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 SuperDave's 40 Breeder

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SuperDave0531

SuperDave0531


Join date : 2011-08-24
Posts : 19

SuperDave's 40 Breeder Empty
PostSubject: SuperDave's 40 Breeder   SuperDave's 40 Breeder EmptyMon Jan 20, 2014 10:40 pm

Hey guys! It's been a while since I've been around and my experience reefing hasn't stopped, so I'd like to post the progression of my 40B over the last year it's been setup.  

Brand new tank all ready to go!

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 3D51B352-4D2B-4F4D-B4F3-A84DFE9DA234-630-0000004148FE6128

HOB Refugium / sump / skimmer

This pic is a little blurry but I have a yard stick in front of it for size comparison

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 20130221_202230_zps6108bcfa

It would've been nice if this came with some instructions.  I was eventually able to figure out how to hook everything up!

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 20130221_202211_zps1690ed99

Little plumbers tape to prevent leaks...

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 20130304_150301_zps08f7199e


For the lighting solution I have employed a DsunY UltraThin dual panel white / blue LED system with a great controller.  Since a Radeon fixture was just a bit
too far out of my price range, I did quite a bit of research and asking around before I settled on this particular fixture.  

It features preset lighting curves for both white and blue high powered 56 x 3W LEDs at a 50/50 distribution.  The curves are pre-programmed for all 4 seasons including their lunar cycles, with a custom setting for the user to manipulate their own white and blue curves as well boasting full dimming capability.  Another thing I also liked about this particular system is that it is expandable depending on which style controller you order.  I went ahead and swung for the premium style which has enough power to push an additional 2 LED panels should I decide to order more from the manufacturer.  

SuperDave's 40 Breeder BF7F82DE-A251-4F76-AEAE-C6238D7FBF1C-9075-00000E9D9B6DB175_zps4f0ecb42

Here's the controller powered on in action.   (the display strangely resembles the LCD panel on my RKL  scratch )
SuperDave's 40 Breeder B6FB9246-C4DB-4C71-BBF5-5E341777D8BA-9075-00000E9D9F393728_zps04da1cc4

As you can see the panels are quite slim.
SuperDave's 40 Breeder 20130225_131601_zps698cafd6

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 20130225_131313_zps1d253646



Afterwards I picked up a box of dry base rock from one of my friends in St. Pete, and got to work..

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 20130302_011519_zps5fa5bf5b

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 20130302_011422_zpsd172cd96


And... of course it never ends up looking like that once you install it...

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 20130305_215035_zps61da0495



Powering on:

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 20130306_193250_zps328b0a49

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 20130310_000447_zpsc4ad4fdb

At this particular point in time I could only run the tank on what I had.  I promised myself I'd make do for a while before I'd go spend a bunch more cash.  All I had pushing the water in the tank were 2 Hydor Koralia nano 425s and the 250 pump which came stock to run the skimmer / fuge.

Then began the waiting game.  I let the tank run for about 21 days before I began transferring the CuC from my 10g Black and bringing over the few corals before I took it down.  Top-off became the name of the next game, day after day.  

SuperDave's 40 Breeder IMG_2035_zpsd5bf7980

SuperDave's 40 Breeder IMG_2036_zps9eb804fc


I decided to go out on a limb and see if I could care for a baby hippo blue.  angel 

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 20130401_152330_zps634dc5ff

I left her by herself with just the skunk cleaner as her company for a few weeks before I transferred over my 2 black Ausie clowns from their 10g bungalow.  I figured that they'd be so overwhelmed with space, they wouldn't know what to do w/ themselves.  I was quite wrong.  They became quite territorial quite quickly picking on little blue whenever she'd swim by them.  They would also consistently attack my hands whenever I would do work anywhere around the tank.

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 20130401_152342_zps4d70c4e2

Here's a little dive cam video I took one night.


I ended up trading the mated blacks for a coral beauty, a scooter blenny, and a few more frags at Marine Warehouse.

SuperDave's 40 Breeder GOPR6381_zps74cec35b

Here's some time lapse I took of my critters one day just to observe their swimming and social habits while I was away.


By that time I had also decided to power down my 24g AquaPod in the back of the house and slowly began moving the critters I could catch ( just my single ocellaris and a coral banded shrimp.)

Short little clip before feeding time



Of course the inevitable happened and the baby blue broke out with ich when I was cleaning the tank, and gave it to pretty much everyone else.  I persisted with the Ich Attach treatment in hopes that my corals and inverts would still live.  I ended up losing every fish I had in the end, but all my inverts were completely unscathed.  After which the tank underwent a huge algae bloom over the next 2 months which I could hardly keep under control but with huge water changes due to the Ich Attack medicine.  

So I persisted to continue to collect corals  without getting any fish over the next month or so until I was absolutely certain that there would be no chance of the parasite left living in my system.  

I then ordered myself a Jebao WP-25 wavemaker pump to boost my water flow as seen in this next little clip:


...and after 3 months of no fish in the tank I finally took in a new pair of clownies once again  Very Happy  (please excuse the crappy iphone video)



Since then I've also added a few more coral pieces, a yellow watchman goby, and I managed to catch my firefish from my AquaPod and acclimate him over soon thereafter.  Everything is now slowly coming back to life again!  The tank will have been running for 1 year next week.  Pods are on everything like ants at a picnic, my chaeto chamber has to be trimmed out twice a month, and I dose Kent Marine 2 part once a week, and I routinely top off every evening by hand before I go to bed while everything is "sleeping" (which we all know isn't true). All the good stuff happens at night under the moonlight or in almost complete darkness.

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 1502339_10104051054526103_678355164_o

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 1412635_10104051055668813_1282277622_o

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 1506281_10104051055898353_752450169_o

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 1077571_10104079465285713_1014452825_o

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 902696_10104079465734813_989578083_o

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 1518634_10104079467591093_1070315213_o

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 1606438_10104051055449253_1419593365_o

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 1511956_10104079463389513_325998814_o

SuperDave's 40 Breeder 1500991_10104079466887503_1035976524_o


And that's pretty much where I am now  Wink 
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