40 Breeder rebuild

[Egkid]

I've had this tank since 2011 and this is my second time starting over on it do to dinoflagellates. I'm not 100% certain, but I'm pretty sure it was caused by high phosphates from dry base rock, needless to say I've shunned dry rock for life lol.

I told myself if I was to ever tear this tank down again I would drill it... So I did. No more HOB anything and it looks much cleaner, also running a decent sized skimmer now (SCA-302) in a 20L sump. The lights are the same DIY rapid LED's although it needs some attention as 9 of the RB's got taken out when lightning struck the house last year. Going to add some green, red, and UV leds as well, if I can fit them on the heatsink.

Equipment List:
DIY Rapid LED 28 3 watt leds on a 23" heatsink
SCA-302 Skimmer
Jebao DC3000 return
2 Vortech MP10's
20L sump

Livestock:
2 clowns (Female turns 6 years old July 25th) the original male jumped last year
Yellow Watchman Goby (turning 6 this year as well)

Would love a pygmy angel but I went through 3 (trying to find one that didn't nip) the first time I set the tank up with no luck as they pretty much wiped out all my coral.

A little history
My 15 gallon that I tore down for the 40 breeder back in 2011. This tank was easy, just a HOB skimmer and 5 gallon water changes every week. Never tested anything on this tank. Almost all the corals started from a single polyp frag.

Back in 2010 when I started it.


The day I tore it down in 2011


Got this from FAOIS back in 2010 as a 3 polyp frag (dwarf angel took it out)


Now onto the 40 breeder (the first time)
1 Month after transferring everything over (no corals ever opened up since they were constantly being picked at)



This lasted about 6 months before first a lemonpeel, then ebli, then another lemonpeel killed pretty much everything. I lost interest in the tank after this and kept it a FOWLR with whatever corals didn't get nipped at just a few zoas if I remember correctly. Then I got hit with the round of dinoflagellates and battled them for a year. Before decided to restart the tank completely.

Round 2


Got maybe 8 months before the dinoflagellates returned, battled them for another 6 months to a year. Actually got rid of them for a month with peroxide dosing but they came back.

Round 3 and current
John at FAOIS drilled the tank for me after some suggestions from you guys on what overflow setup to run(went with the Herbie system).

 

[Egkid]

Added 40lbs of aragonite #1 sand.


Slowly adding rock


Here's where I'm at today 32lbs of live rock. 15lbs came from Tampa Bay Saltwater and this rock is amazing, it's got all kinds of life on it. Richard (owner of TBS) is awesome and let me pick it up from him directly and he packed it in a bag with water so there shouldn't be any die off.


I'm not happy with the aquascape, my goal was to have an atoll sort of how it was setup in round 2 with an acan garden on the sandbed in the middle. Or make two tall islands, or have a tall structure sloping down to the left. I'll play with it some more later on.

The old 15 gallon was dug out for a holding cell until the tank cycles. I wasn't thinking and left it on the floor, so now I can't vaccum all the detritus out of it. I'm doing 5 gallon water changes every week and have to use an MJ1200 to pump water out of it. That duncan is what's left from that massive colony I once had and is the only original coral from the 15 gallon I've had it for just over 5 years and it's been through A LOT... Bought it back in 09 as a single polyp from FAOIS and I can't wait to get it back into a healthy system.

 

[Milfordguy]

Nice, keep the updates coming. I love my 40B

 

[Egkid]

I'm liking this a little more, maybe have LPS on one island and SPS on another. I've gotta center the light over the tank again, that's why the left side is so dim.

 

[blindskater02]

Looking good Ricky!

 

[Egkid]

Thanks Rob!

 

[CrazyEyes]

Dang, that is a killer looking aquascape.

 

[Egkid]

Thanks, I thought about messing with it again just to see how it'll look with a tall structure on the right sloping down to the left would look. But I'll leave it alone cause if I want to go back I probably won't get it to look this good again.

On the left side I want to get an acan garden going on the sandbed between the island and the little rock on the front corner. Something like this (image from Eugene Weldon)

 

[Egkid]

Christmas in June!?


No more buying water for this guy! Been buying 20 gallons of water almost every week ever since I started a saltwater tank. Finally bit the bullet and got it over with. Also not going to rely on water changes to replenish calcium and alkalinity, figured I should pick up some accurate test kits. Still gotta get a phosphate checker, just didn't want to spend $150 on testers all at once. Also picked up a JBJ auto top of, didn't want to rely on float switches but didn't want spend $200 for a tunze either.

 

[Egkid]

The tank is going through some kind of bacteria bloom, so in the mean time rapid led is have an awesome sale and I'm going to take full advantage by going full spectrum on my led's along with replacing the royal blues that blew out.

 

[Egkid]

L.E.D.'s came in yesterday and were added today, officially "full spectrum" now I missed a cool white when I ordered the replacements so that's on it's way now. Tomorrow's task is to get this re-centered over the tank.
I don't know if I should run the lenses on the new leds or not I don't want to deal with any spot lighting. I'll play with it tomorrow after I get it back over the tank.

A drilled and tapped heatsink made life soooooo much easier, took 30 seconds to swap out the leds, although it was a freak accident that took some out, I still would've had to junk the whole fixture if I would have glued them on with thermal paste.

All together running 39 3w leds
12 Cool Whites (Cree)
12 Royal Blues (Cree)
2 Neutral Whites (Cree)
2 Blues (Cree)
4 UV (Semi Led)
3 Deep Red (Phillips)
2 Green (Cree)

 

[Egkid]

double post

 

[Egkid]

Went out to get a firefish on Wednesday and ended up with two little frags. Wanted to get a cheaper fish just double check before putting my clowns in.

FTS from today, haven't noticed a difference in color temperature from the LED's since going full spectrum. This is with all lights at 100%


And this was too good a deal to pass up, Marine Warehouse has these (cinnamon pally) for $8 per polyp. I usually see them for $20, they had about 10 frags total.

 

[Egkid]

Moved the 3 fish and clean up crew from before the tear down back into their home last Sunday. Still no diatom bloom, I had a bacterial bloom though so I'm not sure if that replaced or delayed the diatom bloom or not. Started my 10 gallon weekly water change schedule today. But nothing else has changed with the tank since the last update.

 

[bmullikin1]

looking great, love the openness, I always try for that and then end up getting more rock for more corals.

 

[snake1]

What optics are you running.....I had to take mine off to get light to spread to the sides of the tank.

 

[CrazyEyes]

I personally think you'd be happier lowering the light just a bit and removing the optics.

 

[Egkid]

looking great, love the openness, I always try for that and then end up getting more rock for more corals.

Thanks, the original intention was to have more rock but I threw what I had together and ended up liking it too much to change it. I may add more live rock or maybe one of those ceramic bio blocks to the sump to help make up for the lack of rock in the system.

What optics are you running.....I had to take mine off to get light to spread to the sides of the tank.

I believe they're 90 degree optics on the blues and whites and then 80 or 60 on the others. Rapidled doesn't sell them with 90 degree optics anymore though.

I personally think you'd be happier lowering the light just a bit and removing the optics.

It's actually not that bad on the edges of the tank, of course I had to crank up the shutter speed on the camera or else the center of the tank gets washed out. In person it's just slightly dimmer on the sides. The lights are only at 10% whites 30% blues 100% red, green and uv. When everything is at 100% I don't think I'd have problems keeping acros on the sides of the tank.

 

[Egkid]

Added two more frags yesterday. The first member of the acan garden, and then a cheap green monti cap. Things are kind of on hold for this tank as far as adding new livestock cause October is going to be a really expensive month for me. I got Scuba certified in July and going on a cruise to the Bahamas to dive (trying to get my own gear together before then) and then there's two weddings/bachelor parties in the next two months. But I'll update of any changes in the mean time.

Acan is on the left side and monti is on the right.

 

[CrazyEyes]

Tank looks great man, quick question for you, did you notice a difference when you added the egg crate? I remember when I added it to my tank it spread the light out more, which makes sense because it's light diffuser, just curious what your experience was.