Carey's 40b Reef Build

[bribo12]

Originally Posted by TheTodd

Where are those pictures?

I concur! No pics mean it never happened

[TheTodd]

Sad, but true.

[Macscale]

Pictures would be great Carey!

How are the orbits working out for you?

[carey]

Finally took some pictures. lol Been really busy, lots going on.

The orbits seem to be just the right amount of light for the corals I have. They have all opened pretty much and look pretty good too. I however wouldn't reccomend using the fixture over a deeper tank, just isn't enough oomph to the lights and they most likely wouldnt punch through the water any deeper than mine. I really, really like the fixture though. I will update at a later date when I am sure of what it can keep, but like I said for the most part it seems perfect.
I am also having an issue with water circulation, there is a huge dead spot on the right side of the tank, for now I added a 425 koralia to the back right corner near the sand to keep debris from accumulating. I have the mp10 running at about half power, any higher and the corals blow around too much. I have a tunze on hand that I was thinking of adding but I had hoped the mp10 would be enough, it was perfect for the 24 by 24 cube. Any other thoughts on what I can use for water circulation instead of the mp10?

Anyways, here are the pictures. They are pretty awful though, but it should give you an idea of whats going on in the tank. Oh, and the new yellow headed goby is doing just fine as is the hawk.

[carey]

[carey]

[carey]

Oops, almost forgot. I ordered some inverts from reefs2go. Guess the fourth time is the charm cause this order was all alive and looked good.
I got 100 blue legs
100 nassarius snails
4 white legged hermits
10 nerites
and the coralline coral cluster they sell since I have all dead base rock I needed some purple algae so it can spread
I split the hermits and snails with a girlfriend so I ended up with 50 of each. Put about 15 of each into the 40b and the rest went into the 180g.
The critters were all alive but very very small, but hey, what do you expect for a few cents each I guess.

[deckaman225]

That is a really nice tank Carey awesome job!!!

[Sniperhank]

I"m interested to see how your coralline cluster is. I saw it advertised and didn't know what to think, tbh. Though they are hit or miss at times, they do usually have something over the top different.

[deckaman225]

Wat is that coral 5 up from the bottom blue one

[carey]

The coralline cluster is half broken but there is a good amount of purple on it so I guess i got what I needed. Looks alot nicer online though lol

I think that picture is the mushroom, not sure if thats the one in question.

Once I get my camera adjusted for the blue I will take some more.

[deckaman225]

Ok cool I'm talkin about the one 5 up and it looks like hair type but thicker lol that's my best explanation lol

[BigRedsReefs10]

I like your scape, that's gonna look sick when you fill it up with coral and it grows out. Looks like it's coming along nicely

[TheTodd]

Looks nice. That's a whole lot of new stuff!

[Macscale]

Looks awesome Carey! The scape is amazing. I know where I'm getting my rock for my future 40b build! Haha, good to know the corals are doing well under the orbit! I really want to try on out!.

[carey]

Today was a pretty good day at the lfs for the 40b at least! LOL

Picked up a red serpent star, a really nice large frag of hollywood stunner chalice, a HUGE cinnamon paly, a nice colony of acans, a red/orange tree sponge and a torch. I think thats it lol.
Also picked up a bottle of LPS coral food, it's like a gel and actually stays put when you feed the coral polyps. The guy at the lfs fed a few acans and the reaction awesome, they immediately gobble it up. $25 bucks for the bottle but it should last like forever since I am not into feeding my corals constantly.
Will take some photos tommorow when they all open up, didnt get home til like 11 tonight so not the best time to shoot pictures. hehe
They had sooo many nice things that they got in just for our reef meeting it was hard not leaving with more. They had a pretty large yellow tang but I figured I'd wait til I get back from Philly and see if they dont get some more tangs in.

[redsea]

Red Serpant Stars are so cool! Color=check, personality=check! I'd like to get some kind of Serpant for the 29g at some point.

Sorry to hear about your husband's grandfather, it's always tough losing a family member.

[carey]

Yep, I got lucky that he had a red one, the only one he had too. lol

I had gotten another one a few days before, a striped leg serpent that was missing one leg. I got him home and he spit off all his legs and died. :-( So they gave me another one last night which was very cool of them.

Hoping to hook up with MrX when I go up North this wee and maybe get some new corals, so that should be uber interesting. Have my stryfoam cooler all ready for the trip. lol I'd get fish too but a 16 hour ride in my car might not be the best for them. hehe but corals I think will make the trip just fine.

[Sniperhank]

Have a safe trip to the other side of the state Carey. If you have a cooler, then as long as you got them acclimated once you got home you should be fine in a large enough bag. I have livestock shipped to me all the time, both over night and 2 day...though 2 day really pushes it.

[mr_X]

I just had a clam survive a 3 day trip. It was a screw up on USPS's part, but I was sure I was going to open the box to some foul smelling water, and it was just fine.