My 40 gallon tank (pic thread updated 9/13).

[wartooth1]

Hello again everyone! ^_^
In the last few threads I made people have made requests to see pics of my tank, so thought it would be best if I made a pic thread that I could update whenever I made any changes or additions. So here's what I have... *drumroll*

So thats the tank. It made by Jebo and its called the R375. The lights and the filtration system came with the tank. I'm not sure on the stats of the lights (the aquarium didn't come with any paperwork but when I showed them to the owner of a different fish store he said they will do well enough to support certain soft corals. The tank has been running for about 3 weeks before I put fish in them (a pair of happy and active damsels).

I know people have had questions about this so here is a closer look at the filter(s). On the left the black tube is the part of the wet/dry filter that sucks in the water. You can disregard the tube on the right... it was part of the UG filter that they guys who I bought the aquarium from installed. After much debate on a previous thread, and hearing from several people in real life explain to me how this filter is a bad idea, I decided to take it out. So now the black device that the white tube used to be attached to acts as a pump and provides a lot of water circulation. Also notice an exit port on the filter as well... that is also adding to the water current.

A look inside the roof of the tank. Once the water is pulled up into the roof, it travels along the pipe you see in the center over a pair of filter pads. Under one pad is a pile of ceramic bits and under the other are some bio balls.

So here is a look at the opposite side of the tank where the water from the hood is returned. This return port is also creating current on the opposite side of the tank.

And now a look at my tank's current inhabitants. A pair of Damsles. They both seem to be happy and active and eat whenever I feed them. I'm getting a little worried about the all blue one... he's decided to make himself king of the tank and doesn't let the yellow tailed one get out in the open much. So far rearranging the rocks seems to confuse him and when I do that he stops bothering the yellow tail for a while.

Last pic for now... This little orange worm I noticed coming out of one of the rocks I moved. I touched him with a plastic fork and he spit a bit of mucus at it that looked like Spider-Man webbimg so I named it Spider-Worm lol. I didn't remove it and he has since burrowed into the sand. I figure he's probably contributing to the tank's ecosystem and if it turns out to be a pest... then perhaps he will wind up being Arrow Crab food later on
Well, thats all for now. Can't wait to post more pics when there's something to report!

 

[flower]

Those are some great pictures for explaining your system...very nice the way the filter works. You should also post your water test results. Oh and your worm (bristle worm)..LOL..you have more than one believe me, and they are good guys that eat decayed food and the dead, part of you CUC. Never touch them with your fingers they sting like fire.
I have only one thing to offer and only because I consider damsels to be beautiful evil little fish. They not only are mean/killers to each other but when they get older thay will bite you drawing blood when you put your hand in the tank. At some point moving the rocks around will not be an option so the time to get rid of the little demons would be now. They are beautiful little fish but so are dottybacks, the royal Gramma is stunning...a dwarf angelfish would go nicely. ANYTHING but a damsel...LOL..JMO

 

[old hickory]

Ever since I purchased my display tank, my six-year-old son wanted a tank of his own for his room. When I purchased a used 30-gallon tank for a quarantine tank, I became the not-so-proud owner of a damsel. Not wanting to put this evil little fish in with mine, my son got his wish. I purchased a cheap 10-gallon tank for his room. The damsel is happy, my fish are happy, and my son is happy. I imagine you too will soon become an owner of a 10-gallon tank once you want to introduce another fish. These guys are cute and mean.

 

[wartooth1]

Wow I didn't realize damsels can be that mean! One of the fish stores advised me that the all blue one should be taken out before I add any other fish but the yellow tailed one should be okay. Do you agree? As soon as I get the chance I'll take the blue one into a store and see if they will give me a couple of bucks off of a blue green chromis haha.

 

[meowzer]

I have a blue YT damsel in my 225G, It behaves, BUT then again all the otehr fish are A LOT BIGGER LOL
I would definitely get rid of the blue.....and watch the YT.....
Nice tank though

 

[wartooth1]

Ok a few more pics from today... These pics are showing my attempt at aquascaping. Its not done (will be adding about 10 more pounds or so of rock)... so what I'm shooting for is to create an arena or stage like setup so hopefully itmake a very visual cleaning station for the cleaner shrimp that I'll eventually be getting. I want company to come over and go OMG is that shrimp grooming those fish??? Haha
Front angle:

Side angle:

And now some of the caves/hiding places I made:

 

[flower]

LOL..my cleaner shrimp found a little cave and hid waiting for the fish to go in, and then he jumps onboard and goes for a ride cleaning as he went. The fish must like it they keep going back.

 

[1guydude]

lol my gf says she actually saw mine cleaning my HAWKFISH lol...i saw him today cleaning my blenny it was awsome! Hey wartooth have u tried it a lil more closed up? Kinda making a tighter lagoon type aquascape? Maybe im just picky but i like being able to clean most of my glass and from the pics idk if u could?!?!
Looks great though

Love that aquascape!

 

[wartooth1]

Just came back from the ole' LFS with a cleanup crew
They had a good sale going on for the critters I was looking for. I got 4 Turbo Snails, 15 Hermit Crabs, and a Cleaner Shrimp for less than $40! I couldn't pass that up.
.

Here's one of the snails. Once acclimated, him and his buddies immidiately headed for some rocks and started grazing

And here are the other snails. These are hefty snails... about 1 1/2 - 2 inches each! I'm certain ther hermits won't mess with them.

Speaking of hermits... here they are. As soon as they were in the tank they quickly went to work picking over my sand. I noticed that in only less than an hour there a difference in the cleanliness of the floor. I made sure to get a handful of extra shells so that they hopefully won't attack eachother.

Saving the best for last... my Skunk Cleaner Shrimp! I was worried he would be shy and wind up hiding somewhere out of sight. Much to my delight so far he is content in exploring all the nooks and crannies in the rocks. At the moment he's settled in a spot in the back corner, so I'm hoping he will eventually set up a more visual cleaning station. But there are worse places for him to settle in.
Well... thats it for now! Tune in next week when I swap out the blue damsel for something more friendly!

 

[jerth6932]

Good lookin tank..... I like the semi circle rock stack u got goin... pix threads are my types of threads!

 

[1guydude]

Quote:
Good lookin tank..... I like the semi circle rock stack u got goin... pix threads are my types of threads
I know right?!?! Im gonna have to steal ur rock formation for my 75 LOL

 

[wartooth1]

Well its been a little while but I got some new additions over the last couple of weeks
Right after adding my CuC and Cleaner Shrimp, that Blue Damsel got really, really mean and just would not stiop harassing my Yellow Tail Damsel so, out it went. He was a tough little bastard to remove. Took me almost an hour to catch him (even after I removed most of my rocks).
After taking the Damsel back to the store... I traded him for a Green Chromis and also picked up a Firefish

Mere moments after taking this shot the clean shrimp jumped on the Firefish's back and gave him a good little cleaning. Damn you slow camera phone!
Fast forward to last weekend... The wife asks me if I wanted to go to the fish store today. I thought it might be to early to add another fish to the tank, but on the other hand, I pretty much just got the green light to spend some money on a fish, so I jumped at the chance lol.
I wound up getting something for her and something for me at the store. She picked out a cute little False Clown, and I got my Arrow Crab!

Sorry for the blurry pick but this was the best shot I was able to capture on my phone... little guy wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get a good shot. Note the Yellow Tail Damsel lurking in the cave in the background.

Here's a nice shot of my Arrow Crab. After hearing mixed reports on their tendancy to attack other fish and inverts, I decided to just keep on a close eye on him every day. So far he's been peaceful with all of his mates. The funny thing is I think he's scared of my Cleaner Shrimp. He runs away whenever they come into contact lol. He's very useful in the tank IMO. I've watched him pull food out of tiny holes and cracks that I'm sure my hermits couldn't reach.
I am also happy to report that the Yellow Tail Damsel has been peaceful with all of this mates so far.
So now with the 4 fish, 2 inverts, and the multitude of hermits and snails, the tank is bristling with activity and I've got plenty to look at for a while. If I can find a Royale Gramma in the next week or so, I'll be adding that, but after that I think it will be time to let the tank sit and mature for a couple of months. Hopefully by then I'll be able to find a good deal on lights and then I can start adding corals.

 

[wartooth1]

Did some major upgrading over the last week. The first big upgrade is that I removed all the livestock and rock from the tank and replaced all the CC with live sand. Today I replaced the filter that game with the tank with an Aquaclear 70 powerfilter, a CPR Aeroforce Protien Skimmer, and the crappy stock lights I had taken out and replaced with 2 Ecoexotic Panorama LED combo strips. There is still plenty of room for more LEDs so I might get another row of 2 Panoramics are maybe a pair of blue Ecoexotic strips to bring out that glow. Phone's dead atm so pics will come later
So after all that maybe in a week or so I'll add my first piece/pieces of coral. Yay!

 

[wartooth1]

Ok phones got some juice... here's my upgrades:

Took out the lame stock lights and replaced them with 2 Ecoexotic Panorama LED combo strips. I wanted to hear angels sing whenever I look at the tank and they don't disappoint!

The stock filter was also replaced. Up close is the protien skimmer which is a CPR Aeroforce skimmer rated for up to 70 gallons, and in the background is the power filter which is an Aquaclear 70. My wife thinks they are an eyesore so I think I will try to cut out the plastic bottom of the old filter system and use it as a cover to hide these better.

Whats a decent pic thread update without some cool new critter? Well I got this Black Sea Cucumber which came out of some live rock I bought a few days ago. I'm not sure if I should keep him though.... some say they are hardy and easy to care for and are great sand sifters. Others are saying they are really sensitive and need specific water parameters to survive... and the last thing I need is a toxic timebomb nuking my new tank lol.
I've been keeping watch on its behavior and so far he sticks to the rocks or is up at the top of the aquarium on the glass... so I would assume this isnt normal for a sand sifter so I think next chance I get I'll take him back to the store for some credit.

 

[191185]

Ok a few more pics from today... These pics are showing my attempt at aquascaping. Its not done (will be adding about 10 more pounds or so of rock)... so what I'm shooting for is to create an arena or stage like setup so hopefully itmake a very visual cleaning station for the cleaner shrimp that I'll eventually be getting. I want company to come over and go OMG is that shrimp grooming those fish??? Haha &#58

Front angle:



Side angle:




And now some of the caves/hiding places I made:


Wow nice pics! You have slot more LR than I do, I only have 2.3. Lbs but plan on getting more slowly.
Great job! Keep the pics coming

 

[wartooth1]

Hello friends!
Its been a while since I posted any updates... but I got a doozy of an update to my thread... My tank's got corals now! Wooo! One of the several LFSs in my area was litterally just finishing stocking their new shipment of corals and fish and so they said that I was the first one to come in and see the new selection. Man, they had everything from big fist sized pieces to little frags about the size a nickel. Some of the more impressive pieces were 50 bucks or higher. I wasn't ready to pay that much fro a single coral (yet), and I was hoping I could get away with 2-3 good looking corals and keep it under $70... I managed to come home with a Star Polyp, a Green Button Polyp, a Frogspawn, and some frozen coral food and was still under my budget!
Anyway... on with the pics! These pics were taken the next day after acclimation... they have since gotten bigger (and I'm even noticing additional heads on the Button Polyps appearing):

From left to right... the Button Polyps, the Frogspawn, and the Star Polyps. I have since moved the Frogspawn to the other side of the tank, where my Clown likes to hang out in the hopes that he'll host it... no such luck lol.

Here's a closeup of the Button Polyp... thought it was a steal for 11 bucks... at the moment it's my favorite coral in the tank... not only is it the brightest coral, but it actually "grabs" food and folds in on itself when eating... very cool to look at. When it closes you could see the new smaller heads growing out from underneith and since that pic was taken I think 6 new heads have appeared.

Here's the Frogspawn. Its not fully inflated in this pic... when it is its huge! So big in fact that it completely covers the rock its mounted on. I wanted something with tentacles that swayed in the current and this Frog does not dissapoint!

The Star Polyp... I wasn't sure if I liked this coral or not but I got it since the owner of the LFS said that these corals actually eat Nitrates so I got it with the hopes that it will help me out in tank cleanliness. I've I've had it I've started to like it and can't wait until it starts spreading all over the rock. It hasn't spread yet but it sure has grown a bit! Its polyps have gotten a lot longer and has a weird pine tree/bush appearence.
So the next day I stopped into another LFS (I knew it was their normal shipping day) and hoped they had some cool things... ehh not so much... all their coral was way too big for my tank and way expensive...On my way out I did notice something that I knew I wanted from their display tank...a Tuxuito Urchin! I asked if I could have it and the guy said normally only the coral is for sale in the display tank, but since its only an Urchin and not a fish he'll sell it too me. So, $10 bucks later I have a Tux in my tank now.

So there's the Tux on the left having a tug-o-war match with a snail on the right over a piece of algae (the gray blob in the middle). I brought home the Urchin thinking he is a detrius eater but it turns out to be a strict algae eater. Since I've yet to have an algae outbreak of any kind I also picked up a roll of dried algae and once every couple of days I'd feed the Urchin by picking him up and putting a 1 inch piece of algae under it... so far that seems to do the trick. Also, notice the Urchin came with a Button Polyp "top hat" lol.
Ok last pic... a few days ago I went back to the LFS I got my corals from to get some water for a water change... but wound up leaving with this Fuzzy Bullseye Mushroom too lol!

Not much to say about this coral other than its really freaking cool!
Well thats all for now! Whew!

 

[wartooth1]

Hi everyone!
Well its been a while since I posted any of my new stuff so here I am with some new pics of my latest additions!
First up is this awesome Brain Coral. I really wanted this coral sooner but with the vacation coming up in a few days I wasn't about to get a new coral (or anything for that matter) and then just leaving, hoping it will still be alive when I got back. I shopped around at other stores for similar Brains and they all wanted double the price this store was asking, so I was certain that this coral would be sold by the time I returned. Much to my joy, this coral was still there when I came back, so I snatched it up immediately! Here it is:

This is a pic of it a little while after I first put it into the tank yesterday, so its still not quite fully opened, but even shrunken up its still huge in my tank and is definately the centerpiece coral in my tank!

Since I on such a hot streak with this Brain Coral, I stopped by another LFS on the way hom and found this beautiful strawberry red Acan frag:

I think its going to like its new home, only a few minutes after being acclimated into the tank the heads puffed up and the tentacles came out. If this frag works out I may have to get more frags of all different colors and spread them out all over in the tank because they look like littles jewels in the rock.
To the left of the Acan frag is my Orange Digitata, which I've had for a while now (but this is its first intro here). I got it to see if my tank was ready for SPS corals. Its had its ups and downs but I was able to resolve the issues and now as you can see, its doing great and I think in the near future I'm going to venture out into some more SPS corals.
Next are a couple of new(ish) CuC members but they are also a lot of fun to watch!

Thats a Diamond Goby and a Peppermint shrimp. My sand was beginning to look ugly so I first thought a handful of Nassarius snails would do the trick but it wasnt enough. I got a Fighting Conch to sift the sand around after hearing such good things about it. Sadly, all it did was sit around doing nothing and eventually died. So then I got this Goby and I couldn't be more pleased. Not only is the sand no longer an ugly brown color, but watchng the Goby make little sand mountains is very entertaining and the landscaping he does makes the sandbed look very natural. The Peppermint shrimp I got when I noticed some Aipasia growing on my Mushroom rock... now the Aipasia are gone.
Next is some Pulsing Xenia:

Not much to say about it other than it looks cool, it pulses, and it does a fine job eating Nitrates, so I get to make water changes less frequently.
Next is this Orange Monti piece I picked up.

The girl at the LFS told me that they got from a previous customer who gave it to them because it was dying. Since they had it they broke of the dead material and was able to make into two healthy pieces on a single base. I thought it looked nice and they only wanted 5 bucks for it so... yoink!
Next up is probably going to be a slightly controversial pic:

Thats right... a Yellow Tang in a 40 gallon tank! I can hear the sirens already. But seriously, as you can probably tell, its a very small fish right now, about the same size as the Duncan frag you can see in the same pic. It should take about 4 to 6 years before it gets too big for my tank, and by that time I should have a 2nd, bigger tank (wife already said yes to that because she doesn't want to have to give up the Tang), which was part of my plan (shh! lol).
And now... just a shot of how my tank looks right now, in all its glory.

 

[mproctor4]

I think your tank looks great. Esp. like your new brain, very nice. I hate to rain on your parade, but your tang will grow much more quickly than 4-6 years. Mine went from the size of a $.50 piece to about 5 inches in about 5 months. If your going to keep him, you need to start thinking about an upgrade now.