Need ideas...

[RedTurboMr2]

Hey guys, i need some help. I've had my tank for some time now, but still not liking the way it looks, i'm thinking i need some more coral/fish but i'm not sure what to get. Do you guys have any thoughts as to what i can place near the top? I'd like to avoid things that spread like crazy. Also, if you guys have any tips on how i can set things up better, i'd like to hear it. Maybe i'm doing something wrong. I know this tank could look a lot better, i just don't really know what i'm doing lol. This is what i have......

46g bowfront

Tek T5 36" 4X39W Light fixture
2X ATI Blue Plus T5
ATI Purple Plus T5
KZ NewGen T5

2X Koralia 750 powerheads
AquaClear 110
Heater
2X PC fans
BRS 75 GPD RO/DI 5 Stage Plus System
ReefKeeper Lite

Two clowns
Orange spotted goby
Purple fire goby
Green spotted mandarin

Two blood shrimp
Six red scarlet crabs
Roughly fifteen snails
Two emerald crabs

Frogspawn
Green trumpet
Green donut
Star polyps
Anthelia
Acanthastrea
? "looks a little like frogspawn, it's on the left side of my tank"

I believe that's everything, hope to hear back from someone, thx.
Here's a few pics....




Left size zoom


Right side zoom

[Driver13]

I would only do frags in that tank, once your nutrients are balanced in that tank, and your lights are up to par to grow coral, they grow FAST!

[sirreal63]

I would remove the Anthelia and Star Polyps, they can quickly reach plague proportions or keep the Star Polyps on their own rock, away from all other rock and it will slow it down. For the top, some easier to grow sps like Montipora. All in all I think it looks ok, you have a little algae but that in itself is not unusual. I would not add more fish and pay close attention to that mandarin, it can starve easily in that small of a tank.

[RedTurboMr2]

yea, i tried getting rid of the star polyps before, but failed, i'm gonna have to remove to rocks completely. I'm gonna see if i can trade them in at the local reef store. As for the anthelia, i'm getting rid of it also, but i want to find a nice anemone first since the clowns love the anthelia.

I was told that the mandarin eats frozen food, i bought him today. I'll keep an eye on him.
Thanks for the input guys. keep it coming plz.

[theresearcher]

In my opinion, you could put in a few more small fish. I would go with a blenny or a cardinal.

[RedTurboMr2]

Originally Posted by theresearcher

In my opinion, you could put in a few more small fish. I would go with a blenny or a cardinal.

Thx, that's what i figured. The guy at my local reef store, told me that i can have 6 or 7 since they're all small fish. I currently have five.

Thx for the reply.

[RedTurboMr2]

Hey guys, I went to the reef store to see if they had any anemones, but they didn't. I ended up buying a green open brain, and a green bubble. What you guys think of the placement of my corals? Keep in mind that the anthelia is coming out, and most likely the green star polys "i turned the rock around so the green star polyps are away from the other rock". Is it possible for the brain to retract? Seems like I can see quite a bit of his skeleton. I'm not sure if maybe it's getting too much light. I looked it up, and it seems like i read mixed reviews, some people say that it needs low lighting, but then on other sites, i see that the brain needs moderate to high lighting.

Thanks in advance

[Curious George]

Personally, and I'm not just saying this to be nice, I think your tank looks great. I would add some red and green mushrooms. They spread well, escpecially under that lighting set up. Sinularia and a Fiji Yellow Leather would look great closer to the top and probably round out the collection. It's really just a matter of time before you are satisfied with the tank. Keeping things stable and letting stuff grow in over the course of a year will do the trick.

[sirreal63]

Start the new additions out lower in the tank, unless your LFS had them over high light, most do not.

[RedTurboMr2]

Originally Posted by Curious George

Personally, and I'm not just saying this to be nice, I think your tank looks great. I would add some red and green mushrooms. They spread well, escpecially under that lighting set up. Sinularia and a Fiji Yellow Leather would look great closer to the top and probably round out the collection. It's really just a matter of time before you are satisfied with the tank. Keeping things stable and letting stuff grow in over the course of a year will do the trick.

I do like the look of some of the mushrooms, but i'm not sure if i was to go with stuff that spreads. Seems to be a hassle. As for a sinularia and yellow leather, i'll look into it, never heard of those. Thx

[RedTurboMr2]

Originally Posted by sirreal63

Start the new additions out lower in the tank, unless your LFS had them over high light, most do not.

They were near the top of the tank, not sure what lights they use though. I'm sure they weren't weaker than T5's, i could be wrong though lol.

[RedTurboMr2]

Looks like my brain is fine, checked him this morning and he's double it's size. Only problem is, my damn emerald crab keeps going under it, and flipping it off the rock, he's also doing it with the bubble coral. Will these eventually attach to the road, or do i need to glue them?

Thx

[ACBlinky]

I think the brain might be happier down on the sand -- if you want to keep it on the rocks, I'd epoxy/glue it in place to avoid the stress of falling/being knocked over.

The tank looks great. It might look cleaner if you scraped the back wall, but that's just personal preference. Some suggestions for new additions: a clown goby -- tiny, next to no bioload, but LOADS of personality. They often 'host' a coral, like a clownfish (see my avatar). A starfish or urchin, or larger hermit like a blue-knuckle or halloween hermit might give you something else interesting to watch without putting too much bioload on the tank.

If you want really stunning corals that don't spread quickly, what about getting into ricordia mushrooms, blastos, or some of the easier SPS corals? One eye-catching leather, but they do eventually get big (easy to frag though), would be a bright yellow sarcophyton leather. I'm waiting for one to be fragged and delivered, that I hope will someday become a bit of a centrepiece in my tank.

[RedTurboMr2]

Thx for the reply, much appreciated. I'm gonna see how the brain reacts on top for a day or two first. If it looks like it's not liking it up top, i'll move it to the sand. I'd like to get rid of the anthelia first since it's where i'd like the brain to be. Still looking for an anemone. All they had was a very very small bubble tip anemone, the guy working there told me to hold off a bit till he gets more stock.

I'm gonna see if i can find a clown goby, my local reef guy gets random stuff all the time, dunno if he'll have a clown goby

i'm thinking of getting a yellow leather once i find one.

[RedTurboMr2]

i just swapped the coral from the bottom left with the brain. I think he's gonna like it more there. When i first put the brain in the tank, it seemed like i could see his skeleton, then this morning he was puffed up like crazy, but then again, it might be because he fell over and was kinda touching the anthelia, or maybe "it's just because it was night, and that's maybe what brains look like at night?" I'm new to brains. Either way, just now when i came home from work, i noticed that he's small again, and sort of showing the skeleton again, "maybe that's just how brains look like during the day?". Or maybe it's cause he's too close to the light? I'm gonna see how he looks like while being lower in the tank, and check him out again in the morning to see if he's puffed again.

I played a little more with the bubble coral again, to see if i could wedge him in the hole a little better, and now it seems more stable. The only thing is, it's kinda pointing up and towards the back of the tank. I don't think it's much of an issue though, i bet the coral grows towards the light. I'd like to avoid glue in case i need to move the coral for some reason.

[RedTurboMr2]

I went ahead and took out the anthelia, i found a cpl other batches in different parts of my tank, so i see that it's spreading. I'm taking it out now before it gets too crazy. I hope the clowns don't hate me. I'll have to find something that'll host em.

[RedTurboMr2]

What you guys think of a yellow toadstool? There's someone in town that has some frags. In the ad, it says that her toadstool dropped some frags. Do these just drop frags? If i have it on the rock, can it drop frags onto coral beneath it? I thought fragging had to be done by cutting the coral. I guess this is sort of like an anemone splitting? I like the way it looks, i'm just wondering if it's ok for my setup.

Thx

[RedTurboMr2]

Here's a picture of how the tank looks like with the anthelia removed and the brain lower in the tank.



I tried to feed a cpl of my corals this morning, the bubble was very easy, the donut took a little bit, but the brain was pretty tough, the tentacles are very small, is this normal? i seen a few pics but they seem to be longer.
Here's a pic that i took at 7am this morning of the brain. All the lights in my apartment were off, light was from the flash of my iphone.

[RedTurboMr2]

Oh, and my water quality is.....

PH 8.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Calcium 430 ppm
Alkalinity 8.4 dkh
Magnesium 1350 ppm
Salinity 1.0255
Phosphorous 16 ppb

[zachfishman]

Originally Posted by RedTurboMr2

I know this tank could look a lot better, i just don't really know what i'm doing lol.

If all our tanks were perfect, and we all understood exactly what was going on in our systems, this would be one boring hobby

I recommend some more fish too, I really like Midas blennies for their color and activity. Alternatively, you can get some tank-bred fang blennies (ORA breeds them), which are equally entertaining. I always try to incorporate tank-bred fish for a variety of reasons (longevity, reduced env. impact).

Do those pictures accurately show the color of your system? If so I'd try to brighten it up a little by reducing the "blueness." I've never been a fan of overly blue tanks - it's like a cloudy day on your reef all the time.

cheers

[RedTurboMr2]

Thx for your reply.

It does have a blue look, but it isn't as blue as in the pictures. It looks a lot brighter in person.

I'm keeping an eye on the local reef shop, to see the different fish that comes in. I wish i lived where there were more reef shops. There just isn't a big selection some times. My main goal right now is to find an anemone for my clowns since they don't look too comfortable leaning up against a rock to sleep. I'm being very picky on the anemone that i pick though, since i don't want one that splits like crazy and that'll kill all my coral while trying to find a spot to foot. I'm thinking of going with a sand dwelling anemone.

[RedTurboMr2]

Went to the reef shop again today to see if they had any new fish, but unfortunately they didn't have any new fish, but i did find a long tentacle plate coral. I went ahead and bought it. It's acclamating right now, i'll post some pics once it's stable in the tank. I'm hoping my clowns don't try to go in it, since i've read up online that they're known to killing the plate by being too rough. It's pretty cool looking, i think i might have to move things around a bit. I was thinking of putting it sort of in the middle of the sand but more to the left, but i'm worried about the hammer coral being too close. Should it be ok?

[RedTurboMr2]

Hey guys, here's a cpl new pictures. One shows the placement of corals, and the other is a closer pic to show the distance between plate and donut. Is my green donut too close? Or can those two get along? I'm not sure where i could put the green donut. I understand that the plate can move, but there's nothing i can do about that, so....i'm hoping it doesn't move lol.

Thanks

[RedTurboMr2]

Anyone know if they're too close?

[RedTurboMr2]

Ttt