KidReefers 40 breeder sps build

[KidReefer]

Before I start with the build I will give you some background info. My name is Joe and I am 13 years old. I am a pretty new poster but a long time watcher. I think this place is awesome and its helped me a lot. Currently I have a 14 gallon biocube softy/LPS tank which is thriving and I am very happy with it. I have managed it for a year and a half and now I think I am ready to take on the sps world So here is what I have.

It is a 40B with a custom overflow in the center. It has 2 drains and one return. Also I have a 20L sump.

Lighting is a 6 bulb T5HO Tek light with individual reflectors, the bulbs are figi purple(2), 3 geissman bulbs, and one powerchrome actinic plus.

For filtration I have a reef octopus 110 skimmer and I will soon have a barebottom cheato refugium to reduce nitrates and absorb nutrients. I also have a filter sock but do you think I should keep it or is it just a nitrate factory?

For flow I have a koralia evolution 750gph and a 850gph trition 3 pump return. I will soon be getting another koralia 750gph.

Heating the tank I have a eheim jager 200watt heater that goes in the refugium chamber. As of now it keeps the tank at a solid 78 degrees farenheit

With dosing and such, I am pretty sure I will either be doing B ionic two part or dripping kalkswasser. Any thoughts on either one would be appreciated.

For topping off, I am unsure. Right now, I am just filling up to a line daily in the return section of the sump, but I want a ATO system. I do not want to spend more than 90$, for financial reasons. If anyone has any recommendations for a ATO that would be great, because I know that small polyps stony corals need very stable salinity.

As of now, I have around 20lbs of reefcleaners rock with 4lbs of live rock to seed it. I am going with the minimalism look to let more flow get to the corals and more room for the fish to swim in.

Currently my tank is cycling, 2 days ago I added a dead shrimp to kickstart the cycle. From my API test kit my ammonia is rising and is at .5 ppm. I did not test anything else for the reason that I know once the ammonia goes to undetectable the nitrite will rise so I am waiting for that.

So I also have some questions with sps corals.

What is a good beginner sps that I can experiment with that will not cost a ton of money?

What do you dip your corals with so I will not have to deal with things like AERB and AEFW?

Do you think its okay that I do not have moonlights on the tank, are these a must have for sps?

And do you think 50x turnover will be okay with this tank for sps, since there is a lot of room for the water. Already I have no deadspots so I think with another koralia it will be fine.

I just want to say in advance thankyou and the pictures will be coming soon Hopefully I will have a happy sps tank. :beer:

 

[dzhuo]

Before I start with the build I will give you some background info. My name is Joe and I am 13 years old.

Welcome to RC and the SPS world Joe!

I also have a filter sock but do you think I should keep it or is it just a nitrate factory?

If you can keep up with the regular cleaning every 2 days, it will help correct debris and improve water clarify. With better water clarify, it will in turn improve lighting. I personally only use filter socks for a couple of days after water change. Filter socks don't generate debris or organic matter: These craps are already in your tank. The biggest difference when they end up in your sock is when you hook up the sock to the drain, the water is highly oxygenated full of "energy" which break down the waste much faster as oppose to having these waste sitting in a slow area in your sump. Would you prefer to have waste:

A. in your sock for 2 days with highly oxygenated water ponding them?
B. in your sump for 7 days with slow flow which potentially means longer break down time?

I haven't seen a study comparing the 2 (which one is a faster N factory?) so I am sticking with B for easier of maintenance.

With dosing and such, I am pretty sure I will either be doing B ionic two part or dripping kalkswasser. Any thoughts on either one would be appreciated.

For a 40g, I would start with kalk.

I want a ATO system. I do not want to spend more than 90$, for financial reasons. If anyone has any recommendations for a ATO that would be great, because I know that small polyps stony corals need very stable salinity.

Lots of choice. JBJ is very popular for starter. I personally use a RKL (controller) with their ATO kit.

What is a good beginner sps that I can experiment with that will not cost a ton of money?

Birdsnest, monti cap, pocillopora, and slimmer are all excellent starter SPS. There are also lots of different color variations.

What do you dip your corals with so I will not have to deal with things like AERB and AEFW?

There is a sticky at the top so be sure to check it out. Dips are not guarantee and the only way to ensure you won't be affected by various types of SPS parasites and predators is to set up a good quarantine system.

Do you think its okay that I do not have moonlights on the tank, are these a must have for sps?

It's probably more natural for the corals and fish but I don't think it's necessary. I don't personally run moonlight. However, the fans I use to cool my tank do have blue LED which more or less act as moonlight for about 1 hour after the main light turn off (depends on temp obviously).

And do you think 50x turnover will be okay with this tank for sps, since there is a lot of room for the water. Already I have no deadspots so I think with another koralia it will be fine.

Number doesn't matter as much as it's highly depending on flow type, and rock work. If you have no dead spot, you should have sufficient flow.

Good luck with the tank!

 

[allsps40]

Welcome to RC. I also have the same setup as you. I ran the NW110 skimmer for about 2 years and it is a good skimmer. Bulb combo is good you did your homework. I would run a 1050 and a 750 for power heads. I have a 1050 and an old Korilia 2 and the flow is great. I dose kalk with my ATO and it works great. Get an ATO it helps a lot with stability and having to keep up on it daily.

 

[KidReefer]

photos

photos

Photos are here Update, cycle has come to final stage, did my first water change today and nitrates are coming down. I had a GHA outbreak which im still working on...in time it should die. Hope you all enjoy

Heres a shot of when I finally pieced together all of the equipment before putting water in it.

Now heres it with water and rock (;

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DAYLIGHTS

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Now heres where everything goes

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Left Side

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Right Side

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Closeup of the rocks

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Lights

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[KidReefer]

And here are some pics of my current setup, the kenya tree/clowns/candy canes will probably be leaving. In the first pic of the duncan its polyps are much more open because that was taken a while ago and now my clowns just randomly decided to host it and is aggravating it, thats why they have to go. :headwalls: I am aware of the difference in oligotrophic and eutrophic environments, and if I see that the duncan/star polyps/ hammer/ mushrooms/brain arnt doing well at all in the sps dominated tank then I will take them for store credit at the LFS.

Bangaii Cardinal and kenya tree

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Duncan under actinics

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FTS

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Kenya Tree

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Mushrooms

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Hammer

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Clowns hosting duncan :angryfire:

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[KidReefer]

oh and this is what im doing for calcium+ATO. I am going to buy the JBJ ATO and use Kent Marine Kalkswasser in the ATO. Then for adjusting each lvls independently and for mag. I am going to use AquaC complete. I know, overkill, but sps need spot on calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium lvls right?

I do not plan on adding sps for a few months because I have to transfer the cardinal and the some of the corals from my bc14 and then still make sure I have very few nutrients in the tank. Also hear is what my fish stocking list is.

1 midas blenny
2 cardinals, I am wondering if the adult male I have now would be okay to pair if I bought a infant female?? Info appreciated

Here is my future list of inverts

10 cerith snails
10 trochus snails
3 peppermint shrimp
1 starfish, any kind will do cuz there awesome(as long as there reefsafe)
1 derasa clam

And finally my list of corals

green+orange montipora capricornis
green+orange montipora digita
pink birdsnest
green birdsnest
oregon tort.
various acropora species
millepora sp.
sylophora sp.
Hydnophora sp.
1 brain coral(scoly, I believe)
1 euphyllia
1 duncan
1 GSP(isolated)
1 mushroom rock

All this livestock will be added to the system over the course of a year, so as to not cause any major spikes. Most likely some of the corals will not make it into the tank, as being a thirteen year old with the income of lawnmowing my yard, I dont have that much money, but I am going to do the best I can to try and replicate that list. Also the Lps corals will probably be sold over the course of the year as well, so the tank is sps only.

Any advice, comments, concerns are appreciated :fish1::lolspin:

 

[BigFeesh]

Hello im a younger reefer as well 17 and am putting up a 105 gallon system (75 gallon display). I would recommend some lps corals like Duncans or a hammer coral. Also a neon green toadstool is nice what im getting at is that sticks are sticks they have no movement at all. My 29 gallon tank had a bunch of sps in it and even though they were awesome there was no movement in the water so i added a frogspawn,duncan, and neon green toadstool and BAM !! awesomeness!! haha. MY tank will be a mix of everything the only leather will be my toadstool. Upgrade to a MP10 totally worth it.

But check out acans and chalices for around the sandbed. Those two are my addiction (steps off podium)

i apologize for my rant.

 

[KidReefer]

thanks for the advice and its awesome to meet another kid reefer as well lol, im thirteen

I already have a duncan and hammer, as well as others pictured above, but those LPS are the only ones I plan to keep simply because SPS and LPS come from 2 totally different environments and I dont like mixing them that much.(euptrophic and oligotrophic)

and about flow im getting another koralia so i will have a total of 2,450 gph worth of flow including the return pump. I really would like to have a mp10 with the short pulse to silmulate the reef crest environment for the sps but they are just too expensive right now. When I turn 15 I am going to have a job probably but until then I can only get things for birthdays, christmas, and chores. Also when you say there was no flow do you mean it looked like no flow because if so, get a long polyps millepora, they look awesome in the flow

 

[KidReefer]

and thankyou dzhuo and allsps40 for the answered questions

 

[BigFeesh]

Yes the polyps flow in the current but are miniscule. And not to be a jerk but quit saying stuff like they come from different environments so i dont want to mix them. So quit acting like they all cant survive in one system many reefers do that and their tanks are amazing also looking at your previous tank it seems like you have excessive nutrient build up (PO4 and NO3) I see lots of algae. Sps dont like either of the 2 so your water levels must be pristine. IMO from your previous tank SPS wont thrive in your system i just dont want you to waste you money

 

[KidReefer]

It is true that people mix them with success, and I bet they run carbon to reduce the allelopathy between the two types, but i am 100% sure that they come from different environments. Here is something I wrote about the difference on another website.

SPS live usually in the reef crest or algal ridge of the reef which experiences usually very strong flow because the waves usually break in this area. This is why in a sps tank strong flow is key. But make sure it is random as well. This can created by a wavebox or a multitude of powerheads on a timer. Because SPS corals live on the reef crest, nutrients are always very scarce for the reason that the strong flow prevents things like detritus and other sediments from settling and turning into nitrates and phosphates, a two major nutrients. So in a sps tank there needs to be a very small amount of nutrients which can be created with a protein skimmer and a refugium(barebottom so no phosphate buildup) This ULNS(ultra low nutrient system) is referred to as oligotrophic.

LPS and softies are completely different. They are usually found in the lagoon or reef flat of a reef, which experiences not much flow. For this reason things like sediments are allowed to settle, and disslove into nitrates and phosphates, creating a high nutrient rich environment(eutrophic). LPS and softies IMO thrive off of these nutrients, and need them to grow.

And I will agree with you, my tank does have algae, this is because I purposely keep it in a high nutrient environment by having things like bioballs and very low flow because I only have LPS and softy corals. This allows the detritus to settle and make the water dirty for the corals. I dont think anyone has ever done this but my goal is to try and replicate nature as a much as possible.

In my sps tank however I will be taking completely different actions. I will be running a skimmer and a barebottom refugium, also I have a 50x turnover rate as to not let detritus settle so it can be filtered out and skimmed. Also I do 10% waterchanges weekly to remove nitrates and phosphate buildup in the sand.

 

[BigFeesh]

So yes nutrients are needed but you are saying high nutrients are good but high no3 and po4 can crash tanks. Nutrients arnt only phos and nitrates they are you alkalinity level, calcium, and magnesium which LPS and others do need also.Just because LPS and leathers can live through high bad nutrients doesn't mean they are thriving. My bad nutrients are 0 and the big three are very level and at appropriate levels and my acans and chalices grow like crazy along with my sps. Your argument isn't valid at all.

 

[BigFeesh]

Yes LPS need lower flow but that's why tanks are deeper LPS around the bottom of the tank. My mp10 is almost on full blast on my 29 gallon and everything is fine.

 

[KidReefer]

I know but its not that they are living through bad conditions, they are thriving, my duncan went from 3 heads to 15+ in 2 and a half months, and my hammer has split twice in the past 3 months. Also my scoly has doubled in size after 5 months. I make sure my calcium and alkalinity and mag are in check with waterchanges with reef crystals. I like to keep nitrates at 20ppm and phosphates .25ppb

Also I am not trying to debate with you on the subject of mixed reefs, I am just trying to document my progress of my sps tank as it matures over time. So could we leave it at this to prevent further argument. Thankyou

 

[BigFeesh]

You are lying about growth scolys are the slowest growing coral fyi. You're a joke. So we could leave it at this to prevent further argument. Thank you



SLOWEST*

 

[KidReefer]

for one i dont even know what a lowest growing coral is, do they grow in deep depths??

Two. This is a online site about the hobby of reefkeeping so if u really want to argue over my opinion on coral environments then maybe you should go outside or take up a new sport

Third Everyone has different takes on different things, some are wrong some are right. I may be wrong, but its just in my experience that i have had

Fourth. I am not lying about growth with the scoly, ever since I started feeding rods and doing the nutrient environment then it has exploded

Fifth. I am going to ignore further discussion and strictly stay with my build.

I wish to have a peaceful thread here on reef central, NOT a debate. I respect others opinions but when they call me a joke I become offended.

 

[allsps40]

Ok chill everyone the kid just wants to do corals from the crest of the reef, sps only. There is nothing wrong with that. Plus the mushrooms and kenia would take over. I have a mixed reef mostly sps but I have some lps (5), softies (3) and some different zoas. Yes I do run carbon but I would even in a sps only tank. Tank is looking good, nice start.

 

[KidReefer]

thanks, once I get my CUC to get rid of the small amount of GHA in the tank, I am going to transfer what Im keeping into the tank, so more pics will be coming in the next week or so.

also im just curious the GHA i have is only growing on the glass, the rocks are spot clean of GHA, anyone know why this is?

 

[BigFeesh]

Is it fully cycled? Maybe if the rock is fully cycled/alive the gha might not be able to live on it ? idk just throwing an idea out.

 

[JustinM]

It's great to see young reefers in the hobby. I wish I would have been into a hobby like this instead of being mischievous when I was your age. Keep up the good work, looks like you have done a lot of homework.

Maybe you can manually remove some of the GHA, but with time it will balance out too. What is your water source? I didn't see it posted anywhere.