High Tide Aquatics

Jeff's 40 SPS Tank

zambavi said:
The dotty's can be mean but they also eat bristle worms :) Usually if you house them with other semi-aggressive and or larger fish it's not a problem. You never know the true meanness scale of your dottyback though until you get him in your tank.
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I have a love hate relationship with dottys, sure they are nasty, but they eat some much unattractive stuff. My aldabraensis is a complete dick, but always has a fat stomach from eating who knows what type of nuisance.
 
This is one of my favorite build threads out there at the moment. If I could pull off some aquascaping like this in 1/34 scale for my little 40 I'd be really happy.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1827226&page=10
 
tuberider said:
I have a love hate relationship with dottys, sure they are nasty, but they eat some much unattractive stuff. My aldabraensis is a complete dick, but always has a fat stomach from eating who knows what type of nuisance.
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No doubt... I had one in my 80 when living in NC and loved him. He was mean as can be but I never saw a bristle worm in my tank. The big regal was still queen though and wasn't afraid to open a can on the dotty.
 
Any concern that the minute space between the plexi and tank bottom will become a bristle worm condo? I find them under just about everything that sits on the bottom for very long. It must accumulate poo as well.

Also consider how will you clean the side right at the bottom. I do not have rock against the back of my tank for this reason. Will the rubble bottom start back far enough to scrape the side?
 
Hey Richard,

I'm intending for the acrylic sheet mounted (small) rubble islands to take up most but not all of the bottom glass... leaving some space on the sides closest to the viewing panes. I’ll have them cut in a irregular fashion to look more natural as opposed to square shapes. I think as long as the edges are smoothly sanded so there are no burrs and such the acrylic should sit very flush with the glass and not allow for anything to get under them… especially considering how heavy these things will likely be.

As far as the accessibility of cleaning the front and right side viewing panels I don’t intend for there to be any rock, faux rubble bottom, sand, etc within 2-3” of those viewing panels in any direction (up, down or sides). I want this guy to be very easily cleaned by a magnet with full range of motion in every direction without running into anything or stirring anything up.

As I’ve continued to research and read up on similar sized SPS tanks I’ve decided to up my potential flow as well by going with my two MP40 VorTechs on this tank instead of using just the one MP20. Starting out I’ll keep them turned way down but will have the ability to really increase my flow over time as coral grows in. The intention is to keep this tank a high flow tank with little to no dead areas so as to keep the “poo” suspended as much as possible. :glasses:
 
Just a note that "dither fish" might have a big impact on the nastiness.
I had a decent school of Chromis (7 or so), and the dotty was reasonably behaved.
But over the years I lost a few, and when it hit 3 or so, the dotty started becoming mean,
especially to the remaining elderly Chromis.
Unfortunately, the dotty died before I could actually check the experiment by buying more chromis.
Could have been an age related coincidence, but makes sense.
 
Rygh… You know this is just something I’ve got to do more research on. I’d prefer to have no fish at all in this tank. In a 40g display I can’t keep any of the fish I like so I could really care less about fish in this guy. It’s more a question of am I potentially losing any beneficial nutrients for my corals by not having fish poo flying around here and there. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a successful SPS tank before that had no fish in it. (outside of some propagation systems I guess). I always feed my corals a pretty nice assortment of coral foods so I don’t think it would be a problem to go no fish but am unsure. Like I said… more research to do. Love to see what you guys think on this as well.
 
I got you covered. ;) My flow is not tops so I siphon, and you are welcome to all you want.

I understand your 'its not about the fish'. I am pulling several out to get the focus back to coral. I only wanted a few and trying to find the right variety is difficult without seeing it interact in the tank.
 
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