swjim's 30 Gallon Finnex

[swjim]

Hi all,

It's been almost a year since last updating this thread so here goes:

The stray voltage incident with the stock pump seemed to stress the livestock and I ended up losing a few things and eventually had a bad bubble algae battle.

Hardware wise, I was unhappy with the flow from the Maxijet 1200 I initially used to replace the failed pump so I'm now using a Maxijet 1800 utility pump. It was a tight fit in the Finnex return chamber but it's been working great for about 8 months.

I replaced the stock skimmer with a Euroreef Nano. The new skimmer had an aluminum mesh impellar that broke down on me three times, the mesh would flake off and foam production would decrease until it was completely ineffective. These breaks in service didn't help the bubble algae situation.... Euroreef eventually ended up coming out with a new impellar made of resin that I've now had installed for 3-4 months and it's been working great.

The renewed skimmer performance caused the bubble algae to recede but because I was getting so tired of it I decided to do something a bit drastic - I added a small yellow tang. Yes, I know this tank is too small for a tang, so please don't beat me up too bad over it. My intent wasn't to keep the tang in this tank forever, I just needed something more effective than an emerald crab and I thought a Zebrasoma would be the best bet in the BA battle.

Things seem to be back on track, the bubble algae is almost completely gone and the corals are showing growth once again but the colors are quite washed out. I'm due for a bulb replacement which I'm somewhat putting off because I'm really tempted to attempt a DIY LED project. Anyway, that pretty much sums up the ups and downs of the last year for my little tank. Here are a couple pics.

Full Tank Shot


Candy Cane


The Bubble Buster


Green Pocillipora


Frogspawn