ASL's 40 gal build

[asl4me76]

I recently took advantage of the $1/gal sale and picked up a 40g breeder. I might copy everything you did heheh

Hopefully not that breaking tank part, I've never drilled a tank, but this $40 tank might be a good one to test it out on. From what I've read don't give it any pressure, weight of the drill is enough, and go high speed, and low torque, plenty of water.

What I would recommend is that if you're getting a new drill bit is to drill it on some glass that you do not need to wear in the bit some. That will help. We also put tape on the inside of the tank where the whole was. I would recommend using something a little stronger than painters tape, but the painters tape did its job. I would also after having done some research, may put a piece up against the glass too for when you break through to prevent any kind of dimpling on the glass.

Also, side note is that if you do go with the method of my madness - and choose the overflow that I have, my recommendation would be to get yourself a 3" drill bit for the overflow as that is what will allow those bulkheads to fit in.

 

[Mishri]

Cool! Thanks for the tip! I guess the cheapest way to practice is to get some glass from a home improvement store and try it out.

 

[asl4me76]

Cool! Thanks for the tip! I guess the cheapest way to practice is to get some glass from a home improvement store and try it out.

The glass at home depot may not be thick enough. I would get it to the thickness of your tank. If all else fails, the glass shop will have some you can get. My sump glass for the 4 panels was only like $22 USD.

 

[asl4me76]

We've got flow!

We've got flow!

Today after work, I worked on the tank some more. After realizing yesterday that I had my return was plumbed wrong - I decided today was the day it was getting fixed, when I should have been sleeping. I will be doing :headwalls: much later when I am working this evening.

None the less, here's the update!

Full sump view w/ light on :

View without the light on :

Full view of display and underbelly with my lights on (No, I am not running the cycle with the lights on!):

I have had the shrimp sitting in the tank for two days now. I figured it would be worth a test to see if I was picking up anything and low and behold there's a :celeb3::bum::bdaysmile::celeb2: going on in the tank.

 

[asl4me76]

Lions, bears, and cycle complete - OH MY!

Lions, bears, and cycle complete - OH MY!

Seeing as how my tank was busy cycling, there wasn't much for me to post about. How exciting can cycling a tank be? It's really not that exciting, but more so a test your patience type of thing - which mine surely did! As you all knew I was reading an ammonia spike; however, what I never saw was the nitrites and nitrates kick up at all. As a result, I grabbed 3 more shrimp and threw them into the tank for 1.5 days about a week ago. This was exactly what it is that the tank needed!! I tested the ammonia levels the following day after removing the shrimp. I waited another day before testing to see if I got any nitrites showing up! YES! Finally! I got the spike I have been longing for. My heart just melted away as I knew things were finally getting under way and things wouldn't take too long then!

This was roughly last Saturday :

This was past Tuesday or Wednesday:

Now, here is where I got a little impatient. I knew that I would be doing some carbon dosing to create a LNS (low nutrient system), so I figured I would help that NO2 and NO3 out a little bit and mixed up some sugar in a small cup with tank water. Well, let's just say I overshot the sugar a little bit and added too much. The result was that the tank became extremely cloudy, seeing as how all of the NO2 and NO3 was sucked up due to the sugar being added. With this being said - I let it do its thing over night on Wednesday and decided I would test the system again on Thursday.

As you can see, I'm getting some great readings now!

Now that the tank had been cloudy and I allowed it a little bit of time for the sugar to do it's business, I commenced on getting a water change done immediately to help clear up the tank from the cloudiness for one, but for 2 to get all of those nutrients that were sucked up by the sugar out of the tank. I decided I would empty half of the display tank as a result.

Here's the before cloudy picture :

Mid water change and you see with the lights off the true amount of cloud that was happening somewhat :

After water change comparsion for how cloudy it was :

And finally ... wahla! I wake up this morning to this :

Not so cloudy anymore!! My goal was achieved! On Sunday or Monday, knowing that I was nearing the end of the cycle, I decided it was time to turn on the lights and allow them to run daily for the full cycle. My result is that I am now seeing the diatom dusting on the sand bed and starting to show on the rock work. My cycle is complete! I have also noticed a few little hairs starting to float on the rock (barely able to see them), so I am starting to get the algae. I hope you can see the difference in the cloudiness that I was having, considering I took the photos from the iPhone and we all know that LEDs are not captured properly on the tank when the blues are up pretty high due to where the cycle of the lighting is at.

This isn't the only change that I have done to the tank. Roughly a week and a half ago, I decided to move the rock work around some to have a better lay out some and not so many large caves. I like the result that I have gotten from it. Here are some before and after photos:

After (front, side and top view) :

 

[asl4me76]

On Wednesday afternoon, I hooked up the mini reactor that I got from BRS and got the carbon running in the tank. I also finally turned the skimmer on to let it do its thing. It's pulling out some good stuff considering the sugar I added to the tank.

I have Marc @ Melevsreef making me a top off reservoir that will have 3 compartments. One for top off (2.8 gal), Ca (1 gal) and Alk (1gal) sections. He's also building me a skimmer stand that will raise my skimmer roughly 3" off the bottom of the sump. Currently I have it sitting on a lid to a gallon jug that you mix tea in! I know, I'm inventive! I can't wait for the stuff to come in from Marc! I will be getting some fish and a few frags this weekend! I'm super stoked!

 

[clownfish123321]

Keep us updated with some pics i'm getting inpatient! lol