40 Breeder

Sold the 72 yesterday so I had a few bucks to pick up some stuff at AC&C.

My hardness test is not here yet nor is my Koralia 550 that I ordered. Should be early this week.

I got this guy at AC&C



I tested my calcium and it was at 420-440ppm with the API kit. We'll see where that goes. I have a large container of Kalkwasser I can dose if I need to.

I stopped at Casey's in Cedar Falls and picked these SPS up.











Other pics:

 

thanks, I didn't think to take an FTS. Maybe this week sometime.

 

Tripod, canon 5d, remote shutter release, and a Tamron 90mm 2.8 macro.

 

Went to Menards and spent $20 and extended my canopy down to cover three sides. The back is still open and spills alot of light that way, but at least I won't be blinded when I'm relaxing in my recliner anymore. What should I seal the inside of the wood with?

 

here's a couple shots of the canopy extended down with a flip up front panel. Sucks for water changes but I love how it blends in well.





Duncan doing wonderful!



I can't wait for the rocks to color up some. They wreak havoc trying to take pictures.

 

I've had such bad luck on this build. I ordered a six line wrasse, orange spot goby, and a coral banded shrimp from LA. Got my QT up and running Wednesday night for a Thursday delivery. I got home and my wife brought the box in. As soon as I got home my wife had to leave to meet our priest baptizing our daughter Sunday. I stayed home to get the fish acclimated. She left and I got to work. Mind you, my car's power steering rack failed this week so my car is in the shop waiting to get a rack put in, so we are down to one car which she had. I go to the dining room and the filter pump died on my QT tank. I spent a good hour dicking with it while the goby and shrimp acclimated. I ended up not getting the pump going and had to put the new stock in the DT. Hopefully we'll get lucky this time. I've been waiting to upgrade my 10G QT to a 20L when the next dollar per gallon sale happens.

Anyways, everyone is doing ok for now. The new fish ate last night after a 3 hour blackout in the tank.

Here's some pics.





The coral banded was missing a leg and a half, but I was glad to read that they will grow back. This guy is huge too.

 

More pics.
I ordered all the stuff to go LED from rapidLED and heatsink usa. I should have all the stuff to start building on Monday. Going with 36 Cree 24 RB and 12 CW. Three drivers two dimmable until I can get a few more bucks to get another dimmable one I'm just using the one I have for now on one string of RB.













Latest FTS after moving my LR around a bit to open it up. The fish all seem to love the better swimming area and I get alot better flow.



After the LED build I'm saving for an MP10.

 

LED stuff is arriving.

 

Today I got my DIY LED light 95% finished. Still tweaking placement. I the corners of the tank are pretty dark yet. I need to devise an easier way to adjust the height of the light from the top of the water. Currently I'm running 12 CW, 11 RB, and 3 blue. 80* optics and two meanwell dimmable drivers. I had one Blue DOA. I need to reapply a couple of the optics as they didn't seat down completely. All in all I like it. I would have done a longer heatsink than 20" next time. I have to figure out how to get some more coverage on the edges. I have them about halfway turned up rigt now and I'll ease into it over the next couple of months.
I Still need to clean up wires and fiddle with the hanging kit/conduit rack to get the light just where I want it.









Raised it up a bit

 

Got a CUC coming today from reefcleaners to hopefully help out on the brown algae. Added three red mushrooms from Jeff K lastnight and they really add a nice color pop to the tank. Once the larger mushroom attaches I will get it placed and take some pics.

 

My diatoms are finally dissipating which is great. Here are some pics. I wish I could get the color in photos that I see in person with only my blue LEDs on. The red mushrooms glow crazy but I can't get that to convey into my camera. Grrrr. I've had alot of growth on my duncan, zoas, and candy cane the past two months.









My hammer is finally making a comeback. During my last scape change I dropped the frag and it landed on it's head in the sand. It stopped opening up large for quite a few weeks. Finally it's starting to open back up.

 

I really think I am going to breakdown and sell everything. I started in freshwater years ago, got bored with it and moved onto marine late last year. I thought it would spark me back up and it did for awhile, but I am just not enjoying it anymore. I think it's time to move on and out of the aquarist hobby. I keep trying to think of things to keep me going like building the LED light, rearranging rocks, etc. it's just not enough anymore.