Tswifty's Custom 40g Rimless Build Thread

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by capn_hylinur
wow I can see by the list that you have way too many fish in there LOL

My skimmer begs to differ.

Wait until I add my Trio of Blue Hippo Tangs. I hear they do best when kept in groups of 3 or more. I figure more than 3 would be pushing it though.

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by melev
All of that in a 40g?!

I didn't even read the list - LOL

You can fit a lot when they're all little frags. Maintenance/pruning is going to be a lot of fun once everything begins to grow in though. LOL

[Tswifty]

Re-posting the list for page 37

I think this is a current inventory of my tank:

Fish:
- 1 Midas Blenny
- 1 Mystery Wrasse
- 2 Bangaii Cardinals
- 3 Bartlett Anthias
- 2 ORA Grade A Picasso Clownfish
- 2 Yasha Hase White Ray Shrimpgobies

Inverts:
- 1 RBTA
- 1 T. Squamosa Clam
- 1 T. Maxima Clam
- 2 Emerald Mithrax Crabs
- Super Tongan Nassarius Snails
- Cerith Snails
- Trochus Snails
- Stomatella Snails

Polyps/Shrooms:
- Radioactive Dragon Eye Zoanthids
- Sunfire Zoanthids
- Nuclear Halo Zoanthids
- Nightmare Palythoas
- Daytripper Palythoas
- Joker Palythoas (or Purple Hearted Zoanthids)
- Orange and Blue Ricordia

LPS:
- 6 Different Types of Acans
- Cotton Candy Chalice
- Ultimate's Watermelon Chalice
- Tub's Alien Eye Chalice
- AE Pumpkin Patch Chalice
- Exotic Frag's Emerald Mummy Eye Chalice
- Aussie Mars Man Chalice
- Swifty's Steel Blue Chalice
- Reef Hot Spot's Pink Panther Chalice
- Pink & Purple Chalice
- Bright Red Chalice
- Green w/ Orange Eye Chalice
- ATL Meteor Shower
- Neon Green Trumpet Coral

SPS:
- ORA Red Planet
- ORA Joe the Coral
- ORA Roscoe's Blue Acropora
- ORA Bird's of Paradise
- ORA Tri-Color
- ORA Tri-Color Valida
- ORA Marshall Island Blue Bottlebrush
- Tyree True Undata (2)
- Tyree Ponape Birdsnest
- Tyree Soli
- Tyree Sunset Montipora
- Paletta Pink Tip Acropora
- Superman Digitata
- Purple Limeade Nausta
- Bali Green Slimer
- Pink Birdsnest
- Blue Digitata
- Purple Digitata
- Green Digitata
- Maricultured Green Millepora
- Maricultured Pink Millepora
- Unkown Millepora
- Reefsystems Blue Acropora
- Teal Stag
- Blue Tort
- Bali Blue Tip Stag
- Brown & Green Efflo
- Purple Tip Efflo
- Pat's Unkown Wild Acro
- Joe's Unkown Teal Acro
- Serpentman's Unkown Acro
- Barney Purple Acropora
- Ray's Pink Tip Acropora
- Ray's Unkown Green Acropora
- Purple/Blue & Green Polyp Acropora
- Neon Green Acropora
- Vivek's Tri-Color Acropora

[2frosty4u]

I've seen LFS's with less inventory and livestock.....lol

[Aquarist007]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 2frosty4u
I've seen LFS's with less inventory and livestock.....lol [/QUOTE

You're alive----I am glad everthing went well for you yesterday---give me a call when you are up to talking

since we can't talk maybe you can look in on this thread:

you know my system better than any one

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1631529

[Kreeger1]

Originally posted by Tswifty
Re-posting the list for page 37

I think this is a current inventory of my tank:

Fish:
- 1 Midas Blenny
- 1 Mystery Wrasse
- 2 Bangaii Cardinals
- 3 Bartlett Anthias
- 2 ORA Grade A Picasso Clownfish
- 2 Yasha Hase White Ray Shrimpgobies

Inverts:
- 1 RBTA
- 1 T. Squamosa Clam
- 1 T. Maxima Clam
- 2 Emerald Mithrax Crabs
- Super Tongan Nassarius Snails
- Cerith Snails
- Trochus Snails
- Stomatella Snails

Polyps/Shrooms:
- Radioactive Dragon Eye Zoanthids
- Sunfire Zoanthids
- Nuclear Halo Zoanthids
- Nightmare Palythoas
- Daytripper Palythoas
- Joker Palythoas (or Purple Hearted Zoanthids)
- Orange and Blue Ricordia

LPS:
- 6 Different Types of Acans
- Cotton Candy Chalice
- Ultimate's Watermelon Chalice
- Tub's Alien Eye Chalice
- AE Pumpkin Patch Chalice
- Exotic Frag's Emerald Mummy Eye Chalice
- Aussie Mars Man Chalice
- Swifty's Steel Blue Chalice
- Reef Hot Spot's Pink Panther Chalice
- Pink & Purple Chalice
- Bright Red Chalice
- Green w/ Orange Eye Chalice
- ATL Meteor Shower
- Neon Green Trumpet Coral

SPS:
- ORA Red Planet
- ORA Joe the Coral
- ORA Roscoe's Blue Acropora
- ORA Bird's of Paradise
- ORA Tri-Color
- ORA Tri-Color Valida
- ORA Marshall Island Blue Bottlebrush
- Tyree True Undata (2)
- Tyree Ponape Birdsnest
- Tyree Soli
- Tyree Sunset Montipora
- Paletta Pink Tip Acropora
- Superman Digitata
- Purple Limeade Nausta
- Bali Green Slimer
- Pink Birdsnest
- Blue Digitata
- Purple Digitata
- Green Digitata
- Maricultured Green Millepora
- Maricultured Pink Millepora
- Unkown Millepora
- Reefsystems Blue Acropora
- Teal Stag
- Blue Tort
- Bali Blue Tip Stag
- Brown & Green Efflo
- Purple Tip Efflo
- Pat's Unkown Wild Acro
- Joe's Unkown Teal Acro
- Serpentman's Unkown Acro
- Barney Purple Acropora
- Ray's Pink Tip Acropora
- Ray's Unkown Green Acropora
- Purple/Blue & Green Polyp Acropora
- Neon Green Acropora
- Vivek's Tri-Color Acropora

How in the world did you fit that into a 40 gal tank???? I couldn't fit that many corals in my 360 ..lol

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Kreeger1
How in the world did you fit that into a 40 gal tank???? I couldn't fit that many corals in my 360 ..lol

he learned how to stack acros by playing leggo when he was a kid. I knew I should have done that instead of raising guppies

[psteeleb]

Originally posted by capn_hylinur
he learned how to stack acros by playing leggo when he was a kid. I knew I should have done that instead of raising guppies

[Padrino]

Originally posted by Tswifty
I think this is a current inventory of my tank:

Fish:
- 1 Midas Blenny
- 1 Mystery Wrasse
- 2 Bangaii Cardinals
- 3 Bartlett Anthias
- 2 ORA Grade A Picasso Clownfish
- 2 Yasha Hase White Ray Shrimpgobies

Inverts:
- 1 RBTA
- 1 T. Squamosa Clam
- 1 T. Maxima Clam
- 2 Emerald Mithrax Crabs
- Super Tongan Nassarius Snails
- Cerith Snails
- Trochus Snails
- Stomatella Snails

Polyps/Shrooms:
- Radioactive Dragon Eye Zoanthids
- Sunfire Zoanthids
- Nuclear Halo Zoanthids
- Nightmare Palythoas
- Daytripper Palythoas
- Joker Palythoas (or Purple Hearted Zoanthids)
- Orange and Blue Ricordia

LPS:
- 6 Different Types of Acans
- Cotton Candy Chalice
- Ultimate's Watermelon Chalice
- Tub's Alien Eye Chalice
- AE Pumpkin Patch Chalice
- Exotic Frag's Emerald Mummy Eye Chalice
- Aussie Mars Man Chalice
- Swifty's Steel Blue Chalice
- Reef Hot Spot's Pink Panther Chalice
- Pink & Purple Chalice
- Bright Red Chalice
- Green w/ Orange Eye Chalice
- ATL Meteor Shower
- Neon Green Trumpet Coral

SPS:
- ORA Red Planet
- ORA Joe the Coral
- ORA Roscoe's Blue Acropora
- ORA Bird's of Paradise
- ORA Tri-Color
- ORA Tri-Color Valida
- ORA Marshall Island Blue Bottlebrush
- Tyree True Undata (2)
- Tyree Ponape Birdsnest
- Tyree Soli
- Tyree Sunset Montipora
- Paletta Pink Tip Acropora
- Superman Digitata
- Purple Limeade Nausta
- Bali Green Slimer
- Pink Birdsnest
- Blue Digitata
- Purple Digitata
- Green Digitata
- Maricultured Green Millepora
- Maricultured Pink Millepora
- Unkown Millepora
- Reefsystems Blue Acropora
- Teal Stag
- Blue Tort
- Bali Blue Tip Stag
- Brown & Green Efflo
- Purple Tip Efflo
- Pat's Unkown Wild Acro
- Joe's Unkown Teal Acro
- Serpentman's Unkown Acro
- Barney Purple Acropora
- Ray's Pink Tip Acropora
- Ray's Unkown Green Acropora
- Purple/Blue & Green Polyp Acropora
- Neon Green Acropora
- Vivek's Tri-Color Acropora

is that all?

[pcannone]

WOW I'm with everybody else...all that in a 40g...amazing.

TJ - Do you have the various types of corals, lps, sps, mushrooms, etc sectioned off in your tank or are all of them spread around?

[ser_renely]

Man, I have 4 fish in my 65g total water and I can't get my nitrates below 5 If I had that many I think I might have a bleached out coral garden.

>:|

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by pcannone
TJ - Do you have the various types of corals, lps, sps, mushrooms, etc sectioned off in your tank or are all of them spread around?

Not really sectioned off... just lower in the tank. It's pretty much SPS from mid way on up.

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by 2frosty4u
I've seen LFS's with less inventory and livestock.....lol

LOL

That's great... sig line worthy even.

Originally posted by Kreeger1
How in the world did you fit that into a 40 gal tank???? I couldn't fit that many corals in my 360 ..lol

Haha... that's one of the reasons there is so much rock in the tank, and not a ton of open room. I knew I was going to pack the tank full of coral, and needed spots for everything.

Originally posted by Padrino
is that all?

Yeah for now.

The list will probably change as I find new items I have to have, and others that I get bored of.

Originally posted by pcannone
WOW I'm with everybody else...all that in a 40g...amazing.

Yeah I guess it is, but it isn't. Check out the FTS. It doesn't look crowded, and a lot of times during the day you can look at my tank, and not even see a single fish in the water column.

Originally posted by ser_renely
Man, I have 4 fish in my 65g total water and I can't get my nitrates below 5 If I had that many I think I might have a bleached out coral garden.

>:|

It's all about the systems you have in place for nutrient export. I've stated the philosophy behind my reef a few times... feed heavy, stock heavy, SKIM HEAVY... with emphasis on the last part, that way you can remove excess organics before they have a chance to break down.

It's just seems a little exaggerated in my particular situation, because I'm doing it in a tank that most would probably consider a nano.

[ser_renely]

Yeah, I like your philosophy I hope to get there.

I think I really need to look at my refugium. My cheato doesn't seem to be growing as well as I feel it should for my water parameters. It is growing, but likes to tie itself into super tight knots.

Let me pick your brain if you don't mind.

Right now I have a 3-4" sand bed and some rock in 9 inch long section of my sump. I don't think the water level is deep enough for my cheato, probably at a height of 9". So I am really starting to wonder what the best thing to do is. Do I get rid of the rock and sand and focus on the cheato? Would that then cause more of a Nitrate issue, then it would be helping? Also would that reduce my pod population? I really want to get a mandarin at some point.

Or should I get the rock out and use a 1-2" sand bed and shoot for the middle?

I really feel like I should have 0 Nitrates rather the 5-10 with the amount I feed, or don't feed at the moment since the fish are on half rations to combat the Nitrates, and also only having four small/med small fish.

[maroun.c]

Amazing list TJ. Couple of questions:
-What skimmer do you run on that tank (sorry missed it somehow) and do you skim wet or just dry with more frequent skimmer neck cleaning?
-How can you reach in there to place or move a coral without dropping all your corals (something I struggle with a lot especially with frags. do you epoxy your frags to rock directly or did you pre drill your rocks?
Tank looks amazing can't wait to see those corals grow up and fill it.

[pcannone]

Hey TJ, I can't find the page where you talk about your lighting. What type of light are you using? I'm looking to upgrade my lighting on my 55g reef and I'm entertaining ideas. Thanks

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by ser_renely
Yeah, I like your philosophy I hope to get there.

I think I really need to look at my refugium. My cheato doesn't seem to be growing as well as I feel it should for my water parameters. It is growing, but likes to tie itself into super tight knots.

Let me pick your brain if you don't mind.

Right now I have a 3-4" sand bed and some rock in 9 inch long section of my sump. I don't think the water level is deep enough for my cheato, probably at a height of 9". So I am really starting to wonder what the best thing to do is. Do I get rid of the rock and sand and focus on the cheato? Would that then cause more of a Nitrate issue, then it would be helping? Also would that reduce my pod population? I really want to get a mandarin at some point.

Or should I get the rock out and use a 1-2" sand bed and shoot for the middle?

I really feel like I should have 0 Nitrates rather the 5-10 with the amount I feed, or don't feed at the moment since the fish are on half rations to combat the Nitrates, and also only having four small/med small fish.

You need to focus on less chaeto but faster growing chaeto. This invovles ripping apart the chaeto once a week and harvesting it out of the tank.
You should also try to spread the chaeto out over a wider surface area rather then letting itself get tangled into a dense ball.
When you do that it tends to float rather than sink and I think you will find you have plenty of room in your sump for it.

You have the best depth for a deep sand bed presently---don't disturb it and keep it the way it is.

If your deep sand bed has bristle worms ect in the top layers and or you can see trails in it against the class then it is in good shape.
Similarily if you can see the layer between the glass and the sand bed turning green then that is also an excellent sign of a functioning dsb. A healthy top layer of your sand bed is vital for the functioning of it. These creatures move organics and water through to the deeper anoxic layers of the sand bed where anerobic bacteria can convert them to harmless products.
Since water cannot flow through the layers of the sand bed these creatures must consume organics , excrete them, consume the excrement---excrete etc ect till they are passed down to the anoxic areas of the sand bed.

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by ser_renely
Yeah, I like your philosophy I hope to get there.

I think I really need to look at my refugium. My cheato doesn't seem to be growing as well as I feel it should for my water parameters. It is growing, but likes to tie itself into super tight knots.

Let me pick your brain if you don't mind.

Right now I have a 3-4" sand bed and some rock in 9 inch long section of my sump. I don't think the water level is deep enough for my cheato, probably at a height of 9". So I am really starting to wonder what the best thing to do is. Do I get rid of the rock and sand and focus on the cheato? Would that then cause more of a Nitrate issue, then it would be helping? Also would that reduce my pod population? I really want to get a mandarin at some point.

Or should I get the rock out and use a 1-2" sand bed and shoot for the middle?

I really feel like I should have 0 Nitrates rather the 5-10 with the amount I feed, or don't feed at the moment since the fish are on half rations to combat the Nitrates, and also only having four small/med small fish.

I'm not a fan of a sand in refugiums. I really don't see the point, unless you want some livestock down there that needs a sand bed. Also, 3-4" shouldn't be considered a DSB so you probably won't see any nitrate reduction benefits from it. At least not a noticeable impact.

I use rock rubble and cheato in my refugium, and am considering scrapping the macro algae for now. My nutrient levels are too low right now and my cheato is dying off again. So I'm going to run some GFO, pull the macro, then add it if I see the need in the future.

Back to the refugium substrate... I personally would go rock rubble or bare bottom.

Also, have you ever pursued any type of nitrate reduction methods to get them down to 0? Then after you do that, you can track your nitrates to see if your filtration needs to be addressed. Are you using a protein skimmer? If so, what type and model?

Originally posted by maroun.c
Amazing list TJ. Couple of questions:
-What skimmer do you run on that tank (sorry missed it somehow) and do you skim wet or just dry with more frequent skimmer neck cleaning?
-How can you reach in there to place or move a coral without dropping all your corals (something I struggle with a lot especially with frags. do you epoxy your frags to rock directly or did you pre drill your rocks?
Tank looks amazing can't wait to see those corals grow up and fill it.

I run a Marine Solutions MSX-160 protein skimmer. I skim on the wetter side I guess, but still try and wipe down the inside neck of the skimmer daily with a paper towel to keep the performance from suffering at all.

To mount corals I primarily use super glue gel. In most cases I snip the coral off of the frag plug, then use a small dab of super glue gel on the end of the frag. Then I just stick into the tank and hold in place for 15 seconds or so. Then after a few weeks the coral grows over the super glue and encrusts to the rock.

There are some cases that I mount the coral on rock rubble with super glue gel outside of the tank. When I do that, I use Aquamend Epoxy Putty and Super Glue Gel to hold the rock rubble in place.

Originally posted by pcannone
Hey TJ, I can't find the page where you talk about your lighting. What type of light are you using? I'm looking to upgrade my lighting on my 55g reef and I'm entertaining ideas. Thanks

I'm using 1- 250w PFO Mini Pendant HQI w/ M80 Ballast. The bulb is a Pheonix 14k. I have another pendant and 2 actinic VHO's to add, but haven't had the time to get that done yet.

Personally I am not a fan of my lighting, and wouldn't recommend it. I was a much bigger fan of the T5 lighting I had on my 90g tank.

[Tswifty]

The not so fun part of reef keeping... just spent 30 minutes or so picking bubble algae and pieces of dead cheato out of the tank.

[Tangweed]

Originally posted by Tswifty
The not so fun part of reef keeping... just spent 30 minutes or so picking bubble algae and pieces of dead cheato out of the tank.

TJ... what did you use to pick the bubbles with out popping them?

[Tswifty]

Most of the time they just peel off the rock pretty easily.

[Tangweed]

Thanks! good to know

[ser_renely]

Originally posted by Tswifty
I'm not a fan of a sand in refugiums. I really don't see the point, unless you want some livestock down there that needs a sand bed. Also, 3-4" shouldn't be considered a DSB so you probably won't see any nitrate reduction benefits from it. At least not a noticeable impact.

I use rock rubble and cheato in my refugium, and am considering scrapping the macro algae for now. My nutrient levels are too low right now and my cheato is dying off again. So I'm going to run some GFO, pull the macro, then add it if I see the need in the future.

Back to the refugium substrate... I personally would go rock rubble or bare bottom.

Also, have you ever pursued any type of nitrate reduction methods to get them down to 0? Then after you do that, you can track your nitrates to see if your filtration needs to be addressed. Are you using a protein skimmer? If so, what type and model?

I have a Tunze 9010 skimmer. Does ok, but I don't think I give it much to skim since I am trying to get nitrates down, in its defense.

I have been using Kent nitrate sponge for the past 2+ weeks, so far I have seen no "reduction". I will give it another couple weeks before I get ticked off with it. I guess I may have to do some large water changes in the future :-\

I think I will try removing the sand and keep a little rubble/small ricks and see what I get. What effect will this have on my pod population? Do pods need sand at all?

thanks for the info.

[2frosty4u]

I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of these Catalina led fixtures and if they are any good?.....The price seems pretty decent but I've never heard anyone ever mention their name until yesterday by another reefer.
http://www.reefpenguins.com/servlet/...ING/Categories

[Tswifty]

Good news today... My Blue Digitata I got from Sean a while back is beginning to color up again, and I noticed some blue polyps near the base and on the tips this afternoon.

It went crazy brown due to the lighting and power outages (probably mainly the lighting though). I actually almost gave it away a few times to guys "testing" their system for SPS, but ended up keeping it because of it's size. I'll be thrilled if it comes back 100%.