Stowers74's 40 Gallon Build.

40 Gallon Tank Build


Again, I will be formatting this as though I would on a car forum, because that is my only prior experience for forums. Today (December 29, 2014), I picked up a 40 gallon breeder at PetCo during their dollar-per-gallon sale. My plans are to plant the aquarium, have either a community tank or a massive betta/shrimp/cory cat tank. Any suggestions on stocking would be greatly appreciated.
Stock:

- So far, nothing. I will be fishless cycling the tank before actually deciding on a stock.
Plants:
- Dwarf Baby Tears
- I have ordered a "12 Plant Hardy, Low-Light assortment" from aquarium plants that should be here Friday
Treatments:

- SeaChem Prime
- API Master Test Kit (I goofed and got the saltwater kit today... I'll take it back and get the freshwater kit ASAP)

Aquarium Hard Ware:
- Tank: Tetra 40 Gallon Breeder w/ Tetra Glass aquarium hood (I will be upgrading to something nice once I get my tank established.
- Lighting: Tetra 36 inch Full Spectrum. (Again, I'll add a more plant-friendly light when I actually get my tank set up)
- Filters: Four XY Sponge Filters running through a Tetra Whisper 40 (I'm using these to cycle, and will keep at least two of them in after. I will upgrade to a HOB filter if my stock requires it.)
- Substrate: Two 15 pound bags of Flourite as a base, Some sort of sand/gravel mix for the cap)
- Stand: I am custom making a Birch Stand. I bought the birch and 4x4's today, I am going to start on it tomorrow, we will see how this goes...
Pictures:
- I will update this as I make progress.

Any comments, criticism, or tips are more than welcome!

 

I vote for the massive betta tank! A betta would be very happy in there.

 

That's what I'm leaning more towards. I feel like I could easily get away with putting a school of cory cats in because my betta is pretty calm. I have him in with 2 RCS, 2 Ghost shrimp and a Golden Apple Snail, and he hasn't ever tried attacking them. Also, with 40 gallons, I feel like a betta would be less territorial. He is currently in a 10 gallon tank.

 

I would try it. A 40 gallon should give the cories room to run away if he decides to turn on them.

 

I'd do a community, more fish. I suggest a pearl gourami, some cories, rummynose tetras, a festivum, and a Bristlenose pleco. More is possible, though.

 

If I do a community tank I would love to have some German Rams. I've always liked them lol

 

If I do a community tank I would love to have some German Rams. I've always liked them lol

Yes, that'd work. They need a higher temperature, though.

 

How high? I try to keep my betta temp to like 79-81 lol

 

Got started building the stand today... still a lot to do, but you get the idea lol.

I'll buy some trim pieces to make the corners neater. I may end up using pallet boards to make the bottom of the stand, and then make a few shelves in the middle for storage. I can't decide if I want to make doors or not for the front. But I will be staining it a darker color soon.

 

Picked up a few things yesterday:
2 bags of flourite
Aqueon 150 watt submersible heater
Tetra 40 gallon whisper
Sponge filter (3 of them, but I may only use two).
TrI'm pieces for my stand
Dark walnut stain

I had ordered the sponge filters because I planned on keeping mostly shrimp and my betta, but I've decided on using a the 40 gallon as a community tank.

Would a cannister filter work better than sponge in a community tank?

 

Got about 98% done today. I decided to go doorless, and just have shelves in it to store things. It is completely stained in a dark walnut. Once I build the bottom shelf I'll begin to assemble the tank and begin cycling it.

 

May I ask you where you got your Tetra glass hood for your 40 gallon breeder? We have been unable to find one, and our PETCO told us Tetra does not make them.

 

I picked mine up at PetCo lol. I paid more for it than the actual tank ($/gallon sale). It's technically a canopy, not a hood though.

 

Do you have a picture? Or link to one?

 

I can't seem to find a link to it, but I can get a picture of it when I get home

 

Jomolager : sorry that I'm just now getting around to getting this picture. I'm honestly not a fan of the glass canopy. It feels kind of cheap in my opinion. I guess I could just be used to my Marineland LED hood for my Betta's 10 gallon though. The light doesn't come with the canopy, I had to buy it separately, which sucks. Also, my current HOB filter is going to have some difficulty with the canopy. It's hard to see in the picture, but it only has maybe 1/4 inch or less clearance, so be careful about what filter you get if you end up getting it.

Also, the canopy is hard to see, but it's on there lol.

 

By the way, I got everything up and running a few days ago. So far ammonia is at 0, nitrite is 0, but nitrates are still pretty high. Saw a slight raise in ammonia, no change in nitrites, but nitrates spiked. Is this normal??

 

I can't wait to see this aquarium Stower

 

Also it is normal for the nitrates to spike, you are in the nitrogen cycle so best to keep your stocking pretty low. They have products at your local fish store and petco that help speed it up a little but its gonna take you a month to two months for it to all settle down.

 

I knew that they would spike, but everything I read was saying that it would take weeks, if not months to get the spikes. I've read that having plants would help lower ammonia, and I currently have two amazon swords, and 5 banana plant bunches ( two of which were borrowed from my 10 gallon betta tank that is well established and stable.) I also bought the swords and other banana bunches from my lfs that were in a stable (I'm assuming) aquarium. Maybe having plants from established aquariums caused the BB to build up decently quickly? But it was insanely quick, like a week maybe.

Anyways, since my numbers were: Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, and Nitrate at 5ppm (after my nitrates had settled) I decided to buy a hardy fish to see what happened. I decided on 4 Giant Danios, their colors were pretty cool, and everything I read said they were hardy. I know they need to be kept in groups of 6-8, but I felt like that would have been too many at once and would have caused my ammonia to spike because of the bioload. so far my numbers have stayed the same, however. If anything, my nitrate has gone down slightly. I'll wait a few weeks before adding anything else, just to make sure. I also used API Stress Coat before adding my danios. These guys also love eating my plants...

I also have some more plants coming in thursday. I bought a 35 pack from aquabid (not sure if they will be any good, but it was an insane deal.) I also have a 12 pack coming from aquarium plants sometime. Depending on how many I use from the 35 pack, I may use the 12 pack for my 10g.


FROM THE ITEM DESCRIPTION
Included in this package:

1 Anubias "Wrinkle Leaf" - 6-7 inches. Very easy and popular plant, thriving under broad range of aquarium conditions
1 Anubias barterI - 6-7 inches
1 Amazon Sword (Echinodorus amazonicus), 5-7 inches. Great focal plant for your tank
2 Amazon Sword (Echinodorus argentinensis), 6-8 inches.
1 golf ball size clump of Java Moss (Vesicularia dubuyana) - great plant for hiding fry and small fish. Also - very undemanding!
1 Java Fern (Microsorium pteropus) - 2-3 inches. Probably the most hardy and the easiest of all aquarium plants - practically indestructible
2 Crypt wendtiI (Cryptocoryne wendtii) - young plants 2-3 inc tall. Beautiful purplish leaves
1 Crypt balansae (Cryptocoryne balansae) - 6-7 in. Produces long leaves with ruffle edges
3 stems of Green Temple Plant Nomaphila siamensis 5-7 in. Fast growth, vivid green color
2 bunches of Ludwigia arcuata 2-3 in - beautiful type of Ludwigia!
5 stems of Ludwigia repens - 5-7 in. Also very pretty plant with reddish leaves - perfect for contrasting with green plants
5 stems of Bacopa monnierii - 6-8 in. - great background plant!
5 stems of Green Cabomba - Cabomba aquatica - 7-8 in.
5 Hygrophila angustifolia - 5-7 in.

I also picked up a few pieces of mopanI driftwood and a cork tree bark round (need to figure out how to get it to stay down...

by the way, sorry for the insanely long post, A lot has happened in the last few days. Any advice on the aquascape or what else to stock with the Giant Danios?

 

My banana plants are already getting huge... My stand also turned out decent. And these Danios are IMPOSSIBLE to get pictures of.
Also, what can I do to get rid of the brown marks on my plants? I ordered some seachem flourish, will that help?

 

Got the mopanI wood put in this morning. Gave it a few quick rinses under warm water and so far there are no tannins. It didn't exactly look like how the picture looked, but I hadn't planned on using it as my center piece driftwood anyways. Also, the cork round; could I figure out a way to bury it and make a tunnel? I figure it may be an easy way to weight it down?

 

Looks good! Yeah, that'd be a good way.

 

It's nowhere near being done, I'll have ~45 plants coming in sometime next week, so it'll hopefully look completely different. All my numbers still look excellent as well. I'm just worried about the wood doing something to the pH. Are there any rocks that work similar to live rock, but for Freshwater aquariums?

 

Got 35 plants in today... they are much smaller than I was expecting, but they'll grow

 

Looking good so far. Looking forward to new pictures. I like that you made your own stand. More people need to do things like that. I don't know a whole lot about fish yet. But one thing I do know a good amount about is woodworking. This is for your future reference, or anyone else for that matter. On your stand 2x4s instead of the posts for the corners would have been plenty strong and stable.

 

Thanks. I plan on making a stand for my 10 gallon and I'm only using 2x4s, I realized that the posts are pretty much over kill lolol

 

Here's the piece of driftwood, not the greatest, but it'll do. I tied some java moss onto it today, and tried to get the cork to stay under, nothing worked. I even put it under the drift wood, and the cork caused the wood to float, any more suggestions? Also, I may have went overboard on plants.. I'm waiting to see how it looks when they are grown in, and if it's too much I'll take them out. I'll try to get a better picture once my substrate settles.

 

My readings have been good for a week since adding the Danios, would it be safe to add a school of cories?

 

What types? I'm not sure that any cory is good for cycling. I'd add guppies to speed it up.

 

I've got the 4 Danios in there, I still haven't really noticed any changes since I put them in. I had an ammonia spike before I put them in though. No change since putting them in. And I'm going to my lfs here in a minute to just look

 

Decided to pass up on the guppies and corries, I already feel bad for not fully cycling and putting the Danios in lol

 

Good move stower. It's exciting to add new fish but you have from now on to do it. Wait out the cycle. Your fish will appreciate it.

 

That's exactly what I was thinking lol. It's definitely a good thing that I didn't add anything. My ammonia was slightly up, and my nitrates were up to about 20ppm... I did a water change, and I'll check it again tomorrow. Also, here's a picture of the plants once my substrate calmed down

 

Sorry, forgot to upload the picture lol

 

I'd add two more danios, they almost always survive cycling. It's better to keep them in groups of 6 anyways.

 

I had planned on buying two or 3 more today, but my lfs was out of them. I'm going to check back Saturday probably, or maybe even try petco/petsmart if they still don't have any

 

OK, sounds good.

 

Still no luck on finding a couple more Giant Danios... My LFS now knows me as a regular... I have been in there nearly every day for the past couple of weeks lol

 

I wonder if my tank has cycled? My ammonia is still at 0, so are my nitrites, and nitrates are staying around 10ish? It hasn't been very long though. I also haven't noticed any difference in the amm/nitri/nitrates since adding the Danios either. Is my cycle stalled? Or did it cycle really quickly?