Diary of my LiL 40 Gallon Breeder(Intense)

[mmd]

wow whats the output of all those powerheads?
i only have a mini knoccking out 100 something and a seio knocking out 620 gal an hour

 

[dfiddy]

frickin sweet light setup!! i've been wanting to get some t5s myself but have been pondering a 75g purchase and would rather get the 48" t5s for that instead of an oversized 36" for my current 29 that would no longer get used! tank looks really great bro! :dance:

 

[InsaneClownFish]

hungl3, thanks...

mmd, those 4 put out almost 1000gph. Actually, one of them is currently off because I tried running it without the deflector on it- and it moved about 4 inches off the front of my sandbed...

I'm leaving it unplugged till the next time I actually decide to fool around in the tank....I really don't need it right now.

dfdiddy, cool man...thx for the encouragement... I would suggest one of the units that houses 54w bulbs for a 75- I don't think you'll be happy with the penetration of 39w bulbs if the fixture is at all off the waterline on that size tank.

Hey Derek, did you come to the last meeting- the one at the Lutz? Did we meet?

I'll have more pics up in a little while...

 

[dfiddy]

dfdiddy, cool man...thx for the encouragement... I would suggest one of the units that houses 54w bulbs for a 75- I don't think you'll be happy with the penetration of 39w bulbs if the fixture is at all off the waterline on that size tank.

Hey Derek, did you come to the last meeting- the one at the Lutz? Did we meet?

I'll have more pics up in a little while...

yeah i did goto the past meeting in Manchester!! I had been wanting to for a few months now and finally made it my first meeting! Got there @ the end of the video presentation/start of the phyto demo jammed into the back of the room and was there long enough to sign up and get my member card, and try to find my frag trading fellas! I couldn't stay long and didn't really getta chance to meet/chat with anyone though as my gf was bugging me to get home!

i didn't even see any of the 48" t5 units with 39w bulbs.. that was @ reefGeek though.. and it was just a quick scan. Since I haven't been able to work a single day this year (but will be getting a disability check here shortly$$$) i was thinking the 4x54 miiight suffice. I'm not real sure. I see you have the 6 bulb setup. I've read a few pages of the t5 threads on here but no intensive research. As far as corals are concerned-- I'm not lookin' to get any killer hard to keep coral in the setup when i upgrade from the 29. Just the zoos, xenia, gsp, a few other generally easy coral, an open brain or 2, and some sort of anemone down the road.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Derek, the "gf" happened to me at the first meeting I went to. You'd think I was asking her to pull her finger nails out..

I don't think the 48" units are available with less than 54w bulbs- sorry I probably confused you. The T5s would be perfect for your setup. Either the 4 or the 6 will do. I would highly recommend the 6 bulb unit as you have more flexibility. The 8 bulb units would barely fit over your tank- alot of wasted light IMO.

Hopefully we'll get a chance to chat at a future meeting..

 

[InsaneClownFish]

My first fish!
She's a Brazilian Flameback Angel(Centropyge aurantonotus)

 

[tsquad]

Wow, great start so far! Brilliant colors on the angel too. Good luck with yours, we are the newbs of CTARS

 

[InsaneClownFish]

My tank is officially one month old!
Here are a few pics to celebrate...

Come here often?

This is a very nice feather duster I picked up the day I bought the angel. You can't tell from the pic, but it's rimmed in purple.

Here's the worm closed. I noticed my lil angel nippin at it's tube a bit, but since then he goes near it often and leaves it be. Holding one of these and feeling it retract into the tube is the trippiest experience ever. Check out the closeup of the embedded clam shell.

One of the sponges Minh gave me with his sand.

Hard to see from the pic- but some really nice coralline.

My nappy spot.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Did someone just drop KFC in the tank??

Escape!

This snail is aggravating me...

Ahh much better.... {This is the purple shroom I got from Minh. The pics came out a bit darkish. There are two baby shrooms underneath, and it gives off a baby blueish or greenish flourescence.}

Can anyone tell me if this is how feather dusters spawn? There was a white string attaching the two "mouths" for about two days. it's gone now.

You lookin at me?

How am I doin so far? :strooper:

 

[Peter Eichler]

Great tank man, I've always though 40 breeders made excellent reef tanks and never really understood why more people don't use them. Nice choice on the first fish, one of my favorites. Keep up the good work!

 

[floppyfish]

Coming along nice!

I'm actually getting a 40 breeder from a local reefer now. I can't wait to get it setup, pre-drilled with 1" and 3/4" bulkheads $75. A AquaMedic Ocean Runner 2500 for $35 and 2x96w pc Orbit fixture for $100 from other reefers. Gotta love the local classifieds! I just need to make the stand, sump and I'll be ready to throw some water in it

Gotta do some reading on plumbing tho first...

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Thanks Tyler, Peter, and Floppy!

You'll love the 40 breeder floppy. Too bad you're not closer...someone in CTARS was selling a pre-drilled 40 breeder for $40. It probably didn't have the bulkheads though.

Personally, I would try and talk them down on the tank a bit. You can buy a brand new 40 Breeder for around $60. A local guy here drills the holes for $20.

Yours will definately be a nice little setup. You going to use it for a grow out?

 

[floppyfish]

No, just another tank. I want something bigger than my 20g, but something small enough to move untill I buy a house. This is a brand new breeder, so its not a bad deal at all! He had 10 of them or something like that. Most local people bought them as grow out tanks.

Also something to also get me more acustomed to plumbing and all that jazz for when I go big!

 

[InsaneClownFish]

:eek2:

Alright, I came home from the gym tonight and flipped both the light switches on the tank. Right in front of me was this enormous flatworm? on the side of the tank. :mixed:

My mouth dropped as I raced for my on loan digi-cam. Now as I'm fumbling for the cam, this thing has started to make a b-line for the substrate. Wormy thingy/creature from the black lagoon no likey light. I try to take two pics...damn something is wrong....grrr batteries are dying. I grab the charger toss them in. Too late this thing is already disappearing into the substrate.

I would say it took this thing aproximately 1.5-2 minutes to move 6-7 inches.

I have searched and searched the net tonight, and I've searched a flatworm dedicated web-base along with Dr. Ron's forum. Unfortunately, I cannot find something that is quite like this weird thing.

Now for a description...and bare with me...this happened really fast:

Length: 1 1/4 inch to 2 inch
Width: almost 1/4 inch to less than 1/8 inch
Height: about the thickness of a manilla folder- or 3-4 sheets of paper

The color was an off-white...identical color to southdown substrate.
The "worm" would move by extending it's body and becoming elongated- like a stretching rubber band. As it moved its length would "thin" to less than an 1/8 inch. I would say it moved at about 25 times the speed of a Trochus snail, and probably a little slower than my little nassarious snails.

The "worm" was ovular, with four distinct, rounded corners- ovular rectangle. It was not pancake shaped in any way like many flat worms. This thing looked more like a whitish leech.

The opposite side looked like it had a tad of dusky brown coloration...barely(probably a reflection of diatoms).

There were no visible appendages of any kind..none. There were no frills.

There appeared to be a faint brownish/red line going down the middle of the "worm."

I am also 90% sure this thing was feasting on diatoms on the glass.

Kinda like this but thinner(width wise) with much less dusky brown coloration- if any:
http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~bu6/flat0206.html

Kinda like this but with no frilly edges- and the line down the middle...extremely faint in comparison with no pronounced white: http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~bu6/flat0021.html

Kinda like this with no antenae thingys and absolutely no coloration along the border.- also seemed thinner along the width: http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~bu6/flat0351.html

I apologize for these not really being what I saw, but they are the closest approximations.

Now this is where I'm really confused.

Now using Dr. Ron's identification page(the description with no pics) I would surmise that this is a flatworm- Phylum Platyhelminthes, Class Turbellaria. Dr. Ron goes on to say that many of these are beneficial feeding on diatoms and detritus in the substrate.

However, Dr. Ron also goes on to state, in other articles, that most of the large polyclads are carniverous and predatory- something you don't want.

So let the fun begin...any thoughts on what I have? :rollface:

 

[kozmo02]

looks great, that angel is really nice. i like what you did with the rock work it looks really cool how you have some up front and some in back, very natural looking in my opinion.

where did you pick up the T5 fixture, i like it.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

floppyfish, sounds like a great plan!

kozmo02, thanks! I got the idea for the aquascaping from looking at various pics of extremely large tanks. I just had to think much "smaller."

The fixture came from ReefGeek- excellent service.

For anyone who's following along, this is a better estimation of what I saw tooling around on my glass...yet a bit more off white:
http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~bu6/flat0068.html

 

[tsquad]

Gross :lol:
I have no idea what it is

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Tyler....he he from Dr. Ron's input...and a few others...it definately appears to be some type of polyclad. You want it for your tank?

Here's some more T5 pics while I'm here:

Middle lights on with no flash.

Middle lights on with flash.

My new and improved dining room.

All lights on with flash.

Side view with all lights on.

Blue + only with flash.

Blue + with no flash(or sl nighttime flash).

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Well, I have a ton of updates to make tonight, so I'll start off with a brief snyopsis.

Right before I added the angel, and right before the last water change, the water parameters were:

Specific Gravity: 1.0265
Temp: 79.5
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 7-8 ppm
Ph- 8.1
Alk- 9.3, or about 3.22 meg/l (I added a small amount of buffer twice)
The later 4 were done using Salifert tests.

My flameback is doing splendid. I knew the lfs had her for at least 3 weeks before I purchased her and she appeared healthy. She was also eating greedily.

I acclimated her for over an hour, and upon introduction to the tank she began eagerly checking out her surroundings. She also immediately began grazing.

The next couple of days she seemed very shy, and at first, it was hard to tell if she was even eating the Formula One Flake and Nori I offered. I did kinda see he nip at the food a bit. Later on, probably the third day, she was eating leftovers off the powerheads, picking algae off the sides, and picking algae off the heater suction cups.

Now she eats pretty much anything I offer- Formula One Flake, Nori, Frozen Mysis, Frozen Cyclopeeze, and diatoms off the glass...

I also purchased some frozen Angel blend that I'm going to try.

I've been cutting the cubes of Mysis into 4ths, but this is still clearly too much for one fish. I'm going to try cutting them into 6ths or even 8ths.

I've now had her for 2 weeks. :rollface:

The other morning my girlfriend wanted to see her eat, so I threw in a few bits of Formula One. There was a rather large chunk floating in the water column and my little angel came around the corner and sucked that whole thing down faster than a 40 year old divorced, alcoholic, debutant mother of 4 with a martini in front of her.

My girlfriend spit out, "OMG." :lol:

 

[tsquad]

Your tank looks great! How long did it take for your water to clear? Mine has been cloudy all day!