Budget doesn't exist in this hobby: Brian's 45g Build

[Etaloche]

I should make an effort to update more than once a month. So much can happen in a month I never even realized...

Where to even start

Woke up one day to a pod outbreak. I added a bottle of Doc's Eco Matter when I first got the tank up and running because I've always wanted a mandarin goby.
I kinda thought they all died out because there wasn't enough for them to eat in a new tank but I guess I was wrong.
Hopefully I can house a mandarin goby in the near future.



I decided to turn off my wavebox at night for no particular reason, just trying out stuff. Seems like the firefish decided to sleep in it and got shredded pretty bad when it turned back on in the morning
He healed up in about 3 days though. The rate at fish seem to heal is pretty surprising. Needless to say the wavebox stays on 24/7 now.





Everyone needs a pair of clowns in their tanks! I decided to splurge a little and got a pair of awesome black ice from JCharles
They are so active it's hard to get a clear photo with a phone camera!



Also got a lawnmower blenny, I've always heard they were peaceful herbivores but my god he is mean to my goby. Will not let the goby have a moment of peace if the goby is peaking out of the rocks.
Can also see the armageddon zoa I picked up right beside.



Picked up a coco worm from Laurie's tank shut down. I've been dosing phyto to keep the pod population going strong so the coco worm should be happy about that.



Next I visited Anthony and got a small RBTA for my clowns. It took about 2 hours of persuading to get it off the rock it came on.



It decided to situate itself on the corner of one of my rocks. Stayed there for couple days before trying to move around to a new spot.
I was checking my tank one night with a red flashlight and suddenly saw something fly across the tank and scared the hell out of me.
Turned out to be the anemone taking flight to a new location. Woke up next morning to it right in the front of the tank so I'm super happy about that.
Clowns showing no sign of any interest of hosting the anemone though. Typical...





A mini brittle star decided to hitch a ride with the anemone so I saved it for my fuge



Some new SPS frags as well

Red digi and green birdsnest


Alien haystack and no name acro, if someone has ID on the right frag let me know.


Purple pocillopora


I got a plate coral from Albert for free when I first got my tank up. It was a coral I started liking much more than I thought I would at first.
The issue was that I don't have much room on my sand bed and it was growing really quick! So I traded Anthony the exact same plate coral but for a smaller one.



The rainbow acan I got from Albert that I thought was gonna split actually ended up doing so.

It's melting!



Ended up with 2 heads of rainbow acan right away. Not bad, just need to wait for them to grow out now.
Here they are after couple weeks of healing

This one healed up into a full head


This one still seems to be healing. Looks as though it might even attempt to split once again.


I also bought 2 heads of green hammer from Albert. I was a complete klutz and accidentally broke one of the heads in half while trying to get it off the plug
I've always heard you should split euphyllias by cutting a whole head off and wasn't sure how it would do if the head was split.
Couple weeks of letting it be and it's showing signs of recovery. Fingers crossed

When I broke it


Couple days later


I finally got new lights as well, china box LED I have been using until now wasn't showing very good signs of growth. After much research I still decided to go with china box LED but the best one I could find.
It's from a company called SB Reef Lights and has full spectrum with UV as well. So far very pleased with them. I've never seen my corals extend so much before until now.



Fully custom ramping feature as well. This is really nice since my firefish used to always freak out when the whites went off before.



Here is that broken hammer frag today under these lights looking much better. Been interesting to see how new polyps grow inside a hammer. They seem to start as a big bunch of polyps that later split into individual polyps.


Never even realized my frogspawn was this large until I got these lights.


So much polyp extension!




The coloration under these lights are amazing too!

The pink lemonade I had was turning a little pale from the bottom up but couple days with the lights and all its color came back.
This bonsai frag (or purple valida?) has turned deep purple with very florescent green since being put under these lights.


This leather coral that Anthony gave me that was accidentally fragged when getting the RBTA showed no sign of life and 2 days with new lights and it's somewhat responding to it. No full extension just yet.


Even the anemone seems to be enjoying the new lights


I think Albert told me I seem to be lacking a full tank shot so as my final post on this update here it is.
It was right before lights out so most of the corals have already started to retract. You can see that my aquascape got a change since my initial setup.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Looking good Brian. Glad those new lights are working out well for you so far. Very thorough description for your "monthly" update. Enjoyed it as always. Cheers. Its 3:36 am and I'm finally done with editing papers for the night. Talk to you soon, I'm sure.

Anthony

[Etaloche]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

Looking good Brian. Glad those new lights are working out well for you so far. Very thorough description for your "monthly" update. Enjoyed it as always. Cheers. Its 3:36 am and I'm finally done with editing papers for the night. Talk to you soon, I'm sure.

Anthony

A night owl like me eh. I'm very glad you lent me those lights because I doubt that any of my sps frags would've survived under the lights I had before. These new lights are like China boxes on steroids though. Here's the retrofit boards that I was talking about when I was over. Could be a worthwhile investment for you in the future. Could even be interesting to see if you changed just one of your lights to these and see if there's growth difference or if I'm just having placebo effect.

https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-upgrad...pcb-board.html

[The Guy]

Hey Brian your tank looks awesome so far bud, the coco worm looks happy too.

[Etaloche]

Originally Posted by The Guy

Hey Brian your tank looks awesome so far bud, the coco worm looks happy too.

Thanks Laurie, it's definitely been a beautiful addition to my tank. The plate coral also came from your tank because Anthony told me he picked it up from you

[The Guy]

Originally Posted by Etaloche

Thanks Laurie, it's definitely been a beautiful addition to my tank. The plate coral also came from your tank because Anthony told me he picked it up from you

Ya I thought it looked familiar.

[albert_dao]

Tank's too small bro... :P

[Etaloche]

Originally Posted by albert_dao

Tank's too small bro... :P

Tell me about it... Think I've maxed out my livestock already?

[Etaloche]

Was sold a faulty PC4 module a while back and had some troubles contacting the seller for a bit, but finally got a hold of him and got it all worked out. Instead of a $50 refund I opted to grab this scoly for $20 more.
I've always wanted a scoly but the expensive price deterred me from getting one. $70 is the best price I'm ever going to get for a scoly this size so I couldn't pass up the offer.

The long transit and dip stressed it quite a bit and it lost a bit of color


3 days later and couple feedings did it wonders but colors are still faded a bit. Hoping that more of the orange takes over and it will be a stunning piece of coral! I'm very excited about this purchase


Right after that Anthony invited me over to see of his new corals and fish he got for a great price (what a showoff! )
I love going over to his place and always seeing something new despite his famous last words "I can't add any more to my tanks"

He handed me this candy cane which wasn't doing too well in his tank in hopes that a new environment could bring some life back to it


It was looking a lot better the morning after so I have high hopes for it. If it can recover it will be an awesome addition to my tank as I don't have anything nearly as big as this yet.


Couple of days later it's still showing good signs of recovery. I'll be working hard to bring this one back to good health!


And by working hard I mean staring at it for hours on end


Anthony also shared some frags of the big zoa colonies he picked up

I don't remember the name of this one...


Fire and ice, someone give me some good tips on how to take better photos please. These photos are just dang awful

[coolhandgoose]

Nice scoly. Hope it colours up for you.
Lots of algae going on there
Candy canes are the one coral that's bullet proof in my tank so I'm sure it will come back around nicely for you.