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Tofu's 4ft Reef tank


tofubox
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Love that hammer! Very nice setup as well!

Tank Size: 3.5 ft x 2 ft x 2 ft
Sump: 3ft x 1.5ft x 1.5ft”
Return Pump: Eheim 1264
Chiller Pump: H2Ocean Flow Pump 3000
Skimmer: Vertex Alpha 200
Wavemakers: 2 X Maxspect Gyre 130; 1 x Ecotech VorTech MP10WES, 1 x Ecotech VorTech MP40WES, 1x Jebao RW15
Filtration: Schuran Multifilter 100 (Rowa Phos), Two Little Fishies Phosban 150 Fluidised Reactor (Vertex Rox 0.8 Carbon), Enductor Fluidized Reactor- FR45 (NP Biopellets & All In One Biopellets) with Eden 140 Pump, Santa Monica Hogx1 Algae Turf Scrubber, Cheato
Calcium Reactor: Skimz CM152 with needle valve and Maxijet 600 feed Pump (CaribSea ARM Extra Coarse ,KZ Coral Gravel, Two Little Fishies Reborn, Grotech Magnesium Pro)
Dosing: Bubble Magnus Dosing Pump BM-T01 + 2 x 4 Head Expansion Accessory BM-T02
Bio Media: Marine Pure, Bacteria King, Eheim Substrat Pro, Eheim Substrat, Seachem DeNitrate, PowerHouse Hard, Polyplab Biosphere, Seachem Purigen

Chiller: JBJ Arctica Titanium Aquarium Chiller (1/3 Hp - DBE-150)
Lighting: ATI Powermodule 6 x 39 Watt T5. Solite 4 x 39 Watt T5 (Only 2 used) (Blue+ Blue+ Coral+ Purple+ Coral+ AB Special) (Blue+ Purple+)
Auto Top Up system: Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155 Auto Top Off
Monitoring: 2 x Milwaukee MC 122 PH Controller (Calcium Reactor & PH Monitoring)

Substrate: CaribSea Aragamax Select

 

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Hi guys, since I haven't covered a clean up crew for the tank thread. Heres a list that I made up which i hope will help u out in choosing the right crew to keep ur tank speck n span. Hope you find this useful, especially those starting a new tank.

These are pretty much readily found or brought in by our LFS. I try not to add those oddballs in the group. If u find anything missing from the list, let me know. Happy shopping for ur little critters!

Snails

Turbo snails - feeds on algae, including hair algae, cyanobacteria and diatoms. It will devour algae types shunned by many other algae-eaters. Will remove algae from various surfaces, including live rock, corals and aquarium glass. Large and knocks over stuff, cant handle small crevices.

post-18626-0-26818900-1413650176.jpg

Cerith Snails - consume diatoms, cyano, film algae (some) , detritus, hair algae (some) and uneaten food in the substrate as well as on rocks and to some extent the glass in your aquarium. Small and can fit through crevices. Hardy snails

post-18626-0-20766700-1413650069.jpg

Fighting Couch/ strombus (Gong Gong) - Excellent sand sifting abilities to clean and aerate the substrate, Consumes brown algae, diatoms, detritus, unable to climb up tank walls.

post-18626-0-63845100-1413650238.jpg

Asterea snails - Good snails for getting rid of brown and green algae from the walls of your tank, from your live rock, and from your substrate (they will not eat longer hair algae). , however, when they are flipped over as they cannot get back to their correct orientation and will die (notice the base of the shell to differentiate between asterea and trochus)

post-18626-0-85242900-1413650063.jpg

Trochus snails - Trochus eat a variety of algae from filamentous to film, and has been reported to have a special adoration for diatoms. They can be found cleaning any surface of your tank, but will be frequently seen on the glass. (notice the base of the shell to differentiate between asterea and trochus)

post-18626-0-13616900-1413650101.jpg

Nerite snails - Is very good at eating algae off the tank walls. Nerite Snail eats phytoplankton, especially algae, Cyanobacteria, Diatoms, Film Algae and vegetable bits. These snails are excellent for cleaning the rocks and glass of your aquarium

post-18626-0-20564800-1413650090.jpg

Nassarius snails - Excellent for sandbeds, scavengers on meaty food, dropped food, dead/dying

post-18626-0-81845900-1413650084.jpg

Magarita snails - Though they are excellent algae eaters, the Margarita Snail lives a short life in most reef aquaria, due to temperature requirements. Will stay mostly on rock and hard surfaces eating diatom and micro-algae. Not recommended due to its short mortality rate in a captive tank

post-18626-0-54488200-1413650079.jpg

Bubblebee snail - They are predatory on other snails and worms. They will clean your sand of beneficial critters. If you see them moving up the glass they are not grazing on the nasty algae…. they are looking for snails and worms. Not recommended to keep with other cuc

post-18626-0-30642000-1413650068.jpg

Crabs

Red-legged Hermit Crab - – These crabs do an excellent job of scavenging and keeping algae under control (they will even eat hair algae which most snails avoid). They will also eat fish food.

post-18626-0-90189100-1413650484_thumb.j

Blue-legged Hermit Crab - Will relentlessly eat just about anything in your aquarium (algae, scraps of food, etc.) Have been known to be aggressive towards snails

post-18626-0-77725500-1413650487.jpg

Sally Lightfoot Crab - Will scavenge around the tank looking for bits of food or detritus and pick at algae constantly. They are generally considered reef safe although the larger ones have been reported to eat injured or dead fish if they cannot find other food sources. They also will crawl around on the corals a great deal, but this does not generally lead to problems

post-18626-0-62545300-1413650477_thumb.j

Emerald Green Crab - Well known for its ability to eat bubble algae, detritus, uneaten food

post-18626-0-63438500-1413650499_thumb.j

Shrimps

Cleaner Shrimps - These shrimps do an excellent job of scavenging for leftover food, but they also pick parasites off of fish and are used to control saltwater ich.

post-18626-0-44176500-1413650071.jpg

Coral Banded Shrimp - Excellent job of scavenging for leftover food

post-18626-0-50384500-1413650074.jpg

Peppermint Shrimp - These shrimp are excellent scavengers and are one of the best methods for controlling Aiptasia.

post-18626-0-03490000-1413650093.jpg

Starfish

Sand Sifting Starfish - For sand bed, uneaten food and detritus. This is a nocturnal animal and basically feeds on detritus and any uneaten food that makes its way to sand bed. Recommanded for tanks with sandbeds only.

post-18626-0-80066000-1413650599.jpg

Brittle Sea star - Brittle stars feed on plankton but also on detritus, coral-shed mucus, bottom detritus, mollusks and worms They are great scavengers and mainly feed on decaying matter and plankton.

post-18626-0-69095500-1413650064.jpg

Others

Sea Hare - Natures voracious eaters of green algae – in particular hair algae. Considered an ultimate hair algae eating machine and cleans every bit of algae mess in your home aquarium.

post-18626-0-00535100-1413650097.jpg

Abalone - Considered personally as one of the best clean up crew member. Feeds on most algae both on rocks, glass and substrate.

post-18626-0-10552400-1413650061.jpg

Sea cucumber - It feeds on algae, bacteria, and meaty items that are present in the sand and anything on which it can scavenge.

post-18626-0-53524000-1413650126.jpg

Lettuce Nudibranch - Certain lettuce slug species are known to feed on Bryopsis. It helps tackling the unnecessary growth of algae. The Lettuce Nudibranch is photosynthetic in nature, and gets benefits from the chloroplast in their tissue from the algae they eat. It sucks in the chlorophyll contents of algae, and then incorporates that chlorophyll into their own tissues. Eliminates the growth of algae by foraging on live rocks and aquarium glass

post-18626-0-77640300-1413650076.jpg

Sea urchin - These guys are powerful when comes to the job, known to eat most algae, some may eat hair algae. Also if u have caroline algae, they will feed on it too. Excellent algae eater and controls the excessive growth of the same in the aquarium

post-18626-0-29044500-1413650679_thumb.j

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I Love Stagsss

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Found this excellent explanation on browning of corals to share with everyone

Quoted from zeovit forum, user kolognekoral

"A general word about browning of corals. The colour brown is created via the zooxanthellae algae. This is their natural colour. Contrary to popular belief, they are not the colourant of the corals, rather they mask the pigments of the corals. Whether this is a sunscrean or simply a reaction to available nutrients on the part of the coral is unclear. On a reef, the corals are able to control their zooxanthellate populations via nutrient limitation, thus controling their general metabolism and their colour. In an aquarium, corals are generally exposed to too many available nutrients disolved in the water. As the zooxanthellae can simply absorb these disolved nutrients straight from the water column, instead of the coral controlling the process, they have a population explosion. This is what we see as browning-out of a coral. An overpopulation of zooxanthellae in the coral's tissues.


Essentially, if we are able to keep the basic nutrients, such as PO4 and NO3, as a close to NSW level, the corals are able to once again take control of their metabolism and the zooxanthellate population is limited by the coral. What we often forget is that there are other nutrients that the algae can use and we are dosing these nutrients in a perfect form to brown-out the corals. Amino acids, vitamin complexes, marine snow, etc. are all nutrients that will brown corals, if they are present in too high a quantity.

When faced with browning corals, one needs to assess the complete picture and understand from where these nutrients are coming. Low PO4 and NO3 levels are fine, but bring little, if we over supplement with other nutrient-rich products. A case of less is more.

Therefore, if your corals are turning brown, and your PO4 is 0.02 and the NO3 <2ppm, then there is another nutrient source in play. Cut your dosing of AAs, etc. in half and give it a few weeks to see how the corals react. You certainly won't starve them, but you may start to starve out the zooxanthellae and thus see the corals true colours."

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I Love Stagsss

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This might hold true in certain situation i believe but i have read that those who are using LEDs , that might cause browning and feeding more will improve the situation.

Found this excellent explanation on browning of corals to share with everyone

Quoted from zeovit forum, user kolognekoral

"A general word about browning of corals. The colour brown is created via the zooxanthellae algae. This is their natural colour. Contrary to popular belief, they are not the colourant of the corals, rather they mask the pigments of the corals. Whether this is a sunscrean or simply a reaction to available nutrients on the part of the coral is unclear. On a reef, the corals are able to control their zooxanthellate populations via nutrient limitation, thus controling their general metabolism and their colour. In an aquarium, corals are generally exposed to too many available nutrients disolved in the water. As the zooxanthellae can simply absorb these disolved nutrients straight from the water column, instead of the coral controlling the process, they have a population explosion. This is what we see as browning-out of a coral. An overpopulation of zooxanthellae in the coral's tissues.


Essentially, if we are able to keep the basic nutrients, such as PO4 and NO3, as a close to NSW level, the corals are able to once again take control of their metabolism and the zooxanthellate population is limited by the coral. What we often forget is that there are other nutrients that the algae can use and we are dosing these nutrients in a perfect form to brown-out the corals. Amino acids, vitamin complexes, marine snow, etc. are all nutrients that will brown corals, if they are present in too high a quantity.

When faced with browning corals, one needs to assess the complete picture and understand from where these nutrients are coming. Low PO4 and NO3 levels are fine, but bring little, if we over supplement with other nutrient-rich products. A case of less is more.

Therefore, if your corals are turning brown, and your PO4 is 0.02 and the NO3 <2ppm, then there is another nutrient source in play. Cut your dosing of AAs, etc. in half and give it a few weeks to see how the corals react. You certainly won't starve them, but you may start to starve out the zooxanthellae and thus see the corals true colours."

Humble tank :

Size: 4x2.5x2 ft - Display 

Equipment :

Return 1 : Ecotech marine L1

Return 2 : Ecotech marine M1

CR : Skimz CM122 - Caribsea extra course media with Grotech magnesium

Light : ATI 8x54W

 

 

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This might hold true in certain situation i believe but i have read that those who are using LEDs , that might cause browning and feeding more will improve the situation.

Hi chercm, this is written in relation to just nutrients alone. Lighting is a whole new topic not covered.

 

I Love Stagsss

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Anyone see lettuce nudibranch in local LFS?

6.5 * 2 * 2 + 3.75 * 1.5 *1.5,(Decomn on 14/9/08)
4*2*2 + 2.5*1.25*1.25 (Decomn on 1/8/09)
5*2*2 (Fully LED light system, 140 3 watt SSC leds with 60 degree lens)(Decomm)
2.5*2*2(Fully LED Light System,96 3 watt SSC leds with 60 degree lens)(Decomm)

5*2.5*2(LED only)

Eheim return 1 * pump

1 HP Daikin compressor with cooling coil
2 Jebao OW40, 1 ecotech MP40,
1X6085 Tunze wm,

1 CURVE 7 Skimmer

  1 DIY 80 led control by Bluefish mini 

1 radion XR30W G2, 2 Radion XR15G3

Sump area lite by 5 ft T5 , 6 * SSC 3 watt red LED for refugium

1 Full spectrum E27 led light

1 CR control by bubble count

Start No Water Change since 1st Dec 2016

Add new 2.5x2x 1.5 ft 

 nLekOfpYts.jpg
[/quote]


 

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Anyone see lettuce nudibranch in local LFS?

Saw a few at cf

Cheers,

James

Cheers,

James

Reviving my reef tank :

Crystal glass 53" x 22" x 17" rimless (inclusive of 12"x22"x17" IOS)

Life Reef HVS3-24 with mazzei venturi

ATI Sunpower 8 x 39w T5 (4 x Blue plus, 2 x Aqua blue special, Coral plus)

ZET Light 3 x 3w LEDs moonlight

Arctica 1/3 Hp + 1/4 Hp back up

Vortech mp40w x 3 + Jebao wp25

Eheim 1264 x 3 + water blaster 5000

Vortech back up battery

TLF-150 + Rowaphos

Activated carbon

Kamoer 3 channel + CaCl2 + NaHCo3

150L Refugium with DSB, miracle mud, cheato

2ft T5 x 2 light tubes for refugium

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Thank bro

6.5 * 2 * 2 + 3.75 * 1.5 *1.5,(Decomn on 14/9/08)
4*2*2 + 2.5*1.25*1.25 (Decomn on 1/8/09)
5*2*2 (Fully LED light system, 140 3 watt SSC leds with 60 degree lens)(Decomm)
2.5*2*2(Fully LED Light System,96 3 watt SSC leds with 60 degree lens)(Decomm)

5*2.5*2(LED only)

Eheim return 1 * pump

1 HP Daikin compressor with cooling coil
2 Jebao OW40, 1 ecotech MP40,
1X6085 Tunze wm,

1 CURVE 7 Skimmer

  1 DIY 80 led control by Bluefish mini 

1 radion XR30W G2, 2 Radion XR15G3

Sump area lite by 5 ft T5 , 6 * SSC 3 watt red LED for refugium

1 Full spectrum E27 led light

1 CR control by bubble count

Start No Water Change since 1st Dec 2016

Add new 2.5x2x 1.5 ft 

 nLekOfpYts.jpg
[/quote]


 

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Hey guys, Im gonna be posting a 30sec clip of my tank every month with my fav song of that mth, haha. Nothing fancy with no close up shots, just a frontal shot....its actually more for me to keep track of my progress. I'll share a link of the video here. Im actually curious to know how my staghorns will grow and at what rate.

Taken with s3.

 

I Love Stagsss

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Awesome!!!!!!

Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk

| Display : 48x30x22 Skimmer : SK-201 skimz

| Sump : 30x24x18 Wavemaker : 2x RW-15 , 1x RW-8

| Cooling : 1HP titanium drop in coil ATO : JBJ

| Lighting : ATI Sunpower 8x54w + 48x cree xte royal blue Return : Jebao dc-6000

| Dosing : Jebao dosing pump [ CaCl2 + NaHCO3 ] Pump :

| Reactor : FSZ Z160 zeolite reactor & phosban 150

| System : ZEOVIT

decomm-ed :

Ydkm SPS reef

:wub: >><< :wub:

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Some coral updates

Coral from pinnacle. No id, colour lost and coming back

post-18626-0-92343700-1414682502_thumb.j

Bali green slimer, new growth, cant wait for this to grow huge

post-18626-0-06411300-1414682505_thumb.j

Red stag from bro kaiju, love the colour

post-18626-0-04382600-1414682507_thumb.j

Current centerpiece, Cream birdnest, growing too big, might need to trim soon.

post-18626-0-81634100-1414682510_thumb.j

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I Love Stagsss

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Can do full tank shot? Seems that you have quite a variety of corals, would like to see the whole tank as it is now.

Took a quick shot in the morning. Heres how the tank looks as of today.

Also managed to get 2 more bags of sand, which is now soaking in rodi, finally can complete the sandbed. Will also be moving corals around, most of the frags will be transfer to a different tank to give space for larger colonies to grow. Will post another pic when i get around doing that.

Also will be upgrading the whole lightset soon. I really cant wait for this actually. Will make alot of difference to the colouration. I feel my current light set has its limitations.

Day 83. Shots with my s3 camera phone. I really wished i had a DSLR

post-18626-0-72082300-1415171137_thumb.j

post-18626-0-10847900-1415171140_thumb.j

Heres my current dosing schedule, that i follow diligently each day. Can be quite a pain, but since i spend alot of time in front of the tank, gives me something to do.

post-18626-0-38879900-1415171152_thumb.p

 

I Love Stagsss

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Took a quick shot in the morning. Heres how the tank looks as of today.

Also managed to get 2 more bags of sand, which is now soaking in rodi, finally can complete the sandbed. Will also be moving corals around, most of the frags will be transfer to a different tank to give space for larger colonies to grow. Will post another pic when i get around doing that.

Also will be upgrading the whole lightset soon. I really cant wait for this actually. Will make alot of difference to the colouration. I feel my current light set has its limitations.

Day 83. Shots with my s3 camera phone. I really wished i had a DSLR

attachicon.gif 20141105_144534.jpg

attachicon.gif 20141105_144609.jpg

Heres my current dosing schedule, that i follow diligently each day. Can be quite a pain, but since i spend alot of time in front of the tank, gives me something to do.

attachicon.gif Untitled.png

if you dont mind Q-ing, the electronic fair at expo has some good deals on great point and shoot/ entry level DSLR.

子非鱼,焉知鱼之乐... (you are not the fish so you...)

Then: my 4FT low tech selling off tank... (2006)

Now: (2014)

@Sept 2014

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