BlueSallymandr's 40 gallon AIO tank

[MichaelB]

Wonderful news glad to hear things are looking up. +1 to derek_SR feed fish more.

Reef roids can work Ive done it myself.

A bit of caution about it:

1.) If you use it no more than 1-2 times a week.
2.) If can cause a explosion in vermatid snails and also aptasia loves the stuff.
3.) If you have Nitrate and phosphate that you are dosing I would recommend keep using that verse reef roids if your only purpose is to keep nutrients up.

Corals love it the feeding response is insane. Just be very sparing with using it as the potential cons can easily out way the benefits.

Great product l!!! I don't mean to imply otherwise by my comments above. Only suggesting use moderately.

 

[Coral reefer]

Reef roids can replace adding phosphate for sure. Won’t bring up the nitrate tho really

 

[BlueSallymandr]

I'm bad at updates and got distracted by life stuff but the tank is going pretty well! All my fish are healthy, and have been joined by a Hector's goby. That guy hid in my rockwork for over a week, and I thought for sure he died and got eaten by snails, but now he's out and seems to be adjusting well and eating.

I also added some new corals from the fragging workshop: (thank you to everyone who brought in corals!) a green hammer, a space invader chalice, and a forest fire montipora, plus some fireworks clove polyps from Arvin. Then I picked up a few more corals at the CFM: two favites and an unnamed torch (I got a less expensive one as sort of a tester). All the new corals are doing well with the exception of the chalice, which hasn't fully recovered from being stolen and buried by my pistol shrimp. I've been waiting to glue down my new corals until the rocks are a little cleaner to help them stick, due to problem algae.

I am having issues with bryopsis and bubble algae (the bryopsis is bothering me way more). I tried two doses of fluconazole, and nothing happened! I have no idea why this didn't work. I'm hoping to get some pitho crabs and lettuce sea slugs this week to combat the algaes more naturally. There are small fish guards over the pump intakes which I think should be enough to protect the slugs. Here's what the tank looks like after a lot of manual removal:

I know, I know, I'm working on it, hahaha. I need to remember to buy some smaller heaters that will fit into the back of the sump, I had to evict them from their original spot to fit my protein skimmer in and they don't look great in the main display.

Did some testing today. I got some Hanna checkers for phosphate and nitrate, since I've been struggling with them and wanted to make sure that I'm basing my actions on accurate measurements. Well, turns out I'm still at 0 for both! But now it's a more precise zero measurement
pH - 8.2
KH - 7
Nitrate - 0.0
Phosphate 0.00
Mg - 1155
Salinity - 1.025

In response, I dosed some carbonates and fed reef roids, but I am hesitant to add phosphate and nitrate directly while I have an algae bloom. I probably should add some magnesium too?

 

[MichaelB]

I'm bad at updates and got distracted by life stuff but the tank is going pretty well! All my fish are healthy, and have been joined by a Hector's goby. That guy hid in my rockwork for over a week, and I thought for sure he died and got eaten by snails, but now he's out and seems to be adjusting well and eating.

I also added some new corals from the fragging workshop: (thank you to everyone who brought in corals!) a green hammer, a space invader chalice, and a forest fire montipora, plus some fireworks clove polyps from Arvin. Then I picked up a few more corals at the CFM: two favites and an unnamed torch (I got a less expensive one as sort of a tester). All the new corals are doing well with the exception of the chalice, which hasn't fully recovered from being stolen and buried by my pistol shrimp. I've been waiting to glue down my new corals until the rocks are a little cleaner to help them stick, due to problem algae.

I am having issues with bryopsis and bubble algae (the bryopsis is bothering me way more). I tried two doses of fluconazole, and nothing happened! I have no idea why this didn't work. I'm hoping to get some pitho crabs and lettuce sea slugs this week to combat the algaes more naturally. There are small fish guards over the pump intakes which I think should be enough to protect the slugs. Here's what the tank looks like after a lot of manual removal:

View attachment 66164

I know, I know, I'm working on it, hahaha. I need to remember to buy some smaller heaters that will fit into the back of the sump, I had to evict them from their original spot to fit my protein skimmer in and they don't look great in the main display.

Did some testing today. I got some Hanna checkers for phosphate and nitrate, since I've been struggling with them and wanted to make sure that I'm basing my actions on accurate measurements. Well, turns out I'm still at 0 for both! But now it's a more precise zero measurement
pH - 8.2
KH - 7
Nitrate - 0.0
Phosphate 0.00
Mg - 1155
Salinity - 1.025

In response, I dosed some carbonates and fed reef roids, but I am hesitant to add phosphate and nitrate directly while I have an algae bloom. I probably should add some magnesium too?

Glad to hear things are looking up now.

Be very light with reef roids corals love it. But it often causes more trouble than it's worth spiking nutrients and if u have vermatids, bristle worms, and aptasia they will possibly start growing and reproducing at much faster rates. It's ok to use but again be very sparing with how much and how often.

You can do Corrective doses of mag if you wish, not something you normally need to dose daily unless u have crazy amounts of corals. I might need to add some probably every 3 months or so just to keep it from going to low. Typically water changes are enough to keep it where it should be.

If mag gets way off it can be a real challenge to keep alk and calc stable.

 

[Darkxerox]

Strange that the bryopsis didn't respond to the fluconazole. Might not be bryopsis?

Definitely could benefit from an urchin after manual removal. They do a great job of keeping the rocks clean once you crop things down.

 

[requiem]

I’m starting a tank journal for my new 40 gallon tank, which is an upgrade from my 16 gallon BioCube that got me into the hobby. Thank you so much to the club members who helped me pick out equipment for this setup earlier!

Current equipment:

IM 40 gallon AIO tank
Reefi Uno Pro 2.1 light with 3D printed shade
100W Eheim JAGER Aquarium Heater (x2)
INKBIRD Temperature Controller ITC-306T Series
Natural sea water

Next I will add an ATO and protein skimmer. I just got the equipment but I’m holding off because I redid the epoxy on the live rock, and I read that it’s best to shut off the protein skimmer for a while after that. (Also I had to evacuate my home because of a nearby fire this weekend, which really cut into my tank time).

I took apart the mesh lid that came with the AIO, replaced the ¼” mesh with 1/8” mesh since I’m keeping small fish, and reassembled it. It doesn’t look too bad of a job, haha. Could be better.

View attachment 62007

Pictured here: my cat who didn’t help me assemble anything.

View attachment 62008

Aquascaping:

About half are freshly purchased dry rock, and half are live rock reused from my old tank. My previously epoxied rocks broke apart when I was moving them, so I just sort of stacked them as best I could. I got some reef epoxy that cures underwater later, and redid the aquascape. Now it looks the way I wanted, but the difference between the old and the new rocks is so glaring. I’m hoping the colors will balance out in the end.

Speaking of color balance, I’m not sure I’m happy with the light’s spectrum. I might play around with it a bit and get it closer to natural daylight. I know my phone’s camera is not loving these lights! My photos are turning out terribly.

View attachment 62011
View attachment 62012

Current livestock:

I moved everything over from my smaller tank, but unfortunately I had two losses. I think I must have acclimated them improperly to the new water, plus my firefish had been going downhill since it spent well over a week in the pump chamber before I found it.

Royal gramma
Yasha goby/Randall’s pistol shrimp (these two found each other immediately in the new tank)
Skunk cleaner shrimp
Tuxedo urchin
Pompom crab
Snails (trochus, cerith, nassarius)

cute kitty

 

[Apon]

Does my gorg grow in your tank?