40 gallon Reef Journal

[jumpfreak26]

Well hello again everyone! its been like 6 months since Ive been on here, crazy for me since a year ago I was on here 3x a day lol, but I'm back for the summer now until August ish. Tank is running smoothly, my dad did minimal maintenance on it while I was gone..i.e(no water changes, clean skimmer once a week, and fed them...just so helpful )

Because of this, the majority of the coralline was gone and is now making a comeback..the corals are growing well, but not as much as expected. I tested for calcium yesterday and it was around 360 ppm, I'm gonna add more kalk to the ATO and see what happens....ummm what else....oh I'll have pics up tonight, just waiting for the halides to kick on. Ive moved the rocks around a bit here and there, let me know what you think when there yup.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Welcome back man, hows school been for you? Did you ever put a small tank in your room or decided thats to much right now?

Hey at least the tank is alive!

 

[jumpfreak26]

Schools been great, I absolutely love it down at NMSU, the weather is just my type...hot! Unfortunately I didnt take the other tank down to school, and was too much to handle alone at home, so it was drained and away.

It's still the same, just needs new water and a better lighting system , I'm gonna try and bring it back from the dead when I get an apartment/house next semester <------hell yeah!!) but we shall wait and see..until then heres some more pics from the 40, enjoy!

Enjoy! If you have any comments or suggestions please let me know, sry about the water clarity, its pi$$ing me off. Its that stupid goby who keeps pickin up sand and dropping it right in front of the powerheads...>:O

 

[zoalover34]

Looks nice, really like the 2 islands you have with the rock work!

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Looks good man. I like the growth around the bottom of that SPS, looks like its attaching nicely.

 

[jumpfreak26]

Thanks zoa, ive been messing around with it for awhile, but i think i've finally got it to where I like it.

My SPS were really taking off earlier this year, then calcium and water quality dropped and they haven really grown since, but im tryin to be religious with this tank now in terms of maintenance and testing and see its true potential. BTW im getting a well paying summer job this summer, so if anyone has SPS or anything there lookin to get rid of, let me know with an offer and Ill get back to you.

 

[TwistedGA]

Very nice!

 

[jumpfreak26]

Hi. Back from the dead. Been awhile since I've been on here, school has just absorbed me completely, along with being 300 miles away from my tank doesnt help. But for anyone new/old followers, i should have some pics of the tank up soon. It's about to be 3 years running in a few months, coral growth is massive on some, standstill for others.. odd, but nonetheless its all running smoothly. Pics to come!

 

[Newman]

probably looks wicked by now
what kind of light and K rating is on this tank? and what is the foot print of the tank? also what did you use for the background, it looks awesome and dark.

 

[jumpfreak26]

Trust me, I have alot of coral now. That little orange fan you see in left of the last FTS now takes up a good 1/4 of my available space haha.
For the lights I have 2x 150w 10,000k bulbs, and 4 T5HO 96 watt 460nm actinics as supplemental, I definitely need new ones by now though. The background is spraypainted on the exterior of the back panel with flat black, I've dealt with the stick on films and ill take the work to remove the paint than to mess with any of those curly-impossible-to-handle films.

 

[jumpfreak26]

Trust me, I have alot of coral now. That little orange fan you see in left of the last FTS now takes up a good 1/4 of my available space haha.
For the lights I have 2x 150w 10,000k bulbs, and 4 T5HO 96 watt 460nm actinics as supplemental, I definitely need new ones by now though. The background is spraypainted on the exterior of the back panel with flat black, I've dealt with the stick on films and ill take the work to remove the paint than to mess with any of those curly-impossible-to-handle films.

 

[Newman]

in that last FTS were the T5s turned on? i only recognize the 10,000Ks there. looks very nice.

I dont see any orange fan on the left, what i do see is that orange monti cap tho, and yea i'd expect that to grow fast in the right setup.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Looking forward to seeing updates.

 

[Newman]

we demand an update FTS lol

 

[jenny433]

Is there anything wrong with 4"? Whats the problems of not having 6"?

you should either go with a shallow 1 inch or a deep 6 inches of substrate. I would suggest a fine grain sugar sand or caribsea aragonite reef sand is fine though. The reason for the two varied depths is that a shallow bed needs to be cleaned and turned over but isn't deep enough to become anaerobic