30 Gal update with pics

[Chasman]

Haven't post any pics of my 30 gal in a while so here goes. The tank has been doing quite well. I started this in early October of 09. So far, knock on wood, I haven't had a fatality. Even have the original six snails. Water perameters stay very stable. Still no signs of any nitrate. I think the ATO on a small tank like this helps out with water stability. The sps in one of the pictures was given to me by my LFS. I have no clue what it is but it's still green. I do 30% water changes about every other week and change the carbon out monthly. I do have some red tight hair algea but it doesn't seem to spread. I also have some sort of macro algea in there but its pretty well stuck to one spot too. The only thing I've been adding to the water is DT's Phytoplankton every other day as directed on the label. I did add another fish finally, a Royal Gramma. He/she gets along just fine with the clown fish. Lighting is still the two T5's units with 29" lamps.

[Chasman]

A few more pics.

[Steve McKay]

Looks real good Chasman, real good. That Acan is killer. If that SPS is in the second set photo #3 then it is a Acropora of some kind, a closeup would help ID it further but I'm not sure if I could. Give up the shrooms Chasman!!!!

[Chasman]

Thanks Steve. If you're ever in the Cleveland I be happy to give you a shroom or two. I've got plenty. For a small little system this thing has turned out pretty well. I do try to keep good care of it though.

[Chasman]

Pushing my picture limit. The sps is the freebie I got that I have no idea what it is. And of course my fish.

[twisted]

dude, your tank is looking real nice! very nice acan! great job!

[Chasman]

Thanks twisted. I've been following your build thread and yours is over the top. Mine is quite simple but has supprised me how stable I've been able to keep it. It's all in the quality of the beer you drink.

Chasman

[7digits]

The tank is looking good. That's a sweet acan colony. Frag it and send it to me, lol. I have passed on the light you sold me, and the sweet deal. I sold it to a 15 year old kid that seems to be really into this hobby. He also has a 29 gallon tank. He's a member of my local reef club. He's homeschooled and starting college at 16, and plans on studying marine biology. I though he could make good use of it, and it would help him out.

[metalhead]

Looks great Chas!

[Chasman]

7digits

Glad you passed it along to another person who needed it. I've been reading your posts and could tell you would outgrow it soon. It's a nice fixture but has its limits due to the 24" lamps. How do you like the MH lighting?

Metal

Thanks for the support. Like I said. It's all about the quality of the beer.
Your tank is looking good too.

On another note. I need a fish that coudl feed on the macro algea I have growing. What do you guys think?

I was thinking of a small angel of some kind but it needs to be small. Any ideas would be helpful.

Chasman

[Steve McKay]

On another note. I need a fish that coudl feed on the macro algea I have growing. What do you guys think? I was thinking of a small angel of some kind but it needs to be small. Any ideas would be helpful.
Chasman

There are several that only grow to 4", Flame, Coral Beauty, Half Black. At 6" Red Stripe, and one I'd like to have the Bicolor. Just remember that they can all nip at corals and clams, but several well known members here have them without too much trouble.

[7digits]

Chasman, I am liking the mh, though I need a bluer bulb. The one I have seems a bit too white for my taste. It says it's 15K, but it's just too white. I think I'm gonna go with a phoenix 250 watt 14K de. I joined the reef club incharlotte and scored some nice ORA sps at a great price. Small frags, but everything seems to be loving the light. I took my last piece of screen of Sunday! I have had some heat issues, but it's more because of my central air going out on me. Hopefully that's fixed. Now I just have to find a place for all the new stuff and attach them. Right now I think it's time to lay off the coral and let everything grow. That's hard to do though. I'll post some pics for you once I get everything in place and this bulb changed. It's come a long way. I think I still need some acans like yours though.

[Chasman]

7digits

Been out of town for a while but I want to ask you about the heat issue with your MH bulbs. I run my AC all summer and was wondering if I could pull that off. What kind of temps are you getting?

Chasman

[7digits]

I bought a fan, actually it has 4 fans off of ebay. It's made by Aquatek in Cali. I have no temp fluctuation. The fan is mounted on the HOB fuge angled down at the fixture. Without the fan I was only seeing it rise 2 degrees. I keep the thermostat in the house at 72. My light sits about 5 inches above the waterline. I'm very pleased with the results even though I lost some zoas that I had superglued kinda high in the tank, but they were free. They bleached and then melted. Atleast some of them did. The others morphed into this crazy looking neon green.