40 Breeder Build

This is a journal of my 40 breeder freshwater aquarium build

So right now I have a 10 gallon guppy and shrimp tank and a 20 gallon high with 10 serpae tetras, 1 female guppy, and 1 female betta. I will be combining them in the 40 breeder. 2 days ago which was the last day of the $1 per gallon sale at Petco I bought a 40 breeder, something that I've been waiting for about a year now. 2 days ago I also bought the equipment for the tank. I will give you the list of what I got:
- 40 gallon aquarium[$40] (Petco)
- Aqua Quartz 50lbs Pool Filter sand[$13] (ACE Hardware)
- AquaClear Powerfilter 110[$80] (Amazon)
- finnex stingray 36" [$60] (Amazon)
- 200 watt EHEIM Jager heater[$30] (Amazon)
Total: $223

Yesterday I planned my stand I was going to build(will show you pics). The stand is made of 2x4x8 wood. Just to note for those who are going to do the same 2x4s are not actually 2 inches x 4 inches it is actually 1.5" x 3.5".Just note that when you are building. The stand is going to be 30 inches tall.

So right now my stocking for my 2 tanks are
3x juvenile female guppy
6x male guppy
3x guppy fry
10x serpae tetra
1x mosquito fish
1x female betta
8ishx shrimp(cherry,rili, and yellow)
2x nerite snail
I want to cut this down in my 40 breeder. I am probably going to give away all the serpae tetras, the mosquito fish, adult guppy, 2 juvenile female guppy, and 3 male guppies. I am planning on having shrimp friendly fish since I am planning on buying some cherry shrimps when I find a good deal on Ebay or Aquabid.

I will post pics of my tank but will try to list as many plants as I can that I'm moving from my 2 tanks. All together I have 8 pieces of driftwood. Here's the list:
9x anubias nana
2x amazon swords 4" and 7"(will probably only keep one since they grow so big!)
4x wisteria stems 5"
2x temple stems 4"
4x crypt bunches (don"t know what kind)
2x anubias something(don't know what kind)
1x 5x4" java moss mat
1x moss ball
5x java ferns (there tiny only got one medium size one)

Sorry for the post being long but this is a buil so... but one more thing can you help with stocking. I will be having shrimps, 4 guppies (3 males, 1 female) and 2 nerites. I don't want to overstock or just stock it I want it more to be a couple of fishes. Its suppose to me a low maintenance tank and a tank where all I really need to do for the most part is just feeding my fish. In 2 years I will be going to college so only my parents will be taking care I will be gone for 3-5 months without seeing the tank my parents are willing to feed and make sure the tank equipment is running well. I'm thinking of getting 8 rummy nose tetras since they school really well and probably 6x cories though I don't know what kind. For stocking I want it to be something I can buy at Petsmart or Petco since those are the closest although I do go to this small Petstore downtown which carry some special fish. I am also thinking of getting a bristlenose since I have so much driftwood.

Another thing is that for the first month or so I will be running my Aquaclear 50(on my 20 high) and maybe my Bio-wheel 100 on the 40 breeder with the new AC 110 in order to introduce the good bacteria. I'm also wondering about the substrate. I have a 4.4Ib bag of fluval stratum but I might get a bag of Eco Complete to accompany the sand.

Any suggestions for stocking and tank build will be helpful. Gonna be adding pics. Also my Instagram is "johnblackace913" where I am posting pics of the 40 breeder build. In 10 minutes I am going to be drilling and building my stand.

 

Tested it, looks good
Tomorrow morning I will coat it with poly-something which will make the wood brown, water proof it, and bring out the wood features. Hopefully it will dry when I return from work so that I can set it up. Still have to wait for equipments but will start adding sand(washed some today) and start taking driftwood out from the tanks

 

I actually don't mind what fish you give me as long as it doesn't need special diet or feeding.

 

Here's one of my stocking plans:
2x Pearl Gourami
8x cories
maybe 8x kuhlI loaches(if I can find them at the petstore, otherwise I will just have cories)
5x Guppies
8x rummy-nose tetra
8x harlequin
2x nerite snail
1x bristlenose pleco
8ish cardina shrimp(cherry, yellow, rili)

 

Wow I wish I was as crafty as you and could build my own stand. I currently just use two nightstand dressers next to each other lol
Sorry I'm not much help on stocking I just wanted to compliment your build.

 

Thanks! So happy that someone at least commented on my build. I'm actualy only 16 although I had my dad help me it was primarily easy. The only hard part was the cutting and planning. Otherwise once you have your plan layed out the drilling and putting things together is easy. Unless you have braces you probably want 2 people doing it. I will update this post once I coat the stand with polyurethane(gonna try to do it tomorrow morning before work), clean my room, and get the equipment. Then it will probably be another 2-3 weeks for the tank to fully stock and for me to give away the remaining fish.

 

Yeah my family definitely isn't that handy we couldn't even get that far lol. It's really cool! I'm trying to find another stand for my 30G right now too. I'm getting a 55G and moving my tropicals into it but my mom won't let me keep the big one downstairs so the 30G will be going down their and the 55G will be in my room. I'm not looking forward to moving them all lol.

Are you going to be putting door or anything on your stand or just leave it open?

 

I'm thinking about getting plywood to cover the base so I can put all my fish equipment and perhaps a shelf but no I won't make doors for it. After all its in my room. The door is mainly design and for if you have it as a show tank where people will look at it(such as the living or dining room) and you want to hide the equipment.

 

Yeah I see what you mean it's really cool I'll keep looking at your thread I'm excited to see the end result.

 

Thanks!

Here's the new stocking list:
2x pearl gourami
8x peppered cories
8x rummy-nose tetra
8x harlequin rasboras
4x guppies
a couple of shrimps
Note: Will try to keep the tank at 75-76 degrees

 

Peppered cories are cold water fish, I'm pretty sure that conflicts with the others. Let me look up their preferred temps.

I'm seeing it at about 64-73. Could you try a warmer water Cory for it? I'm currently keeping a school of cories. I don't know if you've had the before but they're one of my favorites lol

 

Yeah I had corydoras aeneus before. Oh I looked at liveaquaria which said they the temp should be 72-79. I will take out the gouramis and keep the temp at 74.

Here's the new stocking plan:
- 8 peppered cory(72-79)
- 10 rummy-nose tetra(72-77)
- 10 harlequin rasboras(72-77)
- 4 guppies
- bristlenose pleco
-2 nerite snails
Note: Temp will be kept at 74

 

That sounds good to me it'll be really cool! Have you decided how you're decorating the tank yet?

 

Yep! If you look at the pictures on the top of my 10 and 20 high I will be keeping most of the driftwood and plants. When I move my tank in I will out the sand and fluval spectrum, although I'm thinking about getting a bag of eco complete also to boost plant growth. After the substrate I will remove all the driftwood from both tanks and start piecing them together in the tank. The I will move the plants. Fill the 40 breeder so that most of the plants are submerged so they won't dry out. Next I'll drain the tanks about 1/2 to 1/3 of the way to fish out the fish and other inhabitants. During this time I'll shut off all the equipment from the 2 tanks and soak the media of the 2 desire filters the AC 50 and Bio-wheel 100 so that the good bacteria won't die. I will be keeping the serpae tetras and betta in a separate container that way they won't kill the shrimps. The in about a few days they will be given away to the pet store. And that is the plan!

 

How cool! I love to hear other people's set ups. Are you keeping your old tanks?

 

No, my parents said I can only have 1 tank especially since next year I am going to be a junior in high school and I have to focus on my school work so I have less times on my pets. I also keep other pets.

 

post the pics of your stand in the new DIY tank stand build

 

That's cool though. I live in a ranch so we have pets coming out of our ears lol

 

Here's the pick of the stand, I coated it with oil wood stain not that excited about the color but I had it at home so why not use it. Wanted a bit darker kind like brown but don't really care since its in my bedroom anyway

Tomorrow morning it will be all dried and will be put in my room and will move the tank but in a few hours I will flip to see of I got to do anything since some might have been wiped off by the newspaper

 

looking good

 

It looks great

 

Will post a pic tomorrow when I move the stand and tank to my room!

 

My filter just arrived, now I'm waiting for heater and lights. So for my stand u had to put it out since its still smells so another day till I can permanently put it in my room!

you can see on the rug the imprint of the stand when I brought it in last night. His is where I'm gonna put the tank

 

It's looking good! Hate waiting for stuff in the mail lol

 

True! it always makes you look at that Amazon Prime. The lights or heater should be coming today or tomorrow or the latest Sunday. Sunday I'll try to give away my serpae tetras and mosquito fish.

 

Yay hope you find a good place for them! Super exciting

 

So it turns out I won't be filling till Monday since that is when we will go to the pet store to pick up some substrate. By monday though, I will only have my guppies and betta. My tetras will be gone so that is actually good planning. My tank which is out on my porch should probably be finished airing out the smell and all my equipment should arrive. So all in all this delay of getting EcoComplete and setting up my tank works out the only thing is I have to wait 2 more days. But so excited for the final outcome which will be in a month or so when my tank will be fully stocked.

 

I'm going through the same waiting game with my 55G but it's so exciting still to plan everything out. I'm excited to see the fish lol!
I haven't actually seen some of the fish going into your tank so I'm excited to see where it goes

 

Gt home 2 hours ago and opened the filter!
AquaClear 50 vs 110

How it looks on the 40 breeder

Oh yeah about the background, I'm storing the 40 breeder in the bathroom in the basement since were also building and renovating a room there's no where else to put it until I move the stand in my room

 

At least it isn't a very long wait lol

 

If there was no background and was one of those all white background and there was no sticker or sign showing the size of the filter or tank you would easily think the 40 breeder is small. Didn't think the filter would be that big!!! But at least I know that I will have excellent filtration.

Started to cycle my AC 110

 

Are you cycling it using a smaller tank?

 

Yes! As rediculous as its sound I have a AquaClear which has a gph of 500 on a 20 gallon high, talk about over filtration!!!

 

Lol I was worried about mine while I'm seeding it but the fish are doing fine. Your buffer idea is great

 

I also just learned from another member although it should have been obvious I could have just taken some of the biomax from my 50 and add it to my AC 110 bag, which would hurry up the BB populating the filter.

 

Yes very true

 

After 30 minutes I finally fished out my serpae tetras to give them away tomorrow. The other day I saw one with a ghost shrimp in its mouth

 

Oh no! I'm surprised you caught them. I don't know how I'm going to catch my danios to move them lol

 

So here are the fish I'm giving away tomorrow: 10 serpae tetras, 2 male guppies, and 4 female guppies

Here are the 3 male guppies that I'm keeping! They are so hard to take pictures of!!!!

 

They're pretty!