My first saltwater tank! 40/20 build

[StrangeDejavu]

Hi all,

I've been keeping planted tanks for a few years but recently got bit by the salt bug. I first heard the whispers of a reef tank about 4 months- it was around that time I decided to allow another hobby to siphon me dry of paychecks. I've been slowly buying gear and working on my build since then, taking pics along the way. I almost pulled the trigger on a Biocube but said nah, let's dive in the deep end and see what happens. :bounce3:

Specs

40g breeder DT, 20g long sump
Drilled with an external Beananimal overflow box
Build My LED 20000K XB Series
40 lbs dry rock (Marco/Reef Saver)
Fiji Pink live sand
Spectrapure 200 GPD
Reef Octopus NWB-110
2x Jebao RW-4's
Eheim 1260
BRS Mini Reactor w/ BRS ROX 0.8 carbon
Tunze Osmolator ATO
Red Sea Coral Pro salt


Planned Stock (may change)

2x Oscellaris Clownfish
Firefish
Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse
Royal Gramma Basslet
Watchman Goby/Pistol Shrimp
CUC
LPS/Soft dominant coral. Once mature, Monti cap and maybe a Birdsnest.



DIY stand, inspired by user frogguy1 (found his pics on Google)

External box drilled and assembled, bracing was done for aesthetics.

External box on the tank and DT drilled. Cordless drill died on the second hole so I had the suspense of "God I hope I don't crack this tank on the last hole" while it charged. Sigh of relief when final hole was cut.

I picked up a 20 gallon long during the $1/gallon sale just to disassemble and make this thin overflow. The bracing was reused on my external box above.

I had acrylic cut at a local shop. 3/16" thick, slightly longer dimensions than the internal box, total was about $60 and I had a large amount leftover. I was concerned about the bond between acrylic and glass with silicone, so my Dad came up with this idea. He proposed an acrylic "hanger" that would go over a glass internal box and clip at the top- much like clip on sunglasses. Glass to glass bond and acrylic to hide the plumbing. We sandwiched a liberal amount of silicone between the glass and acrylic to prevent it from lifting away from the bottom.

2 hours in Home Depot and I come home with this. The guy in the plumbing section was nice enough to help me with my 681 questions regarding fittings and connections. It helped that he was a licensed plumber, and had an 8 year old reef tank before selling it before a big move.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

Rock arrives! :dance: I picked this up from Billy Hay, his price was $1.75/lb with free shipping. $90 for 50 lbs of dry rock, I call that a bargain.

Aquascaped. I played with many different designs over the course of a month and wasn't happy with any of them. One night, I read a great article on how to aquascape a tank. The author stressed the importance of flow and functionality over aesthetics. During a brief window of inspiration, I started moving the rock around with the intention of having good flow and adequate hiding places for everyone in the tank. I ended up with this, and was finally happy. It's very stable, I didn't stop tinkering until every piece could be tapped with a bit of force and it not shift.

Sump in and plumbing installed. Finally starting to look like a saltwater tank.

Mixing salt. Boy was I feeling the excitement now. After staring at an empty tank for a few months, it's about to see saltwater.

While the salt was mixing, I added Fiji Pink around the aquascape. Glad I went with this sand, it looks great and the grain size is just right.

Saltwater!

 

[StrangeDejavu]

Ugh... later that night. I leak tested the tank twice in the garage but didn't experience this until it came in the house; go figure. You wanna talk about patience being tried... this was it. The bulkhead is a thread x thread, so I bought a thread x slip adaptor and used plumber's tape on this connection. Baaad idea. The first time it leaked, I figured I didn't use enough. Took apart the connection, wrapped it twice and ran water through it again. Leaked again. I was really stressing at this point because it's about 11:00pm at this point on a work night and I had limited time to come up with a solution. Did some reading and found that this type of connection is NOT recommended. Google is littered with forum posts about this type of connection leaking, and the solution was silicone. I applied a large amount along both threads, tightened the fitting to the bulkhead and followed a bead around the outside as well. Problem fixed.

PVC gutter guard was bent and formed into a taco shaped and placed between the overflow and the DT glass then siliconed. This was done before water went in, but I forgot to take until this point.

View of the overflow, almost invisible unless viewed from the side.

Beananimal overflow plumbing

This pic was taken a few minutes ago. Still a little cloudy from bacteria bloom #2 but clearing up quick. This light is really bright. I dimmed the fixture to 20% and shot at ISO-100 and part of the rock is still overexposed. I know BML isn't well known around here, but they're well respected in the planted tank community. Apogee did a study on some of the top LEDs in the field, and BuildMyLED came out on top in PAR efficiency, which is PAR per watt of electricity. I can't wait to see how it grows coral.

Day 1 (August 29th) - 4ppm ammonia dosed and Dr. Tim's One and Only dosed per LFS instructions. It was kept refrigerated at the store and I was told to store it the same way until it's ready to be used. Once ready, float the bottle in the tank for 30 minutes to acclimate the bacteria to tank temperature. Once acclimated, dump the entire bottle in. I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting this stuff to work after my last experience with bottled bacteria.

I was completely surprised. I noticed a drop in ammonia and detectable nitrites after only 3 days. Ammonia zeroed out pretty quick and my nitrite spiked to 4ppm. Yesterday (day 13), my nitrites were 0.75ppm. This morning (day 14), they read 0.5ppm and 10ppm nitrate. I expect by Monday i'll be zeroed out and ready for a pre-stocking WC. I'm amazed that Dr. Tim's actually worked, considering I used sterile dry rock. If you've hung around this long, then thank you for reading! More updates to come.

 

[Xxero]

Looks great! Good job with your aquascaping!

Happy reefing!:bigeyes:

 

[oscarreef]

looking really nice! I began a 40 breeder about 5 months ago my second tank.you have a great looking tank ill say that much what are the plans for the sump ?why the egg crate under the rock that seems interesting. btw welcome to the reef world.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

Thanks a bunch guys!

oscarreef - I added the leftover rock and rock rubble to the refugium. Once cycled, I plan on seeding the tank with some pods and adding some chaeto. My PO4 is 0.03 per Hanna so once I start feeding, that number will surely go up. Not too bad, but I definitely want low numbers, especially out the gate. The eggcrate is for rock stability and peace of mind. I'm in a rental right now so I need to know 100% if something shifts or falls and cracks the bottom, there wont be a flood in this carpeted room.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

Day 18: Cycled. Going to do a 20 - 25% WC and add a fish. Woot!

 

[oscarreef]

Are you keeping an cheato ? I did on my tank and my nitrates are at zero!!! A task I thought would be impossible but it happened. I recommend it hand down without a doubt. If you have issues with it rate give that a try.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

Yup, I just installed the fuge light yesterday. I had a 13w 5000k CFL laying around so I put that in a Home Depot reflector work light. Gonna get some Chaeto and a fish today, i'm thinking a Firefish.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

I came home with this little guy. LFS had a single Firefish but he was badly bullied by another fish in the tank. The Banggai was very curious, didn't hide and readily took pellet and flake. This LFS buys from Segrest, who does mandatory QT, deworming and bacterial treatment on all fish. Then my LFS receives them, and they QT for 30 additional days before going into the sales tanks. Since I didn't set up a QT for fish and QT for coral, additional lights, etc I decided this was my best chance at getting a healthy fish. I realize i'm taking a risk, which is why I added a sponge filter and a bag of media to the sump to become seeded in the event I ever have to set up a hospital tank. He seems pretty comfortable, swimming in the front and not hiding at all. Stoked to finally have some movement in the tank.

 

[Isaacs55]

Sweet looking Tank! You sir have a very nice aquascape! Everything is looking sweet! Congrats to your first fish! Welcome to the 40/20 club!

 

[StrangeDejavu]

Thanks Isaac! He's doing good this morning, out exploring the tank and the rockwork more than last night. He dived for the NLS pellet I tossed in, chewed for a few seconds then spit it out. Seems to be a universal issue with fish, fresh and salt, when first being introduced to NLS. He was eating garbage Tetra flake/pellet at the LFS, so I think he'll come around.