The 40g Breeder :)

So, its been a REALLY long time since I've made an update on how the 40g reef has been going. So far, its been doing pretty well. As many of you know, despite my efforts, the dinoflagellates somehow transferred from the 20g to the 40g. Grr. I'm still fighting them now but its to a point now that it only grows on the sand and I can keep a handle on it. I have a UV sterilizer running in the display tank for now as well as raising the kH and pH to 10 and 8.3 respectively. Which I actually want to make a permanent thing but I'm not sure how I do that except for dosing the tank. Any suggestions?
As for the critters in the tank, I still have Cora and Bennie, my clown pair. I also have a Midas Blenny named King and a new Scooter Blenny named Scootery Scoot Scoot.. or at least that's what I call him. Original, I know haha /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/biggrin.gif There is also a peppermint shrimp and possibly a cleaner but I haven't seen him for a while so I'm not sure if he's still there. Then again, he's pretty small and he's been known to hide very well for a long time, just never this long before.
For corals, I have a bunch of different zoa frags ranging from 2 to 10 polyps mounted throughout the tank. I still have my huge colony of green star polyps as well as my blue and pink/turqoise trumpets. The pink trumpets are very POed though and I can't seem to make them grow back. They had receded quite a bit during the 4 day blackout I did to kill most of the dinoflagellates and since then (which has been about 2-3 weeks) they haven't receded anymore but aren't growing back either. I've tried feeding them some rods food a couple times and their mouths open like they want it but I was worried the energy it took to digest any food would be more than they had left. Any suggestions there would be nice as well.
I also have a new Duncan coral. Just one head this time. I had had one that had three well established heads that were sprouting a bunch of new little ones but ever since I moved it to the 40 it got VERY POed and never came out no matter what I did to try and help it. Either way, it finally kicked the bucket after a few months of pouting during the blackout.
I guess the biggest addition to the tank is my RBTA. I know a lot of you right now are reading this and sirens are probably going off inside you like crazy. I know you all mean the best, but I'd rather not have any negative comments on this front. I had spent a lot of time thinking this through, watching my water parameters, and everything before I decided to go ahead and get this anemone. And he's doing great. Always well 'bubbled' and a good size. His mouth is always tightly closed and even when he'd angry, his tentacles never droop. His color is always very good as well. I'm always constantly prepared in case the worse should happen but I'm happy with my decision. Unfortunately, Cora has not noticed the anemone enough to host to it and still insists on hosting to my xenias, which is both frustrating and rather amusing. Oh well. She'll figure it out eventually.
So, PICTURE TIME!!! I've been promising pictures for so long, so here they finally are /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif






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I need to take a picture of Bennie. I don't seem to have one on my new laptop.

 

Right now I have 2 150watt MH lights with 15K bulbs. I'd like to change those to 20K bulbs as soon as I can afford to. I also have 2 36watt T5's running along the front and back of the MH's. Those have actinic bulbs in them for more color in my corals. I love the blue that the T5's bring as well as the shimmer I get from the MH's. I just hope to get a little bit more color with the 20k bulbs sometime.

Thanks FishBrain!!

 

New addition to the tank! Adopted a 3 year old convict blenny. His name is officially Eli /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif He's very neat and hopefully the 40g will be a big improvement over the tank he was in /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif Will post pics in the morning if he isn't hiding in whatever cave he decides to make /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif

 

lol yes, a dear engineer goby. I knew he would be messy, which is why he was up for adoption in the first place. Adam likes his tanks to be very organized and neat with flat sand beds. Not something you can do with this little... well big guy. He's about 8-9 inches long now and about 3 years old. Anyway, Cora and Bennie (my two clowns) love to play in the sand and so it's always kind of hilly and sloppy looking anyway I thought this guy would do fine /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif Woke up this morning to find a GIANT hill in the middle front of my tank haha. Over night he has built himself a little tunnel system that goes all under the length of my LR through the tank. The rock isn't slipping or going anywhere, which is good, and hopefully now he'll be happy with his home hut(s). He's very cute when he pokes his head out of one of his hidy spots. I'll have to get some pictures when my brother comes back with his nice camera.

Thanks again everyone!! /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif

 

Me too!!! Haha. And thanks /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif

 

So, I got a few new awesome corals from FishBrain last week. A sun coral, hammer, and some zoas. I was super excited about all of them, especially my hammer and sun. The sun is doing great. The hammer was doing great. A hammer coral, especially like the one I got from FishBrian, has been the one coral I've wanted since I started saltwater a year ago. I am sooooooo sad to have it gone now. My dearest of all engineer gobies decided to bury it last night and I didn't know it until I got home today around 3 from work. I was going to mount it this afternoon too /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/sad.gif SOOOOOOOO sad /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/sad.gif Oh well. Sorry FishBrain for losing your coral /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/sad.gif