Well, a little more than a year a go, I moved to my new house. In the process, I downsized my tank from a 75 to a 40 breeder, as well as 2 other separate 25 gallon tanks. At first, these were only a temporary measure until I upgraded to a much larger tank. This is still in the works, but I think I'll be keeping the 40, because I've come to like it quite a bit, which is odd considering it was to be more of just a "holding tank".
Anyways! The setup itself is quite simple. The equipment is as follows:
- 40 gallon tank
- HOB Coralife 220g skimmer
- 6 Bulb t5 Tek light fixture
- Heater + power heads
The livestock:
- 2 Maroon Clownfish
- Flame Angel
- Starry Blenny
- Filefish
- Large assortment of inverts (Emerald Crab, Anemone Crab, Cleaner and Peppermint Shrimp, etc...)
I'm pretty much as stocked up as I want to be right now.
The tank is where I want it to be in terms of water quality and algae control. I do a 25% water change every 3-4 weeks. Now I'm just concentrating on promoting coral growth, and watching it grow! I dose Iodine every day, clacium when needed, and nothing else aside from that yet. I use regular Instant Ocean Salt.
I'll start with a recent FTS:
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1189.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fz428%2Fphillanoix1%2FFTtoPost.jpg&hash=095e8a60d74a9e6db46ef20ee35da62c41e77aed)
Here's a shot of the anemone, it's fairly close to being fully expanded here, although you can see the white spots on the rocks around it where it reaches out to sometimes. The clowns are currently hiding under the nem tending to their most recent batch of eggs.
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1189.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fz428%2Fphillanoix1%2FNemAlone.jpg&hash=21a51bbdebe0e516f8656b780ff348ccbf0198e0)
Here's my anemone crab. I'm not sure of the exact name, but it's possible it's some type of cancrid crab, meaning it could potentially be mean to my snails or other crabs, but so far he or she is very docile and eats pellet food. An easy catch if she gets too aggressive!
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1189.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fz428%2Fphillanoix1%2FCrabNem2.jpg&hash=3c6f9e8f5bf4d69182bffd2107746c88f9ff9aaa)
She's always quite pregnant! A new batch of eggs pops up regularly.
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1189.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fz428%2Fphillanoix1%2FCrabPosin1.jpg&hash=2464bf8d504abb6c324f1cccfd42c2c5114e1be4)
But don't get her angry!
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1189.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fz428%2Fphillanoix1%2FCrabPosin2.jpg&hash=f63ad83cc79617b8c3376ca1b6c99000889fb632)
A shot of some of the Yumas and Rics. They seem to spread quickly in the tank.
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1189.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fz428%2Fphillanoix1%2Fyumas.jpg&hash=fc237c610d976a6e8cc8a1c8c8aafac01d2fbe52)
I'll be uploading many more pics, I've got plenty on my computer and camera waiting to be uploaded. Pics of the clownfish come next I hope!
Cheers.
Nice setup! I am curious, what type of anemone is that?
Really nice setup
Phil,
Nice setup and great pics!
Good job.
great looking tank. thats one big anemone!
Looks good Phil and very good photography skills
Ray
Thanks a lot for the comments guys!
JetJumper, the anemone is an S. Gigantea Carpet Anemone.
that crab looks crazy!
Very clean, healthy, happy looking system! Really shows a great attention to the care and feeding of your system... Just simple awesome.
very nice
thanks for sharing
your tanks looks great :P
I have to ask about your iodine dosing, what got you on to that?
Others say its not needed, but it is defiantly working for you.
Thanks
Thanks! As for the iodine, I started dosing a long time ago. I heard it was supposed to be good for oyur softies, and the Kent Marine Iodine has calcium and other goodies in it as well. They seem to like it!
I turned the powerheads off to do some maintenance, and my female maroon thought she'd look good with a new hairdo... not much of an update but I thought the rasta comb-over look suited her quite well.
EDIT: One thing I noticed with posting this picture is how much she has changed over the years. You can see a picture of her in my profile pic to the left. That was about 4 years ago. Now that she is over 5 inches long, she is so dark she almost looks black, and her stripes have gotten so thin, they look like they are dissapearing slowly. She is one mean looking mama! I included a pic of her with her eggs... I counted over five thousand of them some time ago... it seems like there are more now.
Update! I reaquascaped the tank recently, and things are recovering nicely. The anemone is healthy as ever, and now with more light it's getting darker, stubbier tentacles. I've been regulating feeding so it doesn't expand too much, but now that it's got more space I'll get it back to the size it used to be.
I also "modded" my tech light and added a blue reefbright strip, which really makes the colors pop. I'll post some actinic shots soon.
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg840.imageshack.us%2Fimg840%2F5655%2Fimg6398cropped2.jpg&hash=dfa265cbba325e9f5c488909ea6a22a3a30b13c6)
Here's an extra pic:
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg849.imageshack.us%2Fimg849%2F9113%2Fimg6404cropped.jpg&hash=9fb13c6d9bc753d0178590978b8abf752c72db61)
beautiful tank! Well done, what is that in your "extra Pic"??
One of the best tanks I've seen...
Thanks guys! The coral in the "extra pic" if Cirrhipathes spiralis, or spiral gorgonian. I plan on getting more since this one is really starting to do well in my tank. Target feeding is key!
Damn that looks nice!
Where did you find your spiral gorg? Love the new arrangement. Looks great!
Thanks guys, more pics to come this week!
Nano, I got the spiral gorg from Ray's.
everything looks natural, simple setup with great results.
Thanks for the kind comments guys, keep the critiques coming, good or bad :)
Well it's update time again. I changed up my t5 bulbs a bit, and I switched out some of the blue for more purple, and a fantastic looking red bulb. It give the tank a lot more wamrth, and and extra layer of colour that was lacking before. For some reason the red light is also allowing me to take pictures with near exact white blanace, so the pictures you see look just like what you see in person without needing adjustments.
I also cleaned up and streamlined the area around the tank, and picked up an ottoman for the perfect sitting and observing height!
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi946.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad302%2FPhilLAnoix%2Flongshotdark.jpg&hash=cb1cd434c3a0ab64a2482b41f87e1633e0fa6396)
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi946.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad302%2FPhilLAnoix%2Flongshotlight.jpg&hash=cb99ef11b82d638987289c4ca1cec0825e15858c)
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi946.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad302%2FPhilLAnoix%2FFTS-1.jpg&hash=ea5c56d6a8b820a666dba94a7af6837306924974)
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi946.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad302%2FPhilLAnoix%2Fcloseup3-1.jpg&hash=a3206ce9e574fb8705d217e844d7ca0f4046f9e8)
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi946.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad302%2FPhilLAnoix%2Fcloseup2-1.jpg&hash=6fb4e859318d9826d2913256923577f4f3d6eb6d)
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi946.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad302%2FPhilLAnoix%2Fcloseup1-1.jpg&hash=cad4dc4ed294d4e38464e838009346a89122cacc)
That flame angel really pops!!! Grats
Phil,
That tank is really looking good. Nice work!
Beautiful tank
Hey chubs are those rbta huge amazing!:)
Great job Phil, doesn't look at all like the tank I saw the last time Otis showed it to me.
Thanks! I'll be seeing you soon I think and I'll show you the tank again :)
Well, I finally did it and upgraded my lighting! I purchased an Ecotech Radion G2 aobut a week and a half ago, and I have to say, it looks amazing. I was pleased when my fiancé and tenants said "woah, it looks like the ocean now!". Pics to come soon!
I will be interested to see/hear how you like the LEDs over the T5s in the long run. Look forward to seeing how your corals react to the new lighting. Beautiful tank!
Quote from: Chubs on December 05, 2012, 01:27:49 PM
Well, I finally did it and upgraded my lighting! I purchased an Ecotech Radion G2 aobut a week and a half ago, and I have to say, it looks amazing. I was pleased when my fiancé and tenants said "woah, it looks like the ocean now!". Pics to come soon!
Looking forward to those pics.
What color spectrum did you decide on for your daytime?
Your set up is perfection!
How much height is between your suspended lights and the top of the tank? a 1/4 to 1/3 foot?
Thanks to you I'm heading to home depot tonight (you know you're obsessed with fish when this is how you choose to spend your friday night).
Salt water has always intimidated me......I have 4 fresh water tanks, all planted....seeing you pull it off in a 40G gives me hope :) Maybe in the next year or so I'll get the courage.
Great pictures!!!
Ceci
Phil you do such a great job with that tank, always admired the simplistic approach you took with this tank from day 1 ,It`s one of the very few marine tanks i`ve seen on this forum that has appeal.
Errol
I've never been able to keep anemones and it's such a shame because I'd love to have one like that in my tank.
Really nice setup.
Is the background colour a reflection from the last t5 or is it something on the glass. It gives it kind of a sunset look.
One word. "Spectacular!"
Quote from: raineydays on December 16, 2012, 08:16:59 AM
I will be interested to see/hear how you like the LEDs over the T5s in the long run. Look forward to seeing how your corals react to the new lighting. Beautiful tank!
thank you! So far so good!
Quote from: xenon on December 16, 2012, 12:35:44 PM
Looking forward to those pics.
What color spectrum did you decide on for your daytime?
I am slacking on getting pictures up! I suffer from something a lot of people online suffer form I think... I always try to get shots of the tank when it looks "perfect", and I am far too hard on myself. People like seeing it in different states anyways, right?
I just did another major re-aquascaping,and I'll snap some photos soon :).
As for my spectrum, once I have my broken laptop back up and running I can get the exact numbers, but I basically have it ramp up slowly throughout the day with blues/reds etc, and it peaks at full blast for a few hours, then ramps back down slowly.
Quote from: ceci on February 22, 2013, 05:09:49 PM
Your set up is perfection!
How much height is between your suspended lights and the top of the tank? a 1/4 to 1/3 foot?
Thanks to you I'm heading to home depot tonight (you know you're obsessed with fish when this is how you choose to spend your friday night).
Salt water has always intimidated me......I have 4 fresh water tanks, all planted....seeing you pull it off in a 40G gives me hope :) Maybe in the next year or so I'll get the courage.
Great pictures!!!
Ceci
Thank you for the kind words Ceci, I'm glad I could help. Did you find those brackets I recommended?
If you ever get in to saltwater, I'll be here to help!
Quote from: charlie on February 22, 2013, 05:30:13 PM
Phil you do such a great job with that tank, always admired the simplistic approach you took with this tank from day 1 ,It`s one of the very few marine tanks i`ve seen on this forum that has appeal.
Errol
Thanks Errol, I always love hearing this from you. Hopefully we can chat at the upcoming auction again.
Quote from: FocusFin on February 22, 2013, 06:10:49 PM
I've never been able to keep anemones and it's such a shame because I'd love to have one like that in my tank.
Really nice setup.
Is the background colour a reflection from the last t5 or is it something on the glass. It gives it kind of a sunset look.
Thanks! Keeping this monster anemone hasn't been easy over the years, but it's my favorite creture in there. It doesn't quite, "roam", but sometimes it gets in a mood and shifts a bit, and engulfs a coral and takes it out completely. I've lost quite a few this way, so with my new aquascape I tried to isolate it a bit. I used to feed it 3 times a week in ym 75 and it was HUGE. I find feeding once a week now keeps in manageable.
The background colour is indeed a reflection of the T5s :) Of course with the radion, that red strip doesn't show up, but then again, now i have all sorts of colour options!
Quote from: ramblnpony on February 23, 2013, 09:11:53 AM
One word. "Spectacular!"
Thank you!
I thought I had replied to this, but it looks like I didn't.
This is, in all honesty, one of the nicest looking tanks I have ever seen. I saw the pics for the first time and I was amazed, but viewing them now on my IPS monitor I'm just blown away.
This gets my vote for best looking tank of the year so far on OVAS and makes me want a saltwater tank even more.
Just outstanding.
Quote from: Stussi613 on February 25, 2013, 05:00:05 PM
I thought I had replied to this, but it looks like I didn't.
This is, in all honesty, one of the nicest looking tanks I have ever seen. I saw the pics for the first time and I was amazed, but viewing them now on my IPS monitor I'm just blown away.
This gets my vote for best looking tank of the year so far on OVAS and makes me want a saltwater tank even more.
Just outstanding.
Wow, this comment blew me away... Thank you very much!!
Nice looking softy tank. Looking forward to those updated photos (I know, i should not talk about others not posting photos...lol)
I lol'd when you said about "waiting for the tank to look perfect". You nailed it.
Thanks!
My female clown was posing for me as the "sun" was setting. Snapped a few pics, here's one!