Mustang

Ok so it’s been a little over a month since my last update so I thought I would post an update on how things are going and to get some suggestions. First let’s start with some before and after photos.
Tank early December

Tank now


Pulsing Xenia December

Pulsing Xenia Now

Green Button polyps December

Green Button polyps Now

Open Bring I think December

Open Brian Now

??? December (looked online but could not seem to find it)

Now not sure what happened. It started at the bottom and worked its way over in about 30hrs. I left it in the tank as there are a few feather dusters on it at the base and it the hope that it would come back but I think that is a false hope.



Just noticed this the other day I think they are green sponges.


Fish


Hippo tang
3 Green Chromis (in the future I think I will bring them up to 10 so that I have a nice little group of them)
Yellow Tang
2 False Percula clowns (Love the plan in the Xenia)


About 10 blue knuckle hermit crabs and about 10 assorted snails.

1 Fire ship and 1 peppermint shrimp

As for feeding I give them a bit of flak in the AM and frozen brine shrimp around 5pm.

I also hooked up a UV sterilizer that I received with everything else in the deal and it seems to be helping as I was having some algae issues and still do a bit. Not sure if it is the main cause for the decrease or if my tank is starting to work its way through its cycle. I also had a cyano out break about 2 weeks ago but some chemiclean cleaned it up with some water changes.

As for lighting I am using 3 t5 HO Glow fixtures 2 that came with the deal and 1 that I picked up after. As for blubs from front to back I use 2 power glow (came with the deal) 2 marine Glows (came with the deal) 2 marine glows. Timers are front 11:30am-4:30pm middle 8am- 2:30pm back 12:30-10pm.

On the go I am adding a small 20gal sump just to get my skimmer(Bubble magmas Nac 6 should be here by the 21st or early next week) running and then down the road I will add a bigger sump and get rid of the fluval’s. I will also try to put at least one of the 3 heaters in the sump and the UV sterilizer. My tank is not drilled but I sooooooo wish it was or I had had the time to do it before I got things going so instead I am using an overflow that I built some time back based on Marc’s webpage. It has 2 3/4 drains in it. For a return I will be using a Laguna Power jet 9000 it is rated for 1980 gph and it will have to push the water up about 5ft. The reason I am using it is because I have it just sitting around and I will replace it down the road. If anyone has any major concerns with this pump for saltwater use please let me know.

As for the back of my tank I was thinking of painting it. So first question can I do this where my tank is full or will the fumes hurt the tank? Second what is a good paint to use? I want to go with the bright blue we all see.

So that is where I am and thanks in advance for any input you all have. I will also try to do a post on the Nac 6 and installing the sump.