My 40 Gallon Breeder

[MontclairReefer]

For the past 4 years (until this past June) I have had a 30 gallon reef in my Manhattan apartment. Small, very simple, hang on back filter and really nothing else. Had some great corals never much luck with fish (cheap and my blue damsel was a huge pain). Over the summer my wife and I had our first child so out goes the fish tank so the baby has somewhere to sleep (i guess thats fair).

Recently we moved to montclair and got a nice upgrade on space availability. Well the tank is back and bigger. I decided to go with a 40 breeder, DIY stand, DIY sump and plumbing. I have an eshopps pf300 overflow and I am using a aqueon quiteflow 1200 as my return pump. Thought I would bring you all along for the ride for opinions, help, etc..

The build started about a month ago - here are some details

Stand - just your standard 2x4s i believe 40 inches high. Currently picking out the cover for the standard. There is paneling at home depot i am going to get i believe. More of an old/antique outside

Sump - 20g long broke into 3 sections. First section has the overflow feeding it along with the skimmer. For skimmer I am using the coralife 65 super skimmer. I read many reviews on it and realize people like and hate it, but I figure it was the right price and I can adjust from there. 2nd section is 6 inches high by 9 inches wide i believe. This section is for rubble rock and heater right now, but macro will be going there in the future. Third section after a 3 baffle bubble trap is for the return pump.

1/4 Status - Put water, rock and sand in yesterday. Ran a base test last night to learn water parameters and also so I can realize when the cycle has begun and when it will end. Everything was pretty good - as expected phosphate was a little elevated so I will be getting a phosban type filter to put somewhere in the sump.

As of now not running the skimmer during the cycle, does this make sense?
working on making sure the flow in and out is equal and getting to a good level
trying to quiet the overflow. Does not make wife happy with how loud it is

any input, opinions, suggestions are 100% welcome!!!

thanks and come along for the journey

 

[MontclairReefer]

Figure I would provide Test Parameters

Salinity 1.022
Phosphate 1.0
Nitrate 0.0
Nitrite 0.0
Ammonia 0.0
PH 8.0
Calcium 24
Kh 9

Not bad with nothing but salt and tap water stress coat

 

[saltkreep88]

I am on a phone so this will be brief, I will expand on it if needed later.

1. Buy a rodi and stop using two water. There is many things in two water that you can't test for that can kill a reef. Your phosphates are probably coming from there. Look into spectrepure units.

2. I would pass on the coralife, it is a pretty poor skimmer. Look at octopus or bubble magus for a good budget skimmer.

3. What are your plans for the tank? Coral or just fish?

Good luck, and we are here for any questions.

 

[kschweer]

Welcome!! All good advice above. I usually run the skimmer during the cycle. It gives it time to break in and also give you time to dial it in.

 

[MontclairReefer]

Hey - thanks for the responses so far.

As far as rodi water, I have limited ability to buy and use a setup, but I am looking into it. My dad also has a tank and has a unit so I am hoping to use as much of that water as possible.

That was one of my questions, do I run the skimmer during the cycle or not. Ill turn it on and start getting into action.

Tank will have both fish and coral. My dad's tank is housing a bunch of my corals from when I deconstructed the other tank. So when we are ready, I have a duncan, 2 frog spawns, a christmas tree looking leather, a few different acans, few different zoas and I feel like I am missing something else.

As far as fish - I am in the process of planning -- 40 breeder with 20g sump I was thinking 8 fish.
2-3 chromis
blue hippo tang
melanarus wrasse
flame angel
some sort of goby
sort sort of dotty back

any thoughts on that combo??

 

[saltkreep88]

As for the overflow noise look into a hofer gurgle buster, will make it almost silent.

For coral you want your salinity at 1.026. Make sure use are using a refractometer with calibration fuild. The swing arm are almost always way off.

For the tank water level the amount of water going down compared to coming up will always be the same. If they are not you will have a flood haha.

You can almost always fit a rodi unit, you can screw it onto a faucet each time if needed.

The hippo is out of the question for a 40, tank is WAY to small for a big bodied tang. The flame might nip at your coral so not a great choose if your focus is coral. I don't know wrasses but most dottys are nasty so do your research.

 

[art13]

I agree a hippo in that tank is a bad idea, so is the dottyback, at least in my experience. I had a purple one, and he was the only fish on one side in half the 90g tank, the chromis, firefish, wrasse, any fish in my tank would not go on his side, accept the tang.

 

[NyteGTI]

so far I love my Angels in my 40B. pygmy & a potters. both have yet to nip at anything. but I feed well so I don't think they go looking for anything

 

[horseplay]

Welcome to the club.

+1 on a dwarf angel. If it nips it should be fairly easy to remove from a 40g. Melanuras is my favorite wrasse but it will eventually outgrow the tank. It will take a while though.

For algae control get a blenny and emerald crabs.

Overflow noise - reduce the flow rate. go for < 150 gph.

And last but not least, we want to see some pictures.

 

[MontclairReefer]

Hey everyone - thank you very much for the responses.

my dad had a hippo in a 65g but it did get over stressed at some points. I have read a lot about the flames, as long as they are fed well they dont seem to nip. What other fish would you all recommend as the "show piece" fish with the combination i mentioned above. i LOVED my christmas wrasse in my last tank and never really nipped at corals but in the end my blue damsel won the battle.

I made the mistake of having one blue damsel in the tank first so everyone else lost this time ill get multiple and they go in last or get chromis as my schooling fish

My dad is upgrading from 65g to 120g, so anything that outgrows my tank overtime will go to his tank, similar to corals. ill be getting frags galore and when they get too big for my tank ill give them to him in exchange for more frags. not a bad scenario for either of us

Crabs and snails will be included and maybe a shrimp as well. I do like blennys, any specific kind better than others?

i said dottyback but i meant pseudo. neon purple or purple and yellow have always caught my eye at the lfs.

i am attempting to upload pictures, but it will not let me from my work computer. ill try later on today from my other computer.

I reduced the flow last evening and it was significantly quieter - i am also considering a reverse durso into the sump.

 

[MontclairReefer]

Here is the picture

 

[art13]

Just look into the fish you're getting, i had to pull every single rock out of my tank because of the dotty back just to catch him, he even killed a cleaner shrimp that went on his side. when half a 90g tank is bare on one side it just doesn't look right, lol.

 

[MontclairReefer]

and the stocking has begun!!!!! we have clear tests after a quick cycle. running the rock in water for 2 months prior obviously helped the cycle time.

Last night added
- peppermint shrimp
- red legged hermit
- blue legged hermit
- 2 nassarius snails
- 5 turbo snails.

We will live with this entertainment for a week or so before adding a few small corals and a 2-3 friendly fish.

Still cant decide on my fish setup.

can people help with suggestions on stocking a 40?? bright colors and movers and shakers is what i want!

 

[mnat]

We had small tanks for a long time so we dealt with a lot of small fish (we still do).

Dwarf angel: Will always be hit or miss with nipping at corals. Look at flame or fireball, or even a pygmy as they stay very small
Wrasses: Possum wrasses would be fine here or a flasher like the carpenters. Melanarus might be too big, our in our 210 is very active and I could not imagine him in a 40g.
Firefish: Purple red or helfrichi if you are feeling saucy.
Assesor basslets: Incredibly underrated fish that can be kept in small groups, tank raised are cheaper and hardier which is awesome.
Barnacle blennies
Gobies with a pistol shrimp: Awesome combo and many to choose from. We like yashas, and wheelers
Swissguard basslet or something similar (candy if you hit the powerball)

 

[MontclairReefer]

Hey thanks for your input. There are seriously so many choices.

2 days in seems like everyone is doing well so far! will add new pic in a bit.

Does anyone have any suggestions on LFS in the montclair area?? Ive been to absolutely fish and sea level aquariums and a few petcos (verona, clifton and one other). Trying to find the best quality along with price.

Absolutely fish selling standard blue/green chromis for $9.99 seems a bit excessive to me.

Here is what I think I have decided on for fish. Wife will make the final determinations (per usual)

- 4 chromis -- hoping for 2 blue/green and 2 blue reef
- wrasse - looking into carpenter or fairy wrasse i believe - i love the christmas wrasse but not fed well can be a pain with corals. but ive had success with them in the past
- blenny - thinking about bi-color, lawnmower or red stripe -- i like the idea of the bi-color.. i have back sand so that could look cool
- zebra barred dartfish
- angel - flame, lemon peel, red stripe or coral beauty
- tang - kole, blue caribbean, yellow or hippo (i know the tank is too small - but the wife really wants this)

hoping to get the chromis and a few frags this weekend to see how the water and friends survive before I start bringing in my corals from my dads tank

Corals I already have and will bring in slowly once I understand the water parameters and such
- Duncan - 12 heads
- Green grass - about 4-5 inches on a rock
- 2 different frog spawns
- blasto - 12 or so heads (bought this with one head and its grown over a year or so, proud of this one). absolutely fish is selling this piece with like 8 heads for $200!!!
- blue candy cane
- christmas tree looking leather
- some random zoas - few different rocks of these

Once i get the original fish and few frags situated and im comfortable ill start bringing the above coral into my tank - for fish... planning on chromis - probably 3-4 weeks later getting wrasse, blenny, dartfish and then another month or so getting the angel and tang together. obviously timing isnt exact but thats the general plan as of now.

Has anyone ever ordered from live aquaria? or any other online store? can i trust buying a fish from there?

Any questions/suggestions/comments are extremely welcome! when i say a few frags and chromis this weekend i mean like a few zoa frags and small stuff.. like $10 frag table stuff. just to get everything situated... flow, rocks, levels, etc.

 

[MontclairReefer]

Here are 2 updated pics!

Water test night is tonight. Hoping o get some chromis this weekend!

 

[MontclairReefer]

Also- rockscape is not set for corals. Gonna do that pre-fish. Probably a nice Friday night experience

 

[Mark_C]

Mnat turned me onto the pistol shrimp and goby combo a few months ago. Love the combo. They're a ton of fun to watch, though there is an insane amount of change day by day to my sand bed topography.

 

[Brando457]

I'm right in West Caldwell, not too far from you.

Fish stores: Sea Level Aquarium in Pine Brook is great. Small store, but the guys really take pride in their livestock and are cool to chat with. I avoid Absolutely Fish at all costs.

Did you stain the stand or put sealer on it to protect the wood? I would throw the coralife out and either just do multiple water changes or buy a different skimmer. Why can you not have a RO maker? AirWaterIce sells really compact ones that even my cousin living an apartment could fit.

If you need any help I'm not too far away. I just cannot lift anything due to a back injury.

 

[MontclairReefer]

Thanks for the help - sea level did seem really cool. they helped me with the return pipes.

I did not stain the stand or put sealer. i am building a cover for it this weekend or next i believe.