40g Breeder Setup Suggestions

I have bought a new to me 40 gallon breeder tank with a stand. I was in my car so I wasn't able to pick it up. I will be picking it up Wednesday provided the weather holds up.





Currently the only tank I have is my 8g Hexagon betta tank. It really got me interested in the hobby and I want MORE fish. I was looking for a 55 but this one came along and I thought it would be perfect. I wasn't sure what the difference was between a breeder tank and a regular 40 gallon tank but after some quick googling I figured it out.
I think I am really going to like it being not so tall. If you haven't seen my little 8g here it is.




Being so tall and somewhat small width for a tall tank. It was hard to scape and doesn't look the best. My betta seems happy with it which is all that matters. So... without further ado.

I need help setting up the 40. Not super help as I have learned SO much here and have a decent handle on everything. I just have questions now that this is a bigger tank.

1. It doesn't have a lid. I know its not required but does anyone think I NEED one? If so should I make one or just bite the bullet and buy one?

2. I am liking my HOB filter for the 8g. Should I stick with that? I was looking at possibly 2 Aquaclear 50s or maybe just one Aqueon 75. A canister filter seems a bit overkill and I don't think I'm reayd to head down that path just yet. Maybe when I get one over 100g. Any reasons to absolutely not stick with a HOB? Sell me one something else?

3. I don't have a light either. I am loving the live plant route and want to stay that way. I am also a low tech type. I want lush green plants but without the hassle of high tech. Don't we all? What is the general consensus on lights? I have read a bunch of different opinions on the K rating that I can go with so just trying to get a few opinions, gathered here.

4. Last but not least I am looking for suggestions on fish. Somewhere between 8-10 would be a good amount, I'm thinking. Maybe more depending on your suggestions. Schooling fish are cool. Maybe a BN pleco? I don't want to be worrying too much about Kh and Gh and Ph. My current tank, which I filled with tap water seems to be about 7.6ph, and 6 on Kh and Gh. That's just tap water. I dose Flourish and Excel about 3 times a week 1ml each time.

5. Do I need some sort of powerhead? Where I am putting the tank, most likely the HOB (if that's what I go with) will be on one end of the tank instead of the back. Is that a no no? I do have a small airpump with an airstone, that I haven't setup. Maybe that could help.

6. The substrate I'm thinking is either going to be PFS or BDBS. Should I add something underneath to give my plants some nutrients. I want a carpet (maybe s.repens or dwarf hairgrass.)

7. Anything I am not thinking about or don't know about a 40 gallon breeder? Here are a few ideas that I found on google for the aquascape. These are where I will be getting my inspiration. I saw one recently that looked like a forest and I thought that was super cool. Had a little path down the middle too.

THANKS TO EVERYONE IN ADVANCE FOR LOOKING AND GIVING ME SOME IDEAS. I will be updating the progress here on this thread.

 

Lid can be simply 2 pieces of glass. Even old storm window glass.

Aquaclears are my go to filters. Tried and true.

Cheap shop lights from a hardware store rated at 6500k or daylight.

Stocking. Wow lots of options .

Powerhead no with 2 hob filters.

 

Lid can be simply 2 pieces of glass. Even old storm window glass.

Aquaclears are my go to filters. Tried and true.

Cheap shop lights from a hardware store rated at 6500k or daylight.

Stocking. Wow lots of options .

Powerhead no with 2 hob filters.

So you’re thinking two smaller filters are better than one bigger one? Thanks for the info.

 

With as big as the footprint is on a breeder I would do 2 filters. You could do 1 larger but you will have dead spots in the tank and then need some kind of power head. Now usually I run just one big filter on my 55's and 75 but I usually also have fish that don't like current. Right now I'm running an Aquaclears 110 on my 75 but its mostly betta so though half the tank doesn't have much movement I think it would bother the fish. So what stocking you decide may sway the filter debate. Either way I still would use Aquaclears.

 

One thing I do like about the Aquaclears is how the filter "fills". My Aqueon fills from the top of the filter and then trickles down. I like how the Aquaclears has that pipe that goes down into the filter and then fills from the bottom up. I am liking the idea of having two filters so that's probably where I will go.
As far as stocking goes I have no idea. Looking up other posts I feel like the original 8-10 is way low from what the tank is capable of. I know/think I want a pleco, maybe some tetras, neons?, platys and gouramis look nice, danios?, barbs, rasboras, shrimp, nerite snails..... those are the ones I know about and like the look of. I just don't know about compatibility or amounts for any of those. Any cool fish I may not know about? One decent sized one or two would be cool.

 

I think I am going to ask some questions on the stocking thread and then come back to this one.

 

I'm going to be starting a school of silvertip tetras in my 33 shortly. They're super active fish, very fun to watch! I've heard of people having trouble with "jerk" silvertips, but most of them have only a few or they are in a very small tank, thus the poor behavior. If you do a large school (10+) in a large tank, they should be good. You could do some cory cats for bottom dwellers, maybe a smaller pleco like a snowball or a bottlenose, and either a few "centerpiece fish" like rams or gourami or do a few schools of other tetra (silver-tips and serpaI get along and look great together, and so do harlequin rasbora).

I personally like watching schooling behavior, so I'd go wild on bottom-dwellers and have two or three mid-level schools in there too, but it's entirely a personal preference. Some like big tanks with little fish, some like just a few big fish, and some like lots of smalls with a couple of peaceful big fish for contrast. 40 breeders are beautiful tanks!

 

I'm going to be starting a school of silvertip tetras in my 33 shortly. They're super active fish, very fun to watch! I've heard of people having trouble with "jerk" silvertips, but most of them have only a few or they are in a very small tank, thus the poor behavior. If you do a large school (10+) in a large tank, they should be good. You could do some cory cats for bottom dwellers, maybe a smaller pleco like a snowball or a bottlenose, and either a few "centerpiece fish" like rams or gourami or do a few schools of other tetra (silver-tips and serpaI get along and look great together, and so do harlequin rasbora).

I personally like watching schooling behavior, so I'd go wild on bottom-dwellers and have two or three mid-level schools in there too, but it's entirely a personal preference. Some like big tanks with little fish, some like just a few big fish, and some like lots of smalls with a couple of peaceful big fish for contrast. 40 breeders are beautiful tanks!

 

First Dutch Tank

That's my 40 breeder journal with the above link. It currently has a marineland 220 canister, quietflow 30, and a big sponge filter in the back corner. Here's my most recent picture of tank.

 

I went for a community tank with some corys and loaches and mid level fish like tetras, platys, dwarf rainbowfish, and top fish like zebra danio and guppies. I also have some snails and amano shrimp. I got some weak strains of rainbowfish and only 2 are left as were the zebra danio (2 left). I am looking to have more guppies in the future and make it more of a guppy, cory, loach, and shrimp tank(amano and red cherry shrimp with possibly some blue velvet shrimp). I am going to breed the guppies I want to put in there and the shrimp as well. The fish and shrimp that are not the utmost greatest quality will come to this tank and live out their lives happily. The others, I hope to sell to my local fish store and members if all goes well.

 

Congrats on the new tank!

1. Look up Aqueon Versa-Top glass lids.

Dr Foster and Smith online has good prices on them. I have used that website to buy a Versa-Top lid before for a tank.

Or go the DIY route.

2. I like Aquaclear filters. I own 4. An AC70 would do well on a 40g.

Another option is getting a decent air pump and put a sponge filter in the back left/right corners. Fish breeders almost always use sponge filters in their grow-out tanks, and their tanks are usually stocked heavier than most hobbyist's tanks.

2x ATI Hydro Sponge V's (one regular and one "Pro" version w/ the reticulated coarse sponge) and a good air pump would work well. Look up the ATI products at Kensfish, Jehmco and American Aqaurium Products websites.

3. I don't think the K or Kelvin rating is as important, compared to the Par rating at a given depth.

What is your budget? Fluval and Current have crazy programmable RBG+W LED lights for growing plants. Or you can go budget with a Beamsworks DA series LED and timer from Amazon. It is offered in 6500k and 10,000k versions.

I use the EA series, but wish I would have bought the DA series instead.

4. For bottom dwellers, I would suggest to look into 6-8 corydoras, 6-8 kuhlI loaches and a Bolivian ram.

For a schooling fish, I have a dozen red serpae tetras that are nice. Look into those or possibly 20+ neon tetras.

5. A 3ft tank probably doesn't need a powerhead.

6. I use Quikrete brand PFS and like it a lot. I have seen a lot on BDBS and tanks that use that look great!

 

1. You can do anything for lids, whether it's commercially available hoods, glass canopies, or something DIY like polycarbonate paneling or some glass jalousies.

2. I really like aquaclears too. Two 50s would be great.

3. K rating doesn't matter much, it is just a measurement of how white the light is. The higher the color temperature rating the more white it is, and the lower the more yellowish it is. Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) is a measurement of light wavelengths that the plants can utilize. Plants photosynthesis by mostly red and blue wavelengths between 400-700nm (nanometers). It's hard to obtain this information though as the PAR meter can be quite expensive, so some manufacturers may provide such data for consumers, or some people have a PAR meter and do us all a service by posting online. The data will usually indicate for each model how much micromoles per second (umol/s), which is a measurement of how much photons hit the sensor of the device per second, at varying depths of water. You would generally be good with anywhere between 30-50 umol/s, which would be useful for low to moderate demanding plants.

Some brands for lighting are Fluval (manufacturer does not provide [accurate] PAR data on any of their products so you'd have to rely on other individual's tests posted online), Finnex, or some of the higher end brands like Twinstar and Kessil. You could always do Beamswork, this is a budget-friendly option that gets okay results. There's also DIY-ish options like shop lights, or greenhouse lights.

4. Options of a schooling fish are nearly endless in a 40 breeder. Tetras are a great option for a schooler, and you have options of stocking a massive group of nano species or a big group of mid-sized tetras. It all just comes down to what kind of look you like. I think the look of deeper-bodied species of hyphessobrycons look great, and they always have great color patterns too. Stuff like bleeding hearts, phantoms, lemons, columbians, etc. Personally, I've been interested in the Flameback Bleeding Heart Tetra and I want to stock them one day lol. You could probably consider a Clown Pleco, which is smaller, and maybe some kind of bottom-dwelling species too like Corys or Kuhlis. I have both and I get a kick out of watching all of them lol.

5. If you do two filters, you probably won't need a powerhead. But I guess it ultimately depends on what you stock and setup. An air filter would fare just fine if you simply want something to disrupt the surface.

6. Either option would be great, and you could use it as a cap if you want to use dirt or planting substrate in certain areas. That would be particularly good if you plan on growing some heavy root feeders and could help with carpet plants a bit.

7. There aren't really any tips people can truly give for aquascaping, as it is an art form that takes practice and lots of planning and time. It's great to take inspiration from photos, I would also recommend that you watch a few YouTube videos of aquascapers and see what you can pick up and utilize for when you scape your tank. I've randomly started watching some today since I came down with a cold and have nothing better to do and it was truly inspiring.

Best of luck! Oh, and for more info about planted tanks, this website here has been very informative for me so I hope you can learn a lot too.

 

I ended up painting the back and one side black. I think that will work best for where it’s at. Decided I’m going with Black Beauty blasting sand. I tried to look it up and there seem to be mixed emotions on it but for the most part there’s more positive than negatives.
Just ordered a Finnex 24/7 light and two Aquaclear 50’s. Also ordered two 50w heaters for now and see how that turns out.
Still not dead set on plants or fish yet. I’m also thinking about going without a lid. I’ll post some pictures tomorrow of my paint job after I clean out the tank some more.

 

You think this will be enough for my 40breeder?

 

With a heated tank and a bubbler you should have a lid. The Water will evaporate quickly and you will get mold on the walls near it.
Also, if you plan on having nerrites they will escape without a lid.

Before you buy an AquaClear, check out the Seachem Tidal filters. They are similar but the Tidal has more bells and whistles and is easier to maintain.

 

Dang!! It’s too late on the Aquaclears. Those Tidals look awesome. Thanks for those points on the the lid. Hadn’t thought about any of that.
I’ll need to figure out this lid situation. Looked into versa tops but that was before I had exact dimensions of the tank. I’ll have to revisit it.

 

It's starting to come together. Still waiting on the light, heaters, thermometers, and the lid to come in the mail. Went with a VersaTop.
Pretty happy with how the paint job turned out. Made a big difference when I decided to stop being lazy and went and bought an "ultra smooth surface roller".

 

That is going to be a great looking tank when finished.

You will like those AC50's.

Here are some pics of how I load my AC30 and AC110 media baskets, to give you some ideas of what can go in them.....

AC30 media basket 1

• Islandvic
• Nov 18, 2018

AC30 media basket 2

• Islandvic
• Nov 18, 2018

AC110 media

• Islandvic
• Nov 15, 2018

AC110 sponge, polyfil, 100 micron pad, poly media pad cut from bulk roll, 1 liter of assorted...

AC110 back view of reservoir stuffed with media

• Islandvic
• Nov 15, 2018

 

I’m going to use this thread to update on my 40g breeder set up. The plan is to move the current 20g long inhabitants to the 40g breeder and eventually add a school of Endler’s a BN pleco and some mystery snails.

Update (3/10/21) -
Do I lack impulse control? Yes. Am I bruised? Yes. Did I get that heavy ding-a-ling up the stairs and in to my room with no help? Heck yeah! I was going to wait a bit to get the tank since I don’t have a stand yet but I didn’t want to miss out on the sale.
Pic’s of current 20g and the new 40g.

 

Indeed, timing is everything! Now you can take your time. That aquarium isn't going anywhere!

 

Update (3/17/21) -
Thank you stimulus check. I gave myself a $400 limit and made an order on Amazon and picked some things up from Petco and the Dollar Tree.

Dollar Tree:

• 4 x Glass candle holders
• 2 pack of plastic food containers (going to use the lids to stem the flow from my sponge filters).

Petco:

• 30lbs of sand (only used about 15lbs since I just wanted to do a small layer for my corys)
• 20lbs of Medium River stones (used about 2/3 for depth and variety)
• Black Lava Rock
• Aquarium Stand
• Aquarium lid

 

Update (3/22/21) -

Got some dragon rocks and Java ferns from Petco and my shipment from Amazon came. I opened a thread to get suggestions on the hardscape and arranged my rocks (and recycled driftwood) as the focal point, attached the ferns to the rocks (using gel super glue). Then I set everything else up as well.

Amazon:
Nicrew ClassicLED Plus Planted light
Seachem Stability
Sponge filter
Aqueous Adjustable 200w heater (fingers crossed that it’s right, my last adjustable heater was horrid)
Air pump
Flourite Dark
Thrive

Petco:
Java Ferns
Imagitarium Dragon Rock Aquascaping Kit

 

Looking great! I also moved my 20gL to my 40g recently and am loving the bigger size! What inhabitants are currently in the 20g?

 

Looking great! I also moved my 20gL to my 40g recently and am loving the bigger size! What inhabitants are currently in the 20g?

I've got a dwarf gourami, 10 glowlight tetras, 8 bronze cory's, and some young mystery snails.

 

Update (3/24/21) -

I got the majority of my plants in the mail today and a blackout static cling yesterday. (Waiting on the dwarf water lettuce and guppy grass). I applied the background first and then did the bleach dip process for my plants in case of any pest snails. They’re absolutely beautiful and I hope they all make it since I now have a good substrate and have switched to thrive liquid fertilizer.

Plants added:
Water Wisteria
Water Sprite
Moneywort
Amazon Sword
Pogostemon Stellatus (Octopus)

 

nice, just wait for that octopus plant to get nice and whispy, its a good looking plant.

 

Update (3/27/21) -

Received my dwarf water lettuce in the mail. Not sure if it's going to make it (but definitely hopeful). I ordered 40 leaves and got 44 but there were about 10-12 leaves that had either fallen off or are completely yellow. All the roots fell off during transport. The shop had reached out prior to delivery to say that discoloration and root loss is normal so I'll update or post a picture of them again in a few days to a week to see how they do. They've already been in my tank for a day and have lost their curling for the most part. Still waiting on my guppy grass (it should get here okay but the post office experienced a delay getting them into transit).

 

Update (3/30/21) -

Unfortunately there is a lot of melt in the dwarf water lettuce, it doesn’t seem to be doing well. There are about 17 leaves out of the 44 still green/alive. I do have Amazon Frogbit, red root floaters and giant duckweed ordered and thinking about salvinia minima. I’m still hoping the dwarf water lettuce will survive the initial melt and begin to grow. As for today, the guppy grass arrived in amazing condition despite the delay. I did check for pest snails and eggs but it was completely clean (it’s advertised as snail free so it seems to live up to that so far). Ordered 10 stems and got about 15. Very happy with it!

 

Update (4/1/21) -

So happy. I bought some Amazon Frogbit, Giant Duckweek, and Redroot Floaters to go with the dwarf water lettuce. They’re all in beautiful condition (the redroot floaters even have little flowers!). I’ve bought the Frogbit from this seller before and was really happy with the quality (but my dwarf gourami killed it before it could establish and start growing). Checked the plants over for pest snails and eggs as best I could, I found a couple tiny ones and one large but no eggs. Fingers crossed that my tank is still pest snail free!

 

I haven't updated this in a while so here goes.

5/8/21 -

Despite best efforts I've got some pests, I've seen a couple dwarf Ramshorn's in these past couple of months and found a pond snail yesterday. I honestly don't mind the Ramshorn's but I'm not a fan of the pond snails, I'll just watch what I feed and hopefully won't have any issues. The other inhabitants are some cherry barbs, some mystery snails and soon, some baby mystery snails (very excited!).

As for the plants:
The bad; The Amazon Sword is going through its melt faze now and will hopefully grow back. My mystery snails developed a taste for the softer leaved plants and started grazing on the leaves of my "Octopus", and Water Sprite, they ended up uprooting (and ultimately killing) most of my Water Sprite but there are a few stems still going strong so fingers crossed. Unfortunately I seem to have lost my Redroot Floaters, I do have a couple left but they're close to dying.

The Good; Despite the grazing the "Octopus" is growing nicely and it's very pretty. The Moneywort doesn't seem to be growing but it's also not dying so that's a win in my book. The Water Wisteria seemed not to do well for a bit but has also started growing and same goes for the Guppy Grass that's free floating. My other floaters (Amazon Frogbit, Water Spangles, Giant Duckweed, and Dwarf Water Lettuce) are all doing well. The Duckweed is spreading quickly (even outside the tubing) and I've been able to move some of it to my 20g long (which is making my gourami very happy). My other floaters are spreading as well and developing beautiful root systems.

Amazon Swords:





Water Sprite:




"Octopus":




Moneywort:




Water Wisteria:




Guppy Grass:




Floaters:




Tank: