Innovative Marine 40-EXT (1 Viewer)

[reef junkie]

Wow everything looks so clean and well thought out. Those bulk Heads always get me when I install them. I saw once someplace recently that the washer always goes on the nut side no mater the install. I just hope I can remember this for future builds. Great you found a work around the missing part though.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

I saw once someplace recently that the washer always goes on the nut side no mater the install

Always on the flange side, never on the nut side. As you tighten the nut it may damage the gasket. Anyway, this is a snippet from fijicube install.

On 4a, I was missing gasket between overflow box and aquarium. I would have contacted fiji for a replacement but didn't want to wait days. I have traced gaskets before onto gasket material. Figured that was option two if the first didn't work. After that though, I would have been forced to order correct one.

 

[reef junkie]

HAHAHA Thats was it LOL.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Tank has been running for almost two weeks now. The glass has finally grown enough stuff on it for me to need to scrub it. I did add two tiny fish to it. I can see some pods swimming around and some bristle worms. I also, embarrassingly enough, managed to bring in aiptaisa in (YAY first coral). I just smothered them with superglue so I may have taken care of them but who knows at this point. I never even realized my refugium had anything in it. If I can go a month or so without seeing any new polyps I will call it a success.

I have left the light on its default schedule. Currently on way more than I expected. Some coralline is starting to grow already. Overall, it has been an easy start up. After the first couple of days of tweaks, I have not had to make any adjustments. I need to add a filter or something to stop the funneling effect on the drain. It occasionally pulls a little air down the drain which makes a little bit of noise. Next step is to slowly add a CUC and look for a skimmer.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Not much of an update as it mostly looks the same as when I started it.

I did add a coral to this. Bought a jawbreaker mushroom that had a really small baby with it. Had a hermit crab dislodge the baby so that is nowhere to be found. I never measured the par and it looked 'not great' where I had originally put it, so I hid it in the sand under the overhang. Sand has certainly been going through the ugly stages. Doing about a 4-gallon water changes weekly so it doesn't get too carried away before I need to clean it again.

I got these pair of mandarins in the beginning of March from BIOTA. The captive bread ones from there are advertised as being able to eat pellets and pick up frozen food quickly. I didn't know how small they would be when I got them. I have been throwing a cocktail of tiny fish food at them to keep them alive. It is hard to tell if/what they are eating but since they are still alive, I assume they are eating something I am giving them. I also snuck in a peppermint shrimp that you can see the head of. I mostly did this for the aptaisia that came over from my rock cycle. He took care of a few of them so hoping he finds the rest.

I would like to add a few more fish to this but I am giving the mandarins as much time as I can. I would like to make sure they transition to frozen before introducing anything else. I regularly feed frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms in different tanks. Right now, they are getting a small pieces of frozen baby brine along with the pellets. I will continue to feed pellets so that when I go out of town, I can set up an auto feeder.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Went to store and saw this guy. Glutton for punishment I guess. Going to try and keep this one alive after a few failures in the past. Put it here for monitoring eating habits before it transfers to the 200. Lights are off for now to help is settle down. Also tossed in a red tuxedo urchin!

 

[Jjdurrant]

Looks good.. brave soul on the copperband! LOL. Best of luck. I picked up a dragonet as well.. I have added lots on copepods but hoping maybe he takes to frozen or pellets at some point.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

I have an auto feeder dropping pellets 3x a day and I feed frozen brine 2x a day. Seen them start chasing the brine shrimp so that has been successful. Might cut back a bit on auto feeder now that I can see them eat.

I got some black worms for the copperband. Also got some reef frenzy. Hoping it eats brine though. Might try and trick it with some black worms and add in some frozen blood worms. Would like to see if the mandarins take to blood worms as well once they get bigger. Those are a lot easier to aquire than the black worms.

I try and feed pellets to all my fish on occasion but mostly do frozen. It is nice to set up an auto feeder and go on vacation and not have to worry about someone coming in to feed. Just less hassle with it.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Despite having the rock in my other tank for a month, it certain went through a cycle stage. I lost most of the snails I had in there along with the peppermint shrimp. My reefmat when from averaging nearly 30 inches a day to less than 10. I got nearly 9 weeks out of my first roll though.

Current stock list:
Copperband butterfly (x1)
Mandarin (x2)
Conch Snail (x1)
Narcissus snail (x2)
Few hermit crabs and other snails.

I have yet to see the Copperband butterfly eat anything. After nearly a month of having it, I am certain it does. I won't be moving it anytime soon as I am sure it will starve. Been feeding a small mixture of reef frenzy, brine shrimp and the pellets I specifically bought for the mandarins.

The two mandarins are also doing well. I have leaned heavily on frozen food, and they gobble up the brine shrimp. Seen them try and take on a piece of the reef frenzy that was almost as big as one of their heads. They are still rather small but have easily doubled in length since I got them.

Tank is getting by with just feeding and weekly water changes. Still not sure what corals I want to attempt. I threw two SPS in there but one bleached out almost immediately. I also have a jawbreaker mushroom in there. It is small and the placement seems tricky as it gets too much shade it gets blasted with light. Might have to move it to the other tank before I kill it. I want to try an SPS on each rock structure then have others that won't consume all the elements. Maybe do mushrooms or zoas or even rock nems. Just want easy things.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Found the copperband wedged under a rock this morning. He had been swimming around just fine through yesterday. Not sure if it starved or just got stuck. Never touched the few aiptasia I had in the tank.

Time to find a court jester now. Sure would like to find something else that is good for a small tank that has some good color, and isn't a jumper. Throw some suggestions if you have any. Have a top that stays on, but there are gaps around the edges.

 

[spsick]

That’s really a bummer. I think you’re going to have a really hard time with keeping a copperband healthy in a new tank that size or even a 100 gallon for that matter. They’re really cool, pretty fish but just too delicate for most hobbyists to keep.

 

[clownnut]

I'm sorry to hear, copperbanded is the type of fish that needs to "think" for a second or 2 before they will consider taking a bite. I have very good luck with just sticking some spirulina brine shrimp in a rock with a few small holes drilled into it and placing the rock in the area it hangs out. most of the bufferfly fish don't have a lot of body weight, especially when they are small. Over a month not taking a bite. usually mean it doesn't like the food you are offering. you can always do live fresh clam from an Asia store or Byerlys, deep freeze it for 48-72 hrs, then offer it to Copperbanded or Angel refuses to eat. i would consider the rock method before the live clam. but once you got them to take any food converting them to frozen is much much easier.

​

 

[MistakesWereMade]

I think it was eating some, just not while I watched it. I figure some food would stick on the rocks and it would eventually eat it.

I added a nero 3 to the tank last week. Set on random at 30%. I wonder if food just wasn't settling anymore in places it looked. It would have died in my big tank for sure, and this tank is just not big enough long term. I hope it is awhile before I talk myself into another on. Now I can focus back on killing corals.

 

[Jjdurrant]

Sorry but I am the resident coral killer around here.

Seems odd to me that these fish will just stave themselves. You would think it would be their natural instinct to eat whatever offered vs dying.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Doing tank clean and water changes tonight.

This past weekend we moved out 75-gallon freshwater tank to a different room. Had most of the equipment out to make it lighter and clean things.

Get all done with water changes and wife tells me, "You should look at the freshwater tank. The water seams really warm." So, I look at the temp controller and it is set to 77. Tank is running at 88+. Faulty heater one might think. Nope, she plugged the heater directly into the wall and nothing was plugged into the controller. Hope I caught it early enough because everything is still alive at this point.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Thinking about abandoning the sand and switching over to a course aggregate. The sand is just holding onto the algea and it is difficult to clean. Even after running the syphon over it I am not happy with how clean it looks. Anybody ever do a switch over? I tend to syphon quite a bit of sand when doing water changes. Not worried about getting it all out, just most. Just a thought at this point. Any suggestions out there?

 

[asifiqbal2]

Found the copperband wedged under a rock this morning. He had been swimming around just fine through yesterday. Not sure if it starved or just got stuck. Never touched the few aiptasia I had in the tank.

Time to find a court jester now. Sure would like to find something else that is good for a small tank that has some good color, and isn't a jumper. Throw some suggestions if you have any. Have a top that stays on, but there are gaps around the edges.

That stinks! I have been considering a copper band myself for the 206 gallon. I tired of F-aiptasia. The 5 peppermint I put in there apparently must have other food. The bergia will get eaten by the melanarus or yellow Coris…
From all the research so far you need a healthy specimen to survive and the first few days are crucial for it to feed

 

[clownnut]

Thinking about abandoning the sand and switching over to a course aggregate. The sand is just holding onto the algea and it is difficult to clean. Even after running the syphon over it I am not happy with how clean it looks. Anybody ever do a switch over? I tend to syphon quite a bit of sand when doing water changes. Not worried about getting it all out, just most. Just a thought at this point. Any suggestions out there?

got a 1-2 sand shifting cucumbers.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Been awhile since the last update. Algae has been somewhat managed. I switched the lighting to go a little more blues and lowered the intensity a little. I know the light is overkill but it casts a good blanket. Still growing a bit in the sand but I added a sand sifting star and that has helped a little.

I tried a really small court jester goby but after a week or so I never saw it again. It was a nice looking fish but they are also notorious for being difficult to get eating.

I have added a yellow assessor basset and a purple firefish.



Still have the pair of mandarins though they like the shadows and scurrying on the underside of the overhang. Still a fun fish to watch but they don't come out a lot. Ho0efully as they get bigger they will.

I also added one of those green machine uv sterilizer. I for now it is just temporary. I just ordered one of those coralife twist UV to run off my return pump. Might go inline with the main return or but I added a 'T' with a valve for future use. But that will just return it to the sump. I will have to see what makes the most sense when I plumbing it in.

I also finally turned on the used nyos skimmer I picked up awhile back. Seems to skim well.

I occasionally find an aptasia but for the most part they are far and few in-between. As far as other corals I haven't really done much. I have a few yuma mushrooms, a ricordia and a rhodactis. Still debating on what to add. Through a stylo in there as well.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Of course about a week after I made the previous post my firefish decided to take a leap of faith. Unfortunately I am now back to the pair of mandarins and the basset. Until I can talk myself into a custom tight fitting lid I will stay away from another firefish.

Was able to plumb in the UV. Getting full under this little tank and there isn't even that much going on. I was able to get the UV installed just hanging over the sump. Fingers crossed it doesn't leak, but just in case.


Would like to try and figure out some corals to brighten up the tank and make it a bit more interesting. I am tempted by the idea of adding a nem. Just trying to avoid anything that would require me to dose. I want to just stick to water changes to keep things happy.