Tofu's 4ft Reef tank

[ASHWIN]

Sibeh Swee!

[tofubox]

Switched around my bulb arrangement.

Front

Blue +

Coral +

Purple +

LED

Blue+

Blue Special

BLue+

Back

What do you guys think?

[tofubox]

Got the rest of my zeovit stuff today! New dosing regime starts tomorrow! excited!

Also, first signs of good colouration showing.

Bought this as a full green mille, starting to colour up to be a beautiful sunset mille =D

[Admiraltian]

Nice Mille.

[Bunster]

ooo nice mille..

[ASHWIN]

Swee millie.. frag Frag Frag

[Idil Stephanie]

Wow.. Your posts are really making me wanna try out sps.

[tofubox]

Thanks alot guys.

Wow.. Your posts are really making me wanna try out sps.

Bro, dont be afraid, go ahead and try out some sps. You will be poison deep deep. Its really isnt too difficult as long as u maintain good husbandry and good water. Zeovit and all those cool gadgets are really not necessary in my opinion if u are keen on trying sps out. GO for it!!

[Idil Stephanie]

Thanks for the encouragement bro.. I'm really pumped to try.. Any good lfs to recommend me to? I mean I've been to many but I've never paid any attention to sps before..

[tofubox]

Thanks for the encouragement bro.. I'm really pumped to try.. Any good lfs to recommend me to? I mean I've been to many but I've never paid any attention to sps before..

For starters, i wouldn't recommend going directly to a LFS as they don't carry the easier to keep corals so often. Look out on forum or post WTB in pasa malam. Best to try out any kind of Birdnests sps, montipora caps and digitatas. These buggers are hardy.

Example of how much torture a Birdnest can endure through and still live. Im sure anyone with good water conditions can give it a go.

[Idil Stephanie]

To tell u the truth, I can't tell the difference right now, I don't even know what a digitatas looks like. But I'm gonna do my reading. N I'm gonna keep a look out in those sections.

[tofubox]

To tell u the truth, I can't tell the difference right now, I don't even know what a digitatas looks like. But I'm gonna do my reading. N I'm gonna keep a look out in those sections.

Yup, no worries bro, u will pick it up soon enough. Keep a look out, and definately give it a shot. Cheers!

[tofubox]

Took some shots of my corals today before i began colour additive dosing with zeovit, mainly for my own future reference. Heres some current pictures, and maybe i can show some reference next time of the progress with zeo dosing.

Used camera white balance as everything turns blue with my normal s3 cam. Will use same function for future shots.

[hanafi_weeseng]

The pe are great.

[james72]

Wow! Looking forward to the updates on zeovit transformation. ....

Cheers,

James

[tofubox]

A really good friend of mine popped by my place today with he's dslr and offered to shoot a couple of pictures. Just look at the difference!

A big thank you to my friend for taking these beautiful shots.

[Admiraltian]

Nice fts.

[Bunster]

Great fts shot... Very TOTQ!

[Angel Keeper]

Agreed!

Angel Keeper

[SubzeroLT]

Impressive FTS. Thanks for sharing.

[reefsea]

nice.. wt is the thickness of main tank 12mm ?

[tench1]

Bro, mind sharing the postions and direction of your wavemakers?

[tofubox]

Thanks guys for the kind comments, credit goes to my good friend =D

nice.. wt is the thickness of main tank 12mm ?

Yes sir, the tank is 12mm thick

Bro, mind sharing the postions and direction of your wavemakers?

Hi bro, currently got 2 rw15 positioned opposite each other on opposite side, both are on w1, but unfortunately i cant get them to syn very well on the master n slave setting as both controllers are separated. They are position to push water at the front and back of the tank. Also have a wp25 on else mode that is positioned on the right glass, blowing towards the mid top, this provides a gentle random flow and at the same time agitates the water at the surface.

I highly recommend getting a secondary wavemaker with sole purpose of agitating the water surface and pushing water to the overflow if u dont already have one. All wave makers are 3/4 from the base of the tank, mainly targeted at improving flow for the higher areas where i have the sps colonies. I guess everyone has a different wavemaker set up, it all depends on your rock scape, what works for me, might not work for everyone. I'm also still testing out the different positions to get the optimal flow.

[tofubox]

Next segment! Pest control!

So as most people start up....u get a set of clean up crew....and than u began stocking with fishes. What many forget to include, is a set of pest control crew (PCC, sounds horribly wrong).

There are tons of good fishes out there with many functions in a tank. My main focus was not to get rid of apitasia, but more on critter control, such as flatworms, redbugs, nudibranch, and pods. yes even pods will irritate sps if the population gets out of hands.

After talking to some pros, and reading up online, heres a crew i put together. The main problem i faced was knowing which fish was known to eat the targeted critter and can live in harmony with others.

So heres what i chosen: 2 x yellow coris(Halichoeres chrysurus, the canary wrasse), 1 x Hoeven's wrasse (Halichoeres melanurus), 1 x sixline wrasse (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia)

So heres an article that was useful for me:

For flatworms

Natural Predators

There are a few natural predators you can add to your reef aquarium to help eradicate the flatworms. Some fish will eat the flatworms, these include; Sixline wrasse, Leopard wrasse, Yellow wrasse and also spotted mandarin dragonet. Always remember sometimes these fish will not completely eradicate the flatworms entirely but usually do a good job. The Blue Velvet Nudibranch is a good predator for consuming flatworms. It is important to note that the blue velvet nudibranch is very sensitive to changes in water parameters and also has a short lifespan.

For Zoanthid eating nudibranchs

Natural Predators

Zoanthid eating nudibranchs do have a few natural predators a few of these are the yellow coris wrasse, melanarus wrasse, and some other wrasses.

For Montipora eating nudibranchs

Natural Predators

For natural predators there are a few wrasses you can add to your reef aquarium to help eradicate these nudibranchs. The melanarus wrasse and the yellow coris wrasse are good candidate for the job.

For Red bugs

Natural Predators

Redbugs do have a natural predator, the Dragonface Pipefish. These fish anchor themselves to acropora branches and eat the redbugs.

Also came across an article about six line wrasse and melanarus wrasse eating different species of pest. Each has its own preference, unfortunately, i cant find the article.

To deal with aggression, as most know, 6 line tend to be very aggressive towards other wrasse, heres what i did.

Over a period of two days:

1. Bought a melanarus wrasse from CF on day 1. Targetted to get a slightly large piece as these guys tend to be a little less aggressive.

2. Day 2, bought 2 yellow coris, small sized, these guys don't ship too well, so u have to be extra careful when selecting.

2. Same time, bought the smallest 6 line wrasse possible to find, must be the smallest amongst the three.

Introduce the melanarus wrasse on first day, let it borrow in the sand and make home. Has to be confident or it will die easily.

Introduce the yellow coris on 2nd day

And lastly, introduce the 6line couple of hours later when u observe the yellow coris swimming around freely.

There should not be any aggression as most will be exploring the tank, finding a suitable home that is unoccupied.

I can't guarantee they will live in harmony, but time will tell. This is just my own way to reduce aggression.

Of course, there are plenty more wrasse that are handy and do a good job with critter control, if u are looking for other types, i suggest getting any wrasse that is of the Halichoeres genes, they are the most known to eat pest. Reason i chose the melanurus is because from accounts of other reefers here, these guys are the least aggressive and does the best job. Other types of wrasse to consider: vrolik wrasse, Christmas wrasse, red coris

I hope this helps out u guys looking for a PCC! Cheers! (The lesser the chances of pest around, the more this hobby can grow)

[james72]

And melanurus are colourful and beautiful fish too

Good breakdown on the pest controls

Cheers,

James