow and sump for now. I seem to be having better luck with just weekly water changes, an Aqueon HOB 55 filter with biweekly catridge changes.

I'm going to save up the money to just buy an overflow, a good skimmer, and return pump instead of trying to cut corners there.

I'm going to modify the HOB filter into a fuge as well. I'm going to add a 1'' sandbed with a good amount of Chaeto to cut down on any nitrate build up caused by the catridges.

Everything looks good thus far.

 

[rwynn]

LFS had no Chaeto today. I'm suppose to call tomorrow and the guy there will bring some in from his fuge at home. Got my first Acan today! Pictures to come once I've got it in the tank.

 

[rwynn]

Ok! Pictures of my first Acan and a new FTS!

Warning the water is a bit bleeh from a recent feeding and moving my powerheads around and stirring the sand up. The only real change that I wanted to show off was the canopy looking thing on top now. I made it this weekend after I got tired of looking at the lights sitting up there all ugly like.

I included a before and after. I really like the shot of my acan here. I had just fed it by placing the top half of a juice bottle over it, spraying brine shrimp in and closing the lid. Each head got a ton of food. I even noticed a 5th polyp forming on the far left it went from almost unnoticable to completely expanded! I guess it liked shrimp! I'll get another pic tonight under the actinics, it looks fantastic then with a really nice green/blue color.

Let me know what yall think!