My "Just Can't Quit" 40 Breeder

iwishtofish

iwishtofish

Active member
After breaking down my 75g tank due to a lack of success, I set up a 15g temporary tank to house my corals while I debated exiting the hobby. Well, the corals actually started to GROW :eek: in that tank over the course of a year or so, and then I wished I had the room to do more.

So, I set up a 40 breeder, just like I had originally planned, and I'm hoping this is the tank that will satisfy my every need for a good while. It is sumpless, has an inexpensive chinese-made LED fixture, and an HOB filter.

It currently looks like this:






Obviously, there is some arranging to be done, and I'll probably need more rock if I want to increase the livestock load...
 
Here's an earlier shot showing how I ended up hanging the LED fixture. I kind of had to improvise (always a gamble with me). I like the light so far - it only has blues and whites, but they are independently dimmable. I set this tank up just days before going on vacation for two weeks, and I set the lights at just under 50 percent power. I feel lucky not to have come home to wilted corals, although the light is less intense towards the ends of the tank. I still think it's a lot more light at 50 percent than they had in the 15g tank.

 
I got a great deal on this, and picked it up yesterday...



I am planning on plugging two 200w FLuval heaters into two separate sockets, each programmed to maintain the same temp. The heaters have their own thermostats, so I figure I'll just turn them both all the way up and let the controller do the rest. I have just one heater in there now, and it barely maintains the tank at 76-77 degrees.

Does anyone know a way to clean the temp probe without risking damage?
 
Here's my 10g ATO tank. I wonder if I could mix kalk in that, and lift the hose off the bottom a couple inches?


 
Current filtration. Time to change the carbon/floss. Been a couple weeks! I'm really surprised I don't have any problem with surface film yet. Maybe the powerheads are pointed just right...



Here's the bottom half of the filtration, lol

 
I like it! Basic, simple design and easy upkeep. Mixing kalk in the ATO container would work but its best to use a covered container. A piece of glass covering most of the tank should be enough. Keeping the inlet off the bottom is as simple as a PVC cap wire tied under the tubing. I used a piece of rigid tubing so the wire ties wouldn't squash the flexible stuff and that worked amazingly well. Just make sure it stays upright.

Glad to see you decided to stick with it.
 
RocketEngineer said:
I like it! Basic, simple design and easy upkeep. Mixing kalk in the ATO container would work but its best to use a covered container. A piece of glass covering most of the tank should be enough. Keeping the inlet off the bottom is as simple as a PVC cap wire tied under the tubing. I used a piece of rigid tubing so the wire ties wouldn't squash the flexible stuff and that worked amazingly well. Just make sure it stays upright.

Glad to see you decided to stick with it.
Click to expand...

Thank you, and thanks for the idea. I'll do some more research on the use of kalkwasser. Unlike my 75g tank, which had unbelievable evaporation for its size, this one evaporates maybe a half-gallon a day. To me, this means the aqualifter pump might dose a small enough amount of topoff at a time to be used for the topoff/kalk purpose, rather than using a dosing pump.
 
A HA! I found you again!

How's it feel having your own RC stalker?! ;)

Tank looks good. I like the shallow lagoon look of it with minial rock; LPS clam, zoas/palys.
 
Robb in Austin said:
A HA! I found you again!

How's it feel having your own RC stalker?! ;)

Tank looks good. I like the shallow lagoon look of it with minial rock; LPS clam, zoas/palys.
Click to expand...

Lol, I'm honored you wish to follow my exploits!

I'm glad you like the look. It definitely needs tweaking, and maybe one more piece of rock to allow me more critter options.
 
I have yet to set up the Reefkeeper Lite with a 2nd heater - hopefully I'll get to that soon. My galaxia started to send out wicked sweepers again, so I banished it to the other side of the tank and put the clam close to where it was originally.





This galaxia is a slow grower and a PIA, but I love it for some reason. I hope it doesn't zap those zoas...



The clam is curled a bit, but seems ok so far. Problem with maximas is that they tell you something is wrong by dying.



I am still debating ramping up the LEDs higher; I know the clam would love it, but I'm not sure a couple other corals would.

When I moved this rock tonight, there was lovely pink coralline under it. Maybe soon some will grow on my rocks. Maybe not...

 
Just looked again right before lights-out, and the galaxia is acting aggressively...I think I'll soon see the demise of these zoanthids. The coral has put out 8" sweepers before; if some corals far to the right look threatened, then I'm not quite sure what I'll do.



 
jdm7785 said:
looking good
Click to expand...

Thank you! :)

***********************************************************

I looked in my tank today (lights out), and saw a small polyp-like critter on top of one of my rock peaks, close to the glass. I said "hmmm...I've never noticed that before," and dismissed it as a coral polyp of some sort. Maybe 20-30 minutes later, I passed the tank and couldn't see it at first. Then I spotted it just over the peak about an inch from where it was before. To me, that said Nuisance Anemone more than polyp, and I actually managed to pluck it out with ease.

This is it, closed, of course:



No idea if it is a majano, or not. It is very small, but definitely had extended tentacles. Hopefully it wasn't something harmless.
 
While I mull the attack of the critter on the clam, I'm having a terrible conundrum with my lighting. I noticed that one of my montis (pink, encrusting) is continuing to bleach at an extremely low rate while the other monti next to it (stellata) is doing fine. So I lowered the whites down to maybe 15-20% power.

I've always wanted my tank to look bluer - as I mentioned earlier - but a little experimenting showed that I'd neat to cut the whites to nearly their minimum to get even a 14k look. Any presence of the white lights cut out the blues just that quickly. This is where a PAR meter would be really handy, as I'd be able to see where I need to set the blues to make up for the loss of the whites (or see if they even could). Then I have to wonder again about my clam getting enough light.

This is clearly a limitation of having an equal number of blue and white LEDs, rather than a custom ratio dependent on preference. Perhaps one cannot really set the color of their tank with this fixture, as I'd heard suggested.
 
Couldn't figure out why my GSP were steadily closing up - eventually to become closed all the time. I think I can see the reason(s) in this photo. Can anyone else?



The palys have bleached out considerably, although they never were - in my opinion - in a whole lot of light. Maybe there isn't enough steady food, or some other stressor...



Other than those problems, things are doing pretty well. My HOB filter broke, so I have no means of nutrient export (floss, carbon) other than water changes. I will put emphasis on obtaining a decent HOB skimmer when I can. I also need to find a way to get rid of surface film.

Oh, my alk had gone up to 16dKH through reckless dosing, so that is coming down slowly now, and is probably between 10 or 11 now. The latest test results show an interesting drop:

9/9 16dKH

9/11 14dKH

9/14 13dKH

9/18 12dKH
 
Asterina's and do I see red bugs on the gsp?

Personally, I've never noticed Asterinas on my GSP but I sure wish they would get on there if that is the response you're seeing.
 
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