40 breeder fowler/semi reef build

So here's the plan :

Mag 7 for the return pump

Two hydor koralia power heads at 600 gph each

And this skimmer :

If it comes in stock when I order.

Any insight/suggestions?

Scratch that skimmer. I worked extra Friday and Saturday and sold a few pitbull puppies so ill order all my pumps once I get paid Monday, put some tires on my wife's car, and when I sell the rest of the pups, ill order a reef octopus.

Wouldn't it be better if I cycled the tank before adding a skimmer anyway?

 

Dont really need a skimmer until you have some live stock in there had mine set up for a couple weeks before I got my skimmer

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Ill order all my pumps Monday and hopefully have them pretty quick so I can have a test run

 

Wouldn't it be better if I cycled the tank before adding a skimmer anyway?

It might be better to cycle first, depends on the shape the rock is in. If the rock is nasty I would run the skimmer while cycling along with powerheads aimed at the rocks, otherwise you may have a lot of detritus around the base of the rock as stuff falls off or decomposes around the base. The powerheads will keep it suspended and give the skimmer a chance to remove the smaller particles. The skimmer may also lessen the amount of algae build up while the rock is cycling.

 

Looking good man! Sry been AWOL a bit... I just finished mine up last night... When I get back from this next trip I'm going to start putting the sw and everything in it... Fw test cycle was going great... Took out that skimmer bar tho... Didn't have enough drain capacity for my comfort... So each 90 up has a piece of pipe up to the level I want the water and that's been working perfect.... Let it run a day and all is well...
I bought a Aqueon 2300 I think it runs between like 300-600gph and its plenty power! I'd recommend it... It was only $40 on amazon...
Pictures when I get back!
Sumps working great as well... No bubbles hardly at all... Can't wait to get home Monday and continue her...

 

I believe I will order return pump and power heads tomorrow, and the skimmer once my parameters are good. Unfortunately that means I will have to drain my sump to silicone the baffles for the reef octopus skimmer I plan on ordering unless I go ahead and do them now. I've actually been thinking about just doing one baffle to keep the level constant in the skimmer section and that's it.



Here's what I'm thinking

 

I'd get it all done now tbh.... It works good... I don't have a skimmer yet either I'm gonna try and get this coralife that a dude on cl has for $60 looks in good condition.... Its the 65g one sells at my LFS for like 170$...
I went to ace and they cut my glass for me exact size for like 5.99 a piece here's a pic of it when I was siliconing it...

 

The sump has water in it already From my attempted test run. I will call the glass place tomorrow and see how much it will be.

Ok. I got my baffles siliconed in last night. And I ordered my return pump and two power heads this morning. They should be here Friday and Saturday ill go get water and live rock! I'm thinking about using play sand I stored after taking out of my cichlid tank. . . Thoughts?

 

Mite be better off using argonite sand but that's just my 2 cents

 

Why? I am also considering using black diamond sand blasting Sand like I have in my 75 cichlid tank. What are your thoughts on using this since I plan on corals?

Edit : why would I want the argonite sand?

Well, I added sand. All my pumps should be in tomorrow. I'm excited. Probably Sunday I will go get some saltwater and Live rock. Should be a good weekend once I get it all up and running!

Alright well all my pumps came in and are awesome! The mag 7 might be a little much so I put a ball valve on and toned it down. I really need to get a check valve and two more 90s. The surface skimmer didn't work like I planned so I'm going to use two 90s. I'm surprised I didn't get electrocuted today but its fun playing with all this getting it right

Check valve installed. Freshwater test run complete. I also scored a 55 gal plastic drum for $15 from a creepy old guy so getting my initial salt water will be gravy. Oh yeah, HERE'S PICS! Excuse the dust from the sand ( also I haven't bought my reef lights yet )

I still have some finishing work like disabling the outlet underneath it on the show wall, removing it, trimming out and blackboard painting a chalk wall for my daughter but I am stoked that I'm this far. I really appreciate all the help I've gotten, it was priceless. And for everyone's comments you have helped this tank grow. I will continue to up date with more paint, more trim, salt water, the cycle and then fish. Was wondering if I got live rock and some live sand how throwing a blue damsel in to help the cycle would be? And how it would effect my future stock?

Alright! We are officially cycling. I had to pour each 5 gal bucket through a funnel into my 55 gal drum I had in the back of my truck. The fish store people were kinna rude but for $1 a gal it was worth it. Also they had a big piece of base rock out back they used for a door stop and I straight up stole it when I left. I normally don't do that but lol I said I had to tote each 5 gal jug and funnel it in my barrel they told me to get after I drove and hour and had to wait an additional hour for the water and listen to them being rude. That said - I got 6 lbs live rock to start cycling, ten pounds base rock and the big piece I stole from out back. Had they been nice and professional I wouldn't have took it but I was rather heated and y'all know when I get mad I gotta get even some how.

Anyway, in my live rock I have found a skinny black starfish crawling around in the holes. I thought that was pretty cool . Ill post some pics here in a min as I'm just now getting a smoke break from the work

Other than patience, does anyone have any saltwater cycling tips? It will be another month or so until I get my lights and am ready for plants.

Ill take advice on fish foods , tank mates for clowns, watchman goby/ shrimp pairs. . . Anything awesome. Other than another coat of paint in the back of the tank and the chalkboard paint on the front wall the build is complete. Now ready to bring the reef to the living room!

 

That's little black star is probably a brittel star there pretty cool but he probably won't survive the cycle. they are really sensitive to ammonia nitrate nitrite. No tips really to help with the cycle. most of my zoanthids I added in at about the 2 and a half week mark my serpent star and flame scallops where added at about week 3 week 4 I added mushrooms my colt coral and a few other zoas then I didnt add anything till week 6 when I got another zoa frag a turbo snail a hawaiin feather duster and my coral banded shrimp then at the 7 week mark I added a peppermint shrimp and at week 8 I added my firefish goby so far the only fatality was my white flame scallop that someone ate somehow

 

Yeah, that are red banded brittle stars. Found four of them so far. Sucks they won't make the cycle . Ill probably dose prime a lot to see if it helps maybe

 

Yeah that's what I have in my tank but mines about 4 inches he's really cool when I feed him I tellvmy nephew I'm feeding the cracken

They're cheapish to get once the tank has cycled for a couple weeks ive seen them at petco for around $20 I paid $30 shipped for mine off ebay

 

Other than patience, does anyone have any saltwater cycling tips? It will be another month or so until I get my lights and am ready for plants.

Ill take advice on fish foods , tank mates for clowns, watchman goby/ shrimp pairs. . . Anything awesome. Other than another coat of paint in the back of the tank and the chalkboard paint on the front wall the build is complete. Now ready to bring the reef to the living room!

You can't beat patience when it comes to cycling - so no tips there (sorry)

Food - depends on the stock, but don't be afraid to play around and try things. Many reefers feed Mysis Shrimp as a staple, and supplement with other foods; pellets (NLS), mussels, prawns, squid, whatever you can get, it's worth trying - aside from NLS and mysis, the other foods can be bought at the local supermarket

Stock - depends on what corals and other inverts you want to keep.

 

Well I do enjoy all mushrooms, devils hands , long polyp leather, green polyp leather, thick finger leather, brain coral, birds nest. Pretty much anything I'd like to attempt. Fishwise I'd like the clown pair in an anemone, the yellow watchman goby and tiger pistol pair , yellow tail damsel and that's all I have stocking wise so far - what do ya think?

 

Wouldnt mix a damsel with clowns there both very territorial and probably wouldnt get along

 

I've read a lot whereas the yellow tails do ok with them. Some say yes some say no. Ill probably try and if it turns foul ill return the yellow tail as this is a clown tank first for my daughter and the goby/shrimp side more so for me

I'm getting nitrite , low nitrate and ammonia readings. Excited that its cycling!! There's a lot of live Rock die off accumulating on the sand. I've also noticed little white "bugs". That will come running out of one hole and into another. Not sure what they are though.?

Another question - every time I add live rock will I have to cure it?

Meaning having to buy yet another power head,etc?

I believe I would like to add a pistol shrimp first, then the watchman goby and lastly the clowns when the cycle is over. Does that sound like a good idea?

 

HI Mer-max,
The 'bugs' are likely to be copepods. You might get a build up of them running over the glass. They are harmless, and once stock goes in, they're dinner for your stock.

Adding live rock should always be done with caution, as it can result in mini-cycles. You should always cycle new rock outside of the tank. But how much more are you wanting to add?

Stocking plan looks ok.

 

I agree with ryan the bugs are probably copepods I added some to my tank they can be beneficial.

 

Ryan,

I would like to get 5-6X more live rock as right now I only have 7lbs live and about 15 lbs of base rock.

I also found a feather duster on a rock and something strange underneath. It looked like it could be alive but I'm still somewhat afraid of touching stuff barehanded, here's a pic :

 

Cant really tell from the pic maybe a leather coral or a starfish hard to tell for me though. If you don't have anything in the tank you can add more live rock to it you just don't want to do it after you add any live stock. Have you seen the serpent stars lately?
Oh and about touching stuff bare handed I do it in my tank but I always wash my hands real good after. As long as its not an anemone your touching or any other coral with a strong sting you should be ok as long as you wash your hands right after

 

Lol yes, upon moving the rocks around I have more starfish than I thought. Not just brittle stars either. There's some fatter normal looking starfish. I also saw something pop it's head out from under a rock and fly back in. . . Really curious as to what it was. Crazy finding new stuff all the time !! I've put prime in once this week

 

Yeah that's the fun part after lights out I take a red light and look around the tank I see all sorts of stuff from my copepods to all kinds of other stuff

 

Side note - I want to make some vertical towers out of base rock by drilling the rock and using plastic rods to keep them together but was wondering a way to help keep the bottom secure? All I got ATM is a larger rock on bottom or the first rock needs to be adhered to a large tile under the sand?

 

Can use egg crate to support it you don't want to put rock ontop of sand especially with the goby/shrimp combo. So clear a spot of sand put a piece of the egg crate the put the rock ontop of the egg crate and cover with sand

 

As long as its not an anemone your touching or any other coral with a strong sting you should be ok as long as you wash your hands right after

Or aiptasia, bristleworms, fireworms, a sneaky mantis shrimp... they all hurt!

If you do get stung, washing won't do much IMO, other than increase blood flow and cause a faster reaction, possibly even aggravate the area - you just have to ride it out.

With the exception of jellyfish, lionfish and possibly rabbitfish (or other venom equipped fish), I don't think there is much in an aquarium can cause serious damage to a human. Most of the other stings you get are more annoying and cause mild discomfort.

 

Like the egg crate foam for soundproofing?

 

No, like the plastic egg-crate used for commercial lighting

 

I pushed the rocks to the bottom of the tank into the sand

Got ya on the crate. Would you think burrying the rock to the bottom is sufficient or will the shrimp dig that bad? I've decided for a candy cane pistol over the tiger after reading a bit more

Well, my parameters are looking like the tank is cycled. I added my euro reef rs80 skimmer about 30 mins ago as well as some cheato, looking like ill be going to look for the clean up Crew sometime soon, next purchase as far as equipment is my lights and then ill be good to go. Yeaaaah, I'm in a good mood

 

Dang man you've come along on her!!! I've been AWOL from the forum for a bit due to crack flashing on my phone lol its soooo addicting!
Looks great for sure! I finally got mine up and running as well I need to take pics of the final product when I get home and make my own thread! I have 3 different types of clown fish, regular ocellaris, yellow and a pink skunk and a nice large ground cleaning crew! And just got a new one two days ago! Tangy the Yellow Hawaiian Tang she's so beautiful! Keep up the good work and make sure you keep that pH right or it'll kill corals like mine did when it dipped low for a while and I didn't catch it.

 

To be honest I haven't tested the ph at all. I will here in a min though. I kinna assumed the salt added to the rodI water would buffer it fine?

Ok, tested ph - appears to be 8.8 or +

Phosphates at 5

Advice?

 

To be honest I haven't tested the ph at all. I will here in a min though. I kinna assumed the salt added to the rodI water would buffer it fine?

Nooooo sir! Unless the place you get your ro water from tests it regularly and buffers it for sw it'll vary... Mine seems to always come in at like 7.(something) low BC I've been having to use my Reef Buffer like crazy to get it back up to 8+.

Ok, tested ph - appears to be 8.8 or +

Phosphates at 5

Advice?

8.8??? No way lol
8.0-8.3 is what sw should be... Did you add 6 drops instead of 5 of the test kit? Lol you have an apI test kit right?

 

Yes, API master.

After running the skimmer and having cheato in the sump for 40 hours the phosphates dropped to 0.5 on the regular phosphate kit.

Last night I added a turbo snail, two hermit crabs and a coral banded shrimp. I also put a camel shrimp in my sump to eat the stuff that winds up down there and to keep away from the corals that will be in my display tank. Ill post some pictures in a bit

I'm sorry, I fell off the face of the world for a bit. I promised pics and I have a few.

I've since added an anemone , devils hand some pulsating Xenia some shrooms and some other stuff given to me I forgot. Anyway,

 

WOW! look at the colors on that 'shroom! er ... those shrooms rather
Great job! Yer not alone in the off world falling bit I've not had a chance to go through your journal/thread yet, but wanted to say keep up the great work!

 

HI Mer-max,
Looking good.

I really like the black substrate - not something I would have done in a SW, but it looks really good

 

Hey thanks y'all.

And Ry - I love love love the black substrate but I am actively trying to find something that eats turbo snail poop! He's a messy guy!

I still haven't had luck finding my watchman goby/ Randall's shrimp lately. Hopefully Saturday I can find one of them

 

Wow man! Its looking great! Sry I've been off the face of the earth a while as well but I finally got mine up and running as well!
Your lucky someone just gave you coral! Lol they look great! Getting some good color in there! Mine is like a desert almost besides the good purple algae.
Lmk when u find someone that eats snail poo BC I find a lot of it as well and was wondering who was making so much! I really need to make my thread as well!

Looks great man keep it up!

 

Thanks. I'm redoing the scape this weekend and will repost



This was yesterday morning. Since I've rearranged it all. Ill post again when it all calms down

Fish lore saltwater forum is DEAD

 

Fish lore saltwater forum is DEAD

Not entirely!

Your tank looks good. It's coming along nicely. Now that you've got it how you like it (I assume), let it settle and grow out for the next few months.

Just an observation, on the right hand side, it looks like some rock resting against the glass? If so, can you move it? It's the one thing I didn't think of with my tank, and now it's the biggest pain of my tank trying to clean around the rock

I had a giggle when I realised that the 'crate' in the left hand side is actually a reflection

 

Lol, I changed it since then, took the rock the anemone was on out and moved him on that rock that WAS against the glass. Now the only rock close to the glass is the mushroom rock. It looks a lot better now as I opened up the sand bed more. I'm getting some new coral this weekend so ill post some new pics then